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The Islander - Thursday 9^th December 1999

BUSY TIMES FOR ASCENSION ISLAND CUB SCOUTS!

The Cub Scouts have been very busy again. Two weeks ago they went fishing on one of the AIS barges and caught lots of Grouper. Craig Williams (Shown right) probably caught the biggest one! Nathan Fowler felt a bit seasick but soon recovered when they got back ashore!	Craig Williams gets the biggest Grouper fish!
The Cub Scouts get ready to go fishing.	There then followed a very enjoyable fish fry at the Scout's beach hut where many of the Cub's parents attended. The Cubs would like to thank Cedie Henry for arranging the trip (and for entertaining the Cubs and parents in the evening). Buffalo and Bobby Leo for taking the Cubs out on the barge and all the parents who helped prepare, cook and tidy up. It was a great adventure for the Cubs!
More Adventures.................. Last week the Cubs had another adventure when they visited the SerCo fire station. The Cubs learnt about safety in the home and how to escape from burning buildings.	Richard Henry extinguishes an oil fire.
Craig puts out another oil fire.	The Cubs really enjoyed a ride in the fire engine along the runway. Finally the Cubs were given a chance of putting out a real fire using real fire extinguishers. A big thank you to Steve Woolaston and the rest of the SerCo fire crew for a most informative and interesting visit. Serious but great fun!

Hey Mum! How do I look? .............. Can I be a fireman?

- Please visit us on the 1st Ascension Island Scout Group web site -

NEWS ON JERMAINE BENJAMIN

Whilst on leave in U.K., Raxa and I visited Jermaine Benjamin in Stoke Mandeville Hospital.

Jermaine had just started his rehabilitation programme and is doing well with various aspects of training. He has a very positive attitude and determination to succeed in living independently. His morale is high with tremendous encouragement and support received from his family, Tracy and his many friends on the Island.

Dr. Graham the consultant responsible for Jermaine's rehabilitation programme is very impressed with the progress he has made so far. He is receiving care and rehabilitation training by dedicated professionals in the field.

I hope that Jermaine is allowed to complete the rehabilitation programme to Dr. Graham's satisfaction and not forced to return to St. Helena because of financial constraints. He has given his consent for any financial assistance from the Island for whenever he will be discharged from hospital to live in the community. He could use the finance to purchase equipment that will aid him in his daily life. It would be a worthy gift from the Island in the new millennium to a courageous friend. He has bravely faced life's trauma and challenges presented to him in few short seconds. It is a privilege to be able to assist in any way we can.

Dr Shub

LOCAL PHONE CHARGES INTRODUCED...............

Following new rates submitted by Cable & Wireless (Ascension Island):

Revised Service Tarrifs

LINE RENTALS

* Increased rentals will appear on customer's bills for December 1999, as they are payable monthly in advance.

LOCAL/NATIONAL CALL CHARGES

(Effective Date 20^th December 1999)

• For calls originating only from Georgetown & Two Boats Extensions, terminating on any Island telephone extension (number)

DIRECTORY ENQUIRIES

(Effective Date 20^th December 1999)

* Charges for Directory Inquiries will only apply to customers on the Georgetown & Two Boats telephone exchanges. Cable & Wireless can only provide accurate information for telephone numbers on the Georgetown & Two Boats exchanges. Directory enquiries for numbers on other Island exchanges should be made to the appropriate exchanges.

The above revisions were submitted to and approved by the Administrator prior to publication.

For further information on our telephone service tariffs or any other services offered by Cable and Wireless, please call Customer Services on 111.

Cable & Wireless is pleased to inform customers of the following new International Telecom service tariffs that will come into effect from 20th December 1999.

I.D.D. & PIN Tariffs

Fur further information on our telephone service tariffs or any other services offered by Cable and Wireless, please call Customer Services on 111.

RMS St HELENA and the ships replacing her service.

Latest news on Monday 6th December, 1999

The RMS St. HELENA (RMS) is safely berthed in Falmouth.

The IASON.

Captain Martin Smith, travelling as Charterer's Representative on the ship reports that all the crew, including all the Saint crew have been working very hard to get the ship ready for the passengers in Gibraltar and Ascension Is.

The IASON will arrive in Gibraltar at 07:00 tomorrow morning. The remaining 11 RMS crew are flying by commercial flight to Gibraltar to join IASON. The 124 passengers are flying to Gibraltar from London's Luton airport to join IASON. The IASON is taking fresh water and other small services before departing Gibraltar at 17:00 tomorrow 7th.

