A young "horse" on parade

The annual Boys' Ploughing Match and Festival of the Horse takes place this afternoon in South Ronaldsay.

The event begins at usual with the parade of "horses" at the St Margaret's Hope school at 3.30pm, with the boy's ploughing match beginning at the Sands o' Wright at 5pm.

Archive story: Exhibition tells story of the Boy's Ploughing Match

Click here for official Ploughing Match website.

Anyone wondering what goes on behind the scenes at The Orcadian had the chance on Saturday with an open day at our Hatston print works in Kirkwall.

From 2pm until 4.30pm, the building was open to the public, to allow visitors to see how the pages of the weekly newspaper are made up and finally sent to our on-site printing press.

Visitors were able to star on their own front page as well as see other elements of the company's prepress and design operations.

Rousay residents will be raising the roof tonight with a feast of musical talent.

Hullion, the Marwick Boys, the Egilsay band, Rousay sound, Stromness singers and much more will be on offer at the concert, which is being held in the school from 7.30pm.

There will also be a special late boat back to the mainland when the concert is finished.

As suspected, preliminary studies of the skeleton recovered from Minehowe last week have confirmed it belonged to a young woman.

The woman, who was in her late teens or early twenties, also suffered from back problems, said Orkney archaeologist Julie Gibson.

The remains, which had been buried into the floor of a metalworking building on the Tankerness site, have now been transferred to the University of Bradford for further forensic examination.

Mr Wallace said: "I am pleased, but not surprised, that the report confirms the view that the Scapa Hub project would be well placed to benefit from the growing demand from shipping companies."

"A lot more work remains to be done before the project is delivered, but this report gives the Scapa Hub extra impetus. I look forward to continuing to give my support to this exciting project which offers so much to Orkney."

Archive news stories

Over four decades of service at the Orkney Library were commemorated on Friday afternoon with an official OIC presentation to chief librarian Bobby Leslie.

Mr Leslie is due to retire from the post after 43 years of service.

A mini-blues festival continues in Hoy tonight with the return Peter Price with a blues-based concert on solo guitar.

Those who have heard Peter Price before will hardly need reminding of his strong, decisive technique, passionately based on the influences that have made him a welcome performer at blues festivals around the world.

The concert in the Gable End Theatre begins at 8pm.

At an emotional meeting in Kirkwall on Thursday, the Orkney Pre-school and Play Association (OPPA) was officially wound down.

The group, which has helped pre-school children and their parents throughout Orkney for 18 years, was "forced to close" because of a lack of local authority core funding.

"We are baffled as to why no-one in School Place thinks we are worth proper funding." said an OPPA spokesman. "We feel we have been singled out by the Council - we are the only voluntary body in Orkney to be told it must have an independent review before funding could be considered."

The 125-metre liner Le Diamant was berthed at Kirkwall pier on Friday after arriving from Shetland.

The vessel, which was on its first visit to the county this year, was due to sail for Invergordon at 5pm.

A selection of councillors and OIC officials toured the county on Friday, visiting projects that have benefited from OIC Millennium cash.

Among the sites visited were the Market Stance riding facility, the Deerness slipway and Shapinsay's Smith museum.

The report by Dr Alf Baird, of Napier University, says the ports would target different markets and offer significant time and cost savings for major shipping companies.

They would also have ease of access, environmental and safety advantages over other existing and planned container ports across the UK and Northern Europe, concludes the report.

Demand for container facilities is forecast to more than double in the Northern European market between 2001-2015.

Click here to download full report (PDF format)

Heavy seas at Yesnaby, Sandwick

A study of waves in the Northern Isles has shown that storm waves are increasing in size and battering the coastline more often.

These waves are also hurling boulders as much as 50 metres back from cliff edges in Orkney and Shetland.

Dr James Hansom, a geomorphologist from the University of Glasgow, told the International Geographical Union congress that the erosion was expected to accelerate because of rising sea levels and a sinking coastline.

Waves over 20m now occur more than 100 times a year, with the average winter wave height west of Shetland is said to have increased 15 per cent between 1985 and 1995.

A 39-year-old man was taken to Kirkwall’s Balfour Hospital on Tuesday afternoon after being assaulted at Kiln Corner.

He received treatment to a head injury and was discharged, Kirkwall Inspector David Miller said.

A 38-year-old man is to be reported to the procurator fiscal, he added.

A joint operation between Northern Constabulary and Customs and Excise is targeting the illegal use of cheap fuel in the county this week.

Kirkwall police Inspector David Miller said a number of vehicle checks had been carried out in Kirkwall, Hoy and Sanday so far.

Plans for two more health living centres in Orkney moved forward this week after securing nearly £190,000 from sportscotland.

