Posted on May 10, 2009 - by benmullay

St Magnus Church Raffle – WIN a trip to Bergen!

I was recently commissioned by Elma Johnson of Island Trails to take a photograph at Sumburgh Airport to promote a forthcoming raffle in aid of the St Magnus Church.  Elma has done extremely well to secure a first prize of a trip to Bergen kindly donated by Loganair.  The second prize is a weekend at Busta House Hotel.

Pictured below (from left) is Sharon Lawrence (Loganair), Elma Johnson (Island Trails) and Keith Henshall (Rector).

Tickets are available at local shops from Unst to Sumburgh.  The draw will take place at St Magnus Church Hall on Saturday 13th June at a luncheon party.

Full information on the raffle below which was sent by Elma:

Over many years the ladies of St Magnus Church have been a great support to my company ‘Island Trails’.

One of my walks was at the sooth-end of Lerwick, where St Magnus is situated. On that tour I asked our summer visitors to step back in time to the days of smuggling and press gangs during the 18th Century. About 10 years ago, Aileen Robertson asked if I would include the church in my walk. I was very willing to agree to this. For me this meant researching St Magnus. So my tour culminated in a visit to St Magnus Church, a B listed building, telling its history of how the Cameron family of Bressay provided the Church for Lerwick. Not only the Church, but also the ‘House of Charity’ (now Glen Orchy Hotel), where the occupants (three Nuns) went out into the town caring and helping the poor. The building was completed in 1864 and contains stained glass windows by Sir Ninian Comper.  These windows have been described as ‘the best ecclesiastical collection of stained glass in Shetland’ and ‘extremely valuable as a Scottish resource.’  These windows were partly the reason that St Magnus have had offers of grants from Historic Scotland and the Lottery Heritage Fund.

From the Church we move into the Church hall where the ladies of the Church provide us with refreshments and home bakes, all for just a donation.  This became an excellent thing for ‘Island Trails’ making the Sooth-End walk very popular.  I feel that the congregation of St Magnus have worked tirelessly towards the repair of this building over many years and it would be dreadful if they were unable to raise the final sum of £50,090 needed to save a piece of Shetland’s history.

‘Island Trails’ has organised a grand raffle to help this cause which many firms throughout Shetland have kindly gifted some marvellous prizes. Our first prize being a Trip to Bergen from Loganair and 2nd prize a weekend at Busta House Hotel.  The draw will take place at St Magnus Church Hall on Saturday 13th June at a luncheon party.