OUR VISIT TO THE CSR FIRE STATION
1st Ascension Girlguiding Unit has been very busy over the past week. Friday 14th May at 5 p.m. they visited the CSR Fire Security Station and with Cleo and Jeffrey was taught and shown a huge amount of interesting stuff. From P24 Pumper, 3 way quik axe, V-knife cutting, Hilicon bar, sledge hammer, attic ladder, salvage tarp (tarpaulin), 40lbs cylinder to name just a few from this main Fire Truck. Onto the Rescue 30 truck that goes to the scene carries 4 different stretchers:- Miller Board, Reeves Board (larger), Scoop Scretcher that opens like a scissors and Sked Stretcher the cliff rescuer. Along with all these stretchers is a stair chair that needs 3 people to operate it and holds up to 300lbs in weight, ropes, Portable rescue tool, head-lites, air bag system, generator, cribbing ladder to support vehicle if air bag fails, 4 way tool for cutting glass, Cutter Combination Spreader for cutting through cars, first-aid kit and loads more.
We were told that in an emergency the fire-fighters only have 2 minutes to get them sorted. They have a minute to dress and a minute to put on the cylinder. Cleo very kindly demonstrated this for us and although we saw him sweating through his Flash Hood (helmet with visor) we still wanted to pose with him for evidence we did go to their station. To conclude our very interesting afternoon we all were taken for a ride in the fire trucks and enjoyed the spraying of water on the strip………..Many thanks guys for this we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and appreciated your time you spent with us. Thanks also to Chief Brian Davies for allowing us to visit the station.
SPONSORED 24 HOUR DIVE AT TRAVELLER’S HILL POOL
Friday 21st May at mid-day the Guides met with the divers at the Traveller’s Hill Pool to have a photo shoot before the dive commenced. First to dive were Mal Moss and Caz Parker-Yon. The sponsored dive was in aid of the 1st Ascension Girlguiding Units’ Centenary Camp Fun. Two divers at a time dived into the water for 30 minutes and others rotated until mid-day Saturday 22nd May. Not to become bored underwater for 30 minutes, a checkers board was set up and when they got tired of this they played rock, paper, scissors!! Tents were set up around the pool for the night watch and divers!! The Guides went back Saturday at 10 a.m. for try-dives and thoroughly enjoyed it. Watch out……..there will be more for the Dive Club!!! Wearing the tanks and swimming the whole length of the pool was fascinating. Even Brandi, Ebony and Keira took turns and they are the newest Guides. Once all had, had a turn it was mid-day, and so the divers got all dressed up in their outfits for an “After photo shoot” with the girls. To conclude this brilliant day all divers and girls took it in turn to do a forward flip into the water. We would like to say A HUGE THANK YOU to Mal Moss and his merry divers for organising this special event for us. All monies raised for this event will be published at a later date when Mal has the final total.
ST. HELENA’S DAY CELEBRATIONS – 21ST MAY 2010
An e-mail received from Jodi from IDL saying their company was organising a float parade to collect money for Krisian John and asked if we would like to join in? With all the fundraising going on we had no time to do a float but we joined in with the celebrations on the day, with all the Guides (all 13 of them) and yours truly dressing in costumes (Guess who was the clown?). I was amazed at the turn out of the girl’s costumes – excellent effort!! With others in tow we followed behind the IDL float to the Georgetown square. Thank you IDL for taking us all for a ride and coming up with this great idea as we haven’t celebrated St. Helena’s Day here on Ascension before – why not do something like this for the Ascension Day Fair opening??? I would love to wear my clown costume again!!! Also thanks to the SMC management for keeping everyone happy with the lovely fish fry, drinks and music.
GUIDES MET LORD AND LADY OF HOLLINSCLOUGH AND THEIR DAUGHTERS
Thursday 20th May, a family appeared on my doorstep introducing themselves as Carl, Tracey, Caitland and Morgause. Tracey said she is a Rainbow and Brownie leader in Derbyshire and their daughters (13 and 11) are Girl Guides. They were sailing on their family yacht, a 55ft Oyster Cutter Sloop but were flown up from the Falklands after they ran into trouble almost 300 miles from the island of South Georgia when they hit a low-lying iceberg, known as a "growler". The vessel started to take on water and suffered engine failure.
200 miles south of the sinking vessel a British warship named HMS Clyde was directed to pick them up. By this time the yacht was low in the water and as they made their way off in the rescue boat their yacht was left to sink.
It was sad to hear their story but at least the 1st Ascension Girlguiding Unit had the opportunity to meet them. Although their yacht was sinking they still managed to save their Girl Guide Uniforms and flag!!
Friday lunch time when it was the diver’s sponsored dive at Traveller’s Hill they came along for the photo shoot and to show us their Brownie Blanket full of badges and neckerchiefs from all over the world and took with them our Badge and neckerchief to add to the collection. Friday afternoon they joined us for the St. Helena Day’s celebrations before heading off to the airhead to board the plane for the UK. We are hoping to catch up with them at the Centenary Camp. It was a great pleasure to meet you all.
1st Ascension Girlguiding Unit
