Kirkwall Arts Club's performance of A Betrothal took the honours at the final of the Orkney Drama Festival in Kirkwall on Friday night.

Second place went to Stromness Drama Group with their performance of Marcel pursued by the Hounds with Hoy and Walls Entertainment Group's Resting Place in third.

The three clubs now go forward to the divisional finals in Aberdeen on March 26, 26 and 27.

After a battle with the weather, the Orkney District YFC held a welcome party for visitors on Friday night and a dance is due to take place tonight, when the Young Farmer of the Year will be announced.

The national finals of the senior speechmaking will take place at the Pickaquoy Centre tomorrow, Sunday.

He writes that - according to BBC Ceefax - it was on February 20 that the islands of Orkney were pledged to the Scottish crown by Christian I of Denmark and Norway, as a dowry for his daughter Margaret when she married James III of Scotland.

An emergency exercise involving the Orkney Ferries vessel Varagen was scheduled to take place on Sunday.

The exercise involved coastguard, police, fire brigade and the Kirkwall lifeboat dealing with a "fire" on board the vessel.

A coastguard spokesman said: "Weather permitting, firefighters will be airlifted to the ship, where they will have to seach for dummies in blacked out compartments."

Visitors will be guided across the road from Tormiston Mill to Maeshowe under a new plan to try to make the road safer.

Historic Scotland's have confirmed that visitors will buy a ticket for Maeshowe and will then be taken in groups from the mill to the cairn, with the guides shepherding them across the road.

Flashing lights would be installed to warn drivers when groups were crossing and minor modifications would be made to the carpark. The proposal will go to Orkney Islands Council next week.

The Orkney Brewery, Quoyloo

The Orkney Brewery confirmed on Friday that it is merging with another Scottish brewery - Atlas Brewery Ltd from Kinlochleven.

The new company will go by the name of Highlands and Islands Breweries, and subject to the completion of formalities, the merger should be complete by the end of April.

Roger White, the founder of the Orkney Brewery, will be the new company's chairman, with Atlas Brewery's founder, Neil Cotton, taking on the role of managing director.

NHS Orkney are to be carrying out interviews for a new Chief Executive on Monday.

Four candidates are due in the county for interviews for the post, left vacant by the departure of Judi Wellden.

There is still no end in sight for the financial crisis at NHS Orkney, with board members hearing on Thursday that the forecasted deficit to date for this financial year is £320,000.

Janice Annal remarked that at the same time last year NHS Orkney had an overspend of £300,000

"Despite the effort we seem to be standing still." she said.

One of the few events to avoid cancellation on Thursday night was the third evening of the four night one-act play festival.

The winners of the evening were Kirkwall Arts Club with their performance of A Betrothal. The other clubs performing were Rousay Drama Club with The Day of Reckoning, Stromness Drama Club (Hamnavoe) with Creatures of Impluse, and Palace Players (Youth A) with Dream Jobs.

Maeshowe

A meeting of the Orkney World Heritage Site consultation group was held in Stenness on Thursday night.

The meeting, in the Stenness school, covered items such as access and interpretation of Maeshowe, the Broch of Gurness, the Stones of Stenness and Barnhouse, the Ring of Brodgar and Skara Brae coastal protection.

The organisers of Stromness Shopping Week are looking to enlist the help of Orkney's budding artists.

The committee are looking for designs for the cover of the 2004 programme and anyone interested in entering should send their design on A4 to 17 Guardhouse Park, Stromness (note that the address shown in this week's The Orcadian is incorrect)..

The competition closes on April 2.

The Burwick ferry terminal looks set to get a £250,000 facelift.

The move comes after years of complaints that the site - which is used by almost a third of all ferry passengers coming into Orkney - has become an eyesore.

An OIC spokesman confirmed this week that the £250,000 will see the construction of a passenger building and a general "landscaping" of the area.

Stromness Drama Club (Greenvoe) achieved success in the second night of the Scottish Community Drama Association's one act play Festival on Wednesday night.

Their performance of Marcel Pursued by the Hounds was chosen by the adjudicator as the winner of the night. The other teams performing were the Palace Players Juniors, with The Fantastic Mr Fox and the Evie School Drama Group, with The Story Teller.

The drama festival continues tonight with performances from the Rousay Drama Club, Stromness Drama Club (Hamnavoe), Kirkwall Arts Club and Palace Players (Youth A).

