{ "products":[{ "title":"A Shetland Boyhood: Memories of a Manse 1911-1922", "handle":"a-shetland-boyhood-memories-of-a-manse-1911-1922", "featured_image":"//shop.shetlandtimes.co.uk/cdn/shop/files/AShetlandBoyhood_380x.jpg?v=1731053360", "description":"Retired minister John B. Logan recalls his boyhood in Shetland where his father had the extensive Dunrossness parish between 1911 and 1922.\nA vivid portrayal in prose and poetry of personalities within the parish, this also includes recollections of events in Shetland during the First World War, and a memorable trip to Fair Isle in 1922.\nIllustrated with photographs taken by Logan himself with his Kodak Brownie box camera, along with postcards from his collection, A Shetland Boyhood gives a rare glimpse into parish life.\n \nJohn B. Logan\npaperback\n142 pages\n ", "price":1199, "compare_at_price":0, "collections": [{"id":4536598539,"handle":"biography","title":"Biography","updated_at":"2025-01-05T13:00:37+00:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2018-02-07T16:21:18+00:00","sort_order":"manual","template_suffix":null,"disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Biography"}],"published_scope":"web"},{"id":9326362635,"handle":"featured-products","updated_at":"2025-01-22T04:05:13+00:00","published_at":"2018-02-21T11:56:00+00:00","sort_order":"manual","template_suffix":null,"published_scope":"web","title":"Featured Products","body_html":""},{"id":4536795147,"handle":"history","title":"History","updated_at":"2025-01-22T04:05:06+00:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2018-02-07T16:21:26+00:00","sort_order":"manual","template_suffix":null,"disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"History"}],"published_scope":"web"},{"id":149941846086,"handle":"st","updated_at":"2025-01-22T04:05:06+00:00","published_at":"2019-09-25T17:09:54+01:00","sort_order":"created-desc","template_suffix":"","published_scope":"web","title":"st","body_html":""}] },{ "title":"Discover Lerwick", "handle":"discover-lerwick", "featured_image":"//shop.shetlandtimes.co.uk/cdn/shop/files/DiscoverLerwick_380x.jpg?v=1727852489", "description":"Lerwick-born author and respected local historian, Douglas M. Sinclair, in his own inimitable style, takes the reader on a journey of discovery through the streets of the Conservation Areas of Lerwick.\nWith a lifelong interest in the town, and having trained as a Green Badge Tourist Guide following retirement, Douglas began writing articles for local papers which resulted in the publication of two books on the subject. He also provided walking tours of Old Lerwick which proved to be very popular. Douglas enjoyed meeting people from all over the world, and was keen to share his vast knowledge of the historic area where he grew up.\nThrough delving behind the facade of many important buildings and landmarks to discover their origin, history and the people involved, this book answers many of the questions put to him over the years by visitors and also locals.\nDue to his meticulous research, and subsequent determination to relate and record his findings, this informative book will serve a s a lasting legacy to Douglas and the Lerwick he loved.\nDouglas Sinclair\nPaperback\n144 pages", "price":1400, "compare_at_price":0, "collections": [{"id":161185005638,"handle":"advertised-books","title":"Advertised Books","updated_at":"2025-01-22T04:05:13+00:00","body_html":"","published_at":"2020-09-03T16:48:09+01:00","sort_order":"manual","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":true,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Advertised Books"}],"published_scope":"web"},{"id":4536369163,"handle":"books","title":"Books","updated_at":"2025-01-22T04:05:06+00:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2018-02-07T16:21:11+00:00","sort_order":"best-selling","template_suffix":null,"disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Books"}],"published_scope":"web"},{"id":9326362635,"handle":"featured-products","updated_at":"2025-01-22T04:05:13+00:00","published_at":"2018-02-21T11:56:00+00:00","sort_order":"manual","template_suffix":null,"published_scope":"web","title":"Featured Products","body_html":""},{"id":4537090059,"handle":"guide-books","title":"Guide Books","updated_at":"2025-01-21T16:15:35+00:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2018-02-07T16:21:38+00:00","sort_order":"manual","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Guide Books"}],"published_scope":"web"},{"id":4536795147,"handle":"history","title":"History","updated_at":"2025-01-22T04:05:06+00:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2018-02-07T16:21:26+00:00","sort_order":"manual","template_suffix":null,"disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"History"}],"published_scope":"web"},{"id":149941846086,"handle":"st","updated_at":"2025-01-22T04:05:06+00:00","published_at":"2019-09-25T17:09:54+01:00","sort_order":"created-desc","template_suffix":"","published_scope":"web","title":"st","body_html":""}] },{ "title":"To the End of the Days of Sail. The Mariners of Shetland", "handle":"to-the-end-of-the-days-of-sail-the-mariners-of-shetland", "featured_image":"//shop.shetlandtimes.co.uk/cdn/shop/files/EndoftheDaysofSail_380x.jpg?v=1726746496", "description":"Laughton Johnston's grandfather, like so many Shetland seamenof the 19th century, moved to Leith where his father'sgeneration was brought up. The Shetland family and seafaringconnections, however, proved strong and a trip home to theislands became an almost annual summer event of Laughton'schildhood. He and his eldest brother then followed theirgrandfather to sea. Laughton only for a few adventurous andenjoyable years. Eventually, he moved back to Shetlandpermanently, which led him to seek his Shetland roots.