The
Ascension Island
Newspaper
Internet Edition    
Index Page About The Islander Ascension Island Links Ascension Visitors Book: Please - Sign or View

The Islander - Thursday 15th October 1998

Marriage of Christopher Cochran with Sonia Herne

On Saturday 10th October 1998 Sonia Maria Herne married Christopher Francis Cochran at the residency. HH the Administrator, Mr Roger Huxley, being the appointed registrar for Ascension Island, conducted the ceremony.

Sonia wore a full length white satin dress with a sequinned bodice and lace sleeves, which was made by Myrtle Magellan on St Helena; who also made the dress worn by bridesmaid Anisa Moyce. The bride was chauffeured to the Residency by Fabian Peters. The weather on the day was almost perfect for the occasion, the threat of rain receding as three o' clock came near.

Chris works at VASS for Serco and Sonia works in the account's office at the Georgetown shop. Sonia was given away by her brother Nicholas and Chris's best man was Philip Marlow. The ceremony was followed by a reception in the Chicken Inn at the Mountain View Club, with excellent catering by Steve "Kenny" Everett and Chris Webster and team.

Sonia's mother, Mrs Malvina Herne, and her nephew Mario Caswell travelled from St Helena on the RMS for the happy occasion.

Her niece, Julie Herne, accompanied by her boyfriend Julian Fowler, en route to the Falkland Islands, remained on Ascension for the wedding.

Pictured below is the family group with, from the left:- Nicholas Herne, Cindy Herne, Mum Malvina Herne, Julian Fowler Anisa Moyce, Groom, Bride, Conrad Herne, Mario Caswell, Julie Herne, Ann Green and Chris Green.

 

ASCENSION ISLAND POLICE STATISTICS

The following statistics relate to the period 1st January 1998 to 30th September 1998, as compared with the same period for 1997.

    1997 1998
1. (a) Total number of Reports received and dealt with by the Police
(b) Total number of Criminal Cases
(c) Total number of Offences to Court
(d) Total number of Road Traffic Accidents
(e) Total. number of Road Traffic Offences		 142
29
10
19
47		 98
26
09
16
33
       
2. Out of the total number of offences taken to Court the following figures are included:-
    
  (a) Offences Against the Theft Act 1968
(b) Offences under the Road Safety (Ascension ) Ordinance 1990
(c) Offences under the Road Traffic (Ascension ) Ordinance 1984
(d) Offences under the Motor Vehicles (Third Party Insurance) Ordinance 1962
(e) Offences under the Sunnary Offences Ordinance 1975
(f) Criminal Damage Ordinance 1979		 11
03
24
01
08
03		 07
07
20
01
10
00

 

 

SHIPPING 1997 1998
Total number of ships excluding Her Majesty's Ships
that called at Ascension during the period under review:-		 36 36
YACHTS 40 41

TRAFFIC

There are 1,208 privately owned Motor Vehicles all classes registered, of these 1,095 are licensed. There are 54 Motor Cycles registered, of these 34 are licensed.

CATS AND DOGS

There are 168 cats registered and 23 dogs licensed.

 

M.C.George
Ag Inspector of Police

LETTER FROM LONDON by Nick Turner

An update on the Citizenship Commission

There is not a great deal happening at the moment as we all await the Government's White Paper, whose publication is slipping (it seems) to the end of the year. However the Commission has not been idle.

  1. The Uk branch has produced a CHECKLIST against which to judge the White Paper when it eventually arrives. This will inevitably be presented and received with a great deal of hype. It is important therefore to remember what are the essential points, and to keep a sober judgement of what is to be proposed. The checklist is just a sober reminder. Copies will arrive in the South Atlantic in November.
  2. Work on an edition of the ROYAL CHARTER is going well. Jeff Cant has now produced a 1st draft, with meticulous detail.There is more to be done, but it should be ready in the 1st half of 1999. This will be a truly heavy weight book and not an easy read, but it will he worth it, I promise. I would be very surprised if it does not immediately become the definitive edition of the Island's most important historic document.
  3. Mure smith, a lawyer and constitutionalist, is working on a CONSTITUTIONAL COMMENTARY on the Potter-Buffet Report of 1997. Again, not bedtime reading and don't expect a wide circulation, but it will be a useful document. Whatever happens there will be constitutional change; anything that helps this move in the right direction is worth producing. Ready by early December?

