Rock 14

THE

ROCK

C E L E B R AT I N G T H E B A I L I W I C K O F G U E R N S E Y

CRIME DOESPAY JILL CHADWICK MEETS LYNDA LA PLANTE

ALSO INSIDE: COUNTRY LIVING: Creating music in a shed

CONQUERED:

Jake Coates hits the sand

NO ORDINARY PLAYER: Ryan Zico Black

T H I S IS A FR EE MAGAZINE

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EDITOR: JILL CHADWICK PHOTOGRAPHER: STACEY UPSON PUBLISHER: JON TAYLOR

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The Rock is published by On The Rock Corporate Communications. All rights reserved. Any reproduction without permission is prohibited. The Rock Magazine contains editorial content from external contributors which does not necessarily reflect the views of the publishers. The Rock Magazine does not accept or respond to unsolicited manuscripts and photographs. The publishers do not accept responsibility for errors in advertisements or third party offers.

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THE

ROCK

Welcome I am loving Rock 14 which is packed full of feel good reads, fitness and fun. It’s been an interesting run up to our print deadline for many reasons, so perhaps this is a good time - and place - to assure our readers that The Rock magazine is solid and committed to bringing you positive lifestyle and community reads that will bring a smile to your face – and a spring to your step!

And talking of steps, if you are debating whether or not to join in this year’s Half Marathon Milk run check out our new fitness guru’s guide to getting fit in time to take part in the June event.

Russ Smith is now one of the new partners at the Tri Fitness Factory, and he intends to join our ever growing team of editorial contributors to help you get on that starting line. He has devised a training programme and invites you to pop along to the Factory to get a few guidelines on how easy it is to get fit and in shape.

This issue is also a showcase for a variety of spring fashions and our photographer Stacey Upson

captured some of this season’s latest fashions from Miss Nob, Escape and Free Love as well as M&S who provided us with a snapshot or three of what the discerning male will be wearing this spring and summer.

We like to support local charities and community initiatives and in this issue we talk to Autism in Guernsey Outreach co-ordinator Anne Blondel, to highlight the work she does – and we talk to a Catherine Hall about the challenges – and delights – of being the mother of a child with Autism.

This is Bowel Cancer Awareness Month and we have also spent time with a surgeon and nursing staff who have some great news for anyone facing the prospect of surgery.

So, with exclusive interviews with Lynda Le Plante and Ryan Zico Black, we suggest you pull up a chair, make a pot of tea and get stuck into Rock 14!

Jill Chadwick Editor

C E L E B R AT I N G T H E B A I L I W I C K O F G U E R N S E Y

“I’m not sure where they get their athletic gene from, certainly not me!

Must be their mother.“

CRIME DOESPAY JILL CHADWICK MEETS LYNDA LA PLANTE

ALSO INSIDE: COUNTRY LIVING: Creating music in a shed

Derek Coates

CONQUERED:

Jake Coates hits the sand

SOCCER SCHOOLED: with Ryan Zico Black

THIS IS A FREE MAGAZINE

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Contents LADIES DAY FASHION WITH THE LADY TAVERNERS THE HISTORY MAN

WHAT, NO DINOSAURS? LITERARY FESTIVAL CRIME DOES PAY JILL CHADWICK MEETS LYNDA LE PLANTE ESCAPE TO THE COUNTRY THE ROCK REHEARSES WITH COUNTRY STEEL OFF THE ROCK SPRING BREAKS FROM GUERNSEY ON THE LINE RESTAURANT REVIEW: OCEAN NO ORDINARY PLAYER RYAN ZICO BLACK

If you would like to promote your business in The Rock then please call Jill on 07911 740722 or Jon on 07911 720067

KEEP ON RUNNING THE ROCK VISITS GUERNSEY WATER CONQUERED JAKE COATES TAKES ON MARATHON DES SABLES

The Rock is available to download at issuu.com. Simpy search for The Rock Guernsey and you can view all our previous editions.

The Rock is delivered by Delivered.gg throughout the island.

If you do not want to receive a copy please let us know at hello@ontherock-ci.com

5

EVENT

EVENT OF THE

SEASON

6

THE DARLING BOOKS OF MAY The third Guernsey Literary Festival is on its way.

From 15-18 May 2014, our island will be a literary haven.

The Rock explores some of the highlights of the forthcoming LitFest.

If you have been to either of the previous LitFests, you can’t have missed The Hub, the cosmic-looking inflatable structure on the Market Terrace. The Hub will be back and, as its name suggests, it will be the focus of many of the events taking place over the four-day festival. St James will also host a number of big names, and a new venue for 2014 is the Town Church. With talks, workshops and one-to-one sessions taking place at Guille-Allès Library, The Caves, Les Cotils and Costa Coffee, and shows going on at Castle Cornet and the Fermain Tavern, St Peter Port looks set to be a bookworm’s delight.

MEDIA MOGULS Creative types tend not to limit themselves to one particular medium, and a number of the authors coming to Guernsey in 2014 are well known for their appearances on TV, radio and in the national press.

Former BBC chief news correspondent Kate Adie knows all about life on the front line, having reported from numerous war

zones. She’ll be talking about her book Fighting on the Home Front, revealing the ways in which World War One changed the lives of women and the impact this has had. Lynda La Plante used to be an actress and has written some of the most memorable crime dramas on television, recently revealing that she has begun work on Tennison, the prequel to Prime Suspect.

Dr Lucy Worsley is no stranger to fans of history programmes. Chief Curator of the

Royal Palaces by day, she presented A Very British Murder and has written a book of the same name.

Janet Street-Porter is a media personality, journalist and broadcaster.

Never afraid to speak her mind, she appears regularly on ITV’s Loose Women and has written a number of books, including her latest memoirs.

7

EVENT

FAMILY FUN If you get into books as a child, reading is likely to become a lifelong habit. So what better way to encourage your youngsters than to take them to an inspiring, entertaining event? There are plenty of shows with a literary flavour, including The Wimpy Kids Show at Castle Cornet, Cerrie Burnell and Alex Winter of CBeebies fame and unique Irish/Jamaican duo Spud and Yam.

