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The Islander - Thursday 4^th March 1999

GIRL GUIDES 10 MILE SPONSORED WALK

The Girl Guides did a sponsored walk from The Challenger site to the Guide's hut in Georgetown on Saturday 27th March 1999.

The happy walkers at the end of the treck.

We would just like to say how please we were to have such keen adults taking part in our sponsored walk. Although 'some' of us had aches and pains in the days that followed, we thoroughly enjoyed it. We must mention that Nirella who is still with the Brownies was the youngest to take part. A very big "THANK YOU" must go to Johnny Hobson for the lovely certificates he kindly made and for beeing such a good photographer on the day. Bessie and Tessa who did the water stops, this was very much appreciated. Lyn and Charles for transporting us to The Challenger site; Sandra Bendall, who patiently waited for everyone to come in to record their time and name; Cynthia Bowers for writing on the certificates in such delicate handwriting and to all you wonderful people who gave a donation and sponsoring the girls. The monies collected will be published in next week's Islander

SCHOOL NEWS
From the Headteacher - Mrs Betty Joshua

Hello again from the School!

This week we have more news about different activities taking place in School.

VISITS

Getting away from school can be an exciting idea especially if it is for a specific purpose with interesting activities planned. All classes go on visits around the Island at some time or other, be it to a building or site where the pupils need to look closely for details that they would otherwise not notice. Observation is an important aspect of our children's learning and they need lots of practice to develop this skill. They are usually quite surprised by what they actually do see when taking time to do so! This was the case last week when Middle Two went to the Devil's Ashpit area to observe plants in their natural environment. They compared like plants growing in dry and damp areas and noted the differences in structure, colour and size, for instance. They 'discovered' unusual plants and also studied animal life within the areas under observation. All in all, a good morning's outing and an opportunity for our 9-11 year-olds to think of an area commonly used for picnics as a place for learning! Year 11 geography students used Sisters as their venue and their focus was the interesting landscape that they were to write about in a descriptive way. They did some sketches of the area and surrounding views and this work will form part of their GCSE coursework for which Ascension is being looked at from a tourist's angle. Year 8 and 9 have been going up-hill, as well, to Cross Hill to see what sits on top it in the form of military relics, etc. They included, too, a look at the site formerly known as Bates Cottage, more latterly known as Scouts Lodge, and learnt about the interesting history of a once outstanding building. Meanwhile, back in school………… other interesting happenings were beginning to take shape!

STAMP DESIGNS

Arty crafty ideas for stamp designs have been put onto paper and these display local scenes and features. The idea is being talked through with the Administrator, for a possible first Ascension stamp issue designed by students! More about that at a later date!

ACHIEVEMENTS

Children's achievements and successes need to recognised at all times and we do this in several ways. The most recent achievements over the past half term have been as follows:

Special Mentions - Justine Yon, Jamie Maggott and Leroy Fowler for excellent work in producing Water booklets in Science;

Class Awards - Oliver Ryan for a remarkably good story;
Oliver Ryan, Josh Turton, Kirsty Anthony, Alice Biggar and Dayna Benjamin for producing well written fables;

Chad Peters for working very hard in Language and Maths;
Chae George for improving his handwriting;

Swim Awards - Stephen Anthony for gaining Waterskills Grade 1;
Anisa Moyce and Corey Anthony for gaining Waterskills Grade 2;
Ben Walton for making such a determined effort to learn to swim.

Well done all of you and to those who are working really hard to get recognition, keep trying because YOU CAN DO IT!

The current House situation at the end of the half term looks like this:
CONNELLY - 122 POINTS
BEALE - 76 POINTS
HUXLEY - 65.
With a new half term ahead of you Beale and Huxley, what about a change of ribbon the House Cup at the next awards ceremony?

That's it for this week. Next week our readers will be able to read in more detail about Middle Two's visit to the Ashpit.

Until then, bye for this time.

Betty Joshua
Headteacher.

Father Keith Writes

PARISH CHURCH OF ST MARY THE VIRGIN.  ASCENSION ISLAND (Diocese of St. Helena) Parish Priest: Fr. Keith James - 6431 Church Warden: Marvyn Isaacs - 6230 Ag Church Warden: Mark Giles - 6455

Dear Friends,

Before I came here I was told that Ascension Day was a public holiday on the Island and that there was this great Ascension Day Fair held to raise money to pay for the vicar!

Well that's how it used to be. No one told me things had changed a little. Still a public holiday, most of the money coming to the church, but the Fair moved in recent years to the following Saturday to accommodate our friends working on the US Base.

