Also in the news / COPE anniversary, Island Games football fixtures and more…
SHETLAND social enterprise COPE is planning an action-packed event at Gilbertson Park to celebrate the charity’s 25th anniversary on 25 June.
Chief executive Steven Coutts said: “We are very proud of what the organisation has achieved over its 25 years.
“COPE has been life changing for the many participants and staff that have come through the doors and has afforded them the opportunity to be part of something very special, learning new skills, and making a valuable contribution to the business and wider community.
“We wanted to mark the occasion appropriately and take some time to reflect on COPE’s achievements. Following the ‘25’ theme, we will therefore have a 25-mile relay and will mark 25 key milestones in our history.”
For more information on what is planned see COPE’s website.
FOOTBALL fixtures for this summer’s Island Games have been announced.
The Shetland men’s team has been pitted against the Isle of Man, Ynys Mon and the Falklands in the competition’s group stage.
Shetland will play Ynys Mon on 9 July, Isle of Man on 10 July and the Falklands on 11 July.
There are four men’s groups and three women’s groups. Shetland is not represented in the women’s competition.
The football programme starts on 9 July, with finals on 14 July. The 2023 Island Games are taking place in Guernsey between 8 and 14 July.
AROUND 90 payments worth £19,000 were made to Shetland families of disabled children or young people for winter 2022/2023 through a government fund designed to help folk heat their payments.
The money comes from the Scottish Government’s Child Winter Heating Assistance. The 2022/23 figure for Shetland is £5,000 more than for the last winter.
In total, over £45,000 in Child Winter Heating Assistance payments have been issued in Shetland since the benefit launched in November 2020.
Children and young people in Scotland can get Child Winter Heating Assistance if they are under 19 years old, are resident in Scotland or have a genuine and sufficient link to Scotland and are receiving one of the ‘qualifying benefits’.
The qualifying benefits include the highest rate care component of Child Disability Payment, the highest rate care component of Disability Living Allowance for Children, the enhanced daily living component of Personal Independence Payment and the enhanced daily living component of Adult Disability Payment.
THE BBC has announced that Shetland will feature in a new series about the far north led by Line of Duty actor Martin Compston.
In Martin Compston’s Northern Fling (6 x 30 min), the actor – along with his best friend Phil MacHugh – embarks on an “epic Northern adventure” as they search for all that it means to be from the ‘north’.
Starting in Shetland, they then travel the length of Norway to lift the lid on what we can learn from the most Northern of our Scandinavian neighbours. The show is expected to broadcast later this year.
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