VOTE ON DEMOCRACY OPTIONS 22/23 AUGUST 2002

THE OUTCOME WILL BE AN IMPORTANT STEP ALONG THE ROAD TO THE CREATION OF A DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED BODY ON ASCENSION.

PLEASE USE YOUR VOTE - IT IS IMPORTANT

Please remember to take your polling card with you to vote. If you lose your card, you can cast your vote at The Saints Club between 5 and 8 pm on Thursday and Friday

Voting on Ascension will not make you ineligible to vote elsewhere

Andrew John Bennett (Flipper), a wonderful husband, son, grandson, brother, nephew, cousin and friend, died on the 9th July 2002 aged only 28. Andrew is survived by his wife Helena, father and mother Jimmy and Joyce, brother Anthony and sister Penny, not forgetting Granny (known to Andrew as "muma"), family and friends.

Andrew came to Ascension Island at the tender age of 4. Here he grew, played and worked hard to become the man he is (and will always be) today. At Two Boats School Andrew completed his compulsory education successfully. In 1989 he was proud to be one of the first Ascension Scouts to brave the UK, Ireland and Europe under the guidance of Johnny Hobson. Upon return with the scouts and awaiting examination results, Andrew joined Cable & Wireless as a "Youth in Training". From the age of 16 Andrew had made a career in engineering with Cable & Wireless, here on Ascension Island, St Helena and Falklands. He ventured to the UK twice as an ambassador for Cable & Wireless Ascension Island, where he successfully completed the Basic Engineering Course at the Porthcurno College in Cornwall and subsequently the Intermediate Course at the Cable & Wireless College in Coventry. Andrew held titles such as Watch-Keeper, Technical Watch-Keeper, Earth Station Technician, Telecommunications Technician and Senior Technician.

Finally in January of this year, Andrew pursued a greater challenge by becoming the first St Helenian Technician to work at the CNES ("Ariane") Tracking Station, Ascension, where he began learning French (the operating language of the Station). The biggest highlight of Andrew's life, was in July 2000 when he travelled to Orlando, Florida, USA and eloped with his partner Helena to Walt Disney World. It gave the greatest of pleasure sending surprise wedding photos later to his friends and family in St Helena and here on Ascension Island, where he spent the rest of his life. Andrew was an active sportsman and played a variety of sports namely badminton, softball, football and mainly golf, where he was proud to be one of the qualifiers for the Open 2001. It was a definite that Andrewwould participate in whatever sporting event there was on Ascension. Andrew led his life to the fullest, and had always looked forward to what next would come his way. Although Andrew is no longer physically present, he is present in our hearts, our minds and will forever be in our everyday lives. His name and character will always be mentioned by his family and friends with love and pride, and like the words on this page, his memory will never fade.

In loving memory of Andrew John Bennett.

The Met Office Weather Report

JOB VACANCY - MECHANIC/HANDYMAN.

Cable & Wireless (Ascension) has a vacancy for a Mechanic/Handyman to work in the Networks Engineering Section of the Ascension Business Unit.

The primary function of the job is to maintain satellite ground station antennas. Applicants should have a good working knowledge of antenna moving structures including AC Motors and experience in antenna rigging. Other Job functions will include the maintenance and servicing of standby generators and various handyman duties. The successful applicant will be required to start work on the 30th September 2002.

Queries can be made and a full job description can be obtained from the Networks Manager, Mr. Geoffrey Augustus on telephone 6559. Written applications including, a CV and any job references should be in by no later than 30th August and sent to:

Mrs. Anita Stevens, Human Resources Manager, Cable & Wireless plc, Ascension Island.

A Report for BBC World Service "Calling the Falklands" by Dee Palmer (DP) 12/08/02

Today, I am delighted to be able to introduce you to someone who, I am sure, will become a very familiar figure. He's Fr. Michael McPartland (MMC), who is soon to take over responsibility for the far-flung Roman Catholic Communities of the South Atlantic. Fr. McPartland has had a varied career. After leaving school at 15, he had a series of jobs in his hometown of Middlesborough. He was apprenticed as a Painter and Decorator but discovered he simply had no head for heights. His next job, in a dusty upholsterers workshop, was damaging his health, so he moved to the more salubrious environment of a department store, where he worked as a sales assistant until he was called up for National Service. Most of his intake, the last ever, hated the Army. But Michael McPartland loved the life and signed on for a long-term contract in the Royal Corps of Signals. But right from the beginning, he began to think that he was being called to the Priesthood.