The IASON's timetable is now :-

Las Palmas	Call	9th December	15:00 - 20:00
Ascension Is	Call, and take bunkers	16th December	06:00 - 13:00
St Helena	Arrive	18th December	15:00
St Helena	Depart	19th December	10:00
Ascension Is	Call, and take bunkers	21st December	08:00 - 14:00
St Helena	Arrive	23rd December	15:00
St Helena	Depart	24th December	12:00
Cape Town	Arrive	29th December	12:00

The chartered ship ELIZABETH BOYE (EB) passed through Tenerife on Saturday 4th December. She is now on passage to Ascension Is. where her ETA is 12th December. This ship's ETA St Helena is now during the night of 15th. She should start discharging on 16th. Belinda Bennet, travelling on EB as supercargo on this small ship reports that the cargo is secure and all the livestock are well (67 chickens, one dog and one cat). Belinda also reports that, as the ship arrived at the well-lit wharf in Tenerife at about 02:00, the cock decided it was dawn and started crowing; the noise set the dog barking and this agricultural earful was maintained throughout the stay in port. Our grateful thanks go to Victor (Southern Agencies) and his team for working this ship at such an unsociable hour.

The CCAL ship THORSRIVER. Discharged 69 containers during the weekend. This ship is now on passage to Canada with one container of coffee from St Helena. The three RMS crew members travelling on this ship will be met in Canada by David Padmore and fly from there to join RMS on 21st. The THORSRIVER Owners have been very pleased and impressed by the services in St Helena and say that the Island could teach Portnet (the South African port authorities) a thing or two about efficiency. Our thanks go to all concerned with turning this ship round.

The other CCAL ship, THORSLAKE is at St Helena today, loading empty containers. She should arrive in Cape Town on 12th. The three RMS crew travelling with her will be met by Tony Bownes, our Cape Town director and will fly to join the RMS on 13th.

LETTERS

NEWS FROM ASCENSION AUXILIARY AIRFIELD (AAF) By Maj. Larry Martin

Well, as you can see, I'm back after about three weeks off-island. My trip back to the States was both for business and vacation. On 15-16 November, I attended a meeting sponsored by the Defence Energy Support Centre at Ft. Belvoir, Virginia (just south of Washington, D.C.). The meeting was the latest one between the US and UK governments concerning the transfer of all military fuel requirements on Ascension Island. Our most recent meeting, prior to this one at Ft. Belvoir, was held at Ascension Auxiliary Air Field last October. As you may not know, the current fuel process on the island involves both UK and US resources. Fuel is delivered from the Maersk Gannet, a UK operation to the pierhead on Ascension Island via the "floating pipeline," a US operation. The fuel is then stored in the bulk storage tanks at Catherine Point, a US installation, just south of Georgetown. Fuel leaves Catherine Point by one of two methods. With the first method, fuel is moved via fuel trucks, a US operation, to either the US base power plant or the airhead. Truck movements to the airhead are generally used for refuelling US flagged or sponsored aircraft. With the second method, fuel moves via a UK pipeline from Catherine Point to the UK fuel hydrants at the airhead. If this method is used, the fuel is sold back to the UK. Of course, if the RAF uses this fuel for US aircraft, the fuel is then sold back to the US. As you can see, the process is not really cost effective. As a direct result of these meetings between the US and UK governments, all aspects of military fuel operations on Ascension Island will fall under the purview of the UK government, making for a more streamlined and efficient process. Basically, the US government will no longer operate fuel trucks, the floating pipeline, or Catherine Point. They will all be operated and maintained by the UK government. Before the transfer of ownership is completed, the entire fuel infrastructure will be upgraded, as required. New storage tanks will also be built. If all goes well, construction will begin in April and conclude in or before December, 2000.

Of course, not all my time spent off-island involved work. I was able to spend about 10 days in Minot, North Dakota with my family for the Thanksgiving holidays. I almost never made it home though. Our weekly flight that week (8 Nov) was a military C-17 cargo plane. It was diverted for presidential support. Luckily, I was able to change my flight plans and hitch a ride on the RAF TriStar. Thanks RAF, for the ride. I was expecting to have to shovel a lot of snow while I was home; fortunately, we only had a light dusting of snow in Minot. The weather was relatively mild for North Dakota in November, to say the least. Though I find it hard to believe, I can honestly say that I was colder in London than in North Dakota.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, I've been told that the meal at the base was phenomenal. I wish I had been here to enjoy the great food. Well, maybe not. It was great to be home. As usual, it appears the dining facility staff performed magnificently. I believe the estimate was over 700 people fed between 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. Well done!

