"I live in Yell - but I'll retire to Unst..."
The popular BBC2 programme An Island Parish is set, in its tenth season, to follow the religious fortunes of Unst, Fetlar, Yell and Whalsay. A crew from production company Tiger Aspect will be heading north within the next few weeks.
Rev. David Cooper is minister for Unst, Fetlar and Yell.
"It's a life determined by ferry timetables," he said in a Church of Scotland press release. "So, for example, the Kirk Session meets at 7.15 because I will be getting the five to seven ferry from Yell. And we must finish by twenty past eight so that I can catch the quarter to nine ferry back. If I miss that the next ferry is not until 10.30. It's a good discipline for us all."
Rev Irene Charlton is minister for Whalsay.
"They are interested in the whole life of the place," she said. "Church members will be part of that because nothing that happens on the island happens without church members, whatever name they are working under. The church is the heart of the island."
The Unst Up Helly Aas are expected to feature heavily. "The Viking roots in the islands are very much pursued," Rev Cooper said. "The Jarl and his squad visit the school, the care centre and sheltered housing - everyone gets involved. Finally they set fire to a galley and there is a grand party with food and drink, music and dancing and a lot of homespun entertainment."
But Rev Cooper said that, in summer the light never quite leaves.
"In June you can generally read a newspaper out of doors at midnight,. Maybe it's just the headlines but you can read it." And you do get used to living in extremes of darkness and light. "A lot of people have difficulty sleeping when it's such long daylight. You just have the sense you should be up and doing because so often in rough weather you are trapped indoors. You never get used to it. It's just a given and you live with it."
Originally from County Durham, Rev Cooper first came to mainland Shetland 30 years ago as a Methodist minister. Two of his children were born there before the family moved to Oxfordshire and then to Edinburgh for 16 years. After that assignment ended, Scotland had no appropriate Methodist vacancies. Offered the chance to fill a Church of Scotland ministry in Shetland, he and his wife said an enthusiastic, "Yes."
When he retires in two years, he plans to move again –from Yell to Unst."Now we are fully embedded here," he said. "The longer you are here the better people know you and you know them. You can't just drop into people's lives. It takes time."
