Trust appoint youth development officer

Mrs Oriel Cooper, from Inverurie, is expected to take up her post in February. She is married with three children.

"I am looking forward very much to coming to live in Orkney, and to working with the young people in the islands," she said. "This is the kind of work that I have really wanted to do and am so glad to be offered this opportunity."

Debt repayment move welcomed by CAB boss

Scottish Executive proposals to help people repay debts have been welcomed in Orkney as a step in the right direction.

A £3 million investment in a national debt advice system was announced by the Executive, who are also bringing forward proposals for a statutory debt arrangement scheme and changes to enforcement procedures. The measures include proposals for a less intrusive court procedure to allow people to pay debts without the threat of enforcement action.

Orkney’s Citizen’s Advice Bureau helped around 1,000 people last year deal with £1 million of debt. Mr Angus Campbell of the Kirkwall branch said any moves which prevented the involvement of sheriff’s officers was a good thing.

Building firm officially insolvent

Andrew Tait and Son, the Kirkwall building firm that went bust last month, is now officially insolvent.

Partner at Drever and Heddle, Georgette Herd, who is representing the majority of Orkney creditors, said a hearing was held at Kirkwall Sheriff Court on Thursday.

The next step is a creditors meeting and she added that all creditors now had to get their claims to the interim liquidator, Ian D. Fraser. Claim forms are available from Mr Fraser by telephoning 01224 584900.

No spectacular solstice at Maeshowe as cloudy conditions affect sunset

One of the best known ancient events took place in Orkney yesterday afternoon, focussed around the Neolithic chambered cairn Maeshowe.

Being the winter solstice, at this time of the year, the last rays of the setting sun enter Maeshowe to strike the rear wall - a trait the chamber shares with the tomb of Newgrange in Ireland. However, the poor weather and and a bank of low cloud over Hoy didn't make for a spectacular sunset.

As usual this year, images from the 5,000-year-old howe are being broadcast on the Internet. See http://www.maeshowe.co.uk for more details.

Carmichael to fight for subsidised flights

Isles MP Alistair Carmichael has vowed to fight for subsidised air services from mainland Scotland to Orkney and Shetland despite current lack of Government support for the idea.

Mr Carmichael is pressing for European Structural Funds to be made available to bring down the costs of the air routes.

Mr Carmichael described the Government’s stance on the issue as breathtaking, adding that the funds were available for air routes to the rural communities of France, Spain and Greece.

Council will need more money to provide rented accommodation

Orkney Islands Council will need more money from the Scottish Executive to provide rented accommodation in the future - following Wednesday's rejection of plans to transfer council houses to the local housing association.

The idea was seen as a step towards increased future investment and a way around financial restrictions imposed on the council, but OIC assistant housing director, Mr John Richards, said that although stock transfer would have had benefits, there were also advantages in the status quo – mainly that the council has a low housing debt.

Orkney Housing Association are also not constrained to the same extent when it comes to borrowing money for new houses, so the council will now have to find cash from somewhere to spend on housing.

Stewardship grants to 19 Orkney farmers

Nineteen farmers in Orkney have been successful in securing grants for conservation work through the Rural Stewardship Scheme.

Although Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department (SEERAD) staff in Kirkwall still have to work out exactly how much money Orkney farmers will receive, a total of £18 million will be paid out to 380 farmers across Scotland.

Twenty-two applications were received from Orkney farmers, but when the points scoring system was added up only 19 got through. The scheme pays farmers to carry out environmental projects and land management schemes.

Orcadian photographs aired in Norwegian newspaper

Orkney folk caught on camera by a visiting group of Norwegian photographers this autumn are seen in action this week in a Norwegian newspaper.

The pictures were taken by photographer, Ms Mimsy Møller, who works for the Oslo based paper, Dagsavisen. During their ten days in Orkney, Ms Møller, with her 46 colleagues, took snaps of people at home, at work and at play, for exhibition both here and in Norway.

Amongst those featured in the December 9 issue of Dagsavisen is the late Alfie Merriman, who, sadly, died in November, shortly after reaching his 100th Birthday.

Councillors reject housing transfer proposals

Proposals to transfer Orkney’s council houses to a new provider were rejected on Wednesday by councillors.

At a special meeting of the full council councillors were faced with officials' recommendations to invite Orkney Housing Association to submit proposals for the acquisition of the council’s housing stock.

