Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Friday 25 May 2007 Kirkwall, Orkney, Scotland

What is the connection between Orkney and David Lammy, Minister for Culture and Labour MP for Tottenham?

Introduction

BuyOrkney is an innovative website focused on Orcadian culture, history and environment. It is also a shop where anyone can buy little pieces of Orkney, in a variety of senses.

The BuyOrkney shop has now opened for business. Already goods have been shipped to Canada, United States and Australia as well as various locations in Scotland and the rest of the UK. New suppliers are being added every week. It is starting to build momentum and that has to be good for Orkney.

One of the features of the site is the number of biographies that have been researched of interesting but often forgotten characters with strong Orkney links. However, while researching people from Orkney’s history, Pat Long often comes across unusual and interesting connections with Orkney's present.

Over the last few centuries, Orcadians and their descendants have settled in America, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and many other places including the West Indies and other countries where the slave trade once operated. Indeed, the Stronsay herring fishing was started to feed Orcadian James Laing's slaves in Jamaica

There are also Canadian Indians with Orcadian blood and family links still celebrated in Orkney.

The Canadian Homecoming

The radio and newspapers have been covering the visit to Orkney of descendents of Orcadians who emigrated to Canada many years ago. They were living links with Eday, Holm and other places and clearly had a strong interest in their ancestry and the places they came from.

Pat Long from BuyOrkney attended one of the events at Corrigal Farm Museum and chatted to a few of the Canadians about interesting characters (James Sinclair, Alexander Kennedy Isbister, and William Kennedy) appearing on the BuyOrkney website.

Archaeological and genealogical holidays are likely to become more of a feature of the Orkney economy over the next few years. As each generation gets older and as travel becomes easier and more affordable, it is likely that Orkney will see many more of this type of tourist.

BuyOrkney is trying to reach out to these people and to sell Orkney goods to them wherever they are located around the world. You just have to look at Charles Tait’s Orkney Guide Book on line at www.buyorkney.com and the many other features of the site to see how this is being achieved. It is therefore only natural that Pat and her team will continue to work closely with the various organisations promoting this type of tourism in Orkney. It is inevitable that the BuyOrkney website will itself, in some small way, encourage more tourists to come to Orkney. More of these tourists and others taking an interest in Orkney will mean more trade for the BuyOrkney shop and therefore more trade for BuyOrkney's Orkney based suppliers.

BuyOrkney is already seeing this happen. A member of a forum on a bikers' site, www.steveenglish.com, based in Luton, recently added a link to the BuyOrkney website and in particular to the Orkney Window page. Another member of the forum remarked that they hadn't realised how beautiful Orkney was and would add it to their list of places to visit. One more tourist for Orkney.

The answer to our question...

It was reported in The Observer that David Lammy, Minister for Culture and Labour MP for Tottenham and of West Indian origin told an audience at The Museum of Childhood that DNA tests showed he had Orkney roots. Pat has been trying to find out more and he may sometime become the subject of a more modern biography.

[END]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Friday 1 June 2007 Kirkwall, Orkney, Scotland

Orkney through the looking glass, or is that a webcam.

Introduction

BuyOrkney is an innovative website focused on Orcadian culture, history and environment. It is also a shop where anyone can buy little pieces of Orkney, and more pieces are being added all the time. New modules will also be appearing on the site over the next few months.

The BuyOrkney shop is taking orders for a variety of products and shipping them around the world. Angus Findlater can now be heard singing Lonely Scapa Flow from Thurso to New Zealand.

The online version of Charles Tait’s Orkney Guide Book is attracting a lot of attention and bringing in many visitors to the website. This, the gallery of Orkney images and the biographies of interesting people with Orkney connections are educating many more people about Orkney.

Another element of the site has been the webcams. These have proved very popular and people from around the world have been able to see views of various parts of Orkney.

The Orkney Village

Orkney The Brand seems to be a great success. It is innovative and forward looking and a great asset to Orkney and Orcadian businesses looking to expand into markets outside of Orkney.

BuyOrkney is a similar forward looking company aiming to promote Orkney and Orcadian businesses on the internet. It brings together the widest possible range of Orkney producers and products and markets them using many different internet strategies and this is now showing up as sales. Although set up as a commercial venture it adopts many of the principles of the Orkney Village. It markets Orkney and Orcadian producers while selling Orcadian products.

