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Attendees at the St Helena Islands Environments Conference Held at Anne’S Place from January 29Th to February 8Th Which Included Field Days

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Attendees at the St Helena Islands Environments Conference Held at Anne’S Place from January 29Th to February 8Th Which Included Field Days Attendees at the St Helena Islands Environments Conference held at Anne’s Place from January 29th to February 8th which included field days. Conference papers were presented by international researchers and academics with an interest in St Helena. Abstracts of 27 conference papers are presented on pp 19-23. In this issue Joining the Friends of St Helena Committee 2 Editorial / Joining the Friends We have vacancies for new members to join the Friends 3 Report on the AGM held at Oxford / Ascension talk by Polly Burns of St Helena committee. The committee normally has 4 Polly Burns talk (cont) between 10-12 members and meets twice a year, for 5 -6 Ascension Island History by John Woolven-Allen half day meetings, at the Friends Meeting House in London (opposite Euston Station). 7-8 Sale and New Career of RMS St Helena by Edward Baldwin 9 St Helena Airport Shrugs off “World’s Most Useless” Tag by Committee members also assist as necessary with the Andreas Spaeth and Flight News Update by E. Baldwin running of the two annual membership meetings – in the 10 Number Resident on St Helena approach 5,000 (Stats Dept.) summer (AGM) at the Friends Meeting House in Oxford and a New Approach View of St Helena by L. Carter and in the late autumn at the Victory Club in London. 11 Astronomer Jets in to Launch Star Gazing Event - SH Tourism There are no particular qualifications for committee 12-13 Country Shops of St Helena (parts 3 and 4) by Sharon Henry membership other than a long-term interest and/or 14 Owen George: A Tribute and Another Luny on the Market involvement with St Helena. Computing and 15 A Visit to St Helena by Laurence Carter administrative skills would be an added asset. 16 PASH Global to Provide Solar Energy for St Helena by SHG If you are interested please contact the chairman Ian 17 Plastic Reaches St Helena Beaches by Leigh Morris of BLUE Mathieson in the first instance on 18 A View from the Castle, David Smallman – Review by I. Mathieson 19-23 St Helena’s Diverse Islands Environment Conference – [email protected] Abstract of Papers 23 St Helena’s Whale Sharks by St Helena Tourism 24 St Helena, Ascension and Tristan on BBC’s Mastermind Autumn Meeting 2018: the next meeting will be held as usual at the Victory Club, Seymour St, London W2 2HF. The date has not been finalised as Governor Honan has agreed to address the Society in the company of one or more councillors but the date is yet to be fixed. It is likely to be either Saturday 17th or 24th November. Editorial As we noted in our last editorial “Access issues have dominated the life of the St Helena Connection.” The airport proposal featured on the front page of the first issue in 2006 and it has featured on no less than 13 subsequent front pages despite the lengthy period of the “pause” when no-one knew if the airport was on or off. Now we have reached the end of an era as access drops off front page news. This issue’s front page features the timely and imaginative Environmental Conference held In Jamestown in February. On pages 19-23 we have brief summaries from all 27 papers given by authors from around the world, who have a focus on St Helena and, I am pleased to say, include two members of the Friends. Access issues remain but the RMS is now gone to pastures new, but of perhaps a slightly shady nature as Edward Baldwin reports on pp7-8. Issues remain about the inability of passengers to embark or disembark the plane during its fuel stop at Windhoek but it seems likely that these will be resolved with time and a much easier link to Cape Town established. A few unlucky passengers have not been allowed to board the flight because they have not been in possession of adequate “medivac” insurance. This remains an issue not properly explained on the appropriate websites and nearly caused the termination of Laurence Carter’s visit to the island with his family after an absence of 16 years, as he recounts on page 15. But St Helena’s airport is no longer the beloved target of the Daily Mail’s outrage as aviation expert Andraes Spaeth reports on page 9. His successful flights to and from the island, and those of most other visitors, proving again that the label “the world’s most useless airport” is utter nonsense. The Environmental Conference was an inspired idea as it sets an agenda for St Helena’s future. Tourism is the economic future as was always the raison d'être for the airport. St