Digging in together

The sun shone brightly when Elaine and I visited the Jersey FOCUS on Mental Health's group home, Camelot, this morning to see the first joint venture between the Parish in Bloom teams of St Helier and St Saviour dig in and get planting. Sue Rodrigues and her team from St Helier and Graham Langlois and his team from St Saviour were made very welcome by Julie and Karen and the other staff and residents of Camelot, and everyone soon got stuck in to planting flowers, vegetables and herbs...well, that's excepting Elaine and me. We found ourselves a good spot on the first floor where we could wander, hot coffee in hand, from a view over the front garden, where flowers were taking pride of place, to the bridge link to the raised garden at the back from where we could look down on the sun-trap patio down below where peas, beans and herbs were being tucked into rich soil. We called ourselves "two mugs on a bridge" ... and nobody argued!
Jersey FOCUS on Mental Health is a charity devoted to the aims of promoting good mental health and helping to develop effective services for those who suffer from mental illness and I was delighted to be part of this first joint effort between the two parishes to improve life for the residents.

A shining example to our Parish

I was delighted when I heard that nine girls had come forward to compete in the Miss St Saviour 2008 competition, and even more delighted when, as one of the judges, I had a chance to hear them being interviewed by Chris Stone, from BBC Radio Jersey, and was able to help to choose our Miss St Saviour for the year. The winner was going to have something to live up to...previous Miss St Saviours, Jodie Whittingham and Vicky Trehorel (who is the reigning Miss Battle of Flowers) were both there to encourage them. Chris did a great job of helping even the most shy of the entrants to speak out about themselves and their plans and it was certainly difficult to choose the winner. I am sure that Miss St Saviour 2008, 20 year old Claudia Freitas, will be a worthy ambassador for our Parish. She was crowned at the Mayfair Hotel on Friday, 4th April, and I do thank all those who entered and made it such a grand competition, particularly our two runner-ups, Tania da Sousa and Jamie Lake.
Photo: Iqbal Karimjee

Death of former Deputy

It was sad news to hear of the death of former Deputy John Le Gallais on Tuesday, 11 March. He had not been in good health in recent years but he was always a true Jersey gentleman and my mother remembers well campaigning for him in earlier times. He would often be seen riding his horse on lanes and byways in the early morning and he always gave unstintingly of his time to his Parish and Island. He will be greatly missed.