On Saturday morning, more than 300 people queued for tickets to the Magfest concerts, which will take place on June 30 and July 1 at the Pickaquoy Centre.

The first intrepid music fans arrived at Grooves, in Kirkwall, at about 5.30am and by the time the doors were opened at 9.30am, the queue stretched right round to the car park at the back of the Argo's store.

Magfest, which is being organised by Neil Stevenson, from Grooves, in conjunction with the St Magnus Festival, will feature performances from The Proclaimers, Embrace, the Saw Doctors and Sandi Thom, along with support from local bands.

A renal satellite unit is scheduled to open in the Balfour Hospital in July – providing life-changing benefits for Orkney patients and their families.

The long-awaited unit, which will be based in a refurbished section of the St Ninian Ward, will be equipped with four dialysis machines and be remotely linked with specialist renal services and staff in Aberdeen.

The Durkadale RSPB reserve in Birsay was the site of a tree-planting exercise on Sunday, organised by the Orkney Field Club.

The Durkadale Picnic, which was a joint venture with the RSPB, was held to allow families to participate in the tree-planting and to "adopt" a tree.

See also: Discover the hidden secrets of local birdlife

The second Showcase for Orkney Sport was held at the Pickaquoy Centre on Sunday, offering folk the chance to go along and see the wide range of activities on offer throughout the county.

Sports ranging from shooting, hockey, karate and sailing were among the stalls at the event.

A proposal to build a hotel at Kirkwall Airport was put forward at a meeting of the Kirkwall Airport Consultative Committee on Friday afternoon.

David Blackman, airport manager, said that Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd, would like to use some of their spare land for development and one idea is to build a hotel.

The opening of the new Lidl supermarket in Kirkwall has been put back to June 22, although it is still on course to be the chain's first island store.

A spokesman confirmed on Friday that a manager has been appointed and will relocate from another of their outlets, but that all other managerial appointments have been made from within Orkney.

With last year’s tally of 13 described as disappointing, the RSPB are once again asking Orcadians to listen out for corncrakes.

Anyone who hears the distinctive "crek crek" call of the corncrake is asked to note the location, date and time and pass this on to Andy on the corncrake hotline, 0845 4562 403, along with their name and a contact telephone number.

RSPB Scotland operates the Corncrake Initiative scheme, part funded by Scottish Natural Heritage.

The scheme, now in its 14th year, offers payments to farmers to encourage delayed mowing and corncrake-friendly mowing of silage and hay fields containing nesting birds.

The proposed cuts to the Rousay ferry service have been put on hold.

Councillors at Thursday's meeting of the OIC's inter-isles transportation committee confirmed that they have a number of alternative proposals which, if accepted by the ferry crew, will mean the 11.15am sailings on Monday and Thursday will not have to be scrapped.

The current timetable does not comply with hours of work and rest, which led to the proposal that two crossings a week be cancelled.

Around 100 Rousay residents met on Monday night and agreed unanimously that they would not accept any cuts to the service.

Orkney beef was chosen to launch Scotch beef back on the Belgian market on Wednesday.

Scottish rural development minister, Ross Finnie, attended a dinner and tasting session in Brussels to promote Scotch beef now that the European ban on its export has been lifted.

The beef selected for the tasting was from P. & B. Moss, of Ocklester farm, Holm.

Orkney played host to a far-flung guest this past weekend, with Russian TV journalist, Alexander Korobko, filming on a visit to find out more about the county.

Mr Korobko's visit followed his discovery that he had Orcadian ancestors during research for a feature on a Cambridge genetic ancestry laboratory.

He said: ”I really feel we managed to capture the spirit of Orkney on camera.  We plan to offer the full-length feature we filmed during our visit to various TV channels throughout Europe, as well as show an abridged version on our Russian-British TV magazine programme Russian Hour from London, which is syndicated on more than 15 Russian and international TV channels."

A group is to explore the possibility of using a community wind turbine to generate cash to help pay the running costs of a proposed OIC care home.

Residents of the linked South Isles are so desperate for a facility in the area that they are willing to consider radical new ideas to help the OIC find money to run the proposed care home.

OIC officials have made no secret of the fact that they have the cash available to build a care home - but cannot go ahead until they have identified how they are going to pay for staffing and running the facility.

Experts from the Explosive Ordnance Department in Edinburgh were in Orkney on Tuesday to carry out a controlled explosion in Deerness.

Two men from the unit travelled north following the discovery of a rusty hand grenade in a property in the parish.

Visiting discount opticians, Specsavers, have been forced into a last minute venue change after the Pickaquoy Centre in Kirkwall had to pull out of staging the event.

Orkney Islands Council chief executive, Alistair Buchan said: “The current council policy is not to grant discretionary rates relief to organisations that are regarded as commercial sales.

“Clearly the Pickaquoy Centre needs to observe that policy. The centre should be aware of the conditions in which it receives rates relief.”

The Specsavers event, on Thursday and Friday, has been relocated to the Kirkwall Hotel.

