Community Life on Fair Isle

Out and it's just back to what really matters and that is family time. Whenever you tell anybody you're an electrician, the first thing they say is, oh, I've got something that I need you to do. And yeah, never short of a job or two. That's Katie's partner, Josh. He's in high demand as a self employed electrician because Fair Isle has its own energy system using renewables to power the community. The family moved to the island in July. Feels like I've been in my whole life. Some people, it literally feels like they are my family and we've never been away sort of thing. So yeah, it's nice. And I'd definitely say that community life is the best life, I'd say. Katie and Josh's children, Teddy and Hetty, are two of the five pupils at the local school. You do a lot with the community, lots of things together. We brought dogs and cats and chickens and we're thinking about getting a sheepdog. Katie and Josh applied for the house and croft after spotting the opportunity advertised by island owners, the National Trust for Scotland I because the process was so rigorous and there was so many applicants. The fact that we were chosen, we knew that there was a reason and if we were the perfect pick for them then we thought that we would fit in well. And now another house and croft are available with applications open to more people. You have an amazing community which is really sociable, you're safe, you're instantly part of a family. If you join in and you want to help and do things, you will instantly get that back times 10. Eileen Thompson, chair of the Fair Isle Committee. Most people have multiple jobs, administration jobs, part time jobs online or here. A lot of voluntary work as well. Eileen says everyone has a role to play. We always look for people in trades. That's something that we're quite sure of. Plumbers, for example, at the moment. Creative people. We have a huge wealth of inspiration really for creative work here. So I think I'm saying you need to be a jack of all trades, really. A bit of everything is what you need to do. And it's that balance of you need to be independent and happy in your own space and doing things for yourself, but you also need to be able to work in a community because that's also part of it. Katie and Josh hope to welcome another family into the community. There's five kids in the school, one in the elc, there's an infant and we also two teenagers and it would just be really nice to have a few more pals. Teddy's keen for a football team, and after a long engagement, they're planning an island wedding. The church is literally next door. Why not? Winter's long. It gives us quite a while to plan we could maybe do next summer. This is our life now, and we just feel really lucky. Come on, you can.