Also in the news / HMS Somerset, Skerries salmon farm, writing fellowship and more…
NAVY ship HMS Somerset was a recent visitor to Lerwick.
She has been involved in monitoring Russian vessel Yantar north of Scotland recently, which defence secretary John Healey described as a “spy ship”.
Northern Isles MP Alistair Carmichael wrote to Healey requesting clarity on the location and activities of Yantar.
Healey also said in a press conference that crew of Yantar directed light lasers at RAF pilots.
PEOPLE will be able to have their say on the idea of a salmon farm off Skerries at a second public engagement event next month.
Scottish Sea Farms will host a drop-in event at the Sound Hall on Wednesday 10 December from 12pm to 8pm, with a presentation scheduled for 7pm.
It follows an engagement event in Skerries in October.
The project is in its early stages but an indicative configuration places a farm with ten 160 metre pens off the west of Skerries.
SCOTTISH writer and Shetland resident Donald S Murray has been awarded a Scottish Writing Fellowship at the University of Otago in New Zealand.
Murray said he was thrilled and felt honoured to have been awarded the position for August and September next year.
“As an islander from Scotland, surrounded for much of my life by the ocean, its force and fury occasionally preventing me from leaving the shores of my home, I know that my past life will have something in common with those that live in New Zealand,” he said.
“There will be much too, however, that is different and unusual, granting me additional and exciting insights I would never have imagined possessing before.”
His writing, both of fiction and non-fiction, has received widespread critical acclaim and appeared on shortlists and longlists for numerous literary awards.
His debut novel, As the Women Lay Dreaming, won the Paul Torday Memorial Prize in 2020. In 2015, Donald’s first full-length Gaelic play Sequamur examined the effect of World War I on The Nicolson Institute in Stornoway and is now part of the Scottish school curriculum for senior pupils.
SHETLAND Amenity Trust (SAT) is encouraging schools, community groups, businesses and landowners to get involved in local tree planting to help support biodiversity and climate resilience.
Applications are now open for the Free Trees for Schools and Communities scheme.
SAT woodlands team leader Paul Goddard said: “We’ve had some real success stories resulting from the scheme, such as in Bressay and at the Anderson High School.
“Earlier this year, pupils at Hamnavoe Primary School took part and planted over 200 trees beside their school grounds, working together outdoors, learning new skills, and making a lasting contribution to their local environment.”
To enquire about applying for free tree packs or for advice and support on land management, woodland creation or developer projects contact SAT’s woodlands team at woodlands@shetlandamenity.org.
A RESCHEDULED consultation event to discuss proposals for a new substation and associated overhead line (OHL) connections in Shetland will take place at the Voe Hall on Thursday 27 November, from 3pm to 8pm.
The SSEN drop-in event – rescheduled from 6 October following a weather related postponement – will give people the opportunity to view plans for the proposed Kergord 2 substation, and a new OHL linking the existing Kergord substation to Kergord 2 and a proposed Northern Substation Hub.
LOGANAIR is offering a 20 per cent discount on all flights as part of its Black Friday promotion.
From yesterday (Thursday) to Monday 1 December cheaper tickets can be bought for journeys departing from 8 January onwards by using the promo code TARTAN20 when booking.
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