The current stage had taken three years to reach and had included the formation of a consultative committee which recommended that the council moved forward with the idea. However, councillors overwhelmingly rejected the recommendations by 13 votes to four, agreeing that the council should retain its houses and take no further action on stock transfer.

Decommissioning scheme could see five Orkney fishing boats scrapped

The Orkney Reiver (Picture: Craig Taylor)

Five Orkney fishing boats - including three whitefish vessels - could be scrapped through the Scottish Executive’s £25 million decommissioning scheme.

The Environment and Rural Development Minister, Mr Ross Finnie, told the Scottish Parliament last Thursday that 108 fishing boat owners in Scotland had been successful in their applications to have their vessels taken out of production.

In Orkney, three whitefish boats - the Orkney Reiver owned by Michael Lyall; River Dee owned by Albert and David Reid and the Rivo 1 owned by Jimmy Bain from Westray - have been accepted for decommissioning, along with two scallop boats, the Amazon owned by Robbie Hutchison of Kirkwall and Jenmar owned by Matt Symonds of Holm.

Forensic investigation after remains uncovered during renovation

Police investigations are under way after human remains were found under a floor during the renovation of a house in Harray.

The bones, suspected to be that of a baby or young child, were described by police as "relatively historic" and have been sent to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness for forensic analysis.

A police spokesman confirmed that a report will be submitted to the procurator fiscal, adding that at the moment they are not looking for anyone in relation to the find.

NorthLink announce residents discount fares

NorthLink have announced their residents' passenger fare discounts. They will be offering people living in Orkney and Shetland a 30 per cent discount on normal fares, with senior citizens and students receiving a further 25 per cent reduction. Children’s fares will be half the cost of an adult.

On the proposed service between Kirkwall and Aberdeen, NorthLink are quoting a low rate return fare of £32.55 (with a berth) for students and senior citizens, rising to £49.85 at peak rate.

NorthLink’s commercial director, Mr Gareth Crichton, said: “We have broadened the range of options available to all of our customers and want to ensure that our Orkney and Shetland customers are fully aware of the benefits NorthLink has to offer to create as smooth as transition as possible when we take over the routes in 2002.”

The owner of the creel boat rescued off Stronsay on Saturday morning is looking for a new vessel.

Skipper of the Corilda, Mr Tom Dearness said: “We couldn’t do much about the fire because it was so big, so we had to jump into the liferaft and hope that someone saw us."

The other two crew members were local creel fisherman Robert Ward and 16-year-old Ben Blenkinsopp, who attends school in Sanday and only joins the crew at the weekends.

Mr Dearness added that he has not let the fire put him off and that he is currently looking for a new boat.

An Internet consultancy firm has gone bust after relocating to Papa Westray.

Edell & Co Ltd, run by Philip Edell, announced their insolvency on Tuesday, blaming a downturn in global trading conditions for their demise. Mr Edell set up the company three and a half years ago and moved to Orkney last year from Edinburgh.

He said that a sudden drop in the customer base, coupled with no sign of the industry's recovery, had forced him to close, adding that his customers - none of whom had been local - would be notified by letter that their accounts would be moved to another data centre.

Officials urged to push forward Garson site development

OIC officials have been urged to speed up the development of serviced private house sites at Garson in Stromness.

The move comes after the council’s planning referrals sub-committee yesterday refused to approve the building of a new house off the Bu of Cairston Road outside Stromness. The applicants told councillors they had been unsuccessfully looking for a suitable site around Stromness for five years and that when they asked the council about the Garson scheme they had got little help.

Planning officer, Mr David Parkin, said the planning department were currently carrying out a questionnaire on the potential development of the Garson site. People were being asked for their preference as to the size of house they wanted, which would indicate the density within the future development.

Orkney‘s Highland Park Whisky has scooped a gold medal in the inaugural Scottish Merchants Challenge, recently held in Edinburgh.

The gold medal was secured by Highland Park's 18 year-old single malt Scotch Whisky, which topped the scoring in the £30 to £50 category.

This is the third award that Highland Park has won for Edrington this year, after picking up the International Wine and Spirit award and the Best Island Malt award earlier in the year.

£400,000 for upgrade of three Orkney health facilities

The Sanday and Shapinsay surgeries and the Stromness Dental Clinic are to benefit from major upgrades costing nearly £400,000.

The work will be paid for by funding announced yesterday by Scottish Health Minister Malcolm Chisholm.

