Council lose £400,000 in ill-fated Orcargo deal

Orkney Islands Council have revealed they have lost nearly £400,000 as a result of Orcargo going into liquidation.

The OIC had given the company a loan of £202,500 and were owed over £193,000 in unpaid harbour dues when Orcargo went into administration.

The total figure owed to the council by Orcargo was £396,673.34 and they say that they are not now expecting to see a return on any of that money. This makes OIC one of the biggest single losers as the shipping company is formally wound up.

Islanders seek pier owner

Despite several attempts, council chairman, Mr Jim Cooper, said they had not been able to trace the owner of the pier, which is falling into disrepair.

The pier, which has been disused for many years, was built during the herring fishing boom in the early 1900s.

Mr Stewart McDermott and his diving team measuring one of the portholes to help positively identify the wreck as the HMS Exmouth. (Picture: Exmouth Expedition 2001)

A relative of a man killed when a World War Two destroyer was sunk is to complain to the Ministry of Defence after an Orkney-based dive team removed items from the war grave.

Despite claims of the European Technical Dive Centre, based in Burray, to have returned the live shell, Mr Stewart McDermott says it is "outrageous" they were allowed to touch the HMS Exmouth in the first place.

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First Orkney Youth Football Festival

The festival was the outcome of the sponsorship deal awarded to Orkney Amateur Football Association (OAFA) by Sportsmatch, which is funded by the Scottish Executive and administered by Sportscotland, the business sponsorship incentive scheme for sport.

The Orkney Youth Football Festival section can be found at: www.orcadian.co.uk/footballfestival/

'No prospect' for Orcargo debt recovery

Local businesses who were owed more than £800,000 by the troubled shipping company, Orcargo Ltd, when it went into receivership in April 1999, have been informed that 'there is no prospect of any recovery' of their debts.

The administrator for Orcargo has formally told creditors that he is close to finalising matters and will shortly be in a position to take the appropriate steps to place the company into liquidation.

Science Festival programme to be announced next week

The festival opens on Friday, August 31, and runs for a full seven days.

Festival director Mr Howie Firth said this year's programme will have a strong international theme, building on the growing recognition that the festival is reaching overseas as well as elsewhere in the UK. Countries represented will include Norway, Australia and Slovenia.

Riding of the Marches is going ahead

Speaking on behalf of Orkney Riding Club, Captain Bill Spence explained that at a meeting last week members had decided to hold the event provided that people affected were happy to allow horses to follow the proposed route.

Sonja Wishart from Westquoy in Orphir is to carry the flag at this year's event.

Investigation launched after ferry collision in Kirkwall Bay

MV Varagen

The roll-on roll-off ferries, MV Shapinsay and MV Varagen, received minor damage after crashing together in dense fog around 5pm on Friday night.

End of an era for Orkney's Met Office

Two of the four staff who have been employed by the Met Office at Kirkwall will continue to provide weather information as part of other duties with Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (HIAL), another is moving to Aberdeen Weather Centre at Aberdeen Airport, and the other is taking early retirement.

Captain Nigel Mills, Orkney's new Director of Harbours

Orkney's new director of harbours, Captain Nigel Mills is to take up his post on August 20.

Although Captain Mills will immediately commence his duties as director, the present director, Captain Bob Moore, is to remain with the authority until October 31 to ensure a smooth handover of responsibilities.

Captain Moore will also continue with his work as project manager for the proposed transhipment hub initiative during this handover period.

Mart considers virtual sales as livestock restart delayed

Orkney Auction Mart are unlikely to resume livestock sales until late August - and may resort to "virtual sales" to boost business.

The news was confirmed on Tuesday by the mart management, who have kept in constant contact with the Scottish Executive since foot-and-mouth movement restrictions were partially lifted in Orkney earlier in the summer.

While they are still optimistic that live sales will be allowed again in the near future, the mart say they are having to investigate the use of "virtual auctions" - using video film - as a way of boosting business in the interim.

Heritage Society urges locals to preserve Udal law

Orkney Heritage Society have joined the call for Orkney to retain the powers of land ownership preserved under Udal Law, and in particular the rights of an individual to own the foreshore to low water mark.

In a letter to The Orcadian, the Heritage Society vice-president, Mr Sandy Firth, explains that Orcadian farmers were granted ownership of the foreshore by Earl Rognvald who sold these Udal or Odal rights in exchange for hard cash to help pay for building St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall.

The Heritage Society letter ends with a call to local people to express their concern at any move to scrap these legal powers which date back over 800 years.

Top marks for Highland Park's amenities

Retired schoolteachers Duncan and Wendy Graham have travelled to every corner of Scotland in researching their book.

The Grahams say of Highland Park: "Worth the pilgrimage to Orkney on its own. First there are floor maltings where visitors can see everything from traditional wooden spades and chariots to mechanical 'turners' work. Then on to smell the peat reek from the kilns.

