The programme for the annual fundraising Pink Weekend in Stromness has been finalised.

On Saturday, April 26, there will be the Ladies Fancy Dress Football Match, followed on Sunday, April 27, by the Pink Weekend five-a-side challenge.

The Stromness Golf Club will hold a special Pink Weekend golf competition, with everyone welcome, on Sunday, April 20, at 2pm for 2.30pm. £5 per player. All monies raised go towards cancer-related charities.

All monies raised to to cancer-related charities: CLAN; CLIC; Cancer Research UK.

The RSPB is looking for volunteers to help with an event running between April and August, aimed at inspiring people about Orkney’s birdlife.

Volunteers will be needed to talk to people about the happenings in a filmed hen harrier nest – which will be viewable in the Kirkwall Travel Centre - as well as about Orkney’s birds and where best to see them. There are also plans for them to be at Marwick Bay to tell people about the seabird colonies of Marwick Head.

A new publication, featuring the work of over 50 writers is to be launched in Stromness this month.

A New Orkney Anthology was spearheaded by Orkney’s first George Mackay Brown Writing Fellow, Pam Beasant, who has now completed her time in the post.

The material in the book is made up of both poetry and prose, and covers a large range of styles and genres. Contributors range from the Poet Laureate, Andrew Motion, to some who have never seen their work in print before.

The book is set to be launched on Wednesday, April 16, at 7.30pm, in the Pier Arts Centre,  when some of the authors will give readings.

The Orkney Herring Company is celebrating after securing an export deal to supply produce to America's Kosher market.

The company’s plans to move into new markets have been supported by Orkney Islands Council, which invested £300,000, and a further £600,000 coming from private sector backers and shareholders.

To win the contract, the herring company worked with Danish firm UniFish, and American Kosher fish specialists, Raskin’s, to develop a new range for the US market.

Increased penalty charges covering most pay and display car parks in Kirkwall and Stromness come into effect this week.

The fines have been increased from £12 to £30. If a fine is not paid within 42 days, it will rise to £45, a council spokesperson added.

The car parks affected in Kirkwall are: Albert Street, Castle Street, St Magnus Lane, and Gunn’s Close, while the Ferry Inn car park in Stromness will also be part of the scheme.

The Kirkwall Travel Centre was officially opened by Orkney Islands Council convener Stephen Hagan on Friday.

The building, situated at West Castle Street, is the second half of the project to provide travel centres in both Kirkwall and Stromness. It houses a waiting area and toilets, with full disabled access. There is someone on hand throughout the day to provide travel information and advice.

Councillor Hagan said: “The development of the Kirkwall Travel Centre demonstrates the council’s commitment to public transport in the county. The Centre is an excellent facility which enhances a prominent site in the centre of Kirkwall.”

Transport Scotland has advised Orkney Islands Council of a delay in issuing concessionary ferry travel vouchers.

Anyone with a National Concessionary Travel Card, and living in Orkney, is entitled to two return journeys to the Scottish mainland or Shetland each year.

The vouchers - normally sent out before the end of March - were only due to be distributed on, Friday.

Once the vouchers are received, NorthLink Ferries have offered to refund anyone who would have been eligible for the concession and travelled on the full fare between April 1 and April 14.

Former OIC official, Mr Alan Clouston, has accepted a nine-month contract to work with the boat museum board and with consultants to be appointed by the board.

Meanwhile, additional work has been carried out on the Hall of Clestrain, which will be part of the museum, to prevent the historic building deteriorating further. Holes in the roof have been repaired and netting placed over windows to keep birds out.

The wishes of a Russian film director will be granted next week, with the addition of a symbolic milestone in the historic time trail leading to Skara Brae.

Mr Alexander Korobkov came to Orkney in 2006 to make a film about his ancestry, having discovered Orcadian. He was dismayed to find there was no stone present to mark the date of the first man in Space – Russian Yuri Gagarin  - in 1961.

Now, thanks to sponsorship from Russian Hour TV, a stone will be added to the historic time trail and unveiled on April 12.

Among the Russian delegation at the ceremony will be Mr Korobkov, cosmonaut Georgy Grechko, Deputy Chairman of the Government of Ugra, Mr Oleg Goncharvo, and Commander of the Russian Aerobatic Team, Igor Tkachenko.

Plans to move the Stromness library to the pier head area of the town have been backed by councillors.

Membersat OIC education, recreation and cultural services committee meeting heard that the current library, situated at the bottom of Hellihole Road, "is no longer considered fit for purpose."

Former chief librarian, Councillor Bobby Leslie, agreed that the current library has "reached the end of its time" and backed recommendations to move forward with plans to create a new library in the town.

Paulnacha O' Mairthini

A former manager of the Camoran childcare facility in Kirkwall is on the run, after failing to appear at Perth High Court on Tuesday.

Paulnacha O'Mairthini, 41, faces ten charges relating to the sexual abuse of young boys and supplying them with drugs while he was a supervisor at a holiday activity centre in Perthshire in the 1990s.

O’Mairthini resigned from his job at Camoran in May 2002 – after a period of sick leave. He then took over the Bistro 76 restaurant in Stromness, before disappearing suddenly from the county in January 2004, leaving a number of alleged debts behind him.

A series of traffic orders for Kirkwall car parks will “go down like a lead balloon with the public,” according to Orkney Islands Councillor, Alistair Gordon.

But it seems the public can like it or lump it, as every councillor at Tuesday’s meeting of OIC’s transportation and infrastructure committee agreed to support the orders, as recommended by council officials.

The orders, which come info effect on May 1, will affect the OIC car parks off Thoms Street, King Street and behind the council offices, giving the authority the power to introduce permit parking and parking ticket machines if they wish to at a later date.

The handover of the last set of keys for the Citadel housing project in Stromness marks the completion of 32 new homes by Orkney Housing Association.

Amber Bourne, the 13-year-old daughter of Zoe and Michael Bourne, received the keys to the family’s new home from Ms Sally Inkster, Chief Executive of Orkney Housing Association.

Rousay is to get a new retained fire station after the allocation of £450,000 of Scottish Government funding.

The allocations, announced by minister for community safety, Fergus Ewing, are part of the £24.6m capital funding earmarked to support Scotland’s fire and rescue services.

Mr Ewing said: “Our firefighters play a vital role in building a safer, stronger Scotland. They are often the real local heroes in our communities - educating the public about fire prevention, tackling fires when they do happen and leading other rescue work, including flooding, road traffic accidents and other emergencies."

An estimated 8,000 people in Orkney are set to benefit from reduced prescription charges introduced by the Scottish Government this week.

The cost of a single prescription item has been lowered from £6.85 to £5 and the cost of a Prescription Pre-payment Certificate (PPC) is 51per cent cheaper - from £98.70 to £48 for a 12-month period and from £35.85 to £17 for a four-month period. 

Commenting on the changes, John Rodwell, general manager of Orkney Community Health Partnership, said: “We welcome this move which will be of real benefit to people in Orkney who currently pay for prescriptions.

“Our local pharmacies and GP practices are working with the Scottish Government to help raise awareness of the changes and the differences which the reductions will make.”

Police are appealing for information after mail from a communal stairway in Kirkwall went missing.

The mail went missing from the stairway on Broad Street between 5.15pm and 9pm on March 29.

Anyone with any information is urged to contact Kirkwall Police Station.