Popular children’s authors Nick Butterworth, Bali Rai and Cathy Cassidy are sure to engage young readers and get them queuing up to have their books signed by, and exchange a few words with, their literary heroes and heroines.

As if all this weren’t enough, the LitFest delivers a fun-packed educational programme – full details at www.guernseyliteraryfestival.com

If you’re a young adult who’s disillusioned with reading, maybe you just need to discover some new authors? YA fiction has never been so good – you might have to keep your books somewhere safe though, or your parents will be ‘borrowing’ them!

The Caves is a brilliant new venue in St Peter Port and Saturday 17 May it will be taken over by a great line-up of authors. Stephen May is a novelist, playwright and TV writer whose novel Life!

Death! Prizes! was shortlisted for the 2012 Costa Novel Award. Fans of fantasy fiction will love Lene Kaaberbøl, writer of The Shamer Chronicles, and Queen of Teen Cathy Cassidy and Bali Rai will be talking about their YA writing.

TALES FOR TEENS

The LitFest team recognises that literature can take many forms and seeks to engage a wide audience. Friday 16 May will be music night at the Fermain Tavern, with Police Dog Hogan headlining. They’ll be joined by Rob the Liar and poet Luke Wright. Ruth Rogers worked as a puppeteer on the National Theatre’s War Horse and her backstage stories are sure to fascinate.

IT’S NOT JUST A BOOK THING

8

So it’s not just a BUT IT IS A BOOK THING book thing, but rest assured that literary fiction features strongly in the 2014 programme. Esther Freud, ‘gran lit’ author Hilary Boyd and a trio of Nordic crime writers will all be heading to Guernsey in May. Poetry fans won’t be disappointed, with former Poet Laureate Sir Andrew Motion, Mario Petrucci and Candy Neubert giving talks and workshops.

The full programme and all tickets are available on the Guernsey Literary Festival website, www.guernseyliteraryfestival.com.

Get some culture in your life!

This year’s main sponsors are Browns Advocates, Cooper Brouard, FRM Charitable Trust, JT-Technology, Odey Wealth Management, Mourant Ozannes, Rothschild and Specsavers. The GLF team wishes to thank them for their invaluable support, as well as that of our partners.

9

INTERVIEW

Keep reading The Rock talks to Catriona Stares, a fomer language teacher, about The Guernsey Literary Festival which she started back in 2011

H

aving lived in places as diverse as Germany and Canada, and being a keen traveller, Catriona has always loved exploring the cultural scene of the environment in which she finds herself. After moving to Guernsey she became an accredited tour guide because she thought it would be a fantastic way of learning about the island’s history. It coincided with the bicentenary of the birth of Victor Hugo so she was asked to do a French-speaking walk between the Visit Guernsey offices and the writer’s house.

Our Bailiwick has a long tradition of celebrating the arts and Catriona’s involvement did not end with the Victor Hugo connection. Although she was delighted with its cultural traditions, including a thriving community of poets and writers and the Eisteddfod, Catriona missed going to see art house films.

“Jenny Cherry and I came up with the idea of starting a film society and almost overnight we had a group of interested people. From CineGuernsey I began running the Guernsey Arts Commission’s Film, Prose and Poetry Sub committee,” she recalls.

This led to the Arts Commission asking Catriona to organise a literary festival, with a suggested focus on Guernsey literature.

At the time, the book about the island which was causing most discussion was The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by American writer Mary Ann Shaffer. Her niece, Annie Barrows, had finished the book after Mary Ann’s death so Catriona found her email address and asked her to come to Guernsey. ‘I woke up the following morning to a “yes please”; once we had Annie coming over from the US we knew we had the beginnings of a festival.’

The Festival Director is modest about her achievements, crediting Guernsey itself for the chance to organise this new event: ‘I think one of the beauties of smaller communities is that opportunities open themselves up and people discover they can do things they didn’t realise they could.’

It was always important that the Festival be something that would benefit people of all ages and backgrounds, whether they were keen readers or not.

As the reputation of the Guernsey Literary Festival grows, it becomes easier to attract high profile speakers and the third Festival has a stunning line-up. Is this what Catriona imagined it would be like? ‘The mix of different components is what I imagined,’ she says. ‘The fact that we have an extensive educational and community programme as well as the adult programme is something I’m very proud of. This time we’re envisaging larger numbers of visitors, especially as we have put more energy into advertising across the Bailiwick, in Jersey and the UK.’ As the Festival grows, so do the challenges faced by the Director, but Catriona has the support of an enthusiastic team of volunteers, on the planning committee and during the event itself. ‘We are always looking for more volunteers, and very often people who start as volunteers during the Festival become progressively more involved. It’s a way of dipping your toe in the water and working out if you’d like to do more in the future.’

If you’d like to find out more about becoming a volunteer, please email litfest@cwgsy.net or look out for the form on the website. www.guernseyliteraryfestival.com

10

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INTERVIEW

14

THE CRIME DRAMA QUEEN J I L L C H A DW I C K I N T E R V I E W S LY N DA L E P L A N T E

She may be on first name terms with the top names in Hollywood but there is nothing even vaguely showbiz about famous crime writer Lynda La Plante who is one of the celebrity speakers at The Guernsey Literary Festival. With a new tv series of the highly acclaimed Prime Suspect in the wings and a new book out in June, she is a busy woman, but Lynda took time out to talk to Jill Chadwick about her never ending passion for a life of crime.

L

ynda La Plante shows no signs of running out of weird ways of killing off her characters and keeping her readers guessing who the culprit is until the very end. “I think everyone is interested in crime and I am lucky that I earn a living out of it”, she says laughing.

She laughs a lot and with good reason, because she says, life is good, and fun – and busy.

“Unlike romance, with crime writing and grizzly murders you are able to distance yourself a bit….but I love the puzzle of writing a story with lots of twists and turns so you can’t fathom it out until the very end. There is nothing worse than reading a book and knowing almost immediately who the murderer is!”

Her Prime Suspect series was an overwhelming success, for her and actress, Helen Mirren, who played the part of the detective Jane Tennison. The

next series beckons, but this time, we are looking back at Jane as a young detective.

