SEABIRDS-AND-SEALS – THE NOSS BOAT

AWARDED
SCOTTISH FAMILY BUSINESS OF THE YEAR

THE HERALD SCOTTISH FAMILY BUSINESS AWARDS 2024

LEADING THE WAY INTO 2025

28.11.2024

As previously announced, we were nominated and shortlisted as finalists for this year’s Herald Scottish Family Business Awards which took place in the Glasgow Marriot Hotel on Thursday 28^th November.  The event was hosted by Scottish entertainer and previous Britain’s Got Talent contestant, Edward Reid.  The evening saw 12 awards handed out at the glitzy event, attended by representatives of leading family-run businesses from across the country.

As Finalists, we were so disappointed that we couldn’t attend the awards ceremony in person but unfortunately Marie was unable to travel following her recent major surgery.  On that note, she is home from hospital and following all post-op advice from the medical team and heading in the right direction with her road to recovery..  Marie would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has sent their best wishes, it means a lot, also thank you to husband/business partner Brian for all his love and support.

The following morning, the team at (tag business here) were absolutely super delighted to hear that we have been awarded ‘Scottish Family Business Of The Year (Micro)’ sponsored by Business Gateway.  The judges inform us that they were impressed with the businesses year-on-year growth, strong community connections, and commitment to inclusivity.  The judges quoted “by harnessing Shetland’s natural capital, the business has created local employment and implemented a solid sales and marketing strategy, exemplifying the values sought in a business.  Arrangements are being made to get our Winning Trophy sent to Shetland, we can’t wait to be in receipt of this wonderful accolade.   

Thank you so much to our strong team for all your hard work, dedication and support, you truly are valued and very much appreciated, great to see all our team efforts recognised in this way.  We would also like to say huge thanks to all who nominated us, to our local community, customers locally and from all over the world,  and to our many supporters for making awards like these possible, we could not have done it without your continued love and support, we couldn’t be more prouder. 

We would like to Congratulate all the other winners on the night and to all who made it through as Finalists…Fantastic achievement and well done.  We would also like to thank the team at ‘The Herald’ for sending us a photo of our award trophy along with photos from the evening. 

You can have a read of ‘The Herald’ article which showcases highlights from the evening’s celebrations, link below. 

https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/24758861.scottish-family-business-awards-2023-winners-announced/

John Anderson of Strathclyde Business School, quoted “Family businesses are the original responsible businesses.  The level of innovation and investment, commitment to employees and the environment and the scale of ambition demonstrated by all the finalists and winners was hugely impressive.  The Triple Bottom Line (profit, people and planet) in action.”

Hugh Lightbody, Chief Officer, Business Gateway National Unit quoted…”Judging and attending the Family Business Awards has been an incredibly rewarding experience.  From the impressive innovation and resilience shown by all the finalists, to the inspiring stories of legacy and dedication, it’s clear that family businesses are the backbone of our economy.  Congratulations to all the finalists and winners – your hard work, passion and commitment to excellence are truly deserving of this recognition.  Supporting the awards was an easy choice for us as we believe in celebrating the values of integrity and collaboration that drive family-owned businesses. These awards not only highlight success, but also encourage a continued commitment to the values that make family businesses so unique and impactful.”

David Henderson, Head Of Strategic Finance West Of Scotland, Virgin Money quoted…”The awards were a fantastic celebration of family business in Scotland.  Virgin Money were privileged to continue to play our part in honouring the success and achievements of all the finalists and the winners on the night, recognising a diverse range of businesses from every corner of the Scottish economy in their drive to grow within their communities on the foundations of strong family traditions whilst balancing innovation and sustainability.  We extend our congratulations to everyone involved”. 

Below is a list of all the winners announced on the night and once again – huge Congratulations from The Noss Boat Team.

SUPPORTED BY

We are delighted this year to be working in partnership with local artist ‘ John Birnie – JB’s Coloured Pencil Art’.  We have our online shop where we advertise greetings cards for sale, which are also available for sale onboard along with our other branded merchandise.  Our current greetings card stocks were created from an artist in the Highlands.  All created through paintings in pastel from photos taken by a number of passengers who joined our tours and with their permission of course.  