One of innovative features on the BuyOrkney site has been the webcams page where people from around the world can see a variety of views of Orkney. Some are existing cameras that have also been made available to BuyOrkney. Others are cameras that have been set up for BuyOrkney. More cameras are currently being planned and Pat Long at BuyOrkney is keen to hear from anyone who would be interested in sharing the views from an existing camera or in setting up a new one.

Visit Orkney no longer wish to share their webcam views and so these cameras have been removed from the BuyOrkney site. For those people who regularly looked at these views of Stromness and Westray, this will be a considerable disappointment. However, they can still see views of Broad Street in Kirkwall, the airport and Stromness Harbour.

Pat Long and her team are actively engaged in finding replacements for the Visit Orkney cameras and new views will be appearing shortly. She would be particularly keen to hear from anyone in the North or South Isles. All you need is a view and a broadband connection. In return, the sponsoring individual or business is named and given a link. The company provides technical assistance to anyone who is interested in installing a webcam but doesn’t know where to start. Anyone can help promote Orkney and Orkney products by working with BuyOrkney to install more webcams on the site.

[END]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Friday 11 May 2007 Kirkwall, Orkney, Scotland

Is Stronsay a hot bed of revolution?

Introduction

BuyOrkney is an innovative website focused on Orcadian culture, history and environment. It is also a shop where anyone can buy little pieces of Orkney, in a variety of senses.

One of the features of the site is the number of biographies that have been researched of famous, and infamous, but often forgotten characters with strong Orkney links that have helped to shape the world.

Over the last few centuries, Orcadians and their descendants have settled in America, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and many other places. They helped to shape the British Empire and also fought against it. They helped to establish the new colonies in The United States and many settled in Canada because of the Hudson’s Bay Company.

BuyOrkney is a new website and the shop has only just opened for business. Already goods have been shipped to Canada, United States and Australia as well as various locations in Scotland and the rest of the UK.

John Scollay, Son of Liberty

John Scollay was born in Boston in 1711. His family had left Stronsay and settled in the new colony in America. John became a prominent citizen of Boston and Scollay Square in Boston is linked to him. You can see his portrait on the BuyOrkney website. Otherwise you would need to travel to The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts to see it.

John was Chairman of the Selectmen of Boston ( the town council) for many years, right through the American Revolution, and a Fire Marshall from 1747 until his death in 1790.

In 1761 John Scollay was one of the 50 signatories of a petition to George lll protesting about the illegal actions of British Revenue Officers and he became a member of the Sons of Liberty. He was associated with Samuel Adams, Paul Revere and John Hancock. He is linked to the planning of the Boston Tea Party and one of his sons-in-law, Thomas Melville, was one of the Indians. Thomas’ wife Priscilla preserved the tea-leaves she found in his shoes as a family heirloom.

John and Mercy Scollay had ten children and it is their son, William who gave Scollay Square in Boston its name. The square is so famous in America that a whole book, available in the BuyOrkney shop, has been written about it. To find out more about the fascinating history of this family from Stronsay in Orkney, go to the biography section of the BuyOrkney website.

BuyOrkney is aimed at everyone with an interest in Orkney and especially all the people who have left Orkney over the years and their descendants. The site aims to provide a link back to their origins enabling them to find out more and to buy modern Orcadian produce from the BuyOrkney shop.

[END]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Friday 4th May 2007

Fluorescent dye can speak volumes, or maybe not...

Introduction

BuyOrkney is an innovative website focused on Orcadian culture, history and environment. It is also a shop where anyone can buy little pieces of Orkney, in a variety of senses.

Alexa is the name of a family of fluorescent dyes typically used as cytoplasmic labels in cell biology. However, Alexa is also the name of a subsidiary of Amazon.com which provides traffic statistics on the sites in its index.

Alexa's traffic rankings are based on the usage patterns of Alexa Toolbar users over a rolling 3 month period. A site's ranking is based on a combined measure of reach and pageviews. Reach is determined by the number of unique Alexa users who visit a site on a given day. Pageviews are the total number of Alexa user URL requests for a site.

