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The Stronsay evening classes in singing will resume on Monday 28 May under the tutelage of Michael Lee. It appears that most of the costs of the previous 3 years of evening classes have been met from a grant which has now dried up so we were in danger of losing the evening class altogther. However, Brian Crowe persuaded Stronsay Community Council to pay for Michael's ferry fees and we're providing accommodation for him.

I've discovered an interesting blog (http://oldmanofhoy.blogspot.com) by Morris Pottinger, a chap who was brought up on Whitehall Farm in the 1930s. It's well worth reading and contains a wealth of information about everyday life on Stronsay in the 1930s (such as farm cats getting a free squirt of milk from a kindly milkmaid!)

A few weeks ago the Sail Training Vessel "Swan" (http://www.theswan.shetland.co.uk) visited Stronsay for the day. Stronsay school organised trips for the pupils during the day and in the evening several people took the opportunity of a sail round the harbour. Isaac Erdman and his father from Ebenezer took the opportunity of a short two day trip around Orkney and Shetland. Isaac liked it so much that he is hoping to go with the Ocean Youth Trust and sail around Ireland in July. However, in order to do this he has to raise 500 pounds so Ebenezer Stores are holding a "Sail Sale" on 31 May to help raise some money for Isaac.

Spring has definitely arrived although it poured with rain on Bank Holiday Sunday. The cattle with their calves and the sheep with their lambs are now out in the fields around Stronsay. Maureen's raised beds have been filled with soil and planted out with a variety of plants. I've put some small trays of primulas on the exterior windowsill of the kitchen and they look nice & cheerful..A recent heavy rainfall showed up the leaks in the elderly guttering outside the bathroom so Malcolm has installed new guttering. We are still having problems with a drain on the other side of the house. It keeps getting blocked and as there is no rodding eye Malcolm has had to cut an "access point" in the plastic piping. Why on earch did someone install a 60 foot long 4 inch drain that leads into a soakaway and neglect to include a rodding eye anywhere along the length of the drain?

Ian Cooper, one of Stronsay's volunteer firefighters, paid Claremont an official visit together with the Community Fire Prevention Officer from Kirkwall. They went round the house and gave us a very comprehensive, free fire safety check together with lots of good advice - and we got some free smoke alarms too. The Fire Prevention Officer fitted the smoke alarms for us but had to use a long pole to press the alarm and its fixing pad onto the ceiling because although he was a fireman he was forbidden (by Health & Safety regulations) from standing on a step-ladder. During the visit Maureen mentioned a report in the local paper about one of the mainland fire brigades rescuing a cat that had got itself stuck up a tree, it appears that the fire brigade cannot not attend these incidents unless they are asked to do so by the SSPCA (Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals).

When we came back from church the other Sunday we could not find Surrey anywhere. We checked her usual hiding places but she was nowhere to be found. We were beginning to panic until Maureen spied Surrey in a new hidey hole
We were amazed that she got up there and down again without knocking down any of the other things on the shelf. On the following Sunday it was a bit breezy when we went into church at 11 am but it wasn't too bad by Orkney standards. However, by the time we came out of church it had developed into a F7 gale. Maureen decided not to wait for me and headed for the car only to be caught by the wind and blown straight towards the wall of the church. Viv Erdman tried to grab hold of Maureen but Viv probably weighs less than Maureen. Fortunately Ian, the fireman who had carried out our fire safety check, is a church elder so he was on hand so he leaped out of his car and came to Maureen's rescue. Maureen has now achieved her two main ambitions; a ride in a helicopter when she was taken to Aberdeen Infirmary; and being rescued by a fireman. The wind kept up all afternoon and was so bad that the ferry, loaded with passengers and cars to go over to mainland, had to abandon the attempt as the wind had made it impossible to leave Stronsay harbour in safety and all the passengers and cars had to get off again and return on Monday morning.

We went up to Stronsay school to vote in the recent elections so we contributed towards the 62 percent turnout in the Northern Isles. After voting had finished at 10 pm a pilot launch took Stronsay's ballot boxes along with those from Sanday and Shapinsay to Kirkwall for computerised counting in the Picky Centre.

It appears that the Sunday Mirror (a tabloid newspaper that I do not read) has caused an uproar by claiming - quite falsely - that more than 1,000 tonnes of oil had been removed from wreck of the Royal Oak in Scapa Flow, transported to a refinery in the north of Scotland and as a result a large cheque had been sent to the MoD. The truth is that any oil removed from the Royal Oak is sent toTalisman at the Flotta Oil Terminal who do not charge for the disposal of the oil, they accept it without charge and Orkney Harbours and the MoD do not charge anything for their work, which runs into many thousands of pounds. Where do these reporters get their stories from?