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I am delighted to have the opportunity to say hello to all Monserratians living away from home. My wife, Cathy, and I have been on island for six weeks and have already begun to appreciate what you are missing.The warmth of the welcome we have received and the beauty of Montserrat remain incomparable. We have been getting out and about getting to know people and, even more importantly, hearing of their hopes and aspirations for the future of the island. One of the reasons we were so keen to come here was to do our small part in helping to turn those hopes into reality.
One of the things that has struck me is that whatever nature throws at us, people are ready to move on. There is justifiable impatience. The volcano is not going to go away, but it cannot be allowed to delay us from developing the north. A lot of necessary planning has been going on, but now is the time for action. The MDC is in place and we look to it to deliver the capital at Little Bay that Montserrat so badly needs. Likewise there are new developments in the public service that remains the mainstay of the economy. Sarita Francis will become Chief Executive Officer on 1 October and has ambitious, but realistic plans aimed at improving the quality of service and accountability. New buildings, like the new Girl Guides HQ, are rising but no one would argue that enough is happening quickly enough.
Many of you will visit Montserrat over Christmas. I am sure you will see and feel the difference. Please encourage us to carry on, to do better and take back the message to the diaspora and beyond that Montserrat is open for business.
I look forward to meeting many of you and of hearing your ideas about how you can contribute to our regrowth and how we can make this beautiful island the "place to be" once again.
Peter Waterworth
Commencing on Wednesday 22 August, all residential properties in the Old Towne area became available for re-occupation. The decision was announced by Montserrat's Governor Mr Peter Waterworth who had support for the decision from all members of the Volcanic Executive Group (VEG).The access gates to the Old Towne area were moved to allow normal access for anyone who owns or rents residential property in the area. However, there is still no normal access to the floor of the Belham Valley as this area is prone to mudflows. In addition, homes in the vicinity of Waterworks Estate and Isles Bay Hill, only have limited daytime access on certain days of the week with permission from Salem Police Station as these properties are accessed from Belham.
Four gates are now installed around the Belham Valley floor to prevent access. One of these is situated at the northern end of the road through Dr Woods, one at the bottom of Happy Hill, one on the road leading from Old Towne to the Belham Valley just south of the access road to the Isles Bay Plantation properties and one on the road that leads to Old Road Bay from close to the Vue Pointe Hotel.
The Vue Pointe Hotel in Old Towne will be permitted to re-open for business with the exception of allowing guests to overnight there.
Areas of Old Towne were evacuated in two separate moves earlier this year. Returning residents are being advised that although risks have reduced in the intervening months, the hazards from from the volcanic dome remain. If there should be an increase in volcanic activity and / or the imminent threat of a storm or a hurricane they must be prepared to move further north at short notice.
In all there are some 60 properties in the Old Towne area.
Photo shows Old Towne when evacuated.
The storm which later became a Category 5 hurricane left a trail of death and destruction on islands to the south and north of Montserrat. On 16 August, Hurricane Dean hit St Lucia, Martinique and Dominica. There were storm related deaths in both St Lucia and Dominica and millions of dollars of damage to both island's agricultural sectors. Especially hard hit were the two island's banana crops. Similar damage was recorded in Martinique but to a lesser extent.
Montserrat was spared severe damage but the island was lashed by heavy rains, high winds and high sea swells throughout the day on August 17th. The island's Civil Servants finished work on that day at lunchtime so that they could prepare their homes for the storm. The Lookout area had particularly high winds and the fences around the community tennis courts suffered some damage.
The Montserrat Port Authority advised fishermen to remove their boats from the water and this was completed on Thursday afternoon 16 August. The Royal Montserrat Police Force also removed the police launch from the water and housed it ashore. Local yachts and dive boats sailed across to Antigua for safe-keeping. The precautions were perhaps as well as sea swells around the island's coasts were much higher than normal, however there was little or no damage to the coast line.
After passing south of Montserrat, Hurricane Dean increased in strength and headed north-westwards towards Jamaica where the south coast was damaged with some loss of life reported. The storm then headed for the Yucatan Peninsular in Mexico. The heavy rains in Montserrat triggered some mudflow signals in the Belham Valley area and all gates to the area were kept locked as a precautionary measure.
Mr Daniel Joseph of Drummonds leaves Montserrat on 7 September for the Manchester Business School at the University of Manchester to study for an MSc in Business Information Technology. Mr Joseph, a Lecturer at the Montserrat Community College, is the latest Montserratian to win a prestigious Chevening Scholarship. The scholarship is funded by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) and the University of Manchester.Mr Joseph's first degree came from the University of the West Indies and his masters programme in Manchester will be for one academic year.
Chevening scholarships are offered world wide each year to well qualified professionals with first degrees to allow them to study for masters programmes in the U.K.
As Mr Joseph leaves, Darrell Herbert and Courtney Crump last years Chevening scholars from Montserrat will be returning to the island on completion of their masters programmes.
Picture shows Mr Daniel Joseph.
The first workshop, designed for the island's farmers, showed post-harvesting techniques to allow better preparation of products for marketing. The new Public Market under construction at Little Bay will be opened before year end and will provide farmers with the opportunity to sell their products of quality fresh fruit and vegetables that have been carefully graded, packaged and priced to encourage the public to buy.
