Orkney Rugby Club has finished the league season on a high, beating Aberdeenshire 38-3 at Pickaquoy this afternoon.

The home side scored five tries - two of which came from James Linklater jr.

The win sees Orkney finish second in their division, runners-up to Strathmore.

The 13th annual Bag the Bruck cleanup weekend got under way on Saturday.

The official opening was at Scapa beach at 10.30am with the official announcement of Orkney's "Best Kept Beach"..

Volunteer bruck baggers tackled over 70 sites across the county this year, including beaches, road verges and lochsides.

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details of sites covered by this years Bag the Bruck

The first cruise liner of the season arrived in Kirkwall on Saturday.

The Nordkapp, with a passenger capacity of 490, came in at 8am for a brief visit, before sailing for Bergen, Norway, at 6pm.

The Norwegian sail training vessel, Statsraad Lemkuhl, was also in Kirkwall on Saturday. Shesaiedl for Norway at 4pm on Sunday.

A number of young Orkney footballers were training with Glasgow Rangers Football Club at the weekend.

Coaching at the event in the Pickaquoy Centre, consisted of technical input, complemented by a range of fun games, competitions and activities.

During the two-day course, coaches took players through a series of technical skills, using specially designed equipment to help and improve skills

CS spray was used by a police officer during a disturbance on Kirkwall’s harbour front area in the early hours of Friday morning.

Four men were arrested, charged and released following an incident at 1.25am in front of the Kirkwall Hotel, according to Sergeant Eddie Graham.

“CS was deployed on one individual for officer safety,” he added. A report is being prepared for the procurator fiscal.

Kirkwall man, Walter Haywood, headed home at the weekend, after a visit to Cumbria to witness their equivalent of the Kirkwall Ba’.

As he does in the Kirkwall games, Walter has been providing an online commentary of the Workington Uppies and Doonies game, the deciding game of which took place on, Saturday.

Uppies and Downies is played over three days during Easter.

Scottish Natural Heritage is targeting Orkney dog owners with a new leaflet concerning the Scottish outdoor access code.

The leaflet is being distributed throughout Orkney as part of a nationwide awareness-raising campaign.

An SNH spokesman said: "Since the law changed last year, dog walkers, as well as other recreational users, can now enjoy access to most land and inland water in Scotland, as long as they behave responsibly.

Copies of the leaflet can also be downloaded here.

Loganair has announced a number of enhancements to their summer schedule, including a second Kirkwall to Sumburgh service on weekdays.

From May 29, there will be a fourth flight from Kirkwall to Aberdeen every weekday, with departure times of 0810, 1100, 1510 and 1810 available.

In addition, there will be a direct Kirkwall to Edinburgh service - no longer stopping in Inverness - cutting the flying time to 1 hour 20 minutes.

The second daily service from Edinburgh at 0940 will transit via Wick, resuming the connection between Kirkwall and Caithness.

In Thursday's games in the Isaac Newlands Cup, first round the results were:  

• Thorfinn 2, Rovers 3.
• St Andrews 2, Holm 0 ( AET).

For ten years, some of the finest working jazz musicians have made a beeline for the county in the spring to play at the Stromness Hotel’s annual Orkney Jazz Festival.

This year’s tenth anniversary event took place at the weekend, and two acclaimed new faces were added to the line-up.

Familiar faces, including Bill Salmond’s Louisiana Ragtime Band, The Orkney School Swing Band and the Diplomats of Jazz, were joined by tenor, alto saxophonist and clarinet player, John Burgess, and jazz writer and musician, Mick Burns.

The response to the new OIC post of smoking warden has been excellent, according to the head of the council’s environmental health department, Tony Marsh.

Mr Marsh said that 15 applications have been received for the £18,000 a year post and that the department is currently drawing up a shortlist.

People around the Kirkwall pier were treated to an unusual sight on Thursday afternoon after a young dolphin ended up in the Basin.

The animal, which appeared to be injured, spent hours swimming in the water around the cornslip - presumably after following a boat in.

However, the dolphin was gone by Friday morning and is thought to have made its own way out to sea again.

The captain of the coastguard tug Anglian Sovereign has become the first person to receive a custodial sentence for pollution in Scotland.

Peter Leask of Gulberwick, Shetland, was sentenced to two months in custody for a pollution offence, to run concurrently with two four-month terms handed to him for other.

The Anglian Sovereign, which patrols Orkney and Shetland, ran aground in September 2005. The collision damaged fuel tanks, resulting in a spillage of approximately 200 tonnes of fuel oil.

Orkney is to play host to Scotland’s First Minister, Jack McConnell, and a number of fellow ministers, at the annual Convention of the Highlands and Islands next week.

While giving Orkney officials the chance to showcase the islands, the conference will be focusing on two main issues — the sustainable development Scottish strategy Choosing our Future and shared services.

The event will be held at the Pickaquoy Centre on Sunday and Monday.

