Community / Outdoor activity centre set to offer axe throwing and paddle boarding in North Mainland
Grant Pettigrew hopes the project will help support people’s mental wellbeing
EVER wanted to try your hand at axe throwing or paddle boarding? Soon you could have your chance, through plans for an outdoor activity centre in the heart of Brae.
Grant Pettigrew is aiming to launch the centre, which will also have a focus on activities that improve people’s mental health, from Delting Boating Club this summer.
The SUP Shetland Outdoor Activities and Wellbeing Centre is the passion project of Pettigrew, who moved up to the isles from Perth with his wife and three children.
Having ventured north to Shetland, Pettigrew said he noticed that there “doesn’t seem to be much [people] on the island doing that sort of thing”.
He plans to offer axe throwing, paddle boarding and snorkelling, with everyone from solo adventurers, groups, stag dos, hen parties and businesses looking for a fun team building outing set to be targeted.
Folk will be given coaching sessions for using the paddle board, with more paddling training also available.
And he plans to run a “recycle your outdoor gear” programme – which would see unused equipment like kayaks, canoes or wet suits fixed up and passed on to people looking to get into outdoor activities.
Pettigrew wants the centre’s reach to be greater than that, though. As someone who has suffered with mental health issues himself, he wants the facility to offer solace and support to people who need it.
“When I moved up to Shetland I was working for the council’s outdoor education department, and I’ve always wanted to do something in that position,” he told Shetland News.
“I’ve been in the industry for about 12-13 years, and I know how important the wellbeing side of things is to it.
“After Covid then people’s mental health suffered. It’s such an important thing to take care of.”
Pettigrew wants to offer a “safe space to meet people to go out for a walk and a talk”, letting folk “just to free your mind”.
He says that going out into the sea has helped him during bouts of low mood.
“It doesn’t take away your problems, it’s not like ‘oh, I’m cured’. But it does make you feel so much better.
“I just think there’s so many benefits to it.”
He already has an agreement with the Delting Boating Club to use the space, which he calls the “perfect location”.
Folk will be able to “paddle from the marina to Busta for soup and a sandwich, or a cup of tea”, he suggests.
The SUP Shetland outdoor centre is the long-term goal of Pettigrew, who wants to turn it into a viable business.
He has raised over £2,800 through a GoFundMe fundraiser already, as well as applying for funding through Business Gateway.
As soon as funding is in place, Pettigrew says sessions can begin – with a summer target in mind.
“As soon as possible would be good really,” he said. “We’re coming into the right time of year for it now.”
People would pay for their sessions, but Pettigrew hopes to strike an agreement with NHS Shetland to allow patients to use the service to improve their wellbeing.
“It would be good to have a relationship with the schools too,” he said.
“I’ve worked with pupils with additional support needs for years, and I know that it’s not necessarily easy for them to go up to Eshaness and down to the cliffs there.
“So I’d like to be involved with school groups as well, and give them the chance to come to the marina to give it a go.”
Axe throwing seems to lend itself naturally to being a hen party or stag do activity, but paddle boarding does not immediately shout that out.
However Pettigrew said “you’d be surprised” how many groups are looking for something different like that.
“It’s great fun,” he said. “Eventually I would like to get giant paddle boards, which would be great for stag and henny groups.
“Mavis Grind is like a big playground, so you could have axe throwing and paddle boarding set up there for hennies, stag dos or teambuilding stuff.”
As well as the outdoor activities, Pettigrew knows already about the Shetland weather and has planned sessions in the Delting Boating Club building.
These include drum therapy, which life-long musician Pettigrew says puts a percussion instrument in every person’s hands for a meditative and relaxing session.
Pettigrew says he hopes the endeavour will become a full-time job for him, with plans three or four years down the line to employ a second full-time staff member.
You can read more about SUP Shetland’s plans and donate to their GoFundMe here.
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