For those of you interested, the next launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery should occur this next Saturday, 11 December at 05:13 local from pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC). The main mission of the shuttle will consist of repair work to the Hubble Space Telescope. The shuttle is scheduled to land at KSC on 21 December. As always, Ascension Auxiliary Airfield is ready to support the mission.

Last Friday and Saturday, we transferred 1,356,695 gallons of fuel from the Maersk Gannet to Catherine Point. The operation was performed safely and without incident. Kudos to all involved. We are scheduled for one more fuel transfer on 22-23 December with a backup scheduled for 27-28 December. We normally transfer fuel about every six weeks; however, we are doing this one early because of the Y2K computer problem. We don't expect any Y2K problems with our fuel system, but we are "topping off" the tanks as an additional measure of precaution. As a final note concerning the pierhead, we anticipate the arrival of our cargo ship, the MV Ascension, on 16 December.

For the American football addicts, here are the results of last week's National Football League scores (note: bottom team is the home team):

New Orleans	12	Tennessee	14	St Louis	34
Atlanta	35	Baltimore	41	Carolina	21
Green Bay	35	San Francisco	30	Washington	17
Chicago	19	Cincinnati	44	Detroit	33
Indianapolis	37	NY Jets	28	Philadelphia	17
Miami	34 NY	Giants	41	Arizona	21
Kansas City	16	Seattle	21	Cleveland	10
Denver	10	Oakland	30	San Diego	23
Dallas	6	Minnesota	TBA
New England	13	Tampa Bay	TBA

Of course, the college football bowl season is also nearly upon us. Florida State will play Virginia Tech in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans for the national championship on January 4. Stanford will play Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day. Michigan meets Alabama in the Orange Bowl, also on New Year's Day. The other big bowl game will put Nebraska against Tennessee in the Fiesta Bowl on January 2. Until next time,

Major Larry Martin

AN EXPENSIVE BUSINESS- CANNON MAKING

An interesting record of the manufacturing of a cannon at CAEN. in 1375, tells how, six Smiths, and nine labourers, set up three forges in the market place. Two methods of construction suggested themselves to the first gun makers, both based on existing techniques of the time.

Casting, as was done with bells, or building up from staves and hoops, as was done with domestic tubs and barrels, as the casting of iron was yet to develop. The Bell method was only applicable to Brass at that time and that was expensive at twenty pence a pound, while Iron was but six pence, which tended to keep Brass guns on the small side, and favoured Iron, though the method look longer, having to, heat, and hammer out into strips.

The CAEN gun was made from 650lbs, of the finest Spanish iron, and that was just for the barrel, so the materials alone were costly enough, never mind labour, transport, wheels, rope, and carriage etc. Also take the great expense of Gunpowder, where Iron cost, sixpence a pound, Gunpowder cost 120 pence a pound, and it was obviously cost effective to use the smallest gun possible, and the least powder.
It follows that the early guns were either, "Siege guns", or purely "anti personnel", firing mainly stone missiles, as iron cannon halls were so costly. Indeed, armies had, "Stone masons" on hand, to make, "Stone balls" for the guns. I wonder if this was where the phrase "Ball-breaker" came from, just a thought!!

I asked "BOB THE CASH" at the Airhead, what the cost of the CAEN, gun barrel, would be today, say. £28-30 in 1375, bearing in mind the different "Pence " in use then "Groats" and "Florins", as well, I think. He wouldn't even begin to guess at the answer, but "RULE OF THUMB" suggests: double the money every 20 odd years or so should give a fair idea as to the cost. So, 624 years, plus interest, inflation and, taxes, is "erm ". "No way", you work it out for yourselves!

My thanks, to all of you who used the, AMNESTY BOX this week, a couple of .303 inch rounds, amongst other things, inside. KEEP IT UP.

Cheers for now, until next time, keep safe,

Bryn, the SerCo, Armourer.

Extract from The Citizen...........

Produced by the Citizenship Commission of St. Helena.

