Your People Shall Be My People An Island Parish

94 miles north of the Scottish mainland,

where the blustery Atlantic meets the North Sea, lies Shetland,

an archipelago of some 100 islands, mostly uninhabited.

Until the late 15th century, they belonged to Scandinavia,

and being closer to Bergen than Edinburgh,

the islanders remain proud of their Norse heritage.

Recently, new industries have swept in,

supplementing the island's crofting and seafaring heritage.

The most northerly island is Unst, where locals mix tradition

with innovation, to survive in a fast-changing world.

It's midsummer here.

THEY SING

And Unst welcomes some visitors from afar.

My, do they sing!

It's there and it's real and it's vibrant.

And Frank the horse whisperer has to have a word in the ear

of a stallion called Heston.

I thought he performed very well, too.

-Apart from knocking the vet over!

-HE CHUCKLES

It's July on Unst, the most northerly of the Shetland Islands

and Minister David Cooper, who's been here now for seven years,

is making the most of the long daylight hours.

Unst itself, it's a place we've always loved coming to

since we first got to know it more than 30 years ago.

For what looks like a remote island, it's remarkably cosmopolitan.

David Cooper's ministerial duties span another two neighbouring islands,

Fetlar and Yell,

so constant ferry-hopping is part of the job.

Years ago, islands would always be visited by sea.

And so there's a long history of welcoming strangers, even if they

were Vikings, absorbing them into the local community

and everyone learning to get on.

And that's reflected in the life of the churches here.

And so whether you're Catholic or Baptist or Orthodox

or Episcopalian, all are welcome.

Your souls and bodies have been fed by the word of life,

serve the Lord with joy and gladness.

One regular member of David Cooper's congregation is Mother Mary,

the island's only Eastern Orthodox nun.

-Here we are, black-on-black again!

-THEY LAUGH

They've been really welcoming to me.

It's been wonderful.

They've made me feel very at home, because I'm very different,

you know, to dress like this!

I came to monasticism quite late in life

and I've just been a monastic about ten years.

Before, I worked in photography, I was a fine-art photographer

and I taught photography.

I hope to get back to photography at some point,

but at the moment, I'm so busy with DIY, I just haven't got time.

Mother Mary is restoring a 19th century former croft house,

perched on a hillside above the village of Haroldswick.

And in order for works to progress, she's clearing out the garage.

-That'll come in very handy, thank you very much.

-No, that's all right.

OK, so here it is. It's very old, I hope you don't mind.

-It does work all right.

-That's fine.

-I'll just plug it... It works all right. Um...

-Yeah.

-It's about fifth-hand.

-THEY LAUGH

But somebody gave it to me on Fetlar, an Episcopalian who goes to

the kirk, and then it was given to her by an Episcopalian in Fetlar.

It's travelled around.

-It's an ecumenical, inter-island parish freezer.

-THEY LAUGH

-It'll be very useful, thank you very much.

-Well, thank YOU very much.

Let me know if there's any problems or anything,

but it's worked fine for me.

-See you Sunday.

-See you Sunday.

That sort of thing wouldn't happen down south.

Not the freezer going from one person to another to another

and the freezer is still working as well!

I think it's brilliant.

Resourcefulness is at the heart of island life.

Mother Mary is planning well ahead for the long, dark Shetland winter.

We're off to Sandwick, which is a long, sandy beach.

I've collected a pile of wood there for my wood-burning stove.

There aren't any trees or any significant trees

so people have to find wood, driftwood or building off-cuts.

There's a really strong ethic here that if you see a stack,

you leave it alone.

It's somebody else's so you don't touch it or pick it up.

So, I'm hopeful, I'm very hopeful it's still there.

Equally resourceful are the island's most iconic inhabitants,

the Shetland ponies.

With evidence of them dating back to the Bronze Age, they've had

plenty of time to adapt to the harsh and unpredictable climate.

And one man who has learnt their ways better than most

is Unst's resident horse whisperer, Frank Roberts.

I'm just introducing myself, making him feel comfortable.

He runs the Clibberswick Pony Stud Farm.

I'm just putting a halter on here.

Today, he's going to be breaking in Heston, a seven-year-old

stallion, and father to Sula, a foal Frank hopes will fetch

a good price at the end-of-season pony sale in October.

But first, Heston must face a panel of judges at a gruelling

stallion assessment in a few days' time.

There you go, he's just getting a bit frustrated here.

Frank will have his work cut out

taming Heston's rather boisterous temperament.

There's senior judges who come up and they judge the ponies.

