Travelling from London-Shetland: a 04:30 wake-up call for those coming from Oxfordshire, well met at Heathrow for our 09:45 Loganair flight to Sumburgh via Dundee. By the time we land at Sumburgh almost 4 hours later we collectively have invited half the plane to our concert at Hymhus Bigton on Saturday night. Everyone interested in what we are doing with the schools and in Fair Isle.
We pick up our hire car and head straight to Bigton, where, not quite orientated (the SatNav takes us to Bigton then gives up as if to say “this is as far as I go - you’re on your own”) and without mobile coverage, I knock on the door of Hayhoull B&B for directions. The helpful lady who greets me there is Mary, fortuitously aunt of our Bigton friend and local organiser Alice and sister of Audrey, one of our hosts. Mary leads us to Audrey, where Stu and I are staying, and takes Caroline, Jo and Lydia to their host Laura.
We are running late, so head quickly to the local venue we are performing in on Saturday - Hymhus - where we meet Eva from BBC Shetland, chat about the project, and play some music for her. (Link to feature below - starts at 24:49 in)
A quick break to drink tea and munch on host Audrey’s excellent scones and then rehearsal in this great venue created in Bigton Kirk, recently bought by the community. It is a flexible space for art, music, workshops, classes, practice, rehearsals, weddings, funerals - it has a shop selling preloved things and locally made foods, and a kitchen from which teas, coffees and baked treats come forth. There is an abundance of art on the walls and ledges - the sculpture above is The Forgetting (2023) by Susan Pearson.
It has a warm, friendly, relaxed vibe, and as we rehearse we enjoy its wonderful acoustic.
Audrey cooks us all a fantastic fish pie for supper, very welcome hot nosh and time to unwind before the action-packed day coming up next.
Thank yous today to Bigton folk Alice, Mary, Audrey & Laura, and Eva from BBC Shetland for a lovely interview and rapid but great edit for that evening’s broadcast.
Blogging by Claire Shovelton
