LOCAL NEWS ROUNDUP SUNDAY 29TH FEBRUARY 2004
Two sailing vessels arrived in James Bay last week. They were the Victoria and the Philanderer. Both came from Cape Town. Victoria planned on staying for a week. She has 6 crew of mixed nationality on board her next port of call will be Receife. Philanderer has 8 people of mixed nationality on board. Her port of registry is George Town in the Cayman Islands. The vessel is 131 feet long and has a gross tonnage of 225. Her Captain is Benedict Torrance. She planned a 4 day stop at St Helena before going on to Ascension, Gibraltar and Monaco.
Another unstable rock was dislodged from the Munden’s hillside overlooking the wharf on Tuesday. The team carrying out assessments in connection with the cliff stabilisation project found the outcrop. The lower Wharf was evacuated and the electricity and Water Supply cut off and the Rock Removal Team moved in. They abseiled the short distance form the hilltop to the location of the rock to be removed. The Team laboured away under extremely hot conditions for well over two hours clearing small rock away from the large one. Success in loosening the massive boulder came at five past two when it finally gave and crashed down the hillside in seconds, smashed into the roof of the cargo warehouse causing extensive damages to the roof, broke the doors of their hinges and damaged part of the wall structure. A good deal of other rock landed in the road and in the sea.
The Authorities say the removal was successful thanks to the skill and determination of the rock removal team. They were also grateful to the public for their cooperation whilst the operation was being carried out.
The ‘What’s in a name’ exhibition at the Museum closed on Saturday. Curator of the Museum, Lucy Caesar, told Radio News that the exhibits will be taken down this week to make room for the next one. That is going to be the second annual Art Show. Listeners will recall that last month, the Curator, gave a run down the variety of categories that she hoped to attract exhibits for. The range was extremely diverse and covered any form of art, from paintings and sketches to Wood and Metal craft. To date there has been a good deal of interest and positive response to the invitation to have work displayed in the Art Show. The Curator says that all exhibits need to be in by the 12th March. Following that plans and discussions on how the material will be presented will go ahead. It is planned to open the 2nd Annual Art Show in April.
The Blue Hill Community Association held their Annual General meeting at their Community Centre on last Monday evening. They called an early AGM as the Chairman of the Association will soon be relinquishing her role, as she will be leaving the island. The aim of this meeting was to elect a new committee to run the affairs of the Centre for the forth-coming year. Despite the fairly good attendance and some interest the aim was not achieved. Gillian Francis, who has taken on the role of Acting Chairman, says that another meeting will be conducted within the next 2 weeks hopefully with a more positive result.
With the New schedule for the RMS St Helena including Namibia among the ship’s ports of call, the question of what documentation is required to enter the country comes up. The Immigration Office has made those enquires and the British High Commissioner in Namibia has informed the St Helena Immigration Office that holders of standard European Union British Passports or British Overseas Territories Citizen Passports do not require a visa or other documentation to enter Namibia. Whilst on the subject of Passports, the Immigrations Department says that there have been occasions when problems have been encountered where people have made travel arrangements and their British Citizen passports had not reached St Helena in time for them to do so. The Department strongly advises that anyone intending to apply for a British Passport should complete applications at least two weeks prior to the arrival of the R.M.S St. Helena and allow at least three months for the passport to be processed and returned to St Helena. They also advise that people make their travel arrangements once they have their passport in their possession unless of course circumstances dictate otherwise.
The seventh Public Accounts Session of Legislative Council was conducted last week at the Court House in Jamestown. The Speaker of the House, the Hon John Newman, opened the session on Tuesday morning. In his opening address he reminded Members that the session was to examine all public accounts for the period 1 April 2002 to 31 March 2003 and that they were the only accounts to be discussed. The session was an informal one - there was no order paper but members had an agenda to follow over the three half day meetings. The format was similar to that of previous years with the Financial Secretary and the Chief Auditor giving an overview of the main financial and audit issues – the Financial Secretary’s response to issues raised in the Management Letter – followed by scrutiny of all the Public Accounts. The Speaker also reminded members that it was the purpose of the meeting to improve accountability and to deal with matters of significance and for any criticisms to be constructive. Tuesday morning was devoted to the five Government Departments with Committees, where the Chairman followed by the Head of Department gave brief statements on Policy issues and variances after which members asked questions. The other eight Government Departments were dealt with on Wednesday, with the HoD giving a brief statement followed by questions from members. And on Thursday, all other Public Accounts were dealt with including those of the GSB, BFI, SHDA, Fisheries, Media Board and National Trust. The session wound up on Thursday. The Hon Speaker in his closing speech thanked all who contributed to the meetings.
The second sitting of the Third Session of Legislative Council will take place this week. At this session various bills will be discussed including the Dogs and Cats Bill, 2004 and the Companies Bill 2004. This session is likely to go on for three days. As with the Public Accounts Session, it will be broadcast live from Radio St Helena.
The Agriculture and Natural Resources Department is working towards achieving accreditation in Investors in People. As part of that drive, they held a staff development day on Wednesday. Everyone got together at Scotland Headquarters. And spent the day, learning about the different sections of the Department their role and how they fit into the Business Plan through discussions, displays and practical demonstrations. The day rounded off with a certificate presentation to 26 members of staff in recognition of their achievements in exams they took in the latter part of last year. The Chief Agriculture and Natural Resources Officer, Wendy Clingham, says, the day was very successful, and the objective, was indeed met. Feedback from staff indicated an enhanced knowledge of the workings of the different sections an interest in pursuing training opportunities and the desire to become involved in other areas that appealed to individuals after they had seen what other sections had to offer. The Chief Agriculture and Natural Resources Officer says that the day was certainly inspiring and that future developments will embrace as far as possible the ideas that came from staff.
The 35th British Isles and Mediterranean Regional Conference of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association came to a close on Friday afternoon in Stanley, Falkland Islands. Among the topics debated at the conference were "Educational Issues relating to small countries" "Tourism and World Security" "The ability of small countries and overseas territories to defend themselves and to safeguard their status and independence" "Environment concerns versus commercial development" "How to restore trust between the public and politicians, and how to convince the public that good public services in a community are the result of good government". Stedson Francis represented St Helena at the Conference and spoke on each of these issues. Delegates also had a first class view of the Falklands. Visited a large sheep farm and were given demonstrations of sheering, gathering and other farm activities such as peat cutting and horsemanship. Visited a camp settlement, military cemeteries and the Sealion Island nature reserve. The events culminated with a farewell dinner for about a hundred guests. The evening closed with an invitation to each country to entertain the others. There was Greek dancing, Gibraltarian laments, Scottish ballads, and traditional folk dancing. Our correspondent on the Falkland Islands say the highlight for many was the rendition of 'My St Helena Island' by Stedson Francis, Cherie Clifford and Geoffrey and Wendy Benjamin.
Councillor Francis has now embarked upon his additional week’s programme, which will see him visiting most of the employers of St Helenians on the Falklands, as well as visiting projects of mutual interest to both St Helena and the Falklands.
