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A Scottish traffic warden has been reinstated - after a campaign to save him by local residents and motorists.

James Dewar, 59, was the only traffic warden in the port of Stromness on Orkney until he was told his services were no longer required.

The local police force had increased its presence in the town and its constables were due to take over his duties, reports the Daily Telegraph.

Mr Dewar, who is employed during the summer when tourists double the population of the historic town, keeps the traffic moving in one of Britain's narrowest high streets.

He has done the job for 14 years and is regarded as a friend by many of the residents. He also helps children get home safely after school, and offers advice to tourists.

"To us he's a friend," said Sarah Taylor, who headed the campaign to keep Mr Dewar.

"Anywhere else people would be surprised that we want to keep our traffic warden, but he does an invaluable job in Stromness and he's a great asset to the town."

Mr Dewar, who runs a small croft outside Stromness with his wife Jenny, looking after sheep, goats and hens, said: "For a traffic warden to be wanted is unusual to say the least.

"I'm deeply honoured that the people of Stromness wanted to keep me as their traffic warden. I'm so grateful for their support."

Chief Insp David Miller, of Northern Constabulary, said he could remain in Stromness this summer and the force would consider expanding his duties next year.

Sinclair Breweries has opened the tendering process for a massive expansion of its Orkney Brewery, which makes its flagship Dark Island beer.

The plans will see the company triple its brewing capacity to boost production of its existing products, in particular Dark Island, but also its 8.5% Skullsplitter brew and Red McGregor.

Sinclair Breweries, which also owns the Atlas Brewery at Kinlochleven in Argyll, will open a visitor centre and events venue, which will host tasting events and Orkney evenings for visitors, on the site.

The expansion will see the company taking on two new full-time brewing staff plus three more full-time and eight part-time employees for the visitor centre. Currently the brewery can not host visitors.

Sinclair Breweries, which bought the Orkney plant two years ago, hopes work will start on the project in August with the brewery expansion completed in five months and the visitor centre opened by March 2009.

Orkney suffers some of the worst coastal erosion in Scotland. As a result over 1,000 archaeological sites are at risk.

A new book by county archaeologist Julie Gibson will be launched this week, outlining a fraction of these sites and highlighting the problem.

A collaboration with photographer Frank Bradford, Rising Tides: The Loss of Coastal Heritage in Orkney, is being launched in Kirkwall tonight, part of the Maritime Societies of the Viking and Medieval World conference.

Proceeds from the title will go to the Friends of the Orkney Archaeolgical Trust.

Irish company OpenHydro has announced that it has become the first company to complete the connection of a tidal turbine to the UK national grid and commence electricity generation.

This is claimed to be a first for both the UK and Ireland and in doing so OpenHydro has reportedly become one of the first companies in the world to reach this stage of technical maturity. OpenHydro's 250kW open-centre turbine, which is installed at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) off Eday, Orkney, Scotland, commenced generation onto the grid.

EMEC is reportedly the only independent and publicly financed facility in the world for testing tidal and wave technologies. OpenHydro has been testing the power generation of its open-centre turbine over the past 18 months at EMEC

A surefire way to discover the best festivals is to ask the musicians who play them. Musicians love coming to Orkney, whether it's for the islands themselves, with their remote, Norse-influenced otherness, stark sea-girt beauty and wealth of archaeological treasures, the wholehearted welcome they receive from a music-loving population, or the thriving local music scene that this year contributes 20 home-grown acts to the 2008 festival programme that starts this week, May 22nd-25th.

"No other festival I've been to can compare with the atmosphere in Stromness that weekend," says Bob Gibbon, who took over this year as chairman of the organising committee. "A lot of festivals take place in community centres, village halls, fields or whatever, but Orkney Festival is just in the air."
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"It's like a party that just goes on for four days," says Kris Drever, the Orkney-born singer and guitarist who is now one of the UK folk scene's fastest-rising stars, as both a solo artist and a member of Lau, and who features among this year's festival headliners.

This stylistic cross-pollination is a strong feature of Orkney's music today. Underlying the scene is a solid foundation of traditional music tuition, both in schools and through independent ventures such as the Wrigley Sisters' Centre of Music, established by native-born duo Jennifer and Hazel in 2004 after years of international touring, and now seeking to expand.

Besides Drever's homecoming appearance, a very strong line-up for Orkney 2008 includes the superb Irish-American band Solas, multi-award-winning English singer-guitarist Martin Simpson, turbocharged Balkan/jazz dance music from Moishe's Bagel and the Highland ceilidh king himself, accordionist Fergie MacDonald. There's also a first-ever folk festival appearance by the acclaimed Scottish Fiddle Orchestra.