“I wanted to do something very different with her character and I decided to look back to Jane as a young officer just starting out on her career at 20 to see how she got to where she did”, says Lynda.

In the 1970’s there would have been a lot of discrimination against women to deal with and I wanted to explore how she dealt with all that back then and came to be this mature, sorted women in her 40’s.”

The two women are now firm friends, and she reveals, recently caught up with one another as guests at Buckingham Palace.

“I always knew I wanted her to be the actress to play the part –one of the new challenges for me is to find an actress to play Jane at just 20. So far we have not decided on that one.”

Lynda has a huge list of tittles to her

name and her next, Twisted’ is currently being worked on.

“I usually take about a year to write a novel. My next one comes out in June – it’s all about missing persons and the research I have undertaken to do it has been fascinating. There are different categories of missing persons, AB and C. A young child is a number one risk, then come teenagers but there are so many thousands of teenagers who go missing, hundreds of thousands of them, I found it quite shocking.”

Her books are painstakingly researched and she enjoys this process as much as the actual writing. She doesn’t go into detail but it is well documented that she has spent hours in public morgues and police stations and worse, collecting fodder for her storylines.

“I suppose I do have a morbid fascination with death dying murder and the like, it is all

15

“

I wanted to do something very different with her character and I decided to look back to Jane as a young officer just starting out on her career at 20 to see how she got to where she did

very fascinating stuff and I never get bored of working out complicated plot lines.”

“I am curious, and of course I started out as an actress which may be unusual for a crime writer.” – Lynda studied at RADA before hitting the film and TV world but she says, once she wrote her first novel she never looked back and never acted again.

But she does have some fun memories of her days as an actress including time she spent filming with John Nettles who was the Jersey based Detective Bergerac.

“I do love the Channel Islands, though I have not been over for years. The Bergerac filming was fun – it was hilarious at times.”

“It was such a great series and I can remember filming on this glorious beach where I was supposed to be filmed picking mussels off of a rock. I was intending to poison someone with them. But this local swimmer kept popping up behind a rock and waving at the camera. He simply refused to go away and would just appear wearing his ridiculous red bathing cap – it was farcical and so funny. I also did a lot

16

of theatre but after I started writing I never acted again.”

She is famous for writing The Gentle Touch and Widows, the iconic 1980’s TV series featuring a group of women who become an armed gang to carry out a crime set in place by their late spouses. It made Lynda a household name.

“I heard a fantastic story about this character and simply wrote two pages - I call it a treatment -where you simply outline the plot. I sent it off to Verity Lambert at Euston Films at Thames TV and she thought it was great. After that I was offered so many jobs including Civvies and of course Prime Suspect.”

Over the years Lynda has built up an amazing career and a reputation as one of the country’s top crime writers but she is always happy to pass on her experiences and talents by holding talks and workshops and jumped at the chance to head over to Guernsey to take part in the annual Literary Festival.

“There really is nothing better than

engaging with your readers. I honestly think it is my favourite part of the whole process.

It makes me very happy to get feedback from my readers – it really warms my heart.”

Her son, Lorcan, who she adopted quite late in life and who she has brought up single handily, remains unimpressed she says.

“He is not in the least bit interested in my writing or the fame thing but recently I did find him with a copy of my Prime Suspect books and was worried that it may not be suitable reading for him. But he said I was not to worry – he had no intention of reading it – he wanted to sell it!!”

She says she is looking forward to her appearance at the Guernsey Literary Festival and will be delighted if people turn up to hear her talk – but she is still not sure why they would.

“It will be a joy to meet a few readers and share a few of my thoughts and my stories – and I never miss an opportunity to investigate the idea of a new murder plot or a new character - Guernsey may well end up providing me with one!”

Gerry Weber Betty Barclay Apanage Bernshaw Joseph Ribkoff Taifun Oui Luisa Cerano Frank Lyman

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INTERVIEW

ESCAPE TO THE COUNTRY One rainy, dark night in a winding road in St Sampson’s, some strange noises were coming from a shed in the back of local musician, Dave Dale’s house.

The Rock’s, Stacey Upson caught up with him to discover the shed is his jamming studio, where he practices every Tuesday and Thursday along with new local band, Country Steel.

When local musician Dave Dales was approached by old rockers Dave Upson and Graham Le Poidevin to jam with them one evening, they were pleasantly surprised to find out they still ‘had it’. A few more sessions later and listening to Dale’s collection of Australian Country music bands, they struck upon the idea of forming their own brand of country and western music.

In the past, Dales’ career as a young musician would see him playing locally in The Jets; collaborating with well-known musicians Cyril Glover and Ivor James; and performing in Guernsey’s Dance Band scene. After reaching 21, though, he decided to move to Australia, where he played at Australia’s biggest music festival. “Every last weekend in January is the Tamworth Country Music Festival in New South Wales,” he remembers. ‘This was an amazing gig,” he continues, “it’s the biggest festival in Australia and I played in it for seven years. The atmosphere was amazing with around 600 people bopping away.”

Returning to The Rock after 30 years in Oz, his wife warned him if he wanted to stay in the house, he’d better find a place for all his instruments. Dales immediately took the cue and turned his garden shed

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into a rehearsing lounge and storage for his growing collection of guitars and keyboards. ‘It only took me 6 weeks to get it right,’ he explains, ‘the floor was a right mess full of mud,’ he remembers.

“When Shaun Shackleton from the Press interviewed me he told me he wanted to take my shed home with him. He must have thought it was quite cool.”

But Dales kept his shed and continued to practice his love of the pedal steel guitar which now lends its name to the band. ‘I knew I wanted to learn to play the pedal steel guitar as soon as I heard one of the Doobie Brothers tunes,’ he reminisces.

The pedal steel, with its smooth portamenti, bending chords and complex riffs, is one of the most recognisable and characteristic instruments of American Country Music. It is built on legs or a stand and is fitted with foot pedals which adjust the sound of the instrument. Like other electric guitars, the musical instrument produces sound by the vibration of its strings which are converted by magnetic pickup connected to an amplifier.