BuyOrkney is a new website and the shop has only just opened for business in the last few days. The rankings by organizations such as Alexa give an indication of just how the site will perform out there in the World Wide Web. First indications are that it will do very well.

What does Alexa have to say about BuyOrkney

On Thursday 3 May BuyOrkney had a page rank of 51537. The average page rank for the last week was 90113 and the last three month was 196752 and improving all the time. It should level out in the short term at well under 100000 overall.

However, what does this mean in practice. These figures can be put into context. These are the 3 month averages from Alexa for various well known Orkney sites.

For more information about the Alexa rankings and to see how other sites perform visit www.alexa.com.

The team behind BuyOrkney is quite proud of their achievements to date bearing in mind how long the site has been active. The indication from Alexa is that they can expect to be very busy for a long time to come.

Alexa also monitors the origin of the BuyOrkney traffic. China. Morocco, Malaysia and Rumania are some of the more unusual sources of traffic to the site.

According to Alexa, Buyorkney.com users come from these countries:

BuyOrkney is aimed at everyone with an interest in Orkney and especially all the people who have left Orkney over the years and their descendants. The site aims to provide a link back to their origins enabling them to find out more and to buy modern Orcadian produce from the BuyOrkney shop.

[END]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Tuesday 1st May 2007

Open for Business

They say that silence is golden. That may be the case but it does not mean that nothing is happening. Those people who are regulars to the BuyOrkney site will have seen many new features over the last few months. Probably the largest has been the addition of an online version of Charles Tait's Orkney Guidebook and about half of the book is now available free online. The rest will follow shortly. You can already read about Orkney's archaeology, place names, flora and fauna, history and of course the Ba'. Sections on various parishes are starting to appear.

This is a well resourced site and while the guidebook and other sections have been developed, the shop has also been evolving. Pat Long has been busy speaking to suppliers and putting over 400 products and descriptions on the site. Not everyone could see this of course, but a select group of preview users was given access to the shop. This meant that suppliers could see how their products were being displayed.

In the bookshop you can read about the "Hogboon of Hellihowe" or immerse yourself in "A Calendar of Love." Read about "The Dark Enchanted Island" of Hoy or Jo Grimond in "Towards the Sound of Gunfire." There is always "Bloody Orkney?" if that takes your fancy or just "Whit Like Today" by Gregor Lamb. If you like Charles Tait's Guide Book Online, you can buy the paperback for yourself or someone else.

While you are having a good Orkney read why not enjoy a glass of one of the best malt whiskies in the world or a glass of Orkney wine. Your book and tipple could arrive in the same parcel.

There is much more in the shop. Prints, paintings, diving accessories, jewellery, food and drink, but all with a distinctive Orkney flavour and there is still more to come.

On your way to or from the shop, check out the webcams in Stromness, Kirkwall and Westray. Read the biographies. Did you know that the first man on board the Marie Celeste was supposedly an Orcadian, or the difference that Orcadians have made to the history of Britain, America, Canada, Australia and other countries? Did you know that in the 19th Century an Orcadian kept England's trains running? It's all here and there will be more.

Even without a live shop, the traffic to this site has been considerable. On some rankings it is already one of the top Orkney sites and it is going to get bigger. You can see the Alexa ranking of BuyOrkney by visiting www.buyorkney.com and going to "about us", not that the team is getting smug or resting on their laurels. Too much still to do!

Tuesday 1 May is the big day. This landmark event is the next stage in the development but there will be many more. This is a site to bookmark and keep coming back to again and again. It is an Orkney place and a place for Orcadians and their descendants around the world to touch "home" soil.

We recommend signing up for "a little piece of Orkney" delivered to your inbox daily. Have a look at today's piece at www.buyorkney.com. The email will also keep subscribers informed of new developments and products on the site. A must for anyone interested in Orkney.

[END]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Friday 22nd December 2006

Genius Loves Company

There has recently been a flurry of activity on other websites copying some of the ideas first used by BuyOrkney. It is rather flattering and a great compliment for which the team are all quite proud. They feel that they are doing their bit to make other websites more interesting.