With stocks of our current online shop coming low for our greetings cards, we are this year keeping the creation to a local supplier.  John Birnie (JB’s Coloured Pencil Arts) is creating greetings cards using his fine pencil art skills, all inspired by photography he has taken on our tours.  He also suggested adding a photograph of our boat and contact details onto the back, great promotion for both business. 

We are very excited about this new collaboration and once produced, we will have them for sale online and onboard, along with our other branded merchandise.   

Until John’s drawings are ready to sell onboard, we have purchased some of John’s wildlife greetings cards which he currently has available, all of which are taken locally.  He has also added our boat and business details onto the back.  John quoted “Nice picture of your boat on the back, for visitors to remember their holiday experience on your boat”.

John is a self taught coloured pencil artist and has dabbled in pencil art on and off over the years and after retiring in 2012, we found more time to indulge in his art hobby.  Originally it was only graphite pencils he used as an art media but then he was inspirited by coloured pencil work.  He discovered online and especially the fine detail that the medium allows.

He has gradually developed his own style with drawings inspired by the scenery and wildlife of the Shetland Islands.

He tends to work with ‘Faber Castell’ Polychromos pencils which are oil based and allow for very fine detail and depth of colour.  You can view his drawings by visiting his website:  All his artwork is referenced from his own photographs.
https://www.jbscolouredpencilart.co.uk/

This is an exciting new innovative partnership with promotion for both local family businesses.   

We have also created a new website page ‘Partnerships & Sponsorships’ detailing all of the local businesses we collaborate with and support – great to support our local community where we can. 

When we took over the business, we wanted to make our tours ‘inclusive for all’ and create a great experience without barriers or restrictions. This in return improves the tourism experience for a wide range of customers who may need specific adaptions or facilities. These include disabled people, seniors, families with young children, and those with a medical condition.

With Marie having experience of working in the care sector for a range of different needs for both adults and children, many adaptions have been added to make our tours ‘inclusive for all.

Our first move was to make our boat ‘wheelchair accessible’ which was skilfully done by Brian whereby he added a flat, obstruction-free boarding platform to accommodate all levels and abilities.

It’s not just about having wheelchair access, we also cater for customers with hearing, visual and speech impairment, dietary requirements, foreign languages with our Original customised Identification charts which are available in many different languages. We basically cater for everyone to make us a Responsible and Inclusive tour provider.

Along with many new additions this year, we are delighted to have ‘Dementia Friendly’ name badges for all crew members. We also have onboard an ocean sensory box, to keep ‘autistic’ passengers calm should they find any given situation too overwhelming.

The team at Seabirds-and-Seals Noss Boat Tours believe that having improved accessibility appeals to a wide range of visitors and we want to make your tour a holiday highlight by making it accessible and enjoyable throughout.  By listening to our customers and having more awareness about the inclusive tourism market, we have worked hard and implemented changes to make our tours open and enjoyable for all.  We have a dedicated website page titled ‘Accessible & Inclusive Tourism’ which details our inclusive approach and welcome any new suggestions. 

Marie has worked previously as a Learning Support Worker and Social Care Worker, many times at a Senior level.  She has worked in various settings for a diverse range of clients, which she continues to do in the Winter months when not operating tours.  She has various care related qualifications and also has certified training for ‘disability inclusion’ in Hospitality, Travel & Tourism.  Marie has made adaptions within the business by providing facilities onboard which are autism & dementia friendly, as she has a good understanding on both due to all her care working experience

When we have customers using wheelchairs onboard or any other mobility aid, we position them where they are going to get the best view at all times throughout our planned tour route which we explain in our introductions and safety briefing. Could we kindly ask passengers travelling with us when we have wheelchair customers onboard or for anyone else having to rely on a mobility aid, to please be respectful and not block their view as we want everyone to feel socially included.

We know how easy it is to get immersed in all that you see. We do have an extremely huge viewing platform as shown on our website homepage video to allow everyone to enjoy the spectacular views and to get the best images on our 5-Star multi-award winning Noss Boat Tours.

