About Us

My name is Patricia Long, nee Leith, and I was born and brought up in Orkney. I left to study Computational Science at St Andrews University and returned eleven years later, in 1986, with a husband and four children.

When I first returned to Orkney I was a full time mother. As the children grew up I worked for a firm of Chartered Accountants and then for various other local businesses.

I wanted to do more than just working for other business owners and my previous experience had made me aware of the range and diversity of businesses in Orkney. I realised that my background and expertise could give me the tools to promote local businesses and generate interest from around the world in Orkney, its products and services. I could also indulge my interest in local history.

The main purpose of the site is to show the world what Orkney does and to give everyone the opportunity to sample it. Orkney businesses have established excellent reputations outside Orkney but there are many smaller businesses which do not get the exposure they deserve. It is intended that this site will be able to do something to redress this and show the whole range of Orkney products and services. However, I also want the site to be interesting in other ways.

My family have farmed in Stenness in the West Mainland since they moved there from St Andrews in the East Mainland in 1546. Most of the branches of my family tree are Orcadian and include Leask, Kirkness, Oman, Isbister, Firth, Manson, Flett and Corrigall. Like so many other Orcadians, I have family connections in America, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

My father, Peter Leith, is deeply interested and well-versed in local history, as was his father before him, so I have a vast store of books and family stories, as well as the excellent Orkney Library to mine for interesting bits and pieces to share with you. You can also sign up to the daily e-mail to give you a flavour of the site but there will also be longer stories and biographies of Orcadians and their descendents, who did amazing things but over time have been forgotten.

I would also like people from around the world to send me their Orkney stories. What is your link to Orkney? How did you get where you are? What did Orcadians do for the history in your region? Let me know.

Orkney has always been outward-looking and enterprising and this web site will continue the tradition. I hope that you enjoy the site, that you find it interesting and informative and, above all, that you find it useful.

Patricia Long