Pat is continuing to scour the world for information and photos for the biography pages. Photos of Andrew Craigie, Captain William Leask and Professor Thomas Stewart Traill have recently been added to the site. Their relatives are still in Orkney. Can you see any likenesses?

Pat also has a number of other photos that will shortly be added to the site. These have been sent to her from many parts of the world by people who have found BuyOrkney and are now contributing to the stock of valuable information about Orcadians who settled overseas, and their descendants. They seem to have been a resourceful bunch and made a considerable impact wherever they went. If you have some old family photos or stories that you think would be interesting, send them to Pat Long at BuyOrkney. If you have Orcadian blood then you are probably related to her anyway, so get in touch.

The team are working harder than Santa's elves at the moment but they will get a short break over Christmas. It will then be back to work. When the shop opens the site will be less that half complete. The team have a lot of work ahead of them. However they have the resources and the manpower and so it is only a matter of time.

Pat wants to hear from any Orcadians around the world this Christmas. Let he know where you will be spending it. She would be delighted to hear from you. Just email her!

Pat Long and all her elves wish everybody a Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas from Pat and her elves.

Contact our Press Officer for more information.

[END]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Friday 8th December 2006

Telecommunication is wonderful!

It does not seem that long ago that you thought twice before ringing your brother in Melbourne of your cousin in Edmonton. Now it seems just a matter of picking up the phone and there they are. Letters that once took weeks to travel by sea around the world, can be sent by email and the reply come s back before you have had the chance to make a cup of coffee. The previous generation thought that the telephone itself was wonderful. How our perceptions change with the onward march of technology.

The internet is making the world smaller. The descendants of all those Orcadians that left to seek their fortunes all around the world are now curious about where their genes came from and where the old family stories originated. We can help. We want you to come and experience Orkney (you can pay us a visit if you are passing). Come and buy something Orcadian and get it shipped anywhere in the world. Watch Orkney on the webcams. Read about the Orcadians that went out and prospered around the world. Then, send us your own stories. Tell us about your connection with Orkney.

BuyOrkney is developing fast. You might not believe it, but it is true, and the results of all these efforts will appear over the next weeks and months. It takes time, but the end result will certainly be worth the wait. Take, for example, the webcams. Sit in any part of the world (preferably warm and dry) and watch Orkney battle through the winter weather with short grey days and long cold nights and enough wind to share. Someone once said that Orkney resembles the Falklands but at least we have some trees. In Evie (and elsewhere) there are 30 year old Sycamore trees that are less than a metre high. We would put one on a webcam but we do not think the rate of growth would be very exciting to watch. But there are the webcams at Stromness and Kirkwall harbours and at Pierowall in Westray. You can watch the Christmas lights outside the Cathedral and the shoppers along Broad Street. We have plans for many more webcams but we cannot say more about them just yet.

Remember, the webcams will be working during the Ba’ on Christmas Day and New Years day. It will be worth a look (even if you have to get up in the middle of your night to see it!).

Send us your photos from around the world this Christmas and New Year and we'll put them on the website. Tell us your Orkney link and we’ll add that as well.

Contact our Press Officer for more information.

[END]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Friday 1st December 2006

The BuyOrkney offices in Kirkwall have been buzzing with Activity recently. Not only has there been a lot going on with the project but the BuyOrkney staff have been joined by some refugees from the recent flooding in Junction Road who have now moved temporarily into a neighbouring office. This is the local NFU and, you never know, the interaction of BuyOrkney and the NFU might result in more farming content.

The office has been working overtime recently. There is a lot to get done and the results of all this labour will shortly be visible for everyone to see. More about that another time!

Pat Long has been going about and meeting people and telling them about BuyOrkney. She recently appeared on Radio Orkney. It was hoped to get a transcript or recording of the broadcast but the Beeb were having technical difficulties and so we have not received these, yet!

The Content of the site is growing. Do not read the biography of Captain William Leask just after you get back to your desk after lunch, unless the boss is out for the afternoon. It is a gripping and fascinating account of one Stenness man's life. Also do not read about the Andersons, Cloustons, Craigies, Garsons, Inksters, Mowatts, Norquays or Spences unless you have a lot of time on your hands. Definitely do not read any of the new biographies that will shortly appear on the site or you will never get any work done. Pat has been busy doing the research and anyone who has more stories of Orcadians should get in touch with her. She wants to hear from you!

