Shetland Boat Week 2019 Sponsors announced

Shetland Amenity Trust are very pleased to announce the sponsors for the 2019 Shetland Boat Week event.

Appropriately, for the fourth event, there are four main sponsors. These are Ocean Kinetics, Serco NorthLink Ferries, Lerwick Port Authority, and coming ‘aboard’ this year, seafood marketing campaign, So Much to Sea.

Each of the sponsors has natural connections with maritime activity and are able to offer activities, support and funding to the festival.

Promote Shetland are also supporting Shetland Boat Week by assisting with a trip to the Scottish Traditional Boat Festival in Portsoy in June to promote the event. With transportation assistance from NorthLink, event organisers will attend the Portsoy weekend with Frank Johnson to display the Hine Motu, a traditional Shetland model built by Jimmy Smith in the 1960s and recently retuned to Shetland from Cornwall by Mr Johnson.

Ruth Mackenzie, Shetland Amenity Trust Chairwoman said “Shetland Boat Week is a growing event which we know is well received by the Shetland community. There is no other event which caters for the maritime traditions in this way and the support we receive from our sponsors is greatly appreciated. This enables us to give people of all ages, both local and visitors the opportunity to get out on the water, learn about the use of boats and facilitate skills development and retention for the traditional practices.

“Being able to tie this in with more contemporary maritime activities and ships is a perfect mix of old and new, giving a whole new audience the chance to experience the sea in some way.”

Organisers are still keen to hear from anyone who has a traditional Shetland model boat they would like to submit for the outdoor display at Hay’s Dock in August. A recent appeal for volunteers to help deliver activities continues and anyone interested should get in touch with Emma Miller on 077538 06095 or email emma@realtaevents.co.uk.