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The Ascension Island Newspaper |
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The Ascension Island Newspaper |
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NEW APPOINTMENTS FOR ST.
HELENA & ASCENSION ISLANDIt has been announced in London that the Queen has been pleased to appoint Mr. David James Hollamby to succeed Governor David Smallman in June next year. Mr. Hollamby is a career Member of Her Majesty's Diplomatic Service and currently Deputy Head of the Overseas Territories Department in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. He has extensive experience of working with the Dependent Territories.
Office of the Chief Secretary
The Castle
24 September 1998
I have just heard that my successor, who will arrive towards the end of June 1999, is Mr. Geoff Fairhurst. Mr. Fairhurst, who is currently serving in Dhaka, Bangladesh, is married to Wendy Metcalf and the couple have three daughters all in their twenties.
In addition to Dhaka, Geoff Fairhurst has served in Nairobi (Kenya), Beijing (People's Republic of China), Valletta (Malta), Havana (Cuba), Milan (Italy), Bridgetown (Barbados), Doha (Qatar) and Kaduna (Nigeria).
R C Huxley
Administrator
28 September 1998
DEW
POND RUN - ERROL DOES IT AGAIN!
Future
organisers are going to have to seriously think about changing
the name of the Dew Pond Run to the Errol Duncan Sunday Stroll.
Once again the veteran Turners man was first to the water in a
time of 1 hour 4 mins. Iain 'La La' Lawson dogged his heels for
much of the race but failed to catch him on the mountain slopes
with Major Ian Webster coming a creditable third. The first lady
to reach the pond was Catherine Bradshaw in a time of 1 hour
40mins.
(Picture left; a barely out of breath Errol
as he passes the Red Lion. Picture right,. Cath smiling all the
way proving how easy the race really is.
It's Another Boy!Carrie and Nicky Augustus proudly show off new arrival, Dominic Scott.
Dominic was born on Friday 25th September and weighed in at a healthy 8Ib 2 oz. Congratulations to them both.
510 Specialist Team Royal Engineers (Construction) (V) is a small 22 man T.A Unit. It is a multi-disciplined construction unit with a wide spectrum of artisan skills, including brick-layers, carpenters, welders and plumbers.
The unit was sent to Ascension Island for it's 1998 Annual Camp, following a recconnaisance visit to the island where a number of tasks to be completed were identified; some for the property manager (PROM) and others for Ascension Island and HH The Administrator.
Among the tasks completed have been a refurbishment of the clocktower on the Exiles Club, and the construction of an extra store building adjacent to the Fort Hayes Museum. In addition to this, a number of areas within the Fort have also been refurbished.
The team has also undertaken a feasibility study survey for constructing a toilet, shower and changing facility at English Bay. It is hoped that this task will be completed by another Engineer unit in the future.
As well as the construction work, the team has not neglected other aspects of island life.
19 members of the team took part in the Dew Pond Run on Sunday the 27th of September. The Officer Commanding, Major lan Webster, came 3rd, and Sgt Cath Bradshaw, the unit Chief Clerk, was the 1st female home.
The team also won (even if by a narrow margin), the quiz in the Exiles Club later that evening.
Members of the team have also been deep sea fishing, rock climbing (seperate article to follow), and would even have flown Tornadoes if the RAF guards had not been so alert! The team have "adopted" a small black lamb who grazes alongside the Travellers Hill to Georgetown road. Despite the near misses from passing vehicles, the lamb never flinches, and has aptly been given the name of "Well 'Ard"!
The whole team would wish to thank everyone on the island for their help and friendship shown during their visit, and they look forward to returning in the near future.
DONT ARGUE WITH A 500Ib TURTLE ON HEAT
The mid-Atlantic Ascension Islands once boasted the world's worst golf greens, but Michael Brooke recommends it for holidays like no other
Ascension is a paradox that is evident from the moment of touchdown at Wideawake Airfield. Adjacent to the runway is South Gannet Hill - a towering cone of red volcanic cinder topped by communications equipment of the 21st century.
