Proud as we are of our past, ours was not a great literary culture. As Jim has pointed out in his editorial we come from a largely oral tradition as befits a small island nation. There is of course the great Orkneying a saga but it was the telling of stories, the sagas of old, family deeds and ancestors, while seated around the winter fire, that was such an important part of our culture. Unfortunately much of that verbal heritage has been lost and few ancient documents have survived. We dont know how many written documents existed in Shetland but only 26 documents have come down to us from the closing of Orkneying a saga (c.1195) and the pawning of the islands in 1469. Many more historical documents have been located and preserved since the transfer of Shetland to Scotland. Shetlanders may have a grand old Viking culture but, unfortunately, our forbears did not bring many documents with them.

In contrast to the many thousands of documents which survive from the medieval period in England and the Continent, the 26 documents I mentioned represent the sum total of what is known about late medieval Shetland from the written record. That is why they are so important. They are all we have unless at some future date some long forgotten trove is uncovered.

So how do you access these documents to learn about our past. Up to now the answer would have been - with difficulty unless you had a knowledge of old Norse. But last year a superb book was published by John Ballentyne and Brian Smith entitled

Our Society receives copies of the Skandia Quarterly newsletter. Its a most interesting publication with a wealth of topical information which not only covers information about the Manawatu and Wellington Scandinavian Club but contains summaries of the various newsletters sent to their society - including our Society newsletter. One item in the newsletter especially caught my eye and that was a notice regarding a paper to be offered through the Massey University History programme as a whole of year extramural paper.

148.218 - THE VIKINGS. Pirates or explorers/ Murderers and thugs, or civilised settlers? The Vikings have been called all of these, and more. This new paper constitutes a study of all the migrations of Norwegian and Danish adventurers and, later settlers through Ireland, the Northern Isles, Scotland, England and Northern France. These movements were regarded by contemporaries as violent invasions or conquests, and the period was represented as one of unease among the regions which attracted the attention of the "Northmen" or "Vikings". The movements of Northmen were usually accompanied by aggressive expansionism, though recent studies have shown that much of the Viking settlement was also relatively non-violent. The settlements of groups of Norwegians and Danes usually initiated political alliances and moulded social inter-relationships ultimately transforming political balances and modifying such aspects of the various cultures as law, literature, religion and social structures. This paper studies the Vikings both from their own accounts and from those peoples they settled amongst.

If you are interested contact Julie Smith, School of History, Philosophy & Politics, Private Bag

11-222, Palmerston North or email Julie at J.A.Smith@massey.ac.nz

Here is some recent news from Shetland about a real contribution that Shetland is making to the reduction of pollution on the seabed by recycling waste product

With the discovery of oil & gas in the North Sea and the development of the technology to extract it Shetland has been an important player even if some us of think Shetland has been shortchanged on the rewards stakes. In the mid 1990's the UK government drew attention to the impact of millions of tons of drill cuttings that were being abandoned on the seabed. The problem was that the seabed was being suffocated. This mud is used to lubricate the massive drills that bore into the bedrock in search of new reserves.

By 1998 legislation was in place to force the oil companies to act. The intention was that instead of simply dumping the mud on the seabed it would be brought ashore to be recycled, or alternatively, it would be injected back into the wells. Shetland seemed ideally placed to process this with funds from the Shetland Islands Council charitable trust. With Shell closing their Shetland base ( and losing 80 well-paid jobs) Shetlanders were keen to find ways of keeping the lucrative offshore support base industry alive.

The vehicle for doing this was the Shetland Leasing and Property Company which has a diverse range of investments including local fish quota and support for local industry. In 1998 they took the plunge and established a new waste management company to process the waste. Once the plant was up and running it was the best placed firm in Britain to take advantage of this new opportunity. Just one problem - the government failed to enforce the new legislation. Without policing, the oil companies were not interested in bringing the waste ashore. The plant lay idle with a valuable contract lost to Maersk, its only competitor.

Since then things have looked up. A deal was struck with Oil Tools International, based in Singapore, with branches in more than 50 countries. At the beginning of this year the government legislation finally kicked in and now the plant has the lions share of the UK drill cuttings market

So what does the plant do with the waste? The plant heats the waste to 300 degrees C. This provides a kerosene like product that is recycled as furnace heating oil. In the future Lerwick Power Station could be powered from this source. Another by-product is crushed rock which is used as a lining material in landfills, thereby saving the waste of valuable top soil. This is important in Shetland where top soil is a limited resource. By - products are also used in road construction and in the making of some paints. By resolving an environmental problem in this way Shetland has shown the positive results to be had from recycling.