MMC: My first reaction was to just reject it as a kind of spurious thought. And, it would go away and I would go out for a drink and into the Naafi and all the rest of it. Then, occasionally, it would come back again - usually in a moment of quiet prayer. But, I couldn't make sense of it because I had this notion that Priests did nothing else but pray all day. Even though I was a practising Catholic, I never thought of myself of being holy in any way. So, I thought of it as spurious and put it aside. It didn't go away and kept coming back again and again. When I got to my mid-20s - a bit later than that - I was beginning to get a little bit annoyed by it as it was blurring my sense of the future. And, I went to a very trusted officiating Army Chaplain, Fr. Basil, and I explained to him what was happening and he advised me to do nothing while I was in the service but to wait until I came out and then pursue it. I was very happy to get that advice and that's exactly what happened. In 1971 I came out and I resolved my dilemma in this way: "I don't know why God is calling me into the Priesthood but God knows what he is doing better than I do. And, if he really is calling me, then my answer has to bee 'Yes.' And let it happen."

DP: Now, once you were ordained, you worked for many years in Africa in Nigeria and later in Kenya. What was that experience like?

MMC: It was almost the complete reverse of being in the Army. When I was in the Army, I learned very quickly that every plan you make succeeds. And, if anything goes wrong, then the whole Army system seem to gang up against any opposition. So, I got used to the idea that to make a plan, it was going to succeed. I never took into account that something might go wrong or it might not happen. Because, you made jolly sure you made whatever needed to be done, would be done and whatever was done, was for the best. After a while, you take it as normal. When I went out to Africa, one of the first lessons I learned was that the only certain thing was that any plan that you make, that it was not going to work.

DP: Is that Civilian life or is that Africa?

MMC: It might be a bit of both but it was certainly true for Africa. You could organise something in a community, which is lots of singing and dancing, I mean, life in rural Africa has many things to recommend it. The people are happy and they have a great sense of celebration. You can do something one time and the results will be fantastic but you can doing the same thing another time ant nothing will happen. And, similarly, you can go there, doing nothing and everything will happen. I had to train myself, actually, to do a complete 180-degree turn and to go from expecting success every time to expecting nothing.

DP: Do you have any expectations at the moment, about your work in the South Atlantic?

MMC: First of all, I have to do a lot of listening. I have to find out what is there on the ground. And, it's important that I don't jump to any particular conclusions. I don't go there with any pre-thought-out agenda whatsoever. I see myself there being a servant of the people. And, like every good servant, you want to please your masters.

DP: Are you planning to continue the long and very honourable tradition of co-operation with the other denominations?

MMC: I most certainly will. I think that since the Second Vatican Council, the whole kind of movement in the Church is to try and understand people of different traditions and to work closely together. And, I look forward to meeting people from the other Denominations and, I would like to think that I go there as a friend.

DP: Now there is, sadly, a certain amount of depressive illness, which has been identified by the medical authorities/staff in the Islands. What, as a Priest, can you contribute to the care and support that people suffering from depression do need?

MMC: I have had the privilege of attending several courses in psychology. And, the skills that I learned from there - the Richmond Fellowship - my approach would be to anyone who has depression - I think I would be able to approach it with great sensitivity and, I think, understanding.

DP: You are not going to be travelling to the South Atlantic until the middle of October. In the meantime, is there any kind of message that you would like to send to your new parishioners and the rest of the Islanders or perhaps some sort of a thought or a prayer?

MMC: My first message would be that I can't wait to get out there and be with them. It seems to me that I have been given an extraordinary privilege to be their pastor. I feel a tremendous affinity with the people. I just can't wait to go out there and actually taste it and be there. I would hope to be with them as soon as possible.

(100X Transcription Service)