This year Ascension Day is on Thursday May 13th, So going by what I had been told I agreed to a wedding on the following Saturday.

So that is why the Fair will be on May 22nd!! Just thought you might like to know. Next year I'll hopefully get it right.

Praise the Lord, O praise God in his sanctuary
Praise him in the blast of the ram's horn;
Praise him upon the lute and harp.
Praise with the timbrel and dances
Praise his upon the strings and pipe
Praise him upon the high sounding cymbals
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord..........Psalm 150

I don't know about rams horns and cymbals, but we do have five RAF musicians accompanying out service at 10 o'clock this Sunday. A special occasion, we invite you to join us.

God Bless and Keep You,

Fr Keith & Ginny

The Met Office Weather Report

Statistics for the week ending Sunday 28th February 1999.

ASCENSION SEA SWELL FORECAST ( based on data available on Monday afternoon) :

Sea temperature around Ascension Island : PS 27 DEG C

ASCENSION ISLAND: Any showers have been mainly confined to the overnight period this week, more especially overnight Sunday and Tuesday. A mix of sunny spells with some cloudier days on Tuesday and to a lesser extent Friday morning. Temperatures have therefore been reluctant to reach nearer 31, maybe next week! (Was that a forecast?)

ST HELENA: No comments available from Gary this week

U.K: A wet week for most parts of the UK with some wintry showers across the far north of Scotland. It remained cold in the north but successive North Atlantic systems did bring wet and mild conditions across England and Wales. Despite the plentiful rain there was a fair amount of sunshine about, most notably 8 hours on Monday at Brize and 6 on Tuesday and Saturday.

FALKLAND ISLANDS: Met man in the south off on a jolly to South Georgia and the Sandwich Islands but still made time to fax this report: The week has been dry, with a lot of sunshine but very windy. A predominance of northerly winds has produced some strong to gale force winds at MPA in particular, with gusts of over 50 mph reported on 4 out of the 7 days. There was relatively little rain fall though with some very high temperatures, MPA exceeded 20 degrees on both Saturday and Sunday. The weather was in a dramatic mood on Sunday, with thunderstorms developing over the islands through the day giving an active lightning display.

MET CHAT

I am mostly not eating any biscuits this week or for the next four and a half weeks. That’s the plan in any case. No chocolate either. It’s going to hurt but not as painfully if I don’t make it, as this is in competition with Jeff. I think my stubborness will get me through this one. What exactly comes under the umbrella of chocolate? I had my first potential crisis at tea last night. Are chocolate profiteroles chocolate? I said not, but was out voted by Alex and Dave who then proceeded to eat at least half a dozen whole. They’ve got a real mean streak. The Met guys are now counting the biscuits at the beginning and end of my shifts, just in case I weaken. I think the packets are wired to the fire section and if I even pick up a packet they’ll be a full call out and my biscuits will be doused by a Cat A extinguisher in no time at all. What’s the best way to render a biscuit harmless? Is it foam, powder or a squirt of CO 2? They never told us this on our fire extinguisher appreciation course.

Met men have been depleted in numbers as Si has been staying in Portal with Sue, Mrs Simon and little Emma. Si has been masquerading as a SNAG all the time he’s been here, when in fact he is Andy Capp. He has secretly been wearing his flat cap, drinking pints of warm beer and pretending to bet on the horses all this time. We thought he was doing his ironing whilst drinking Babycham and listening to Kenny G! No wonder Sue sent him out here for six months. Anyway I think they are all having a fun time. Mike has been off-roading it in the Landy without much success. He had to be dragged out of a small sand pit off Pam Am beach by a kindly Satcomm chap, Jon. Poor Mike could have been stranded for days out there without anyone knowing. I’m not sure when we would have noticed he was missing. Possibly when we didn’t get any pay at the end of the month, or when Roger started winning the farting competitions, or when we’d got a stock pile of sausage rolls from the lunch boxes. Who knows?

Roger and Mike are getting into really bad habits. More than one person caught them actually looking in awe and wonder at the clouds in the sky. After close questioning afterwards we discovered that Roger had spotted two that looked like sheep and one like his Great Aunt Edna. Mike could make out three onion bahjees and a plate of popadoms just to the south-east. You see, there’s more to this sky gazing than you’d guess.

