Photo of a Dutch spotted Texel ram lamb. Stenness. Alisha Thomson.
While in lockdown, I have mostly been doing school work and FaceTiming with friends and family. It is different talking to family through a screen, but at least I can speak to family in some way.
At the start of Lockdown my Mum and I went for a walk each day around where we live. I have been for a few cycles when it has been sunny.
The weather has been really good during lockdown. This is a good and a bad thing: we can go outside in the garden, but we cannot go to the beach as often as we would have.
My dad has a farm. As lambing has started, I stayed with with him to help on the farm. There were lots of caddy lambs to feed every day. Since the weather was so good, most of the lambs were able to go outside and enjoy jumping and running in
all the fields. There was one special lamb whose mum had died, so I named him Bill, after my step-grandad.
Orkney Women’s Football club were prepared to take a huge step forward in 2020 by joining the Highland league, but because of Coronavirus all fixtures have been cancelled until further notice.
Orkney Women’s Football Team
Founded in 2019, the Highlands and Islands Women’s league attracted eight teams in its debut year. These included Kirkwall City Ladies, Brora Rangers, Buckie, Caithness, Inverness Caledonian Thistle Development, Nairn, Sutherland, and 2018 champions Clachnacuddin. The team were a very enthusiastic bunch of players and were very much looking forward to the challenge.
Katie Foulis, manager of OWFC, is optimistic for the future of the sport in Orkney. She has said that they have had a great response from the younger age-group. “The younger players are very capable. You can tell they’ve been playing in the primary leagues, because they can handle the drills that the women are doing. The senior players, and us as the coaches, are very encouraging and welcoming to them, so numbers are increasing in that age-group which is fantastic.”
Whilst play may have stopped on the pitch, the coaches are very much trying to keep the game going through social media. The football team have taken part in the “toilet roll” challenge, drills, and maintain regular updates to keep the enthusiasm going for the game.
They hope that soon the lockdown will be lifted and they will get back to training, but suspect it will be another year before they will get the chance to compete at Highland league level again.
Dogs all over the UK are overjoyed! Since the lockdown started, on the 23rd of March, people have been giving all of their attention and treats to their beloved companions.
Poppy excited about getting a belly rub.
The dogs are all cheerful about this great increase in affection, but there are some downsides. People may be discouraged to go on walks with their dogs in fear of catching Coronavirus, leading to obesity in dogs rising greatly. Treats will also contribute to this, as people feed their dogs a lot more of them.
An event like this has never happened before, and it looks like it will be a while before we can get back to normal. This means happy dogs for a long time!
People everywhere are disappointed that events across the world are being cancelled as a result of the lockdown restrictions in place due to the Coronovirus, Covid 19.
Images taken from www.Orkney.com events page, showing some of the disrupted events in 2020.
In Orkney there will be no Stromness Shopping Week, Dounby and County Shows, Folk Festival, St Magnus Festival along with all other annual events that take people, locals and visitors, to Orkney.
Stromness Shopping Week Chairperson, Savannah Taylor, spoke of cancelling this year’s event due to Covid 19. She said:“The shops in Stromness would lose one of the busiest weeks of the year. Shopping Week was first started to bring people to shop in Stromness as we are a small town and sometimes find it hard to survive on just people who live here”.
When the committee decided to cancel, the decision was very difficult. Savannah said: “Shopping Week is something that brings so many people together and is something everyone books holidays off work for, so when deciding to cancel it I was worried I would be taking away a part of everyone’s summer.”
“Shopping Week brings people far and wide. Families tend to come for Shopping Week as they are sure that there is always something to do for any age group. We have many people coming down from Shetland as part of the Jarl Squad”.
Luckily, Shopping Week won’t actually lose money “as we did not put too much money out”, said Savannah. “A lot of our events are free to run, but the hidden costs are the queen and attendants and flower girl and page boys, the insurance, the fireworks, the bands, bringing acts or entertainment.”
Savannah felt heartbroken following the cancellation of the event. “There is so much effort and work goes into it behind the scenes. I felt like the kids had nothing to look forward to as many of them said at least we have Shopping Week, and I had been the person to take it away. I was worried about the businesses and what it would do to them, but at the end of the day everyone’s health is so much more important.”
Finally, she commented:”We hope to make 2021 even bigger and better than ever!”
Although the event is lucky in not losing out on potential costs, there will be a terrible effect on businesses, the tourist industry, shops, families who won’t get to have their visitors home, youths who won’t have the events and parties to go to, and children who won’t get the activities to go to. Hopefully Savannah is right that 2021 will be bigger and better, in every way.
As the seventh case of the Covid 19 hits our islands many locals are currently in isolation. Locals are either self-isolating, or have gotten a letter from the government advising them to.
