Clan Gunn gather for three-day visit

The fourteenth international gathering of the Clan Gunn society gets under way in Kirkwall this evening.

Eighty members of the society are in Orkney for a three-day visit before crossing the Pentland Firth to Caithness for the remainder of their trip.

The visitors will attend a service in St Magnus Cathedral tomorrow, spending the rest of their time in Orkney visiting local sites and travelling to Rousay, Egilsay and Wyre.

The renovated Deerness slipway - the venue for Sunday's Orkney Boat Show.

Orkney's first boat show took place in Deerness on Sunday.

The event, at The Geo, Newark Bay, marked the opening of the Deerness Small Boat Owners' Association new slipways and featured trade stands, entertainment, demonstrations as well as 40 boats to view.

The results of the Orkney v Shetland cricket match in Kirkwall on Saturday morning:

• Orkney 208; Keith Keldie scored 90, Bruce Whakari took 4 for 37.
• Shetland 171; Stuart Fitzsimmon 43; Davie Nicol 35.

Bowling: Stuart Laundy took 3 for 19; Dave Kirkland 3 for 22.

Annual Shopping Week begins tomorrow

The fifty fifth annual Stromness Shopping Week begins tomorrow with sea-angling, golf and triathlon marking the start of the week long event.

Among the attractions over the coming week is an RAF Tornado flypast at 12.15pm on Monday, flying from the south to the north of the town.

Cameron survives Big Brother eviction to make it into final week

Stromness is behind Cameron...one of the many signs of support in the town.

Orcadian housemate Cameron Stout has escaped public eviction again and has made it into the final week of the Big Brother house.

The public now vote for which of the remaining four housemates they want to win the £70,000 prize at the end of the Channel 4 television programme.

Voting details can be found on the official Big Brother website.

MPs support improved air links

Transport Secretary Alistair Darling meets Councillor Bob Sclater, Orkney Islands Council

Cheaper air fares to and from Orkney took a step closer yesterday when the House of Commons transport select committee accepted that improved air links were vital for economic growth.

They also agreed to help support the Hitrans case for cutting fares by 30 per cent.

Hitrans representatives were in London earlier this week pushing the case for public service obligations (PSOs) to protect legally and promote regional routes.

Archive stories:Action urged on Air Service
Report could see new air age for Orkney

Missing woman airlifted from Shapinsay

A woman reported missing on Shapinsay was airlifted to hospital by Coastguard helicopter on Thursdasy night.

Concerns were raised for the welfare of the woman after she was reported missing on Thursday afternoon.

A search was carried out by Shapinsay auxiliary coastguard and the woman was traced, and airlifted to Kirkwall airport before being taken to Balfour Hospital.

Fifteen minutes extra for Kirkwall's burger vans

Members of OIC's licensing sub-committee agreed on Thursday to grant the temporary extension until their next meeting in October. The decision was taken on the casting vote of the chairman, Councillor Sinclair Scott.

It went against advice from the police, who said they would have difficulty to providing routine cover after 3am, and Orkney Housing Association who claimed the extension would inconvenience their Kiln Corner tenants.

Spanish date for Orkney duo

Orkney musical duo saltfishforty are flying out to Bilbao, Spain next weekend to take part in the Euskal Inter Musika Festival.

The trip will include a radio session and open air concert, which is to be recorded for broadcast by the BBC.

The appearance could seal a Spanish distribution deal for their debut album, goose music, and a tour of Spain to promote it.

Police are investigating a quantity of money reported stolen from a post office in Sanday.

A police spokesman confirmed this week that local CID officers are carrying out an investigation with the Post Office Investigation Unit, although he stressed he could comment no further.

Orkney has become a possible easy target for smugglers because of the lack of permanent Customs cover in the islands

This is according to Orkney and Shetland MP Alistair Carmichael, following the publication of a report by the Scottish Home Affairs Committee into the present state of the Customs and Excise service.

He said that Customs management insisted that there was no threat of greater illegal activity in places like Orkney by the absence of permanent staff, but he continues to think they were wrong in that assessment.

Fire Brigade urge vigilance in dry weather

In the wake of the recent dry weather, the Fire Brigade are appealing to the public to take care with fires outdoors.

Recent weeks have seen an increasing number of grass and moorland fires, with conditions now classed as high risk.

Firemaster Brian Murray has urged vigilance, asking people not to light campfires and to take great care with other ignition sources out of doors.

Busy day as four liners visit

Four ships calling - the scene in Kirkwall Bay on Thursday morning

Orkney experienced the busiest day of the cruise liner season on Thursday, with the arrival of four liners in Kirkwall Bay.