\nExploring his grandfather's career then led the author toresearch the wider story of 19th century Shetland seamen.What began as a casual recording of those, who like hisgrandfather, took officer tickets between 1850 and the 1920s,became over a period of a decade, a spreadsheet of the careersof over 2000 men.\nJ Laughton Johnston\nPaperback\n293 pages", "price":2599, "compare_at_price":0, "collections": [{"id":161185005638,"handle":"advertised-books","title":"Advertised Books","updated_at":"2025-01-22T04:05:13+00:00","body_html":"","published_at":"2020-09-03T16:48:09+01:00","sort_order":"manual","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":true,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Advertised Books"}],"published_scope":"web"},{"id":4536369163,"handle":"books","title":"Books","updated_at":"2025-01-22T04:05:06+00:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2018-02-07T16:21:11+00:00","sort_order":"best-selling","template_suffix":null,"disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Books"}],"published_scope":"web"},{"id":9326362635,"handle":"featured-products","updated_at":"2025-01-22T04:05:13+00:00","published_at":"2018-02-21T11:56:00+00:00","sort_order":"manual","template_suffix":null,"published_scope":"web","title":"Featured Products","body_html":""},{"id":4536795147,"handle":"history","title":"History","updated_at":"2025-01-22T04:05:06+00:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2018-02-07T16:21:26+00:00","sort_order":"manual","template_suffix":null,"disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"History"}],"published_scope":"web"},{"id":4536664075,"handle":"nautical","title":"Nautical","updated_at":"2025-01-17T19:05:30+00:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2018-02-07T16:21:21+00:00","sort_order":"manual","template_suffix":null,"disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Nautical"}],"published_scope":"web"},{"id":149941846086,"handle":"st","updated_at":"2025-01-22T04:05:06+00:00","published_at":"2019-09-25T17:09:54+01:00","sort_order":"created-desc","template_suffix":"","published_scope":"web","title":"st","body_html":""}] },{ "title":"History Maker", "handle":"history-maker", "featured_image":"//shop.shetlandtimes.co.uk/cdn/shop/files/HistoryMaker_380x.jpg?v=1726745564", "description":"Essays in Honour of Brian SmithEdited by Mark Smith and Ian Tait\nIn 1976, Brian Smith became Shetland’s first archivist. Since hisappointment, however, he has been much more than a recordkeeper. In his prolific output of essays, books and lectures, hehas constantly worked to broaden and deepen ourunderstanding of Shetland’s often obscure history.The essays in this volume, contributed by leading experts indiverse fields, have been written in this spirit. ", "price":2399, "compare_at_price":0, "collections": [{"id":161185005638,"handle":"advertised-books","title":"Advertised Books","updated_at":"2025-01-22T04:05:13+00:00","body_html":"","published_at":"2020-09-03T16:48:09+01:00","sort_order":"manual","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":true,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Advertised Books"}],"published_scope":"web"},{"id":4536369163,"handle":"books","title":"Books","updated_at":"2025-01-22T04:05:06+00:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2018-02-07T16:21:11+00:00","sort_order":"best-selling","template_suffix":null,"disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Books"}],"published_scope":"web"},{"id":9326362635,"handle":"featured-products","updated_at":"2025-01-22T04:05:13+00:00","published_at":"2018-02-21T11:56:00+00:00","sort_order":"manual","template_suffix":null,"published_scope":"web","title":"Featured Products","body_html":""},{"id":4536795147,"handle":"history","title":"History","updated_at":"2025-01-22T04:05:06+00:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2018-02-07T16:21:26+00:00","sort_order":"manual","template_suffix":null,"disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"History"}],"published_scope":"web"},{"id":149941846086,"handle":"st","updated_at":"2025-01-22T04:05:06+00:00","published_at":"2019-09-25T17:09:54+01:00","sort_order":"created-desc","template_suffix":"","published_scope":"web","title":"st","body_html":""}] },{ "title":"Telescope, Telescope, what can you see?", "handle":"telescope-telescope-what-can-you-see", "featured_image":"//shop.shetlandtimes.co.uk/cdn/shop/files/TelescopeTelescope_380x.jpg?v=1701958859", "description":"Join a young brother and sister as they gaze through a telescope from their bedroom window.\n\n\n\nTelescope, Telescope brings you to the heart of a small community, and an island filled with delight.\n\nThe first children's book by Shetland musician Jenna Reid, Telescope, Telescope is inspired by her own upbringing. It beautifully captures memories of childhood, and a close knit community, in the stunning backdrop of Shetland.