Community / One year on from the Tall Ships: what will its legacy be?
Surplus funding is set to be redirected to training for event security and sailing
IT WAS this time last year when Shetland was gearing up to host the Tall Ships Races for a third time.
With eye-catching ships and international crew, to live music and a party atmosphere, it feels like the four-day event lived up to expectations – and then some.
But one year on, what is the legacy of the 2023 Tall Ships – beyond the memories?
The local event was organised by Shetland Tall Ships Limited, and its chairman Malcolm Bell said the buzz around Lerwick that weekend in late July will be unforgettable those who experienced it.
He added that the event was the “culmination of a condensed but intensive period” of planning.
“When we started out in early 2021, the world was only beginning to emerge from the Covid pandemic and no-one really knew what the future held,” the former councillor said.
“That was the context in which we had to make plans.
“At that time, whilst we didn’t know how the event might look, or even if it would happen, the prospect of the Tall Ships returning was something we felt the whole community could look forward to and come together for.”
Regarding the future, Bell said there is a desire to see a “tangible event legacy” from the Tall Ships.
One area already identified is using the Tall Ships as a spark to get more people in Shetland trained to steward large events – an issue that has contributed towards Mareel not hosting any standing concerts since before Covid.
Councillors have already agreed that some of the leftover funding from the Shetland Tall Ships event should be put towards getting local SIA (Security Industry Authority) training in place.
“One of the areas we had difficulty when planning the Tall Ships visit was in sourcing trained SIA security personnel, and we had to rely on bringing in security staff from the mainland,” Bell said.
“Looking to the future, it would be great to have a cadre of trained staff in Shetland who could serve at future public events. This is something STSL [Shetland Tall Ships Limited] is currently trying to ensure.
“We hope to use unspent funding from Event Scotland supplemented by the council to provide training and qualification opportunities here in Shetland for security personnel. I think that would be a fitting legacy for the Tall Ships visit in 2023.”
The arrival of the ships into Lerwick – as well as some other guest ports like Cullivoe – brought a huge number of sail trainees to Shetland.
Sail training is often regarded as a useful tool in young person’s development, giving them increased independence and responsibility.
Sail Training Shetland chair Melanie Henderson said the demand for placements locally remains “very strong” after the Tall Ships, with an “excellent number” of applicants for this year’s adventures.
“We have returned to a more ‘normal’ level of placements this year,” she added.
“Our selected trainees are going further afield into the Baltic for a 13-night voyage aboard the German tall ship Roald Amundsen.”
This means that six local trainees will be taking part in the 2024 Tall Ships Races on a route between Mariehamn, Åland Islands and Szczecin, Poland.
There will also be ‘legacy’ money going to Sail Training Shetland thanks to the surplus Tall Ships funding.
The overall cost to stage the Tall Ships in Shetland came to £2.3 million, and there ended up being an underspend of around £238,500, which is going towards the sail and SIA training schemes.
Shetland Islands Council committed grant funding of £1.238 million towards hosting the Tall Ships extravaganza, which was the third in the isles after 1999 and 2011, while EventScotland also contributed funds.
The 2023 event is thought to have resulted in an additional spend in in Shetland of £3 million, equating to an additional gross value added of £1.4 million.
A total of 16,165 unique attendees were counted over the four-day event.
Meanwhile one key element of the Tall Ships’ visit to Lerwick was the entertainment, and in particular the live music on offer both on the large stage at Holmsgarth and on Victoria Pier.
Before the event the hype was around visiting acts like Peat & Diesel, but in the days and weeks after the talk often focused on the many local bands.
The success of Shetland’s homegrown acts being brought together for a weekend of fun was something of a catalyst for the new contemporary music festival Rising North, which is set to take place in Lerwick next month.
Rising North committee member Anthony said the idea for a new festival had been brewing in the years beforehand, but the Tall Ships “certainly helped” to spurs things on.
The main event at the Clickimin on Saturday 17 August is already sold out, while Lerwick pubs and venues will host free live music the night before.
Whatever may end up being the tangible legacy of the 2023 Tall Ships in the years to come, the positivity that it brought to Shetland one year ago will remain in the memory for a long time.
“In the end,” Bell recalled, “the event was a spectacular success and no-one who experienced it will ever forget the buzz and excitement around our islands over the course of that week.”
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