The Orkney Blues Festival committee have announced that last year’s event was their final effort.

Committee members, including festival founders Colin Sinclair and Barbara Smith, have officially stepped down, leaving the floor open for anyone who wishes to take over. They will no longer be associated with the festival, taking the view that the time is right to quit having just enjoyed their most successful event to date.

Colin and Barbara launched the festival in 2000, undertaking all of the organising, running, funding and hosting themselves.

A new exhibition featuring Thailand temple statues and Borneo blowpipes opened at the Orkney Museum, in Kirkwall, on Saturday.

The exhibition, called The Head-hunters of Borneo; 20 Years of Hunting in the Far East, is a unique collection of artefacts from Burma, Thailand, Borneo and Indonesia, collected by Maurice and Debbie Davidson. Maurice, originally from Stromness, worked as an architect in South East Asia before returning to Orkney in 2004.

The exhibition, which runs until February 25, is open Monday to Saturday, 10.30am to 12.30pm and 1.30pm to 5.00pm. Admission is free.

Italian film actress Giovanna Mezzogiorno pushes a pram from the Stromness Hotel, past a wintry-looking fountain this afternoon.

Stromness Pierhead was transformed into a film set on Friday - complete with a “fall” of artificial snow.

Lezioni Di Volo - or in English, Flying Lessons, is the Italian production’s title, in which the star, actress Giovanna Mezzogiorno, plays the part of a doctor who falls in love with an Orkney man and returns here to live.

Local residents took part, “walking on” and fishing from the pier. Filming was to have taken one day, but director, Francesca Archibugi, was so taken with Stromness when she arrived that she wrote in an extra scene which was filmed on Saturday.

Despite NHS Orkney looking at a current overspend of nearly £900,000, the health board’s director of finance is predicting a break-even by the end of March.

Iain Crozier outlined the board’s current position on Thursday and said they were pursuing the recovery plan agreed at a meeting with the Scottish Executive Health Department in December.

“The progress is encouraging,” he said, while warning that failure to break-even would mean a rap on the knuckles from the Executive, while eating into their budget for the coming year.

Community-owned wind turbines could generate tens of thousands of pounds for the Orkney economy, a public meeting was told on Thursday night.

Representatives of the Orkney Renewable Energy Forum travelled to Gigha, on the west coast, to see how its community had developed their own wind turbines.

Howie Firth told the audience at Holm Hall that the group had been impressed at how folk on Gigha had worked together to develop three turbines which cost £440,000 and will now generate a £150,000 profit for the community.

Plans to turn the former offices of The Orcadian, in Victoria Street, Kirkwall, into a restaurant have been put on hold after a number of objections were lodged.

A petition and six letters opposing the scheme claimed it would lead to drunken disorder in the area. However, planning officer Mark Evans said that because it would be such a small restaurant, it was unlikely to lead to “unduly harmful levels of externally generated noise or other forms of nuisance.”

The environment, planning and protective services committee deferred a decision until they made a site visit.

There could be major disruptions to life in Orkney if a flu pandemic strikes - but, potentially, only a few deaths, was the message this week.

NHS Orkney’s consultant in public health medicine, Dr Ken Black, said a quarter of the county’s population were likely to be affected by the human form of avian flu.

“The important thing about flu is that it is not the ‘we are doomed story’ that people think it is. Between ten and 20 people would die in any year of flu – estimates say that up to 19 people could die in the flu pandemic in Orkney.”

Members of NHS Orkney’s health board are to encourage the Orkney Hyperbaric Trust - which has a chamber in Stromness - to seek out other sources of funding.

The service, which has helped dozens of divers, is one of the areas being looked at by the health board in their cost-cutting exercise.

But health board member Fred Groundwater said on Thursday: “The service is run as a trust and there are various avenues open to it which they have not pursued. The trust should be nudged in the direction of seeking funding through Orkney Enterprise, Orkney Islands Council, or the tourist board.”

Two 17-year-old youths appeared in private at Kirkwall Sheriff Court on Thursday, charged in connection with the alleged attack on teenager Ross Foubister, on Monday night.

Amar Khadka, of Inganess Road, Kirkwall, and Graham Budge, of Annfield Crescent, Kirkwall, were charged with attempted murder.

No plea or declaration was made and the pair were remanded in custody until a date to be fixed next week, after Sheriff Graeme Napier, refused applications for bail.

Councillor Bob Sclater, chairman of OIC transportation and infrastructure, has confirmed that Loganair have won the inter-isles air transport contract for the next three years.

It was put out to tender when the air ambulance service contract, which used to be operated by the company, was awarded to Gama last year.

The details will be finalised next Tuesday at the OIC transportation and infrastructure meeting.

Orkney Islands Council is to receive an extra £437,000 from the Executive towards the cost of the new Kirkwall Travel Centre.

Executive officials say the extra cash will lead to “considerable improvements” on the original plans, offering an enhanced environment for visitors.

The £1.85 million complex will occupy a large area between Junction Road and Great Western Road. Work is due to start soon.

Transport minister, Tavish Scott, said: “The new building will be a key transport hub for locals and visitors alike, with better facilities offering information on all public transport services as well as tourist attractions.”

The number of planning applications to Orkney Islands Council is about 70 per cent higher than in 2000.

