Photograph courtesy of Graeme Delanoe RUBiS Jersey International Motoring Festival • La Collette Marina: André Ferrari Improving the experience of telephone callers to the Town Hall • Community Art Delivered by Jersey Post to 19,000 homes and businesses every month. Designed and printed in Jersey by MailMate Publishing working in partnership with the Parish of St Helier. elcome to the June edition of the Town Crier. This is Walways a particularly busy month for St Helier with some major events being held Contents in the Parish, especially the Parish matters International Festival of Motoring 4 which starts on Thursday 5th June, Your call is important to us! 5 a new cycling event being held on the Constable’s Comment 5 following weekend and the Jersey Triathlon at the end of the month. These sporting events help to Community art: The Link Gallery 6 animate St Helier, introduce our town t o new visitors, as The French Connection 7 well as showcasing the invaluable work of our Honorary Police, assisted by officers from other parishes, without Parish homes and nurseries 8 whose help such events would be difficult if not impossible to World Music Day 10 stage. At the same time it is a month in which key moments in our history are commemorated, particularly the departure JT customers get better broadband 12 of the evacuees which is remembered in a service on the St Helier schools 14 Albert Pier on Sunday 22nd, and the anniversary of the Honorary Police report bombing of St Helier on Saturday 28th. The Parish is also 14 continuing to support the work of the Normandy Veterans A new set of postcards 15 Association by coordinating a visit of several islanders to The Waterfront 16 take part in the 70th anniversary commemorations in France. An important Parish Assembly on Monday 2nd June RUBiS Jersey International motoring festival 19 will see plans for the redevelopment of Maison de Ville Return of the Guernsey Rockers 20 presented, debated and hopefully approved. More information about this project, together with details of A planning tale 20 everything else that is taking place in our Parish this month Jèrriais by Geraint Jennings 22 can be found in this month's magazine. Street cleaning update 22 Town Centre News 23 WW1 COMMEMORATIVE EVENT View on St Helier 24 n 14th August 1914, following the German failure to withdraw from neutral Belgium, Britain joined in a war Parish Notice Board 26 Othat was to last over four years, range over the entire globe and cost over 750,000 of British citizens their lives. From the Polish Community 30 At the time, Jersey had a resident population of just over 50,000, La Banchette 32 and approximately a fifth of them served the British or French Dates for your diary 33 war effort, which left few Islanders untouched by the tragedy of war. While the story of the Great War is a story of millions, it is The St Helier Gazette 34 also the story of individuals. The Island will mark the centenary of the outbreak of the Great The St Helier Town Crier is published by the Parish of St Helier War w ith a special Island commemorative ceremony in the in association with MailMate. Parish of St Helier: Town Hall, PO Box 50, York Street, Royal Square on the evening of Monday 4th August, which will St Helier, Jersey, JE4 8PA www.sthelier.je be attended by H.E. the Lieutenant-Governor and the Bailiff. Editorial contact: Annie Le Noury Members of the public will also be able to freely attend and T: (01534) 811821 E: [email protected] provision will be made for suitable access. Those Islanders who MailMate: Le Quai Bisson, Le Boulevard, St Aubin, Jersey, JE3 8JT served in the ‘war to end all wars’ will be honoured during a E: [email protected] poignant remembrance service featuring evocative poetry, If you like the look of our magazine and think it would be the right place for readings, brass bands and choral music. your company to advertise please contact Phil Osborne on 01534 493300 or email [email protected]. The Bailiff, Sir Michael Birt, would like to invite groups of Copyright notice: 2013©Parish of St Helier. The entire content of this approximately 25 representatives from each of the Island’s magazine is protected by copyright. A ll rights are reserved. No part of this twelve parishes to join a unique parade that will form part of the magazine may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or ceremony. Participants will form a procession, carrying candles otherwise with prior written consent of the copyright owner. or lanterns to represent those fallen, together with the parish Reprint details: Reprints of articles can be obtained by contacting the standards. publishers. Disclaimer: While the Parish of St Helier and their contributors to Th e St Helier Islanders wishing to participate in the parade should ideally Town Crier have provided the information contained in this magazine in good have a family connection to a veteran of the Great War and faith, they accept no responsibility, financial or otherwise, for any action taken should contact their Parish Hall to register their interest. There is by any other party as a result of the information provided. Independent and no age limit, so adults and older children can get involved. The appropriate advice should always be sought on such matters. The views expressed written in this magazine are those of the authors and do not evening will start at approximately 7.45pm until 11pm, and there necessarily represe nt the views of the Parish of St Helier or MailMate. Whilst will be other community activity in the lead-up to the event. every effort is taken to ensure accuracy, the Parish of St Helier and MailMate accept no responsibility for errors or omissions that may occur. For more information please contact Donna Le Marrec on 448832. 3 Your call is important to us! e have recently been looking at ways to improve the experience of callers to our main telephone number, 811811. Reception and Customer Services get Wvery busy at certain times, which can lead to callers getting frustrated when they are not answered quickly. To improve the situation, we have installed a new auto-attendant function that will answer all calls to 811811 with a recorded greeting and give them options to go straight through to certain departments. From Wednesday 16th April, all callers to 811811 have been hearing an announcement welcoming them to the Parish and giving them options to press 1, 2 or 3 to go directly through to the following departments: • Customer Services (for paying fines, rates and licences) Constables • Charges (to enquire about a parking fine) ’ • Depot (to enquire about refus e and recycling) Comment Any caller who does not want these options will go through to the receptionist for handling as normal. ith Sunday trading Based on feedback from Reception and Customer Services, we believe that these legislation once again on the WStates’ agenda, the Parish three options will be popular with a lot of callers. With the new function, they can go straight through without having to wait. This will free time for the receptionist to deal Roads Committee is unanimously with other callers. opposed to proposals by the Economic Development Minister. The trial, We will continue to review how the auto-attendant facility is working and make which the States will debate this changes to the announcement and / or options if necessary. If anyone wants any month, would allow all shops, no further information, there are some questions and answers set out below. If anyone matter how large, to open on Sundays has any feedback, please email [email protected]. and our concern is that this would lead to Sunday becoming like any Telephone auto-attendant: QUESTIONS & ANSWERS other shopping day with all the attendant difficulties of traffic, noise Q Why have we installed an They can press 2 to reach Charges and and pollution; the Roads Committee auto-attendant on the Parish’s enquire about a parking fine. feels that Sundays should be kept main number? special for St Helier residents who They can press 3 to reach the Depot and have to bear the brunt of being the We have recently been looking at enquire about refuse collection or Island’s capital for six days a week. It waysa to improve the experience of callers recycling. should be noted that Jersey already to our main telephone number, 811811. has a very liberal Sunday trading law, Or they can wait to go through the Reception and Customer Services get very with the majority of shops able to receptionist as normal. busy at certain times, which can lead to open, and many of them do – callers getting frustrated when they are particularly in the summer season not answered quickly. To improve the Why have you chosen these options? when there are extra tourists visiting situation, we have installed a new Q the town. The Parish is also keen to auto attendant facility that will answer Based on feedback from Reception build on the success of last year’s all calls to 811811 with a recorded anda Customer Services, we think these greeting and give them options to go street party by introducing a weekly are some of the most popular reasons for straight through to certain departments. street market on Sundays; this will be calling 811811 and so should free up the an attraction for locals and visitors most time for the receptionist to deal alike, and will be something very Won’t callers just get annoyed Q with those people calling with other different from the normal shopping because they have to listen to an queries.