Orkney council leader takes on second job as gravedigger

The leader of Orkney Island Council has taken on a second job, as gravedigger for her home island of North Ronaldsay.

Councillor Heather Woodbridge stepped forward to fill the role, acting as a private contractor, as previous arrangements had proved “challenging”.

The island’s previous gravedigger moved away a couple of years ago.

In the meantime, the island needed suitable people and machinery to take the ferry from the Orkney mainland.

It gets only two ferry crossings per week in the summer and one in the winter – as long as the weather is agreeable.

So, gravediggers coming across from the Orkney Mainland wasn’t proving to be ideal.

With another on-island gravedigger needed, the council leader, at 31 years old, felt she was young and fit enough to do what she hopes will be an “infrequent” job.

She completed two days of training last week and says she is “waiting for her certificate to arrive in the post, so to speak”.

The independent councillor will operate as a private contractor in the job.

Heather said: “I’m certainly not intending to make a career out of this.

“I’m intending to do this as it’s needed for North Ronaldsay and I hope that’s very infrequent.

“The key thing is to ensure it can happen in a timely manner and for the wishes of the family involved”.

North Ronaldsay is home to around only 70 residents and it is home to an aging population.

As such, it’s common for people on the outer islands to hold more than one vital role or job within the community.

North Ronaldsay is most famous for its seaweed eating sheep. The island has a 13-mile “sheep dyke” around its coast to keep the sheep on the shore.

Having grown up on the island, the council leader said residents holding multiple roles comes with the territory.

She said: “It’s very common for folk on the islands to have multiple roles.

“This is just one of those examples of island life.

“It’s a really wonderful lifestyle to have such a diverse existence. It keeps you interested in things, it exposes you to different experiences.

“In my example, as the council leader, which is more than full-time, gravedigging is something on top of that.”

As for the training, she said had absolutely no previous experience of digging graves.

However, it was a “enlightening experience” which opened her eyes to what people do for us in the kirkyard.

She said: “The training was great. I really enjoyed it.

“It was a course on hydraulic shoring which was, essentially, ‘how do you dig a hole safely’.

Over two days, they were given written exercises, theory and the background to the health and safety involved with working with machinery and from heights.

They then moved on to practical exercises including digging a test trench safely and talking about what to do if things go wrong.

She said: “It was really enlightening and it’s opened my eyes to what people do for us in the kirkyard”.

Heather Woodbridge first became a councillor in October 2020.

She won a by-election brought about by the death of her father Dr Keven Woodbridge.

in February 2024, she was elected to be the leader of the isles council following the sudden resignation of previous leader James Stockan.

She became Scotland’s youngest council leader at the age of 29 and the first female leader or convener of Orkney Islands Council.