Talking of SNAGs, which I was earlier, apparently the new trendy thing to be, if you’re a guy, is a Millennium Man. It sounded mighty impressive to me till I found out what it meant. What a disappointment. I did initially think it was going to be an electronic device, as men were going to be fazed out in the twenty first century. I was wrong about the former, possibly not about the latter. So I’m going to forget the true definition, which I’m keeping from you, and make up my own. Millennium man is: Rich, single, good looking but not in a NEXT catalogue kind of way. Doesn’t cook but insists on eating out in expensive restaurants all the time, even for breakfast and light snacks. MM likes sitting at the tap end and doesn’t get irrationally upset if you use his razor. All this and still doesn’t like Betty Davis films or have Maralin Monroe wallpaper on his bedroom walls. He also wouldn’t tell on you if you accidentally ate a Cadburys’ Cream Egg in the month of March. He definitely doesn’t exist.

W

LETTERS

NEWS FROM ASCENSION AUXILIARY AIRFIELD By Maj Jeff Lowdermilk

We are currently working very closely with the Royal Air Force to eventually turn over the entire fuel infrastructure to the Ministry of Defense. In pursuing this goal, an issue arose regarding the replacement of some valves in the Catherine Point facility. There was some disagreement among several US organizations as to whether the fuel valves in Catherine Point should be replaced or repaired. It appears now, after a survey from a US government contractor, the valves will be replaced.

I think we all hear periodic rumors about illegal drugs on the island. While I have had no experience in dealing with one of these situations since my tenure on the island, I would like to espouse the United States Air Force policy on searches and inspections. Searches are defined as examinations of a person, property or premises for the purpose of finding criminal evidence. Inspections are defined as examinations of a person, property or premises having the primary purpose of determining and ensuring the security, military fitness, or good order and discipline. A search may be authorized for persons or property situated in a place under a military command or control; military property; or property situated in a foreign country which is owned, used, occupied by or held in the possession of a member of a command. A search may be authorized for types of evidence such as contraband (i.e. drugs), fruits of a crime, or evidence of a crime. Inspections, on the other hand, cannot be conducted for the primary purpose of obtaining evidence, but they can be announced or unannounced. While there are many complex rules in the arena of searches and inspections and jurisdiction, the bottom line is it is important to point out you may forfeit some basic rights you may have once you enter Ascension Auxiliary Airfield. If you have any questions, please contact me for more details. If I cannot answer your question, I will refer the question to the 45th Space Wing Judge Advocate General.

We had a civil engineering team in to look at a number of projects. Once project being conceptualized is to add a maximum of six more windmills to our windfarm. Additionally, a hydroelectric system would be added to compensate for changing wind speeds and directions. If all goes well and approval is gained from a number of organizations, this project could be near completion by the end 2001.

On February 24, Computer Sciences/Raytheon (CSR) cleared a large hurdle in their organization-wide goal to gain International Standards Organization (ISO) certification. ISO is an international federation of national standards organizations for some 130 countries. Over 121,000 companies worldwide and over 10,000 in the US have found that it makes sense to pursue ISO registration so employees can perform their work in a consistent manner to ensure that a high degree of quality is maintained. An auditor from the National Quality Assurance (NQA) was on station for two days and assessed 12 areas. The auditor is going to recommend “certification” to the NQA. Congratulations to CSR and all of the employees on station who worked hard to achieve this status.

MajorJeff Lowdermilk

Cub Scouts do a Good Deed for Ascension

When Cub Scouts are enrolled into the world-wide brotherhood of Scouts, they promise to do a good deed every day. On Tuesday night the Cubs performed a good deed for the whole island and picked up ten bags of litter between Two Boats Senior Mess and One Boat "Bus stop".

Some of the Cubs show off their "Booty"!

Hash Trash
Hash No.738

Was set by Coffee Mate, and Thunderthighs. We started at the Red Lion, around Rupert`s Path, repelling down Guava Ravine, thank goodness it was not Australian style. The trail then led around Monkey Rock. At that point it was to everybody’s relief that we did not go up hill. The hash continued
to Dampiers Drip, Thistle Hill, and to Two Boats. As usual it was a great hash. To JJ and any one else who has not hashed on Ascension “ You Snooze You Loose ”

This Weeks Hashers:
Small Thing, Sniffy, Dosy Ha`P`orth, Roly Poly, Gilligan, A-Drain, Frank-n-Furter, Xena,
The Fugitive, Coffee Mate, Warp Speed, Ivor the Engine, Thunderthighs, Crystal Tips,
Wannabe, Fit Guy, Lollipop, Lady Like, Thomas the Tank Engine, Chief Longpole, Patsy,
Rodney, Alan, Mark, Robert, Aaron.
Next Weeks Hash Layers:
Ivor the Engine, and Roly Poly will start from Comfortless Cove at 430.
YEEEEEEE HAAAAAAA