Sian, a local in Graemsay, who is isolating, said she is in isolation because of her asthma – a condition which affects her lungs and her breathing. If she catches Covid-19 she said her lungs would not be able to cope.
She said she received a letter from the government advising her to “shield” for at least 12 weeks. That means no face to face contact with anyone. She is not allowed to leave her house or garden over that period of time, although she does go down to the beach for a walk when there is no-one around.
She passes the time by working parts of the day from Monday to Friday. This also makes sure she has a routine. It is important to have a routine when you are in isolation. She goes out for fresh air each day, usually by looking after the chickens and walking the cat.
She said in the evenings she watches tv or films online. She also enjoys reading and jigsaws.
She said that initially she will be “shielding” (that is a group of people who are vulnerable to getting very ill with Covid 19 due to health issues) for 12 weeks. Sian said that she expects to be in isolation longer, at least until Orkney is clear of Covid-19 or they can give her a vaccine.
Sian said she keeps in touch with her friends using social media (Facebook and WhatsApp) and video calls them using Facetime, WhatsApp or Zoom. She prefers WhatsApp to the rest. She said we talk on the phone, and sometimes email each other as well.
She said, as ever, folk on Graemsay have been helpful, especially my neighbours Sandra and Michael, and the shops have also been helpful. They have delivered my food to the pier for me.
Sian said she has been working at home for 15 years now so being in isolation doesn’t affect her work, but it does affect her colleagues. They’re having to find new ways to communicate
Sian said that she is very worried about Covid-19. Usually when she gets an asthma attack the drugs quickly make her feel better, but last year she went to hospital and the drugs didn’t work. She had to walk slowly and stop for a breaths. She is worried because she knows that Covid-19 is even worse than that. Sian said she is also very worried about her family and friends getting it. Sian also commented that isolation can get quite hard sometimes.
There are many people in Orkney with asthma or other health issues who are isolating that do not know how long they will be in isolation for and are finding it difficult. Orkney is lucky to have such a great community that are helping each other through these difficult times.
On the 31st of may the Orkney Junior Inter County headed up to take on Shetland in the fiercely contested annual competition for the Stuart Cup.
Zander Scott winning the 200m for Orkney. Photo by Kirk Green
There are usually 5 events over the weekend theses are: athletics, football, hockey, netball, and swimming. There is a points system, so if you win a race you will earn more points than the person who came 2nd and in the football and netball, the winning team gets more points.
On Saturday the 1st of June there was the following events taking place: hockey at 10:00, athletics at 13:15, and Football at 19:00.
First up was the hockey taking place in Brae, a short drive away from Lerwick. In a close run affair, Shetland just pipped Orkney to win the game 2-0, a good start for Shetland.
Next up was the athletics. It was taking place at the Clickimin track. The first race was the 1500m. Orkney came 1st in the boys race, and Shetland took first in the girls.
This was followed by the javelin, where Shetland won the boys but Orkney won the girls event.
Next up was the shot putt. Orkney won both the girls and the boys.
It was the 200m up next. Orkney’s Zander Scott, a very strong runner, won the boys event. But Shetland’s equally as strong Katie Dinwoodie won the girls event, and would later go and win gold at the 2019 Island Games.
Then it was the 800m, and as expected Shetland’s Seumas Mackay (one of the best runners in his age group in Britan) won the boys event by some margin and Orkneys Tegan Spence won the girls 800m by some distance as well.
The 100m was up next with Orkney wining the boys and Shetland wining the girls.
The final track event of the day was the 400m. Orkney took gold in the girls, and Shetland took gold in the boys.
The last event of the day was the jumps. In the long jump Shetland took gold in both girls and boys, and in the long jump Orkney took gold in the boys. Shetland won the girls.
Shetland won the athletics 56-40, but Orkney put up a good fight.
After the hockey and the athletics Shetland were leading orkney 66-40, but Orkney weren’t out yet; it was still all to play for.
The last event on the Saturday was the football at the Gilbertson Park in Lerwick. Unfortunately the nice weather came to a stop as the rain started, but that didn’t scare off the big crowd gathered to watch the two strong teams battle it out. It was an evenly matched first half with Shetland scoring late on. It was 1-0 to Shetland, the boys in blue, at half time. Orkney started strong in the 2nd half. Their hard work finally paid off when they bagged an equaliser, but then it was Shetland’s turn to attack and eventually they got another goal and managed to hold on till the end. The final score at the Gilbertson Park: Shetland 2 Orkney 1. Another win for Shetland.
After the 1st day the total standings were Shetland 76 and Orkney 45. Orkney would need a miracle to win Junior Inter County 2019.