Unlike most other guitars, pedal steel guitars have reference lines on the fretboard where frets would be, but no actual frets. The player changes the pitch of one or more strings by sliding a metal

41

INTERVIEW hand, or vibrating them with a mechanical device.

Dales admits he is obsessed with this genre of music and has fed his obsession often, having seen many of his idols perform such as Little Feat, Chet Atkins and Lloyd Green.

“My biggest career regret was going to a gig really fired up to do a competition in Australia. We had queued and queued all night long to play, only to be told we couldn’t,” he says. “It was such a disappointment”, he continues, ‘it would have been a step up into the inner circle.”

Dave Upson (Bass & Vocals) has also played the local pub, club and wedding circuit since the early 60’s and has been in several wellknown bands such as Contraband and The Robert Brothers headlining at several music spots such at The Royal Hotel, The Cellar Club, The Hermitage and the old Idlerocks hotel.

‘My best gig was when we took over the band stand in the island of Tahiti.

I was on a stop-over during my days in the Merchant Navy and we played Elvis songs all night long to packed out audiences.”

Dave’s musical influences are as diverse as his travels and include The Eagles, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and Scotty Moore. “I’m a huge fan of The Voice,” he says reflecting on more modern music.

‘There’s a lot of talent out there,” he says.

Dave celebrated his 75th birthday in February and showed no signs of slowing down as he played back-to-back gigs at his birthday bash at the Wayside Cheer, along with his son’s band, The Johndoes, who did a deal with him to play his birthday if Country Steel played at their gig the following night at the Doghouse, which both went down well, particularly for the Johndoes, who rarely play live

together these days having had their own success with three album releases.

Graham Le Poidevin who plays rhythm guitar and was co-founder of City Limits is no stranger to playing with the best.

Graham has shared the stage with some serious musical talent including the Status Quo drummer. ‘That night was such a blast,” he remembers. “Rhino from Status Quo turned up at midnight to play with us at St Pierre Park Hotel. He didn’t know how to play a fret-less guitar, though, so we had him singing at the front!”

Graham’s early influences include Little River Band, Vince Gill and as soon as he heard the The Shadow’s single, ‘Apache’ he was keen to learn to play. Graham has also played with Dave Upson in Contraband and the Robert Brothers so meeting up again to play in Country Steel has been straight forward.

“I’m going to see The Eagles in concert at the 02 in June and I can’t wait,’ “he says. ‘It’s the third time I’m going to see them and they sound just like they would if you put a CD on. It’s incredible.

Nathalie Thoumine, 22, is the only female. Nathalie is as eager as the rest of her bandmates and doesn’t mind shaking her egg. Her rhythm egg that is.

“I always used to sing at home,’ remembers Natalie, whose influences include the usual suspects of big Diva names like Ella Fitzgerald, Whitney Houston and Judy Garland. “My mum used to have a major impact on me too,” admits Thoumine, who explains she would copy her mother singing on the Karaoke machine her father bought.

She also sung at the Ex-Servicemen’s Club for a New Year’s Eve bash, invited along by Lester Queripel.

‘Rhino from Status Quo turned up at midnight to play with us at St Pierre Park Hotel. He didn’t know how to play a fret-less guitar though, so we had him singing at the front!’

Dave Dales

Pedal Steel Guitar, also plays Dobro Guitar and the Electric Guitar

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INTERVIEW Performing Country style music stems from her mother’s love for Line Dancing. Natalie also enjoys performing with the Evoke Theatre Productions, but says she isn’t keen on shows like the X Factor as she feels the artists aren’t given the opportunity to show their individual talent, ‘it’s just a little too manufactured for me,’ she argues.

Dave Sherbourne, is the band’s other vocalist and jokes that he became the third, ‘Dave’ in the band, which almost made them call themselves the Dee Gees what with so many Dave’s. ‘Shades of Grey,’ was also a contender,’ he adds and ‘Zimmer’ was also contemplated.

“I was a trumpet player in my younger years,’ he remembers, ‘but then I decided to go down the sport route instead,’ he continues. ‘Later on there was a Karaoke craze,’ he adds, ‘In fact, when I moved to Yorkshire it was so popular up there that people were doing it so seriously they were competing and practising 5 nights a week!”

When Dave Upson heard him singing Karaoke in the Mariner’s he asked him to be in the band too.

Dave is always checking out new sounds on Spotify, (a music streaming channel) to bring some new ideas to the band’s sound, and has influences from Moody Blues, ELO and George Michael The last member of the band is Toby Falla, he plays drums and according to Dave is phenomenally talented. As well as playing the drums he plays piano, guitar, sings, acts and dances. Country Steel will be sad to let him go when he joins the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts in September.

“My best gig was when we took over the band stand in the island of Tahiti. I was on a stop-over during my days in the Merchant Navy and we played Elvis songs all night long to packed out audiences.”

Dave Upson

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Dave Sherbourne

Graham Le Poidevin

Toby Falla

Nathalie Thoumine

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FOOD

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DOING ONE’S SHARE OF THE WORK Waitrose, supermarket chain of the John Lewis Partnership, announced its annual bonus of 15% which is fantastic news for all their partners. The Rock Magazine was on hand at Waitrose Admiral Park and Rohais to hear the branch managers unveil the bonus amount and find out how employees intend to spend their windfall!

With whoops of delight Waitrose partners raised their glasses to a fun countdown to the bonus announcement. Due to its unique co-owned business model, every employee that works for Waitrose received this percentage of their annual pay as a bonus. This was the third time that Partners in Guernsey received a bonus since the supermarket chain opened its two stores in Guernsey in early 2011.

Waitrose Admiral Park Branch Manager, Allen Edwards said: “Our shops in Guernsey have had a strong year of trading, the annual bonus is

one of the benefits which really sets our business model apart and ensures that our profits will be enjoyed by the Partners who work here. Partners at the branch are delighted with the bonus and are planning to spend it in a wide variety of ways - for example, on a holiday of a lifetime or towards a new house or home improvements.

It is very well deserved and a great testament to their hard work over the past year.”

So what do some of the staff intend to do with their stash of cash!

