Amanda Mainland with her award.

An Orkney woman has been named as the country’s top young non-traditional apprentice at the Skills Development Scotland Modern Apprenticeship Awards.

Beauty therapist Amanda Mainland won the non-traditional (aged 16-19) category prize at the SQA sponsored event.

Modern Apprenticeships offer those aged over 16 paid employment combined with the opportunity to train for jobs at craft, technician and management level.

Apprentices work alongside experienced staff to gain job specific skills as well as training, perhaps one day a week, with local providers such as colleges.

Amanda now runs her own salon - Solveig Health and Beauty.

After faithfully serving the island of Stronsay for over 100 years, the Stronsay coastguard unit has finally reached the end of the road.

In April, 2009, the last remaining five voluntary members were told that their services were no longer required.

On Sunday, December 13, Orkney sector manager, Ian Lindsey, welcomed the five Stronsay officers to the Stronsay Community Centre and presented them with “valedictory certificates” to mark the invaluable service rendered by them to the Coastguard service.

The Stromness Academy pupils who are building a flattie under the guidance of Ian Richardson. From the left: Nicky Moar, Alexander Sinclair, Morna Brown, Thisbe Sinclair and Ian Richardson.

A course at Stromness Academy is helping students to sustain traditional Orkney boat designs.

Run by the Scapa Flow Landscape Partnership scheme, the course aims to rekindle and retain traditional methods, designs and techniques.

With the help of local boatbuilder, Ian Richardson, students are building a small Stromness flattie - a traditional dinghy, unique to the area.

Knowledge on how to build one could have died out altogether if Ian, the last full-time commercial boatbuilder in Orkney, had not decided to measure up an old flattie which he discovered on the shore at the Point of Ness. Now, the boat being constructed by the pupils at the academy, is being built from Ian’s plans.

Two cars were broken into overnight on Thursday, in Kirkwall's Papdale East estate.

Police received the first report shortly after 4am when the owner of a Ford Fiesta parked in Eastabist discovered the damage. The attempt to steal the second car, a Vauxhall Corsa, which had been parked in Otterswick car park, was found a short time later.

Both vehicles, which had been secured, sustained significant damage although efforts to steal them ultimately proved unsuccessful.

Kirkwall police would like to hear from anyone with information which could lead to identifying the culprits on 872241.

The redundant St Nicholas Church is to be kept within the community after the people of Holm announced that they had bought the building.

The kirk, in the east end of Holm, on the shore of Holm Sound, was put on the market by the Church of Scotland in May, with a price tag of over £20,000.

Since this time, the Holm community has been working at securing the building, in particular the graveyard, which is still in use.

Now that the church has been purchased, phase two, of securing the fabric of the kirk, will begin.

Overnight between Tuesday, December 15 and Wednesday, December 16, three business premises in Kirkwall's Hatston Industrial Estate were forcibly entered.

The businesses of Jolly's Fish Shop, Scott's Road, The Pit Stop, Crowness Crescent and Orkney Auction Mart were the targets of the intruders who removed a number of items.

Anybody with any information that might assist in identifying those responsible should contact A/DC Roddy Innes at Kirkwall Police Station on 872241, or by calling the Crimestoppers confidential line on 0800 555 111.

Police are warning proprietors of premises to be particularly vigilant as regards their security and to ensure that buildings are appropriately secured before leaving them unattended.

The “Neolithic cathedral” unearthed on the Ness of Brodgar this summer has been placed in the Archaeological Institute of America’s top 15 “most significant discoveries of 2009”.

The Orkney Research Centre for Archaeology (ORCA) excavation, led by Nick Card, comes in at number 12 on the list, which also includes finds such as the tomb of a “lord of Úcupe”, in Peru, the Staffordshire Anglo Saxon hoard and the Palace of Mithradates, Kuban, Russia.

Going by the name of Structure Ten, the Brodgar building first came to light during the 2008 excavation on the Ness. Geophysics scans of the site had suggested there was something large under the turf but once digging began, the sheer scale became clear.

This year, the monumental proportions of the building were revealed — measuring 25 metres (82 feet) long by 20 metres (65 feet) wide, the five-metre-thick outer walls remain to a height of approximately one metre (three feet).

A £950,000 funding boost to Orkney Islands Council will help with the cost of building 38 new houses in Orkney.

The announcement follows on from £750,000 already granted by the Scottish Government during 2009.

This latest funding will go towards the building costs for ten houses in Stromness, four in Dounby, four in Orphir, and 20 in Kirkwall.

Chairman of the council’s social services and housing committee, councillor Roderick McLeod said: “Along with the funding awarded earlier this year, and contracts already awarded for 12 new houses in Finstown and the refurbishment of 18 houses in Andersquoy, the council is now well on its way to delivering its priority of 125 new houses in the next three years.”

Alistair Carmichael MP for Orkney and Shetland and John Laughton from the Clydesdale Bank at The Ring of Brodgar with a large version of the new £100 banknote.

Iconic images of Orkney’s Neolithic past feature on the new Clydesdale Bank £100 note.