We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of The Shetland Post in providing the background information for this article. The Shetland Post is a relatively new publication in Shetland. 12 issues have been published to the end of September. The August issue is full of Shetland news and runs to 32 pages. It costs 50p plus postage.

If you would like more information or are interested in subscription details contact:

Millgaet Publishing, 10 Millgaet, Lerwick, Shetland ZE1 OHG fax UK 01595 696755 

email shet.tv@zetnet.co.uk

With the current problems that the world faces with terrorism this is an appropriate time to reflect back to the role that Shetland played in the Second World War in that battle against the Nazi war machine.

Younger readers might think that the isolated nature of Shetland would have insulated the Islands from the war, and certainly the bombing that hit so much of south east England did not occur. But Shetland played its own vital role. And that is where the analogy with the current crisis is relevant if we see the Shetland contribution in a similar light to the specialist teams that may soon go into Afghanistan to destroy terrorist bases.

In 1940 Nazi forces invaded Norway and after the retreat from Dunkirk in 1941 small Norwegian fishing boats with their distinctive single cylinder diesel engines sailed between Shetland and Norway to land men and materials on the Norwegian coast to assist the Norwegian resistance movement and to bring refugees back to Shetland.

The sailing was extremely hazardous. The boats had to sail in the rough North Sea at night, with no lights and far from any possible help. Shetlanders were only too well aware that survival in the cold semi arctic water was only a matter of minutes. Always present in the minds of those on board would have been the threat of discovery and the risk of being shot at by German planes or boats, and possibly captured when they finally reached the Norwegian coast.

Two excellent books have been written by David Howarth. The first was printed in 1951 entitled " The Shetland Bus" which describes the story of this special operation while the second book, "We die alone" published in 1955 describes the action of one of the Norwegian Resistance fighters Jan Baalstud. Both are compelling reading.

This has now been taken a step further by Colin Nicol who is head of history at the Scalloway Junior High School. A website has been set up commemorating the exploits of these brave men and I really would encourage readers to visit the site. This article is just a brief introduction to a fascinating time in Shetland history

A lot of Shetlanders and Norwegians have assisted Colin with the project including the Shetland Museum, Scalloway Museum and the local history group, the Imperial War Museum, the Norwegian Resistance museum, and the North Sea Traffic Museum (Nordsjøfart Museet), the Scottish Media Group, the Partner Schools Comenius project, Shetland Times Ltd, Shetland Litho, Shetland Life, Kåre Iversen (one of the original crewmen), J R Nicolson, Tommy Isbister, Barbara Johnson (School Librarian), Brian Smith (Shetland Archivist), the Shetland library and lastly but by no means least the pupils at Scalloway Junior High School.

(Jim can also be contacted by fax, 388-3754 or email coutts.jim-rose@xtra.co.nz

This is the second newsletter we have produced in our new format. We have had good feedback on our July issue- readers liked the diverse range of articles and the layout. So far as the website is concerned some members have asked for an easier way to access our site and I agree our URL or site address is a bit of a mouthful.

Try using searchnz . Simply type "searchnz" into the search box of the search engine you are currently using or type in the site address

www.searchnz.co.nz Once you are there just type in Wellington Shetland Society and it will take you to our page.

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In our summer newsletter I intend including a simple non scientific survey which I would appreciate your taking time to fill in and return so we get some feedback from those members who are unable to attend our various functions or the AGM.

To encourage a response we will enclose a stamped addressed envelope - this should appeal to canny Shetlanders

Ian Laurenson 18/10/01

FOR OUR YOUNGER READERS

Are you looking for a search engine that will track down specific New Zealand sites. The big overseas search engines are not always best. Try http://www.searchnz.co.nz

This is a dedicated New Zealand search engine which is very pro-active in listing local sites. They had our site listed within 24 hours of our advising them of our URL. Thats fast !

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NASA

If you are interested in space exploration, earth science and a whole lot more, then have a look at the NASA web site. It is a great starting point for school projects and for just general interest. Head for the following site. www.nasa.gov

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Mid Yell Junior High School.

The site has information about the school and also information on Yell, its history and wildlife. www.midyell.shetland.sch.uk

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Fair Isle Primary, is a small one teacher school situated in the centre of the Island. It was established way back in 1878 soon after education became compulsory in Shetland in 1872. For such a small a small school they have neat website: www.fairisle.shetland.sch.uk

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The Gathering of the Clans

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This newsletter is the official communication of the Shetland Society of Wellington Inc and is published quarterly.