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The deadline for nominations from people wanting to stand for their local Community Council has been extended until 5pm on Monday May 28.

Chief Executive of Orkney Islands Council, Albert Tait, said: “We’ve had a good response so far, however we are seeking more candidates in some areas.

“So we’re extending the nomination process for a further two weeks in all areas for anyone who wishes to stand for any community council.”

Any individual registered to vote may stand for election for the Community Councillor area where they live.

Additional nominations are being sought especially for the following Community Council areas:

1.    Firth and Stenness
2.    Orphir
3.    Shapinsay
4.    Stronsay
5.    Holm
6.    Evie and Rendall
7.    Rousay, Egilsay, Wyre and Gairsay
8.    St Andrews and Deerness

Anyone who has already submitted a nomination form does not need to reapply.

Election of Community Councillors is carried out by post.

All registered voters in Orkney will receive a ballot paper listing their candidates after June 1 with a reply-paid envelope for their vote, which must be returned in time to reach the Council by 5pm on June 12.

As soon as the votes are counted the results will be published on the OIC website and provided to local press.

Stromness Museum will launch a new audio experience on Saturday 12 May. Come along to Stromness Museum – free entry all day – and be one of the first to take the new audio journey through the town.

Stromness Hometown has created a new oral history of the town bringing together voices of the past and those of today. The entertaining soundscape told by people of Stromness and some weel kent voices from the past will accompany visitors on their walk from the pier head to the cannon beyond the Museum. There are eight stops -  places where you can sit on a bench, or lean on a wall, and listen to voices from then and now

Over a quarter of a century ago, two local men, Ian MacInnes and Eric Flett, walked from the north to the south of the town recording their conversation for a Radio Orkney programme ‘Hometown’. A quarter of a century before that, Ernest Marwick set down a wealth of recordings in his sound archive between 1960 and 1975. Both these rich resources, held at Orkney Library and Archive, have been drawn from in this new Stromness Hometown project.

Now new interviews include May Stockan talking about bakeries, Captain Willie Mackay on board the Hamanvoe, Lifeboat man Stewart Taylor, shopkeepers in the town, George Sinclair on fishing, Ella Duncan reminiscing about the first Shopping Week, and a boat load of Bevans interviewed in the harbour!

Young people lead you on the journey with Stromness Academy pupils Bea Watson and Jake Watson providing links between the interviews, and Stromness Primary pupil Erik Park guiding you between stops.

The ambitious project started in Summer 2011 with workshops - new interviews were recorded with Stromness people, archive recordings were listened to, and lots of people dropped by. Young people learnt interviewing and editing skills. What started as a young people’s project soon involved people of all ages.

The RSPB’s Orkney Local Group and Orkney Camera Club are teaming up to launch a year-long photographic competition - “Wild Orkney: The Way I See It”.

The competition aims to inspire residents and visitors to engage with Orkney’s wildlife and birds and record their impressions with their cameras.

Photographs can be entered in four categories: Wild Open Spaces; Wonderful Colours of Orkney; Waves and Water; and Wondrous Nature in Detail.

RSPB Scotland will display the best photographs at a local exhibition and online.

Alongside the competition for individuals, schools are being encouraged to embrace “Wild Orkney: The Way I See It” as part of a non-competitive classroom project by, for example, producing a montage of photographs for the exhibition.

Dick Matson, Chairman of the RSPB Orkney Local Group, says: “The competition focus will be on interpretation of the categories and not just technical skill. So whether you’re a camera expert or a beginner with a new digital camera, why not get out there and have a go?”

There will be prizes for the best photographs in three age groups: under-12, 12 to 16 years, and adults (over-16). There will be two winners in each age group: an Orkney resident and a visitor.

The residents’ prizes are - adult: half-day with a wildlife expert chosen by the RSPB plus a pair of Visionary Classic 10x50 binoculars from Focus On Orkney (Sutherland's Photolab); 12 to 16 years: a day's photography masterclass with film-maker Raymond Besant (his film The Flying Dustbin, about fulmars and plastic pollution, won several international awards); under-12: £25 to spend in the RSPB online shop.

The preferred bidder for the Northern Isles Ferry Services contract has been selected Transport Minister Keith Brown, announced today.

Subject to the satisfactory conclusion of contract arrangements Serco Ltd has won the contract to deliver the new contract which will commence this summer.

The total value of the new contract represents Scottish Government investment of more than £243 million over 6 years.

The new contract will:

- Maintain 90 minute services from Scrabster to Stromness
- Ensure there is no repetition of dry dock problems of the previous contract
- Ensure services are available for time sensitive freight
- Improve passenger experience

Mr Brown said:

“The Scottish Government is absolutely committed to providing the very best ferry services to Orkney and Shetland to meet the needs of residents, business and visitors alike. 

“Building on the work by Northlink over the last six years, today we are taking the Northern Isles ferry services forward.  Following a full public consultation exercise and a period of open and transparent competition, Serco Ltd has won the contract to  deliver ferry services to the Northern Isles from summer this year until 2018.

“The new contract rectifies many of the difficulties of the one we inherited in particular the recent difficulties with the extended dry dock period.

