Shuttle bus available for Scapa event

A shuttle bus service will operate on Sunday 11 November to help people attend the Armistice Day event at Scapa Beach.

A large-scale sand portrait of Lieutenant Robert William Taylor MC, a soldier from Flotta who lost his life during the First World War, will be created at Scapa and then washed away by the rising tide.

There will also be the opportunity for people to create their own silhouettes in the sand, in memory of the millions of lives lost or changed forever by the conflict.

With limited car parking available at Scapa, the shuttle bus will leave Great Western Road carpark in Kirkwall at 15:00 – and also at 15:30 if there is sufficient demand. There will be return trips leaving Scapa at 16:30 and, if required, at 17:00.

Orkney Islands Council Arts Officer Antony Mottershead, one of the team organising Sunday’s event, said: “We’re inviting folk to come along to the beach from 3pm onwards.

“There will be some additional space for parked cars in a field adjacent to the Sea Cadets’ building at Scapa, but we would strongly encourage people to use the shuttle bus if possible or, if the weather is suitable, to walk or cycle to the beach using the Crantit Trail.

"We expect the beach to be busy and we’d ask people with dogs to keep them on leads while the Pages of the Sea event takes place.”

A poem specially written by Scottish poet Carol Ann Duffy, will be read by individuals, families and communities as they gather at Scapa and at other beaches across the UK and take part in a nationwide gesture of remembrance for the men and women who left home shores during the war. Copies of the poem will be available at Scapa.

People attending are also encouraged to bring torches and other small lights with them to help with the reading and to act as a visually arresting moment as daylight fades.