Latest News

A potentially life-saving defibrillator has been installed within the Bignold Park in Kirkwall thanks to the efforts of a number of local football clubs and Scottish Sea Farms.

Kirkwall Wanderers, Rovers and Thorfinn, approached local salmon farmer Scottish Sea Farms for help in buying a defibrillator for the Bignold, which is not only used for matches and training, by the Orkney Agricultural Society for the County Show, and now more than ever by members of the public given the recent introduction of the Council-funded roadway.

Albert Street in Kirkwall will be closed on Friday 7 April for repairs.

The Orkney Travel Matters survey has been extended to allow more households to have their say on how active travel can be supported in the county.

Did you know learning something new is good for you? Community Learning course bookings open 6 April!

The artist behind a new exhibition at the Orkney Museum took inspiration from a book retelling stories of selkie folk.

Sarah McFadyen’s new collection of paintings is known as ‘The People of The Sea’ after a book of the same title by David Thomson, published in 1954.

An uplifting musical collaboration took place in Hoy on Monday 27 March with the pupils of North Walls Community School performing with musicians from Gordonstoun School, who were on tour in Orkney.

Not only was the concert a chance for the pupils to work together, but the event also raised around £350 for the RNLI Longhope lifeboat.

A round up of road works underway or soon to start in the county, for week starting 3 April 2023.

A number of local athletes have been selected to benefit from funding to enable them to keep on track with their chosen sports.

Twelve athletes in Orkney have been awarded the sportscotland special grant to help sportspeople in regional and rural Scotland access competitive and training opportunities.

A worldwide pandemic, what seems like a never-ending onslaught of bugs, a cost-of-living crisis and a period of industrial action has impacted on children and young people attending at schools across the nation, and Orkney is no different.

Since Covid, schools in the county have seen lower levels of attendance overall – from 95.6% in 2018/19 (just above the Scottish average) to 91% at present – the same as the Scottish average.

There are a number of potential reasons for this – some pupil and parental anxiety following the pandemic period and return to school, an increase in sickness absences following the pandemic, to a much lesser degree the recent industrial action and there will be other more complex factors.

A group of young students from Kirkwall Grammar School are tackling racism head on with a series of planned activities over the coming months.

The Anti-Racism Group – under the guidance of Theo Ogbhemhe, Religious, Moral and Philosophical Studies teacher – have received funding of just over £4,000 from the Scottish Government to drive forward the anti-racism events. The students will also be fundraising for a further £2,500 to enable them to carry out all that they have planned through non-uniform days, bake sales and a raffle.