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Seven British Members of Parliament from the House of Lords and the House of Commons, all members of the UK branch of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) visited Montserrat from 13 -16th April 2008. On arrival at Gerald's Airport they were met by the Speaker of the Legislative Council, the Honourable Joseph Meade along with staff from the Clerk of Council's Office.The delegation, led by Kevin Baron, MP paid courtesy calls on His Excellency the Governor, Mr Peter Waterworth and the Hon Chief Minister, Dr Lowell Lewis during their first morning on island and later that day attended a Mini Conference at the Cultural Centre with speakers drawn from the Legislative Council.
Dr Lewis made a presentation on Migration and Development Issues, Hon Reuben T. Meade spoke on Trade / Tourism / Development Issues, Hon David S. Brandt made a presentation on Parliamentary Practice and Procedures and finally, Hon Margaret Dyer-Howe spoke on on Disaster Management & Early Warning Signs.
The following day the MP's met with members of the Youth Parliament and toured Jack Boy Hill, Lookout & Drummonds Housing schemes, the St John's Hospital, the Montserrat Community College, the Montserrat National Trust, the Montserrat Volcano Observatory (MVO) and finally to St George's Hill to view the volcanic damage in Plymouth.
The group also met with the island's press corps and attended two receptions, one hosted by the Governor and one by the Chief Minister.
The photograph shows the seven visiting CPA members at the Governor's Office and from left to right pictured are Lord Harrison of Chester, Rt Hon Kevin Baron MP (leader of the group), Anthony Steen MP, Laurence Robertson MP, Sharon Hodgson MP and Harry Cohen MP.
The Minister of Agriculture, Lands, Housing and the Environment, the Hon Reuben T. Meade at the opening of the exhibition said that the new public market will start a new chapter for Montserrat. He urged that only local products be sold at the market so that the island's farmers, fishermen, butchers and artisans can find an outlet for their products.
The exhibition was a huge success with prizes for the best dressed market stall, floral displays, cakes & pastries, wines, art, meats and livestock amongst others. Several hundred school children from the island's Primary Schools visited the exhibition along with their teachers and there was a constant stream of adults all day. Ministry of Agricultural staff were on hand to explain the exhibits including methods of protecting crops against pests.
Prizes were distributed late in the afternoon and included special prizes for backyard gardeners which had been judged earlier in the week.
The Public Market now opens on weekdays and Saturdays for commercial operations.
Government of Montserrat officials along with representatives of the Montserrat Tourist Board have been holding discussions with LIAT and Carib Aviation in Antigua with a view to LIAT servicing the route using Carib Aviation's aircraft as LIAT themselves do not have any aircraft in their fleet suitable to make the landing in Montserrat. LIAT provided the services from Antigua to the W.H. Bramble Airport pre-volcano. Carib Aviation, until recently were helping WINAIR service the Montserrat route using their 19 seater aircraft, so they are no strangers to Montserrat operations.
The contract with WINAIR required the Government of Montserrat to give three months notice of their intention not to renew and this was given on 31 March 2008. Chief Minister, Dr Lowell Lewis recently reported that Government is actively working to see that there is a reliable air service into Montserrat for the foreseeable future.
The members of the Commission of Inquiry are local lawyer Mr Kharl Markham who has also served for a number of years on the Public Services Commission, Mr John E Ryan a local businessman and former Financial Secretary of the Government of Montserrat who at one time was Airport Manager on island, and finally, Mrs Claudia Roach a retired Civil Servant whose last position before retirement was Permanent Secretary in the Department of Administration.
The Commission of Inquiry will review Airport Security, Airport Management and Air Traffic Control at the Gerald's Airport. Gerald's Airport was opened in late February 2005 by Her Royal Highness, The Princess Royal during a visit to Montserrat and replaced the W.H. Bramble Airport that had been destroyed by volcanic flows early in the eruption of the Soufriere Hills Volcano. The Manager of the Gerald's Airport since its opening is Mr Norman Cassell and the airport currently hosts four flights per day to / from Antigua.
Storm names for 2008 are Arthur, Bertha, Cristobal, Dolly, Edouard, Fay, Gustav, Hanna, Ike, Josephine, Kyle, Laura, Marco, Nana, Omar, Paloma, Rene, Sally, Teddy, Vicky, and Wilfred.
A National Hurricane Conference will be organised by the Disaster Management Co-ordination Agency (DMCA) later in May to examine and discuss several agency's disaster plans which are currently being reviewed. The conference brings together Government Departments, utility companies, communications companies, representatives from the Airport and Sea Port, the MVO, Hospital officials, police and search & rescue personnel as well as important NGO's such as the Red Cross.
Already, public education messages about the hurricane season are being broadcast on radio and TV by the Montserrat Red Cross and the regional agency, CDERA courtesy of the DMCA. The last hurricane to impact Montserrat was Hurricane Lenny in 1999 which caused coastal damage around the island.
The Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) met in Montserrat in mid April to review the status of the Soufriere Hills Volcano. This was the 10th meeting of the SAC. The full report from the SAC is expected in mid May but until it is available the SAC members presented the following interim report:-“It is now one year since lava was last extruded at the dome. There has been very little surface activity during this period apart from occasional rockfalls, mudflows and small pyroclastic flows, mainly in the Tar River valley. These have begun to erode into the talus banked up against the dome, exposing more of the dome’s lava core. On the northern and western sides of the dome there has been no change in shape. Remote measurements there show hot temperatures at a gas vent indicating the presence of very hot rocks close to the surface.
Over the last six months sulphur dioxide has been emitted at a high rate and MVO’s GPS measurements show that the ground surface has been inflating steadily. This suggests that the volcano continues to re-charge with new magma at depth, in a similar way to that observed during the two previous pauses in extrusion of lava. However, the lack of seismicity indicates there is no magma making its way to the surface.
We consider that during the next year the most likely major change will be a collapse of the dome down the Tar River Valley. However, whilst a large dome remains a large dome collapse with pyroclastic flows into the Belham Valley remains a possibility and poses a continued threat to inhabited areas there. Continued surface inactivity is also considered likely. [Risks to individuals in most areas have reduced slightly since October 2007.] We have considered a range of scenarios for work-related activities around the volcano and will report on those risk levels in full in our detailed risk assessment for the year ahead. That report will follow within the month.
Photo shows the hot dome in January 2008 (photo courtesy of MVO and Greg Scott, Caribbean Helicopters)
The well known Montserratian author E.A. (Archie) Markham died suddenly in Paris, France on Easter Sunday, 23 March 2008. The 68 year old author had been holidaying in France from England where he resided. Mr Markham suffered a heart attack and was taken to a Paris hospital where he later died.The author of such books as the novel, "Marking Time" and his retrospective collection of short stories, "Taking the Drawing Room Through The Customs", Mr Markham was putting the finishing touches to his memoirs "Against the Grain" at the time of his death. The book is still expected to be published later this month (May 2008) by publishers Peepal Tree Press in Leeds, U.K.
A private funeral service was held in Britain for Mr Markham who was very well known in U.K. literacy circles and a Service of Remembrance is being planned fot a later date.