It looks like all systems go for Kirkwall’s permanent CCTV system, with all 14 cameras now operational.

Areas which are covered by the system in Kirkwall’s town centre include - Harbour Street, Bridge Street, Albert Street, Broad Street, Victoria Street, Junction Road, West Castle Street, Tankerness Lane, Great Western Road and Burnmouth Road.

PC Mollison said: “We are expecting it to be busier as we will pick up on things that we would not have seen before. We are hoping that it will make people think twice about committing a crime.”

The Shetland Coastguard helicopter, Oscar Charlie, was called out on Tuesday, to investigate transmission from an emergency beacon in Orkney.

The distress signal was found to be coming from a personal beacon on board the OIC pilot boat, The Pathfinder, berthed at Scapa pier, which had been accidentally triggered following testing by staff.

A spokesman from the coastguard said it had been a ”false alarm following a genuine mistake”.

Telecoms minister Nicol Stephen has urged people in Orkney who still can’t get a broadband internet connection to make their case known to the Scottish Executive’s Telecoms Policy Unit (TPU).

Replying to a letter from Jim Wallace MSP, Mr Stephen confirmed that the Executive is considering the problem and seeking potential solutions.

He said that they expected to finalise their work over the next few months, with appropriate solutions following later in the year and 2007.

Two companies are in the running to continue the operation to remove the oil from the wreck of HMS Royal Oak in Scapa Flow.

The MoD have put the contract out to tender, and, according to OIC harbours director, Captain Nigel Mills, work is due to start in the second week in July.

The successful tender will be expected to use the same “cold-cutting” technique used last year, which will enable divers to drill a hole in the hull to allow the oil to be released.

Scottish Water officials claim that customers in Orkney are seeing the benefits of the organisation’s creation four years ago.

Despite ongoing wranglings over infrastructure difficulties, particularly in Kirkwall, Scottish Water boss, Jon Hargreaves, revealed this week that the company has invested £22.6 million in the county since 2002.

With another £390 million more spent in the Highlands and Islands during the same period, Mr Hargreaves believes that there is now better quality drinking water in dozens of communities, cleaner beaches and a better customer service.

The Heart of Neolithic Orkney was one of the 812 sites across the globe being celebrated on Tuesday, International World Heritage Site Day.

Orkney's World Heritage Site, which includes the areas around the Ring of Brodgar, Standing Stones of Stenness, Maeshowe and Skara Brae, was inscribed into the UNESCO list of sites in December 1999.

International World Heritage Site Day is an opportunity to remind folk of their local site and of its unique and irreplaceable value to our heritage, also the efforts required to protect and conserve it.

A visitor from Caithness, who drove while under the influence of drink, while disqualified, has been warned he may be sent to prison when he returns to Kirkwall Sheriff Court for sentencing next month.

Appearing from custody on Monday, George Douglas, of Strathy House, Thurso, admitted driving while over three times the legal limit.

The court heard that Douglas, who admits having a drink problem, was stopped at the Stromness ferry terminal after deciding to take his car for a short break to Kirkwall.

The case against a Kirkwall man, who threatened his wife and a group of friends with a metal pipe, has been deferred for six months.

Ian James Ratter, 30, of Meadowbank Road, appeared from custody at Kirkwall Sheriff Court on Monday, where he admitted the offence, which took place last Thursday..

Honorary Sheriff John Flett deferred sentencing to November 15 for Ratter to be of good behaviour.

The Stromness lifeboat was launched on Sunday afternoon after a yacht attempting a solo voyage around Scotland got into trouble west of Orkney.

The lifeboat was launched at 4.30pm after the 15-metre yacht, Pegasus, lost the use of her sails and autopilot during bad weather.

The lifeboat met the yacht seven miles west of Hoy and escorted her back into the Stromness marina.

Kirkwall police have hit out, once again, at the number of Orkney drivers who continue to drive while under the influence of alcohol.

Three drivers were stopped and charged in the space of seven hours over Saturday night into the early hours of Sunday morning.

A new CD commemorating the work of poet and writer George Mackay Brown, was launched in Stromness on Tuesday night.

For the Islands I Sing is the brainchild of Orkney Aye - Stromness Academy's Young Enterprise company - was unveiled at a ceremony in the Stromness Hotel.

As well as featuring readings from some well-known Orcadian voices, the CD includes original recordings of George Mackay Brown reading his own poems.

With the annual Bag the Bruck clean-up weekend starting on Saturday,, Environmental Concern Orkney (ECO) has highlighted an ongoing problem of fly-tipping in the county.

Susan Ferguson of ECO said: “Rubbish is dumped by individuals who obviously feel they have a right to mess up fields, heathland, ditches and areas of the coastline, just because they can.

“Walking around Birsay and Marwick last week, it was apparent that trailer loads of rubbish that included computers, plastic wrap, fencing wire and furniture, had been tipped along the shoreline recently and this is repeated across the county.”

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