\n\n\nIllustrated by Jennifer Mijatovic\n\n\nJenna Reid\nA4 Pbk\n30pp", "price":799, "compare_at_price":0, "collections": [{"id":161185005638,"handle":"advertised-books","title":"Advertised Books","updated_at":"2025-01-22T04:05:13+00:00","body_html":"","published_at":"2020-09-03T16:48:09+01:00","sort_order":"manual","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":true,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Advertised Books"}],"published_scope":"web"},{"id":4536369163,"handle":"books","title":"Books","updated_at":"2025-01-22T04:05:06+00:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2018-02-07T16:21:11+00:00","sort_order":"best-selling","template_suffix":null,"disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Books"}],"published_scope":"web"},{"id":161338327110,"handle":"childrens-fiction","title":"Children's Fiction","updated_at":"2024-12-18T21:40:14+00:00","body_html":"","published_at":"2020-09-21T11:34:36+01:00","sort_order":"manual","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Children's Fiction"}],"published_scope":"web"},{"id":4536696843,"handle":"children","title":"Children's Shetland","updated_at":"2025-01-17T23:30:00+00:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2018-02-07T16:21:23+00:00","sort_order":"manual","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Children"}],"published_scope":"web"},{"id":9326362635,"handle":"featured-products","updated_at":"2025-01-22T04:05:13+00:00","published_at":"2018-02-21T11:56:00+00:00","sort_order":"manual","template_suffix":null,"published_scope":"web","title":"Featured Products","body_html":""},{"id":149941846086,"handle":"st","updated_at":"2025-01-22T04:05:06+00:00","published_at":"2019-09-25T17:09:54+01:00","sort_order":"created-desc","template_suffix":"","published_scope":"web","title":"st","body_html":""}] },{ "title":"Wild Shetland Through the Seasons", "handle":"wild-shetland-through-the-seasons", "featured_image":"//shop.shetlandtimes.co.uk/cdn/shop/files/WildShetlandFC_380x.jpg?v=1698243139", "description":" \nA visually stunning book showcasing Shetland's natural history by one of the islands’ most renowned naturalists and photographers.  Thomason’s passion for both the wildlife and the islands exude from every page as his knowledge and beautiful photographs take us on a magical journey through the seasons.\nBrydon Thomason\nHardback\n288  pages\n \n“I love Shetland in every season. This book, with its stunning photographs, makes me feel I’m there. A must for people passionate about the islands and about natural history in all its forms.”        Ann Cleeves, author of crime series, Shetland.\n \n“Visually stunning, this thought-provoking book is a fitting homage to Shetland’s wildlife by one of the islands’ most celebrated naturalists and photographers. Thomason shares his deep connection with the natural world that has inspired him all his life, introducing the reader to the iconic species of his homeland and reminding us that it is all our interests that our wildlife is protected, treasured and most of all, enjoyed.”   Kate Humble, broadcaster and author.\n \n“A beautiful, intimate and informative celebration of the natural history of this most magical archipelago. Brydon Thomason is a Shetlander and this book shines with deep knowledge, local lore and wonder, as well as the latest science.“      Patrick Barkham, author of The Butterfly Isles, Islander and con-author, Wild Isles.\n ", "price":3699, "compare_at_price":0, "collections": [{"id":4536369163,"handle":"books","title":"Books","updated_at":"2025-01-22T04:05:06+00:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2018-02-07T16:21:11+00:00","sort_order":"best-selling","template_suffix":null,"disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Books"}],"published_scope":"web"},{"id":9326362635,"handle":"featured-products","updated_at":"2025-01-22T04:05:13+00:00","published_at":"2018-02-21T11:56:00+00:00","sort_order":"manual","template_suffix":null,"published_scope":"web","title":"Featured Products","body_html":""},{"id":4536729611,"handle":"general","title":"General","updated_at":"2025-01-22T04:05:13+00:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2018-02-07T16:21:23+00:00","sort_order":"manual","template_suffix":null,"disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"General"}],"published_scope":"web"},{"id":4536631307,"handle":"nature","title":"Nature","updated_at":"2025-01-21T14:10:47+00:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2023-02-25T13:46:26+00:00","sort_order":"manual","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Nature"}],"published_scope":"web"},{"id":149941846086,"handle":"st","updated_at":"2025-01-22T04:05:06+00:00","published_at":"2019-09-25T17:09:54+01:00","sort_order":"created-desc","template_suffix":"","published_scope":"web","title":"st","body_html":""}] },{ "title":"Farewell Fugley Island", "handle":"farewell-fugley-island", "featured_image":"//shop.shetlandtimes.co.uk/cdn/shop/products/FarewellFugleyIsland_380x.jpg?v=1668519886", "description":" \nAlec arrived on Britain’s most inaccessible inhabited island of Foula at a critical time, the last cattle had been sold, the shop was due to close and several young people had left. With no mains water or electricity, it was relying on the tenacity of the 28 islanders to survive.\n This spectacular island with the second highest sea cliffs in Britain was often isolated for months due to the stormy weather and had relied on peat, fish and birds for its existence. For six years Alec became absorbed into the island ways and he gives a unique insight into a disappearing way of life on a remote island that was clinging onto the past as it faced inevitable change. Alec’s life is a moving and liberating experience as he falls in love and marries on the island, adapting to the change with warm humour and hard work offering clear sighted observations on the colourful characters encountered. But eventually he has to make a decision whether to stay or leave.