Orkney Rugby Club's First XV maintained this season's unbeaten run in the Scottish Hydro Caledonia League One with a 34-7 victory over Madras on Saturday.

The result takes them four point clear at the top of the league with 52 points

Radio Orkney had another very successful Children in Need night, on Friday night, with their auction raising a total of £19,096.23.

A survey of OIC's customer and online services is underway, and members of the public being reminded to take part before the closing date of December 4.

Feedback from the questionnaires and an action plan of future improvements will be provided to the public in Spring next year.

To fill out a questionnaire, you can:

• Pick one up from Council's main receptions in Kirkwall and Stromness.
• Telephone the Council on 873535 and complete the questionnaire over the phone or ask to have it posted.
• Download a copy from the council's website www.orkney.gov.uk, and return it to Corporate and Community Strategy, Orkney Islands Council, School Place, Kirkwall KW15 1NY.

Digital UK has announced that, from Monday, analogue TV viewers in Orkney will start seeing programmes obscured by messages about the digital switchover.

The move is part of a campaign to target viewers who have yet to convert to digital TV. The captions will only appear on analogue channels, with these becoming more frequent as the switchover approaches.

On May 12, 2010, stage one of the digital switchover will begin for Orkney, with the Keelylang transmitter which serves Orkney, switching to digital television.

The digital switchover will be conducted in two stages with the second stage taking place on May 26, 2010.

Switchover will make digital TV through an aerial (freeview) available to virtually all households.

Scotland's First Minister, Alex Salmond, was in the county on Friday, to officially launch the world's largest working hydro-electric wave energy device.

The ‘Oyster, developed by wave energy company Aquamarine Power, is currently the world’s only hydro-electric wave energy device which is producing power.

The Oyster launch took place at EMEC’s Billia Croo site, in Stromness, where the device was installed this summer. The First Minister was on site to switch on Oyster for the first time.

Oyster is now producing power by pumping high pressure water to its onshore hydro-electric turbine. This will be fed into the National Grid to power homes in Orkney and beyond. A farm of 20 Oysters would provide enough energy to power 9,000 three bedroom family homes.

The Orkney Rugby Club premises in Kirkwall were broken into between 10pm on Tuesday and 10.45am on Thursday, according to police.

Sergeant Gordon Deans said entry was forced through a door, and a quantity of alcohol stolen.

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

A white Volkswagen van was stolen from the King Street, Kirkwall, in the early hours of Friday morning.

The vehicle was later found abandoned in the Papdale area of town shortly after 8am this morning. Police are appealing for anyone who may have seen the vehicle being taken from King Street or left at Papdale to get in touch on 872241.

Misheard instructions from air traffic control in Kirkwall led to two aircraft heading towards each other on the same flight path, a report has concluded.

An aircraft proximity report had been filed by the Civil Aviation Authority in relation to the incident, which took place between Kirkwall and Sumburgh at around 2,600ft on May 13, 2009, at 8.08am.

The Saab 340B was heading to Kirkwall and the Jetstream 31 to Sumburgh airport, with both aircraft receiving an air traffic service from Kirkwall.

The board stated that the incident resulted from “a straightforward mis-hearing by the 340 crew of the cleared altitude (3,600ft), and the Kirkwall controller not picking up their incorrect read-back (2,600ft)”.

Orkney’s “world-leading” marine energy testing facilities is to receive a £2.5 million increase, Scotland’s First Minister has announced.

The investment in the European Marine Energy Centre will strengthen the facility’s capacity for cutting-edge research and reinforce Scotland’s reputation as a world leader in developing green, clean energy from marine renewables, Alex Salmond said.

EMEC is the world’s only credited testing facility for wave and tidal energy devices.

The Scottish Government has granted £1.45 million to the funding package, along with £400,000 from Scottish Enterprise, £578,000 from Highlands and Island enterprise, and £187,000 from Orkney Islands Council.

A Kirkwall youth appeared from custody at Kirkwall Sheriff Court on Wednesday afternoon.

Leon Paul Sarjeant, of Flat 3, Glaitness Farmhouse, admitted wilfully, or recklessly, destroying and damaging property belonging to another at his home address on November 17.

The 18-year-old further admitted breaching bail order by breaking a curfew, after leaving his home at 1.36am and not returning until nearly an hour later.

Sentence was deferred on Sarjeant for reports until December 9, and he was released on bail.

Grampian and North Isles Animal Health and Orkney Islands Council will be conducting an exercise on Tuesday and Wednesday, November 24 and 25.

The exercise will be based on a scenario in which foot-and-mouth disease is discovered on a farm in the West Mainland and will look at the actions to be taken to limit the spread and eradicate the disease.

A local farmer is allowing his farm to be used for the exercise, and animal health officers will go there, but it is stressed that this is an exercise and that there is no suspicion of disease in Orkney.

The three bidders competing for the contract to build new schools in Orkney will start meeting with the OIC next week to develop their bids for the project.

Kirkwall Grammar School, Stromness Primary School and Papdale Halls of Residence are being replaced as part of the council's Schools Investment Programme. A new swimming pool and squash courts at the Pickaquoy Centre and new Arts Theatre as part of the KGS are also part of the contract specifications.

The bidders are:

• Alba Schools, a joint venture by McLaughlin & Harvey Limited and Barr Limited.
• Miller Construction (UK) Ltd.
• Morrison Construction Scotland.

The dialogue period is due to last 31 weeks.

Police are appealing for information after damage was caused to the wing mirrors of two vehicles parked in Hordaland, Kirkwall, between 9pm on Monday and 7.45am on Tuesday.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact Kirkwall police, on 872241.

The Sanday dial-a-ride public bus service contract carried out by the current contractors ceased on Thursday.