Pat, being the sort of person who always seems to be in the winning team at quiz nights (don't they make you sick!) has a thing about facts and quizzes. You will therefore not be surprised to learn that some new ones will shortly appear on the site ready for Christmas. Keep coming back. They are not far away and they will test your knowledge of Orkney and Orcadians past and present.

Oh, and by the way, the shop is not far away now! It has taken a bit longer than expected but we hope that you will think that it was worth the wait.

Contact our Press Officer for more information.

[END]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Friday 8th September 2006

Jim Sinclair's Orkney Roots

Not exactly Jim Sinclair, of course, but anyone who, like our imaginary character, left Orkney many years ago.

Stories of harvests, peat cutting, fishing, blackenings, weddings that lasted for days are all stories that emigrants from Orkney in times past will have passed on to the next generations. If you have Orkney roots then this site is one to visit. You may not be able to smell the peat smoke but you can always imagine. Watch out for Orkney peat on sale in the shop!

Have you ever wondered if the Sinclair, Flett or Rendall, in your area or the Clouston, Craigie, Eunson or Flaws in your local phone book, came from the same place as your family? Other common Orkney names include Kemp, Linklater, Kirkness, Leask, Merriman, Matches, Omand, Petrie, and Sclater (or Slater). Do these sound familiar?

The site has a page to enter details of ancestors who left Orkney years before. There will be a sort of "Orcadians Reunited" so that for instance, if you live in Melbourne, you can find out which other Orcadian families are in your area. Just visit the Orkney Roots pages of this site and enter your details. You do not need to worry about privacy, but see the website for more details.

Recently, a small hotel near Dingwall came to the attention of the BuyOrkney crew, albeit by accident. This is a small hotel that is run by the slightly eccentric (sorry Chris) Christopher Slater and his wife. Christopher Slater's grandfather came from Kirkwall. At breakfast when he realised that the crew came from Orkney, he produced the family scrapbook with copies of the Orcadian and the Orkney Herald from the early 1920s. He was obviously still proud of his Orkney roots. This is a place that offers a real Orkney welcome to anyone passing, but like most Orcadians he will want to speak to you and find out where you are from and where you are going. The crew stayed there and would certainly go back again.

For more information contact the Achilty Hotel or visit their website at www.achiltyhotel.co.uk.

In due course the BuyOrkney site will include a facility for anyone to enter details of any hotels and guest houses with Orkney connections. The Scottish list already includes ones in Wick, Invergarry and Dingwall. However, the list in due course will be worldwide. Where are the ones in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States? If you have come across a hotel that has Orkney connections just let the BuyOrkney team know through the website. Can we find one in Brazil, Singapore or China? Where will they crop up?

There will be a page on the site especially for these hotels, guest houses and B&Bs, but the list is already growing.

This is a friendly site and anyone is encouraged to get in touch. The people at BuyOrkney want feed back on what they are doing. Get in touch and help shape the way that the site is developing. This is not an Orkney site. It is a worldwide site for people interested in Orkney.

To add your feedback, go to Contact Us link on the home page of the website (www.buyorkney.com). This is a site that wants to hear from everyone.

Contact our Press Officer for more information.

[END]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Friday 1 September 2006

G'Day Oz

The development of the BuyOrkney website continues to gather pace. There is a lot of work going on behind the scenes and the results will be rolled out over the coming months. The shop is the next big launch and the people behind BuyOrkney have already contacted a host of suppliers and they have an amazing array of products to sell. Might need a bigger shop!

However, the long hours of development have not daunted anyone's enthusiasm. If anything, everyone involved in BuyOrkney is getting caught up in the communal enthusiasm (or is it mass hysteria) for the project.

The momentum is growing and the site already has a loyal following and regular visitors. The web cams are particularly popular and there are more in development. The site now regularly experiences over 10,000 hits per day and it is still in development and the shop has not yet opened for business. By the way G'Day Oz, recently 42 per cent of the hits on one day came from Down Under!

