More zebra crossings for Orkney's roads

More will follow, depending on whether money is available, on the Pickaquoy Road in Kirkwall, by Glaitness Aurrida School, and by the bus station across to the Safeway superstore.

Next on the priority list will be crossings near The Smiddy in St Margaret's Hope, New Scapa Road, Kirkwall and two in Finstown - one by the Evie Road junction and the other on the old Finstown road - and one in Dounby.

Revamped branding for Highland Park

Artist Andrew Davidson at work on the new designs for Highland Park.

Incorporating a specially commissioned illustration, by artist Andrew Davidson, and a new bottle shape, the new-look is being introduced into UK outlets this month.

Regarding the new designs, Andrew Davidson said: "For the 12-year-old , I have used the reds and golds of a typical Orkney sunset with an illustration of the setting sun behind the island of Hoy."

"For the 18-year-old, my inspiration was the rising sun on midsummer's morning, which throws a light across Loch Harray and between the headstone of the Neolithic Ring of Brodgar."

Fish-killing algal bloom reported in Orkney

OIC harbours department scientific officer, Dr Alex Simpson, has confirmed that a salmon farm on the east side of Orkney had reported signs of the bloom caused by gymnodinium algae ten days ago.

The signs included lots of dead and dying lugworms and the fish being put off their feed, although no fish deaths have been reported as yet.

Water samples showed that the algae were present in unusually high concentrations. Dr Simpson said this type of bloom was "not uncommon, but irregular" at this time of year, adding that past indications suggested that it was likely to disappear within a month.

The name was chosen by Linda Harcus, Hordaland, Kirkwall, who won the top prize in a vessel naming competition which attracted more than 415 entries.

Hamnavoe was suggested by seven entrants in total and Mrs Harcus was finally declared the winner after a secret ballot.

The names of the three other NorthLink ferries are to be announced over the next two days.

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Trainspotting star signs up to support rugby club

Scots actor Ewan McGregor has signed a bottle of whisky to help raise some much-needed funds for the Orkney Rugby Club.

Ewan heard abut the club's financial plight on Sunday at Crieff Highland Games. After learning that the club's biggest fundraising event of the year - the Marquee Dance - had been wrecked by the weather, Ewan agreed to sign a 70cl bottle of Famous Grouse blended whisky, which he said the club could raffle or auction to raise funds.

The bottle was expected to arrive in Orkney on Thursday, and will be passed on to Orkney Rugby Club.

NHS Orkney pledge to minimise disruptions due to Trust custbacks

Mrs Wellden said that while she was aware of the financial difficulties facing the Trust, she had not been consulted before a news conference was held in Aberdeen on Tuesday.

Grampian University Hospitals Trust have come up with a series of measures to save around £2 million. These include postponing some non-essential operations and delaying and tightening up on the number of appointments.

Talisman's new wells will mean more oil through Flotta

Canadian oil and gas company, Talisman Energy, have announced plans to develop three new wells in the North Sea Kildrummy field. These will feed into the Piper B platform, and in turn to the Flotta Terminal, which Talisman owns.

Estimates put the recoverable assets in the Kildrummy field at between 20-50 million barrels of oil. It is thought that drilling of the new wells could begin later this year, with the first oil being produced next October.

Retiring Cathedral minister to resume writing career

October will see the end of another era at St Magnus Cathedral, when the present minister, Rev Ronald Ferguson, cuts formal ties with the congregation and retires to Orphir.

In his final message in the latest edition of The Grapevine, he says: "From the point of view of ministry, I want you to regard me as having retired from the city of Edinburgh, or the city of Cowdenbeath; from the point of view of personal friendship, I want you to regard me as just being along the road."

Rev Ferguson plans to resume his former career as a writer and journalist.

Orkney venue for Excellence at the Edge conference

Around 200 delegates are heading to Orkney next week for a major 2-day conference on Remote and Rural Health and Social Care.

Excellence at the Edge, organised by NHS Orkney, is taking place at the Pickaquoy Centre on August 29 and 30 and has attracted record numbers of delegates and speakers from all over Scotland.

NHS Orkney Chief Executive, Judi Wellden, said the conference would showcase the ambitious programme of development taking place in the islands as well as the best practice from elsewhere in Scotland.

Following Monday's first sale of livestock at the Orkney Auction Mart since the outbreak of foot-and-mouth, a second sale is being planned for next week.

The mart staff have stressed that the same stringent biosecurity measures will be in place for the second sale, expected to take place on Monday.

Japanese date for Kirkwall City Pipe Band

Stromness councillor John Brown presents a plaque to the visiting Japanese pipe band in Stromness on Saturday.

Kirkwall City Pipe Band have accepted an invitation to play at a Highland Games gathering in Japan in 2003.

The invitation followed the successful visit at the weekend of the Ramsay Pipe Band from Japan. Over 1,000 people gathered on Broad Street on Saturday to watch the Japanese guests perform with the Kirkwall pipe bands and the Stromness Royal British Legion Band.

With the games, in Osaka, Japan, taking place in October 2003, the band members are now looking at raising the funds required to make the trip.

Archivist strengthens Canadian ties with Orkney

Working with the Hudson's Bay Company archives, Mr Astley's visit has prompted interest from the Winnipeg Free Press, who report he has spent six weeks thumbing through two kilometres of documents relating to the company.

