A look back at events of 2002

June

• June opened with a national public holiday and a bright party spirit, when the UK celebrated the Queen¹s Golden Jubilee.
  
  To mark the occasion, a number of special dinners and street parties were held throughout the county on the day of the Queen¹s 50th year on the throne, Monday, June 3, with a huge "millennium beacon"bonfire lit at Wideford Hill by Orkney MP, Alistair Carmichael.
• Orkney Rugby Club¹s Al Watson was named the Players¹ Player of the Year for Division Five North. He was presented with an engraved glass at the Scottish Rugby Awards 2002, held at the International Conference Centre in Edinburgh.
• Senior management at NHS Orkney were accused of ignoring the plight of local people with kidney problems who were calling for a renal unit to be set up in the county, and eventually formed a pressure group to air their claims. NHS Orkney chairman, Jenny Dewar, said she was "really pleased"that the patients had formed the group, adding that provision of renal services was one of several services in Orkney that was considered a priority and needed to be incorporated into the local health plan.
• It was announced this month that the main contractors on the new Hatston pier in Kirkwall were up to six weeks behind in their work with NorthLink due to take over the ferry service on October 1.
• Orkney enjoyed some of the best summer sunshine in Scotland in June with the temperature topping almost 21 degrees centigrade at one point.
• Hosts Shetland retained the Stuart Cup in this year¹s Junior Inter-County
  tournament, beating Orkney by 27 points.
• Local travel agent Mark Ridgway claimed a "short-sighted"decision by British Airways to cut commission payments to travel agents would increase the cost of flights in and out of Orkney.
• Local MS sufferer Biz Ivol was issued with a court summons in June to appear at Kirkwall Sheriff Court in July, charged with supplying, growing and possessing cannabis.
  
  The wheelchair-bound 54-year old an outspoken campaigner for the legalisation of cannabis said a police officer appeared at her house in South Ronaldsay with a citation to appear in court on July 16.
• Councillors decided that the burger vans situated at Kirkwall¹s Burnmouth Road on Friday and Saturday nights Kirby¹s Last Stand and A Better Bite
  had to be moved. The decision came following complaints from residents of Orkney Housing Association¹s Kiln Corner Housing Scheme about the noise of the crowds gathering at the vans after the pubs and club shut on Friday and Saturday nights.
• Some people in Scotland had not left home without an umbrella throughout June but not in Orkney, as locals soaked up the sunshine which had broken 50-year old weather records.
  
  Temperatures soared into the 70s in June, as islanders and tourists enjoyed 195.5 hours of sunshine nearly 100 hours more than Glasgow.
  
  Even the ever-present wind that plagues the county disappeared, taking the chill out of the air and leaving Kirkwall enjoying its warmest June since records began in 1947.