Shoormal...

Had a fantastic day in Shetland today, at an event where young people from the isles showed off the fantastic work they have been doing as part of our partnership with the Council. What an inspirational bunch! An energising day.

One of the many highlights was the showing of this achingly wonderful film by Maddrim Media - a youth film project. It is about the hidden poverty of the islands, and aims to challenge some of the myths around it. I genuinely think it is one of the most beautiful films I've seen in a long long time - haunting, moving, gorgeously shot and so powerfully lyrical.

Please do watch - it's now part of a UK wide film festival, which is so well deserved. It features an elderly islander, speaking in her strong dialect, and reflecting on the past, and a young person, reflecting on the present:

"Watchin' and waitin' by the waves.
How strangely memories they return and leave, returning to me, retrieve what it meant to live back then.
Time when the only running water was the whispers of the shore, the mothers of pebbles.
Shoormal we call it - shoormal - the space between invisible til' seen."

Shoormal - what a magical concept...I need to explore it more, and track its roots in language - Norse I suspect?

But of course, no trip to Shetland would be complete without the obligatory pony of the isles - isn't he a cutie?!