An online celebration of community life in Orkney goes live tomorrow (Tuesday 28th October).

orkneycommunities.co.uk (www.orkneycommunities.co.uk) is a new website that provides community groups with a cost-effective, easy-to-set-up presence on the Internet.

Funded and developed by Orkney Enterprise, with support from the European LEADER+ programme, the website is designed to become a first port of call for anyone seeking information about community-based activities in Orkney.

It will be an up to date source of news and give community groups, associations and clubs the opportunity to share information, attract and inform members, and organise and publicise events.

For an annual fee of £35, groups can have their own site linked to orkneycommunities.co.uk and this can include up to ten pages.  Free training is provided to help them set up, maintain and customise their own sites - with no requirement for specialist computing skills.

Chessa Llewellyn-White, a development manager with Orkney Enterprise said: "This is a project we are really excited about that will result in a vibrant community website for Orkney.  We want people to contribute news and articles and to find the site useful.

"If people involved in community groups feel apprehensive about creating and running their own site, this is also a way to gain a presence on the Internet with minimum effort and for minimum cost."

The main orkneycommunities.co.uk site contains a wealth of features that include a comprehensive events calendar, a news headline feed from The Orcadian, and the daily What's On Diary from BBC Radio Orkney.  There is also an extensive picture gallery which includes photographs from the Tom Kent collection, provided by Orkney Library.  It is hoped that the picture gallery will become much more extensive as people submit their own pictures and comments.

The Voluntary Action Orkney (VAO) Community Directory is also available online, while each community group's individual website can offer an events calendar, contact information, a document archive and a unique e-mail address.

Steven Heddle, Orkney Enterprise's e-business adviser, said: "It all combines to make orkneycommunities.co.uk a really attractive site to visit - one that people will want to come back to time and time again.

"That was a top priority for this project, as was the need to make it really easy to use. With just five minutes' training, a community group can have their website up and running. A further half hour and they will have the skills they need to customise the site to suit their individual needs."

The site was developed by Plexus Media and the venture is being supported and promoted by VAO.

Shona Flanagan, VAO's development officer, said: "The Internet has great potential for community groups, but all too often the technical or financial aspects of developing a site can be off putting.

"With the orkneycommunities.co.uk site, we are hoping to demystify the web a little and help groups unlock its many benefits."

The hope is that up to 40 community groups will become involved during the first year of the project.  Among the first of the 13 groups that have already signed up for a website is Age Concern Orkney.

Co-ordinator Sue Ward said: "It was a great opportunity for our organisation to get a web presence at a very modest cost.  I am not a computer whiz kid, but this site is so easy to edit and update and the training answered any queries I had."