Another year has gone by and we are rapidly approaching the AGM, which this year will be held in the St Magnus Centre, Kirkwall at 7.00pm on Thursday 14th November 2024.
2024 has been a particularly busy year for the Society, the highlight of which has been an oral history project on St Magnus Cathedral. Forty-six people have been interviewed for this project giving their memories of this most iconic of buildings as well as describing what the building means to them. The interviews were conducted by Tom Rendall and Annie Thuesen, with the recordings now available in the Orkney Library and Archive. Summaries of the interviews have been made into a small publication, St Magnus Cathedral Memories and Meanings costing £10 which will be launched at the conclusion of the AGM business. Tom Rendall will give a talk on the project.
For those that cannot attend in person, you can join online. This will be via Microsoft Teams, and you will need to register via Eventbrite to attend online. Please follow this link to register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1061964156379
The link to attend will then be accessible via the Eventbrite event page, and will also appear in your confirmation email.
The AGM provides an opportunity for members to get together to exchange ideas for future activities of the Society. As ever there is an opportunity to get involved and we are always keen to welcome new board members.
Normally, meetings are held every six weeks or so on an evening in Kirkwall and last for up to two hours. During winter and in times of expected bad weather, meetings are held online.
On Thursday 18th of July at 7:30pm Orkney Heritage Society is arranging a meeting in the Stenness Community Hall to provide an opportunity for people to share knowledge on what they have heard SSE are planning for the county.
During a recent ‘Orkney matters’ community meeting in Stenness the issue emerged of the lack of information about proposed works. ‘We found that different people had different stories about what is planned’ explained OHS Chair Spencer Rosie. ‘We thought it could be useful for people to gather to share what information they know as a starting point.’
Stories have emerged of worries about overhead poles and also the scale of the land to be used in burying the export cable from Finstown to Warebeth. ‘Land owners report having had sporadic visits from people associated with the project, but things go quiet for months.’ Different people have different information and there doesn’t seem to be a central source of information on all the works. We thought it would be useful to bring people together to share what we do know.
‘We realise that there is going to be a lot of work to be undertaken in order to prepare Orkney for the renewables that we will need to see to tackle climate change, however it is important that this is undertaken with the minimum of disruption and as few surprises as possible to those affected. The works are going to be extensive and pass right through Stenness parish, so this seemed to be the logical place to hold this initial meeting.’
There will be some short presentations on known information by local residents and any other people with information will be able to contribute to the body of knowledge as it builds up.
If you have had approaches from SSE about your land or have information on what is planned then please do come along.
For more information contact: chair@orkneyheritagesociety.org.uk
On 26th February 2024, the capacity audience in Friends Room at the St Magnus Centre were treated to a fascinating talk by Howie Firth on one of the underpinnings of Orkney society. The 1974 Orkney County Council Act gave substantial local control over industrial developments in clearly defined harbour areas, most notably Scapa Flow.
“This could have been a very dull evening” quipped Orkney Heritage Society Chair Spencer Rosie at the end, “but in fact it has been eye-opening thanks to Howie’s insight and presentation. He was an active observer at the time and his perspective invaluable”
Howie explained how at the time the Orkney’s County Council was tiny, its offices being in the building in Broad Street that was the Reel. Working jointly with Shetland, private Bills were sponsored by the officers and members to give the islands the capacity to organise themselves in the face of the looming developments of North Sea Oil. Remarkably they passed and gave the counties unprecedented control over their destiny by granting powers including the capacity to establish a reserve fund to be used for the benefit of the people of Orkney.
Howie began his talk highlighting how Orkney’s economic activity went in peaks and troughs, beginning with the highs of the Neolithic period. Troughs were often caused by changing climatic conditions and often led to starvation. In more recent centuries, there were opportunities for young people to earn good money in whaling and the Canadian fur trade. Agriculture was given a boost due to the role Orkney played in two world wars. Post war stagnation set in, but there was always a determination to do something about it.
A specific confluence of forces in the mid-1960s led to the Act. The small Liberal Party led by the highly regarded Orkney and Shetland MP Jo Grimond exerted some positive influence over a minority Labour Party. This led to the creation of the Highlands and Islands Development Board, forerunner of HIE, whose aim was to boost economic activity in the region.
Howie explained how a period of centralisation followed during the term of a subsequent majority Labour government which culminated in the proposal to create regional and district councils, with Orkney and Shetland lumped in with a large Highland Council. This was bitterly opposed in Orkney and Shetland and the following Conservative government created the island authorities we see today. Howie emphasized the harbour legislation could not have happened if the islands had lost control of its local government.
In parallel the 1970s saw the discovery of North Sea Oil and the possibility of developments coming to the islands. The political situation at the time was explained by Howie and the urgent need to get Britain’s oil flowing. A strong case was put by local representatives that it would be in the best interest of both the oil companies and government if oil developments were controlled locally so that the process could be speeded up. There was huge consternation in Shetland when a property developer had acquired 5,000 acres at Sullom Voe, the preferred site of their oil terminal.
Howie also recounted the fascinating story of how Flotta was chosen as the site for Occidental’s oil terminal. Because this talk was filmed it is well worth watching the recording for this story alone, originally told by a senior Scottish Office official to Eoin Scott many years ago.
Howie emphasized the enormous achievement and far sightedness of local officials and representatives, along with MP Joe Grimond in drawing up a plan, which gained the backing of government and the oil companies. The Orkney County Council Act was passed on 31st July 1974. It begins:
An Act to authorise the county council of the county of Orkney to exercise harbour jurisdiction and powers in respect of development, including powers to license the construction of works and dredging, in certain areas of and adjacent to the county, and in connection therewith to acquire lands compulsorily; and for other purposes.
Howie thought the Act was very much part of Orkney History and its contents should be published for all to read. We completely agree and the Act is going up on the Orkney Heritage Society website for all to see (available here).
Howie went into more detail regarding the section relating to the Reserve Fund which allowed the Council to accrue money from the profits from the operation of the oil facility. All local authorities can have financial reserves, but the Reserve Funds Orkney and Shetland were able to accrue were to be treated differently. Howie went on to highlight one clause which was included by Orkney officials more in hope than expectation, but was accepted by Parliament and gave much more freedom in the use of the Reserve Fund. This was Section 69 3 (e), which said:
Any reserve fund provided under this section may be applied –
(e) For any other purposes which in the opinion of the Council is solely in the interests of the county or its inhabitants.
As Howie said, “It is remarkable looking back how one of the country’s smallest councils, whose offices were in a small building in Broad Street, took on powers that no other local authority had and have run a large harbour area with tugs, pilotage, environmental testing etc. Through the latter, universities created offshoots in Orkney which have grown over the years and help underpin much of the innovation going on today for which Orkney is internationally renowned.”
Howie finished his presentation by bringing matters up to date and speculating what lessons can be learnt in helping to control the large renewable developments due to happen in Orkney.
A recording of the presentation was generously made by OREF and is available below:
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