The Town Crier Febuary2011 NOW DELIVERED TO ST HELIER Your parish online www.sthelier.je RESIDENTS EVERY MONTH Helping St Helier grow Why the Parish’s ‘Clos des Pauvres’ has a rich future inthisissue For the dozens of Parishioners who have already put their 3 Mr and Miss St Helier names down for an allotment, the identification of Clos de 4 Parish wins gold 6 Odeon Cinema Hugh, field 1310, is very good news indeed. Jeff Hathaway, 12 Parish matters Chairman of JALGA, together with Tony Andrews, Director of 13 Town matters Parks, Cemeteries & Open Spaces for the Parish, and the 14 Focus on fitness 19 Parish people Constable, Simon Crowcroft, recently visited the field off Trinity 17 Grow Hill which it is proposed to turn into approximately 80 30 St Helier Gazette allotments for St Helier residents. Page3 Welcome to the Town Crier New plaques added Welcome to the February edition of the Town Crier, hard on the heels of the January one, which was distributed later in the month than to memorial bench usual due to hold ups in the production stage caused by the Christmas period and all that snow. In this short month we are particularly aware at the Town Hall of the increasing amount of daylight – a full hour and a half of it over the course of the month – and if we aren’t, the sound of birdsong is Six new plaques have been unveiled at a brief there to remind us that Spring is just around the corner. lunchtime ceremony which took place outside For Parishioners fortunate enough to have gardens, or balconies with planters, it is a busy time of year, and we have another gardening the Town Hall on Tuesday 1st February. The late column this month to offer guidance and encouragement. It is also a Frank Amy, former Constable of St Ouen, hectic month for the St Helier Parks & Gardens staff who are working flat out preparing for the floral displays which make our Parish so served a term of office as a Constable’s Officer attractive for much of the year. On top of that the staff are working in St Helier, with the Community in Bloom Group on an exciting entry for the RHS Tatton Park Show in July, which the Constable is hoping will be while two duplicated in Wests Centre, allowing Parishioners to see exactly what former our team is doing in the north of England to wow the thousands of visitors who attend the show. Procureurs du This issue also features the wonderful news that the Parish has Bien Public are identified a suitable site for the creation of allotments. Field 1310, Clos du Hugh, in the canton of Mont au Prêtre, measures 6.5 vergées and is also being St Helier’s original ‘Clos des Pauvres’. This excellent agricultural field has remembered. been let to the same family for over 100 years, and we are grateful to Stewart and Nick Mourant for agreeing to make it available to green- The late fingered Parishioners after its last potato crop is harvested later this Advocate year. As always, please let us know what you think about the Town Crier, and Christopher what you would like to see more or less of in future issues. If you have Lakeman (pictured left) was Procureur a story to tell, or something to say, please get in touch – we look forward to hearing from you. between 1996 and 1999, while the late Eddie Buesnel (pictured right) gave more than 40 To contact the editorial team, please call 811811 or email [email protected] f years’ service to the Parish, including twenty years as Centenier and seven years as Chef de Miss and Mr St Helier Police. The names of Dick Parker, Dennis Competition 2011 Wharton and Ronald This year's competition evening to Horn have also been choose a Miss and Mr St Helier was added to the hosted by the Parish's Battle of Flowers Association, compered by Roger Bara memorial bench. and took place on 12th February here at the Town Hall. The competition was open to young Top: Christopher Lakeman men and women aged 18 years or over who had lived in the Parish Above: Eddie Buesnal for at least two years, and this year the honours went to Becky da Silva and Tom Hacquoil. Becky will go on to enter the Miss St Helier competition later this year, which was won last year by our very own Miss St Helier, Sarah Watson, so we have great hopes for Becky following in her stead! So far there is no opportunity for the Mr St Heliers to do this, as only one Parish has followed St Helier's example of choosing a gentleman to represent the Parish at Battle and other functions For more details of what’s involved in being Miss (or Mr) St Helier, please contact the Constable, Simon Crowcroft, on 811821 or f The Town Crier is printed email [email protected] on FSC Certified Paper Page4 The Town Crier St Helier wins gold award at Skills for Jersey presentations The Parish of St Helier has been awarded a Gold Skills Development Certificate at a presentation evening which took place at the Radisson