Orkney's First XV rugby team have recovered from the previous week's disappointment, in the last minute steal by Crieff and Strathearn, with a win in Saturday's away match against Aberdeenshire.

The final score in the match was 22-25 in Orkney's favour.

The anticipated opening date for the new Lidl discount store has been put back by two months, until June 22.

Douglas Marshall, the German company’s acquisitions manager, was in Orkney this week for the Area Licensing Board meeting, when a provisional off-sales licence was granted for the proposed supermarket.

“We now have a target opening date of June 22. It has been put back from the original forecast for reasons of construction,’ he said.

Construction work is due to begin later this month.

Alistair Carmichael, Orkney and Shetland MP, has backed a new campaign aimed at raising public awareness of hearing loss.

The campaign, Breaking the Sound Barrier, hopes to encourage people to think about their hearing, and take action if required.

Speaking on Friday, Mr Carmichael said: “This is the ideal time for anyone who thinks they may suffer from hearing loss to take action. One in four people over the age of 50 in Scotland suffers from some level of hearing loss. They would be helped by a hearing aid - and digital hearing aids are now available on the NHS.”

The fire-damaged Bothy Bar

It will be several months before the fire-damaged Bothy Bar, part of the Albert Hotel in Kirkwall, will re-open, it was revealed at Thursday’s Orkney area licensing board meeting.

Representing owner, Dawn Flett, solicitor, Georgette Herd, said: “Unfortunately, the damage there is more substantial and it will be a few months before the area is brought back into use.”

Matchmakers, which was largely unaffected by the fire in October, last year, has reopened as a bar, and the upstairs accommodation is likely to be back in use in the near future, Ms Herd added.

Members approved the renewal of the hotel licence.

Orkney's MSP Jim Wallace has demanded that the county’s white fish fleet be fully involved in talks over the renewal of the haddock management scheme.

The scheme is up for renewal this year and preliminary discussions with fisheries scientists on possible changes are underway, and fisheries minister Ross Finnie said he was determined Scotland would be at the forefront of promoting new management plans which took into account the strength of haddock stocks in the North Sea.

Mr Wallace said: “The Orkney whitefish boats fish a significant proportion of the haddock quota. Ross Finnie is right to say we should be at the forefront in any renewal of the haddock management scheme. I shall want to make sure that there is full input from the Orkney industry as this goes forward during the year.”

Scapa Distillery

Douglas Cruickshank, production and spirit supply director for Chivas Brothers which owns the distillery, said: “The refurbishment is great news for Chivas Brothers which will benefit from the updated and improved plant.

"The distillery will now experience greatly enhanced production capabilities, with the potential to produce 1.2m litres per year. The distillery will focus predominantly on single malt requirements only.”

Police are warning shop and business owners to be on the lookout for fake £50 notes. It is believed the counterfeit bank notes have not yet reached Orkney, but they have been circulating around Scotland.

Detective Sergeant, Bob McKenzie, said: “It is believed that this operation is being carried out by a group.”

If anyone is in doubt about whether the money they are handling is genuine, they should contact Kirkwall Police Station on 01856 872241.

A Leeds man, who admitted carrying out an assault in Stromness, has been warned he faces jail when he appears at Kirkwall Sheriff Court for sentencing next month.

Daniel Whitfield punched the victim before hitting him with a coffee mug, during the attack, at a house in Dundas Street. When police arrested him a day after the attack, he was carrying two knives.

On Wednesday, Sheriff Graeme Napier remanded Whitfield in custody until February 8 for the preparation of background reports, but warned: “He should not be surprised if he ends up in custody.”

One of BBC Radio Orkney’s first producers and a director of Orkney Enterprise have been appointed as non-executive directors to the board of NHS Orkney.

The appointments of Liz Middleton, who recently retired as local area co-ordinator for Scotland’s Health at Work, and businessman Craig Spence were announced by Scotland’s Health Minister, Andy Kerr, yesterday (Wednesday).

They will be paid £4,670 annually, for working an eight hour week. The appointments are for four years.

The seizure of an Eday conman's assets has been adjourned until the summer.

David McHugh, 48, South Park, Eday, is currently serving consecutive jail sentences totalling six years for a string of deception offences.

He appeared at Liverpool Crown Court for a confiscation hearing under the Proceeds of Crime Act, but this was adjourned at his barrister's request.

McHugh was further remanded to await a new confiscation hearing date of June 6.

Archive story: English police travel to Eday to arrest recent arrivals

Post mortems on the man and woman found dead in Finstown last week were completed late on Tuesday.

Detective Inspector Iain Smith revealed on Wednesday that a crime report will now be submitted to the procurator fiscal in Orkney, confirming who was responsible for the deaths.

"I am not allowed to release details of that at this time," he said, adding that the Crown Office would have to sanction any further details.

Mr McArthur said: "There is no doubt that the outcome of the Fisheries Council in Brussels last month has presented serious difficulties for Orkney's whitefish fleet. The importance of haddock to the Orkney boats cannot be overstated, and the 13 per cent reduction in quota will result in further financial pressure on an already hard-pressed fleet.

He added: "It is high time that Ministers were more closely involved in these crucial negotiations and this is a matter that Jim Wallace MSP will be raising with the Minister, Ross Finnie MSP in Parliament this week."

Just ten days short of his 96th birthday, Capt. Magnus Spence Work died on Tuesday morning in the Balfour Hospital.

A native of Orkney, he had lived at Myrtle Villa, Bignold Park Road, Kirkwall, since his retirement in 1970, but had moved to Highland Park Residential Home last year.

His second wife, Mardi, to whom he had been married for 35 years, died in April, 2003. His first wife, Jean whom he married in 1945, died in 1960. He is survived by their son Magnus Patrick Work.

Magnus Work had been a Deputy Lieutenant of Orkney and an honorary sheriff. He followed his father into the Merchant Navy and transferred to the Royal Navy soon after the start of the Second World War. He was decorated with the Distinguished Service Cross and two bars.

Feature story: How a five-year-old played
his part in the Great War effort

The funeral of Orkney Islands Council’s first chief executive, H. A. Graeme Lapsley, took place on Tuesday, in Inverness.

Mr Lapsley came to Orkney in 1971, where he became county clerk and general manager of Orkney County Council, and later became chief executive of OIC, serving from 1975 to 1984.

The current OIC chief executive, Alistair Buchan, described Mr Lapsley as a visionary whose work continues to benefit the county.

The 41-year-old man arrested in Kirkwall last Thursday has been remanded in custody following a court appearance in England on Monday, charged with attempted murder.

Barry Pearson, of Hereford, was arrested near Papdale Primary School in Kirkwall in a joint operation with Northern Constabulary, after an alleged assault of a woman in Hereford, England, on New Year's Day.

He is due to appear at Worcester Crown Court on Tuesday, January 17.

Two Orkney farmers have been appointed Deputy Lieutenants for Orkney.

Tourism businesses in Orkney are being offered an opportunity to help shape the future of their industry in the islands.

Orkney Tourism Group, which represents almost 200 local tourism businesses, is organising a one-day tourism industry workshop in the Pickaquoy Centre, Kirkwall, on Wednesday, February 15.

The workshop discussions will be fed into the Orkney Area Tourism Partnership, where Orkney Tourism Group, VisitOrkney, Orkney Islands Council, Orkney Enterprise and other partners aim to develop a new strategy that will shape tourism in Orkney for the next 15 years.

Further information will be sent to local businesses in the near future.