A 67-year-old man has been charged with drink driving on Kirkwall’s Pickaquoy Road.

The Pier Arts Centre has secured a new long -term funding arrangement with the Scottish Arts Council (SAC).

The centre, which is undergoing a major extension and renovation, will become one of a select group of Scottish arts organisations to receive what the SAC are calling Foundation funding. This designation has been made in recognition of the Pier Arts Centre's distinctive and unique role in developing the visual arts in Scotland.

The Creel Restaurant in St Margaret's Hope has another culinary award to add to its growing collection.

Owner and chef, Alan Craigie, has been named Scottish Restaurant Chef of the Year at the Scottish Chef Award 2006.

Northern Isles MP Alistair Carmichael has spoken out over the announcement that the provision of Scotland’s search and rescue service is to be put out to tender in 2012 for a 25 year contract.

He said: “The present arrangements have worked well and the government has never explained why this change is necessary,” adding, “Economics must not be allowed to diminish the quality of service available from search and rescue helicopters.”

The Ministry of Defence confirmed on Tuesday that RAF rescue services are to be privatised.

The announcement will see civilian air crews working alongside military staff at RAF and Navy search and rescue bases throughout Britain.

Based on the Scottish mainland, MoD rescue helicopters are, on occasion, used in Orkney as stand-in emergency air ambulances.

Canadian based company CHC Helicopters has already been awarded the contract to run Coastguard operations from Sumburgh, in Shetland, from 2007.

An Orkney farmer is leading the way for those who think they have been unfairly penalised by the Scottish Executive.

The first Stage Two appeal against a penalty imposed by Seerad was heard on Tuesday by a panel of two external members and a Seerad representative.

Under the suckler cow premium scheme, a number of Scottish farmers met the requirements of the scheme in 2003 but failed to notify Seerad about replacement heifers.

They were penalised and some lost up to £80,000 in subsidies. NFU Scotland is backing the appeals and represented the Orkney farmer at today¹s hearing.

Safety concerns regarding the BP fuel tanks on Kirkwall's Shore Street were among the topics discussed at Monday night's meeting of the Kirkwall Community Council.

Chairman Spencer Rosie has drafted a letter which is to be sent to BP's headquarters calling on them to enter into "meaningful discussions" with Orkney Islands Council over the removal of the town centre depot to a safe, alternative site at Scapa.

He said: "When I say 'meaningful discussions', I do not mean BP saying, 'Right, we'll move if OIC pay for it', which has been the position in the past."

Kirkwall community councillors have recommended a new housing development near the Highland Park distillery be called Rosebank.

KCC member Steven Heddle highlighted that Highland Park House was formerly known as Rosebank.

Passenger numbers at Kirkwall airport continued to grow last month with a 4.8 per cent increase over March 2005.

According to figures from Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd, 9,665 passengers used the airport in March 2006, compared to 9,222 in March 2005.

An unemployed man, who denies charges of assault and resisting police officers, was refused bail and remanded in custody, at Kirkwall Sheriff Court on Monday.

Joseph Shaun Thomas Michael Mahady, 22, of Yetholm, St Margaret¹s Hope, appeared from custody where he pleaded not guilty to assaulting a man at a house in Hamnavoe, Stromness, on Saturday morning. He also denies charges of breaching the peace and resisting two officers on two separate occasions.

The design for a revamped Firth Park was presented to the public at a meeting on Monday night.

Roz Maclennan, of Inverness landscape architects Horner Maclennan, spoke about the design.

The chairman of the Friends of Firth Park, Jocky Wood, said the Friends and the Firth Community Council had been liaising over the plans and the meeting would give the public a chance to comment.

Mark Harrison has been appointed as Acting General Manager of the Pickaquoy Centre by the Pickaquoy Centre Trust.

Mr Harrison will take over the day to day running of the Centre from Kieran Henderson, who was permanent part-time manager. Mr Henderson will now work full time as Recreation Services Manager at the council.

Councillor Mike Drever, Chairman of the Pickaquoy Centre Trust, said: "The Trust would like to extend its thanks to Kieran for all the hard work he's put in to establish the Pickaquoy Centre and we now look forward to working closely with Mark."

Orkney Islands Council has released its new Corporate Strategic Plan – a document highlighting how it intends to improve services.

As the lead partner in the Orkney Community Planning Partnership, the council's plan highlights the needs identified by Orkney’s communities in the 'Orkney 2020' community plan.

The document is split into chapters representing each of the service committees, and contains associated budgets and actions for the next few years. 

Copies of the plan can be downloaded from publications section of the OIC website. Hard copies are also available at the Customer Services Reception.

The company which owns the Orkney Brewery, Highlands and Islands Breweries (HIB), has gone into administration.

According to a report in the industry journal The Publican, this is because the company has "cash flow problems".

Fraser Gray of administrators Kroll says: “We’re continuing to trade the business and are in talks with customers and suppliers to secure their ongoing co-operation.

“We appreciate this is a worrying time for employees and would like to thank them for their continuing support.”