It is hoped that building work on the projects in St Margaret’s Hope and Sanday will start between now and the end of the year, Orkney Islands Council recreation and services manager, Kieran Henderson, said.

They join a rolling out programme for Orkney, with work almost complete on a centre in Shapinsay, and plans for more on Westray, North Walls, Stronsay and Rousay.

Filming on board the MV Hjaltland, for a promotional package for NorthLink Ferries has been taking place this week.

Commercial director, Gareth Crichton, said: “The production team involved have also been filming in Orkney and Shetland and are gathering a good range of broadcast quality footage.

“The work is part of our overall marketing programme and will be targeted at a fairly major early season campaign next year to promote additional visits to Orkney and Shetland.”

The Oxford University project is similar to the "Blood of the Vikings" project in 2001.

This looked at mitochondrial DNA, passed on by mothers, and the Y-chromosome, inherited from fathers. The Orkney samples showed mitochondrial DNA similar to that of the rest of Britain, while 60 per cent of the Y-chromosomes had a Norwegian origin.

This was interpreted by some as evidence of a Viking "invasion" in which the raiders took local wives.

External link: Blood of the Viking Genetic Results

Mr Ingo Radcke, German Consul General based in Edinburgh, was in Orkney last week for a brief visit to the county.

Accompanied by Consul John D. M. Robertson, Mr Radcke and his family visited sites such as Skara Brae and the Highland Park Distillery.

A courtesy call was also paid to Orkney Island Council Chief Executive, Mr Alastair Buchan.

The total rateable value of commercial properties within Orkney¹s Valuation Roll is half that in Shetland.

There were 1,825 entries in the roll in Orkney, with a total rateable value of just over £16 million.

In contrast, 1,820 entries in the Shetland Valuation Roll had a rateable value of £31.5 million, according to the six-monthly progress report to the Orkney and Shetland valuation joint board held in Kirkwall last week.

The wet weather forced the viking re-enactment group visiting Orkney this week to relocate from the Kirk Green to the Orkney Museum.

Given the weather forecast this week, the group will be demonstrating in Tankerness House from 10.30am until 4.30pm.

The Pelamis "sea snake" wave energy generator is on site and producing electricity.

The experimental machine was towed out to its berth off Billia Croo, Stromness, on Saturday and linked to the European Marine Energy Centre¹s substation and monitoring equipment on Sunday.

EMEC director Andrew Mill said it began generating electricity on Sunday afternoon, "but only a small amount because we've only had small waves."

A report has been submitted to the Procurator Fiscal after a series of items were taken from a yacht that ran aground in Deerness on Friday.

The 30-foot vessel, Arosita, went ashore after the Swedish sailor became lost in thick fog. Kirkwall lifeboat, aided by local creel boats, managed to return the yacht to the water where it became apparent the vessel was holed. As a result the Arosita was returned to the beach.

Police were then alerted after a man was seen removing items from the yacht. A 35-year-old man was subsequently detained and a number of items recovered.

Police have named the Westray man who died after falling from a byre roof last Thursday morning.

He was Thomas Fergus, 62, a farmer of Clifton, Rapness, Westray.

The minister stressed that pupils who regularly discuss their schoolwork with their parents perform better than those who don't, adding that parents in Orkney can make a real difference to their children's chances in life by helping them at home.

This school year will see a range of new initiatives for parents, including support advice for parents and improving dialogue between parents and schools.

Programme for International Student Assessment results
The Parentzone website

Kirkwall City Pipe Band took third place in the World Pipe Band Championships Grade 4B in Glasgow at the weekend.

More than 200 bands from across the planet gathered for the event, which saw a crowd of over 32,000 spectators.

The Kirkwall band, who won the British Championships in June, lost out to two pipe bands from Northern Ireland - McNeilstown Pipe Band and Thiepval Memorial Pipe Band.

The Viking re-enactment group on the Kirk Green on Monday morning.

A group of vikings took up residence outside the St Magnus Cathedral on Monday - but burning and pillaging was definitely not on their agenda.

The professional re-enactment group, brought to Orkney by Orkney Heritage, dress in authentic costume and demonstrate a number of skills, including textiles, carving and weaponry.

They will be demonstrating on the Kirk Green from 10.30am to 4.30pm, until Thursday.

The victorious St Ola side, winners of the 2004 The Orcadian Parish Cup

In what can only be described as a nail-biting final, St Ola have won the 2004 The Orcadian Parish Cup, beating Holm 4-2 after extra time.

A crowd of 1,100 at Pickaquoy on Saturday watched 2003 cup winners Holm face St Ola in a repeat of last year's final fixture.

A 2-2 score after 90 minutes resulted in extra time, which saw St Ola drive home two more goals to make the final score 4-2.