Helena’s unique environment is its star attraction. New areas of interest to visitors are emerging. For many years Stedson George was happy to discuss and explain St Helena’s night sky to visitors but they could only find out on the grapevine that such knowledge existed on the island. Now, as we report on page 18, stargazing is very much on the visitor agenda thanks to the efforts of astronomer Bob Bower, who in the Environmental Conference described St Helena’s night sky as far better than at his home in Scotland, which he had selected for the very reason that it had dark night skies! St Helena’s links with Halley, Maskelyne, Manuel Johnson and other astronomers provide a superb historical context. The island’s whale sharks (see Environmental Conference abstract by Alistair Dove of the Georgia Aquarium on p20) were largely unknown outside the fishing community until the last few years. Evidence is growing that whale sharks come to St Helena as part of their reproductive cycle, which makes the island unique in the world. The Mantis Hotel has picked up on this as being a big draw for the summer months early in the year and their website offers the added attraction of a 5% discount on accommodation for the period. St Helena is only just waking up to the potential of its marine environment. Its isolation will hopefully secure its future from over-exploitation, although not necessarily from oceanic pollution, another topic of the environmental conference and graphically illustrated very recently as we report on page 17. Our AGM was held in beautiful weather once again at the Friends Meeting House in Oxford on 9th June and featured two excellent talks on Ascension, a subject that we have only briefly touched upon in the past. John-Woolven-Allen provided a very well- informed summary of Ascension with some excellent photos of him viewing giant USAF aircraft on Wideawake Airfield which was apparently open to children in the 1980s (see pp 5-6 and also SHCs 19,20,21 for earlier articles by John on Ascension). We also delighted to welcome Polly Burns who had carried out research into the behaviour of sharks in Ascension waters for her MSc dissertation at Edinburgh University. This is a particularly topical subject in view of the recent shark attacks on swimmers and led to a lively discussion as members of the audience shared their experiences of swimming in Ascension waters. We are always in need of new committee members with links to St Helena both for ideas about how FoSH can develop or to assist with the various tasks of running the organisation. If you would like to help or just be involved please get in touch with me at the address below or through any of the committee members listed The St Helena Connection The St Helena Connection aims to provide news and information on people and current and historical events of interest to anyone with connections to the Island of St Helena. All contributions welcome. Please contact the editor: Ian Mathieson, Callender House, 90, Callender St, Ramsbottom, Lancs BLO 9DU. T 01706-826467. Email [email protected] Published by the Friends of St Helena c/o the Editor at the above address Printed by Direct Offset, Glastonbury, Somerset. Joining the Friends or Subscribing to the St Helena Connection Membership To join the Friends please contact the Membership Secretary, Margaret Dyson on [email protected] Annual Membership is £20.00 per family at the same address in the UK and £30 overseas. Life Membership £350.00. The St Helena Connection is published twice a year in June (after the AGM) and December. It comes as a benefit of membership together with a copy of Wirebird which focusses on island history and is published in September. The Friends of St Helena The St Helena Connection Editor: Ian Mathieson President: The Earl of Iveagh Wirebird Editor: Colin Fox Chairman: Ian Mathieson Web Manager: Ian Bruce Vice-Chairman: David Young Committee Members: Edward Baldwin, Vicky Beal, Patricia Treasurer: Colin Fox Young, Matthew Woodthorpe, David Hall, and Nick Braddock. Secretary: Brian Frederick Membership Secretary: Margaret Dyson (not -re-elected) Page 2 St Helena Connection 24 Annual General Meeting 2018 The AGM took place again at the Quaker Meeting House in central in Oxford on June 9th. It was once again a beautiful summer day although attendance was rather lower than usual. The reason for this was not clear although a significant number of regular attendees appeared to be on holiday. We were very sad to report that two members, Shirley and Howard Crapper, who seldom have missed a meeting, where involved in a very serious car accident just outside Oxford in early May. Shirley did not survive although it is understood that Howard is recovering.
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