The Orkney Defence Interest Network (ODIN) welcomes you!

About us:  The idea of an Orkney-based group active in preserving, recording and promoting Orkney’s defence heritage came from Julie Gibson, Orkney’s County Archaeologist, and at a well-attended public meeting in March 2009 the Orkney Defence Interest Network came into being.

ODIN is concerned that Orkney’s defence heritage is in the heads of an ageing group of folk, not fully appreciated, nor understood, so that sites are being destroyed by development etc without real regard to their heritage value, both local and national, being destroyed by coastal erosion and climate attack and under threat because the importance of wartime memorabilia and memories isn’t always fully appreciated.

Orkney’s defence heritage attracts many visitors to Orkney and that heritage needs to be well preserved, presented and made accessible physically and interpretatively. It is of national significance and has the power to draw increasing numbers of visitors to Orkney.

ODIN seeks to bring together individuals and organisations who are interested in Orkney’s defence heritage.  You can find our first newsletter, which details our aims and objectives in the Articles section of this website.

Do you have any relatives who may have served overseas?  We were recently contacted about the Canadian Virtual War Memorial website, which contains entries for men born and raised in Orkney but who emigrated and joined the Canadian forces.

For example, a search on the name Drever found five entries.  We clicked on Thomas Inkster Drever’s records, which told us that he was the son of William Drever of Backaskaill, Sanday and Elizabeth Millar Drever.  He was born on 1^st July 1893, and died aged only 24.  He is buried in France, at Pas de Calais.  The records also have a copy of his attestation papers, which tell us he hailed from Westray.

This site contains thousands of records on the men and women who fought for Canada, and many Orkney names crop up.  Some have photographs of the men or women themselves, as well as pictures of their paperwork (very handy, as they often say their place of birth), photographs of their gravestones or of their homes or families.

The site is particularly keen for interaction from the public, so if you have a piece of information on anyone listed they’d love to hear from you (as would we).

Help for Heroes is a charity set up in 2007 to offer practical, direct support for the men and women of the British Armed Forces.  In support of Mike Lucas' walk/fundraising Leo Brennan and Anna Lipinska are setting up/striking the camps each evening for Mike and his friend on the week commencing 25th June.  They are also funding his rations etc for the duration.

There is a bag pack at Kirkwall Co-op on Sat 19th June, and anyone interested in helping would be very gratefully received by them both!  If you’d like to offer them any support or help, or if you can offer any other fundraising ideas for Help for Heroes, then get in touch with them by clicking This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The webmaster has added an internal discussion forum to the website.