Hotel. Over 30 companies received Bronze, Silver & Gold certificates from Skills for Jersey on the night. The certificates are awarded to employers who go the extra mile in their support for: • the development of their own staff • work experience for school students, Project Trident, Graduate Internships etc • other work experience placements such as Highlands Above: Parish HR Director Martin Roberts with College students, Prince’s Trust, Foreign students Gold Skills award • the employment or training of job seekers who have Left: An apprentice on the Parish Roads Team special needs, Work Wise etc works in Common Lane • the employment or training of job seekers, i.e. Advance to Work Scheme, the Parish's Voluntary Work Scheme etc. parts of the organisation, including Director of Human Resources at the Parish, Martin Roberts visitors from its twin town in (pictured), who collected the award, said, 'We would like to Germany, Bad Wurzach. It also runs thank all of our employees for embracing training and apprenticeship programmes for development within the Parish. Awards like this cannot be gardeners, stone masons, decorators achieved without their ongoing support and commitment.' and mechanics. The Parish currently has more than a dozen people on its Workscheme, and regularly has students working in different f Burn’s Night festivities at St Helier House Burn’s Night was celebrated in style at one of the Parish’s three residential homes, St Helier House. Piper Jimmy McGovern piped the haggis into the dining room and after the supper there was singing from Rotary’s ‘Swing Style’ singers. f Deerglen is a local family run company and is your onestop shop for all construction projects in the Channel Islands • Large Construction Projects • Minor works • General Refurbishment and Fit-outs Contact: Deerglen (01534) 768590 Fax (01534) 768552 e-mail [email protected] February2011 Page5 New members of the Municipality sworn in A new Roads Inspector and three Rates Assessors were sworn in by the Royal Court last month, alongside the Constable of the Parish. Jorge de Sousa is the husband of District No 2 Deputy, Debbie de Sousa, and having worked hard to help St Helier return to Battle last year he decided to stand for election as a Roads Inspector to fill the vacancy created by the election of Paul Huelin as Centenier. Past Rates Assessors, Richard Watson and Daren O’Toole, were re-elected to serve a further term, and newcomer Ned Malet de Carteret was also sworn in as a Rates Assessor. Mr Crowcroft was sworn in to serve a fourth term as Above: Pictured, left to right, Jorge de Sousa, Simon Constable of the Parish. Crowcroft, Ned Malet de Carteret, Daren O’Toole f At your service If it’s water we can pump it, treat Established 1927 it, install it, service and repair it Main agents for Grundfos, Stuart Turner We service all makes of garden Services include machinery which includes BORE HOLE WATERTREATMENT and SYSTEMS HONDA KUBOTA WELL PUMPS PH CORRECTION HAYTER JOHN DEERE SODA ASH IRRIGATION PUMPS IRON and MANGANESE MOUNTFIELD STIHL REDUCTION ECHO HUSQVARNA POND PUMPS ULTRA VIOLET Contact our service For FREE department on 865304 advice or e-mail [email protected] Page6 The Town Crier Debate continues on future of Odeon Cinema A St Helier Deputy is trying to amend the North of Town Masterplan, due for debate by the States on Monday 3rd May, to include the demolition of the former Odeon cinema in Bath Street. According to Deputy Paul le Claire (pictured), the demolition of the Odeon Building should be permitted in order to develop a better holistic re-generation of the North of Town. ‘The Odeon building in my opinion is a very ugly and unsightly building which is going to diminish the attractiveness of the new Town Park. A modern development on the Odeon site would enhance the park. The Odeon is currently listed by the Planning Minister. I believe the best start for us would be with a blank sheet of paper. I would like to open the gateway for such a proposal by giving the developer that opportunity. There is no compulsion to demolish, but if my amendment is approved they will not be restricted in the way they are at present.” The Masterplan and the various amendments that have been brought to it can be found on the States Assembly website www.statesassembly.gov.je under ‘Propositions’ - NORTH OF TOWN MASTERPLAN (REVISED) (P.190/2010) f 40”Sharp Full HDTV £399WAS £559 £7.68 PER WEEK Interest Free Credit Subject to status Exclusive to * *Channel Islands only LC40F22E 57 King Street, St Helier www.nsew.com T| 630334 February2011 Page8 The Town Crier Leading St Helier business GAAP Accounts continues supporting the Government and local authorities throughout the world and in the UK are moving from traditional accounts to GAAP community Accounts (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles).