New police inspector appointed

The new inspector of Orkney’s police force is David Miller, who has been serving as a sergeant in the county since 1998.

Sergeant Miller, who takes over from Inspector Paul Eddington, joined the police force as a cadet in 1978.

“Commenting on his new role, Sergeant Miller said: “It’s very nice to take over from Paul and hopefully I can do as good a job as he has done in the past three years.”

Minor injuries to motorist after car leaves road

A motorist was taken to Balfour Hospital on Thursday night after his car left the road just outside Stromness.

The Ford Fiesta car collided with a dyke and an electricity pole around 8.30pm, before coming to rest in a ditch on the main Stromness to Kirkwall road.

A police spokesman said that the driver, the only occupant, was treated at Balfour Hospital for minor injuries and later released.

Air travellers hit by three days of fog disruptions

Air travellers were faced with a third day on Saturday, with flights to and from Orkney brought to a halt again by fog and low cloud.

Minister outlines livestock shipping plans to MSPs

Deputy Transport Minister, Lewis Macdonald, has stated NorthLink intend using general livestock trailers (GLTs) until the new livestock cassette units are ready.

Mr Macdonald told MSPs during a debate in the Scottish Parliament on Wednesday that NorthLink might use single-deck livestock transporters on their passenger and vehicle ferries, if necessary.

The Minister pointed out that these arrangements will take effect from October 31, when the current contingency plan for shipping livestock from Orkney and Shetland, operated by P&O Scottish Ferries, comes to an end.

Flotta in two-way battle to handle Atlantic fields’ oil

Flotta and Sullom Voe oil terminals are waiting to find out who has won the right to handle production from the Atlantic Foinaven and Schiehallion oilfields.

Orkney’s Flotta oil terminal submitted a bid this week for both fields and according to joint Flotta terminal manager, Mr Terry Buchy, are in a strong position to win.

Flotta's efforts to win more business are also focusing on PanCanadian Energy’s new Buzzard Field, estimated to contain 400 million barrels of oil.

Hamnavoe for hire until Scrabster pier is ready

NorthLink’s new ferry Hamnavoe, built to serve Stromness and Scrabster from October 1, is to be put up for hire for several months.

That’s the scenario facing NorthLink, who say they are putting the £28m vessel on the charter market, because the new Scrabster pier for the ferry won’t be ready – possibly until March next year.

But more optimistic news, outlined this week by company chief executive Mr Bill Davidson, is that a service across the Pentland Firth should go ahead as planned using a chartered vessel.

Housing Association spent £3.3 million on new Orkney homes

£3.3 million was spent by Orkney Housing Association on the provision of new homes last year.

The progress made by the association is highlighted in their annual report for 2001/2002 - a year which saw 47 new homes come on stream.

It was also a time when Orkney Islands Council were considering stock transfer to the association, but the proposal was rejected by councillors.

Award hat-trick for Dounby Stores

An Orkney butcher was celebrating this week after scooping three awards at a prestigious awards ceremony in Perth.

Dounby Stores beat off competition from over 200 Scottish butchers to win a silver and two bronze awards at the Quality Meat Scotland and Scottish Federation of Meat Traders Association awards, held in Perth on Monday.

Owner, David Harrold said the credit for the awards should go to Dounby Stores' butchers, Elaine Venables and Barbara Sinclair.

BP signs disappear in rebranding operation

Sutherland's Garage in Stenness with the new 'National' branding in place

The BP signs are disappearing from local filling stations this week, as BP stations throughout the country are re-branded as National.

Five BP garages in Orkney being re-branded, with the remaining 14 garages “white-washed” - stripped of the BP logo and cleaned up.

A spokesman explained that BP are reserving the BP logo for stations selling over 2.5 million litres of petrol each year.

First views of NorthLink interiors

The lounge area of the Hjaltland, photographed last week.