That is not ignoring everyone else. The site attracts interest from all around the world and the office gets regular emails from a variety of people who all have a keen interest in Orkney. Just the other day, one of our regulars with Orkney roots said that seeing the site made them want to come on holiday to Orkney all the way from Pennsylvania.

There are many people in all parts of the world who either left Orkney or whose families left many years ago. When BuyOrkney was first conceived it was recognised that people with Orcadian roots wanted to know more and had a keen interest in their family's origins. The site will eventually have a lot of information about the everyday history of Orkney and perhaps more importantly, the people. As a start, the biography section highlights some of the forgotten heroes from Orkney. Orcadians seemed to go everywhere and succeeded wherever they went. You can now read about them and you may even discover lost relations. However, there are many more biographies still to come.

This is a site under serious development and there are a lot of surprises still to come.

Contact our Press Officer for more information.

[END]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Friday 18th August 2006

Lawyers don't know everything! It's official

It's official. Hard though it may be, you have to come to terms with the fact that it has now been proven that lawyers do not know everything. We have the proof. We have the evidence.

The 1st Orkney Quiz to be set by the BuyOrkney team was available at The County Show. It had been compiled from information gathered for the popular daily BuyOrkney email.

Unfortunately, although Anne Robertson of J E P Robertson & Son in Stromness did not get all the answers right, she did do better that anyone else and so we would probably have to concede that she "knows her Orkney" better that most. Well done Anne.

The Orkney Quiz is just one of the attractions of this new site. It is a shopping site but you will not find a shop on it, or at least not yet. Even though the shop is not yet open, there are far more reasons to visit the site than the shop. As time goes by and more features are added this will be a focus for activity about Orkney. It will be a place that will appeal to Orcadians in Orkney and around the world. It will be a meeting place and a market. A place to shop, learn and have fun.

This week you can see screen shots of what the shop will look like, try the quiz for yourself (see if you can do better than Anne Robertson) check out the first of the web cams to appear on the site and much more.

If you feel in reflective mood then visit www.alittlepieceoforkney.com where the BuyOrkney blog will stir some memories of the way things used to be and comment on the way they are now. Have your say. There are more blogs on the way.

The ever popular daily emails are being sent around the world. There seems to be unquenchable hunger for news, facts, information and links with Orkney. The shop is not yet open for business but the site certainly is and it is still only part built.

Anyone interested in finding out more about the site should go to www.BuyOrkney.com where not quite all (yet) will be revealed. Alternatively send an email to Pat@orkmail.com and she will fill you in on what is coming up in the near future. She already gets emails from all parts of the world from people who have visited the site. Just get in touch.

Contact our Press Officer for more information.

[END]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Monday 14 August 2006

I can buy Orkney!

"I can buy Orkney!" shouted the young man as he stumbled past the sign on a tent at the County Show late on Saturday afternoon, a little unstable on his feet and trying to catch up with his girlfriend who did not appear to be either sympathetic or very patient with him. He did not seem to notice. The reply came back from the tent "... and you get the t-shirt too and only £10." He was not caring about the t-shirt!

BuyOrkney will be an online shop but a limited amount of stock was made available for sale at the stand. BuyOrkney, in association with Jean Ross, had designed and produced some t-shirts with extracts of the daily emails printed on them. A child size sample with "a little piece of Orkney" across the front was quickly snapped up by a couple for their daughter. That t-shirt could have been sold many times over on the day.

The demand was such that some orders were taken and will be produced later. So, if you have "a little piece of Orkney" that you think would like the t-shirt, get in touch with BuyOrkney and phone Pat on 877300 or email pat.long@orkmail.com

This was a good day for BuyOrkney. The County Show was the first time that the company had attended any such event and the tent received a continuous stream of visitors throughout the day. Pat Long had to resort to sending out for filled rolls, fresh doughnuts and cups of tea to sustain her through the day while she spoke at length to potential suppliers and interested visitors curious about the sample e-mails around the walls of the tent.

People visiting the stand came from, or had links with, places all round the world. At least one t-shirt was being taking back to America and another was being sent to Turkey. This is the market that BuyOrkney is setting out to reach. There are many people around the world with Orkney connections or who have visited it and want to maintain their links. BuyOrkney will help them keep their ties to Orkney and will market Orkney produced goods to them and others in all parts of the world.

