Cullivoe Up Helly Aa is a Viking fire festival, held every year in the Shetland Islands. Over 60 years old, it's an event at the centre of our community life - involving folk of all ages and incomes - who gift hours of their time and effort to help make Up Helly Aa a spectacle enjoyed by all...

We're fundraising to help our volunteers build (and not burn, for a change) a permanent replica Viking longship. This new galley will be on display every summer at the annual Cullivoe Up Helly Aa exhibition, Shetland's agricultural shows, and wherever else our Vikings travel to.

~"It's very good for cross community friendship and camaraderie"~ - https://fb.watch/40StQ9YNic

The Galley Shed in Cullivoe is where the work takes place: building the galley, crafting Viking suits and making torches for the fire festival. It also doubles as a community facility - offering office/studio space - as well as hosting regular discos, dances and social events for folk to enjoy. Originally the site of an old chapel, the current building was used as a village hall for many years - before a replacement was built - and it became the Galley Shed in 1986.

~"Everybody sticks together, and helps each other out. We don't like to see anybody being lonely"~ - https://fb.watch/40StQ9YNic

A display Galley will help raise the prominence of Cullivoe's Up Helly Aa, encourage more visitors to the area, and give our volunteers the opportunity to pass their galley building skills on to a younger generation. Our ageing Galley Shed also needs refurbishment, so that their work - and our community festival - can continue proudly for another 60 years.

Please donate if you can, and come to visit us sometime! Cullivoe Up Helly Aa is held on the last Friday of February every year, on the island of Yell. Three cheers for Up Helly Aa!

Learn more about the history of Cullivoe Up Helly Aa here: cullivoeuphellyaa.com

Thank you!