So what do some of the staff intend to do with their stash of cash!

>

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“

The news was welcomed by Daniel Jehan, Team Leader Food Service, who says he is saving for a car.

This is happening in the next few months and this bonus will help me find the deposit for a new car

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“

Paula Ziaian says she intends to use the money to visit her daughters in the UK.

The bonus means so much as I will be able to plan a few more trips to see my girls.

“

Customer service Assistant Rebecca Beard says the bonus could not have come at a better time.

I am getting married and planning a wedding so this money will make a great contribution to our funds!

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N

ick Clegg said the UK needed a ‘John Lewis economy’ – a world in which more businesses are owned by their staff. But how exactly does the John Lewis model work and could it work elsewhere? Let’s start with the ownership.

John Lewis is a business owned in trust for the benefit of its employees – ie, it is essentially owned by the staff. This means that all 76,500 permanent employees or ‘partners’ at John Lewis’ 35 department stores and 272 Waitrose supermarkets have a say in how the business is run and, perhaps most importantly, get a cut of the company’s profits. How much each employee gets depends on their salary but it is the same percentage of earnings for everyone, and it is paid as an annual bonus.

It is also worth noting that there is no waiting period between when an employee starts working for the company and becomes a partner or any requirement to purchase shares – you are a simply partner from the day you join.

Who set up this business model?

The John Lewis Partnership, which is the largest employee-owned company in the UK, was set up in 1929 by businessman John Spedan Lewis – the son of John Lewis, who founded the company in 1864. He believed that an ‘industrial democracy’ where employees share knowledge, power and profit delivered better results than those run for the benefit of a wealthy few.

How much say do employees really have?

Within the partnership three governing authorities run the show – the partnership council, the partnership board and the chairman. The partnership council is directly elected by the partners and it is the council’s job to hold the board of directors – which decides all major policy and essentially runs the business – and the chairman to account. The council appoints five non-executives to the board to supplement the five executives chosen by the chairman. It then calls on the chairman twice a year to answer questions on the business’ progress. Partners across

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John Spedan Lewis

THE JOHN LEWIS FACTOR

all stores are also given a voice through local forums and are able to write for the in-house publications What are the benefits of employeeowned businesses?

The Deputy Prime Minister told the City back in 2012 that employee ownership – where the majority of the businesses’ shares are owned by employees – is a hugely underused tool in unlocking growth.

‘Firms that have engaged employees, who own a chunk of their company, are just as dynamic, just as savvy, as their competitors. In fact, they often perform better,’ Nick Clegg said.

‘Lower absenteeism. Lower staff turnover. Lower production costs. In general, higher productivity and higher wages. They even weathered the economic downturn better than other companies,’ he added.

New research for the Employee

Ownership Association supports Clegg’s claim. While excessive profit-chasing, failures of accountability and low levels of employee engagement have damaged many British businesses, the report said, firms with a ‘significant’ amount of employee ownership have continued to out-perform the FTSE 100 by an average of 10% every year since 1992.

The research also highlights that managers in employee-owned businesses frequently report they can extract far more effort from their staff when it is needed than in a conventional company. Gripple, an employee-owned manufacturer of wire fasteners and joiners, boasts that it was the only company in Sheffield’s Don Valley operating the morning after the 2007 floods because its staff chose to be up all night clearing water from the factory floor.

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FOOD

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The menu is inspired by the finest we can fish close to our shores including turbot, bass, oyster and crab.

These are complimented by fish that are not marked on the Greenpeace ‘under pressure’ list of species including Sardine and SkipJack ‘Grade A’ Tuna.

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ON THE LINE How sustainable is Guernsey’s latest seafood restaurant.

Jon Taylor visits Ocean to find out.

There are over two million fish species in our oceans. Too many to include on a seafood restaurant menu but here is the clever thing about Ocean, Guernsey’s fine new seafood restaurant weighing anchor at Fermain Valley Hotel.

They compliment fresh, sustainably sourced ‘local’ species with sustainably fished species from afar.

The menu is inspired by the finest we can fish close to our shores including turbot, bass, oyster and crab. These are complimented by fish that are not marked on the Greenpeace ‘under pressure’ list of species including Sardine and SkipJack ‘Grade A’ Tuna.

But what does all this sustainability mean to the menu at Ocean restaurant.

In simple terms, a particular seafood is sustainable if it comes from a fishery with practices that can be maintained indefinitely without reducing the target species ability to maintain its population and without adversely impacting on other species within the ecosystem by removing their food source, accidentally killing them, or damaging their physical environment.

Identifying which fish come from sustainable sources is extremely

difficult but judging how many Mackerel or portions of Bass my father has been landing over a lifetime of family fishing trips, I think our local seas maintain a reasonably healthy bounty. There is of course no one, truly effective ‘green label’’ that consumers can look for on fish products, as there is with wood products for example.

Slapping ‘Guernsey’ on the front of a dish on a menu is no guarantee it was landed by a GU fishing boat.

Therefore, the first question I ask the restaurant manager, Liene on my first trip to Ocean is who supplies your fish? She reports that the supplier is a well-known Guernsey fishmonger but most importantly she confers how the head chef is a frequent visitor to the fish quay to observe which of the catch he would like to see in his kitchen.

And here starts our assessment of Ocean; with the restaurant’s sustainability credentials intact, what of the food? I should actually start with the revamp of a hotel brasserie into a sophisticated seafood restaurant.

My immediate interest is sparked on arrival by how they have created a new entrance to the restaurant through the bar. This makes it feel

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FOOD

more like a separate, more intimate venue and not simply the hotel’s dining space.

A more atmospheric lighting and table arrangement add to the sophisticated ambiance.

New banquette seating together with the nautical and sea themed interior is more ‘Padstein’ than Pugwash and the staff are very attentive but friendly. My wife soon becomes particularly fond of a young French waitress who patiently entertains us as we try and partake in her mother tongue.

Fortunately her explanation of the menu is a great deal better than my appalling French.

The menu is, as you would expect from the traditions of The Fermain Valley Hotel, a confident mix of great local ingredients creatively pieced together. It epitomises locally sourced and inspired produce. It has an essence of imagination but does not lose sight of the importance of key ingredients.