The Sunday began with the Netball at the Clickimin. Orkney dominated the first quarter and were 17-8 up, but Shetland came back strong with the halftime score at the netball: Orkney 26 Shetland 20. Orkney managed to find their form again and played some excellent netball in the 3rd quarter, and were leading 38-23. It was looking hard for Shetland to get back in it with only 1 quarter left to play. Shetland did play some better netball in the last quarter but it wasn’t enough to beat Orkney. The final score at the Clickimin: Orkney 48 Shetland 31.
Even after that cracking performance by Orkney in the netball, it was looking very likely that Shetland would win the Stuart Cup.
Last but not least was the swimming at the Clickimin pool. Orkney did some great swimming, but shetland were too strong in the end and they won the swimming 66-31.
After an action packed weekend in Shetland, the overall scores were Shetland 173 and Orkney 124. This meant that Shetland would retain the Stuart Cup for the 3rd year in a row. It was a great weekend showing just how many great athletes there are between these two islands.
Harvey Rendall, from Orkney, who took part in the event, explained: “I was a reserve which meant I went up and I would run if someone was injured, and someone was so I had to run in the 400m”
He said: “I was very nervous, but I just calmed myself down and got in the zone ready to run.”
He said that his advice for younger people wanting to one day take part in JIC is train and never give up.
Kara Grant, from Shetland, who was part of the hockey team, said that the crowd cheering them on was her favourite part of JIC.
“My advice to young people wanting to take part in JIC one day is keep doing what you enjoy, work hard, and stick at it”
Junior Inter County began in 1947. There were 3 events: football, hockey and athletics. Swimming was added in 1948, and netball was added in 1950.
The cup is named after the Shetland Chief Constable in 1947 called Tom Stuart, who contributed the trophy.
It does not look like Junior Inter County is going to stop anytime soon as it is enjoyed by everyone. Even Covid-19 cannot stop JIC, as it might be taking place in September in Orkney.
Orkney has bad wifi, but for some reason Stenness is the worst. It is so bad that it is stopping us getting on with work. We cannot communicate with family members and friends. Only one person can be uploading or downloading something at a time.
During the first week of lockdown there was a BT engineer at our house to try and fix the internet. It turns out that there was a fault in the line. A couple hours later the line was fixed, but nothing had changed; the internet remains as bad as before.
The average speed for good wifi in 2019 was a 25Mbps upload speed, and for some people that is considered slow compared to what they might have. But, here in Stenness, we only have an upload speed of 0.08Mbps, and a download speed of 0.28Mbps. That is not enough to upload my homework to Teams, or for my sisters to show their teachers some work on Seasaw. Mum and Dad have to use a personal hotspot on their phones to do their work.
It is important that our wifi works because we use it everyday and for many things. I use it for homework and so do my sisters. Mum uses it for her work. We cannot use our wifi to connect to my sister’s dance class. We have to use a hotspot. This is costing us a fortune as we have to buy extra ‘data’ to cope with how much we use it.
Kim McIntosh, my mother, explained that working from home using bad wifi is: “Frustrating!”
She said: “A lot of the work that I do requires, video calls, email, access to teams and uploading and downloading documents, so I do need a strong internet connection for lots of those things. Sometimes I am just not able to participate in team meetings and conferences because the internet just can’t cope with it. I sometimes have to get inventive with how I keep connected.”
Reports are coming in that yesterday, nothing happened.
The view of nothing happening.
Reliable sources confirmed today that nothing has been happening in small outbreaks all over the country. They went on to say that, in their opinion, it was not anything to worry about.
Eyewitnesses have been contacting us with their stories. One lady, who wishes to remain anonymous, stated: “I was just sat there, when it happened. Nothing, just happened. I didn’t know what to make of it.”
When asked to confirm these reports, government officials said: “We cannot confirm or deny this at the moment, but rest assured we will be looking into it. But when reports like this come in it is usually in the public interest to go along with it to maintain safety.”
The official said that more information can be found on the government website www.gov.uk.
In the past there have been sporadic reports of nothing happening, but never to such an extent. During these outbreaks no one was injured and we are led to believe by following the current trends that there is a very good chance that nothing will happen tomorrow.
If you have any stories or pictures about nothing happening to you, please email them to our newsdesk.
An ancient, cat-sized mammal was found in Madagascar. Scientists have revealed that this mammal would have walked among the last of the dinosaurs.
Adalatherium Hui was the size of a domestic cat.
This cat-sized mammal is thought to have lived alongside the last of the dinosaurs roughly 66 million years ago. Until now, it was thought that all mammals from this era were small rodent-sized animals. But living on Madagascar, which by this point had broken of from the rest of Gondwana, the creature was able to grow larger than most other mammals of its time.
Scientists appropriately named this creature Adalatherium Hui which means ‘crazy beast’. Scientist believe that Adalatherium would have burrowed in order to hide from predators.
According to David Krause, a vertebrate paleontologist, the discovery “bends and even breaks lots of rules.”
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