Community / Mischievous Manson pokes fun as guizer jarl Grains handed freedom of the town
A WATERY mishap at the Scalloway Fire Festival and fluffy slippers and sweet sherry were fertile comedic grounds for convener Andrea Manson at Tuesday’s civic reception.
Shetland Islands Council welcomed guizer jarl Calum Grains and his squad to the Lerwick Town Hall on Tuesday morning for the annual event, which saw both Grains and Manson deliver humorous speeches – often at the council’s own expense.
Grains and the 2025 jarl squad were handed the freedom of Lerwick at the event, which also saw them drink port and brandy – Grains’ choice – to toast Måløy in Norway.
Convener Manson paid tribute to the guizer jarl and his squad’s suits – while also poking fun at the Lerwick Port Authority chief executive.
She suggested that “hi-vis life jackets might be the order of the day” after a volunteer at the Scalloway Fire Festival – who is in Grains’ squad – fell into the harbour while trying to move their galley earlier this month.
And she asked him if he had “dried out yet”, to laughter around the room.
Manson also said there had been a major upsurge at street retailers Beggs and The Wine Shop as people rushed out to stock up on fluffy smucks and sweet sherry.
The council convener said Grains’ squad suit was “simply magnificent”, adding that their skill in crafting it “is a credit to you all”.
She said that Shetland does it “all so well” when it comes to its fire festivals, saying that the Lerwick event “makes my heart proud”.
Manson also joked that it was a welcome way to end dry January.
She said that Grains was a “hard-working family man” doing a “splendid job” at the port authority, and that she had found it hard to dig up any dirt on him.
And in closing her speech she told the gathering of family members, ex-jarls and dignitaries a joke about how her love of “riding” had recently got her into trouble – when she fell off a children’s toy ride in Bolts.
Grains said he would find it difficult to surpass her quality of jokes in his speech, but referred to his cousin – the late John Hunter, who was jarl in 2011 – who he said would always be remembered for telling the worst jokes.
And he drew the biggest laugh of the day when he referred to the changing dynamics of the world by saying: “We used to have an empire, run by an emperor.
“Then we had a kingdom, run by a king.
“Now we have a country.”
He explained that he was being joined by two fellow port chiefs in his squad, both of whom he admitted were invited in “after having some whisky”.
Grains said the squad had focused on making a suit with as much local materials as possible, and he paid tribute to the quality available locally.
Both he and Manson praised the hosts and hostesses of the 11 Lerwick halls they will visit tonight, with the council convener saying that without them “Up Helly Aa just wouldn’t happen”.
She handed Grains and his squad the freedom of the town for the next 24 hours, and asked him to return it to them in a similar state tomorrow afternoon.
And after a ceremonial sip of port and brandy – which Manson declared was “certainly better than the Fireball we had one year” – she released them to continue their tour of the town.
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