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NorthLink Ferries will invest more than £45,000 over the next five months in supporting talented youngsters, charities, events and festivals in Shetland and Orkney.

The sponsorship funding will take the form of free travel and discounted fares and those to benefit will include rising sports stars and aid organisations.

The company, which has donated more than £200,000 in sponsorship funds over the past three years, is also supporting several festivals across the Northern Isles in the coming months.

Elaine Tulloch, NorthLink marketing manager, said: “NorthLink takes pride in its role of providing lifeline ferry services to Orkney and Shetland and is fully committed to playing an active part within local communities.

“Our sponsorship programme is proving extremely popular and we were inundated with applications for the first tranche of 2005. We feel that the spread of individuals and causes chosen will enrich the islands’ social, cultural and sporting life as well as aiding charity work both at home and abroad.” 

Among the young sports stars who are to receive NorthLink’s support through discounted travel are Shetland-based badminton star Roy Wood, who has been selected for the Scottish under 15 squad, and budding athlete Benjamin Kerr, also of Shetland, who has been chosen as an elite athlete for the Highland Institute of Sport.

In Orkney, Bobby Oag, Scotland’s number one junior sprinter and the islands’ sportsman of the year in 2004, will benefit as will Charlotte Thomson and Fiona Miller, both of whom have been selected to join the Scottish under 16 hockey squad.
 
The Shetland Aid Trust, which NorthLink has supported for the last three years, will also receive free travel for its annual humanitarian mission to Albania.

NorthLink will also be supporting the Shetland Folk Festival, the Ravin’ Mad Motorcycle Rally (hosted by Orkney Bike Club), The Gathering 2005 (a Harley Davidson rally organized by Shetland Island Cruisers), the Orkney Folk Festival, the Simmer Dim Rally and the Shetland Blues Festival.

The company will also be donating return travel vouchers to several local groups as fundraising prizes. The Orkney Sea Cadets, who are raising money for the maintenance of their HQ, the Shetland Bereavement Project, which needs funding for training its councillors, and Orkney Disability Forum/ Dial a Bus will all benefit.