Supporting Frank today is friend

and fellow pony enthusiast Pat, originally from Florida.

The better rating that the stallion has,

then his foals should be worth more

because as someone who is looking at pedigrees will say, "Oh, well,

"the stallion of the foal that I'm looking at

"has gotten this rating and that rating," so the Pony Society

has said he is a particularly good example of the breed

and that's what you should want when you're shopping for a pony.

That's good.

Frank has a really wonderful way with horses and ponies.

To me, it is the classic horse whispering.

You're working with the animal and getting your minds to move

in the same direction and to become one with him.

To most people, that is what horse whispering means

and that's what Frank does.

INTERVIEWER: Is this what you call horse whispering?

No, it's what I call common sense.

Having spent most of the spring freely roaming the Unst hills,

Heston is a little reluctant to play ball.

Like many of the islanders, Pat has several jobs

and splits her time between working at the local bakery

and the Valhalla Brewery.

Come on, lads.

Having run a wildlife sanctuary back in the USA,

Pat has always loved animals and spends any spare time

with her own stallion, Flashback, a gift from Frank.

Are you ready for some work today?

Flashback will also be taking part in the upcoming pony evaluation.

They like to cram their mouths as full of them as they can.

Pat has her own unique approach to horse whispering.

I would plan to stay maybe a year or two and that was eight years ago.

I'm an incomer but not treated like one,

I'm treated like part of the family, basically.

The sense of community up here and belonging and the wild beauty

and surrounded by Shetland ponies

so what more could you want out of life?

OK, last one. Now we have to do some work.

Pat's chosen training ground is anything but conventional.

Back.

INTERVIEWER: Is it OK just doing this

in the middle of the road, Pat?

Yes, because if anybody comes by, they'll wait for you!

Back.

Back.

The judges will be looking for how well he handles

and there are judges in the past who have said

that he wasn't fiery enough in the show ring, he should have been

throwing his head around and acting like a stallion.

He's very soft.

On the day, you never know how he's going to behave.

Just a short trot along the road in Haroldswick

is Britain's most northerly tearoom,

run by Victoria Mouat with the help of twin sister Catherine.

The lunchtime rush is on and it's all hands on deck.

As well as the regular fare of sandwiches and scones,

today they have a more challenging creation to prepare.

Right, let's get this cake made then. I'll just do a plain sponge.

Then decorate it to give to the ladies from Ghana.

As part of a cultural exchange programme, the local school

in Baltasound has welcomed two teachers from Kumasi in Ghana,

4,000 miles away.

As a farewell gift at their leaving dance night,

the twins will present the Ghanaians with a surprise present.

-They're lovely ladies, aren't they? We met them earlier.

-They are.

They have words for twins. What is the word for twins?

I think it was...

You're kaka because Victoria is the youngest twin

-and I'm pinni?

-Pinni, or something like that.

What it means, kaka is youngest and pinni is oldest

and that is what they call all twins.

The planned icing on the cake will be an elaborate piece of

decoration that will test Victoria's baking skills to the limit.

-I think this one.

-It is this flag here.

-No, it isn't, I was right!

A bit rubbish but we both got Gs in geography, isn't it?

We might now!

Across the water at his manse on the neighbouring island of Yell,

minister David Cooper is also inspired by the arrival

of the exotic guests.

Well, this one says slides. There is all sorts here.

Ghana, that has faded since 1976, 1977,

but I still recognise the letter G, it's Ghana.

As part of his ecclesiastical training,

David Cooper spent a year working with a school in Ghana.

Ah, the bungalow in which we lived at the school.

This is a reminder of Ghana as well.

These wonderful colours.

It's as close as I'm going to get to traditional dress.

He has a plan to do his bit for Shetland-Ghanaian relations.

Well, I wonder.

This hasn't seen use in years.

Here's the test.

The moment.

The bulb still works.

That is an enormous relief

because to get a replacement would be difficult now.

Being the most northerly island stuck out

in the North Atlantic between Scotland and Scandinavia,

Unst has always welcomed visitors and traders to its shores.

Many believe its name originates from the old Norse meaning "first".

Sandwick beach to the south-east of the island

was home to a bustling Norse community in Iron Age times

and remains of the settlement can still be found today.

In the days when the travel was mainly by sea, you see,

this would be quite a township.

Mother Mary has recruited an assistant for her driftwood

collecting expedition.

Former neighbour and budding archaeologist, Theresa,

from the next-door island of Fetlar.

This is the beginning of it.

-You can see it's a real longhouse.