The citizen
_________________________________________________________________________

CELEBRATION

The Citizenship Commission updates the public about matters concerning citizenship through its bulletin in the St Helena News This is number 50 and the last for this millennium It should appear in the St Helena News on Friday 10 December- three weeks exactly before the millennium celebrations What have we to celebrate?

For a start there is some doubt that the 1 January 2000 is the beginning of the new millennium. There are arguments that it should be 2001. There is also the debate about whether we have the right day. In 1582 Pope Gregory XIII adjusted the then Julian calendar to bring it into synchronisation with the solar year. He had do so by 10 days so that the day following 4 October 1582 became the 15 October 1582. The "New Style" calendar was called the Gregorian calendar in his honour. However it was not accepted in Britain until 100 years later, not in Japan until 1873, not in Greece until 1923 and finally not in Soviet Russia until as recent as 1940. But these arguments should not detract from the fact that in three weeks time we will be privileged to celebrate and bring in a new millennium.

We have much to celebrate. We live in a physical environment of stunning beauty. It is also one of stark contrasts green interior, rainbow lava flows, majestic basaltic formations, white sea birds flying from brown cliffs, dolphins leaping in a turquoise sea. Because the island is relative small all areas are easily accessible. We also have a built environment of historic importance. It is a heritage that visitors admire especially the Castle and environs and the way the buildings have been laid out in a narrow valley yet creating a feeling of space. Our very isolation as an island in the middle of the South Atlantic has led to the development of special species of flora and fauna that are of international scientific interest.

When we see the dangers people are exposed to on TV we appreciate that we live in a safe environment. The friendliness and the safe environment provided by the people of St Helena attract visitors most of all. We must not lose sight of the fact that friendliness and a safe environment exist because of the effort of islanders as their way of life. These are elements of our culture that are precious and that we must work to preserve. We must continue to work to keep our island a law-abiding society. We have arrived at this point in our history and development through conscious effort and community support. Our past has not been easy. We have come from a turbulent, difficult past that included slavery, people of different racial origins, yet today we are an integrated supportive community. We are at a stage that much of the outside world is striving to achieve. We must recognise this important asset and strength in our culture. As we work to solve economic and social problems, we must also work not to let these vital cultural assets deteriorate.

As we look to the celebrations of the new millennium we must build on the strength of our island community. We must also acknowledge that we are moving into a critical and difficult period of our development. There are certain key issues for success. Central is the whole matter of our citizenship. We must not end up as victims of a situation being blamed for lack of progress. Worse still that we blame ourselves as victims. All sorts of open and subtle barriers are put up to safeguard individual and wider interests. They are also barriers to hide guilt. We do not want to end up as a goat in a pound and get patted on the head for being docile.

Barricades block feelings of guilt
Impound people
They cannot help or threaten -
The goat in the pound

Barriers are being put up not to treat St Helena as a special case as has been done for Gibraltar and the Falklands. No date has been set for restoration of citizenship rights. We move into the new millennium as part of the international community. We started our campaign in this millennium at national level. During the next millennium islanders should extend it to the international community.

FALKLANDS VISIT:
A MATTER OF CONVENIENCE SAYS OVERSEAS TERRITORIES HEAD

By J. Brock (SARTMA-FI)

Mr. John White (JW) (pictured right), Head of the Overseas Territories Department at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is visiting the Falklands on the tail of his participation in the South Atlantic Fisheries Commission, which took place in Buenos Aires. It was a very convenient visit to come to the Falklands on Saturday's Lan Chile flight and he has been here to update Councillors and Heads of Department on various issues concerning the South Atlantic. A broad range of issues was discussed including internal and external matters dealing with the Falklands in particular. Whilst in the Falklands, Mr. White took the opportunity to answer questions about the South Atlantic Islands in general. Seeing that the White Paper was alluded to in the Queen's Speech, SARTMA yielded to the temptation to ask Mr. White about citizenship for St. Helenians. MPs who had visited the Falklands had suggested that bits and pieces of the White Paper would find themselves tagged on to other legislation.

JW The Queen's Speech made clear that the offer of citizenship contained in the White Paper will be pursued by Government. What the Government has not yet been able to establish is a slot in the Parliamentary time-table when an Overseas Territories Bill can be taken, first of all by the House of Commons. And, as such, what I can't tell you when that offer of citizenship will be debated in Parliament. But, there is a solid commitment by the Government to fulfilling that offer and I know that as soon as time can be found, it will be pursued.

