Frances Moffat’s Chocolate Pear Cake

Shetland has had a very long relationship with the sea. Sometimes things go wrong, and that’s when volunteer crew from the two RNLI stations – one in Lerwick covering the east coast of Shetland, and one in Aith covering the west side of Shetland, come to the rescue.

The RNLI is completely run by donations and crewed by volunteers, and each year both stations host a Gala Day to help raise money.

The annual Aith Lifeboat Gala was last weekend, and the weather was terrible! Despite this, loyal visitors showed up to have a taste of what was on offer – from afternoon teas, to crew auctions, face painting, candy floss, pony rides, to have a browse around the Aith lifeboat, theCharles Lidbury, and to watch a demonstration between crew of the lifeboat and the Shetland Coastguard.

I missed the gala itself this year due to work commitments, but I did pop by before it started to have a wee chat with the volunteers busy with preparations for the afternoon tea in the kitchen. Frances Moffat has been volunteering at the gala for years, and this year she made a chocolate and pear cake for the teas.

This year the gala raised £6100.47, and £1382.00 of that was from the teas alone! I understand that the teas were incredibly busy with a queues heading right out the door!

As I wasn’t at the event this year to take photographs (and the poor weather wouldn’t have helped anyway!) I thought I’d share some of the best images from the photos I’ve taken over the years when the sun has shone down upon us!