“The new arrangements ensure we will avoid the situation where vessels have been laid up for long periods of time.  Hjaltland and Hrossay will not be used to relieve the Scrabster-Stromness route as has happened in the past. A different replacement vessel will be used to cover Hamnavoe’s dry-dock periods.

“The needs of vital time sensitive freight exports like fish and seasonal livestock and vital imports like supermarket goods will be met, and the services available for passengers will be improved.

“Passengers will see improvements to the journey experience with improved  ticketing arrangements, premium reclining seats added on board overnight services, and improved catering, hospitality and customer care facilities.

“Crucially, clear commitments that crossing times, including the 90 minute crossing between Scrabster and Stromness, will also be retained.

Well that's the Council Elections over for another five years, and I'm pleased to say the Facebook updates below seem to have worked!

The council website has an excellent blow by blow story of the count here - http://www.orkney.gov.uk/Council/C/follow-the-count_2.htm ... so I won't rehash that.

Here are some pictures taken this morning - click on the picture and then 'Full screen' to go full screen.

The council elections have almost finished... the polls will close in less that half an hour... and all the anticipation will have to go on ice until tomorrow, when the count takes place in the former Powerbowl, starting at 8am.

AllAboutOrkney in the guise of Steven Heddle will be there taking a very active part in proceedings (as Kirkwall East will be declared first) - I hope to be able to post some comments and pictures from the count and declarations tomorrow.

Radio Orkney I am sure will be doing a sterling job on it, and their updates on Facebook will be popping up in the Twitter widget to the left of this article.

An embedded AllAboutOrkney Facebook stream will be provided below in case there is no WiFi provided, so look here to see what all the Orkney media outlets are saying.

Next Saturday sees the opening of the new summer exhibition at the Orkney Museum, Tankerness House, Kirkwall.

‘Ness of Brodgar: The Heart of Neolithic Orkney’ is a chance to find out more about the archaeological site that everyone is talking about.

The Orkney Museum has worked closely with the Orkney Research Centre for Archaeology (ORCA), which is part of Orkney College University of Highlands and Islands, so that the text is the most up-to-date record of what has been found so far and how it might have been used.

Not only is the story told in text and photographs but the visitor will be able to see a large collection of artefacts that have been found during the excavation.

With so many unique finds on display it gives us a glimpse of life in the Neolithic, some 5,000 years ago. There are ceremonial maceheads, polished stone axes, flints, pottery and a large collection of mysterious Neolithic art.

The Orkney Museum’s Exhibitions Officer, Tom Muir, said: “The timing of this exhibition is very fortuitous, as it was decided that we should create the exhibition before it was known that Neil Oliver was going to feature the site on ‘A History of Ancient Britain Special’.

“Since its broadcast, interest in the site has rocketed and rightly so. Ness of Brodgar is a site that completely rewrites all the books on the British Neolithic - it’s a case of tearing them up and starting again, in many respects.

A new timetable will be introduced at Kirkwall Grammar School in the summer following a consultation exercise earlier this year.

The new arrangements will enable the school to meet Government requirements for Physical Education (PE) and Religious and Moral Education (RME) to be provided for pupils across the school

It will also allow the implementation of the national Curriculum for Excellence in the middle school.

The new timetable has 32 periods per week, of 50 minutes each, plus additional daily tutor time.

This is a change from the current 29-period week, when most lessons are for 55 minutes. Under the new arrangements, pupils will still spend exactly the same amount of time in school each week as they do at present.
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From Wednesday June 6, the school day will begin at 8.35am and end at 3.35pm from Monday to Thursday. Fridays will also have a start time of 8.35am, but lessons with finish earlier at 12.20pm with lunch available until 1pm.

The currently school day starts at 8.45pm and finishes at 3.25pm.

“We consulted on this change with pupils, parents, staff and others with an interest in the school - and it proved to be an invaluable exercise,” said head teacher Sheila Dick.

“It was important that we listened to what everyone had to say and many of the ideas and concerns that were raised helped us shape our new timetable.

“Our school serves many of Orkney’s communities, including 11 of the isles, so a great deal of thought and effort has gone into the transport arrangements we’ll need for our pupils.

“Once the new timetable begins, we will monitor these arrangements carefully to ensure they are best suited to the pupils’ needs.”

Letters about the introduction of the new timetable, with information about the travel arrangements, have been sent to parents with children at KGS, as well as to parents of P6 and P7 pupils at “feeder” primary schools.

Transport arrangements

- In the morning, buses will pick up pupils at the same time as at present.
- From Monday to Thursday, school buses will leave KGS at 3.35pm.
- On Fridays, most school buses will leave KGS at 12.45pm after lunch.

Also on Fridays:

- The Houton Bus will leave at 12.50pm in time for the ferry to Flotta and Hoy at 1.20pm.
- The Tingwall Bus will leave KGS at 1.20pm in time for the ferry to Rousay and Wyre at 2.45pm.
- For Egislay pupils, the bus will leave at 3.25pm in time for the ferry at 4.05pm.
- A taxi at 1.40pm will take pupils to Kirkwall Airport for flights to North Ronaldsay and Papa Westray.