Chief Longpole

ASCENSION PREMIERSHIP 1998/99
By Crocky

Results – Tables – Fixtures - News
Results:

US BASE: DISTRICT CHAMPIONS

Base claimed the District Cup with maximum points, beating Two Boats 2-1 on Saturday. If they hadn’t won no doubt striker Martin Joshua would have had a lot to answer for having missed a hatful of guilt edged chances in the first half. As it was, Two Boats took the lead against the run of play with a magnificent strike from ‘Net Buster’ Bennett from a difficult angle. Two Boats failed to add to their single goal and in the second half ‘Rebel Reynolds’ struck his 3^rd goal of the week to level the score. Richard Joshua completed the scoring with a delightful curler into the far corner. Congratulations US Base.

Earlier in the week US Base played Georgetown in Saturdays postponed match. Georgetown really should have won this game, starting against the wind and still taking the lead. Nigel ‘Dubbs’ Thomas squeezed a left foot shot past the Base defence after 23 minutes which rebounded back off the upright and went in off the unfortunate keeper Simon Williams. The Base kept their composure and worked hard to get the ball on the deck and pass it around, determined to play good football. Man of the match Steve Yon worked tirelessly through the midfield, winning possession and getting his team on the attack with some quality passes. The equaliser came from the penalty spot after Georgetown defender Martin Andrews brought down Timmy Reynolds. The ‘Rebel’ himself slotted the ball home and then added the telling touch to a Richard Joshua cross to make it 2-1 and claim all 3 points for the base.

It was up to Georgetown and Travellers to fight it out for the Runner up glory. Nigel ‘Dubbs’ Thomas put Georgetown ahead in the first half. Georgetown hung on to their lead, but it could’ve gone either way, as Travellers put up a brave stand. Travellers contested on many occasions but just could not finish and equalise. Things hotted up towards the end of the game as it was a matter of do or die for both teams. On one occasion, Travellers winger Jussie Wade, made a loose ball test Georgetowns goalkeeper Melvin Moyce. There was a furry of movement in the Georgetown area but Travellers hopes were dashed when the ball was blasted out. In the dying minutes, Georgetown came back and it was Dubbs Thomas who finally ended the Travellers threat. Receiving a through ball, he took on Nicky Antone Travellers Goalkeeper, one on one. Nicky did his best to deny Dubbs but it was not to be and he finished with 2 goals to his credit.

Final District team positions

Premiership Hot Shots

41 T Reynolds (Travellers) - 31 A Bennett (Harts) - 15 N Thomas(G/twn) - 10 J Benjamin(B/boys), A Piesse(Trvlrs) - 9 M Joshua(G/twn)

S Henry(Harts) 8 A Thomas(B/bys), - 7 M Vickers(G/town), C Young(TBR) - 6 N John(G/twn), A Henry(Harts)- 5 C Green(B/bys)

J Williams, T Leo(Rstbts), B Minto(Trvlrs) -4 D Henry(G/twn), R Joshua(Hts), D Henry(TBR) D Collis(Trvlrs)-3 3plyrs -2 13plyrs -1 21plyrs

Fixtures:

Sat 06 Mar: 5pm – Travellers v Harts

Sun 07 Mar: 5pm – Two Boats Rowdies v Roustabouts

Tue 09 Mar: 7pm – Rangers v Bellboys (Travellers Hill Stadium)

Thu 11 Mar: 7pm – Travellers v Harts (Travellers Hill Stadium) – 2^nd leg

So after two weeks of keeping District pride, teams go back to their original line-up, ready to go head to head for the Knockout honours. This competition also sees the return of the Rangers, this time captained by Gerwyn Crowie. The Knockout will consist of 2 legs and the aggregate score determining the winner.

Four action packed games for your enjoyment this week. Come and check out the thrilling action. So far this season there has been a goal scored at every game, so you won’t be disappointed!

EDITOR -Tony Jenkins

Assisted by Scouts Julian Anthony & Darryl Sim

The New Islander Office, Fort Hayes, Georgetown, Ascension Island.
Tel/Fax 00 + 247 6327
E-Mail: editors@the-islander.org.ac
Deadline: 12 pm Tuesdays

Contributors: Gwen Roberts, Penny Peters, Nathan Prince, Father Keith,Tony Jenkins, Jeff Lowdermilk, Roger Huxley, Betty Joshua, Richard Thomas, David Henry, Sharon Andrews

Printers: Raxa and Robert
The Islander post-box is situated in the entrance to the Administrator’s Office.
Deadline for all contributions as 12.00 on Tuesday

All articles © copyright 1999 The Islander Newspaper. All rights reserved.

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