Murray Cowie and Duncan Feather
Employees from Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) stepped in to support Living Lerwick by volunteering to help light up the town this Christmas.
A team of ten employees volunteered their time from Monday 19 November to Sunday 25 November to install nearly 1km of stainless steel wire the length of Commercial Street to allow the Christmas lights to be safely hung in the town.
As part of SSEN’s ‘Be the Difference’ programme, SSEN employees are encouraged to take a day away from their usual job and volunteer to help local charities and community projects of their choice.
Brian Jamieson, Robson Gray, Donald Sutherland, Murray Cowie, Duncan Feather, Magnus Smith, Barry Ganson, Sandy Kay, Vlad Kulizhka and John Allan worked out of hours and into the weekend to minimise disruption to the local community.
Ben Mullay, Dave Williams, Steve Mathieson
and Edna Irvine from Living Lerwick with
SSEN’s George Priest
George Priest, SSEN’s Shetland Operations Manager, said: “Our Be the Difference volunteering programme allows us the opportunity to help out when the local community needs us most, so when Living Lerwick approached us for support, we knew we’d be able to help out by volunteering our time. We were delighted to assist and it’s great to see some festive light around the town as we approach Christmas.”
Edna Irvine, Director at Living Lerwick, added: “Living Lerwick Directors are very grateful to the local SSEN team who have given their time to help out with the installation of the Commercial Street Christmas lights. The Shetland weather can be very challenging at this time of year and the extra support wires, efficiently fitted by the SSEN staff, should help reduce maintenance issues for the lights and keep them twinkling for everyone to enjoy. This is a very generous gesture by SSEN which enabled Living Lerwick to get the Christmas lights ready for Santa’s parade when the lights were officially switched on. We are also very happy to make a donation to the RNLI on behalf of the SSEN boys.”
Since the launch of the Be the Difference volunteering programme, it has helped over 2,500 projects, with SSEN employees dedicating their time to projects that matter to them in their local communities.