"I knew that there was the collection here, but I didn't quite expect to come across the recollections of Orcadians," he says. "The references here are just saturated with references to Orkney men."

NorthLink ferry names announced this week

The name for the new NorthLink Stromness-Scrabster ferry has been decided and will be announced tomorrow - to be printed in this week's The Orcadian.

The name of the second ferry will be announced by Radio Shetland on Thursday evening, with the remaining ferry's name printed in the Shetland Times on Friday.

Nick Nairn (right) with CERMAQ's Nick Meakin (left) and Bruce Mainland, CERMAQ's Orkney operations director (centre) (Pic: K. Pirie)

Renowned Scottish chef Nick Nairn was in Orkney on Monday night giving a presentation to local councillors and chief officials as to why he thinks Orkney organic salmon is the best.

Mr Nairn was invited by CERMAQ, who last year bought out Mainland Salmon and Aquascot, to underline the importance of Orkney's salmon production to the local economy.

Metal cutting ceremony begins construction of NorthLink ferries

John Horton stamps his initials into a sheet of metal to be incorporated into the first of the new ferries.

Construction work on the three NorthLink ferries to take over the Northern Isles routes in October 2002, began in earnest on Monday with a symbolic metal cutting ceremony at the shipyard in Finland.

NorthLink Chief Executive John Horton set the process in motion, cutting the first sheet of metal for the first of the three ferries and stamping the name of the vessel into a sheet of metal to be incorporated in the vessel.

Aker Finnyards will build all three of the new ferries - a construction contract worth in the region of £100 million.

Report submitted after milk float collisions

A report is to be sent to the Procurator Fiscal, after a Kirkwall milk float collided with two parked vehicles in Victoria Street on Monday morning.

Around 7.40am, the Mercedes milk float was in a collision with a Vauxhall Vectra parked outside the Royal Hotel. A white Peugot van outside Bruces Stores was also damaged.

A police spokesman confirmed that they had identified the driver of the milk float and that a report would be submitted to the Procurator Fiscal.

Landrover catches fire during island dance

A report has been submitted to the Children's Panel after a vehicle fire on Rousay at the weekend.

While a dance was taking place in the community centre, a Landrover parked outside the hall was found to be on fire in the early hours of Sunday morning.

A police spokesman confirmed that the fire was extinguished by a number of people attending the dance in the hall and that there were no injuries.

Mart gets back to business after foot-and-mouth disruption

The scene at Britain's first livestock sale at the mart today (Pic: Orkney Photographic)

Britain's first live stock auction went smoothly at Orkney Auction Mart on Monday.

Following a short speech by Jim Walker - who paid tribute to staff of Orkney Auction Mart for their hard work in setting up the sale - the serious business of selling 370 head of store cattle began promptly at 10 am.

Despite the overwhelming media presence, the sale progressed well, and after a slow start, prices settled to a rate comparable with the mart's last live sale on February 22, 2001.

By the end of the day, the overall top price was £724 for a stirk from Messrs J & P Thomson, Garth, South Ronaldsay. The average price per kilo for the whole sale was £1.17.

Mart and SEERAD employees who oversaw the running of the auction, reported that the strict biosecurity arrangements were observed by everyone.

Council seek views on contaminated land strategy

Orkney Islands Council are seeking views on a draft document outlining how the authority plan to identify and deal with any contaminated land in the county.

All local authorities in the UK are required, under amendments to the Environmental Protection Act 1990, to produce a strategy for tackling problems associated with contaminated land.

The council are keen to discuss their draft strategy with interested members of the local community and staff from the environmental health unit will be attending a special public meeting in Kirkwall Community Centre at 7.30pm on Thursday.

John Gater working in Tankerness at the weekend

Geophysics expert and Time Team regular John Gater was in Orkney again at the weekend, surveying land surrounding the underground chamber of Minehowe in Tankerness.

Mr Gater returned to the site to further investigate the remains of the nearby broch structure and the site of Chapelhilll, near the cemetery.

Work carried out by Mr Gater in 1999 revealed that Minehowe might contain a second chamber and was also surrounded by a huge enclosing ditch.

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Pipe Bands gather for Broad Street performance

The Ramsay Pipe Band came to Orkney after a meeting between Kirkwall City piper George Stout, who works for Ortak, and Maud Robertson Ramsay Nomiyama, the mother of a band member.

Maud herself and daughter, Lindsay Cameron Nomiyama Kawai, were in the ten-strong band visiting Orkney. Four bands in all paraded with the two Kirkwall City bands joined by their Japanese guests, as well as the Stromness Royal British Legion Band.

Disappointment for Orkney as Caithness take cup

In the final of rugby's Brin Cup in Kirkwall on Saturday, Caithness powered to a 44-15 victory over Orkney.

In perfect conditions at Kirkwall Grammar School, the two sides met for what was to have been the cup semi-final. However, Caithness were by far the stronger team, with the Orkney squad only coming back into the game in the second half.

Plaque unveiled in memory of Rousay crofter

The eviction of a Rousay man in the 1880s by the former laird of the Trumland Estate, General Burroughs, has been commemorated by a stone plaque at the entrance to his family's croft.

Erected at the roadside near the croft of Digro, the plaque was unveiled at a ceremony on the island on Saturday by two of James Leonard's great granddaughters, Mrs Christine Cuthill and Mrs Rosemary Gillon.

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