A Message

Some weeks ago Tavish Scott, the constituency MSP for Shetland, asked me if I would meet a delegation who were campaigning against school closures in the islands.

I am always happy to talk about rural schools and help parents and families to understand their rights under legislation passed in 2009 and earlier this year which is designed to help communities when closures are proposed. I don't decide what buildings are used and how - that is the responsibility of those who actually deliver education at local level - but there are are ways for parents to secure ministerial involvement in a closure decision if the law has not been followed. And in policy terms I am always keen to encourage rural delivery and to talk about its virtues.

The delegation, which included some former Shetland school pupils now studying at various college and universities, gave me a St Kilda Mailboat which contained a petition and the music for Tom Anderson's tune "The Slockit Light' which is emblematic of the plight they see for their communities if the closures take place.

One of them also played it beautifully