Orkney Rugby Club's new strips was unveiled at Pickaquoy on Saturday afternoon.

Islands Councillors have approved the draft Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance (STAG) report

A special general meeting of the council met on Friday to discuss the latest progress on the consultation exercise, looking at modernising and enhancing inter-island transport in Orkney.

NorthLink’s ferry, Hrossey, was back in service on Friday after a technical fault on Thursday night forced her to return to Lerwick.

The vessel was en route from Lerwick to Aberdeen with 278 passengers on board when the power blackout occurred between Sumburgh Head and Fair Isle.

The fault, which was traced to a circuit malfunction on the main electrical control panel was rectified and the vessel set sail again at 6.00am on Friday.

Work began at the weekend on the creation of Holm’s totem pole, starting with the official blessing at 6.30pm on Friday night, in the Holm Hall.

The log arrived in Orkney with Scottish carver, Kenny Grieve, on Thursday and was prepared for carving on Saturday.

The pole is part of an arts project being co-ordinated by the chairman of the Holm Community Association, Andrew Drever.

The cost of connecting the islands to the national UK elecricity grid is “almost certainly higher than in any other European country” according to new report from Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

European practices with grid connection, reinforcement, constraint and charging of renewable energy projects outlines how producers of renewable energy in Scotland’s north mainland and islands pay connection prices 30 times higher than Denmark – one of Europe’s leaders in renewable energy production.

HIE head of renewables, Elaine Hanton said: “The clear message emerging from our research is that it is time our charging practices were re-examined to be brought into line with other national energy priorities.”

Orkney's former MSP, Jim Wallace, has been made a peer and will sit in the House of Lords.

Lord Wallace was the elected parliamentary representative for the county for 24 years before standing down in March, this year.

Welcoming the news, Orkney MSP, Liam McArthur, said: “His constituency, and the needs of all Orcadians, always came first, regardless of the many other responsibilities he took on as his career developed.

“I have no doubt that, when he sits on the rather more elevated red benches of the House of Lords, he will once again make a major contribution to politics.”

A group of Soroptimists from Aberdeen arrived in Orkney on Friday, hoping to take the first steps towards setting up an Orkney club for the women's service organisation.

More information on the organisation can be found here: http://www.soroptimist-gbi.org/about.

UK Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks made his first visit to the European Marine Energy Centre on Thursday.

Mr Wicks was shown the facilities at EMEC's wave energy test site at Billia Croo in Stromness parish.

Earlier in his visit, Mr Wicks travelled by chartered aircraft for an aerial view of EMEC's new tidal test facilities off Eday, the cluster of wind generators at Burgar Hill and the Flotta oil terminal.

Northern Isles MP, Alistair Carmichael, has criticised the Government’s underfunding of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) after the investigations concluded last month’s outbreak originated from the Institute of Animal Health in Surrey.

Mr Carmichael commented: “These reports have made it clear that the Government has seriously let down our farming industry. The fact that penny pinching and underfunding of DEFRA nearly devastated our livestock and meat trading industry is simply unacceptable.

“Today’s confirmed case in the same area highlights the danger posed to both animals and the UK’s farming industry from foot and mouth.  We would appear not to be out of the woods yet and the full scale of the false economies in DEFRA may not yet be apparent”.

A total of 14 community and natural heritage projects in Orkney will benefit from £82,564 in Scottish Natural Heritage Grants.

Among these are the Eday Ranger Service, who will get £4,500, Orkney Islands Council, which will receive £1,931 towards the development of the Scapa Flow Landscape Partnership Scheme as well as £17,188 for an bio-diversity officer, and the Orkney Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group, awarded £11,938 towards its Viking Heath Project.

An amateur radio enthusiast has been given nine months to remove a 70 feet high radio mast from a disused quarry on the Heddle Road, Firth.

Councillors at this week's meeting of the environment, planning and protective services committee were considered a retrospective planning application submitted by David Thomson, Boathouse, Finstown.

Recommending refusal, OIC principal planner, Alistair Banks, described the mast as "prominent and incongruous" and having a "detrimental visual impact".

OIC Convener Stephen Hagan has reported a “very positive meeting” with Scotland’s Minister for Public Health Shona Robison during her visit to Orkney last week.

Councillor Hagan took the opportunity to voice concerns about the Air Ambulance Service and the deterioration in service since the new contract began in 2006.

The Minister informed of a recent case where it took four hours to transfer a suspected heart attack patient to the Balfour Hospital in Kirkwall.

Councillor Hagan said: “I was encouraged that the Minister instigated the meeting and that she was clear that the service should be monitored on a regular basis with local input on performance.

"She was left in no doubt of the community's desire that Orkney should have an aircraft based in Kirkwall.”

Orkney Islands Council has surpassed the recycling and composting of municipal waste targets for 2006, set at 25 per cent.

The OIC came in at 26 per cent, which was much higher than island counterparts at Shetland Islands Council (15.2 per cent) and the Western Isles (12.1 per cent).

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency’s, Calum MacDonald, said: “This achievement demonstrates the fact that people are clearly recognising how important it is to deal with our waste more sustainably  and are doing something about it.”

Householders are being urged to complete and return their annual canvass forms for this year’s Register of Electors.

Failure to respond can result in your name being omitted from the Register. Even if there are no changes to the details on the form it must still be returned as soon as possible.

The first Police Dependants' Trust fun day in Orkney on Sunday raised nearly £3,000 — despite the poor weather conditions.

One of the organisers, Kirkwall PC Davie Dawson said: "Two years ago, headquarters in Inverness ran the same open day and, bearing in mind, they have a bigger crowd pull, they made £3,000. I think Orkney has pulled it off.

“We have been overwhelmed by the generosity of people who came along and those who didn’t — companies and individuals who donated items to the raffle and auction.”

The cash will be split between the Trust and local charities.

An application to site nine holiday chalets at Scorrabrae in Orphir was granted this week – despite a protest that it should be halted under the current OIC moratorium on tourism developments in the county.

The application, from Messrs Jimmy Currie and James Miller, trading as Scapa Flow Chalets, Main Street, Kirkwall was allowed to be considered by the planning committee because it had been lodged prior to the moratorium’s introduction in July 2006.

Police inquiries are ongoing after an alleged assault in Kirkwall's Burnmouth Road in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Anyone who witnessed anything is asked to call Kirkwall police station on 872241.

The Orkney Brewery has been named as Orkney Rugby Football Club's new main sponsor in a major deal announced this week.

The brewery, owned by Cawdor-based Sinclair Breweries Ltd, will support the Caledonia League Division One team for three seasons.

In what is the biggest partnership to date for the brewery, new strips carrying its logo will be supplied to ORFC's First XV.

The new strips will be worn for the first time on Saturday, when ORFC plays Mackie Academy FP at Pickaquoy in Kirkwall.

Two men have been reported to the procurator fiscal after an alleged fight broke out on a bus returning from a wedding in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Reports are to be submitted to the procurator fiscal after two motorists were stopped for drink-driving in Kirkwall.

Both men were stopped by police at the weekend.

Historic Scotland conservators have successfully removed the graffiti left in one of the houses at Skara Brae last month.

Stephen Gordon, Senior Conservator at Historic Scotland said: "Our conservation team were on site moments after the incident occurred and from then on began working hard researching into the best possible solutions to remove the marker pen without damaging the stone. 

" After extensive trials, we achieved the right formula and we are delighted to say it has been remarkably successful."

The new testing facility for tidal energy at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) will be officially opened later this month.

First Minister Alex Salmond will travel to the county to open the Eday facility on September 28.