“Connecting Kinship Carers” is this year’s theme for Kinship Care Week, running throughout Scotland from Monday 13 March.

In a bid to link up fellow kinship carers – also known as family and friends’ carers - an informal afternoon of coffee, cake and chat is being held at The Storehouse Restaurant, Bridge Street Wynd, Kirkwall on Tuesday 14 March from 1pm-3pm.

Folk in Orkney have been thanked for their generosity which has seen KGS students complete their 90kg rice challenge in just four days!

They have sold their target of 90 bags of rice raising enough money to send a young person to secondary school for one year in Malawi.

In the fast-paced changing world of work, employers in Orkney need to be armed with all the tools they need to ensure they can recruit and retain their biggest asset – staff.

That’s no mean feat in this current climate but exactly the kind of challenge the recent Employer Information Event was geared towards.

Partner agencies across Orkney – the Police, NHS Orkney and the Council - are appealing for folk to stay home today if at all possible.

The wintry conditions have left a number of vehicles stuck or having difficulty on various routes – they include Hobbister in Orphir, the Airport Road, Moss Road in Holm, Holm Branch and the Clay Loan, but there will be others. This, in turn poses a risk to the emergency services if called out – and it makes the job of the Council’s gritter crews more challenging.

Due to the ongoing wintry conditions, most schools across Orkney are to close early.

Schools are contacting parents directly to ask for children to be collected where that’s preferred and possible from now. Stagecoach have also advised that they are planning to run the school buses at the earlier time of 2pm today. This will be on priority main roads (class A) only.