Traditional musicians help campaign to restore old Fife fishing boat

FOUR Shetland musicians have agreed to each donate a tune to a fundraising campaign based around the restoration of a 1937 fishing boat built in Fife.

Margaret Robertson, Jenna Reid, Steven Spence and Peter Wood will all take part.

The campaign centres around restoring the Manx Beauty, a 50ft wooden ring-net fishing boat that was built at Cellardyke in Fife in 1937 before going to the Isle of Man.

The idea stems from Richard Wemyss, who lived in Sandwick in Shetland for 15 years before moving back to Cellardyke five years ago.

He was artist in residence for two projects, Shetland Musicians for the Tall Ships in 1999 and the Whalsay Pelagic project in 2001, before working full-time for Shetland Arts.

“I had an excellent working relationship with many Shetland musicians through Fiddle Frenzy and when it came to developing this project I approached Margaret Robertson as she’d moved into Central Scotland to see if she would get involved,” Wemyss said.

Two Manx musicians Isla and Tom Callister are also involved in the fundraising.

People can pledge £200 to name one of the six original tunes that each musician will provide for the cause.

Folk will also receive a framed copy of the tune in musical notation.