Community / Ring pulls and pallets inspire Paul’s ‘recycling’ theme at Delting Up Helly Aa
IT’S no secret that jarl squads all over Shetland enjoy a can or two throughout the year.
But for Delting jarl Paul Ratter and his squad, the work did not stop when they were putting away a can on a social night – it was only just beginning.
Over 100,000 ring pulls have been salvaged, cleaned and meticulously linked to form the 45-strong Delting squad’s breastplates this year.
And Paul, who says his theme as guizer jarl was “recycling”, has also made use of old pallets to create the shields they will carry with them through the North Mainland.
He joked that his squad’s favourite part of the year had been “drinking all the cans to get the ring pulls”.
“They came from all over. The pubs in Lerwick came with ones, pubs here in Brae and Frankie’s gave us ones,” Paul said.
His wife Lynne also got her sister to put out a plea for ring pulls in East Dunbartonshire, which resulted in “tens of thousands” being shipped to Shetland.
“Everybody in the squad and their dog was bringing ones,” Paul added.
For the day he will become Grim Gamilson, an Icelandic viking who fittingly was the nephew of Grettir the Outlaw – the character Paul’s uncle Frank Ratter portrayed in 1993.
In a nod to Lynne’s family tartan, the squad will wear burgundy and green. That again will tie in with both Frank’s burgundy suits, and the colours of Delting Football Club.
Paul will be joined on his big day by he and Lynne’s three children, Magnus, Kaila and John-Ross, all of whom are now adults. There are two bairns in the squad.
The pair spoke to Shetland News on Wednesday, just days before Paul led the ranks at Delting, and he said the “excitement was building”.
“It seems like there’s not enough days in this week,” he said.
Lynne on the other hand said that for a while she was “looking forward to the Monday after”.
But as the big day got closer, she said that was beginning to change.
“After today I’ll be looking forward to it,” she said. “I have family coming up from south, my dad and his wife have never seen it.”
Paul has several squad members travelling up for his Delting day out, including an old school friend from South Africa.
“I was in fifth and sixth year with him, and he heard I was going to be jarl and said he would come over for it,” he said.
“I never thought he would come, but he just kept paying his money in and now he’s here!”
Grim Gamilson and his squad have been hard at work over the winter, crafting the recycled suit they will proudly display today (Friday).
Lynne has crafted 45 bags for the guizers all from home, adding that she had decided to take on the task because she “wanted them to look all the same”.
“She thought it was better if she did it, she couldna trust wis to do it,” Paul laughed.
He said he “canna believe how much time was spent working over the winter” to get the suit he wanted.
Despite spending 15 years waiting for his time as jarl, Paul said he only began to ruminate on potential suit ideas two years ago.
His uncle Frank brought his suit to his squad before he was jarl in 1993, telling them “this is what I want to make and this is how I want to make it”.
Bolstered by that, Paul brought a prototype shield, helmet and breastplate to his first meeting with his own squad to show them his plans.
“I think they were quite happy, and quite surprised I had any creative thoughts in my head,” Paul joked.
“So was I, because it was a struggle.”
Lynne admits that the first thought about the breastplate was, “how are we going to do it?”
The idea for a breastplate made from ring pulls came to Paul via his mother, who asked if they had ever considered it before.
“I don’t know where she got the idea,” Paul said.
“Why would anyone ever think of that?”
Putting together the breastplate has not just involved immense drinking power, but meticulous cleaning, collecting and preparing of pieces to put together.
Paul said that when he brought it to his squad they agreed that it “looked pretty effective”.
But he is adamant that no squad will ever do it again – “because it was an absolute pain in the arse”.
Lynne has been looking after the financial side of things for the squad, and said there had been a conscious effort to look for the “cheapest possible options”.
“It’s a country jarl squad after all,” Paul said. “We don’t want it to be too expensive.”
That led to the “theme of recycling”, with Paul wondering if he could turn a pile of old pallets into something worthy of showing off.
“I stripped some down, de-nailed and sanded them to make a prototype shield, which worked really well,” he said.
The 45 helmets have been hand-sewn by the squad themselves, with no wings or horns to speak of but leather on both sides.
And their skins have also come from an unusual source this year.
“Paul thought about deer skin, but it was so expensive,” Lynne said.
“We found a faux reindeer rug on Dunelm, so we ordered one to see what it was like and we really liked it.”
Paul phoned the company to ask if they could order 40-odd rugs to be shipped to Shetland, and asked them to be shipped together.
“They said that was no problem,” he explained.
“Then they sent them all up individually instead. We had to open up the galley shed for Streamline just to drop them all off in there.”
A squad emblem was also created by Lynne, based on an interesting find on a glass in a charity shop.
“It was a tri-knot of two, so it was six, which I took and reduced down to five for me, Paul and the bairns,” she said.
That will be keenly displayed on the squad’s arms, shoulders and helmet.
Proud Delting man Paul has repurposed Tony Christie’s classic (Is This the Way to) Amarillo for his squad to sing today, with the words changed to ask: “Is this the way to Delting parish?”
They will have no problem navigating themselves around the North Mainland this weekend, starting with a hearty breakfast at the Northern Lights this morning.
They will then march to the galley shed at 8.15am for photos with galley Moder Dy, before visiting schools in Lunnasting, Brae and Mossbank.
A community event in the Brae Hall follows at 3pm, with the torchlit procession starting from the Brae Hall at 7.30pm tonight.
More photos will be added to this post as they come in.
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