Best Wishes
Nicholas Turner

TERRITORIAL ARMY SAPPERS ON ASCENSION

267 FIELD SQUADRON(AIR SUPPORT)(VOLUNTEERS)
RAF Waddington, Lincoln. LN5 9NB

Forty-one members of 267 Field Squadron Royal Engineers (Air Sp)(V), are currently on Ascension Island as part of their two week annual camp.

They are supporting RAF Ascension on a construction exercise (Turtle Truss) over a number of stages from the 28th September to 22nd October. In order to get everyone down to Ascension and to complete the construction tasks on time, the squadron deployed in four separate parties with the final party of fourteen arriving on Thursday last week.

The Squadron (part of 77 Engr Regt) is based at RAF Waddington near Lincoln and their overall role is to provide engineer assistance to RAF Stations in the United Kingdom and on operations throughout the world. This can include anything from ADR (Airfield Damage Repair), which is essentially repairing bomb craters on a runway, to any type of engineering support tasks in and around an airfield. Over recent years the regiment has taken part in a number of Turtle Truss type exercises although this is the first time that a full Squadron from the Regiment has deployed to the island.

The exercise so far has been a challenging experience, with all the troops working intensively in the heat (and the rain!), to complete the work on time. The main task has been to construct a fairly large building adjacent to the Gymnasium that will he a weight training/aerobics suite and will replace the existing temporary facilities. Other tasks have included the construction of a wall around the Station Commander's house, building a protective wall for gas cylinders and building concrete steps leading into a fuel storage facility at the airhead.

Despite the hard work all the Squadron members enjoyed a well-eamed day off on Sunday when they went sightseeing in the morning and had a BBQ in the afternoon on Turtle Shell Beach. All members of the Squadron would like to pass on their appreciation for the help and friendly assistance given to them by the EWC (WO1 Hill), RAF personnel, local islanders and other contractors during the exercise3. As stated by the officer commanding, "Without the generous support of all these people we certainly would not have progressed so well."

NEWS FROM ASCENSION AUXILIARY AIRFIELD
By Maj. Jeff Lowdermilk

On 6 October, we held our quarterly Environmental Protection committee working group meeting. The meeting was very productive as several key initiatives were discussed in detail. The gathering of data regarding the base using the One Boat Dump versus our own was discussed, as this would assist the island in consolidating refuse. Additionally, we reviewed open items from our last comprehensive October 1997 Environmental Compliance inspection. These items will be reviewed in further detail during an "internal" Environmental Compliance inspection scheduled for 27 October. The construction project to renovate five dorms on the installation is ahead of schedule. Dorm 1, which is the first one to be renovated as part of this project, may well be ready for occupancy prior to the Christmas holidays. This renovation will significantly enhance the living conditions of occupants and will give each individual their own individual bathroom facility.

A very aggressive initiative to replace all polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) transformers and oil switches on the base is scheduled to be complete no later than 31 December. This timeline is very tight as it involves shipping transformers from contractors through Patrick AFB. Additionally, power outages have to be meticulously scheduled around operations. A total of five transformers will be replaced before the end of the year to complete this project. As addressed in one of my previous articles, we are having an environmental-compliant vehicle plant booth facility constructed on the base. When the project began, we had some site clearing issues that halted the project. However, the issue has since been resolved, and the site has been adequately cleared. The project is progressing again and scheduled to be complete in January 1999.

On 8 October, we received a call that 2 donkeys had made their way to the airfield. Georgetown Police were dispatched. As CSR, US Air Force and Georgetown Police met at the scene, it was collectively decided an effort would be undertaken to get the donkeys back across the cattle grids versus killing them since the 2 donkeys were mother and child. Well, the Wideawake Rodeo commenced, and with the collective efforts of everyone on the scene, the donkeys were caught, bridled, and led away from the airfield.


Deborah Dutton, Douglas Augustus and Colin Lawrence struggle to contain the donkey!

Major Jeff Lowdermilk.

Last updated: 16/10/98
All articles © copyright 1998 The Islander Newspaper.
All rights reserved.