-Yeah.

It would be north, Viking.

-Yeah.

-So this would probably be the front door.

-Oh, yeah.

Viking means raider, a Norse person who went raiding,

but there were other Norse people, I think, who didn't,

who were very peaceful.

They were farmers and fishermen and weren't out raiding all the time.

And there's another opening over here.

-It's a different shape, the opening.

-Yeah, it kind of goes, like...

up and curved.

Any ideas why it might be?

I think I might have heard this before,

but is it so a cow can fit in?

That's right, yes.

So up at this end of the longhouse, they'd have some animals

and the animals would help keep them all warm.

It's a very good idea, isn't it, building the house

-around the animals?

-Yeah.

I think they may be a lot cleverer than everybody thinks.

I think they may.

Just beyond the bay is another archaeological treasure,

a 12th-century chapel.

The graveyard is still in use to this day.

-The gate's just round here. You see how near the sea it is?

-Yes.

Isn't it beautiful? This is what's called the keel stone.

You can imagine somebody in the 12th or 11th century

would be using boats every day, and so when they died,

it's like they're taking their boat with them into the next life,

to help them into the next life.

Shall we go get the driftwood?

-SHE LAUGHS

-Yes, I'd forgotten the driftwood.

SHE SIGHS

It's just round the corner.

This is the driftwood pile.

-You see how lovely and white it is from the salt in the sea?

-Yeah.

'When I first came up here,'

I thought that's what God was calling me to,

a life of solitary prayer.

But I found the opposite, that what I really learnt,

and what the Shetlanders and local people have taught me,

is how to live in a community.

I can try the rucksack. Oh, it's not that bad.

-Are you sure?

-Yeah.

-I don't want you to get an injury.

'How to relate to my neighbours and people around me'

and how to live here, I need their support.

You can think of me in winter, sitting beside my cosy fire,

and I'll think of you and think,

"Thank you, Theresa, for helping me bring the wood back."

THUNDER RUMBLES

It's a rainy morning at the pony stud farm at Clibberswick,

on the north of the island,

and the big day of the Pony Breeders of Shetland's stallion evaluation

has arrived. Frank, the horse whisperer,

is preparing prize stallion Heston for the event.

How Heston performs today will impact on the value

of his foal, Sula, who Frank and wife Jem

hope to sell at the Shetland pony auction in three months' time.

Not a great day for a show, but we'll have to do our best.

How will this affect the assessment?

Well, it shouldn't affect it in any way at all, apart from the fact

that the horses will be miserable and the people will be miserable.

I don't know. I've never shown him before,

so this is a first for both of us.

At the end of the day, it's down to the judges.

Seeing a break in the weather,

Frank makes his way up to the community hall in Haroldswick,

a short walk from the stud farm.

You're a wet pony.

Pat is also getting her horse, Flashback, prepared for the show.

-FLASHBACK WHINNIES

-There.

For me, he's just a pet pony, but for Frank and Jem,

because they use him in their breeding programme,

they have a lot riding on it.

Here at the hall, three expert judges from the neighbouring islands

wait to begin the rigorous stallion assessment.

They're coming forth to put their pony forth.

They're getting an award. Everybody's out to get a gold.

But first, there's an inspection by the vet

to check the animals are physically sound.

It's Pat's turn with her stallion, Flashback.

It seems that Pat's tarmac training and biscuit boot camp have paid off.

Flashback is at ease.

-Best one so far today.

-Good, thank you.

Beautiful.

Maybe even a little too relaxed.

He's going to do a poop.

-Oh, he'll walk much better now.

-Ugh.

PAT CLICKS HER TONGUE

Good.

The vet likes him. That's good.

She said he was the best behaved so far, so that's good.

WHINNYING

Heston, on the other hand, is still restless.

And Frank's wife, Jem, is nervously holding her breath.

He's getting a bit more fired up cos he's hearing the other stallions

that's getting assessed at the moment.

He's just getting a bit restless.

Digging a hole.

He's just a bit excited, that's all.

HE WHINNIES

Finally, Heston's time is up.

HE WHINNIES

HE WHINNIES

It's not a good start.

And Heston hasn't finished yet.

Are you OK?

Are you OK?

I thought he performed very well too.

Apart from knocking the vet over!

Now Frank will have to use all his horse whispering skills

to recover Heston's composure before his temperament is judged.

On the east of the island, in Baltasound,

minister David Cooper is also hoping for some good behaviour.

Yes. That will work all right.

He's sharing his African experiences

with some of the local schoolchildren.

