Cannabis seized in South Ronaldsay raid

A "significant" quantity of cannabis has been recovered following a drugs raid on a property in South Ronaldsay.

According to police, a warrant was obtained to search the house on Thursday night, where cannabis and "other related items" worth £10,000 were seized.

A 35-year-old man is being reported to the procurator fiscal.

Trading Standards issue warning about travelling carpet salesmen

The warning follows concerns raised in Shetland about a number of Irish salesmen, who are now believed to be in Orkney.

The OIC are reminding people not to sign any sales contract without first being fully aware of the consequences.

Healthier school meals on the menu

A new Scottish Executive initiative looks set to make school meals in Orkney healthier, and help the schools promote healthy lifestyles.

In addition, Primary one and two pupils will receive free fruit as part of the scheme which will see all of Orkney's schools claiming full "Health Promoting Status" by 2005.

Police seek witnesses to Franklin Road incident

Police are appealing witnesses to an incident involving a youth in Stromness on Tuesday.

They have declined to give details, other than the fact that the youth was wearing jeans and a grey hooded top at the south end of Franklin Road around 4pm.

Anyone with information can contact the police on 872241, Stromness police 850222 or call the confidential line 870999.

2003 Stromness Shopping Week Queen

Briony Hourston (centre) with Gemma Cursiter (left) and Rachael Brass.

This year's Shopping Week Queen is Briony Hourston from Birsay. Her attendants are Gemma Cursiter and Rachael Brass.

All three girls are Stromness Academy pupils, chosen by a secret ballot at the school last week.

OIC to renovate Stromness Town House

The Stromness Town House

Orkney Islands Council have decided not to sell the Stromness Town House - a move welcomed by townsfolk.

The former Stromness Town Council headquarters will be renovated and a number of OIC administrative jobs transferred to the upgraded building.

Hamnavoe looks set to sail at last

NorthLink hope to start services with their new £28 million ship Hamnavoe - which has lain idle for five months - next month.

The company are now saying that temporary engineering work could allow the vessel to use the existing Scrabster terminal.

NorthLink's commercial director, Gareth Crichton, stressed that this was only a "fair weather" solution.

Judge Jules to open Kirkwall nightclub

One of the biggest names in dance music is to open Kirkwall's new nightclub when the doors open in May.

DJ Judge Jules will play at the opening of Fusion on May 22. Tickets go on sale from April 12.

'Fireball' sightings confirmed by Orkney eyewitnesses

Tuesday's appeal for sightings of a suspected meteorite on Sunday evening resulted in a number of eyewitness reports.

Rousay astronomer John Vetterlein was looking to corroborate a sonic boom he recorded on Sunday night with a sighting of a "fireball" in the sky.

It now appears that the object was visible around 9.10pm on Sunday and was noticeably larger and brighter than most 'shooting stars'.

Christmas bonus decision left for new councillors

Orkney Islands Council members who take over after the May elections will have to decide the future of the senior citizens, widows and disabled Christmas grant.

The OIC¹s social services and housing committee have been given the responsibility for paying out and administering any new scheme.

The full council agreed this week not to consider a report on the future of the grant, but instead felt that it should be left to the new council to decide what, if anything, replaces the old payment system.

Cattle to be shipped south for slaughter

Orkney Meat are to ship cattle to mainland Scotland for slaughter while their slaughterhall is being refurbished - because it will be cheaper than using the local cull centre.

In an about-turn, the company have announced that due to high costs and other factors, they will not be temporarily relocating their slaughter operation as initially planned.

Instead, from early April, the company will ship approximately 100 cattle a week south to Kepak-Buchan in Aberdeenshire to be contract slaughtered.

Stromness businesses consider renewable energy scheme

A group of Stromness businesses with premises on the Garson Industrial Estate could develop a community renewable energy scheme in order to save on their electricity bills and also generate income.

At Monday night's meeting, Stromness Community Council expressed interest in the venture, suggested by the Highlands and Islands Enterprise's community energy unit.

They agreed to appoint two representatives to liaise with Stromness Community Business Forum on promoting a renewable project for the town. The cost of a feasibility study would be met by the community energy unit.

Local arts strategy launched

Orkney's local arts strategy, which lays out proposals to progress the arts in the county over the next few years, was launched in Kirkwall on Tuesday evening.

The strategy follows last year's audit of local arts activities by consultants Creative Services.

Kirkwall unluckiest town in UK?

Kirkwall is the unluckiest town in the UK. That's the verdict of National Savings and Investments (NS&I) - the company which run the country's Premium Bond service.

According to NS&I, Kirkwall had the lowest value of winnings in the last two years, in proportion to the number of bonds held.

In contrast, they claim that the luckiest town is Dumfries - where Premium Bond holders have won £1,100,000 since January 2000.

Bursary donors visit new archaeology department

Archaeologist Jane Downes shows some finds to Brigadier S. P. Robertson and other assembled guests.

The guests also met staff at the College's new purpose-built archaeology department.

College development officer Ronnie Johnston said: "We are indeed fortunate that benefactors share our vision of the importance of such as course being held in Orkney. Orkney Archaeological Trust are to be congratulated on their success in attracting such support."

Fourth place for Sichel in season opener

Forty athletes took part in the race, which saw William achieve a new personal best time of 4hrs 41mins 40secs.

William said: "This was my shortest race for three years and will be the only race I run in Britain this year. I'm pleased with my performance and looking forward to the big 24-hour race in Switzerland in two months time."

Orkney had a relatively comfortable 59-10 win in their latest Division Four national league fixture, facing a Portobello FPs team who looked to be lacking in fitness.

Orkney had the game practically won by half time when the score was 40-10.

The Hilton flies the flag for Orkney

One of London's most prestigious five star hotels is flying the Orkney flag to announce its high profile promotion of the county.

In a deal between the Langham Hilton and the Orkney Marketing Scheme, a range of Orkney's food and drink products is taking pride of place on the hotel's menus.

Overseeing the preparation of the food will be Orcadian chefs Paul Doull of the Foveran Hotel and Alan Craigie of the Creel Restaurant in St Margaret's Hope.

March 7 release date for Wolfskin

A historical fantasy set in 8th century Orkney will finally be available to local readers when it is released in the UK this week.

Wolfskin, by Juliet Marillier, tells the story of a group of early Norse settlers and their interactions with the indigenous people of Orkney.

Released overseas last July, the book is available in this country from March 7.

Click here for more details or to preorder a copy of the book

Palace Players take honours in Orkney drama festival

The Kirkwall group's production of Footprints in the Sand earned them first place. Second went to Stromness Drama Group for The Hardman (Act One), with Stromness's youth team taking third.

Click here for full results