Kerry Scott and Des Campbell

Two Orcadian pals have taken to the skies to raise money for charity this weekend.

Des Campbell, 23, and Kerry Scott, 21, have signed up to do a 10,000ft skydive near St Andrews, Fife, tomorrow, Sunday.

Between them they have raised more than £1,300 for the Meningitis Trust UK.

Orkney Heritage Society's summer trip to Eynhallow was scheduled to take place on Saturday evening.

The annual tour of the now-uninhabited island allows visitors to see a range of historical sites, such as a standing stone, stone age houses and the monastery, as well as view the island's spectacular wildlife.

Tickets are available from Kirkwall and Orkney tourist offices, and the boat leaves Tingwall at 7.15pm.

Orkney Organic Meat, of Holm, has been approved by the RSPCA's Freedom Food scheme and can now sell their products via the UK's first welfare-friendly online market.

The website, www.farmgatedirect.com, aims to provide a service to consumers wanting to ensure the products they buy come from animals that have been reared to higher welfare standards.

It costs employers another £4.8 million in reduced productivity and sickness ­ Orkney Islands Council alone loses £1,190,000 annually through staff smoking.

The statistics were revealed by Dr Ken Black, Orkney's public health consultant , and Mary Anne Crook, health promotion specialist, during a visit by the chief executive of ASH Scotland, Maureen Moore, on Friday.

The figures also show that 14 per cent of Orkney's 13-year-olds are taking up the habit - almost double the Scottish average of eight per cent.

The oldest club in Orkney is leading the way in the current smoking debate, with the official opening of a new non smoking room on Friday night.

Officials at the Orkney Club, on Harbour Street, Kirkwall, say they are "promoting choice" for customers, who may now opt to have a drink in the new Daniell Room.

Robert Innes said: "We're not a health and fitness club, but we are promoting choice, and there is a possibility that new members may be attracted by this."

A cyclist was taken to Kirkwall¹s Balfour Hospital after colliding with a stationery vehicle in Finstown on Thursday afternoon.

The man received treatment to a cut in his chin after being picked up by a passing ambulance.

One of the most radical shake-ups of the NHS in Orkney - with the way open for a GP-led hospital, nurses-only, based on the outer islands and a switching round of wards - was launched on Thursday afternoon.

The options for change could signal the end of resident GPs on all the North Isles.

A document outlining options for the future of health services in the county was presented to the health board this afternoon and will now be made available to the public.

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Orkney police are encouraging accommodation providers to be on the look out for fraudsters.

The warning comes following a series of reports throughout the Northern Constabulary region last year of guests leaving without paying their bills.

Inspector David Miller has urged proprietors to be extra vigilant.

"We are not immune to this sort of behaviour. We ask proprietors of B&B premises and hotels to be vigilant."

Anyone with any cause for concern is asked to call the police on 872241.

Patients in Kirkwall are having to put up with the oldest and most cramped health centre in Scotland.

One Kirkwall GP even has to carry out consultations in a renovated store cupboard, while for the first time in the history of Skerryvore practice, they may have to close their books to new patients.

That is not scaremongering - but a start warning from doctors and staff at the practice, who have hit out after councillors refused outline planning permission for a new health centre last week.

Full story in this week's The Orcadian

The Kirkwall firm of William Jolly fishmongers was sold this week - marking the end of an era for brother and sister Billy Jolly and Liz Johnson.

The keys to the business were handed over on Wednesday to new owners Brian and Marie Corse.

Full details in this week's The Orcadian

One of the biggest farms in the north isles has been sold to a family from Inverness.

The 550-acre beef farm of Housebay in Stronsay was due to change hands yesterday, Wednesday.

The new owners are Cameron and Valerie Fraser who were due to arrive in Orkney this week with their four children.

The Food Standards Agency have lifted a ban on fishing for King Scallops in a section of Scapa Flow to the south of the Mainland and west of the south isles.

The ban, which came into effect in May, followed the detection of high levels of amnesic shellfish poisoning (ASP) toxins in shellfish in the area.

British Telecom have confirmed that the five Orkney exchanges are among 30 in the Highlands and Islands set to benefit from broadband earlier than planned.

The exchanges will now be activated on June 1, 2005, instead of July 27, 2005.

The ferry MV Eynhallow looks set to be based in Rousay rather than Wyre following the retirement of skipper, Ian Flaws.

This will see minor changes to the morning and evening timetables - the boat leaving Rousay at 6.50am before going to Egilsay and Wyre.

Eric Mainland, former second skipper, will take over as master of the boat, with Calum Flaws as second skipper.

A full timetable with the changes will be
included in next week’s The Orcadian.

A red Volkswagen van and a silver Fiesta were involved in the crash at 4pm which damaged both.

There were no injuries and a report has been sent to the Procurator Fiscal.

Orkney Pony Club's senior games team took third equal place at Sunday's event at the Royal Highland Show in Ingleston.

Despite the wet weather, the girls were beaten by Eglington and West Perthshire, very experienced teams which both competed at the Horse of the Year Show last year.

Orkney drew into 3rd place with a team from the Borders, and this means the Orkney team of Karoline Bain, Joanne Donaldson, Kirsten Learmonth, Kelly & Terri Reid hold their place in the Scottish ranking.

Archive story: Orkney riders at Highland Show

Tuck Langland's clay model "rough draft" of George Mackay Brown.

An American sculptor behind a project to create a bronze statue of writer George Mackay Brown is inviting the public to view a scale model of the sculpture.

Professor Tuck Langland, from Indiana, is anxious that the poet should not be forgotten, so is proposing the construction of a memorial statue, to be seated somewhere in Stromness.

Members of the public are being invited to view the "view, discuss, praise or criticise" the "rough" on Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Fursbreck Pottery, Harray.

Full details in this week's The Orcadian

The Orkney Boat Museum project took a step forward on Monday afternoon with the launch of the official website.

Launched at an official ceremony in the St Magnus Centre, Kirkwall, the website, at www.orkneyboatmuseum.org.uk, features information on the project and its part in the BBC Restoration programme.

Kirkwall's two new fire appliances were called out out for the first time at the weekend - but both incidents turned out to be false alarms.

The first was at the Papdale Halls of Residence on Berstane Road on Satuday, the second on Sunday at Scott's House, Hatston.

A Fire Brigade spokesman said the incidents highlighted a current initiative to try and decrease the numbers of automated false alarms.

The draw for the fourth round of the Macleod IFA Highland Amateur Cup has been made, with Kirkwall teams Hotspurs and Thorfinn facing Thurso Accies and Blackerock respectively.

The full draw results were:

• Plockton v Back
• Thurso Accies v Kirkwall Hotspurs
• Kiess v Lybster
• Blackerock v Kirkwall Thorfinn
• Culbokie v Portree
• Avoch v Pentland United
• Golspie Stafford v Dingwall Thistle
• Benbecula v John o' Groats

The games are to be played on Saturday, July 10.

Mr Wallace wrote to the Scrabster Harbour Trust after receiving a complaint from a visitor who was charged £10.80 for two days parking - an increase of 100 per cent on a visit two months previously.

Mr Wallace said: "I find it hard to believe that the reported 100 per cent increase in parking charges can be justified. Unless the Harbour Trust can come up with a very convincing reason for the new charge, I will certainly be seeking support from Orkney in an attempt to persuade them to think again."