The public bus service contract in Sanday is due to go back out to tender.

Orkney Islands Council is working with organisations on the island to secure alternative provision until the commencement of a new contract.

While there will be a short gap in service provision, the Council expects to be able to advise a start date for these interim arrangements in the next week.

Orkney Islands Council has been successful in winning £381,000 in funding for Stromness towards the regeneration of the town.

The award, which comes from the Scottish government’s town centre regeneration fund, will be used to install high speed fibre optic cables and to replace concrete paving within the town’s conservation area with flagstone.

Officers from the council’s development and environmental services department made the bid for the second tranche of the funding in August this year.

The works will start during 2010 and help to enhance existing projects in the town, including the Stromness townscape heritage initiative and the pierhead regeneration scheme.

Police are asking people in Orkney to be alert to the latest fraudulent scam which is currently affecting the north of Scotland.

Basically, a card is posted through your door claiming to be from a company called PDS (Parcel Delivery Service) suggesting that they were unable to deliver a package and that you need to contact them on 0906 6611911 (a premium rate number). Under no circumstances should you call this number, as this is a mail scam originating from Belize.

By dialling the number, you will immediately hear a recorded message which has, by then, already charged you £15 for the phone call – a proportion of which goes directly to the individuals behind the scam.

Be warned that no such delivery service exists anywhere in the UK.

If you do receive a card with these details, contact Royal Mail Fraud Dept. on 02072 396655.

The installation of Aquamarine Power’s Oyster device - due to be switched on by Scotland’s First Minister on Friday - has generated more than one million pounds for the Orkney economy.

The installation of the device this summer at Billia Croo, near Stromness, involved more than 30 local companies, ranging from engineering and construction contractors to environmental consultancies.

Figures released by Aquamarine Power revealed that actual expenditure on local contractors and suppliers went beyond £1m.

In addition, the company had seven staff working full-time in Orkney during the installation of the Oyster device.

A quantity of wooden crab box ends were removed from a store in Hatston Industrial Estate, Kirkwall, sometime between the end of September and the beginning of October.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact Kirkwall police, on 872241.

A Kirkwall resident who allegedly assaulted police officers, is due to stand trial in January.

Amy Elizabeth Ashton, of 10 Buttquoy Park, appeared from custody at Kirkwall Sheriff Court on Monday morning.

The 27-year-old admitted assaulting a man at her home, by punching him on the head to his injury, on November 14.

Ashton pleaded not guilty to assaulting two police constables at the same address and acting in a racially aggravated manner towards a police officer.

Ashton was released on bail and a trial date of January 21 was set, along with an intermediate diet of January 6.

Following a number of concerns raised by householders in the Holm area regarding a door-to-door caller seeking information on digital television, it has now been confirmed that the gentleman in question was genuine.

It has been established that he was a field interviewer for GFK NOP UK Ltd, a major market research company who are presently researching opinions regarding digital television.

Normally, company staff notify local police of their presence in a given area, but as this specific work did not relate to personal finances, they didn't think it necessary. GFK NOP UK Ltd have apologised for any distress caused.

A a silver Daewoo Leganza, which was parked in Buttquoy Park, Kirkwall, had both wing mirrors broken off sometime between 7.30pm on Friday and 3.30pm on Saturday.

And, overnight Saturday/Sunday someone broke a window in the Kirkwall Hotel.

Anyone with any information regarding either of the incidents is asked to contact Kirkwall police station, on 872241.

Orkney Rugby Club’s First XV won their Scottish Hydro Caledonia One match against Aberdeen University on Saturday afternoon by 38-14.

Playing with a strong wind in the first half, Orkney scored 17 points, through a penalty kick and two converted tries.

In the opening minutes of the second half, Orkney had Steven Paterson sent off and played the rest of the match with only 14 men. Immediately after which, the Aberdeen side scored a converted try, to narrow the lead to 17-7.

But Orkney upped their game, scoring another three converted tries, with the students only scoring a consolation try in the final minute of the match.

James Linklater was, again, on top form, kicking every attempt at goal, in spite of the strong wind.

Lifeguard training at Stromness Swimming Pool and Fitness Centre and Sanday Swimming Pool has been commended as "very good" by the Institute of Qualified Lifeguards following recent inspections.

The Stromness swimming pool and fitness centre was noted for its "motivated staff" and "excellent facilities in place for programme delivery", while Sanday swimming pool was also praised for its programme delivery, "very good staff base" and "very good systems in place" to manage the training of staff.

Gordon Hill, area pools manager at OIC said: "These results are a credit to the lifeguards and to managers of the services, who work very hard to make sure our services at the pools are safe and enjoyable."

Royal mail are reminding customers in Orkney to help their local postmen by remembering to use postcodes and to post cards and parcels by the last posting dates for Christmas.

The last posting dates this year are:

• Friday, December 4, for airmail to Australia, New Zealand, South and Central America, Africa and Asia.
• Thursday, December 10, for Eastern Europe, the USA, Canada and Japan.
• Friday, December 11, for airmail items to Western Europe.
• Friday, December 18, for second class items.
• Monday, December 21, for first class items.
• Wednesday, December 23, for special delivery items.

Each Christmas, the Royal Mail delivers over 200 million Christmas cards, parcels and letters in Scotland.

NHS Orkney's new chief executive is Cathie Cowan, a director with extensive leadership and nursing experience.

Cathie Cowan will take up the post, which encompasses providing leadership to hospital and community services in Orkney, on February 1, next year.

Mrs Cowan is currently a community health and care partnership director in Glasgow, and brings significant experience in the health service to this role. She was director of service development at NHS Fife, during which she drove forward a major redesign programme, and she served as director of nursing at Kirkcaldy, after extensive work in acute nursing.