We are delighted again this year to be working in collaboration with Ability Shetland, Shetland Befriending Scheme & Shetland Carers Plus many other local businesses.  We are proud supporters of our local community, if you have a new collaboration that you would like to discuss, please do get in touch.

If you have any questions or concerns prior to booking, please do not hesitate to get in touch and we will be delighted to assist.

Earlier this year we sourced a defibrillator through charity organisation AEDdonate . Our decision to have this onboard reflects our commitment to responsible tourism & inclusivity, ensuring everyone can enjoy the wonders of nature with peace of mind.

We hope we never have to use it but on hand should an emergency situation arise.

AED Donate – Press Release:
With no location out of bounds, we’re delighted to share a different kind of installation. There is now a defibrillator permanently located onboard The Noss Boat ‘Seabird’.  Taking a boat tour around Bressay and Noss Islands allows visitors to see the abundant wildlife in Shetland.

Owner Marie said: “Ensuring safety at sea is our utmost priority! On our nature tour boat, we’re now equipped with a defibrillator, ready to respond swiftly to any emergency situation. We’re prepared for the unexpected during our tours around Bressay & Noss islands. With support from ambulance services, coastguard teams, and the RNLI, we’re now part of a network dedicated to keeping everyone safe on the water. Our decision to have a defibrillator onboard reflects our commitment to responsible tourism and inclusivity, ensuring that everyone can enjoy the wonders of nature with peace of mind.

Thanks to Seabirds-and-Seals – Original & Best Noss Boat Tours for choosing to work with us, your support enables us to continue helping other organisations and communities.

Is your community protected in the event of a sudden cardiac arrest? Click on the web link to find out how they can support you https://www.aeddonate.org.uk/apply-for-funding/

On 30^th March we released here on our Blog as well as on Facebook, that we were running a competition to win a FREE trip for one adult and one under 16 with the winner drawn on 15^th April.  . 

The competition was to name the puffin which was gifted to Brian last year as a belated present for a Big Birthday, but we won’t see how old, ha.  This beautiful stuffed puffin was made by one of our many returning customers who joins us year after year for a few trips during her stay, along with her husband.  They had booked a few tours with us last year and had planned to present it to him personally but unfortunately had to cancel their trip due to personal circumstances. 

We absolutely love our new addition, but we needed help in giving our puffin a name, hence reason we decided to run it as a competition. 

It’s not been an easy task picking a winner, we ended up doing a Top 10 for a draw. Our draw took place on the afternoon of 15^th April inside the boat cabin with a video, which we posted on facebook to announce the winner and you can view it here if you are on facebook. Marie went mostly Shetland dialect so we hope you can understand her.  She originates from Burra Isle which has a very distinctive twang but we know from feedback that her accent is appreciated on the tours.

We beat not keep you waiting any longer…the winner is: Teresa Kirkpatrick who suggested ‘Tosh’. Well done Teresa and thanks again to everyone who entered. We will be in touch Teresa to get her gift voucher out to her.

We are pretty sure you are keen to hear the Top 10, so here goes:

NOSSAY

NOSSIE

OONA

PEERIE TROOKER

PERCY

POPFIN

PUFF

RIPPLE

SNIGGLEPUFF IN

TOSH

Tosh will be added to our ‘Meet The Crew’s section on our website as our Mascot and will keep Skipper Brian Or Marvyn in good company, keeping a lookout at the helm. We know Tosh will be in for a lot of love and affection by both children and adults.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our followers and to everyone who supports us in any way at all.

Thank You
The Noss Boat Team

Tosh – The Noss Boat Mascot

Sea Watch Foundation Aims

Monitoring the numbers and locations of whales and dolphings in order to gain valuable knowledge of the health of our marine environment, and insight into the effects of chemical pollution, noise disturbance, over-fishing, accidental capture in fishing gear and climate change.

Involving the public in scientific monitoring. 

Raising awareness and understanding of marine mammals and the threats they face.

Educating, informing and advising for better environmental protection.  

As a business with 32 years of experience, we continue to lead the way for responsible boat-based ecotourism. At all times we follow the Nature Scot Marine Wildlife watching code and we are also WiSe accredited operators, proudly adhering to strict protocols to minimize disturbance to marine wildlife.