Starters include Seared Guernsey Scallops with New Potatoes, Vanilla & Orange Syrup; King Prawn Cocktail with Hedgerow Garlic Aioli, Torn Bread; Cured Sardines with Mixed Leaves Salad, Rocket & Caper Mayonnaise and my choice, Guernsey Crab Lasagne with Piccolo Pepper Salad.

The crackle of the deep fried pasta with crab is an unusual bedfellow but the crab is prepared beautifully and the Piccolo

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gives the dish a tangy compliment to the rich crab. The notion that a red wine can pair well with fish has certainly gotten a lot of play in the past decade or more, putting to rest the “white with fish, red with meat” cliché. I ask the waiter to recommend a red to accompany our mains and he suggests we try a Pinot Noir. The mains are a triumph of the oceans. With local favourites and new interpretations on classics such as the ‘Grade A’ Chargrilled Loin of Tuna with Olives, Quail Eggs, Green Beans & Gazpacho.

There’s also Seafood Bouillabaisse & Saffron Turned Potatoes; Steamed Fillet of Halibut & Crayfish Tails with Cucumber, Concasse Tomato, Lemon & Parsley, a classic ‘Fruits De Mer’ and locally inspired dishes such as Roasted Pavé of Turbot, Asparagus Spears, Radish, Fish Velouté & Sea Herbs and Lobster Laksa, (No it hasn’t been propping up a town cocktail bar but is a far eastern delight of lobster served with lemongrass, coriander, coconut & sticky rice. I go very close to my own home comforts and select the sea bass. It is cooked perfectly, pan fried and served with lemon, thyme & crab risotto and a lemon balm. The risotto acts as a subtle accompaniment to the pure translucent flesh of the bass. Fine dining indeed.

Our French waitress returns with a smile

Starters include seared Guernsey scallops with new potatoes, vanilla and orange syrup; king prawn cocktail with hedgerow garlic aioli, torn bread; cured sardines with mixed leaves salad, rocket & caper mayonnaise and my choice, Guernsey crab lasagne with Piccolo pepper salad. The crackle of the deep fried pasta with crab is an unusual bedfellow but the crab is prepared beautifully and the Piccolo gives the dish a tangy compliment to the rich crab.

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‘Grade A’ chargrilled loin of Tuna with olives, quail eggs, green beans & Gazpach

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Guernsey crab lasagne with Piccolo pepper salad

and a recommendation that the Maple & Pecan Sponge with Honeycomb Ice Cream is worthy of my attention, but I go for a lemon pudding, which is a cleansing finale after an indulgence of seafood.

Ocean is a credit to Guernsey’s fishing dynasty taking time and creating dishes with passion and imagination but not losing sight of the wonderful flavours found in our seas. We have many fine restaurants serving incredible seafood dishes.

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I adore Tony Leck’s seafood risotto at The Pavilion, the crab and chorizo gallette at Café Delices is divine and Le Fregate’s sea bass is the stuff of legend, but at Ocean you have these dishes and more. I hope the standards are as sustainable as the fish they serve because if this is the case, Guernsey will have a seafood restaurant to be very proud of.

For further information visit ocean.gg or phone 213283 to reserve a table.

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Daniel Green

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Our own strain of yeast used in the brewing process infuses unique flavours and our malts impart sweetness, mouthfeel, body and character. The hops including herbs and spices – use up to 40 different varieties from the UK, the Continent, USA and New Zealand. So you see our brewing is rich with the finest ingredients.

FOOD

ARRANGED MARRIAGE The Rock was invited to a food matching event at The Auberge restaurant where Liberation Group were keen to demonstrate how beer can be a key component of fine dining. Was this going to be a culinary success or a marriage of inconvenience? Jon Taylor reports.

A

les tend to be full-bodied with forceful flavours, so in the main when food matching they’re going to be best up against strong flavours. But with ale it’s important not just to think in terms of matching certain dishes but also to see beer as an ingredient itself, bringing spiciness and verve to sauces and gravies.

Going far beyond ‘beer battered fish’, Liberation Group invited The Rock to a food matching event at The Auberge, where star chef Daniel Green and Liberation Group head brewer Paul Hurley concocted a menu designed to match the finest of Channel Island ale with the finest of dining experiences.

Just as in wine-producing countries there’s a natural link between Britain’s national drink and its cuisine, and the rich fruitiness of a good bitter can cope with the hearty meatiness of casseroles, steaks and red-meat pies. Liberation Group’s intention was to marry an award-winning chef with award winning ales.

For those who have been on the moon for the last couple of years, Daniel Green is a household name in Guernsey’s fine dining circles. He famously kicked Jersey’s Michelin backside in a Great British Menu challenge on television and while under his tutelage, The Auberge has gained 2 AA Rosettes and features in The Michelin Guide.

Daniel learned his craft at Leith’s and Stephen and Bull’s as well as outside caterer Alison Price but it is his classical French training from Harrods, as well as his artistic flare that forms the basis of his approach to food. He draws his inspiration from all sources available to him and enjoys nothing more then the challenge of creating new and exciting ways to prepare fresh local produce.

With his classic yet adventurous approach to cooking, his menus offer a clever twist so he is well placed to work some magic with award winning ales.

Liberation Group are recognised in Guernsey for their pubs, restaurants and being the parent of Bucktrouts. Jersey is where they carry out their brewing and with Paul Hurley at the helm they have been producing some stunning beers. Liberation Ale, for example, was recognised at the International Beer Challenge 2013 where they picked up a Bronze Award. The same ale also won a gold medal in the International Cask Ale category at the International Brewing Industry Awards. At the same event the Brewery’s Liberation 140, brewed especially to celebrate Liberation Brewery’s 140 years of brewing in the Channel Islands, also picked up an award. Only a limited number of special presentation bottles were produced and the judges awarded it a Bronze in the Dark

Beer category.