\n Alec Crawford has been based on many islands during his work on shipwrecks as a diver. He later operated around the world using remote equipment to recover deep water cargoes and remove oil from shipping casualties. Alec and his wife Moya’s work has been recorded in both the Timewatch documentary ‘The Lost Liner and the Empire’s Gold’ and his first book Treasure Islands.\n Alec Crawford\nPaperback\n240pages\n240 x 165mm ", "price":1499, "compare_at_price":0, "collections": [{"id":161185005638,"handle":"advertised-books","title":"Advertised Books","updated_at":"2025-01-22T04:05:13+00:00","body_html":"","published_at":"2020-09-03T16:48:09+01:00","sort_order":"manual","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":true,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Advertised Books"}],"published_scope":"web"},{"id":4536598539,"handle":"biography","title":"Biography","updated_at":"2025-01-05T13:00:37+00:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2018-02-07T16:21:18+00:00","sort_order":"manual","template_suffix":null,"disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Biography"}],"published_scope":"web"},{"id":9326362635,"handle":"featured-products","updated_at":"2025-01-22T04:05:13+00:00","published_at":"2018-02-21T11:56:00+00:00","sort_order":"manual","template_suffix":null,"published_scope":"web","title":"Featured Products","body_html":""},{"id":4536729611,"handle":"general","title":"General","updated_at":"2025-01-22T04:05:13+00:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2018-02-07T16:21:23+00:00","sort_order":"manual","template_suffix":null,"disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"General"}],"published_scope":"web"},{"id":149941846086,"handle":"st","updated_at":"2025-01-22T04:05:06+00:00","published_at":"2019-09-25T17:09:54+01:00","sort_order":"created-desc","template_suffix":"","published_scope":"web","title":"st","body_html":""}] },{ "title":"A Shetland Knitter's Notebook", "handle":"a-shetland-knitters-notebook", "featured_image":"//shop.shetlandtimes.co.uk/cdn/shop/products/AShetlandKnittersNotebook_380x.jpg?v=1662038793", "description":"A Shetland Knitter's Notebook is the companion volume to the bestselling A Shetland Pattern Book. First published in 1991, it contains more words and pictures from Mary Smith and photographs by Chris Bunyan.\nMary Smith and Chris Bunyan\nPaperback\n138 pages", "price":1099, "compare_at_price":0, "collections": [{"id":161185005638,"handle":"advertised-books","title":"Advertised Books","updated_at":"2025-01-22T04:05:13+00:00","body_html":"","published_at":"2020-09-03T16:48:09+01:00","sort_order":"manual","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":true,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Advertised Books"}],"published_scope":"web"},{"id":9326362635,"handle":"featured-products","updated_at":"2025-01-22T04:05:13+00:00","published_at":"2018-02-21T11:56:00+00:00","sort_order":"manual","template_suffix":null,"published_scope":"web","title":"Featured Products","body_html":""},{"id":4536533003,"handle":"knitting","title":"Knitting","updated_at":"2025-01-16T14:50:30+00:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2018-02-07T16:21:16+00:00","sort_order":"manual","template_suffix":null,"disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Knitting"}],"published_scope":"web"},{"id":149941846086,"handle":"st","updated_at":"2025-01-22T04:05:06+00:00","published_at":"2019-09-25T17:09:54+01:00","sort_order":"created-desc","template_suffix":"","published_scope":"web","title":"st","body_html":""}] },{ "title":"A Shetland Pattern Book", "handle":"a-shetland-pattern-book", "featured_image":"//shop.shetlandtimes.co.uk/cdn/shop/products/AShetlandPatternBook_380x.jpg?v=1662038849", "description":"First published in 1979, A Shetland Pattern Book became a global bestseller, with numerous reprints and revisions. Since the last edition went out of print in the early 1990s it has been highly sought after on the second-hand market. Now, after almost three decades, it is available again so that a new generation of knitters can find inspiration within the covers of this practical book.\nMary Smith and Maggie Liddle\nPaperback\n64 pages", "price":999, "compare_at_price":0, "collections": [{"id":161185005638,"handle":"advertised-books","title":"Advertised Books","updated_at":"2025-01-22T04:05:13+00:00","body_html":"","published_at":"2020-09-03T16:48:09+01:00","sort_order":"manual","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":true,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Advertised Books"}],"published_scope":"web"},{"id":9326362635,"handle":"featured-products","updated_at":"2025-01-22T04:05:13+00:00","published_at":"2018-02-21T11:56:00+00:00","sort_order":"manual","template_suffix":null,"published_scope":"web","title":"Featured Products","body_html":""},{"id":4536533003,"handle":"knitting","title":"Knitting","updated_at":"2025-01-16T14:50:30+00:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2018-02-07T16:21:16+00:00","sort_order":"manual","template_suffix":null,"disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Knitting"}],"published_scope":"web"},{"id":149941846086,"handle":"st","updated_at":"2025-01-22T04:05:06+00:00","published_at":"2019-09-25T17:09:54+01:00","sort_order":"created-desc","template_suffix":"","published_scope":"web","title":"st","body_html":""}] },{ "title":"Best Days with Shetland's Birds - Paperback", "handle":"best-days-with-shetlands-birds-1", "featured_image":"//shop.shetlandtimes.co.uk/cdn/shop/products/BestDayswithBirds_3b6a4409-e170-4a0e-a69d-e5fd2ab3bf11_380x.jpg?v=1648716485", "description":" \nPAPERBACK EDITION\nSpanning decades as well as the seasons, thirty well known figures of the local bird scene share what Shetland's birds mean to them and recount their best days.