A look back at events of 2003

January

• It was a good start to 2003 for the Uppies, who secured ten Men’s Ba’ wins in a row with a New Year’s Day victory. Bruce Moar, of Royal Oak Road, Kirkwall, was held aloft as the winner, after it reached Mackinson’s Corner at 6.25 pm.
  
  The Uppie players had snatched victory from right under the noses of the Doonie men, after the pack had reached as far as the Post Office by 4.30 pm.
  
  The Boys’ Ba’ also went up, the winner being Graham Peace of High Timbers, Pipersquoy Road. After an unusually lengthy fixture, the Boys’ Ba’ touched the wall at 1.04pm.
• More than 25 children started the New Year in emergency housing, according to Orkney’s assistant director of housing, Mr John Richards. He said the situation was likely to worsen, as the number of homeless applications was expected to rise during the year.
• A New Year’s Day baby was born to 16-year-old Trish Watson, of Firth Square, Kirkwall. Jessica Ingrid Watson was born at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary at 4.40 am, and was the first girl to be delivered at the hospital in 2003.
• Captain George ‘Hank’ Rotherham, who helped locate Germany’s most powerful battleship while he was based in Orkney, died, aged 95, in January. His work led to attacks on the ship and its subsequent sinking. He died in British Columbia.
• Two people from Orkney were decorated in the Queen’s New Year Honours List. Daphne Lorimer was awarded an MBE for her services to archaeology. Jimmy Doull was also honoured for his services to the community
• Three pupils from Kirkwall Grammar School were temporarily excluded for suspected drugs offences following the discovery of a small amount of cannabis. Orkney police confirmed that they had been called in by the school to investigate.
• It was announced this month that six buses in Orkney were to act as advertising boards, to encourage people to “know the facts” about drugs.
  They would carry slogans and signs, with the aim of providing people with clear, consistent, reliable information about drugs.
• Flotta’s GP, Dr George Drever, tragically died of cancer in an Edinburgh hospice. He was just 61. Several colleagues paid tribute to the well liked and respected doctor. He was appreciated on the island, because of his common sense, no nonsense approach.
• Orkney labourer Huw Davis was recovering in hospital this month, following a dramatic rescue when he fell on to a narrow wall while working on a demolition site in Kirkwall. Mr Davis suffered spinal injuries as a result, while the rescue operation itself was quite intricate. He lay precariously on top of a two and a half feet wide wall with a 16 feet drop either side of him, while emergency services made the rescue.
• Fusion, Kirkwall’s new nightclub, was awarded a late licence to serve drinks until 2am. The Orkney Licensing Board agreed on the extended time, provided that no-one entered the club after midnight on Friday and Saturday nights.
• The trial of outspoken cannabis campaigner Biz Ivol was put off because of bad weather this month. The case against Mrs Ivol was due to start at Kirkwall Town Hall on Thursday, January 30.
  
  The controversial case, in which the MS sufferer denied supplying, growing and possessing cannabis, could not take place at Kirkwall Sheriff Court as it does not have disabled facilities. The trial was later cancelled due to bad weather conditions, and moved forward to March 13.