Police have confirmed that a body was recovered from the Conninghole area of Sanday at 11.07pm on Thursday night.

The body is believed to be that of Mr Robert Rose. However, formal identification will be necessary before identity can be confirmed.

Mr Rose's family have been informed of the discovery.

The Procurator Fiscal has instructed a post mortem to be carried out and the remains will be taken to Inverness for this purpose.

The Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service is to assess the cost of its recent trip to Orkney.

One person short of 600 signed up to give blood at the end of May when the service visited the county for the first time.

NHS Orkney health board members heard on Thursday that 483 units of blood were collected during the island visit.

Board chairman, John Ross Scott, said: "They are going to assess the cost element of coming to an island. Hopefully, they will come back to us fairly quickly on that."

Of the 599 people who gave blood, Mr Scott said 565 were "first-timers".

Orkney Brewery has secured a historic double, taking both first and second place in the prestigious Champion Beer of Scotland competition, which was held in Edinburgh on Thursday.

The brewery's 3.8 per cent Raven Ale won the overall title of Champion Beer, with its 4.0 per cent Red MacGregor ale placing second. The competition forms part of the Scottish Real Ale Festival, currently underway in the capital.

Norman Sinclair, managing director of the Orkney Brewery's parent company, Sinclair Breweries Ltd, said: “We're absolutely overwhelmed by this result. This is the first time the brewery has taken the two top spots in this important event, so we're ecstatic."

NHS Orkney has requested more detailed information from the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) about its air ambulance performance in relation to individual islands.

Interim chief executive, David Pigott, told members of the Orkney NHS board on Thursday that he had only received data from the SAS 24 hours earlier.

“We have been having detailed discussions with the SAS and are asking for figures on performance particularly in relation to individual islands.”

North Isles councillor and member of the health board, Stephen Hagan, expressed disappointment and called on the SAS to honour commitments to visit the county every six months with updates.

Hazel Harrison.

A new head teacher has been appointed for Eday Primary School.

Hazel Harrison will take over from Carmel McElroy, who is now head teacher at Stromness Primary School.

Shje has worked for Fife Council for eight years, as teacher and acting depute and last year took a break from the classroom to work in Mongolia as a teacher trainer.

She is due to take up her post at the beginning of the new school term.

NHS Orkney's health board vice-chairman, Jim Robertson, has resigned from the county's shadow community health and social care partnership board for "personal reasons".

Mr Robertson said he was "absolutely supportive" of the appointment of Councillor Russ Madge as chairman.

"I feel he will be an absolutely fantastic chairman. The board that is supporting Russ and the team behind that and the workplan put in place, are absolutely fantastic.

"In the background, I will continue to support this."

NHS Orkney board non-executive director, Suzanne Lawrence, was elected on to the board in his place.

Families in Orkney can have their child car seat checked for free by a specially trained road safety officer next week, as part of an initiative to improve in-car safety for children.

The clinics, hosted by Orkney Islands Council's Road Safety Forum, will run in the Kirkwall Tesco car park, on Monday July 6, between 1pm and 4pm, and on Tuesday July 7, between 10am and 3pm.

It is hoped they will reducing the number of badly fitted car seats.

Plans are in the pipeline to create a permanent memorial at Lyness to honour the men who sailed in the Arctic Convoys during World War Two.

Orkney Islands Council’s policy and resources committee heard details of the project on Tuesday.

A project group, chaired by the Lord Lieutenant, has been established to co-ordinate the £10,000 memorial, in memory of the allied servicemen who lost their lives.

The Arctic Convoys transported four million tons of crucial supplies and munitions to Russia between 1941 and 1945, supporting the Red Army in their conflict against Adolf Hitler on the Eastern Front.

Orkney’s sporting hopefuls set off to Finland on Thursday, for this year’s Natwest Island Games tournament.

The majority of the 49-strong squad flew to Stockholm from Edinburgh, before heading to Åland via coach or ferry.

Giving them a full day to prepare, before the opening ceremony on Saturday, and the competition officially gets underway on Sunday.

The county is being represented in seven sports - archery, athletics, badminton, golf, shooting, swimming and sailing.

A further team of specialist officers was brought in on Wednesday to assist in the search for the body of Robert Rose.

A spokeswoman for Northern Constabulary said: "The search for Mr Rose is continuing and is confined to a specific part of the island. Specialist resources are being employed and we have ongoing assistance from the NPIA (National Policing Improvement Agency).