John Laughton, from Clydesdale Bank’s Kirkwall Financial Solutions Centre, said: “Having the Neolithic sites of Orkney on the new £100 note reinforces the historical and cultural importance of the islands. Maeshowe, the Standing Stones of Stenness, Ring of Brodgar and Skara Brae all feature on the note and the significance these sites have to the history of Orkney and Scotland cannot be overstated.

Alistair Carmichael MP for Orkney and Shetland, said: "The people of Orkney are delighted the island has been recognised by Clydesdale Bank with its inclusion on its new £100 note. The group of Neolithic monuments on Orkney constitutes a major prehistoric cultural landscape which gives a graphic depiction of life on the island 5,000 years ago and they are an outstanding testimony to the cultural achievements of the Neolithic people.”

A replacement for the NorthLink Ferries freight and livestock vessel, the mv Hascosay, has been secured and is expected to come into service in late January, 2010.

The replacement vessel is the 122-metre ro-ro ferry, the Shield, which is being time-chartered from owners Seatruck Ferries of Heysham.

The Shield was built in Spain in 1999, and is expected to be easier to maintain than the 38-year-old Hascosay. 

Assurances have been given to the 40 crew members on the Hascosay that they will be retained and redeployed on the company’s other vessels.

Responding to the news of a HIAL U-turn over a postponement of the introduction of parking charges at Kirkwall Airport, Orkney MSP, Liam McArthur, has stressed that Orcadians should take the chance to make their views known, not just on the detail of the HIAL proposals, but on the principle of the charges.

Liam McArthur said on Monday, “After I was told that the Board had, on Friday, rejected the Kirkwall Airport Consultative Committee’s call for the introduction of the charges to be suspended to allow for a proper consultation, I was surprised to hear today that HIAL has now agreed to postpone the introduction of the charges until April 1. But I am nevertheless pleased that, while they rejected the postponement on Friday, they have now accepted the case today. What changed their mind is beyond me, the case against the inadequate consultation today is the same as the case put to them last week, but their repentance is nonetheless welcome.

“The time we have won must be used by Orcadians to make their views known. No-one should feel restricted to comment only on the detail of the charges, they should also feel free to make their views clear on the principle of the charges.”

Stromness Lifeboat and Coastguard team were called to assist a sea angling boat in difficulty on Sunday afternoon.

The skipper of the Welcome Home contacted Shetland Coastguard at around 3.25pm to report a burst oil pipe leading to the gear box.

The boat was in Hoy Sound and heading for Stromness and had eight people on board.

With assistance from Stromness Lifeboat and Coastguard teams, plus the dive boat Karin, the Welcome Home was safely escorted into Stromness Harbour under her own power.

However, once in the harbour, the boat lost all power and was berthed by the lifeboat.

Shetland Coastguard were alerted to a 4.6 metre fishing boat which ran aground in Swanbister Bay, Orphir, on Saturday.

The Kirkwall-registered Aimee S came ashore at the Lash, meaning the crew were able to get on to dry land.

The Coastguard were alerted just after noon on Saturday, after the incident, and no action was needed.

Following investigation by Orkney Harbours, there was no evidence of pollution detected.

Police executed a search warrant under the Misuse of Drugs Act 2009 on Friday, at an address in Stromness.

A small quantity of suspected controlled drugs was recovered and a report is to be submitted to the procurator fiscal in Kirkwall.

Due to delays in the shipyard during the lengthening of mv Graemsay, the Golden Mariana will not be returning to Westray until the weekend of January 16, ready for the school transport on Monday, January 18.

Pupils from Papa Westray travelling to Westray for school will continue to use the current Loganair service until Friday January 15 2009.

The Graemsay had previously been expected back in Orkney from the shipyard in Glasgow in time to allow the Mariana to return to Papay school transport run on January 6.

Two teenage males received minor injuries as a result of being assaulted outside the chip shop in Victoria Street, Stromness at about 12.20am on Sunday morning.

The police would like to speak to anyone who may have witnessed the incident.

A 28-year-old man was arrested in Junction Road, Kirkwall, at about 3.20am on Sunday, for assaulting another man.

He was subsequently released from custody and will be the subject of a report to the procurator fiscal.

Over the weekend, 18 negative breath tests were provided by motorists in Orkney, as part of the festive road safety campaign.

One positive roadside breath test was provided, but after further investigation, the driver was found to be just under the 35 microgram limit.

Shetland Coastguard helicopter and Kirkwall lifeboat was called to assist the clam dredging boat, Spring Tide, which ran aground on the east coast of Stronsay last Thursday.

The vessel, which was taking on water, was abandoned by the single crewman, who was subsequently winched aboard the helicopter and transported to Balfour Hospital for a check-up.

No pollution was evident.

A search is under way for new sites to test wave and tidal energy devices.

The aim is to identify “nursery sites” where prototypes can undergo sea trials in more gentle conditions than those experienced at the main wave and tidal test sites operated by EMEC.

Currently, EMEC is investigating a number of sites, including Shapinsay Sound, around Rerwick Head; Eynhallow Sound, by Tingwall, and Roseness, to the north-west of St Mary's Bay.

"If anyone thinks there are other sites that may be suitable, or indeed other facilities that would do the job, please get in touch with me with your proposals," said EMEC client relationship and marketing manager Eileen Linklater.