Westray and Evie pupils catch the wind and meet the challenge
Westray and Evie schools are the winners of the 2022 Blyth Challenge. The Challenge, named after Scottish 19th-century wind energy pioneer James Blyth, set a target for schools: to design and build a model wind turbine; or alternatively to produce a research portfolio on wind power. It was run by Dave Craig from SCDI Young Engineers and
Talks
Fire on the Amazon, fire in the Arctic. Orkney’s rocks forming in an ancient lake. Dinosaurs with wings. The origins of the potato, and the origins of Orkney’s own grain. The days of early radio. The Caithness genius who invented the fax machine, and the electric clock as well. The men and women who tended a seed bank through
Online Events
You can access many events online. The past two years have been a time of discovery for us, developing online delivery and finding out that we have been able to reach many people who would not otherwise have been able to access us. We are delivering a range of events online this year. Some of these are livestreamed from
Scotland’s Year of Stories 2022
We’ve a rich harvest of stories, among them the account of one of the great voyages, six men in an open boat through Antarctic seas on a rescue mission through blizzards, ice and mountainous waves. We will hear about the Orkney connections developed by one of them. We will look north to the days of the Arctic whaling,
Art & Film
Among the exhibitions, art meets geology in The Rock Cycle, and it meets poetry and natural history in When the Grass Dances, with a film too. Other films include island elements of Orkney and a filmed composition of drawing, painting and sound from the Ness of Brodgar excavations, evoking the physical existence of the dig, in a flow of voices and images.
Exhibitions 2022
There’s a rich mixture of themes in this year’s exhibitions. Art meets geology in The Rock Cycle at the Pier Arts Centre, Stromness, and just along the street Orkney’s Neolithic past is the theme of After Orcadia at the Northlight Gallery. A little further on, Stromness Museum features the story of an ongoing excavation of an Iron Age broch