A debate on the subject of Udal Law, and its relevance to modern Orkney and Shetland was the subject of a debate in Kirkwall on Saturday night.

Parliamentary candidate John Firth was arguing that udal law might provide a solution to some longstanding problems in land use or sea control in the Northern Isles - something rejected by Shetland archivist Brian Smith, who maintained that udal law had been promoted in the 19th century by landowners seeking advantage over their tenants and others.

The assembled "jury" voted 5-7 that udal law is no longer relevant, completely at odds to the audience who voted 46-11 that it was.

Orkney Rugby Club's first XV lost their first National League Division Four season fixture, on Saturday, at home, against Lenzie.

In a game in which the south team dominated in almost all departments of play, with their backs being particularly useful, Orkney were probably lucky to come away with a 3-30 scoreline.

Orkney's only points of the match came from a James Linklater penalty kick.

After technical problems earlier in the week, Orkney's first commercial radio station began broadcasting a test on Saturday morning.

The station, broadcast at 105.4 FM from the radio ship MV Communicator in St Margaret's Hope, was undetectable in the West Mainland and in Kirkwall this morning, although by 3pm a signal was available in Kirkwall.

By Sunday, the signal appeared to have improved somewhat, with areas of good reception throughout the West Mainland.

A special mass was held in the Italian Chapel, Lambholm, on Sunday, with a group of visiting Italian students as guests of honour.

The former World War Two nissen hut links Orkney to Moena, Italy - the home of the late Domenico Chiochetti, the creator of the Italian Chapel.

The St Magnus Church Birsay Trust organised a “celebration of Birsay” on Saturday night to coincide with the Orkney International Science Festival.

The main performers were the Birsay Drama Group and there will be extracts from the work of three writers inspired in various ways by Birsay; Rev George Low, minister of St Magnus from 1774 to 1795, Robert Rendall and George Mackay Brown.

Among other items, were performances of The Kirk on the Shore, the tune composed for the trust by Fionn McArthur, and Birsay Beach, written by the late John Fraser of Feavel, who was for many years session clerk of St Magnus Kirk.

Twenty-five years after South Ronaldsay won the Highland Amateur Cup, a special buffet dance to mark the silver anniversary took place on Saturday night..

Prior to the dance, the historic football team was “resurrected’ to play against the current team.

“South Ronaldsay Are Highland Amateur Champs” was the heading in The Orcadian on September 6, 1979, when the club made history as the first Orkney team to win the coveted football cup.

Motorists travelling on the main Kirkwall to Stromness road on Saturday morning had to watch out for a particularly slow moving lorry.

The reason for its lack of speed is because it was being towed from Stromness to Kirkwall by a team of men raising funds for the Orkney Kidney Patients Association.

The team left Stromness about 9am., and reached Kirkwall around 1.30pm.

The collection of prints and paintings by Sandra Davies will be shown until September 24.

Sandra is from from Eaglescliffe in Teesside, and has been a regular visitor to Orkney since 1981. Most of her work is influenced by Orkney landscapes, and the poetry of George Mackay Brown George Mackay Brown.

These included a sponsored walk around the island on Saturday and a formal ceremony on Sunday, which saw Orkney MSP and deputy first minister, Jim Wallace, visit the island, along with the Kirkwall City pipe band.

The light was first lit on September 1, 1854, prior to which North Ronaldsay had been without a light since the Start Point lighthouse on Sanday came into use in 1805.

However, Rousay, Shapinsay and Flotta still look set to be linked with Mainland practices in the future.

It is intended that medical services will continue to be provided by the current GP-led model, supported by consultants.

NHS Orkney chief executive, Steve Conway, said: “We never set out to cause any anxiety, but we had to prove to the community and the Scottish Executive that we have looked at all the options.

“If we have to ask for additional funding we can say we have looked at all the options and this is the only safe and affordable way to provide the services.”

Improvements at Orkney care homes will reduce the number of people they can care for.

