We have got a new cam corder at the school.

On Wednesday and Thursday afternoons we started making our first Fair Isle video.   We have been filming our houses and crofts and the windmills.  We also went into the kirk and took shots of the stained glass windows.  We filmed our families and most of our pets. We started off introducing ourselves and our school including the play area.  We have put some of it onto a Video tape.

On Monday we hope to finish the video with film of the lighthouses, aeroplane, the Good Shepherd, the plantation and the Bird Observatory.  Then we will put it all on a video for people to watch.   If people would like to borrow it they can ask or they can bring a blank video before the end of the week and we will record it for them.

This week has been National School Meals week.  The theme of it was endangered animals and healthy eating.  Each day was a name of an animal.  Monday was panda day, Tuesday was elephant day, Wednesday was ape day, Thursday was big cat day and today is dolphin day.  Today we will be having fishy tails and sea sauce and for pudding flippers and sparkling water.  Each day we have been trying to come dressed as the right animal or at least in the right colour.  We drew pictures and made masks of the animals for a competition.

THE SCHOOL

I got my go-cart working yesterday.  We went down the hill really fast without brakes.  I crashed into the ditch twice.  My front wheels keep going squint and I go to the left.  My go-cart is called "Ditch Man".

l have got 3 caddies and they are called Steve, Paul and Charlie.  They are named after the people at the hostel.  They sleep in the turkey shed.  The lambs skip about the garden.
JOE (5)

Tonight I am going to sleep at Charlotte's house with Rachel and Charlotte.  We are going to have a midnight feast in the sitting room. Charlotte and I are sharing a go-cart.  It is called Whirl Wind.

At Upper Stoneybrek Magnus and I are looking after a caddie lamb called Scamper.   He did have a sister called Skimper but she died.  There is a. sheep called Mrs Pig because she is so greedy and her lamb is black and white.
JENNY (9)

Our cousins Calum and Duncan and our aunty Jude are moving up to Fair Isle and they are going to live with us at Burkle.  They will be moving up in the summer holidays.   They are bringing up their pets - Fudge their dog, their cat Sophie and their gold fish.  Calum is 8 years old and Duncan is 5 years old but I won't say the age of Jude!
Rachel (11)

Tonight I am going to stay over night at Burkle, me and Lewis might go fishing.  I am sharing Lewis's go-kart with him and it is nearly finished.  We have got a little caddie lamb called scamper.
Magnus(8)

Tonight I am going to stay over at Tom's house. Scott has got Vivian's old bike, but he hasn't got a helmet for it yet.
CARA (6)

Da Week Dat's Awa

Saturday was a fine day, with the fog of the days before lifting. What was revealed was a considerably greener isle, in the south at least. Martha, Harry and myself pottered around outside, assessing the impact of winter gales on the immediate 'play area' around the house. I repaired the fence Stewart constructed last summer and that same Stewart was enlisted by Martha for a drive north to replenish sand in the tyre. This also gave Harry an opportunity to experience waves.

Ewen spent the morning in the workshop, currently about half way through making another violin.

Harry's afternoon sleep saw Martha and myself begin the seemingly mammoth task of harvesting the stones of our north rig, soon to be returned to grass. She was enthusiastic at first, but later made herself a nest in the long grass, in which to lie in the sun, and from which I eventually had a job prising her. She probably had the right idea that afternoon. Barry, Patrick and Ewen spent their afternoon up the Breks mill.

With Harry awake we took a walk up to Shirva. The plane got in at last, delayed from Wednesday by fog and ambulance flights, so Alexander got away.

Stewart and Triona arrived in the evening with a bottle of champagne, to celebrate the tractors completion. During the past year Ewen has spent any spare waking moment, and possibly sleeping moment too, doing up a 1966 Zetor tractor, belonging to Stewart at Shirva. It works well and has already been hard at work ploughing our south rig.

Sunday was another sunny and warm day. Many took the opportunity to walk to Kirk, where the service was led by Stewart Wilson. We came out after the children's hymn and walked back to Taft via Kenaby. Ewen and Martha prepared a picnic, and we headed for Dronger. We found a spot out of the southerly wind and ate pasta and chocolate biscuits. We later again met up with Lise and the bairns, this time at Lower Stoneybrek. Pat was still feeling very weak and frustrated by the inability to do anything. By the time we were home the sunny weather had begun to have it's toll on Martha and Harry: they were red faced and exhausted.

Monday is Erin's morning for coming to play at Taft. At two and a half Martha and Erin are now able to keep themselves fairly happily amused. In the workshop, Ewen began the crucial stage of purfling (in-laying wood around the edge of the back and front). Patrick popped in for coffee to tell us the splendid news that Jude, Callum and Duncan are going to move to the isle this summer, all being well.

The Hill Rota began, to check for lambs on the Hill. For me, it was a day to re-introduce myself to finishing, and the computer, after a long break beginning with the 'flu epidemic.