"We would like to thank the public for their continued support and co-operation."

John Black Campbell, 59, has appeared in court on charges of murder and attempting to defeat the ends of justice.

Stephen Crummack, 50, is charged with attempting to defeat the ends of justice.

Both have been remanded in custody and are due to appear at Inverness Sheriff Court on Tuesday, June 30.

Scottish celebrity chef, Nick Nairn will be promoting Orkney Cheese at the Royal Highland Show in Edinburgh, on Friday.

Nick will be at stand BO3 in the foodhall, from 9.30am until 5.30pm, signing and distributing the new Orkney Cheddar recipe booklet - a collection of traditional recipes using Orkney cheddar.

There will also be a chance to enter a competition to win a day for two at the exclusive Nick Nairn Cook School, and a hamper full of Orkney treats. The winner will be selected by Nick.

Residents and staff from a Finstown care home were evacuated on Sunday, after a fire broke out in the kitchen.

An electrical fault in an appliance started the fire at Scarva Taing care home, which resulted in damage being caused to the kitchen and all residents being moved to Smiddybrae care home.

The kitchen was damaged by smoke, however fire doors in the building ensured no other areas were affected.

No one was injured in the fire, and the Scarva Taing residents are expected to return to their home once the kitchen is repaired; in two to three weeks.

Councillors have agreed that the one-way traffic system in West Castle Street in Kirkwall be switched back to two-way.

Members of Tuesday's OIC policy and resources committee meeting went against recommendations and unanimously agreed that the one-way traffic order should be revoked.

A number of councillors agreed that traffic has been "displaced" throughout the centre of Kirkwall since the one-way order came into effect on March 1, last year.

OIC director of development and environment services, Brian Thomson, said he could not give a timescale for the removal of the order.

Between 4pm on Friday, June 19, and Monday, June 22, a rowan tree outside Kirkwall Library on Junction Road was vandalised, having the main trunk snapped.

This was apparently a mindless act, and anyone who witnessed the crime is asked to contact the investigating officer, Constable Angela Campbell, on 872241.

Between 11.05am and 2.10pm on Monday, June 22, paint stripper or some form of acid was poured over bodywork of a vehicle parked at the Shapinsay slip, near to the RNLI station, in Kirkwall.

This was a deliberate act and anyone with any information should contact Constable Grant McDowall, on 872241.

Around 800 people in Orkney lost their British Telecom service on Friday, following a technical problem in Sanday.

As a result of a power problem at a radio relay station on Sanday, a number of links between the islands were lost which meant that customers in Papa Westray, Westray, North Ronaldsay and Sanday, were trying to make calls and getting engaged tones.

Openreach sent an engineer to Sanday on the first available flight, who found that a fuse had blown.

Two Sanday residents have been remanded in custody, after appearing in private at Kirkwall Sheriff Court on Monday afternoon.

John Black Campbell, 59, appeared on charges of murder and attempting to defeat the ends of justice.

Stephen Crummack, 50, is charged with attempting to defeat the ends of justice.

Neither made any plea or declaration and both were remanded in custody. They are due to appear at Inverness Sheriff Court on Tuesday, June 30.

Police have confirmed that the search for missing Sanday man Robert Rose is ongoing, despite speculation on Monday morning that a body had been recovered.

Weather permitting, Orkney Islands Council shall be carrying out surface dressing operations this week in the following areas:

In Westray: B9066 (Noup Road - B9067); B9067 Quoys - Fribo; Rackwick Road; Gretna Green Road; Iphs Road; Tuquoy Road; Kirbist Road; Langskaill Road; Russland Road.

On the Mainland: Glaitness Rd (Soulisquoy Place to Walliwall) and Quoydandy Loan.

Cars and light vehicles will be subject to diversions where possible, while buses and heavy goods will experience delays and speed restrictions.

A number of GP practices in the county have reported that some patients with flu-like symptoms have turned up at surgeries, concerned about  the H1N1 virus.

As a result, NHS Orkney is reminding people with symptoms, returning from countries or areas affected, to stay at home and to seek  telephone advice from their GP, or out-of-hours from NHS24 on 08454 242424. They should not go to their surgery.

The areas in Scotland where there is evidence of H1N1 are predominantly the south of Glasgow, Paisley or the Dunoon area in Argyll.

The symptoms to look out for are:  fever, cough, sore throat, runny nose,  sneezing, body aches, limb or joint pain, and headaches. Some patients have also  experienced vomiting and diarrhoea.