Paul Hurley left University with a biochemistry degree, became a lab manager at the Jersey Brewery on returning home and is now head brewer of Liberation Brewery. He has been brewing beer for us for the last 28 years. His talent has not only won ‘Beer Oscars’ but he’s been on the panel of the Brewing Industry International Awards for the last four times they took place. His Liberation Brewery Ales are also popular beyond the Channel Islands and can be found in selected pub chains in Britain, including JD Wetherspoon and Mitchell and Butler inns.

Back to the practicalities of food matching and Paul is keen to educate us about the benefits of ale as a food ingredient.

“Our own strain of yeast used in the brewing process infuses unique flavours and our malts impart sweetness, mouthfeel, body and character. The hops including herbs and spices – use up to 40 different varieties from UK, the Continent, USA and New Zealand. So you see our brewing is rich with the finest ingredients,” said Paul.

First on the menu are Canapés. Not something you associate with matching to a beer. Champagne perhaps but there is a lovely balance to the flavours and we find Spirit of Liberation the perfect compliment to the light canapé bites. Spirit of Liberation is a unique ‘Eau de Biere’ distilled from the

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We gently steam the bass in Liberation Blonde Craft Beer with a ginger & lime sauce. The blonde ale is not overpowering and therefore a perfect match for such a fish

award winning Liberation Ale. Paul and his team from the brewery joined up with another Genuine Jersey producer Richard Matlock to use his French artisan continuous still at his house in the parish of St.Ouens. Eau de vie/biere is also known as biebrand-beer brandy.

It’s very popular in Germany, Austria and Eastern Europe.

Canape’s consumed and conversations curtailed a call is made for dinner. The main event awaits.

With its low alcohol content and lack of pretension, quality ales make the ideal food match to relaxed informal dining. And this four-course dinner with accompanying matched ales, canapés and drinks on arrival was also priced at a very relaxed £39 a head.

The first course is fillet of Guernsey sea bass & crispy prawn toast cooked and served with Liberation Craft Blonde 3.8%. The beer is a delicate blend of lager malt and lager hops brewed with an ale yeast to give a light, thirst quenching beer with a hint of biscuit.

“We gently steam the bass in Liberation Blonde Craft Beer with a ginger & lime sauce. The blonde ale is not overpowering and a perfect match for such a fish,” explains Daniel.

The second course is perfectly timed and is served with just enough of a break for us to finish our starter ales.

The grilled sirloin steak is served with Bailiwick Best braised Oxtail, mash, carrot & anise puree. Paul explains that the Bailiwick Best is somewhat of a hidden treasure. “It has plain chocolate

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and coffee notes, with a well rounded bitterness and faint floral hop from English Fuggles and Goldings. The sweetness in the caramelised onions and carrot and anise puree were in harmony with the slightly bitter notes in this full flavoured ale,” said Paul.

With our taste buds firmly enlivened, we anticipate dessert. The menu reads Dark Chocolate and Liberation 140 cake with malt ice cream. The ‘140’ is a robust 7% abv dark India Pale Ale and boasts a full rich flavour from a blend of Maris Otter Pale and four coloured malts.

Seven US/New Zealand hops including Amarillo (orange notes) Chinook (pine) and Centennial (Citrus) lead to a slightly dry aftertaste, which acts as an ideal compliment to the sweetness of the dessert.

We conclude proceedings with a selection of Guernsey and British Cheeses complimented by a Liberation IPA 4.8% abv (with onions pickled in the beer). The rich Golden IPA has hints of coriander and a citric hop derived from New Zealand Motueka and Nelson Sauvin so the beer has a spicy note with a robust malt flavour. The beer pairs beautifully with the nutty flavors of the harder cheeses.

The food matching conquest complete, my fellow diners and I agree that this was an experience we would want to try again. The matching of the food and ales is extremely good but perhaps the greatest match is that of a top chef and a passionate brewer.

Paul Hurley

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I’ve just stepped down as chair of the Guernsey Arts Commission after six years. We started from scratch in 2007 and it’s been a hard slog in some ways as we’ve had to break down those barriers which people have in their heads about the arts not being for them, or that it’s an elitist indulgence, or it’s somehow not important. However the Commission’s vibrant and ever expanding community arts programme is starting to dispel those myths. For those of you who were at the Lantern Parade on March 1st and experienced the fabulous light band Spark! will have no doubt the arts can be a great shared experience for everyone, and something that is vital for our wellbeing.

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My involvement with the arts has not finished though. I’m now a director of the Guernsey Literary Festival as well as being a director of Creative Industries Guernsey. Both have spun off from the Commission to develop lives of their own. However the closest I personally can come to having any sort of artistic talent is the book I published in 2007 Guernsey in the Twenty-First Century which attempts to give a view of what sort of place Guernsey is at the start of this new century.

With the third Guernsey Literary Festival being held in May I thought I would invite some of my favourite authors to dinner. And I thought it would be nice to take them to a roof top restaurant in one of my favourite places, Sorrento, on the Amalfi coast overlooking the Bay of Naples, with Vesuvius and Pompeii to the north and the Isle of Capri to the west. In the soft scented warmth of a Mediterranean evening we will have a sense of being at the centre of the roots of Western Civilisation, a sense of a connection across the centuries to the Greeks and Romans who settled in this area.

Tony Gallienne

PROFILE

FANTASY DINNER PARTY Tony Gallienne is a published author so it’s no suprise his Fantasy Dinner Party guests arrive from the world of literature. Tony is also Chief Executive Officer with Norman Piette and has recently stepped down from being the chair of Guernsey’s Arts Commission.

I

came late to reading novels for pleasure.

My childhood was comics. I can remember reading a few Biggles in my early teens but that was about it. It wasn’t until I discovered Ernest Hemingway, my first guest, in my late teens, that I seriously started reading. My first Hemingway book was A Farewell to Arms, and, for a lovelorn 17-year-old, the sparse romantic style and a love story set in a hot Mediterranean during the First World War was intoxicating. And after that I wanted more – For Whom the Bell Tolls, Death in the Afternoon, The Old Man and the Sea, as well as Hemingway’s journalism and his biography by Carlos Baker.

I’ve occasionally tried to go back to Hemingway over the years to replicate that magic I felt as a teenager, but I think Hemingway is for the young, the style too pared down for an older age when life’s complexities and subtleties have been lived and learnt.

