Lunches & Evenings

It’s the perfect break to round off a morning – a lunch of Orkney fare in the Peedie Kirk hall. It’s fine and central – just up Palace Road across from the Cathedral and past the Earl’s Palace – and each day there’s a One O’Clock Toast to a notably Orcadian.

In the later evenings the venue is the Orkney Club, along the Kirkwall waterfront, past the Kirkwall and St Ola Hotels. It’s a smaller and atmospheric setting, with topics ranging from a landscape of limestone in Slovenia’s Karst to memories of Orkney’s hurricane of 1953.

BUT OH! THE STARS WITH MUSIC SHINE

September 7 → 9:00 pm10:30 pm

Scottish composer Eddie McGuire’s five astronomy-inspired pieces of music have never been played before as a complete series. Tonight, to celebrate his 75th birthday, you can hear them together, introduced by astronomer Dr Anne-Marie Weijmans of St Andrews University. The music comes in three films specially recorded by musicians from the University, including trumpeter Bede Williams and members of the Wallace Collection.

PICKING UP PIECES OF MUSICAL DRIFTWOOD

September 7 → 9:00 pm10:00 pm

The Driftwood Cowboys – Duncan McLean, Iain Tait, Brian Cromarty and Douglas Montgomery – pick up musical flotsam from the Orkney shores and build something unique from it, connected by stories, reflections and conversation. Country, blues, swing, bothy ballads and traditional fiddle combine in tales of island life.

BUFFET LUNCH OF ORKNEY FARE

September 8 → 12:30 pm2:00 pm

Meet friends old or new and enjoy the best of Orkney cheese, meat, fish and baking. The One O’Clock Toast today is in memory of Kathleen Scott of North Ronaldsay, teacher in Dundee and Community Association secretary in the island, who laid the foundations for North Ronaldsay’s successful bid for international dark-sky status. It is given by Islands Councillor Heather Woodbridge.

A LANDSCAPE OF LIMESTONE

September 8 → 9:00 pm10:00 pm

High in the south of Slovenia, near Italy and the Adriatic Sea, rises the great plateau of the Karst, a mass of limestone shaped by water. Join Dr Edvard Kobal to see images and find out about the landscape itself and the food it produces in the loamy terra rossa soil, including the red wine known as teran and the air-dried ham pršut.

BUFFET LUNCH OF ORKNEY FARE

September 9 → 12:30 pm2:00 pm

Meet friends old or new and enjoy the best of Orkney cheese, meat, fish and baking. Hear too the announcement of the winners in the wildlife photography competition. The One O’Clock Toast is in memory of the writer Bessie Skea (‘Countrywoman’), born 100 years ago. It is given by her granddaughter, Sarah Jane Gibbon.

SYMPHONIES OF GALAXIES

September 9 → 8:00 pm9:30 pm

Astronomy is one of the rich mix of influences on the Scottish composer Eddie McGuire, in conversation here with astronomer Dr Anne-Marie Weijmans and trumpeter and conductor Bede Williams, both from St Andrews University. He has also played for more than 40 years in one of Scotland’s most distinctive traditional music groups, the Whistlebinkies, and a group of Orkney traditional musicians will help to celebrate the occasion.

BUFFET LUNCH OF ORKNEY FARE

September 11 → 12:30 pm2:00 pm

Meet friends old or new and enjoy the best of Orkney cheese, meat, fish and baking. The One O’Clock Toast today is in memory of Kirkwall Provost James Flett, stationer and antiquarian. It is given by Spencer Rosie, his great-nephew.

BEUY WHIT A WIND IT WIS LAST NIGHT!

September 11 → 9:00 pm10:00 pm

The story of the hurricane-force winds of 1953, told through recordings past and present and archive photos. Dr Tom Rendall is joined by Ailsa Seatter (Westray), Billy Cardno (Kirkwall), and Donnie Grieve (Harray), and recently recorded accounts from Isa Stanger (Kirkwall), Jim Pratt (Shapinsay) and Jim Lennie (Sanday). Sarah Jane Gibbon reads a description from her grandmother, Bessie Skea (Countrywoman).

BUFFET LUNCH OF ORKNEY FARE

September 12 → 12:30 pm2:00 pm

Meet friends and enjoy the best of Orkney cheese, meat, fish and baking. Today's One O’Clock Toast, in memory of Eoin Scott, farmer, Islands Councillor, and Science Festival chairman, is given by Dr Edvard Kobal of the Slovenian Science Foundation.

BUFFET LUNCH OF ORKNEY FARE

September 13 → 12:30 pm2:00 pm

Meet friends old or new and enjoy the best of Orkney cheese, meat, fish and baking. The One O’Clock Toast today is in memory of Rae Phillips, lightkeeper at various stations and miller at the Barony Mills for many years. It is given by Keith Johnson.

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