Hello, everyone! Have a seat.

-Can you see the screen from there?

-Yeah, I can see it.

I spent a year in Ghana at a secondary school.

Secondary boys in a traditional dance

and then a separate dance for the girls.

That's three boys wearing traditional costume.

The chief there is wearing a toga-like robe,

made like this in strips.

For our kids, the opportunity to meet people from other

countries and hear their stories about how school is there,

it just broadens their view of the world and hopefully makes them

a bit more open and broad-minded to people from different countries

and different cultures and different traditions.

And thank goodness they played cricket!

Where would civilisation be without the game of cricket?

-Did they play football there?

-Yeah, it's just that I preferred cricket!

It just opened up a part of the world to me

that I knew absolutely nothing about.

The great thing for the youngsters here is discovering that

despite all the apparent differences there is an extraordinary sameness.

Just three miles from the school, at North Unst Hall,

the stallion assessment has begun.

The judges will assess every aspect of the ponies' behaviour

and will award them with a bronze, silver or gold award,

based on their performance.

The judges are always critical, yeah.

That's their job, though. They're looking for the best.

I always think, especially older gentlemen,

they look so sharp in a kilt.

It's classy.

It's Flashback's turn to be assessed and Frank will present him.

No, I'm not going to take him around because you've got to move

as fast as you can at a trot and I can't run fast enough any more.

So I've put him in the best hands I can.

HORSE WHINNIES

It's the moment of truth for Heston.

Under the judges' glare, Frank has worked his magic again.

Heston has finally calmed down.

But now, Frank and Jem have to wait to see

if all their hard work has paid off.

He did as well as he could do, yeah. Yeah, happy.

They get what they get!

OK, we'll give out the awards for the senior stallions.

First up, Lucky, he got a bronze award.

Second up was Clibberswick Flashback, he got a bronze award.

First up was Hollydale Heston, who got a bronze award.

-Thank you very much. Thank you.

-Well done.

-Happy with that result?

-Is that all right?

-Yeah.

-Well done. Well done.

It's less than what he got when he was a youngster, but hey-ho.

It will be fine.

Well, at the end of the day, you got to accept what's given to you.

There is a surprise result for Flashback.

Now, the pony with the most points in this section gets a rosette

from the Shetland Pony Society and that goes to Flashback.

Thank you very much.

That, I think, is pretty special. That's really, really nice.

Great news for Pat but this is not quite the result

that Frank and Jem were hoping for.

How much this will affect the price of Heston's foal, Sula,

will only become known at the pony sale in three months' time.

Back at the tearooms in the village,

Victoria is putting the finishing touches to her farewell gift

for the visiting Ghanaian teachers.

It's just good to have both flags on, I think.

Hopefully they'll like it.

I think it looks more like the kids have made it but it will be fine!

It tastes good, that's the main thing.

At Baltasound Hall, the dance night is beginning.

We thank all of you for how kind you have been to us.

We are so happy.

Now I am going to sing a song in my language.

THEY SING IN OWN LANGUAGE

My, do they sing!

It's very full.

It's something that I recognise

and it still sends shivers down my spine.

Not much subtlety in it, to our ears,

but it's there and it's real and it's vibrant.

Thank you.

APPLAUSE

It's very nice that people are very good but just...the weather.

The weather was very cold but we love it.

We have some gifts to give to our visitors.

Notice the flags!

-This is the Shetland flag and that's the Ghanaian flag.

-Wow!

Thank you.

Thank you.

I think they really enjoyed it.

I think they liked it, they saw the flag.

Our research on the internet paid off!

Would you like some cake?

The cake, it was so nice.

When you presented it, everybody knew it was for us.

There was Ghana and Scottish flags on it. So nice.

I'm from Elmina.

Oh, really?

They let you out of the prison!

It's a lovely connection to have.

You come to a remote spot like Unst and you meet people from Ghana!

Unst is a beautiful place to be, you know.

People here are so hospitable.

I like Unst, Shetland.

They're welcoming people, very lovely people.

In the days to come, the islanders prepare for a festival,

the likes of which has never been seen on Unst.

It's a very ambitious plan but hopefully it will all go good.

We're glad to be part of it.

As former Flight Lieutenant and entrepreneur, Frank Strang

has an idea to put Unst on the world stage.

We're planning this like a military campaign.

Breathing new life into an old Air Force base.

This is going to be full of music.

But will the big event prove too much

for some of the local performers?

I'm scared I'm going to mess it up.

Come on, you're just nervous, you'll be all right.