This was to be the first game for Orkney since the thirteenth December and historically they have struggled to maintain momentum after the festive break in previous seasons. However, the squad had four excellent training sessions under their belts leading up to this game and a strong group of players left Orkney on the Northlink ferry for Aberdeen.

Orkney arrived at Blairgowrie in good time. The weather for the day was sunny with a light breeze, but fairly cool. Following overnight frost, the pitch had thawed sufficiently to allow the game to proceed.

On Saturday 18th January a squad of 20 Under 14’s made their way to play Granite City in Aberdeen.
After discussion with the Granite City coaches and to ensure players had as much game time as possible it was agreed to have 4 sides, 2 from Orkney and 2 from Granite City.

This resulted in a 4 teams of 12 with the Orkney sides receiving 2 guest players in each team. The format was round robin each team playing each other in games of 20 minutes and all teams playing at the same time on the two adjacent pitches.
 
It was a chilly but sunny Saturday at Aberdeen Wanderers ground which was being used for the Under 14’s matches

Orkney Rugby Football club is looking for someone to join our team of volunteers as a child protection officer.  This is a key role within the club.  The time commitment would be roughly 2 hours a week and full training and support will be provided.  The Role of the Child protection Officer is below.

The CPO role is an important one and should cover the following broad areas:

• Work with other members of the club to ensure that children enjoy a welcoming, safe, friendly and helpful environment.
• Ensure the club has a Child Protection/Safeguarding Policy that is available on the club website, available on request and understands the principles in the policy.
• CPO name and contact details are visible in the clubhouse, on the club website and that they are visible and approachable at the club (within reasonable parameters).
• Complete the relevant child protection and safeguarding training within 6 months of their appointment
• CPO must be a member of the Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) Scheme which links them to their club
• CPO to manage the PVG Memberships within the club. Any person carrying out REGULATED WORK must have a PVG number which should be notified against the Youth Coach listed in the active coach list. (details of the PVG process follow below)
• CPO should keep a record of all PVG numbers
• Take responsibility for dealing with concerns, contacting the relevant people to take forward – either through Scottish Rugby Safeguarding team, NSPCC/Children 1st or Police Scotland if required.

If you are interested please contact John Cairns Club development officer on rdo.orkney@gmail.com or 0758467834 or contact club chairman Gary Nicolson on O7872 579850

Tennent's Caledonia Region League Division 1
Grangemouth - Saturday 14th December 2019
Grangemouth Stags 0, Orkney RFC 31

On Friday 13th December 2019 Orkney set off on their travels for the final Caledonia regional league game before the festive break. This was a trip to face Grangemouth Stags, old friends of Orkney rugby and passionate supporters of the Orkney sevens tournament for over quarter of a century.

Club president Brian Lanni chose to make this fixture his official supporters trip and had rounded up a number of characters, club officials and ex-players to join the team on the journey south.
 
The travelling squad showed several changes from the previous two fixtures this was mainly due to work commitments, injury and unavailability. However due to squad depth this season a strong group still left Orkney on the Northlink ferry to Aberdeen.

Congratulations to Steven Budge who won the October Raffle for the ORFC Anniversary Book signed by SRU President, Dee Bradbury and the book’s authoring group. Steven is pictured receiving his prize from Ian Carse.

The winners of the two other books in that month’s raffle were Jim Winterburn from Stromness and Willie Stewart from Kirkwall.

If you want to grab yourself a copy  for a Christmas present, they are on sale at The Orcadian Bookshop or contact Ian Carse on O7415 680706

Thanks to the generosity of the crowd we were able to put two books into Saturday’s raffle and still come away with a small surplus for the Book kitty. A raffle winner in the Clubhouse was Brian Wood with number 320 and the other winning ticket was number 356, but that person was not in the Clubhouse, so the Book has been set aside for collection by them. If this is your ticket please contact Ian Carse on O7415 680706, show him your ticket and the book will be yours. If nobody claims the book by 31 December the book will go back into stock.

A picture of our Charity Partners Go Go Olive’s products are shown here and to date we have raised over £80 through our weekend sales and we are looking to add to that total during this week.

You will see these lovely potential Christmas presents are in our club colours and the lovely characters can be purchased either by contacting Ian Carse on O7415 680706 or by going into Hume Sweet Hume’s shop in Kirkwall.