Dawn breaks as the Stromness lifeboat tows the Valhalla into Stromness on Friday morning.

Stromness relief lifeboat, Osier, towed a broken down fishing vessel into Stromness harbour on Friday morning.

The Fraserburgh-registered, Valhalla, with five people on board, was drifting west of Hoy Sound about 5.20pm, after losing all power in gale force winds and heavy seas.

Shetland Coastguard launched the lifeboat to assist and a tow line was established shortly after, only to part three times due to the difficult sea conditions.

The boat was successfully towed into Stromness harbour and secured to the North Pier at 8.30am.

The shape of older people¹s service in Orkney will be discussed at a consultation event next month.

The event, hosted by Orkney Islands Council and NHS Orkney, will enable those involved with care services in the county to share their views on the needs of older people.

It will include an analysis of the existing provision for older people in the county and consultation on the options for care facilities in the future.

It is due to take place at the Pickaquoy Centre on Thursday, November 29.

Orkney MSP Liam McArthur has attacked the UK Government¹s proposal to rebrand nuclear power as a green energy source in order to meet EU targets.

The move comes after the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform expressed concerns that the UK will not be able to meet its target of generating 20 per cent of all power from green, renewable sources by 2020 unless nuclear power is rebranded as a low carbon or green energy source.

Mr McArthur said: "The UK Government cannot be allowed to hoodwink the public by falsely labelling and promoting nuclear power which is neither clean, green or renewable."

Orkney Islands Council have confirmed that seven Mainland parishes will lose their local registrar by the end of the year.

A council press release explains that councillors agreed at a general meeting that registrars' offices in Birsay, Sandwick, Harray, Orphir, Firth and Stenness, Holm and Paplay and South Ronaldsay and Burray should close.

It says that "financial constraints and improved access to the main offices in Kirkwall and Stromness for members of the public has led to the decision."

Orkney Islands Council¹s convener, councillor Stephen Hagan, is quoted as saying: "It is more cost effective and efficient for the council to provide registration services from Kirkwall and Stromness."

The Orcadian has learnt that seven Mainland parishes are to lose their registrars, in a bid to cut costs within Orkney Islands Council.

Registration offices in Birsay, Sandwick, Harray, Orphir, Firth and Stenness, Holm and Paplay and South Ronaldsay and Burray will close by December 31.

Affected registrars (some who have served their local parishes for nearly 50 years) were hit with the bombshell on October 12, at which point they were asked to keep the news to themselves.

A letter which was issued to the affected registrars was copied to The Orcadian on Thursday morning.

In the correspondence, they were informed that the reason the decision only applies to Mainland registrar offices is because "there is reasonable access to both Kirkwall and Stromness for members of the public."

The franchise agreement between Loganair and British Airways (BA), which was due to end in March, next year, has been extended until October 25, 2008.

However, Loganair will be entering into an agreement with BA which will continue to allow Orkney passengers to travel on BA flight numbers when connecting through Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh on to British Airways flights.

Loganair¹s scheduled service network will continue to operate as normal with no services affected and the air discount scheme remains unchanged.

Flights will remain bookable on BA.com until October, 2008.

Orkney farmer, Mark Jones, has been selected by the Conservatives as their prospective parliamentary candidate to contest the Aberdeen South seat at the next General Election.

Mr Jones will be hoping to unseat Labour MP, Anne Begg, who has represented the constituency for the past ten years.

He owns a farm at the Holm of Grimbister, Firth.

Police have named the diver missing in Scapa Flow as Martin Voordouw, 40, from the Netherlands.

Mr Voordouw went missing during a dive on the Koenig at lunchtime on Tuesday.

Lifeboats, an air force helicopter and a specialist police dive team have been involved in the search for him.

The aid package for farmers announced yesterday is just a first step, according to Orkney¹s MSP, Liam McArthur.

He said the £25 million aid package would help address immediate problems, but it did not go far enough to compensate farmers for their losses.

³We need to remember that these are losses which are not the result of any fault on the farmers¹ part, but are the result of poor management of a government laboratory in the south of England.²

Mr McArthur said he would work with farming and crofting representatives in Orkney to identify what further support was needed in Orkney.

After finally securing enough nominations for this year's sports awards, tickets are now on sale from the Pickaquoy Centre.

The tickets are available to buy until November 2, and cost £25 for seniors and £20 for juniors.

The event will be held at Stromness Academy on November 10.

In a change to the shortlist released last week, Jon Tait has moved into the adult male category while Shaun Raeburn enters the junior category in his place.

Joining the sportsman of the year category are Edrian Skea and Bobby Oag and shortlisted for junior female sportsperson are Claire Wilson, Arlene Walls and Karen Wood.

A specialist police underwater search unit from Grampian was in Orkney to assist in the search for a missing diver.

The wreck of the German Grand Fleet battleship the Koenig in Scapa Flow, will be examined using a remotely operated vehicle.

A 40-year-old sports diver failed to surface during a dive on Tuesday lunchtime. Stromness and Longhope lifeboats, and a helicopter from RAF Kinloss, scoured the area without success.

