At the end of a long day of fundraising on Friday, the people of Orkney raised just over £17,000 for the annual BBC Children in Need.

BBC Radio Orkney were on air until 1am on Saturday morning, accepting donations and running the annual on-air auction. The grand total raised by the end of the broadcast was £17,089.

The island of Shapinsay is hosted a renewables day on Saturday.

A number of industry experts were at the Shapinsay school to answer questions and talk about renewable energy, both wind and marine, in Orkney.

The day started with an opening address by school head, Clive Horton.

This was followed by talks from experts across the renewable energy field including topics on energy security, marine renewables, waste in Orkney and biofuels.

The torrential rain that left swathes of Orkney flooded last month has highlighted the theory that Maeshowe in Stenness was once surrounded by water.

It has been suggested that 5,000 years ago, the ditch surrounding the chambered cairn was intentionally filled with water to isolate the world of the living from that of the dead. 

On a family farm, everybody chips in and helps. But just how much is that labour worth?

The beef and sheep industries have come together to identify a representative cost for unpaid family labour - £11.18 an hour.

The survey showed some 60 per cent of farmer time was in manual or semi-skilled tasks, with the remainder on management or skilled tasks. On average, farmers only took between seven and eight days holiday a year.

Threatened strike action by Orkney's bus drivers was averted, after they voted to accept revised terms of pay and conditions.

A statement, issued on behalf of Highland Country Buses and Orkney Coaches, confirmed members of the TGWU had accepted the offer, which was put to a ballot following talks involving the conciliation service Acas earlier this week.

"We would like to thank our employees for supporting the business during this financially difficult period. The last few weeks have been stressful for all concerned, but we now look forward to working together to strengthen the business," the statement added.

One of the high-resolution multibeam sonar image that alerted researchers to the presence of the U-boats

Wreck researchers appear to have identified two First World War U-boats, discovered on the seabed in 70 metres of water to the east of Sanday Sound.

One is the U-102 - which was under the command of Commander Kurt Beitzen, the man responsible for the sinking of the HMS Hampshire and the death of Lord Kitchener.

The second is U-92 which officials records state was lost for "unknown reasons, possibly mined off south Fair Isle" in September 1918.

The discoveries were made by Bobby Forbes of Stromness-based Sula Diving and researchers Kevin Heath and Mike Lowrey, an authority on WW1 U-boats.

Three youth project in Orkney are to benefit from a £68,000 grant from the Scottish Executive.

The Dounby Centre is to receive £4,000 for the purchase of equipment while the Sanday Development Trust received £50,000 to allow a property to be bought for use as a Drop In Centre. The Orkney Sea Cadet Corps at Scapa will receive £14,000 for equipment, furniture and repairs.

The three projects successfully bid for a share of a £2.5 million pot - part of a push to improve opportunities for young people in Scotland.

Parents can now find out about bad weather closures at schools by phoning a new Orkney Islands Council hotline.

From 7.30am each morning information about school closures will be available by phoning the council’s main switchboard number on 873535.

Two Orkney events are to receive a total of £30,000 from EventScotland. The cash is going to the 2007 Orkney Folk Festival and the 2007 St Magnus Festival.

The funding will allow the Orkney Folk Festival to improve its printed programme and to support independent visitor research.

OIC Convener, Councillor Stephen Hagan (left), carrying the tree with the help of Elisabeth Arnevik and the Mayor of Grimstad, Svein Harberg.

The Christmas tree for the St Magnus Cathedral is ready to begin its journey from Norway.

OIC convener, Councillor Stephen Hagan, was in Norway last week to help fell the tree - which will be the 20th the people of Grimstad have donated to the cathedral.

The convener made the trip after an invite from the Grimstad Council and also took part in discussions regarding the proposed commemoration of the 850th anniversary of the death of Earl Rognvald - the cathedral's founder - planned for August 2008.

Click here to view this year's Kirk Green
Christmas tree from Hordaland

Motorists on the main Kirkwall-Stromness road are being warned to heed speed restrictions near the Harray road end.

PC Neil Burgess said: “We have had reports that drivers are ignoring the warning signs highlighting the 30mph speed restrictions in place in the area surrounding men working on the road.”

Just under half the working women in Orkney are employed part-time, according to new figures from the GMB union.

The figures, which are part of a report on the growth of part-time jobs in the UK, show that 2,100 women of working age (47 per cent) are not in full-time employment.

This places Orkney in the fifth place in the GMB’s table of part-time workers. Highest is the Western Isles with 53.0 per cent, with Glasgow’s 33.3 per cent lowest.

The OIC’s winter safety leaflet can now be downloaded from the council's website. In addition, a new booklet, Preparing for Emergencies in the Highlands and Islands, is now available.

