Norwegian Constitution Day 2022 programme

Orkney’s special friendship with Norway will be celebrated this Tuesday (17 May) when the annual Norwegian Constitution Day takes place.

The day will begin at 10:30 with a Remembrance service at the Norwegian war graves in St Olaf's Cemetery. Transport will be provided, courtesy of Stagecoach, for official guests from Kirkwall Pierhead to the cemetery at 10:00.

At 12:00 the Tog will set off from the Kirkwall Pierhead to the Market Green, led by members of the Kirkwall City Pipe Band, Norwegian visitors, school children and any members of the public who would like to join in.

When the Tog arrives outside the St Magnus Cathedral the Norwegian National Anthem will be played followed by a welcome speech from Orkney Islands Council's Convener. Norwegian Guest of Honour Hans Olav Fjell will then make a reply speech. Hans Olav Fjell, from Sotra in Vestland, is a former Chairman of the Orkney Norway Friendship Association’s sister Association in Norway. His younger siblings were members of the original ‘homes to homes’ schools exchange visits between Kirkwall Grammar School/Stromness Academy and Sotra Vest Skulekorps  in Norway in summer 1978 which led to the formation of the Orkney Norway Friendship Association later that year. Together he and his wife Mona have been to Orkney many times and have welcomed a large number of Orkney visitors to their home on Langoy, linked to Sotra by a bridge, in Norway, over many years, and have worked hard to foster and maintain close links between Norway and Orkney.

Kirkwall City Pipe Band will then perform (at around 12:30) followed by the Orkney Norway Friendship Association Concert in the Cathedral, featuring pupils from Kirkwall Grammar School - donations will be welcome at the door.

Everyone is welcome to join in all the day’s events.

Norwegian Constitution Day is celebrated in Orkney every year and the longstanding relationship dates back many centuries to when the islands were populated by Norwegians in the late 700s.

In 1983 an official Twinning Agreement was signed with Hordaland County Council and at Christmas a tree is delivered to Orkney as a gift from the region. This formal agreement was reaffirmed by Vestland County Council earlier this year, following creation of the County in 2020 when the former counties of Hordaland and Sogn og Fjordane merged.