On the one hand, here is a volcanic island, a pimple of the mid-Atlantic ridge that has emerged above the sea in the last million years. It is an island where subterranean forces have spewed a palette of rocks - black lava fields, cones of red scoria of immaculate symmetry, dusty trachyte as white as the cliffs of Dover. How, ask I as a non-geologist, can a single fissure into the bowels of the earth yield such variety? It is as if one toothpaste tube magically produces toothpaste, chocolate spread and tomato paste on separate days.
On the other hand, tracts of this geological wonderland are besmirched with satellite dishes and telecommunications golf balls belonging variously to the RAF, the US Air Force, Cable & Wireless and the combined Signals Organisation. The BBC World Service maintains huge antenna arrays for beaming the word to Africa and South America. It is the 1,000 employees of these organisations, mostly either St Helenians or British and American expatriates, who form Ascension's transient population.
Overseeing this hotchpotch is the British Administrator, a career diplomat who has the honour of driving a car with the quality personalised number plate AA, and some 40 miles of paved road on which to flaunt it. Although I suspect the present incumbent is delighted to exercise benign rule over all he surveys in the run up to his retirement he remains the diplomat and declined to comment.
From the airfield, we drove in a police van to Georgetown, the principal settlement. Named after George 111 since 1815, when a British garrison permanently occupied the island, the town still shows its military past. Two forts guard the pier. The main hardware supplier is housed in the former Great Victualling Store, an imposing building of volcanic blocks built in 1849.
We stayed in the Islander Hostel, which principally serves as temporary lodgings for those bound for St Helena by ship.
Across the road, we are in the St Helenian mess, where the food was plentiful and reminiscent of school. Meanwhile, the Exiles Club, built during the reign of William IV as the naval barracks, provided the beer or a glass of wine at 60p, boisterous half-price happy hours, and a grand view of the setting sun.
Just to the north of Georgetown is Long Beach, a steeply shelving crescent of white sand. It is the nesting beach for the green turtles, some 2,000 of which come ashore to lay eggs each season, roughly from January to April. Since its discovery in 1501, Ascension has been famous for its turtles which travel to breed on the island from feeding grounds off coastal Brazil, about 1,500 miles to the west.
In the old days, the unlucky ones were captured. After visiting Ascension at the end of the 17th century, John Ovington wrote that, once turned upside down, " they then begin to lament their condition in many heavy sighs, and mournful groans, and shed abundance of water from their eyes in hopes, if possible, to secure their safety by their tears."
Georgetown's delightful little museum displays a turtle harness, used for dragging 500Ib of obstreperous turtle from the beach to the turtle ponds, walled enclosures flushed by the tide. Here, sighing turtles awaited a passing ship and their fate.
Because of the Island's size - it is roughly circular - a hire car is vital for getting around. Beware the world's scruffiest sheep on the roads. Beware too, the land crabs which are four inches across the back and dwell in the moister parts of the island. They wave their claws in helpless rage at approaching tyres.
A car also helps to reach the start of various walks. One day, we visited the sooty terns whose cry "wideawake" gives the airfield its name. Ascension's terns do not respect the season. Every nine-and-a-half months, they return in a clamorous mass, each pair to lay its single egg on the sunbaked ground. Pity the poor chick which enters this arid world.
To judge by the guano that still smears many rocks like creamy icing that has run before setting, great throngs of seabirds once bred on the island, the only haven in a huge tract of Atlantic. Nowadays, the terns are the only seabirds to nest on the main island. Roaming feral cats have seen away the throng. A paltry remnant nests on Boatswain Bird Island, a short distance from the main island. This stack, resembling an irregular wedge of white chocolate emerging from the blue ocean, is a home to the entire world population of the Ascension frigate birds and various other species.
For a holiday like no other, go to Ascension. The "greens" of the golf course, once listed in the Guinness Books of Records as the worst in the world, are raked blackish-grey sand. Parts of the landscape resemble a pile of red bricks, and are correspondingly uncomfortable to traverse. Nevertheless, the red post van is still emblazoned "Royal Mail" and when I asked my travelling companion whether he would like to return he said without hesitation: "Absolutely". My very thought.
Before you travel to Ascension, request permission from the Administrator, Roger Huxley; his telephone number is 00 247 6311, fax 00 247 6152, and e-mail: administrator@atiantis.co.ac.
