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2010, Year O Orkney Dialect

The Orkney Heritage Society are making 2010 the Year O Orkney Dialect. They aim to raise awareness of the rich heritage reflected in the dialect and encourage its use in everyday life.
History of Orkney Dialect
The Orkneyjar website has some excellent information on old Orkney dialect and explains that;
“For almost 950 years – from approximately 800AD [...]

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Login’s Well – Stromness, Orkney

Two things limited the distances early mariners could sail, one was food the other was fresh water.  Early sailing ships needed large quantities of both of these commodoties before any adventures could begin.
Login’s Well in Stromness, Orkney, is once source of fresh water drawn upon by some of our famous explorers.
At first glance the well [...]

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Orkney Island Yarns – Woolgathering

This interesting website belongs to one of our twitter followers. Woolgathering.org.uk is the home of The Woolgatherer, aka plumbum.
Woolgathered concentrates largely upon the fibre habits of The Woolgatherer but also encompasses several areas of Woolgathering Lifestyle. Pull-out sections are available for readers with focused interests.
For readers who love knitting, cats, dogs or are generally interested [...]

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The Westray Storm Witch

The story of a storm raising witch is based upon historical fact and island myth.

Janet Forsyth lived in Westray in the 17th century.
In 1627, Janet dreamed that she saw her fisherman sweetheart, Benjamin Garrioch, perish at sea.
The following day, Garrioch, and his colleagues set sail on their fishing expedition not heeding the warning of [...]

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Orkney Ba’ Game

This Kirkwall Ba’ Game is the traditional mass ball game also known as the Uppies and Doonies, played in the town’s streets on Christmas Day and new Year’s day, starting at 1300 GMT.
The Uppies attempt to get a leather ball to a wall at the top of Kirkwall town whilst the Doonies do everything in [...]

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The Orkney Chair

It is rare to come accross a true craftsman, who is not only making traditional furniture from scratch but is preserving a piece of the Orkney heritage with passion and well researched knowledge.
The traditional Orkney Chair maker, Fraser Anderson creates a range of award winning traditional furniture, building on the legacy of the distinctive Orkney [...]

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Sports and pastimes on Orkney

If you have a team, club or association in the Orkney Isles and would like to feature on this page, then just let us know via the “contact us” page.

Athletics

Badminton
Orkney Badminton Association – The badminton season runs from September to April each year.

Climbing

Darts
Kirkwall & District Darts League. KDDL was formed in 1967. The darts season [...]

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Orkney Flower Festival 2009

Over the last 35 years the Kirkwall Flower Arrangement Club has created floral displays in St. Magnus Cathedral in aid of the restoration fund.
In this 50th year, the club looks back over the decades, highlighting some memorable aspects of each.
Bel Drever, the outgoing Club President talks about the event and her three year tenure.
To see [...]