The Astor, Maxim Gorky, Royal Princess and Sea Cloud II all arrived on Thursday morning, allowing their 2,500 passengers a few hours touring the Mainland.

Two of the liners departed at 1pm, the remainder sailing later that evening.

Stromness launch for book offering glimpse of life in Canadian 'Nor Wast'

Undelivered Letters to Hudson's Bay Company Men on the Northwest Coast of America features undelivered personal letters from HBC employees - many of which had remained sealed for 150 years.

The book was launched on Wednesday at the Pier Arts Centre.

External link: The Hudson's Bay Company

Hitrans delegation outline case for subsidised air fares in Westminster

A delegation from the Highlands and Islands Strategic Transport Partnership (Hitrans) travelled to London on Wednesday to lobby for subsidised air fares.

The group would like to cut fares to increase the number of air passengers in the Highlands and Islands, thereby improving the service.

Among the proposed improvements for Orkney alone, are two daily return flights to Edinburgh, Glasgow and Shetland, three return flights to Inverness direct and a fourth via Wick and five round trips to Aberdeen.

Archive story: Report could see new air age for Orkney

Hrossey returns to service

NorthLink's Shetland-Orkney-Aberdeen service is now back to normal following the return of the MV Hrossey.

The ferry was taken out of service on July 7 so weld defects on the vessel could be repaired in dry dock.

Aanno officially named in Westray

Cheryl Hanlon of The Prince's Trust during this week's naming ceremony. (Pics: Linda Drever).

The Westray skiff - a traditional island boat - built by a team of six local young people was officially named Aanno on Tuesday night.

Around 80 people attended the naming ceremony on Tuesday night at Gill Pier, where a representative of The Prince's Trust - who contributed to the project - named the vessel.

The skiff was named after Ann Kent, the team secretary, and the Ann, a skiff used as a blueprint for the new vessel.

Click here for official Westray Skiffs website.

Cannabis campaigners in second Westminster demo

Cannabis campaigners from across the UK were due to return to Westminster agai on Wednesday, spurred on by the public response to last week's spontaneous demo highlighting the plight of Orkney MS sufferer Biz Ivol.

The organisers said the protest was primarily to call for an explanation as to why Biz Ivol's prosecution took so long and ask why medicinal cannabis users are being taken to court.

Cameron faces public vote for second week running

Orcadian Big Brother housemate Cameron Stout is up for eviction again this week - for the second week running.

Cameron, who has now been in the cult Channel 4 reality TV show for almost eight weeks now, is facing the public vote this week, along with housemate Nush. The loser will be evicted on Friday.

Five-masted liner dominates Kirkwall Bay

Kirkwall Bay was dominated by two massive cruise liners - the Astoria and five-masted Wind Surf on Tuesday.

With a combined passenger capacity of 953, both stopped in Orkney briefly before sailing onwards in the afternoon - the Astoria to Iceland and the Wind Surf to Norway.

New Deputy Lieutenant for Orkney

A former Orkney Health Board manager has been appointed a Deputy Lieutenant by the Orkney's Lord Lieutenant, Mr George Marwick.

John Muir, of St Mary's, Holm, retired ten years ago but has remained busy with community and charity work.

Holm community census CD project

A new project to record the people and buildings in Holm at the start of a new century is about to get under way.

The Holm Community council's Holm Census CD project will see the creation of a permanent record of the present population of Holm - calling on occupants for details of buildings and residents in the parish.

The Holm project follows the successful Sanday Millennium CD, which recorded the people and buildings of Sanday at the turn of the millennium.

New manager after mart promotion

Orkney Auction Mart have confirmed that Rob Crichton has been promoted to the position of mart manager.

The mart's board of directors agreed to promote Mr Crichton, who has been acting manager since John Copland's decision to step down a few weeks ago.

Mr Crichton has been with the mart since 1997 and the promotion is with immediate effect.

Eleventh place for runner but no record

Sanday ultra-distance runner William Sichel has failed in his attempt to break the British road record while competing in the Cologne 48-hour road race.

William's final distance of 158.3 miles earned him eleventh place in the race but was well short of the current British record of 194 miles.

Papay fish farm proposal approved

Despite widespread protests in the island, councillors have agreed to a controversial proposal to site a fish farm in Papa Westray.

Councillors on the marine development sub-committee agreed to the proposal to site a fish farm at Vestness on Papa Westray - a plan that saw over 90 per cent of the islanders sign a petition against the proposal.

The organic fish farm must, however, be reduced in size - from the planned 20 cages to 16.

2001