With the county having already experienced some of the worst floods in recent memory, the leaflets can help households prepare for whatever the weather brings.

From November 20, copies of the Preparing for Emergencies booklet can be picked up from the OIC's customer services in Kirkwall.

Police inquiries are continuing after a three-vehicle road accident near the Harray junction on Tuesday.

The incident involved a transit van, a lorry and a Volkswagen car.

Although the vehicles sustained substantial damage, there were no serious injuries.

Orkney bus drivers are to be balloted on whether to accept a revised pay offer from Rapson’s Coaches.

A statement from the company said: “Following lengthy talks involving the arbitration service, Acas, Highland Country Buses and Orkney Coaches made a revised offer to the T&G union, which the union has said it will put to a ballot of its members  - without a recommendation to either accept or reject.

“We hope our employees will feel that the offer is reasonable, and that they will support the business, allowing us all to move forward collectively.”

Talks on the feasibility of a Scapa Flow container terminal project in Lyness will continue next week.

Chairman of the steering group, Councillor James Stockan, and Councillor Ann Sutherland, will travel to Malta to meet with representatives of the Hili Company Ltd this week.

The OIC's director of development services, Jeremy Baster, and director of harbours, Captain Nigel Mills, will also attend.

Councillors have agreed a funding package that will allow the third phase of North Ronaldsay’s ongoing lighthouse project to begin.

Members of the community development fund committee agreed to recommend financial assistance of £51,014 towards the cost of phase three, which will see the restoration of the lighthouse keepers’ accommodation and old foghorn, the establishment of a lighthouse trail and repairing the courtyard.

Graemsay residents have asked Stromness Community Council for a shelter on the pier.

This would not only give them somewhere to wait for the ferry but, for those who keep cars in Stromness, would allow them to leave shopping and other items at the pier while they find somewhere to leave their vehicles.

Members of the OIC’s community development fund committee agreed on Tuesday to help fund the establishment of a community garden in Firth.

Kirkwall police have submitted an initial report to the procurator fiscal following the incident at the weekend in which two tanker crewmen were killed in the Pentland Firth.

The Marine Accident Investigation Branch have completed their investigations in Orkney and have travelled south to interview the injured crewman in hospital in Aberdeen.

Nothing has yet been decided about the regeneration of the Stromness pier head area.

This was emphasised at Monday’s meeting of Stromness Community Council when OIC councillor James Stockan again spoke of his frustration at the total lack of progress on the project – caused, he said, by shortage of OIC planning staff.

However, in light of recent public concerns on the subject, it was stressed that nothing will happen without the approval of the people of Stromness. The public exhibition of possible developments had been a way to get people talking. They were not definite proposals.

Marine tourism in Orkney has received a welcome boost thanks to funding from VisitScotland’s Challenge Fund.

Orkney Marinas Ltd has secured £5,237 funding in order to develop the existing UK market and target the Scandinavian market for the very first time. 

The project aims to increase visitor numbers to Orkney’s marinas over the next year by 100 yachts.

The Norwegian cargo ship which lost power off Birsay on Monday, made its way to Kirkwall on Tuesday after sheltering in Deer Sound.

At 5.50am on Monday the Fri Stream reported that it had lost power and was drifting in heavy seas 13 nautical miles off Marwick Head.

With the Stromness lifeboat shadowing initially, followed by the Kirkwall lifeboat, the North Sea stand-by vessel Edda Frigg was successful in getting a towline on board the stricken vessel and towed it to the east of the Orkney Mainland.

A man and a woman denied charges of refusing to hand over a child who had run away from foster carers, at Kirkwall Sheriff Court on Monday.

The pair, who can’t be named for legal reason, were appearing from custody, charged with harbouring a child in their home in Kirkwall on two separate occasions and refusing to hand the child over to social workers and police.

Mark Harrison has been appointed general manager at the Pickaquoy Centre.

Mr Harrison, who has been acting general manager at the Centre since May, has been given the job after job interviews last week.

The scene at the tanker FR8 Venture on Saturday, taken by the crew of the Stornoway coastguard rescue helicopter

Marine accident investigators were in Orkney on Monday to begin inquiries into the death of two oil tanker crewmen in the Pentland Firth on Saturday.

A third man was seriously injured after the oil tanker FR8 Venture was struck by a freak 100ft wave after leaving Scapa Flow. The vessel had just completed a transfer operation to receive a cargo of crude oil bound for the USA.

In Force ten winds, the Longhope lifeboat was launched carrying a doctor from Hoy, who boarded the vessel to provide medical assistance. Two men were found to be dead, while the third was airlifted to hospital in Aberdeen.