\nEdited by Andrew Harrop and Rebecca Nason\n“I love the format of this book because it shares those moments of passion and excitement. This is no dry examination of facts or statistics. It helps us to understand the joy to be found in the natural world. These are the stories told and retold, while sheltering inside during westerly gales and horizontal rain. They’re much more interesting than bird name scrabble!\nFair Isle, and later the rest of Shetland, taught me that nature is an intrinsic part of landscape. To fall in love with a place, without an understanding of the wildlife inhabiting or visiting it, is a limited kind of affection. The accounts of very special birding days give us a real and wider sense of these beautiful islands.”   Ann Cleeves\nPaperback\n134 pages\n240 x 165m\nColour illustrations", "price":1799, "compare_at_price":0, "collections": [{"id":4536631307,"handle":"nature","title":"Nature","updated_at":"2025-01-21T14:10:47+00:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2023-02-25T13:46:26+00:00","sort_order":"manual","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Nature"}],"published_scope":"web"},{"id":149941846086,"handle":"st","updated_at":"2025-01-22T04:05:06+00:00","published_at":"2019-09-25T17:09:54+01:00","sort_order":"created-desc","template_suffix":"","published_scope":"web","title":"st","body_html":""}] },{ "title":"Shetland's Boats: Origin, evolution and use", "handle":"shetlands-boats-origin-evolution-and-use", "featured_image":"//shop.shetlandtimes.co.uk/cdn/shop/products/Shetland_sBoats_2_380x.jpg?v=1648035268", "description":" \nThe popular view is that Shetland's graceful double-ended boats are direct descendants of the Viking longship. This unbroken linking of the Shetland boat to the Norse era was fuelled by nineteenth-century romantic visions of Shetland's Viking past.\nThe reality is more complex as this major new study confirms. Economic and social conditions of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries led to changes both in fishing patterns and to the boats needed to meet these conditions.\nThere are many similarities between boats built in Shetland and those of western Norway but they became a true Shetland product when islanders began to diverge from that tradition around 1780. No longer were they Norwegian boats in Shetland, but true Shetland vernacular boats.\nThis book is a voyage of discovery into the origin , development and use of these unique open boats. It explores the central role these four- and six-oared boats played in everyday Shetland life, meeting the boatbuilders and the people whose way of life was centred on, and dependent upon, these seaworthy craft.\n \nMarc Chivers\nPaperback\n293 pages\n \nBook review from The Shetland Times, 25th March 2022. By Charlie Simpson. Copyright © The Shetland Times Ltd.\nShetland’s Boats – Origin, evolution and use by Marc Chivers\nIt is generally agreed that more than 6,000 years have passed since humans first arrived to inhabit our peerie isles.\nIt’s also indisputable that they arrived by sea, using a boat of some kind, seaworthy enough to safely make the journey most probably from other islands further south.\nOnce settled, the incoming hunter-gatherers – pre-dating agriculture by many centuries – would have been heavily reliant for subsistence on the resources of the seashore and inshore waters, and the boats that allowed their exploitation.\nFishing was the absolutely vital life-dependent means of supplementing an otherwise inadequate plant-based diet, and this reliance on boats began to lessen only a mere two centuries ago, when vessels propelled by anything other than man or wind-power first appeared over Shetland horizons.\nToday in Shetland there’s no reliance left: open boats, for so long an essential means of subsistence for most, are mere playthings of recreation for a decreasing portion of our population, while the skills that created and maintained them are vocational no longer, surviving only on a dwindling domestic scale and quite liable to become extinct in a generation or two.\nFor all that, there has been an almost disproportionate level of interest – sentimental, nostalgic, call it what you will – throughout the time of recorded history on the subject of our Shetland boats, an interest which in many quarters is as strong as it has ever been.\nAs far back as the 18th century, visitors to the isles invariably noted with surprise the unique style and seaworthiness of the “native” craft they saw – totally different from boats anywhere else round the British coast – and the skills of those who manned them. \nEducated landsmen published what they learnt of the fisheries, the fishermen and especially their boats, as recently as the last decades of the last century but most prolifically while the last of the true open-boat fishermen were still alive into to the 1930s. Thus, for anybody interested in the subject of our native boats there’s a mass of relevant published material in existence.\nApart from Charles Sandison’s The Sixareen and her Racing Descendants and single chapters or sections in various other books, most of it lurks in archives and libraries hither and yon, ranging between short journal articles and fragmentary mentions in various books on wider topics.