Whit’s on this weekend?

Orkney Blues Festival

The Orkney Blues Festival is set to return to the streets of Stromness for a weekend showcasing bluesy musical talent, both visiting and local. Spanning Friday, September 28, to Sunday, September 30, it is not to be missed.

There will be four visiting local acts — Paul Rose, George Shovlin, Paul Cowley and, in a change of line-up, Slack Alice, alongside a host of local talent.

For further info, you can see this Thursday’s The Orcadian or visit https://www.orkneyblues.co.uk

Girl's Day Out

September 30, 2018 12:00 pm - 5:00 pm

Treat yourself, this Sunday, to a Girls Day Out. Courtesy of Kirkwall BID and CLAN Cancer Support, local businesses throughout Kirkwall will be offering fantastic special offers, discounting and prizes.

There is something for everyone on Sunday from 12-5pm, including a special carpool karaoke event next to The Reel.

To find out more, you can see the FULL PAGE advert in this week’s The Orcadian or visit the Kirkwall BID Facebook page.

Orkney Wedding Exhibition

September 30, 2018 12:00 pm - 4:00 pm

It’s never too early to start planning your wedding. To give you an idea of the range of services on offer, The Pickaquoy Centre will be hosting its second annual Wedding Exhibition this Sunday, September 30.

From 12-4pm, there will be a number of displays for soon to be brides and grooms including jewellery, cake, photography, floral arrangements, make-up artists and more.

During the event, guests can look forward to a fashion show with models demonstrating the latest styles while treating themselves to a Deluxe Platter and Prosecco.

Kerry Leask, the Pickaquoy Centre’s Hospitality and Events Manager, said: “The Wedding Exhibition is a great event for brides and grooms to be, as well as a fabulous day out for the ladies.

“With the Deluxe Platter and Prosecco special, guests can really get involved in the day by treating themselves to lovely homemade nibbles, a glass of bubbly and browsing the latest fashions.

“Some of the businesses will be offering specials on the day as well, so be sure to look out for those while browsing the displays.

“We’re really looking forward to the event. We understand that getting married is one of the key moments in a person’s life and are excited about the prospect of helping couples plan their big day.”

John Rae Birthday Celebrations

September 30, 2018

The John Rae Society are preparing for a special weekend celebrating the Arctic explorer’s 205th birthday.

According to society president Andrew Appleby, less than £5,000 is now needed to pay off the mortgage on Dr Rae’s birthplace, The Hall of Clestrain. It is hoped that the series of events this Saturday and Sunday will secure these funds.

Alongside free events such as an Open Day at Clestrain in Orphir on Saturday afternoon and an exhibition of Northwest Passage paintings by Barbara Rae at the Pier Arts Centre, Stromness, the society are hosting a ticketed event at The Orkney Distillary, Kirkwall, on Sunday evening. Starting at 7.30pm, this event will see a charity auction in aid of the John Rae Society.

Last weekend saw Orkney’s local hero recognised at the opening of the National Maritime Museum’s Polar Worlds exhibition in Greenwich. Special guest at the launch was Jennifer Wrigley, who performed a tune on John Rae’s fiddle.

Mayfield Singers

September 29, 2018 6:30 pm

Two of Orkney’s well-established musical groups will combine for a concert in St Magnus Cathedral this coming Saturday. The Mayfield Singers and the strings of Orkney Camerata will join forces for an early evening, hour-long programme of music spanning 300 years. While the main piece in the programme, Schubert’s Mass in G, will feature both choir and orchestra, both groups will also be heard separately in music by Purcell, Britten and Wassenaer.

Elizabeth Sullivan, Camerata’s artistic director, said: “In a few months, the full forces of Camerata strings and wind will be joining the 100-strong Winter Choir for the annual concert in aid of the Malawi Music Fund.

“This concert, however, features a pared-down Camerata string section and a small chamber choir. It celebrates the clarity of a chamber aesthetic: a lightness of touch in even the most complex counterpoint, and poignant melodies and harmonies enhanced by the smaller forces.”

Camerata’s string players will open the concert with Purcell’s beautiful Chacony in G minor, in the arrangement by Benjamin Britten, the twentieth century English composer who maintained a life-long admiration for the music of his seventeenth century predecessor. Then the Mayfield Singers will perform the Choral Dances from Britten’s opera Gloriana — described as the perfect fusion of music from the two Elizabethan eras. Camerata will return to the eighteenth century with the delightful Concertino in G by Unico Wilhelm von Wassenaer — a composer unknown to most concert-goers!

Choir and orchestra will be conducted by the Mayfield Singers’ director Kate Lewis for the final item in the programme, Schubert’s Mass in G, described by Kate as being “full of glorious melodies.”

Saturday’s concert starts at 6.30pm. School pupils will be admitted free of charge.

Kathy Pickles Exhibition

September 29, 2018

Orkney-based botanical artist Kathy Pickles will be showing 60 recent works in her latest solo exhibition, entitled Flowers and Fruit, which can be seen in the Exhibition Room of the Old Library, Kirkwall, from Saturday, September 22 until Saturday, October 13.

Among the works on display will be three of the group of clematis paintings for which she was awarded her seventh RHS Gold Medal in London last year.

Other works in the show include paintings of two Orkney native wild flowers, the Oyster Plant and Northern Marsh Orchid, which were selected for the Flora Scotia exhibition at the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh earlier this year. Also on display are nine of her most recent mug designs for Dunoon Ceramics, a company she has been working with since 1994.