NorthLink released the first views of the public areas of the new Northern Isles ferries on Tuesday, giving islanders a sneak preview of what they can expect when the vessels take over the routes.

The photographs show the interior of the Hjaltland, one of the vessels connecting the islands to the Scottish mainland.

Click here for more pictures.

MSP concludes that Loganair fares compare well with cut-price routes

Air fares to and from Orkney charged by airline Loganair compare well with new British Airways cut-price routes in the Highlands and Islands.

So says Isles MSP Jim Wallace, who took up the matter with Loganair chairman Scott Grier last week after BA CitiExpress announced cheaper fares on their routes.

Commenting on a comparison in prices supplied by Mr Grier, Mr Wallace said: "Scott Grier's reply does confirm that Orkney is not losing out by having all its services in the hands of Loganair."

Bomb disposal experts destroy Scapa Flow torpedo

Scapa Pier was off-limits to the public on Tuesday following the discovery of a suspected torpedo in Scapa Flow last night.

The object, which was thought to be a torpedo air release system, was towed to and anchored some distance from Scapa Pier.

Although it had no warhead, Naval bomb disposal experts destroyed the torpedo in a controlled explosion.

Terminal linkspans arrive in Orkney

Work progressing on the Hatston linkspan on Tuesday morning.

The two new linkspans for the Stromness and Hatston ferry terminals have arrived in the county and expected in place by Wednesday.

The barge carrying the linkspans arrived from Poland early on Tuesday morning.

European legislation sees child murderer's sentence reduced

An Orcadian, jailed for 25 years in 1997 for murdering a nine-year-old boy, had his sentence reduced by five years on Monday.

Steven Leisk, who lived in Kirkwall until 1996, was jailed at the High Court in Aberdeen in 1997after he admitted strangling schoolboy Scott Simpson.

His case was reviewed at the High Court in Glasgow on Monday to comply with European legislation, which states that murderers must know how much time must be served before they can apply for parole.

NorthLink take delivery of Hrossey ahead of schedule

NorthLink have taken delivery of the vessel Hrossey more than a week earlier than expected.

The handover of the Shetland-Orkney-Aberdeen vessel follows the completion of commissioning and sea trials a fortnight ago.

The Hrossey - named after the Old Norse name for the Orkney Mainland - is due to sail from Finland to Leith on Thursday. She is expected in Kirkwall for a formal naming ceremony on September 28, with an open day the following day.

Yacht aground off Gairsay

A local yacht ran aground at Bull Skerry at the Holm of Boray near Gairsay on Sunday afternoon.

The Renegade, which was carrying three people – none of whom were injured – alerted Shetland Coastguard at around 3.30pm.

A Coastguard spokesman confirmed the Kirkwall Lifeboat escorted the yacht back to Kirkwall around 6.30pm.

Third place for online chess player

A local youngster who took part in the final of the UK’s largest games competition in London at the weekend came third in the event.

Matthias McGregor, of Otterswick, Kirkwall, qualified for the finals of the competition by playing two games of Speed Chess each week during June and July against competitors from around the UK.

He finished third out of the top eight players who were flown to London for the finals of the competition.

Author appeals for local help for second volume of bestselling book

The best selling Orkney book of recent times, is to be followed up with a second volume.

Howard Hazell, the author of The Orcadian Book of the 20th Century, is now appealing to Orcadians to help with some of the material which will feature in the second volume - which will concentrate on the people of the county.

Stressing he is not merely concerned with headline events, Mr Hazell said: "I'm simply looking for photographs and other items of interest that portray their time."

Click here for full details

NHS cash ring-fencing criticised by local board

Government controls on the way NHS Orkney can spend their money have been roundly criticised at an NHS Orkney board meeting.

Board members, struggling with allocating a tight budget, complained that Scottish Executive ring-fencing of funds for certain projects prevented them from setting their priorities according to local needs.

Local GP, Dr Douglas Deans complained that targeting of cash for certain services by the Executive took away local choice on how to spend health service money.