A community social services report says laundry renovations, adding extra storage for wheelchairs and hoists and other work at St Rognvald's House and St Peter's House will reduce the amount of space available.

A new care home would be needed to provide these lost places, the OIC's social services and housing committee was told yesterday.

The official launch of the annual Orkney Science Festival in Kirkwall on Thursday evening had a truly international flavour.

The 11-day event was opened by Wes Stevenson, vice president of the Saskatchewan First Nations University in Canada, while other visiting members of the Cree Nation provided a display of dancing, singing and drumming in the opening concert "Home in the North".

The visitors will be telling Canadian aboriginal stories for children in the Orkney Library on Saturday morning, before moving to Tankerness House Gardens for an afternoon around the tipi.

Archive stories: Magic meeting with Cree cousins
Cree visit hit by cashflow conundrum

Orkney Internation Science Festival website

Finstown-based software company, Information Plus, has been recognised at an international conference, picking up a runners-up award.

The Human Service IT Applications (HUSITA) conference their "My Life Story" software named runner-up in the Best Human Service IT Application category.

The awards were presented at the conference in Hong Kong last week.

Les Cowan, right, Managing Director of Information Plus is pictured with John Fung of the Hong Kong Council of Social Services, local co-ordinator of the event.

Dee Kelly and Tiia Shelley (Frank Bradford / 59DegreesNorth)

The launch of Orkney's first commercial radio station has been delayed - and officials behind the project left reeling by the last-minute departure of the local man who had been providing technical assistance.

Now, The Superstation, broadcast from the radio ship MV Communicator in St Margaret's Hope, is expected to launch at 10am on Saturday.

Two presenters - Canadian Tiia Shelley and Dee Kelly, from California, has already arrived in Orkney and more are said to be on the way.

The class A drug heroin is slowly creeping into Orkney, it was revealed this week.

While it was thought that the county has escaped the effects of the potentially lethal drug, new figures show that one per cent of young people in Orkney have tried it.

And if the statistics are to be believed, in May 2004, seven per cent of 13-year-olds and nearly a quarter of 15-year-olds has used illegal drugs - figures in line with the national average.

Investigations are under way after 89 passengers on board the liner Mona Lisa, which visited Kirkwall on Wednesday, were hit by a severe sick bug.

Symptoms, including diarrhoea and vomiting, hit the passengers and crew before the vessel docked at Hatston. Passengers who were ill were kept on board in isolation, while others were allowed ashore.

NHS Orkney's public health consultant confirmed that NHS and OIC environmental health officers are investigating the outbreak.

Concerned councillors want talks to resume with oil company BP over the relocation of their operations from Kirkwall¹s Shore Street to Scapa.

At Wednesday's environment, planning and protective services meeting, Councillor Ian MacDonald said: "We have let a multi-national company threaten a place like Kirkwall for far too long."

He pointed out that a leakage, or rupturing of the tanks, could result in a disastrous situation in a residential area.

Plans for a housing development at Grainbank, Kirkwall, moved a step forward on Wednesday.

Despite several objections about the location of the affordable housing within the complex and the density of properties, members of the OIC's planning committee voted in favour of the 132-house project, being developed by Westdawn Ltd.

The fourteenth Orkney International Science Festval got under way in Kirkwall on Wednesday with a morning of workshops dedicated to "Communication of Science".

This year's festival runs until September 11.

Click here for Orkney International Science Festival website

Orkney MSP Jim Wallace is encouraging his constituents, especially those in the north isles, to participate in the Scottish Ambulance Service's (SAS) consultation on the proposed new air ambulance service, and to test the claims of a faster service.

After a meeting with SAS chief executive Adrian Lucas, Mr Wallace said: "We now have an opportunity to test these claims during the consultation period.

