This week we continue our conversation about rural migration from first-hand experience. Using themes drawn from literature Bobby Macaulay will guide us through his experiences. Bobby is a CommonHealth researcher who left Shetland shortly after his 16th birthday.
Rural economies are dominated by low paid labour markets and there is a lack of training and education opportunities for young people……
Bobby: I don’t think it is necessarily true that you are more likely to go into a low paid job, but I would say that the choice of well-paid industries is much more limited in Shetland. Despite its ups and downs, the fishing industry in Shetland is still strong with some of Britain’s largest pelagic trawlers based in the isles. Another source of well-paid jobs is the energy industry, previously dominated by oil but now developing into natural gas and renewables. Through the UHI-affiliated Shetland College and NAFC Marine Centre, there are possibilities of gaining certain sector-specific training within Shetland. However, outwith these industries and the upper-echelons of the public sector, well paid jobs may be harder to come by.
Young people face scrutiny and hostility for wanting to move away……
Bobby: Cultures die if young people do not keep them alive. Therefore, there is a natural and understandable desire from the older generation that young people remain in the community to continue that culture, whether it be in the form of language or dialect, livelihood or local practices. So for those families and communities very deeply rooted in the culture of an island (which can be totally different even to the neighbouring island) there would be a desire for their young people to stay, or at least promise to return home.
I have never personally experienced hostility for leaving but that may be because (a) my parents are not native Shetlanders so don’t have such a deep rooting within the culture, (b) there may be a belief that new practices and viewpoints may not necessarily be detrimental to an island culture as it evolves, or (c) they weren’t too bothered about losing my presence within the community!
There is little to keep young people occupied in rural locations, which can affect emotional wellbeing…..
Bobby: Similarly to Jack’s response to this last week, I have never found this myself. Before I left home I was involved in a huge number of sports, clubs and activities and rarely found myself with nothing to do. Even now when I go ‘home’ there is always too much to do. This may differ between people and communities but I subscribe to the belief that ‘you get out what you put in’ so those people who are willing to get involved in the community will find that there is a huge amount to do and gain from being part of it.
There are many older retirees moving to rural communities which can be a burden on local services e.g. healthcare…..
Bobby: Of the people who have moved to the island I am originally from, I don’t know that I could say they tend to be much older. I’m not sure about the strain placed on public sector bodies but I can see the opposite effect on local businesses and schools. The bigger the population, the more products the shops can sell. The more kids are in the school, the more jobs can be supported on the island. In this way a steady in-migration to an island community can help sustainably support local businesses and preserve local jobs.
Incomers tend to interfere or try to take over the running community activities, leading to hostilities….
Bobby: This is a very poignant question for me as my parents were incomers to the island, moving there 2 months before I was born. Over the past 28 years they have been involved in a huge number of community activities. Over that time they will have undoubtedly done things in their own way, but I don’t think there is any suggestion that this has been detrimental to the island, and I am unaware of any particular hostility towards their involvement. As Jack said last week, the values held by an island culture are not necessarily compromised through the involvement of incomers. Indeed, it may be these very values which attracted people to move to the island in the first place. As any community evolves, it must decide which elements it carries forward and which it lets slip away. Perhaps the level of hostility towards incomers in community depends on which elements of the community culture fall into each camp.