Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Shetland wildlife sanctuary in line for a £500,000 upgrade

A Shetland wildlife charity is celebrating after the final piece in a complex funding jigsaw fell into place late this week to allow the organisation to go ahead with a £500,000 upgrade to its animal care facilities.

A grant of almost £100,000 of European money, awarded by the LEADER fund’s Local Action Group on Wednesday, will help to secure the long-term future of Hillswick Wildlife Sanctuary.

The funding will supplement an earlier award of £310,000 from the Sullom Voe Association, which represents the Shetland oil industry and the local authority.


>> Keep up to date with the latest news with The P&J newsletter


A delighted Jan Bevington, who founded the sanctuary more than 30 years ago, said yesterday that the funding would allow her to leave “a legacy for Shetland, its future generations and its wonderful wildlife”.

She added: “We are absolutely delighted to have won the support of the local folk that sit on the LEADER board after a very long process of submitting and then refining our bid.

“Their support means we can finally proceed with a major building programme that will allow us to realise our long held vision of first class facilities to care for Shetland’s marine mammals.

“We could not have got this far without the backing of Shetland Islands Council, the local oil industry, and especially all the wonderfully kind and generous people who are supporting our work with regular and one off donations.

“We would especially like to thank the members of the Shetland Oil Terminal Environmental Advisory Group, SOTEAG, with whom this whole plan began five years ago.”

The sanctuary began life in 1987 when Jan came across an abandoned seal on a beach at Hillswick.

They went on to play a major part in the response to the Braer oil spill in 1993, with the sanctuary taking in 37 seals and 11 otters and receiving the help of nearly 400 volunteers.

Jan and her husband Pete have been kept busy ever since.

Video courtesy of Shetland Islands Council.