If you’d like to find out more about how to minimise disturbance visit

https://www.nature.scot/…/scottish-marine-wildlife…

NEW LOCAL BUSINESS PARTNERSHIP – SUPPORT AND SHOP LOCAL
WHERE YOU CAN

We are committed to becoming more sustainable as we know this is the future, with increasing numbers of visitors looking for businesses that are playing their part in sustainability practices.  Our good practices, which we have in place both at home and in the business, gained us our Green Tourism ‘Gold’ award this year.   We have our published ‘Environmental & Sustainability’ policy available on the dedicated ‘Green Tourism’ page on our website.  We created this page and the policy to give viewers insight to our sustainability practices. 

We always try to support local where we can and for years now we have worked in partnership with many local businesses, organisations, charities and fundraising events which we speak about regularly here on social media.  We are great believers in sourcing everything we need for the business locally where we can.  Let us tell you more about one of two new partnerships assisting us on our green journey to become a more sustainable business.  Our second new partnership will follow in the days ahead as well as another new addition to the business.

As our business involves the great Shetland outdoors, we need to keep warm and cozy during our busy season and as part of our green journey to becoming a more sustainable business, we have ensured that our full crew kit clothing range for the 2024 season and beyond is as sustainable as possible.  Our online shop clothing products and 2023 crew hoodies are 100% organic cotton but this year we wanted to  the full crew attire to be more sustainable, also very smart too as appearance is very important.

Our mission over the Winter months was to find a clothing range that is more sustainable and can stand all weathers.  We wanted to stay local to buy our new look as this is more sustainable and with the help of our local company called ‘LHD Ltd’, we have successfully started a new partnership with them.  All the products we have ordered to fully kit us out for the season are made from a mix of organic cotton & recycled materials.  All products are also PFC-FREE, meaning they have no release of chemical compound that is harmful to our environment or health when worn or washed.  The company works with a particular supplier who has a mission to make their clothing products as sustainable as possible. We look forward to trialling their products and putting them to the test in our mix of Shetland weather. 

Any of our previous crew clothing will go to local clothing recycling bins and is collected by The Salvation Army for sorting and recycling, this in return supports a local charity. 

We are currently in the process of getting our logo applied by the LHD custom clothing shop, who do a fantastic job, and once our tours start into April, we will be able to do a little promotion for them with us wearing our new range and the stunning Noss cliffs as a backdrop.  Until such time, here’s the 100% organic cotton range we have for sale on our online shop which is beautifully modelled by Laurie Goodlad Pottinger who runs her own business called ‘Shetland With Laurie’.  Also modelling is her cute wee Daughter.  Laurie is also one of our relief crew members and will be standing in for Marie when we head to Blackpool in May to attend the UK finals of the Small Business Federation Awards.    

When coming to Shetland do plan ahead, we all hope this is going to be a good Summer after it being such a bad Winter.  For anyone that has been on holiday to Shetland in the past, you will know that we can get very mixed weather…sometimes 4 seasons within the space of an hour.  Our advice is to pack a good mix and do bring a warm jacket along with a lighter one, we always recommend waterproof clothing for our tours.  If you do forget to pack anything then worry not as we can 100% recommend LHD Ltd located on Commercial Street in Lerwick, just a short walk from where our tours depart from on Victoria Pier.  They provide everything from waterproof trousers, jackets, hats, hoodies/jumpers, gloves, scarfs,warm cozy socks, footwear and much more.       

Even if you have plenty of layers on and are still not warm enough…fear not as we have the added convenience of our indoor, heated cabin.  There you will find further seating, enough for all 12 passengers with viewing windows all around so that you don’t miss a thing.  Our friendly skipper will keep you entertained and as another added bonus, if our dedicated guide, Marie, is out on deck doing her ‘live’ commentary, you will still hear everything being said as you have your own individual headset, and of course the warmth inside the cabin.

Shop Local where you can – we have provided a link to the LHD Ltd online shop which advertises some of the clothing you will find but not their full range.  Their shop on Commercial Street is extremely well stocked for all your outdoor clothing needs and reasonably priced:   https://shop.lhdlimited.co.uk/