" I am pleased that, together with the councillors present, I persuaded the SAS not only to send the Eurocopter to Kirkwall, but also to give residents in the North Isles the opportunity themselves to see this ambulance designated helicopter, and to ask questions of both the Ambulance Service and the proposed operators. "

The Highlands and Islands Airports' project, valued in excess of £1 million, will involve strengthening approximately 450 metres at the runway 27 threshold to bring it into line with the bearing rating of the rest of the runway and rehabilitation of the cross-runway junction.

The work, scheduled to last six weeks, will result in enhanced operational capacity for aircraft using the runway.

Chief executive of the Scottish Ambulance Service, Adrian Lucas

The chief executive of the Scottish Ambulance Service, Adrian Lucas, has visited Orkney, following the news that the county's locally-based air ambulance planes could be scrapped.

After 37 years of continuous service, Loganair's renewal tender to operate the county's air ambulance service contract was unsuccessful. The service now looks set to be replaced in April, 2006, by an Inverness-based helicopter and a plane based in Aberdeen..

Mr Lucas met with OIC convener Stephen Hagan and MSP Jim Wallace on Wednesday.

Police are "following a positive line of inquiry" following a break-in in Kirkwall.

A police spokesman confirmed on Wedensday morning that just before 4am they were called after a break-in, at Bruce's Stores, Victoria Street was discovered.

Work is beginning on a £340,000 upgrade of the Firth community hall.

The project will add two extensions to the hall, giving meeting facilities and increased storage space. The existing hall will also get a major refurbishment, with new kitchen space and upgraded toilet facilities.

Andrew Sinclair has been contracted to do the work.

From Saturday, smoking will be restricted to designated outer deck areas, bringing MV Hjaltland and MV Hrossey into line with MV Hamnavoe which has operated a smoke-free policy for some time.

Provision has been made for smokers on the aft decks of all vessels, with shelter for use in bad weather.

Among the nominees are the Willows Coffee Shop, Kirkwall, for Best Lunch, Dounby Stores for Best Retailer and Hamnavoe Restaurant for Best evening meal.

The annual gala awards ceremony will take place on Saturday, September 11 in the Holm Hall.

Click here for the full list of nominees.

A synthetic ice-rink will be part of new mobile fitness facilities being provided in Orkney by Lottery funding totalling £130,000.

Tuesday's meeting of the OIC recreation and cultural services committee was told some of the equipment would be manufactured specifically for Orkney.

As well as the "ice" rink, the mobile units will include a climbing wall, a dance floor, fitness equipment and a mobile skate park.

The equipment is part of the active schools project.

And this year, rules preventing people over 60 applying have been scrapped.

Deputy Minister for Young People Euan Robson said: "By scrapping the upper age limit, and advertising for new recruits, we aim to achieve our target of two additional members in Orkney. We know that is achievable - last year we signed up over 600 new members across Scotland."

The flints were found during the excavation of the Bronze Age barrow on top of Longhowe - the raised strip of land between Minehowe in Tankerness and the circular feature known as Roundhowe.

The Mesolithic period in Orkney, from 7000-4000BC, is renowned for the scarcity of evidence. The people of the period were nomadic hunter-gatherers which means that they have left little trace for the modern archaeologist.

The Scottish Executive has decided to remove the restrictions which prevented applications from rural petrol stations which were considered to be too close to other petrol stations which had already received a grant.

The move follows a review, which found that the scheme provides substantial travel, economic and environmental benefits to many rural communities in Scotland, far in excess of its costs.

Kirkwall lifeboat and the ferry Eynhallow went to the aid of a boat that grounded on Wyre skerry on Saturday.

The Westing was towed off and taken to Tingwall for inspection.

The Brandyquoy Park facilities, operated by Kirkwall Bowling Club, were opened by Orkney Islands Council convener Stephen Hagan on Wednesday.

Orkney Islands Council, working together with the Bowling Club, Orkney Enterprise, Kirkwall Community Council and sportscotland, produced over £200,000 funding and work began on levelling Brandyquoy Park in 2001.