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Sharing memories of the Island Games one year on

This week marks a year since the 20^th International Island Games took place on Orkney – a sporting competition like no other held across several days and welcoming island competitors from across the world.

Sporting Memories, with support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, Orkney Islands Council and Volunteer Action Orkney launched a project over the course of 2025 to capture memories from people involved with the Games held on the island last year, but to also capture memories from previous iterations of the competition, which has run for over 40 years.

You can view the all Oral Histories we have captured to date on the website shown below.

https://sportingmemories.omeka.net/

To recongise the first anniversary of the Games, Sporting Memories has decided to share some of those captured memories below.

Adam Bews – Squash player

Adam Bews spoke to our Oral Historian, Michael Romyn, about his journey through playing Squash on the island as a young boy, to then competing and coaching professionally in America.

Adam has represented Orkney for over 20 years across several Island Games and has also represented Scotland playing Squash as well, without securing an elusive medal.

That was until he returned to Orkney to compete for his home island in the Games last year, helping Orkney to secure medals in the Men’s and Mixed team events.

Adam reflected on last year’s Games by adding: “It was unreal. Just, I mean, the cycling went right past the house outside here and there’s people parking up to cheer for people that are cycling by, and there’s, the cinema showed a bunch of people were filling that to watch matches, the athletics was packed to watch Taylah [Paterson] and all these guys race and yeah, I mean, every single event was probably capacity.”

Listen to Adam’s interview in full through the link below.

https://sportingmemories.omeka.net/items/show/18

Linda Low – Supporting this generation of Orcadian athletes

Competing in swimming and athletics, Linda Low won an impressive ten Island Games medals for Orkney in ten Island Games appearances from 1985 - an achievement recognised in 2024 when she was inducted into the Orkney Hall of Sport Fame.

For Linda, however, the Island Games are as much about building community and inspiring the next generation of athletes as they are about competing in and of itself. In 2025, Linda was named an Island Games Ambassador and, drawing on her significant coaching education experience, worked closely with Orkney coaches.

Linda commented during her time with us: “It (The Island Games) connects us as people and it helps us recognise challenges, successes, differences, all of those things. So for me, it’s about Island Games, it’s about connecting communities and it’s about building confidence and courage in our sports people, and about developing skills that transcend sport but actually go all the way with you through life.”

Listen to Linda’s interview in full through the link below.

https://sportingmemories.omeka.net/items/show/3

Kirsty Talbot – Games Director

Kirsty Talbot was the director of Orkney 2025 International Island Games – leading the delivery of the competition in the build-up and during the games.

Kirsty is originally from East Kilbride but took the role of director in 2022, three years before the games were set to take place. Taking her young family with her, she spent the three years ensuring the success of the competition and spoke in detail about getting stakeholders and ambassadors such as Lorraine Kelly, on side to support the Games.

Kirsty reflected on her feelings when the Opening Ceremony began and the Games were officially underway after years of preparation.

“I went down with Bev and I went with Marcus who was our Operations Manager supporting as well and we all walked side by side. And just to see the crowds that were out it was just absolutely incredible like it still gives me goosebumps thinking about it. They way they lined the streets, the number of people that was there at that moment in time. I was like: “This is going to be OK. It’s going to be OK. Like…it’s like Orkney’s said yes you know.”

Listen to Kirsty’s interview in full through the link below.

https://sportingmemories.omeka.net/items/show/12

To view the whole library of oral histories from the Island Games, please visit the website in the link below.

https://sportingmemories.omeka.net/