Special Events 2021

We open with a link between Orkney and Slovenia, and we round off with a ceilidh, and in between there is a range of special events, from late-evening stargazing to a singalong with Mr Boom, and from a service in St Magnus Cathedral to music from Kirkwall City Pipe Band.

FESTIVAL OPENING

September 2, 2021 → 11:00 am ─ 11:15 am

To mark the 25th anniversary of friendship and collaboration between Orkney International Science Festival and the Slovenian Science Foundation, this year Festival is opened by two people at the start of their careers. Dr Gavin Woodbridge from North Ronaldsay graduated this year in medicine. Dr Zarja Muršič is a science journalist in Slovenia.

SINGALONG WITH MR BOOM

September 4, 2021 → 2:00 pm ─ 2:20 pm

Calling all small residents of Planet Earth, and their parents, and grandparents too - Mr Boom is back! His spaceship is on its way to make a landing for a Science Festival singalong. “I’m a children’s one-man band, and I live up here on the moon in my imagination!”

VINTAGE RALLY

September 4, 2021 → 2:30 pm ─ 3:00 pm

It can be lying rusted in a field or shed … and then in the skilled hands of a member of Orkney Vintage Club it can after much time and care become a loving-restored car, motorbike, tractor or engine. Club members invite you in to see and hear about examples of restoration, and to see ...

KIRKWALL CITY PIPE BAND

September 4, 2021 → 7:00 pm ─ 8:30 pm

Music from the band to round off the summer.

SCIENCE FESTIVAL SERVICE

September 5, 2021 → 9:00 am ─ 9:30 am

Words, music and images from St Magnus Cathedral for a Sunday morning, with Rev. Fraser Macnaughton and the Cathedral Choir and organ.

SAVE IT FROM THE SHORE

September 7, 2021 → 7:00 pm ─ 8:30 pm

Dump it by the roadside, tip it in a waterway, throw it into the sea – from where it can often be washed ashore on beaches? It’s a global problem, but traditionally in islands where resources are finite, nothing was simply discarded. Driftwood became lintels and doorposts, worn-out clothes were turned into patchwork quilts ...