\nMany of its elements contradict one another – few present anything other than an island or even district-related perspective and there are many gaps in the narrative.\nUp to now, therefore, making  a “big picture” from the many pieces has been a long and time-consuming exercise to say the least.\nFor this reason alone, I was delighted to be asked to review a new book which lays out virtually the whole story from earliest days right up to the present under one cover, thanks to Marc Chivers whose PhD thesis was sponsored by Lerwick Port Authority and Shetland Amenity Trust back in 2013.\nHis painstaking research over four years mined just about every relevant source, and its adaption into book form now gives us arguably  the most thorough account yet produced of the origins  of the “Shetland Model” – the double-ended fourareens and sixareens that were the essential tools in our fishing industry for a very long time – and traces its evolution right into the present day. The result is Shetland’s Boats: origin, evolution and use – it’s a pretty impressive work.\nThe opening chapter sets the scene for us, outlining the very earliest settlement of the isles, and the sparse boat-related evidence from archaeological and saga sources, into the Norse settlement era.\nThe settlers from western Norway obviously brought their boats with them, boats of a style that endures to the present day.\nOnce the realms of recorded history are reached, the bare bones of the story are soon clad in an increasing volume of archival detail – which represents a testament to the huge expansion of archives and their accessibility over the past seventy years or so.\nThis access enabled the author to explore in great detail many aspects of the centuries of importing boats from Norway into Shetland, of the kinds of boats from whillies to “great boats” pulling eight oars, along with the four- and six-oared craft in most common use, and all the accessories such as oars, spars, scoops, cordage, tar and whatnot.\nBesides their use for fishing, boats were essential tools for travel between isles for many centuries until the creation of roads from the 1840s onwards.\nAfter Earl Patrick’s day the system was governed by statute, with fares prescribed for the multitude of routes between islands, and also between many mainland places in order to avoid steep hills or shorelines.\nWhen native Shetlanders filled the trading vacuum after the retreat of visiting German traders in the early 18th century, we learn of their triangular trade route – fish to Hamburg, then domestic and fishing-related goods of every kind homeward, including a diversion along Norwegian ports to top up the cargo with timber goods – especially boats and boat parts.\nNaval blockade during the Napoleonic wars stifled this trade and expanded the practice of building the necessary boats in the isles using native skills; skills often developed and honed through the earlier need to assemble the partly-built or even kit-form boat imports. A later chapter provides an intriguing comparison between Shetland- and Norway-built boats and the contrasts in design, building practices and materials.\nThe Custom House records reveal the extent of the boat-import trade over time – and in combination with merchants’ letter-books reveal the extent to which avoiding import duty was a common practice.\nIt confirms that fourareen imports generally outnumbered sixareens, and the sheer quantity of boats involved is an indicator that haaf sixareens had short working lives, seldom lasting  ten seasons before wearing out. As the 20th century came in, of course, the last fishing sixareens were retired for ever, leaving only a few to survive as flit-boats over the following decades – or as roofs for sheds.\nAlso from the Custom House, the Register of Fishing Boats dating from 1869 is a valuable source of information on individual boats, a virtual census giving owner, dimensions, rig and location. Again, the author’s detailed analysis of the register confirms the predominance of fourareens and shows the slightly uneven distribution of sixareen ownership which contrasts markedly with the ubiquitous fourareen.\nThe twentieth century brings much more archival detail, with many builders’ and fishermens’ accounts of boat construction and use – and photographic illustration aplenty.\nMany of the well-known boatbuilders from the late nineteenth century onwards are still subjects of living memory, and many of their boats have happily survived, with some of  their memoirs preserved  in print.\nThis enabled the author to produce a detailed account of the progressive evolution of the “Shetland Model”, including an overview of the boats developed and kept purely for racing, right up to the present day.\nThe tale of the rise and fall of country regattas and the fleets of Maid class boats will evoke fond memories – and probably some regrets – in an age where the dinghy rules and the “Shetland” boat is an expensive sailing machine for a well-heeled few.    Although wooden boatbuilding is a career no longer, the author’s recording of the memories of its last professional practitioners and their teachers are worthily recorded for posterity – and not before time. \nAll in all, as I said before, Marc Chivers has produced the first comprehensive all-embracing account of our Shetland boats and is to be congratulated along with his far-sighted sponsors and its publisher.