The battle for the Orkney and Shetland seat at Westminster is well and truly under way, with Prospective Parliamentary Candidates beginning to campaign in the county.

Alistair Carmichael (Lib Dem) was in Kirkwall, Holm and Sandwick on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the Conservative candidate Frank Nairn, accompanied by John Purvis MEP, vice-chairman of the European Parliament economic and monetary committee, was in Kirkwall and Stromness on Friday.

Click here for full candidate listing

Waves assault the pier on Thursday

Part of the Kirkwall marina was damaged in Thursday's gales.

A finger came off one of the pontoons and was half-submerged in the harbour.

Stewart Craigie of Orkney Islands Council said that the harbours department were aware of the damage and would be recovering the pontoon as soon as the weather calms down.

The latest damage is not expected to delay the opening of the marina on May 1.

The EC135 Helicopter in action

Health minister, Andy Kerr, has confirmed the way the trials of the helicopter air ambulance is to be carried out in Orkney.

In a letter to Jim Wallace, the minister wrote, "The Scottish Ambulance Service intends to use the EC135 helicopter, as a minimum, for all outer island missions. It will be tasked for all of these missions and will always be the first choice.

"I understand that during the trial the helicopter will be covering the full range of duties which it will cover under the new contract."

The Orcadian revealed last week that a SAS spokesman said there would be no trial of the helicopter.

Archive story: Trial, what trial? ask air ambulance chiefs

The restoration of St Peter's Kirk in Sandwick has received a commendation at the Civic Trust Awards 2005.

Eighty-two projects across the UK were recognised at the awards, which took place in Brighton on Thursday night.

Feature: The History of St Peter's Kirk

A mini-supermarket with an off-sale licence has been given the go ahead by the Orkney Licensing Board in part of the former Cumming and Spence building - despite one objection.

Mrs Grace McDill of Argo's Bakery is planning to set up a business mirroring that provided by Tom Laird at Cumming and Spence in Kirkwall's Albert Street.

Nearby business, John Scott and Miller Ltd, had objected on the grounds of over-provision.

Heavy seas battering the Kirkwall pier on Thursday morning

The extreme weather on Thursday caused problems for travellers with a number of ferry services cancelled.

At its height, winds were gusting up to 67 mph on Thursday, with an average speed of 56 mph in a north/north-westerly direction. Sub zero temperatures were experienced due to the wind chill factor.

All Orkney Ferries sailings to Graemsay and North Hoy, Shapinsay and the South Isles were cancelled, with the strong winds also hitting crossings of NorthLink's MV Hamnavoe.

From Monday, the system will allow travellers to book their tickets more efficiently than before. The service will initially be available from the Kirkwall Office for the North Isles and Shapinsay services, but will be rolled out to the Houton and Tingwall services in the near future.

The system will eventually allow customers to make vehicle bookings from the Orkney Ferries website.

The house sparrow is still the commonest bird in Orkney gardens according to the results of the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch, which took place in January.

Over 160 people from Orkney contributed to this year's Birdwatch.

The Orkney top ten was: house sparrow, starling, blackbird, common gull, collared dove, rook, greenfinch, robin, feral pigeon and bullfinch.

The Wavemaster - a joint venture between Southcombe Associates and UMITEK Limited - extracts energy by using the pressure difference between wave troughs and wave crests.

A prototype is being constructed and is expected to be ready for testing in late 2006. The developers hope a commercial version, generating between 50 and 100 MW would be installed off Orkney and connected to the national grid in early 2008.

Click here for Wavemaster's official website

Orkney MP Alistair Carmichael

The last parliamentary question to the Prime Minister was posed by Orkney MP, Alistair Carmichael, in the House of Commons on Wednesday.

Mr Carmichael returned to his campaign to get a fair deal from supermarkets for local crofters and farmers from supermarkets.

Mr Carmichael commented on his surprise that the Office of Fair Trading has failed to find any abuse by supermarkets of their dominant market position in their dealings with farmers and crofters.

After the exchange, he added: "The Prime Minister's reply was welcome if somewhat vague. This is clearly something to which we shall have to return after the general election."

The new group, the Orkney Tourism Group, has been constituted as a company, operating on a non-profit basis.

Its primary role is to lobby on behalf of Orkney tourism industry. It is also one of the four partners in the newly created Area Tourism Partnership, along with Orkney Islands s orkneyCouncil, Orkney Enterprise and Visit Scotland.

The group's website is at www.orkneytourism.co.uk.

Fiona Grahame has taught the full range of pupils from P1 to P7 at Papdale. She will now work closely with the community in Flotta, and will be involved in both academic and out of school activities, where she can bring her experiences of working with school productions and the Orkney Folk Festival to the post.

