Amenity trust in better place, departed chair says after eight years at charity
Alison Moncrieff says it has been a ‘privilege’ to have been chair of the trust
“I LOVE a challenge,” says recently departed Shetland Amenity Trust chair Alison Moncrieff as she reflects on her time with the charity. “If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have been there for eight years.”
She also believes the trust, which oversees Shetland’s heritage, is in a better position than it was – with greater financial stability a key factor.
Moncrieff helmed her final meeting at the amenity trust’s AGM in August, passing over the baton to Hamish Balfour after five years as chair.
With the swift election of Balfour, and the passing over of a parting gift from chief executive Hazel Sutherland, her eight-year stint at the trust reached its conclusion.
“It’s been a privilege,” Moncrieff told Shetland News after the AGM.
“I think that’s the key thing – to be able to be in a place where I can hopefully have had some influence on helping to protect Shetland’s heritage for future generations.”
She said the amenity trust has had to evolve a “peerie bit” during her time with the charity. The staff headcount is down, things have been reorganised, property is off the books.
The trust reported a near break-even position at the end of 2025/26, but in 2017/18, for example, it oversaw a loss of more than £290,000 prior to a strategic plan being put in place.
“Different management and different trustees have come [and gone], and we live in a very different age to when it was set up 40 years ago,” Moncrieff added.
“I’ve been really privileged to have been part of that moving on.
“I wouldn’t have been able to do what I’ve hopefully achieved without the trustees I had around me, and without Hazel and the team, because they’ve helped to stabilise [the amenity trust].
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“There’s no secret about the financial mess it was that I inherited when I came on board. So to be able to leave it in a better position than when I came is good.”
When asked if the finances were the biggest challenge in her tenure as chair, her response was “no…but I say that as an accountant to trade”.
She said finances and figures were her “bread and butter”; the unknowns at the trust when Moncrieff joined were instead the challenge.
“To begin with, trying to eke that out and say ‘okay, can you tell me about this, what is this?’ There is a vast range of things that the amenity trust has done and has been involved in, and you dunna find that out overnight.
“That’s been a challenge, to get each thing and tackle it in a way that we tried as best as we possibly could to bring the community with us and to try and be as transparent as we could.”
Using woodland as an example, she believes the trust is now in a more collaborative space with the community, “helping the folk in Shetland on their heritage”.
She said while the woodland team used to just plant trees, now there is a focus on giving people advice on native trees and where would be best to plant them, for instance.
“If somebody is sitting there doing it for them, they’re not getting the same enjoyment, they don’t feel the same connection to it,” Moncrieff said.
From the outside, one of the key moves made by the amenity trust in recent times feels like the disposing of estate.
It no longer runs a network of camping böds, for example, while other property has gone on the market – from Park Hall near Bixter to the Bressay Lighthouse.
Moncrieff said the charity reviewed its property assets and focused in on whether it was the most appropriate custodian.
For the accommodation, she said the question was: “Is preserving Shetland’s heritage about having staff spending time running camping böds?”
“When we looked at that, and put it through a kind of sense check…when we put it through that, we thought ‘are we best placed to do that, or would it be better putting those types of assets into the community’?”
The latest example in this respect is the Sail Loft böd in Voe, which is in line to be taken on by the local community development group.
Not far from Voe, meanwhile, is the Viking wind farm, one of the largest changes in Shetland during Moncrieff’s time with the trust.
The development raised concerns among many on a range of issues from peatland – one area of expertise at the amenity trust – to visual impact.
The amenity trust also raised concerns during the planning process.
So can a huge development like Viking co-exist with Shetland’s natural heritage?
“We have commented and put in as much information about how we feel that sits within the Shetland natural heritage, biodiversity, ecosystems – from the natural heritage side of things,” Moncrieff said.
“As an organisation that wants to protect wir heritage, it would be remiss of us if we hadn’t commented on that.
“So we do put forward comments on proposed developments, whether that be a wind farm or a hoose.”
She then pointed to Sullom Voe Terminal, which she now views as part of Shetland’s heritage some 50 years after construction began.
“The museum now has a new section in it about the oil industry coming to Shetland,” Moncrieff added.
“The wind farm will become part of our heritage in another time, so it’s just understanding it and working with it.
“You have set aside your personal views on that, but at the same time kind of recognise that with everything that some folk see as good, there’s pros and cons.”
So, the time on the trust has came to an end. When asked what is next, Moncrieff said there are no firm plans yet.
One thing she is sure about, though, is that her voluntary role at the trust has been “quite a full-time job for the last eight years”.
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