The shop will be live shortly but there will be a lot more besides. Visit the site at www.buyorkney.com.

Contact our Press Officer for more information.

[END]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Friday 4 August 2006

A Fiery Pace but Fluid Hits the Spot

The speed of development of this new site is accelerating. New pages and features appear almost weekly in addition to the tweaks to existing pages to make the users experience more enjoyable.

Visitors comment on the speed and ease of navigation on the site. The speed is down to the talent of our programmers. Well done guys! The look is a tribute to the graphic designers who have been working continually with us on this project.

Fluid IT Design from Morayshire were chosen for the graphic design of the site. Although they are a relatively new company, they have the experience and an understanding of programming that enables them to interact with our programmers very effectively. If you detect a feminine touch in the look of this site then you are correct. Debbie Reid from Fluid IT Design developed the original concept which has then been worked upon and developed with Gavin Griffin.

With the addition of new features, users will now find a site map to help them to navigate the site. A secure area has been added so that users can set up their personal information and preferences. This enables them to request daily emails or newsletters and also to take better advantage of the many other features either currently on the site or that will appear shortly.

Despite everything else that is going on, their must have been a few spare moments. An Orcadian blog has also appeared. You will find it at www.alittlepieceoforkney.com. It is worth a look and you can add your own comments as well.

Features that will be launched shortly include the shop and accommodation lists. Keep watching this site. There is much more to come.

Contact our Press Officer for more information.

[END]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Friday 28th July 2006

The BuyOrkney Website Continues to Grow

Another new release to the BuyOrkney site! They are starting to come thick and fast, and there are plenty more where this came from. Little and often is what you will see.

The shop will shortly be open for business, just stocking up right now. In the meantime there is a business directory and the chance to log your Orkney roots and get an email.

"Virtually every Orcadian has stories of family who moved to Australia, Canada or elsewhere. We want to give these exiles a chance to connect and meet each other and share in their common heritage,” said director, Pat Long. The site allows ex-pats to register and to enter the names of the relative who left Orkney, often many years ago. Limited details will be displayed on the site and people can then contact each other, initially through the site, and then take it from there. It's a bit like "Orcadians Reunited"

Contact our Press Officer for more information.

[END]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Friday 21st July 2006

More Than Just a Shop

Why would anyone want to put money into a website designed to sell to an Orkney exile in Melbourne? But that is exactly what BuyOrkney has set out to achieve. The site has been designed to appeal to anyone who knows Orkney, who lives there or who has family or other connections with Orkney.

The daily email already wings its way all over the world taking a little piece of Orkney around the globe daily. "One of the first jobs we had to do was to research facts and quotes from or about Orkney" said director Pat Long. "My passion is local history and this was such fun that I almost forgot we were running a business".

In addition, the company has some interesting biographies of forgotten Orcadians and these will be appearing on the website shortly.

"We have tried to make this site more than just a shop. It will be an interesting place to visit and I hope that people will come back and visit the site often."

You can get your own little piece of Orkney in your inbox daily by signing up at www.buyorkney.com.

Contact our Press Officer for more information.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Friday 14th July 2006

BuyOrkney has been Born

After many months in the planning www.BuyOrkney.com has been born. Although the site that you can see at present is quite small, it is expected to grow over the coming months and become an important part of the promotion of Orkney goods worldwide.

Pat Long, one of the directors said:

"There is still so much of the original design to go on the site and we are thinking of more things we would like to do all the time. One idea seems to generate another. I don't think that it will ever stop developing. It seems to have a life of its own and almost limitless possibilities"

BuyOrkney (www.BuyOrkney.com) will never be finished.

This major private initiative has been undertaken without any public funding but that does not matter. This site sets out to promote Orkney and things made here in a new and innovative way. Orkney has gained a reputation for high quality in so many fields; it was clearly time to show the world the full range of what Orkney has to offer.

This site is really going places and there are no limits to where it can go or how far it can develop. Keep checking it for new developments over the coming weeks and months. It is clearly going to be far more than just another Orkney shop.

Contact our Press Officer for more information.

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