\nI remember being of the opinion when the project was first promoted that there was enough stuff on record already, which ignored the fact that it was dispersed piecemeal throughout a huge number of archive sources here at home, along with all the others in Scotland and Norway.\nHis gathering of all this material together into a coherent big-picture narrative is nevertheless a commendable achievement, and although there are – as expected perhaps – no startling revelations, the analysis is painstaking and thorough, and the end result a very welcome addition to the bibliography of its vast subject.\n \n ", "price":4000, "compare_at_price":0, "collections": [{"id":161185005638,"handle":"advertised-books","title":"Advertised Books","updated_at":"2025-01-22T04:05:13+00:00","body_html":"","published_at":"2020-09-03T16:48:09+01:00","sort_order":"manual","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":true,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Advertised Books"}],"published_scope":"web"},{"id":9326362635,"handle":"featured-products","updated_at":"2025-01-22T04:05:13+00:00","published_at":"2018-02-21T11:56:00+00:00","sort_order":"manual","template_suffix":null,"published_scope":"web","title":"Featured Products","body_html":""},{"id":4536795147,"handle":"history","title":"History","updated_at":"2025-01-22T04:05:06+00:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2018-02-07T16:21:26+00:00","sort_order":"manual","template_suffix":null,"disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"History"}],"published_scope":"web"},{"id":4536664075,"handle":"nautical","title":"Nautical","updated_at":"2025-01-17T19:05:30+00:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2018-02-07T16:21:21+00:00","sort_order":"manual","template_suffix":null,"disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Nautical"}],"published_scope":"web"},{"id":149941846086,"handle":"st","updated_at":"2025-01-22T04:05:06+00:00","published_at":"2019-09-25T17:09:54+01:00","sort_order":"created-desc","template_suffix":"","published_scope":"web","title":"st","body_html":""}] },{ "title":"Kirstie's Witnesses", "handle":"kirsties-witnesses", "featured_image":"//shop.shetlandtimes.co.uk/cdn/shop/products/Kirstie_sWitnesses_380x.jpg?v=1623936800", "description":"In the hungry 1840s, the town of Lerwick is struggling with massive social problems, and Kirstie Jamieson, widow, is trying to feed three children. Like the town she lives in, she has a fighting spirit, but will that be enough?\nChristina Inkster Jamieson, a.k.a. Kirstie Caddel, was a real person. This is her story. It is also the story of her enterprising, problem-ridden, unpredictable town and the men who found themselves trying to shape its future.\nSheenagh Pugh used to teach creative writing at the University of Glamorgan but is now retired and living in Shetland. he has published many collections of poetry, two novels and a critical study of fan fiction.\nFirst published1998. Reprinted 2021\nSheenagh Pugh\nPaperback\n138 pages", "price":899, "compare_at_price":0, "collections": [{"id":161185005638,"handle":"advertised-books","title":"Advertised Books","updated_at":"2025-01-22T04:05:13+00:00","body_html":"","published_at":"2020-09-03T16:48:09+01:00","sort_order":"manual","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":true,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Advertised Books"}],"published_scope":"web"},{"id":4536369163,"handle":"books","title":"Books","updated_at":"2025-01-22T04:05:06+00:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2018-02-07T16:21:11+00:00","sort_order":"best-selling","template_suffix":null,"disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Books"}],"published_scope":"web"},{"id":4536500235,"handle":"fiction","title":"Fiction","updated_at":"2025-01-14T16:05:36+00:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2018-02-07T16:21:15+00:00","sort_order":"manual","template_suffix":null,"disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Fiction"}],"published_scope":"web"},{"id":4536795147,"handle":"history","title":"History","updated_at":"2025-01-22T04:05:06+00:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2018-02-07T16:21:26+00:00","sort_order":"manual","template_suffix":null,"disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"History"}],"published_scope":"web"},{"id":149941846086,"handle":"st","updated_at":"2025-01-22T04:05:06+00:00","published_at":"2019-09-25T17:09:54+01:00","sort_order":"created-desc","template_suffix":"","published_scope":"web","title":"st","body_html":""}] },{ "title":"Knitting By the Fireside and on the Hillside", "handle":"knitting-by-the-fireside-and-on-the-hillside", "featured_image":"//shop.shetlandtimes.co.uk/cdn/shop/products/KnittingbytheFireside_380x.jpg?v=1620049003", "description":" \nA History of the Shetland Hand Knitting Industry @ 1600-1950\nFirst published 1995. This facsimile edition first published 2021.\nThis book traces the history of the Shetland hand knitting industry from its earliest recorded occurrence in 1618 up to 1950.\nTraditionally the Shetland economy was based on fishing, crofting and knitting, with the knitting being undertaken by women. It was due to the quality of the native wool and to the highly developed knitting skills of the islands' women, that Shetland became renowned for its superb hand knitting. Unlike many others, Shetland women were able to adapt their skills to changing markets, thus the evolution of Shetland lace in the 1830s, fine underwear in the 1880s and Fair Isle knitting in the 1920s, all managed to ensure that handknitting remained an important strand in the Shetland economy.