On 17/06/2010 02:42, Tuck wrote: > Anne, > > Does not the Kirkwall Hospital have a helicopter for emergency > airlifts? T he quotes I heard on the video clip were about football > teams getting to matches, not appendectomies. > > Sure, having a fast boat is a good idea, but let's hope it doesn't > spur so many more that the lovely slower ferries are pinched out of > business. Of course they won't be, since the small fast boats can't > carry cars, cows, nor much else but people. > > As for the oil spill in the Gulf, it is a world problem, not a local > one. And as for this link being only about genealogy, I never heard > that and wouldn't be interested if it was so limited. > > Tuck The Balfour hospital in Kirkwall doesn't have a helicopter, they use the Scottish Ambulance Service's helicopter which is based in Inverness. <www.scottishambulanceservice.co.uk/air_ambulance.htm> The Loganair aircraft (which provide air links between Kirkwall and Stronsay, Sanday, Eday, Westry and North Ronaldsay) used to be used as air ambulances but that changed about 3 years ago. My wife, Maureen, was taken from Stronsay to Kirkwall by Loganair aircraft at 8 pm when she had a severe nose-bleed in 2004. The new fast ferry runs a scheduled service but outside these times it is also available for hire by groups of people. -- Bruce Fletcher Stronsay, Orkney <http://claremont.islandblogging.co.uk>