A Collier’s Tuesday Tea, by Kirkwall Arts Club, was named overall winner of the 2008 Orkney Drama Festival on Friday night.

The Ad Hoc Players production of The Donahue Sisters, performed on Thursday night, was second. Third place, and The Orcadian Youth Trophy, went to Friday night’s winners, the Palace Players (Youth), and their performance of sections of The Importance of Being Earnest.

Also performing last night were the Birsay Drama Group and the Hoy and Walls Entertainment Group.

All seven judges for the Art Fund Prize 2008 will visit the Pier Arts Centre on Friday, March 7.

The Stromness venue made it on to the long list of nominees earlier this year, and the judges will decide if it deserves to make it on to the shortlist during their visit.

The £100,000 prize will be awarded to the museum or gallery whose project demonstrates the most originality, imagination and excellence.

The shortlist will be announced in April and the winner on May 22.

A new exhibition opened on Saturday at the Orkney Museum.

Compassionate Journeys – Connecting with our Past, by Babette Barthelmess, attempts to connect with ancestors from both recent and ancient history. 

Through art works, poetry and film, her exhibition aims to unravel the secret of the Orkney stone balls, dating back 5,000 years. The exhibition also focuses on the life of an Orcadian who fought in the 1940s in the ‘Forgotten Army of Burma’ and was wrongly reported dead.

A nine-month-old baby from Orkney has been admitted to the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary with suspected bacterial meningitis.

NHS Orkney's public health department confirmed on Friday afternoon that all precautions are being taken and stressed there are no concerns for the public.

The baby is said to be responding well to treatment.

Former pupils of the old Tankerness School, which closed in 1969, are looking to track down a number of classmates for a reunion.

Some 214 former pupils have been located so far, but a few more remain elusive.

Any information which would assist to locate them would be most welcome, and can be passed to Kathleen Keldie at Kathleen.keldie@virgin.net

Orkney residents have been thanked for their help and enthusiasm in developing the new world heritage site management plan.

Some 40 people attended a public meeting in the Stenness school on Thursday night.

Issues raised included a desire for more direct dialogue between the partners running the WHS and the community. In response Historic Scotland now hopes to hold a further public meeting during the public consultation period.

Orkney MSP Liam McArthur has described Thursday's meeting between the OIC, Finance Minister John Swinney and himself as “useful”.

Mr McArthur said: "This was a useful meeting and enabled the Council and I to clarify certain aspects of the agreement to restore the £1m to Orkney Island Council's budget.  It was also an opportunity to highlight again the difficulties faced by Orkney as a result of the disparity in funding compared to Shetland and the Western Isles.

The Ad Hoc Players production of The Donahue Sisters was named the winner at Thursday night's drama festival in the Orkney Arts Theatre.

The Ad Hoc Players were up against Stromness Academy, St Andrews Drama Club and the The Palace Players (Bishops).

Life-saving Orkney postwoman, Caroline Delday, has won the Scottish section of Royal Mail’s 2008 1st Class People Awards for her bravery.

Caroline, who is based in the Kirkwall delivery office, came out top in the Bravery category in Scotland and will now travel to London for the UK finals of the prestigious awards, which aims to celebrate postmen and women who are unsung heroes in their communities.

Caroline pulled homeowner, Jim Crisp, 77, to safety after spotting smoke billowing from his home.

Thanks to £3,000 funding from Talisman Energy (UK) Ltd, Age Concern Orkney is able to develop the support they offer older people through the Home Aid project.

The money will be used to expand the path cleaning service and provide and install visitor alert doorbells with a light unit, at a subsidised cost, for older people with impaired hearing.

Sue Ward, of Age Concern, said the funding will make a real difference.

“Our prime aim is to support older people to live at home for as long as they wish to and we know that they feel safe to do so happily.”

A party of councillors and OIC officials met with Scottish Finance Minister John Swinney on Thursday.

The Kirkwall Arts Club’s production of A Collier's Tuesday Tea took the honours at the opening night of the Scottish Community Drama Association’s preliminary  drama festival in Kirkwall on Wednesday.

Also performing were the Palace Players, with Jack Heifner's Tropical Depression, and Stromness Drama Club, with Joanna Murray-Smith's comedy, Bombshells.