Roddy Mackay, head of planning and transportation, told Wednesday’s meeting of the council’s environment, planning and protective services committee the increase put staff under pressure.

The number of planning applications was up from about 470 in 2000 to about 790 in 2005. This meant more staff would be needed to cope with the workload, he said.

Orkney MSP Jim Wallace and the convener of Orkney Islands Council, Stephen Hagan, have joined forces to appeal for a rethink on proposals for air ambulance cover in the county.

They have written a joint letter to all members of the Scottish Ambulance Service Board setting out their renewed concerns, while calling for the retention of a Kirkwall-based Islander aircraft.

It is proposed that, from April, the Islander be withdrawn, with cover provided by a helicopter, based in Inverness, working alongside a fixed wing aircraft, based in Aberdeen. A trial of the helicopter is ongoing.

Alistair Carmichael

Orkney and Shetland MP, Alistair Carmichael, has been promoted to home affairs spokesman for the Liberal Democrats following the resignation of Mark Oaten from the front bench of the party.

Mr Oaten stood down at the weekend after Sunday newspaper revelations that he had a lengthy affair with a male prostitute.

Mr Carmichael, who had been the number two in the party’s home affairs team, will be the home affairs spokesman until the Lib Dem leadership battle comes to a conclusion in early March.

The victim of a brutal assault in Kirkwall’s Pickaquoy Road on Monday night has been named as Ross Foubister.

The 18-year-old from Kirkwall remains in a serious, but stable, condition in Aberdeen Royal Infirmary this morning. Kirkwall police say they are following a positive line of inquiry in relation to the incident.

Officers are still appealing for anyone with information, or who may have been in the area at the time, to contact 872241 or Crimestoppers 0800 555 111.

Cost cutting measures are being introduced in the Orkney Islands Council recreation and cultural services department.

The move comes after councillors at the recreation and cultural services committee were told there will be an overspend of £246,000 to carry over into the next financial next year. Suggested savings included a ban on all travel outwith Orkney for council staff until April and a reduction in the number of bulk mail shots.

An increase in service charges, which will include museums, swimming pools and libraries, of five per cent will also be introduced from April.

Vital work by Scottish Water in Stromness is almost complete. Contractors working for the organisation are renewing about 1km of ageing sewers at a cost of £180,000.

Scottish Water decided to take action earlier this month after an investigation discovered that the pipes had a large number of cracks.

Project manager Andy Barnett said: “Working in the narrow streets of Stromness is quite a challenge and I’d like to thank residents and local businesses for their patience. The contractors are making good progress and we expect to be complete by the end of this month.”

The scene at Pickaquoy Road on Tuesday morning. (Picture: Kenny Pirie)

A serious attack on an Orkney teenager is being treated as attempted murder.

The 18-year-old man was assaulted in the area of Pickaquoy Road between Glaitness School and Ayre Road, Kirkwall, at about 8.30pm on Monday night.

Due to the seriousness of his injuries, the victim was flown to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, where his condition was initially thought to be life threatening, and is now described as serious but stable.

Police are appealing for witnesses to contact 01856 872241 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.

Council tax for a Band D property in Orkney is set to rise to over £1,000 for the first time.

Councillors at a special OIC policy and resources committee meeting on Monday, recommended a 3.5 per cent increase in the coming year, 2006-2007. It takes a Band D property bill up to £1,007.

The rise will create an additional £250,000 income for the council and means that taxpayers in the county will still be paying up to £140 less than the Scottish average.

Orkney Meat is offering a price premium to farmers who pre-book cattle for slaughter in the summer.

Scott Harcus, the company’s chairman, said Orkney Meat would guarantee to match mainland prices like-for-like during May, and would add one penny per kilo for June and two pence in July. Added to the Gold Standard bonus, this would mean up to eight pence extra per kilo, he said.

Mr Harcus said it was hoped the move would take away some of the uncertainty that could influence farmers’ decisions on whether or not to ship animals.

A recruitment drive for patients begans on Monday, when Kirkwall’s former police station re-opens as a state-of-the-art dental centre.

The aim is to attract at least 1,300 new patients to the private practice, which will be called the Earl’s Palace Dental Centre.

The building, which dates back to the late 19th century, has been sympathetically converted. Four surgeries equipped with the latest dental equipment have been created, but many original decorative features have been retained,and a comfortable waiting room created in a large room which enjoys views over the Earl’s Palace.

Kirkwall police are appealing for the driver of a vehicle involved in collision with another car on the Russland Road in Harray at the weekend to come forward.

The accident happened about midday on Saturday, but the male driver of a blue or green vehicle failed to stop, according to a police spokeswoman. The female driver of a Mazda 323 was uninjured.

Anyone with information is asked to call the police on 872241.

The closest Orkney came to scoring a try, in the match against Dumfries, as Colin Risbridger is bundled over the line, in the corner, in the dying moments of the game.

Orkney Rugby Club's First XV lost by 6-21 in their match against Dumfries, on Saturday afternoon, in their BT Cup Shield fixture.

Orkney took the lead in the first minute of the game, with a penalty kick from John Dearness, and shortly afterwards he kicked another, to take the score to 6-3, but Dumfries scored the only try of the first half to make the half-time score 6-11. In the second half, Dumfries scored with a converted try and a penalty.

Orkney's best spell of the game came in the dying moments when they took charge of the game and were close on a number of occasions.