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St Margaret's Hope and Finstown are cracking places for locals and visitors alike - but are there any changes that could make them even better?

“We have been involved in shaping the hub from the start, that makes us feel powerful” – supported planning group

A new space in town – known as The Hub – for Learning, Skills and Work – will provide a key base in Orkney to further enhance partnership working to support local people into employment and other positive routes.

Recruitment and retention support to help Orkney employers

Employers and managers from businesses across Orkney are being invited to attend an event designed to help them with local recruitment and retention issues.

Organised by the Local Employment Partnership (LEP), the drop-in session will take place between 12-2pm on Wednesday 1 March, and is the first major event in the new Kirkwall facility called The Hub for Learning, Skills and Work.

Orkney Islands Council has been awarded another £600k by the Scottish Government to help more households with energy efficiency works.

The boost brings the county’s share of the Energy Efficient Scotland: Area Based Scheme (EES:ABS) up to £2.1m for 2022-23.

Are you having a spring clean of your business or community premises?

You may have COVID posters left over from earlier stages of the pandemic, when less was known about the virus and how it spread.

This Saturday, 18 February, sees the opening of the first temporary exhibition of the year at the Orkney Museum, Tankerness House, Kirkwall. ‘Art in Orkney 1875-2020: A Private Collection’. This stunning display of art spans the centuries and has something to suit all tastes, from traditional Victorian watercolours to abstracts and sculpture.

Hugely significant and much loved artefacts from the Tomb of the Eagles in South Ronaldsay can now be seen at the Orkney Museum, which has just reopened following a month-long closure to carry out important behind-the-scenes work at the Museum and stores.

Orkney Islands Council is inviting applications for its Culture Fund – a scheme aimed at supporting cultural activity in Orkney.

Parents and carers in Orkney are being urged to check whether they should apply for Best Start Grant School Age Payment as this year’s deadline approaches.

The payment if for those families who get qualifying benefits or tax credits and who have a child born between 1 March 2017 and 28 February 2018 (a child aged five or who turns five this month).

Leaving a 200-pupil school at the other end of the country to set up home on the tiny island of Papa Westray, hasn’t phased 10-year-old Eva!

She has settled into life on Papay, as it is known locally, like the proverbial duck to water – just as well given the island measures only four miles long and a mile across as its widest point.