Fiona takes over from Jean Swanney, who has taught in Flotta since 1976.

The OIC is to contribute another £500,000, bringing their total funding to £1.15 million. Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd are providing £300,000.

Details of partnership arrangements are being finalised between the Council and HIAL and it is hoped construction will begin this year.

Transportation chairman, Councillor Bob Sclater, said: "Construction of the new hangar is an important part of the Council's commitment to a continuing future for the inter-isles air service, which plays a crucial role in sustaining the social and economic life of the isles."

Mr Carmichael met the Commissioner in Brussels on Tuesday. He was joined by Alan Coghill of the Orkney Fisheries Association and representatives from Shetland.

Speaking after the meeting: Mr Carmichael said: "The meeting was a good opportunity to put a distinctively Shetland and Orkney agenda to the Commissioner, who impressed me as someone who much more willing to listen than his predecessor had been."

Plans for a new wind farm development near Stromness were announced this afternoon.

The community-based cluster at Merranblo, an area on the ridge of hills between Stromness and Yesnaby, is a joint development between Stromness-based Scotrenewables Ltd and landowner, Major Malcolm Macrae.

In a statement on Tuesday, the developers said that, should sufficient funds be raised, one of the three proposed wind turbines would be community owned, adding that the proposal is dependent on a new sub-sea cable between Orkney and mainland Scotland.

Work to create a temporary road between the Stromness pier and the Pier Arts Centre continued on Tuesday, with the addition of five tonne steel pipes.

The road is to allow work to begin on the £4.2 expansion project of the Pier Arts Centre.

The Hall of Clestrain, Orphir

The first annual general meeting of the Friends of the Orkney Boat Museum took place on Tuesday night.

The Friends were formed in May last year to help support the bid to establish a boat museum and restore the Hall of Clestrain, birthplace of Arctic explorer, Dr John Rae. There are now more than 400 members.

Business included adopting a constitution, electing a committee and plans for fundraising.

Orkney MSP Jim Wallace

Orkney MSP, Jim Wallace, has welcomed a decision to increase the additional funding for Orkney's internal ferry and air services for 2005-06 from £300,000 to £500,000.

The decision follows on from sustained representations from the MSP and the Orkney Islands Council.

Mr Wallace said: "I am pleased that the Minister has been prepared to listen and respond positively. This follows on from the positive outcome at the February meeting, when Nicol Stephen agreed that his officials should work with Council officials to examine the next stage of the consultants' report on how to move forward with our internal transport links."

£15 million is being made available to all local authorities, with a further £5 million held in reserve to be allocated in 2007-2008.

The Deputy Environment Minister is also asking local authorities, for the first time, to detail overall progress in the task of identifying and remediating contaminated land.

Work to create a temporary road to the Pier Arts Centre began on Monday morning

Work creating a temporary 'road' between the Stromness pierhead and the Pier Arts Centre began on Monday

The initial stage of the Pier Arts Centre expansion and renovation, involves temporarily filling in a section of the harbour with 2,000 cubic metres of aggregates, with the access road built on top. This will be removed once the project is completed.

Local contractor Casey Construction has been awarded the contract to extend the Stromness art gallery.

Archive story: Ambitious £4.2 plans revealed for Pier Arts Centre

A Caithness man was released on bail from Kirkwall Sheriff Court on Monday after pleading guilty to breach of the peace.

John Paul Gribbin, 26, admitted to committing a breach of the peace at the Glenlee Chalets, St Ola, yesterday, Sunday.

Gribbin also pleaded not guilty to a separate charge of alleged drink driving.

A trial date has been set for June 2 in relation to charge two, sentencing in relation to charge one has been deferred until May 18.

Kirkwall Police are appealing for information after the theft of a sum of money from the Orkney Auction Mart.

Between 7pm on Saturday, and 10am on Sunday, an undisclosed sum of money was taken from a till in the main auction room at the mart.

Although police confirmed they are acting on a line of inquiry, and would like to hear from anyone who saw anything suspicious around the mart at the weekend.

Two men have been reported in connection to the alleged incident at Lynn Crescent, Kirkwall.

First Round - Stromness v Dounby; Hotspurs v Accies. Ties scheduled for April 23.

Second Round - South Ronaldsay v Stromness/Dounby; Rovers v Thorfinn; Rendall v St Andrews; Holm v Hotspurs/Accies. Ties scheduled for May 14.

This means that four Orkney teams qualify for the third open round, along with one team from Shetland - The qualifying Shetland team will have to play their home ties in Orkney.