Orkney Rugby player Glen McLellan is off to Mexico in June for a tour with the Penguin International rugby team.

Glen, the vice-captain of Orkney Rugby Club, will join the team, which is made up of international capped players and invited players, to develop rugby in countries across the world.

As well as playing rugby while in Mexico, Glen will also be coaching local children.

All out industrial action will be discussed by Orkney nursery nurses at a meeting in the Orkney Library and Archive on Saturday.

It is not known whether the nursery nurses will vote to join the rest of Scotland in the planned strikes over pay and conditions.

The dispute has been ongoing for several months.

Aaron Boddy and Mary Krueger took over the hotel last Thursday and are now looking continue the refurbishment programme started by former owners, the Spence family of Wideford Farm.

Mary Krueger is from Chicago, while Aaron Boddy hails from London.

Birsay Drama Group were the winners of the first night of the annual Orkney Drama Festival.

The groups performance of Same Old Moon (Excerpts) by Geraldine Anderson earned them top marks, beating Stromness Drama Club (Youth) and the Palace Players.

The drama festival continues tonight with three performances from the Palace Players Juniors, the Evie School Drama Group and Stromness Drama Club (Greenvoe).

MSP Jim Wallace and MP Alistair Carmichael have responded to a consultation on the treatment of rock around the waste shaft of the Dounreay nuclear power station in Caithness.

They stress that Orkney should not be affected by any radioactive contamination and that decommissioning and restoration is carried out to the highest standards - so that the islands "are not tainted in the public eye"."

Mr Wallace said: "The legacy of the past has left the [AKAEA] with challenges, such as the cleaning up of the waste shaft. It is in their interests to show that they can tackle those challenges responsibly and so demonstrate their world leading expertise."

The event, part of the national Scottish Community Drama Association competition, runs until Friday night and as usual has been incredibly popular with all tickets for performances sold out.

This year's sees the return of Billy Burns as adjudicator - previously he judged the divisional finals in 2002. All performances begin at 7.30pm in the Arts Theatre, Kirkwall.

Stromness, from Howe Brae

The severe lack of housing sites around Stromness has prompted the town's three councillors to set up a survey to clarify demand.

The survey, a joint venture between Councillors Ian Johnstone, Angus Hutchison and James Stockan, will provide "hard evidence" for the demand for housing sites in and around Stromness.

The results, they say, will be used to try and release land around the town and help focus OIC resources into housing in Stromness.

Click here to download a copy of the survey in MS Word format.

Pelamis travelling through the Firth of Forth

After six years of design and development, the build of the first full-scale Pelamis Wave Energy Converter has been completed.

The 120 metre long device, built by Ocean Power Delivery Ltd, is to be tested in the waters off Stromness by the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) and was on show in Leith on Monday.

The generator, nicknamed "the Sea Snake", will be tested in Leith for a fortnight, thereafter travelling north to be anchored to the seabed off Billia Croo, Stromness.

Archive story: February start date for Marine Energy Test Centre?

A report is being prepared for the Procurator Fiscal after a crewman died on board a ferry in the Pentland Firth on Sunday.

John Clarke (62), from Sanday, was on the MV Claymore travelling back to St Margaret's Hope. The Stromness lifeboat attempted to transfer Mr Clarke from the Claymore but the bad weather made the operation impossible.

Mr Clarke died of a suspected heart attack before reaching St Margaret's Hope.

Orkney jewellers Ola Gorie have won a major design award from the the Goldsmiths' Craft and Design Council (GCDC).

The pize is awarded to the company for their entry in the GCDC Craftsmanship and Design Awards 2004.

The winning design, by pattern maker Colin Watson, is called Talisman and is based on the enigmatic Neolithic stone balls found in Orkney at sites such as Skara Brae.

The prize will be awarded in Goldsmiths' Hall in London on March 1.

Orkney Rugby Club's First XV completed their national league fixtures on Saturday with a win over Dunbar.

Playing away, the Orkney squad beat their opponents 12-9. In what was described as a "tough game" Orkney's two tries came from Rodney Spence and Neil Robertson.

A new pharmacy has opened at the Balfour Hospital in Kirkwall.

Based in the redeveloped X-ray department, the pharmacy will provide a dispensing service to all hospital inpatients as well as those who receive a prescription after an outpatient visit.

The new facility will also provide ward based clinical pharmacy services, giving medication advice to all clinical staff, patients, their family or carers.