SARTMA Another issue for St. Helena is access. What information can you provide about the study that was done reference an airfield on St. Helena?

JW the Department for International Development has begun work on an access study which is wider ranging than just an airfield. It's not just a study of should there be an airfield but it's a study what is the best way of providing access to St. Helena by whatever turns out to be the most appropriate and the most economic means. Air is one option. A range of air and sea is another option and so on. This is on-going work which will betaken forward, I hope, over the coming months. The first phase of it is over and I think the second phase should be beginning soon.

SARTMA Baroness Scotland announced recently that negotiations have started with the United States in order to open up Wide Awake Airfield on Ascension Island to Civilian traffic. What is the progress thus far on these negotiations?

JW I wish to re-emphasise that Wide Awake airfield is a Military airfield and there is no question of opening it up to civilianisation. What we are trying to negotiate is access to the airfield for civilian charter flights. So there is no question of handing it over to civilian authorities.

SARTMA What is the progress on that at the present time? Have talks opened about Charter Flights?

JW Well, it actually rests with the American bureaucracy which is slow moving.

SARTMA Have you visited Ascension and St. Helena and can you tell SARTMA's readers about the progress of those visits?

JW I went to St. Helena last year so I doubt if I will have the pleasure to go again for a while. I tried to go to Ascension about a month ago but, I am afraid, the RAF failed to fly and I had hoped to try and have a triangular meeting with the Governor and the Administrator but that wasn't to be. I will try again. But, I know both places very well. I have been to St. Helena about three times and Ascension several times.

SARTMA Do you consider those tri-meetings a success?

JW It's always better to meet face to face. If you can sit down for several hours with colleagues, you can get through a great deal of business. Such meetings are valuable. But, to find a time where the ships and the air services all conspire so that you can all get together and that fits the Governor's diary and the Administrator's diary and mine, it takes quite a lot of doing .

Father Keith Writes:

PARISH CHURCH OF ST MARY THE VIRGIN.  ASCENSION ISLAND (Diocese of St. Helena) Parish Priest: Fr. Keith James - 6431 Church Warden: Mervyn Isaacs Church Warden: Cheryl Anthony

Dear Friends,

Great! Wonderful! Marvellous!
I said I knew we could rely on you to be generous, but those of you who gave towards the Children's Society really exceeded all our expectations.
It took well over an hour to count the money and it looks as if a cheque for over £400 will be on its way to the Society by Christmas. (final figure next week)
This is double last year's collection, so a very big THANK YOU all who sponsored stickers, put money in envelopes or gave at the Christingle Service collection.
And a special thanks to Two Boats School for their part in all of this, to the children for making Christingles to the teachers for their support; but most of all to all who attended the Service and filled St Mary's Church. It's the first time since we came that people have actually had to stand in the porch; and it was magnificent. And all in a good cause.

A full house!

"God moves in a mysterious way his wonders to perform." So runs an old and often quoted hymn. Had the RMS still been in service our Bishop would have arrived on the island today, and his Sunday services clashed with the Cable & Wireless Sports Day - not exactly a good combination with the church in the centre of it all. Now the Rt Revd John Salt will be arriving here as one of our first visitors of the New Millennium on January 7th 2000, and leading our worship on January 9th. Hopefully there's nothing else lined up for that Sunday so 'watch this space' for further details. A packed Family Service at 10.30 followed by a plate party lunch at the Exiles Club would make a fitting start to Bishop John's association with this outpost of his Diocese.

And finally……….I'm a little bit worried; in the GREAT BIG BOX at the back of the Church awaiting your gifts to go to St Helena there is so far just a cute little Teddy Bear and a Determined Looking Duck. Now they say that 'two's company' but I'm not so sure. Who knows what they might get up to all alone in that GREAT BIG BOX? Seems to me a little more company might not be bad thing……..over to you!!

God Bless you and keep you, Fr Keith & Ginny.

Darwin Turtle Project Update:
Season Off to a Slow Start

Nesting and Mating
After an early nest on Northeast Bay on the 22nd of November, there have been but a half dozen nests as of the time of writing (5th December). The numbers of mating turtles are, however, continuing to rise, with pairs having been present in Clarence Bay each day since the 4th of November. Although one can get good views of nearshore couples from Long Beach, if you are interested in an overview of these activities, the best place is from the guns on Cross Hill on a bright sunny day with the aid of binoculars. It is from here, that project staff will make their season-long observations to quantify mating behaviour and the interval between mating and nesting.