A trip to the Sanday swimming pool turned to drama on Monday night when a camper van belonging to holidaymakers from Nottingham caught fire on a Sanday road.

Philip Harrison from Nottingham and his niece Bryony Newton of Roo in Sanday escaped injury when the Bedford camper van they were travelling in burst into flames in the middle of the road.

Sanday's auxiliary fire brigade attended the blaze around 8pm, but despite their efforts the van was completely destroyed. There were no injuries.

The seal pup that may be transferred to Orkney after its 3,000 mile detour from Greenland looks set to remain in Wales for another week or so.

The four month-old hooded seal pup, nicknamed T-Rex, was causing staff at the Welsh Marine Life Rescue Centre alarm last week because of her frail appearance, but the pup is now feeding and has gained more weight.

The centre said on Monday that they are still trying to arrange transportation to return T-Rex to North Atlantic waters, but it is now less urgent as the pup is feeding regularly.

Airport funding is HIAL highlight

Securing partnership funding for building new terminals at Kirkwall and Stornoway Airports has been highlighted as "the most significant event of the year" for Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (HIAL).

Launching HIAL's annual report and accounts, chairman Mr Sandy Matheson said: "Forming stakeholder partnerships is an important part of the company's strategy, where there are synergies, shared vision and positive outcomes. My aim is to continue to develop an organisation with a higher public profile founded upon transparency, public accountability and partnership working, so that HIAL may play an appropriate role in encouraging social and economic development in the Highlands and Islands."

HIAL received £15.1 million in subsidy from the Scottish Executive in the year to March 31, 2001 to operate the ten airports under their control, compared with just over £12 million in the previous year.

Kirkwall lifeboat was called out on Sunday to escort a yacht in difficulty off Tankerness.

The Coastguard received a call for assistance on Sunday afternoon, after the Lossiemouth yacht Vanagis suffered an engine failure.

Kirkwall Lifeboat was launched around 5pm and towed the Vanagis and her crew of two into Kirkwall.

American minister goes home after study year in Orkney

A Presbyterian minister from the USA left Orkney yesterday, after a year's study leave.

Reverend Bill Bess, who is undertaking a Masters degree in divinity at the San Francisco Theological Seminary, has spent the last year as assistant minister at St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall.

He and his wife, Mary have taken an active part in community life in the islands, and say that they will most remember the people they have met during their stay in Orkney, as well as the dramatic scenery and sunlight in the islands.

Procurator Fiscal pays tribute to Stromness Spitfire pilot

Mr Hugh Yorston

Procurator fiscal Mr Roderick Urquhart has paid tribute to the colourful Stromness character Mr Hugh Yorston, who died on Tuesday of last week.

A Spitfire pilot during World War Two, Mr Yorston was well known locally for his stands against the establishment, as well as his detailed research into the history of his own and other people's properties in Stromness.

Mr Urquhart told The Orcadian: "I was sorry to hear of the death of Hugh Sinclair Yorston. I am aware that some of the people he had dealing with were less well-disposed to him but I actually enjoyed our exchanges. I am a firm defender in the right of an individual to grow old disgracefully, a philosophy which he embodied."

He added: "I intervened only when he overstepped the mark and caused harm to others. I generally found his publications and posters amusing, and was disappointed if I did not feature in the displays in the window of 43 Victoria Street, Stromness."

Digital camcorder stolen from Council Offices

Kirkwall police are appealing for information following the theft of a digital video camera from the Orkney Islands Council offices in School Place.

The DCR-PC110 digital camcorder was stolen from the premises some time over the past three months. Anyone with any information is asked to contact the police on 872241.

Last day to have say on future of udal law

The ancient rights to the foreshore and seabed of Orkney and Shetland come under the spotlight in the paper, in particular the udal system of landholding - found in Orkney and Shetland - in which the land is owned outright rather than the Crown being the ultimate owner.

Although the paper states that very few aspects of udal law are now recognised, it asks whether legislation should make it clear that a pre-existing udal title to the foreshore would defeat a subsequent grant of the property by the Crown.

What is the future for udal law? - an article by Richard N. M. Anderson

Fog hits senior inter-county fixtures

Orkney's senior football and hockey squads had to abandon their attempts to fly to Shetland on Friday for the annual inter-county competitions.

Low cloud and fog brought air traffic to and from Kirkwall to a halt and meant that the fixtures, scheduled for Friday night, had to be postponed.

Both hockey and football events will now take place in late August or early September.

Preliminary work on Kirkwall's new multi-million pound ferry terminal got under way last week, with workmen on site beginning to clear the area for the access roads.

Construction work on the road is expected to start shortly.

With the new NorthLink ferry contract coming into operation in October 2002, the construction of the new Hatston terminal - to handle the Aberdeen/Orkney ferry - will have to work to a tight timetable.