The festival was adjudicated by Russell Boyce — former director of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow.

A planning application for a new road into St Margaret's Hope got the go ahead from islands councillors on Wednesday.

Members of the OIC's planning committee heard that the proposed road will not only ease traffic problems in the village - caused by passengers travelling to and from the ferry - but is also key to the future development of the village.

Among the planning conditions applied to the approval is that Roads and Transportation be asked to carry out a full review of issues relating to road safety and the new road system.

A 500-metre fishing net which has been causing a hazard in the Pentland Firth since Friday has been recovered by the same vessel that lost it.

The net parted company from the Norwegian fishing boat, Krossfjord, during bad weather, and was only picked up by the vessel again on Tuesday. The coastguard tug, Anglian Sovereign, and several aircraft were involved in the search.

A spokeswoman from Aberdeen Coastguard said: “It was spotted again based on a search line that the coastguard provided about five miles off Wick and it was retrieved by the original fishing boat that lost it.”

She said the net had been a major hazard to fishing vessels and the Pentland Ferries vessel operating across the Firth.

Northern Constabulary has begun a two-day crackdown on people who use their mobile phones while driving.

Running on Wednesday and Thursday, the campaign is intended to warn drivers about the dangers of using hand-held phones. Those who are caught will receive an on-the-spot fine of £60 and three penalty points on their licence.

Details of the Scottish Government’s road equivalent tariff (RET) pilot scheme were announced on Tuesday afternoon.

But although ferry fares on all Western Isles routes will be slashed by up to half, there will be no immediate benefit for Orkney and Shetland – at least until the end of the three-year pilot.

Northern Isles MSPs, Tavish Scott and Liam McArthur, have slammed the news, hailing it as an “electoral bribe”.

Mr McArthur said: “Pilots which ignore Orkney, Shetland and the Argyll Islands, cannot be representative”.

“These are not pilots,” he added, “The fact that they run right up to the next election shows that they are electoral bribes.”

Councillors have approved partnership funding of £15,000 to extend Initiative at the Edge development officer posts in Orkney for another year.

The funding will enable the continuation of two posts covering Stronsay and Eday, and Sanday and North Ronaldsay until the end of 2008.

At Tuesday’s full council meeting, Stromness and South Isles councillor, John Eccles, said he was concerned that new islands were not being involved.

However, director of development at the council, Jeremy Baster, said the process of selecting areas which may be designated in the next tranche has started.

Orkney Islands Council is to ask NorthLink to reconsider its plan to introduce a photo ID scheme on board their ferries.

At Tuesday's full council meeting, Councillor Steven Heddle (right) said: “It is an infringement of our civil liberties, in my view. Who the hell are NorthLink to impose passport control on Orkney?"

“This might be a lifeline service but it seems to be a strange lifeline service that wants to know who you are before throwing you the lifebelt.”

He also pointed out that no other ferry companies have plans to introduce such a scheme, including Calmac – NorthLink’s sister company.

Archive story: NorthLink to introduce photo ID system

The “peerie” and “peedie” debate raged on in the council chamber on Tuesday, with another attempt to change the name of Peerie Sea Loan, in Kirkwall, to Peedie Sea Loan.

A further attempt by Councillor Jack Moodie for a change to “peedie”, at today’s meeting of the full council, saw the chamber split ten votes each way.

However, the convener, Councillor Stephen Hagan used his casting vote in favour of “peerie”.

Archive story: Peerie Sea Loan remains -
despite last ditch effort to change name

Proposals to end the OIC's Christmas bonus scheme are to be looked at again.

From Monday, March 3, Skerryvore Practice is to care for the patients of Scapa Practice for a three-month period.

The move has been prompted by staff absences at the Scapa Practice.

There will be no change to the range of services or to the current reception and nursing staff. Patients should continue to use the Scapa desk, clinics and telephone numbers.

Cheap air travel for residents in the Highlands and Islands is to continue for three more years.

The European Commission has given approval for the air discount scheme (ADS) until March, 2011 after a quest by the Scottish Government.

It provides a 40 per cent discount on flights to Orkney, Shetland, the Western Isles, Islay, Jura, Caithness and north-west Sutherland.