Where do the males go?
Tagging studies were conducted through the 60's and 70's by scientists from the University of Florida, egg collectors from the Cayman Turtle Farm and many Ascension Island residents. These showed very clearly that, at least in the majority of cases, female turtles left Ascension to travel to foraging grounds in Brazil. The routes by which the females undertook this mammoth journey were elucidated in work carried out by scientists from the University of Pisa, Italy and University of Wales, Swansea in more recent years through the use of satellite transmitters. This work was continued by the Darwin Initiative Turtle Project last season and will be continued this season. In addition, very little is known of the behaviour of males and this is something we hope to remedy this season. After some preliminary attempts at capturing males (aided by volunteers from the RAF and the Maersk Gannet), we now await some specialised capturing equipment. Upon receipt of this, we hope to capture a few males so we can attach some especially resistant satellite transmitters to their shells so that they can be tracked to their foraging grounds. If this is successful, it will be a real first and will help to describe one more piece of the jigsaw that is the mysterious life cycle of the marine turtle.

Volunteering on the Beach
In addition to our at-sea volunteers, already this season we have been lucky enough to have a number of people volunteer their services: Dudley Bowling will be co-ordinating the efforts to monitor the beaches in the Southwest Bay region (PanAm Beach, Turtle Shell, Clarke's and Springer's). Kyla Turton will be patrolling the beaches in the Northeast Bay region (Porpoise Point to Hannay and Pebbly). If you would like to get involved and lend a hand, give us a call (Brendan Godley; Tel: 6563;E-mail: MTN@atlantis.co.ac).

RAF Fishing Expedition Measure Up
Finally, this past week we were also lucky enough to have had the assistance of all members of the most recent RAF fishing expedition. The main turtle-related activity they undertook was to measure and map all the beaches around the island. This will enable us to carry out a number of theoretical studies regarding the long term conservation of the species. In addition, one group helped fill in dangerous cracks in the rocks with boulders on one of the beaches near Porpoise Point that claimed the life of two turtles last season.

The Met Office Weather Report

Statistics for the week ending 5th December 1999.

ASCENSION SEA SWELL FORECAST ( based on data available on Monday afternoon) :
S’ly 0.5 to 1.0 metres, increasing to 1.5 metres around midweek.

Sea temperature around Ascension Island : 25 degrees Celsius.

ASCENSION ISLAND: A mixed week, with some warm and fairly sunny days around midweek, but also some cloudy, showery days, especially over the weekend.

ST HELENA: Mostly cloudy and dull but with a few sunny spells. Light showers on most days but some heavier ones Friday evening and overnight.

U.K: An unsettled week with spells or wet, windy but mild weather interspersed with cold snaps with wintry showers. A deep depression crossing Scotland on Friday gave gales in many places, and over 20cm of snow in central Scotland.

FALKLAND ISLANDS: A windy week, though not particularly cold. Much cooler weather over the weekend as southerly winds set in with wintry showers.

 

“METCHAT” ************************ “METCHAT” ************************ “METCHAT” ************************ “METCHAT” *************************

First of all, the answer to the problem of moving house with pets. The number of journeys required is seven:-
First, he takes the cat to his new home, then goes back to collect the fish.
He leaves the fish in the new house and takes the cat back with him to the old house, where he leaves it again.

He then takes the dog and leaves it with the fish in the new house.
Finally, he collects the cat from his old house and takes it to the new one.

The moral of that tale is to think carefully before choosing pets!

Another problem changing one word into another this week:

                        MEAT                    BEER                    POST
                       ½                                 ½                          ½
                       ½                                 ½                          ½
                       ½                                 ½                          ½
                       ¯                                 ¯                          ¯
                    FISH                     WINE                    CARD
                     (5)                               (5)                         (3)

As in the last puzzle of this type, change each of the above words into the one below it, changing just one letter at a time and always forming a new word at each stage. The numbers in brackets represent the minimum number of intermediate words.

Answers next week.

By the Headteacher - Mrs Betty Joshua

SCHOOL PAGE

www.ais.co.ac/school/

Hello Again...