\nLinda G. Fryer\nPaperback\n201 pages", "price":999, "compare_at_price":0, "collections": [{"id":161185005638,"handle":"advertised-books","title":"Advertised Books","updated_at":"2025-01-22T04:05:13+00:00","body_html":"","published_at":"2020-09-03T16:48:09+01:00","sort_order":"manual","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":true,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Advertised Books"}],"published_scope":"web"},{"id":4536795147,"handle":"history","title":"History","updated_at":"2025-01-22T04:05:06+00:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2018-02-07T16:21:26+00:00","sort_order":"manual","template_suffix":null,"disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"History"}],"published_scope":"web"},{"id":4536533003,"handle":"knitting","title":"Knitting","updated_at":"2025-01-16T14:50:30+00:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2018-02-07T16:21:16+00:00","sort_order":"manual","template_suffix":null,"disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Knitting"}],"published_scope":"web"},{"id":149941846086,"handle":"st","updated_at":"2025-01-22T04:05:06+00:00","published_at":"2019-09-25T17:09:54+01:00","sort_order":"created-desc","template_suffix":"","published_scope":"web","title":"st","body_html":""}] },{ "title":"Fair Isle Designs from Shetland Knitters Volume 2", "handle":"fair-isle-designs-from-shetland-knitters-volume-2", "featured_image":"//shop.shetlandtimes.co.uk/cdn/shop/products/Fair_Isle_Knitting_vol_2_gif_380x.gif?v=1568364806", "description":" \nFollowing the huge success of Volume One, the Shetland Guild of Spinners, Knitters, Weavers and Dyers are back with 12 new designs. Patterns range from peerie projects to full size garments and suit a variety of abilities; whether you are just starting out on your journey with traditional colour-work and Shetland wool, or looking for your next challenge in Fair Isle this book will guide and inspire you. As well as showcasing the skills and talents of the featured designers, there is a Q\u0026amp;A section with Guild members and a history of the formation of the Guild and its development over the last 30 years.\nShetland Guild of Spinners, Knitters, Weavers and Dyers\nPaperback\n112 pages\n297mm x 210mm", "price":2199, "compare_at_price":0, "collections": [{"id":4536369163,"handle":"books","title":"Books","updated_at":"2025-01-22T04:05:06+00:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2018-02-07T16:21:11+00:00","sort_order":"best-selling","template_suffix":null,"disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Books"}],"published_scope":"web"},{"id":4536533003,"handle":"knitting","title":"Knitting","updated_at":"2025-01-16T14:50:30+00:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2018-02-07T16:21:16+00:00","sort_order":"manual","template_suffix":null,"disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Knitting"}],"published_scope":"web"},{"id":149941846086,"handle":"st","updated_at":"2025-01-22T04:05:06+00:00","published_at":"2019-09-25T17:09:54+01:00","sort_order":"created-desc","template_suffix":"","published_scope":"web","title":"st","body_html":""}] },{ "title":"The Shetland Bus", "handle":"the-shetland-bus", "featured_image":"//shop.shetlandtimes.co.uk/cdn/shop/products/f5d72a41a8f7534f92fa6a586d1eb2ed_380x.jpg?v=1518020937", "description":"Our bestseller now reprinted for a fifth time. \r\n\t\t\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\r\n\t\t \r\n\t\tA classic story of secret wartime missions across the \r\n\t\t\tNorth Sea. \r\n\t\t\t\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\t\t \r\n\t\tDark winters provided the perfect cover for missions to occupied \r\n\t\t\tNorway during the Second World War, and the closest base was in \r\n\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\tBritain’s most northerly group of islands, Shetland. Most Norwegians knew about the “Shetland Bus”, which did not go overland, but across the North Sea, taking supplies and saboteurs into the fjords under the noses of the Germans, and taking refugees to safety on the return journey – journeys in small fishing boats which covered thousands of miles, testing the skills of the Norwegian seamen who risked their lives in hurricanes, fog and darkness to make the crossing. \r\n\t\t\t\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\t\t \r\n\t\tDavid Howarth was a junior naval officer who helped set up and operate the base. His story is of successes and failures, and the courage, skill and adventurous spirit of the men who risked their lives on the Shetland Bus.", "price":899, "compare_at_price":0, "collections": [{"id":4536369163,"handle":"books","title":"Books","updated_at":"2025-01-22T04:05:06+00:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2018-02-07T16:21:11+00:00","sort_order":"best-selling","template_suffix":null,"disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Books"}],"published_scope":"web"},{"id":4536795147,"handle":"history","title":"History","updated_at":"2025-01-22T04:05:06+00:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2018-02-07T16:21:26+00:00","sort_order":"manual","template_suffix":null,"disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"History"}],"published_scope":"web"},{"id":149941846086,"handle":"st","updated_at":"2025-01-22T04:05:06+00:00","published_at":"2019-09-25T17:09:54+01:00","sort_order":"created-desc","template_suffix":"","published_scope":"web","title":"st","body_html":""}] }] }