The only "Airline" operating to Ascension is the RAF, which stops there en route to the Falklands. It flies twice a week from Brize Norton, fare £343 one-way. Book your flight through the Foreign Office on 0171-270 2749.
Copyright © The Independent Review September 1998
We would like to say thank you to the people and organisations
that have given us
generous donations recently. These are;
We will be holding a meeting soon to decide what the money should be spent on. We shall be holding a "black bag day" to collect litter as a way of saying thank you to the Ascension community, on Saturday this week, we look forward to seeing as many Club members as possible. Georgetown people meet at the Saints Club, and Two Boats people at the Two Boats Club at 10.30am. Transport home afterwards will be provided
Any parents wishing to accompany smaller children will be most
welcome.
Youth Leaders
After a brief stint of temporary duty to Patrick Air Force Base and some leave, I have obviously returned. Everything was in order as Technical Sergeant Ed Rocha and Mr. Fred Kenney had done a superb job "holding down the fort" in my absence. Another successful JP-8 aviation fuel pumpover was completed during September 21-22, 1998, and a MOGAS ground fuel pumpover was completed on September 18, 1998.
Approximately 1,270,000 US gallons of JP-8 was pumped, and approximately 64,000 US gallons MOGAS was pumped. Once again, the safety and efficiency of this operation is a testimony to the cooperation of all organizations involved and fishermen and divers.
During some preventive maintenance and simultaneous high water usage, our water level on the the base dropped below one million gallons. When this occurred, we initiated water conservation step one which is the least severe restriction. Since the measure was adopted, the water level has slowly risen, and we will most probably have deleted water conservation measures by the publication of this article.
During the past week, our host wing, the 45th Space Wing, was inspected by its headquarters through an Operational Readiness Inspection which tested the wing's ability to effectively perform its primary mission. During this inspection, a simulated Titan IV missile was launched from Cape Canaveral the wing's launch support mission. The 45th Space Wing's overall rating should be forthcoming,, Antigua Air Station (Ascension Auxiliary Airfield's sister unit) was hit directly by Hurricane Georges. A maximum gust of 1l6 miles per hour was recorded. Personnel on the installation executed their Operational Plan brilliantly and certainly minimized damage on the installation. Unfortunately, the old telemetry building was severely damaged with an outer wall collapsing. Additionally, four modular dormitory rooms were damaged beyond repair. No personnel were injured.
I would like to publicly congratulate Technical Sergeant Ed Rocha. He recently received an Air Force Achievement Medal for his role in the planning and execution of Ascension Auxiliary Airfield support for President Clinton's visit to Africa during March 1998. During this period, he was instrumental in the successful bed-down of six KC-135 tanker aircraft and 86 temporary personnel. His efforts resulted in a 100 percent departure reliability and air refueling effectiveness ratings.
While hiking on Ascension's southern coast, Technical Sergeant Ed Rocha, Mr. John White, Mr.Mr. Guy Barallon, and myself discovered a cave that contained about 150 marine floats of all varieties. We immediately initiated a "salvage operation" and recovered most of them. The Heritage Society will first survey them for value and collect ones they see fit for the museum. After this is complete and if you are interested in acquiring floats, please call me at extension 2200.
Major Jeff Lowdermilk
PUBLIC NOTICE On Thursday 1st October, the Post Office will release for sale a set of four postage stamps depicting Christmas celebrations on Ascension.
The stamps are as follows:-
| 15p | A children's nativity play inside St Mary's Church |
| 35p | Santa arriving at the Pier by boat |
| 40p | Santa arriving at a party on a "Float" |
| 50p | Carol Singers accompanied by the "Love Affair" band |
Sets of stamps at £1.40 and official First Day Covers at £1.90 will be on sale at the Georgetown Post Office for a period of three months from the date of issue. They will still be available to collectors from the Philatelic Bureau for a further twelve months provided stocks last. Ascension Island Postage stamps are viewable on-line from the Administrator's Web-site.
A.R.FRANCIS
Postmistress,
Post Office
Georgetown,
29 September 1998
Last updated: 01/10/98
All articles © copyright 1998 The Islander Newspaper.
All rights reserved.