Well, now that the Mock exams are over I am sure our Senior pupils are breathing a huge sight of relief, especially as the end of term is nearly in sight - but what a lot we have to get through before then.....

Christingle
I would like to thank all of the friends, parents and children who attended and to Father Keith for a wonderful service. I am sure you would all agree that when illuminated by candles (see right), St. Mary's has a rather special atmosphere. I would also like to thank you all for the donations you made towards The Children's Society.

Thank you
Firstly I would like to thank Tommy Moyce for his kind donation of CD's and copies of the encyclopaedia for the School Library. I am sure that the students and staff will make good use of them. I would also like to thank all the parents for their help in getting together the costumes for the primary and senior productions. Thanks also go to the Clubs and organisations that have lent us chairs and tables for the productions and to anyone else who is helping in any other way.

Outings
To celebrate the end of term, outings or special events are organised by the teachers. On Friday 10 December Middle School will be going to the Klinka Klub for their day of fun and games. On Wednesday 15 December Lower School, including the Reception and Nursery children, will be going up to Garden Cottage. I am sure you will all have lots of fun. For the senior school a disco has been organised for Wednesday 15 December.

Finishing Times
Just a quick reminder to parents. On the days of the primary production, Wednesday 8th and Thursday 9th, the primary school will finish at 12.15pm - there will, therefore, be no nursery on these days. On the days of the senior Christmas production, Monday 13th and Tuesday 14th , the senior school will finish at 2.45pm.

Carol Service
Our end of term carol service is being held in the main square in town on Thursday 16 December. This will start at 11.45pm and will finish at 12.15pm. Do come and help us sing. At the end of the service, Georgetown children will be free to go home and Two Boats Children will be transported home This event marks the end of Term One!

Betty Joshua
Headteacher.

Visit Two Boats School at: www.ais.co.ac/school/

PUBLIC NOTICE

No. 32/99
NEW COMMEMORATIVE STAMP ISSUE

CABLE & WIRELESS CENTENARY

On Monday 13th December, the Post office will release for sale a set of four stamps
and a souvenir sheet commemorating the Centenary of Cable & Wireless's first cable
landing on Ascension.

The stamps are as follows:-

15p	CS "Anglia" - The Cable ship from St Vincent in 1900
35p	CS "Cambria" - The Cable ship from Buenos Aires in 1910
40p	Cable Network Map
50p	CS "Colonia" - The Cable ship from Buenos Aires in 1910
£1.50	The souvenir sheet is a picture from 1899 of the first cable being laid at Long Beach from the CS "Seine"

The First Day Cover depicts a picture of the Cable & Wireless Earth Station with their
new Logo above it.

Sets of stamps at £1.40, souvenir sheets at £1.50, First Day Covers at £1.90 and First Day Cover souvenir sheets at £2.00 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.

A R Francis
Postmistress
Post Office, Georgetown

Hash Trash

Hash Number: 778

The Pack: Small Thing, Sniffy, Dozy Ha'P'orth, Gilligan, A-drain, Frank-n-Furter, Xena, The Human Mattress, Lance-a-little, Whynot, Warp Speed. Rat Boy, Ivor the Engine, Hong Kong Phooey, Lady Like, Thomas the Tank Engine, Herbie, Carol

After fruitless attempts by Gilligan to summarize the usual route hazards, (other than Lance a Little), the merry pack was off in search of the white stuff. Over loose rocks prickly pear we plundered and stumbled, some more then others. The Human Mattress and Ivor the Engine creating their own competition to see who could score the most scars, Ivor later forgetting the hash was over and continuing the game whilst testing the latest in protective clothing, a sandwich tray strapped to his back. The Bar checks were plentiful and were cunningly disguised, slowing the pack tremendously and keeping all together. Up hill and down dale we trundled to be joined and then passed by Warp Speed who found it more of a challenge to be late. Eventually the home arrow was sighted and a short road race began to the Vehicle Park, back at the Sheep Pens. There, tales of woe and childbirth education from the Human Mattress began, whilst chumping on very tasty nosh. A hairy ride home, alarmingly close to Hong Kong Phooey signaled the end of the day. I will never be the same again!!

The hashers wish a speedy recovery to the unfortunate of the day.

Next week. Live Hares, Small thing and Warp Speed from the Residency.

Rat boy.
Hashscribe.

ASCENSION PREMIERSHIP 1999/2000

Ascension Island Interactive

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