Agricultural Development Officer, Mr Claude Brown speaking at the opening of the post-harvesting workshop said "Workshops like these will set Montserrat on the correct path to redeveloping the natural resource sectors and prepare our farmers to meet new challenges that have sprung up in this sector whilst the island was grappling with the ongoing volcanic situation".
The second workshop, attended by a large cross section of the island's fishermen, taught participants the techniques of fish net mending. Participants learned that Montserrat could be self sufficient in fish if proper catches were made. Poorly maintained fishing nets allow too many fish to escape with resulting poor catches. The new market will also have a section for the sale of fresh fish as well as local meat.
A number of trails have been upgraded and are now being regularly maintained. Some of the trails have been developed with funding from Britain's Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO). A trails map and guide has been produced providing background information, location and safety tips for hikers.
The next stage of the project is to embark on a series of workshops to train Eco-tour guides taking people from local communities for the training. The aim of the workshops are to facilitate the use of the system of trails and to make the trails experience more pleasant, meaningful and educational for locals and tourists alike.
The workshops begin on 4 September and will last for six weeks. It is envisaged that the training will include Saturday hikes along the trails. The training is being co-ordinated by Mr Gerard Gray, the island's Director of the Environment with the assistance of several local facilitators. The course content will include history, geography, public speaking skills and basic first aid.
The Girl Guide movement in Montserrat held a ground breaking ceremony on 22 August for their new headquarters which are to be built in Davy Hill.Speakers at the ceremony, held under canvas on the site of the new headquarters included Lady Eudora Fergus, the Hon Chief Minister Dr Lowell Lewis, Girl Guide Commissioner Amelda Winspeare and reading messages from the UK Girl Guides was Geraldine Mason, Deputy Commissioner.
The soil was turned by Minister of Education, Health & Community Services, the Hon John A. Osborne. The land for the headquarters has been donated by the Government of Montserrat and is adjacent to Garland House.
The Girl Guides in North-eastern England have been raising funds towards the new headquarters for the past four years. They instituted the Alliougana Badge in 2003 where hundreds of Girl Guides and Brownies in that part of Britain learned about Montserrat and the volcano, fund raised in each branch and mounted exhibitions about Montserrat across their region. Several senior Girl Guide leaders from the area have also visited Montserrat.
The Emerald Community Singers toured North-eastern England last summer (2006) and the proceeds from their 12 concerts and four cabaret performances on that tour also went into the fund raising drive for the new headquarters.
Girl Guides and Brownies locally have also been raising funds through a number of activities including a 'buy a block' campaign and cake sales organised by a specially set up fund raising committee.
In total, the fund raising has now passed the quarter of a million dollar mark and hence work can commence on the site. The plans for the building have been produced by Alford Dyett & Associates and the final building is expected to cost one and a quarter million dollars. Some time ago, sailors from HMS Richmond - a visiting Royal Navy ship - cleared the site ready for cutting for the foundations.
Mr Venrick Forrester, a well qualified Clerk of Works at PWD, has volunteered his time and energies to assist in the project. He heard about the Alliougana Badge whilst studying Civil Engineering in the UK and on his return home contacted the local Girl Guides to assist. He has been developing the scope of works to allow the tendering process to go forward.
Guide Commissioner Amelda Winspeare thanked everyone who had helped in any way over the years in getting the site ready, in raising funds and called the ground breaking ceremony " a momentous occasion".
The previous Girl Guides Headquarters in Dagenham was destroyed by pyroclastic flows over 10 years age.
Photo hows the Hon Chief Minister, Dr Lowell Lewis, and Mrs Cathy Waterworth, the Governor's wife, at the ground breaking ceremony.
The changes have been implemented through the Education (Fees and Awards) and the Education (Qualifying Courses and Persons) (England) Regulations 2007; The Student Fees (Qualifying Courses and Persons) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2007; The Education (Fees and Awards) (Wales) Regulations 2007; and The Education (Fees and Awards) (Scotland) Regulations 2007. From 1 September 2007, students from British overseas territories who satisfy the eligibility criteria specified in the Regulations will be charged the home fee rate for their further education and undergraduate degree courses at colleges and universities in the United Kingdom. The criteria specified in the England, Northern Ireland and Wales Regulations are as follows. A student:
The criteria for Scotland are that a student:
Students should note decisions on who qualify for home fee status are made by educational institutions in the United Kingdom based on the published criteria. These institutions can ask students to establish that they are an EC national or a British Overseas Territory Citizen, whichever is stipulated in the relevant Regulations and to provide evidence that they meet the residence criteria. Students wishing to study in England, Wales and Ireland may need to provide a British Citizen passport or Certificate of Naturalisation as evidence that they are an EC national. A BOTC passport is not proof of British nationality. Students if asked to provide these and fail to do so, would be charged the higher overseas student fees.
The changes only affect the level of fees charged by institutions and extends the group of students who can be considered for home fee status. There will be no change to the eligibility criteria for support in England, Northern Ireland and Wales under the Education (Student Support) Regulations in relation to this concession. Students studying in Scotland may be eligible for living costs support. Further details can be obtained from the Students Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS) www.saas.gov.uk.