Shetland Boat Week Launched Today
A new and exciting event is planned for Shetland this summer. The first Shetland Boat Week will take place between 8th and 14th August. The week-long family friendly event is inspired by Shetland’s rich maritime heritage, while also being inclusive of more contemporary methods and materials.
A wide range of activities are planned during the week, which will include demonstrations of traditional skills, talks, boat trips and tours of vessels and venues not normally open to the public. The keynote speaker for the inaugural event will be Dr Kevin Fewster, Director of the National Maritime Museum. Dr Fewster will deliver a lecture on Thursday 11th August, and an informal Q&A session on Friday 12th.
Shetland Boat Week has benefitted from generous sponsorship funding from local marine engineering company, Ocean Kinetics, and Grant Aid funding from Shetland Amenity Trust. The Trust is leading co-ordination of the event along with Shetland Museum and Archives. Valuable support has also been received from Serco NorthLink Ferries, Lerwick Port Authority, and Unst Heritage Centre and Boat Haven, with other local companies and groups also getting involved.
Organising team, Brian Wishart,
Emma Miller, John Henderson
and Ian Tait.
Missing from photo: Davy Cooper.
Emma Miller, event co-ordinator said “Many generations of Shetlanders have made their living on or around the sea and the links with maritime and related marine industries are as important today as they always have been. Shetland Boat Week is an excellent opportunity to get more people involved with boats and the sea and pass on knowledge and experience. This is going to be a great event for local folk and visitors. Everyone I’ve spoken to about it so far is really enthusiastic and it’s clear to see that it’s going to be a very sociable affair!”
Community groups and maritime related groups or businesses are encouraged to take part in Shetland Boat Week by providing tours of their premises, delivering talks, slideshows or other events to share knowledge and experiences. Anyone who would like to submit an event for free promotion in the programme should contact Emma Miller, event co-ordinator, on 01595 694688 or email emma@shetlandamenity.org.
A printed programme of events will be available shortly. All confirmed event listings are available now at www.shetlandboatweek.com/events and tickets are available to book online at www.thelittleboxoffice.com/smaa. New events will be added in the coming weeks and the website and Facebook page will both be kept updated with developments.