NHS Orkney had successfully bid for a share of a £15 million package, which is to be distributed between 33 health centres and dental surgeries throughout Scotland.

Rare Orkney books feature in catalogue

A number of rare Orkney books feature in the latest mail order catalogue produced by Edinburgh-based collector and former publisher, Gordon Wright.

A hardback copy of the second edition of Barry’s History of the Orkney Islands dated 1808 is offered at £255 while a diary of a visit to Orkney in 1700 by James Wallace, entitled An Account of the Islands of Orkney, is £195. A translation of The Orkneyinga Saga by Joseph Anderson from 1873 is £125.

The 40-page catalogue also lists a number of more recent publications by Orcadian authors, including George Mackay Brown, Eric Linklater and Ernest Marwick. See www.scottish-books-photos.co.uk for catalogue details.

The Food Standards Agency have lifted the ban on queen scallop fishing in Scapa Flow. The area covered includes the west of Hoy, and to the east of Kirkwall including the waters off Tankerness, Deerness, Holm, Burray and South Ronaldsay.

Imposed earlier this year, the bans were due to a build up of naturally occurring PSP (Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning); ASP (Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning) and DSP (Diarhetic Shellfish Poisoning) toxins in the queen scallops.

Toxins have now reached a level where there is no longer a risk to consumers, but a ban on the harvesting of king scallops is still in place in these areas.

Three rescued after creel boat blaze

The three-man crew of a Sanday creel boat were rescued on Saturday morning after their vessel caught fire.

According to a spokesman for Shetland Coastguard the Corilda was south west of Stronsay when the fire was first spotted. The crew of the Orkney Ferries vessel Earl Thorfinn raised the alarm after seeing the fire from the Eday pier.

The Kirkwall Lifeboat was launched, the tug Anglian Monarch was tasked and Stronsay Coastguard Response Team called out. The three crew, who had taken to their liferaft, were picked up and later transferred to Balfour Hospital for checks.

The Anglian Monarch sprayed water on the boat to put the fire out while the Kirkwall lifeboat pumped her out to keep her afloat. The vessel was towed to Kettletoft in Sanday in the afternoon.

One way traffic as Orkney beat Aboyne

Orkney Rugby Club will remain at the top of the table after a comprehensive 62-0 victory over visitors Aboyne on Saturday.

The National League Division 5 North clash was all but over by the turnaround, with Orkney leading 36-0 and it could have been much more but for some poor handling.

However, after a slow start to the second half, Orkney piled on the points with some impressive tries, not least from Andy McGill, who ran over half the length of the pitch to score under the posts.

Festive season’s ba’s on display

The festive season's ba's which traditionally go on show in local shop windows are now on display.

The Boys' Christmas Day ba’, crafted by Sigurd Gibson, is displayed in Judith Glue’s shop on Broad Street, Kirkwall.

The New Year’s Day Boys’ ba’ made by George Drever is on show in Jane Glue’s, Albert Street, Kirkwall.

The Men’s ba’ for Christmas Day is up the street in J. M. Croy’s Men’s Shop, Victoria Street, Kirkwall. This ba’ is also the work of George Drever. The last ba’ of the season, made by Edgar Gibson, the New Year’s Day Men’s ba’, is on view in Leonards at The Bridge, Kirkwall.

The dry dock berthed in St Margaret's Hope on Friday morning. (Picture: Orkney Photographic)

A redundant dry dock berthed at St Margaret's Hope on Friday, after arriving in Scapa Flow from Shetland on Thursday.

The massive metal structure - 350 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 30 feet high, left Lerwick on Wednesday morning under tow to the Invergordon-based tug Kincraig. It was originally scheduled to berth yesterday, but adverse tides postponed the operation until this morning, when it berthed at 9 am.

It has been bought by Pentland Ferries, who intend to sink the structure at the end of the existing linkspan at Gills Bay in Caithness to provide extra shelter for berthing the vessel Pentalina B.

A ruined house in Kirkwall which possibly dates back to the 18th century is set to be demolished and replaced with a block of flats.

The ruin lies along Warrens Walk, off Victoria Street, and planning permission has been given to build two flats, which will incorporate the north wall of the old building.

The applicant, Craig Spence of the Royal Hotel, has also received permission to turn a store at 69/71 Victoria Street, Kirkwall into a one-bedroom flat. This will involve an extension at the back of the building and changing the door facing onto Victoria Street into a window.