There have been more than 200,000 cut-price ticket sales since it was introduced in 2006.

An 18-year-old man found unconscious on Kirkwall’s Palace Road had consumed a cocktail of alcohol and drugs, according to police.

The man was discovered just after 2am in the early hours of Sunday morning and taken to the Balfour Hospital.

Following police inquiries it transpired that the man had taken a quantity of controlled drugs and alcohol, a police spokesman said.

“The alleged source of the controlled drugs has been identified and a report will be submitted to the procurator fiscal in Kirkwall in due course.”

Anyone with information about controlled drugs within Orkney is asked to pass this on to police.

The 2008 Stromness Shopping Week Queen and attendants have been selected at Stromness Academy.

Shopping Week Queen is Caro Stockan (centre), her attendants being Katie Green (left) and Caron Oag (right).

This year, Shopping Week runs from July 20 to 26.

A man was fined £400 at Kirkwall Sheriff Court on Monday afternoon after admitting breaking into his ex-girlfriend’s house with a spade.

Appearing from custody, Simon Rendall, 29, of Isbister Road, Kirkwall, admitted conducting himself in a disorderly manner at an address in Great Western Road, by smashing a door with a spade and breaking a glass door panel, on Friday morning.

Rendall's defence agent, David Edgar, said his client had gone to the house to get his keys.

Sentence was deferred on a man who admitted assaulting his fiancee alongside two theft charges.

Appearing from custody at Kirkwall Sheriff Court, on Monday, Mark Stewart Davis, of Flat 2, Bellevue Hotel, Front Road, St Margaret's Hope, admitted assaulting his fiancée on Saturday. He also pleaded guilty to stealing £30, and stealing quantities of money and electricity at the same address between December 1, 2007, and February 23.

Honorary Sheriff, John Flett, allowed Davis until May 28 to repay the money, adding: “We will defer sentence on the assault charge to be dealt with at the same time.”

Following an alleged disturbance, a 37-year-old man was arrested in Kirkwall’s Wasdale Crescent just after midnight on Sunday. He was taken into custody but later released. A report is being submitted to the procurator fiscal.

Meanwhile, police were called to Fusion nightclub in the early hours of Sunday morning and arrested a 20-year-old man regarding an alleged assault.

A satellite navigation system was stolen from a blue Suzuki 4x4 parked in the Balfour Hospital car park. The theft took place some time between 5.30am and 5.40am on Saturday morning.

Meanwhile, between 8.30am and 1.30pm last Tuesday, an item of clothing was stolen from a washing line in the Hamnavoe housing estate in Stromness.

At the weekend, between 5pm on Saturday and 2.45pm on Sunday, a purple Ford Ka was damaged while parked on St Rognvald's Street, Kirkwall.

A rallying call to the people of Firth has been sounded — urging them to get more involved in the running of the parish’s community hall.

Residents of the parish are being urged to attend the Community Association AGM next week — to inject some new blood and new ideas.

Association president Mrs Winifred Dunnet explained: “Now that the hall’s been refurbished, maybe the committee could be refurbished too.

“It’s not as onerous a task as some people might imagine,” she said. “We do have fun doing it, but it would good to get some fresh ideas on issues like fundraising.”

The AGM is scheduled to take place at 7.30pm on Friday, February 29, in the Firth Community Hall.

Friday - February 29 - sees the start of Discovery Week at the Orkney Library and Archives.

The week aims to promote the facilities offered and, in the process, raise the profile of the service. The idea came from the staff themselves who felt that many regular users focused solely on one aspect of what the library has to offer.

Throughout Discovery Week, staff will be available to chat to customers and help when required. To allow this, most “behind-the-scenes” work has been put on hold to ensure all staff are “out front”.

The Pier Arts Centre has been shortlisted for the 2008 Civic Trust Awards.

The annual awards aim to encourage projects that are culturally, socially or economically beneficial, and “make an outstanding contribution to the quality and appearance of the environment”.

The Edinburgh architects behind the extension to the Stromness gallery, Reiach and Hall, have been more successful than any other practice in the UK, with six of their projects making it to the shortlist.

In 1995, St Peter’s kirk in Sandwick was commended in the awards.