Community / Lindsay leads the line as Greybeard rules Northmavine for the day
FLAMES will light up St Magnus Bay tonight as 44 warriors led by Knut Gråskjegg set fire to their Viking galley on the shore of Northmavine, writes Alex Purbrick.
Gråskjegg, which in old Norse means ‘Greybeard’, is certainly an apt description of jarl Lindsay Angus who has manifested an extremely bushy greying beard for the role.
Lindsay, 56, who works for Inverlussa Marine Services as a mate on salmon farm service vessels, leads the annual Northmavine Up Helly Aa today.
He is personifying the fictional saga of Gråskjegg, a traditional Viking raider and explorer, who battles and trades his way around Europe.
After settling in Hjaltland and marrying a local maiden he raises three worthy sons. He now sails his longship, Silfrharfn (silver raven) on explorations to the far western ocean enduring much hardship – the tales of which his sons find boring.
Lindsay’s three sons, Thomas (16), Lewie (13) and Willum (10) are certainly not bored with their dad’s adventure as jarl and are excited to be involved in Up Helly Aa, having loved it for years.
“Willum has been singing and rehearsing the Up Helly Aa song since he was peerie,” says Lindsay.
Accompanying Lindsay are his nieces and nephews, six princesses and six boys, making his squad very family orientated.
“Theres so many young ones involved. The youngest is my niece, Lotti who is only one year old but has her own peerie suit and shield which she seems proud of!”
Making a strong presence in the squad are the 10 adult women, all from Lindsay’s family, who stand alongside their fellow male Viking warriors as a formidable force.
His wife Chevonne is amongst them and has had to “bear the weight in a lot of the organising for the squad, whilst I have been away from Shetland working three-week shifts”, Lindsay said.
“She had to make decisions on a lot of the issues especially concerning suppliers for the costumes. It’s a global market now and you can get anything online.
“The only disadvantage of dealing with suppliers outside of Shetland is shipping time. In a lot of Up Helly Aa preparation, the final hurdle is in the lead up at the end of the year dealing with Xmas shipping and we had a lot of stuff delayed by up to three weeks which puts you back a lot when you’re trying to get things made and prepared.”
Lindsay felt it was important to keep the squad outfits affordable.
“We tried to keep an eye on the budget from the start and an estimate on where we were. I was wary of asking folk for more money than we initially said.
“We’ve found a good balance. I think it would be good to reuse some old UHA outfits and fabrics but that’s for a future time perhaps!”
Chevonne was instrumental in the decision making on the outfit design and fabric as well as beautifully painting the bill head, with a scene looking out from Burravoe to Yellsound of a galley with the squads’ magenta colours and shields.
Lindsay, staying ever true to his day job as ships mate, chose the colour as it was closest to a chart correcting pen used in nautical map work.
The shield pattern is loosely based upon a thruster symbol on a boat bow, a Maltese style cross in a circle. The helmets have pewter Celtic knotwork strips on the back and front, made by N-Graved in Shetland.
The lengthy, time consuming process of sewing kirtles, hoods and cloaks for 44 squad members was done by North Roe seamstresses Margaret and Liz Tulloch, while home-made jewellery necklaces were crafted by the women in the squad.
Add to that the long winter nights spent by the galley builders, the UHA committee and the torch makers, and Lindsay says it is the people “behind the scenes” who make the festival tick.
“The work that goes into the halls is amazing to put on an event such as this,” he said.
“The demand for tickets is phenomenal, and all four halls are open after last year’s trial run of all the halls being open. And it worked so well.”
With 17 squads and a total of 297 guizers, numbers are up on previous years, with tickets sold out in all halls apart from a few spare remaining for North Roe hall.
Until the big day is over Lindsay’s main concern is to remember the lyrics for his squad song, Whisky Roll by Cammy Barnes.
“I’ve no got a good memory for song lyrics but it’s an upbeat, happy song and well enough known that hopefully enough folk on the night can help me mind the lyrics!”
There has been so much preparation and work to make this Up Helly Aa a success for Lindsay and he recognises, “it’s a great honour, a once in a lifetime thing you can do. You never get another chance of being Jarl again.”
“It’s a huge amount of work, probably a bigger commitment than most folk realise it’s going to be. On the day it goes by in a flash, goes so quick that before you know it’s over!”
So, after Up Helly Aa does Lindsay have plans to put his feet up and relax?
“First thing I’ll do is shave immediately! I hate having a beard and I’ve not had long hair since the 80’s when I was young so that’ll get trimmed too. And that’ll be the end of Greybeard!”
After breakfast at the Galley shed, the Jarl Squad will visit Urafirth Primary school at 9.30am, Ollaberry Primary School at 10.45am and North Roe Primary School at 12pm. Photographs will be taken at the waterfront in Hillswick at 3pm.
The torchlit procession is scheduled to begin at 7.30pm in Hillswick.
This story will be updated with more pictures throughout the day.
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