The Shetland and Orkney Area Board of SNH are visiting the isle from the 13th to 15th of May, and are wishing to see a presentation of data collected so far, from each of the people directly involved in FIMETI. For me it is a chance to try and tie up loose ends resulting from work I've done over the winter.

Tuesday was another beautiful day, with clear blue skies and little wind. The boat got away, taking with it, amongst other freight, Ian's latest finished yoal. It really felt like the first summer boat trip, with a flat sea, and a home coming nearer the 2pm time than the more usual 3 or 4pm of winter.

In the afternoon we heard the news of Ella's death. This past winter Taft became a haven for myself and the bairns on occasion. As a near neighbour we could run up there on wet and windy days for a quarter of an hour or so, when they were needing a change of scenery, and could always be assured a warm welcome. She always showed so much interested in the bairns. Our thoughts go out to all her family and those close to her.

Wednesday and the fine weather continued. Martha, Harry and myself shopped and spent the rest of the morning at Shirva, amongst it sampling the wonderful eclairs made by Brian from the Obs. Martha got rather confused, coming back home and saying to Ewen 'here's a cake for you, and one for Claire'.

In the afternoon it was Oscar's 1st Birthday Party, and all the younger members of the population sat down to a table full of food, before running it off outside. It eventually became a bit much for Oscar, and he retired to bed.

Thursday morning Scott came down to play with Martha and Harry, but none of them wanted to play at the same thing and so nothing seemed to go right. I was relieved to see Linda, Erin and Oscar heading up the road, and we joined them. It seems that the more children you have going in the same direction then the faster is the progress made. After returning Scott and Oscar to their respective homes we headed back down to Taft for a picnic in front of the house. Triona then took over from me, and the party of now three bairns headed south to Skerryholm. I spent the afternoon glaring at a computer screen as the sun spent the afternoon glaring down at me through the velux. Once again Pat was flown out to hospital, with no improvement in her situation, but she returned on Friday, to take a lot more rest. Once Martha and Harry were in bed I headed up to the hill to do our rota. What a wonderful and peaceful evening.

Friday was again fine. What a week for weather! It has given new born lambs; a fine chance, the grass is certainly on its way, and landwork is begun. Not necessarily a disadvantage for a while, is that I have no idea what has been happening away from Fair Isle having not listened/watched the radio or TV. Martha, Harry and myself spent the morning collecting the papers from the shop, via Dandelions, and coffee and juice at Shirva.

Ella's funeral was at Ipm in the Kirk. It was a moving service including prayers and recollections from Stewart Wilson, and Kathy from Leogh. The hymns were ones well loved by Ella. Later that day Daniel and Amy were down, before we walked up the middle road, via the lushness of the polytunnel, for tea.

Emma

Ella Henderson

I first met Ella Henderson in 1987 when she welcomed me to the shop which she ran with her late husband John. From the warmth of her smile and the willingness of her service you wouldn't have guessed that she was labouring under the burden of recovering from a fall in the shop, which was to prove significant in the deterioration of her physical condition in the years that followed. But the stoicism which she displayed was undoubtedly one of Ella's great strengths and was an attribute which not only enabled her to play her part as a Fair Islander but which also marked out her spirituality as a follower of Jesus Christ.

 If Fair Isle is "The Peaceful Isle" (and fittingly dressed it was, on the day she was laid to rest) and if cheerful hospitality is one of the foremost characteristics of the Isle, then Ella was indeed a true Fair Islander. Without doubt she knew turmoil of soul, particularly during the years in which I got to know her, but it was the ability to keep outwardly cheerful and to exude a peacefulness of spirit which was an integral part of Ella's strength and beauty.

 However, it was perhaps her unstinted hospitality which I, and many others, will remember with most clarity and thankfulness. Many a wet and weary birdwatcher will attest to this as they found an extra dimension to the shop, being invited to dry off and warm up over a cup of tea in her kitchen. But 'above and beyond the call of duty' was surely Ella's provision of baths for a visiting party of schoolchildren, and their teacher, when trouble struck the heating system in the Puffin. As Hebrews 13 v.2 encourages the practice of hospitality to strangers because "thereby some have entertained angels unawares", I am apt to think that if Ella ever "entertained angels" then they will have reported back very favourably about the hospitality they received!

 So the Isle has lost not only a worthy citizen but also an able ambassador for all that Fair Isle prides itself on being. She was a helpful neighbour, a caring friend and an understanding listener, in short, a good Islander who loved the Peaceful Isle and its traditions. "Fair Isle" was not a knitting pattern or meteorological area to Ella, but a vital constituent of her very life's blood.

 In being privileged to share, not only a few years of her life, but also a common faith, I now look forward to that day when we shall meet again. In newness of life, and equipped with our new bodies, Ella will no longer be fettered by the infirmities with which she latterly struggled, but which never dimmed that gracious and indomitable spirit that made my dear friend, of such few years, one of those who are, without doubt, "more than conquerors through Him that loved us". May God bless to us all the memory of Ella, who witnessed to the reality of mere mortals being able to "let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus".

 Duncan McGregor