News / In brief for 15 August 2011
The Illustrators
AN EXHIBITION of contemporary children’s book illustration curated by Children’s Laureate Julia Donaldson, author of The Gruffalo, begins on Friday at Weisdale’s Bonhoga Gallery.
There will be a public opening from 6-8pm on Friday after which the exhibition will run until 25 September.
Shetland-based illustrator Meilo So will have work displayed in the gallery’s stairwell and Shetland Arts will run a series of free informal readings for children.
Jane Matthews of Shetland Arts said: “While we are lucky to have got The Illustrators show here from Falkirk we are also privileged to be showing an exhibition of new small works in the café by painter Gail Harvey.
“And with local author Janice Armstrong and illustrator Meilo So involved with their work as well we are going to have a brilliant five week run.”
Mushrooms
SHETLAND Biological Records Centre is to hold a three day course on the identification and management of fungi in Shetland.
Renowned mycologist Liz Holden will be in Shetland from 3 to 5 September to lead the course entitled ‘Fungi Fact and Fiction: An introduction to their identification, habitats and conservation’, which will cover a range of topics with practical sessions and field visits.
Approximately 1,000 varieties of fungi have been recorded in Shetland, the most common being the edible field mushroom, Agaricus campestris and horse mushroom, Agaricus arvensis.
Places must be booked in advance and cost £40 +VAT per person. More information on the course and the centre can be found at www.shetlandbrc.co.uk/training_courses.html
Food Oscar
BRIGG’S Shetland Lamb has been awarded a Two Gold Star Award in the 2011 Great Taste Awards in recognition of their Shetland Hogget (two summers old).
This year 7,000 different products were entered for what are considered the Oscars of the food world, while only 608 received the Two Gold Stars.
This year’s entry for Briggs’ Shetland Lamb was a leg of hill hog from the Benston and East Kame crofts, South Nesting, which was processed by Shetland Livestock Marketing Group (SLMG) at their Laxfirth abattoir and prepared by the butchers at A & JK Anderson, Whiteness.
Owner Richard Briggs said: “The award is a great boost to our confidence in native Shetland lamb as we start selling this season’s meat. Customers are attracted by the provenance of the meat but it is the quality and the service they receive that keeps them buying year on year.”
Young readers
ALMOST 400 young readers aged between four and 12 took part in this summer’s “Circus Stars” Reading Challenge.
The scheme, which was run by the Shetland library in Lerwick, aimed to encourage youngsters to read six books over the school summer holidays.
Librarian Morag Nicolson said the scheme would now be rolled out across Shetland’s rural schools during the autumn term.
Carrier bags
THE SCOTTISH government is to consult on how to reduce the number of plastic carrier bags by force.
Despite efforts to tackle dependence on plastic shopping bags voluntarily over the past five years, latest figures show they are being used more than ever.
Environment secretary Richard Lochhead said: “We want Scotland to become a zero waste society. Our consultation, which takes place this autumn, will look at options for cutting plastic bag use even further – and, as we pledged in our election campaign, we will consider legislating on this issue if need be.”
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