A 19-year-old Orcadian fiddle student is set to take on the cream of Britain¹s young folk talent, in the finals of this year¹s BBC Young Folk Awards.

Jeana Leslie, from Kirkwall was selected to feature in the finals of the prestigious competition in December, as part of a duo with fellow Royal Scottish Academy of Music student, Siobhan Miller.

The pair delighted judges at the semi-finals of the competition on October 19 in Granton-on-Spey, with both girls singing, and Jeana on fiddle and piano.

Hear the highlights from the semi-finals on Mike Harding¹s Radio 2 show this evening, from 7-8pm.

A donation box has been stolen from the Marengo Community Garden in St Margaret¹s Hope.

The police say the box was taken between Sunday and Tuesday.

Anyone with information should contact the Kirkwall police on 872241.

The Marengo garden is planted and maintained by volunteers.

Royal Mail has reached agreement with the Communications Workers¹ Union on a new pay deal, along with plans to modernise the company and reform the pension scheme.

The company has made a two-year proposal which includes a 5.4 per cent increase on basic pay.

Within the pension reform, Royal Mail¹s proposals include moving the normal retirement age from 60 to 65 from April 1, 2010. The union will shortly ballot its members on the agreement, which has been recommended by the union's executive.

Orkney jewellery manufacturers, Ortak, who are celebrating their 40th anniversary this year, have announced that they are to open a new store in Edinburgh.

Ortak, who are Scotland's largest jeweller, will be moving into premises in Edinburgh's Ocean Terminal shopping centre.

Ortak have employed Edinburgh-based design agency 442 to fit out the new shop's interior.

Coastguard teams in Kirkwall and Stromness were called out on Monday night after several reports of suspected flare sightings over Orkney.

However, a spokesman from Shetland Coastguard said that nothing untoward was discovered during the searches.

"It was a suspected meteor shower. The Orionid showers started coming in on October 2 and were supposed to peak last night," the spokesman added.

The West End Hotel, in Main Street, Kirkwall, changed hands on Thursday.

The new proprietors are Giffie Leslie, of Kirkwall, and Robert Dawson, of Aberdeen, who has relocated to the county. They are taking over the business from Dawn Flett.

Mr Leslie and Mr Dawson plan to close the premises for a short period of time, reopening on November 9, at 5pm.

A cyclist was taken to Kirkwall¹s Balfour Hospital after being involved in a collision with a car at the Northend/Ferry Road junction in Stromness at the weekend.

The cyclist received treatment for broken ribs and a head injury following the incident on Saturday afternoon.

Also, a 24-year-old man from Westray was struck by a car on the island on Friday evening.

He was subsequently airlifted to Balfour Hospital in Kirkwall where, following medical examination, was later discharged.

Police inquiries are ongoing into both incidents and they would appeal for witnesses to contact them on 872241.

Kirkwall police are following a positive line of inquiry after an unoccupied house in the Stenness area was broken into, sometime between Thursday and Friday last week.

According to a police spokesman, nothing appears to have been stolen.

Inquiries are ongoing and anyone with information is asked to call Kirkwall police on 872241.

Work has started to make the Hall of Clestrain wind and watertight.

The Orkney Boat Museum has been given £46,400 from the Heritage Lottery Fund for its project planning phase, which includes the preliminary work to save the A-listed Georgian mansion from further deterioration.

The Orphir building, the childhood home of the explorer Dr John Rae, is the planned home of the boat museum. The money will also allow the boat museum company to recruit a project manager.

The University of Oxford researchers working on a genetic map of Britain are in Orkney this week to take more blood samples from people with Orcadian ancestry.

On Monday night, Sir Walter Bodmer presented the results of the previous samples taken in Orkney, in a lecture at Kirkwall Town Hall. Some results were presented on the Channel 4 programme Face of Britain.

Volunteers whose grandparents were born within the same rural area within a 30 to 40-mile radius are still needed. They will be asked to give a sample of blood and fill in a questionnaire, taking no more than an hour all together. Contact Tammy Day on 07914 264794 to make an appointment.

A wide range of local organisations and individuals, with an interest in health, are to be invited by NHS Orkney to a consultation discussion aimed at putting the patient at the centre of the health service.

The event, held at the King Street Hall, Kirkwall on November 6, is part of the ‘Better Health, Better Care’ Scotland-wide consultation which will lead to the development of the Scottish Government’s Health Action Plan to be published in December of this year.

As part of the Health and Safety Executive’s farm and croft safety awareness day, two sessions will be held in Orkney Auction Mart on October 24.

In a bid to remind farmers and crofters of good practice and to encourage a reduction in risk-taking behaviour, the safety day will look at issues including power take offs, tractor safety, animal handling and workplace transport.

The Somerfield store Kirkwall’s Pickaquoy Road has undergone a complete makeover in the past few weeks and will be relaunched on Wednesday morning.

The major redesign includes an improved range of quality fresh produce as well as a wider choice of fresh meat, fish, deli products and ready meals. The in-store bakery has also been extended.