Lifestyle

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Lifestyle and the pace of life has of course changed over the years on Shapinsay as in the rest of Orkney. Below sisters Margaret Groat and Dorothy Laird  tell Val More about their memories of island life covering topics from school to games, toys, visiting, work and every day activities such as Dorothy fetching water from the well in this vintage photo.

Over the years there have been as many as 6 shops on the  island at once plus at times mobile shops doing deliveries to which local eggs and butter might be sold. The last shop to close leaving Thomas Sinclair at Shoreside as the only one today was run by Heather and Leo Robertson at Astley Cottage who share their memories of the business below. 

 

Cindy Campbell, now living on the mainland, who was Cindy Spence when she lived at Strathore on the island remembers working in the Astley Cottage shop before the Robertsons took it on:

Cindy also remembers the days of CB radio as a way of life on Shapinsay ‘ and the different ‘handles’ that she and her family had:-

In the heyday of CB radio Shapinsay was buzzing with CB radio enthusiasts and a handful remain today despite new digital technology overtaking the older ways of communication.