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Orkney Islands Council (OIC) and Orkney Housing Association Limited (OHAL) are looking for tenants and residents interested in becoming members of their Residents’ Panel.

The joint venture was set up in 2014 with its main objective to deliver improvements to the service through the views of tenants and residents (anyone who owns a share of their social property).

Trawling Orkney’s beaches looking for “treasure” is a passion for West Mainland beachcomber, Martin Gray.

Stashing away his finds – from polystyrene fishing floats to plastic octopus pots, driftwood to creel hooks – Martin is always hopeful that one day he will find a second use for these shoreline goodies.

Orkney’s communities are well known for rallying when there’s challenging spells – and this has never been more apparent than in Westray during the recent and ongoing whiteout.

While some other areas are returning to the more usual green, Westray remains largely under a blanket of snow and ice and it has been causing some issues.

A roundup of road works underway or soon to start in the county, for week beginning 13 March 2023:

Orkney Islands Council has made the above-named Order under section 14 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 to ensure the safety of site personnel and footpath / cycle path users while works are carried out associated with the installation of streetlighting along the footway.

There’s been lots of questions asked on social media around bin clips we've approved for folk to use, to help keep bin lids secure on windy days. We thought it would be helpful to provide some answers to the points raised.

“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.