I’ve never taken to short stories much but ten years or so ago I discovered Alice Munro, my second guest, who last year won the Nobel Prize for Literature, and she has been my short story exception. She writes with grace, with a light touch, and with wisdom and insight. Her subject is you and I; ordinary people and their ordinary lives. But Munro shows that those ordinary lives, even the most mundane, are constant dramas of being. She describes people’s relationships and experiences, dilemmas, joys and sorrows, in a way which causes the reader to feel as if they are living those lives, that they know these people as well as their own friends and relatives. Munro writes of people who live normal, quiet, unchallenged lives of routine until something happens which profoundly overwhelms them and changes who they thought they were. For all the beauty of Munro’s prose her eye is unblinking, all seeing

and unremitting. She forces us to strip away our own delusions of our own lives.

Whereas I took to Hemingway when I was younger I failed with Charles Dickens, who is my third guest. All those words; and the dialects Dickens captures on the page can be hard work. Where Hemingway’s style is simple and adjective light, Dickens’ is florid, and he loves adjectives, as well as metaphors and similes. But now I love Dickens. A few Christmases ago I resolved to have another go and chose The Pickwick Papers, and what a fantastic romp that is. This was Dickens’ first novel, and, like many of his novels, was initially published in weekly episodes. Such was the excitement that The Pickwick Papers created that the print run rose from 400 for the first episode to 40,000 by the 15 episode.

I’ve read a Dickens every Christmas since.

This last Christmas it was David Copperfield, Dickens’ most autobiographical novel (notice the reversal of initials) and met the reptilian Uriah Heep, Barkis, who is willing, the ever hopeful Mr Micawber, and pretty little Dora whom David Copperfield marries.

A writer I came across by accident a few years ago is Mourid Barghouti, who is my fourth guest. Actually Barghouti is a poet, a Palestinian, who grew up in Ramallah. When the Six Day War erupted in 1967 Barghouti was just finishing his studies at Cairo University and found himself unable to return home because Israel was now occupying Gaza and the West Bank. Since then Barghouti has lived his life in exile. In 1996 he was finally allowed to return home to visit and this inspired his first prose book I Saw Ramallah, which was followed by a second I Was Born There, I Was Born Here.

Barghouti’s poetry infuses his prose with a fluidity and lyricism that sings to you and carries

you along. What he writes about so beautifully though is of the pain of exile, of being apart from those you love, of distorted and circumscribed lives, and the struggle to maintain an identity of self and belonging. But also, because of that suffering, the heightened joy of seeing a relative for the first time in 30 years, of the euphoria of being back where you were born and where you belong.

And to my final guest. I could have chosen Tolstoy, who made me cry on a tube train to West Ruislip in 1977 because of the power of his writing in describing the birth of Levin and Kitty’s baby, or George Eliot, or Emile Zola, or Ian McEwan, but I’ve settled on...

George Orwell, novelist, essayist, journalist and critic, author of Nineteen Eight Four, Animal Farm, and The Road to Wigan Pier.

Living in London as a student in the 1970’s and marching against Greek juntas and exploited Angolan coffee farmers, Orwell was a guide for me then on how to think and view the world. His style is plain, unadorned and precise, surgical in analysing and dissecting what he writes about.

His view of the future was dystopian, and of course 1984 and since hasn’t turned out quite as he suggested. Orwell was an outsider, Etoneducated but standing outside the accepted conventions of his expected life. This freed him to write about the realities of society as he saw it. Just like Orwell, all my guests have that eye of the outsider that shines a penetrating light on some truth about our existence. An exhilarating dinner party then, but one I need to be braced for.

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Don’t let your swimmong pool/spa DAMPEN OUR LOVE OF WATER LOVE YOUR WATER

In Guernsey our groundwater, streams and reservoirs are at risk of pollution from relatively small quantities of chemicals and effluent discharges. The Prevention of Pollution (Guernsey) Law, 1989, states that ‘No person shall cause or permit the occurrence of pollution, or cause or permit a risk of pollution to arise’. To prevent such pollution, Guernsey Water does not permit the disposal of swimming pool waters containing chlorine, bromide or salt (sodium chloride) into surface water drains, land drains, streams, douits or drainage ditches. Pool or spa water (including filter backwash water) containing sodium chloride from salt disinfection systems or brominated compounds from bromine disinfection systems MUST be disposed of via the foul sewer or cesspit.

For further information about how to prevent pollution in your area please download our Disposal of Water & Wastewater from Domestic Swimming Pools/Spas advice sheet at http://www.water.gg/your-environment/catchment-protection

Tel: 239500 • Fax: 234649 • Email: customer.service@water.gg Address: PO Box 30, Brickfield House, St Andrew, GY1 3AS Web: www.water.gg

FIND US

FOR THE LOVE OF THE JOB ADELINO PUTS HIS HEART INTO COOKING

Chateaux des Tielles is proud of its restaurant style kitchen which is run by top chef Adelino Alves. Jill Chadwick popped in to enjoy a roast lunch – and discovered how food really is a priority for this top class nursing home with a difference.

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FOOD

I

t’s just after 11.30 and those residents who want to whet their appetites are enjoying a pre-lunch sherry. Today they are going to enjoy a home cooked roast chicken lunch and there is a happy buzz of expectation as they saunter into the dining room.

“We have a fantastic chef, Adelino who came to us a few years ago and has really made his mark,” explains the co-manager of Chateaux des Tielles, Shirley Adam.

The chef has created a variety of lunch and dinner menus that are served on a monthly rota, but he is always happy to cook a different dish if a resident has a fancy for something not on the menu that day.

Says Shirley: “We use the best of local ingredients including fish freshly caught off the coast that day. Residents often enjoy crab and fresh lobster and ormers when they are in season. We also buy in fresh local vegetables and the best cuts of meat. Food is of a very high standard and we are lucky to have such an amazing chef who keeps our standards high.”

In the gleaming steel commercial style kitchen the chef was busy putting the finishing touches to the sumptuous roast. Earlier that day he had created a delicious buffet tea, which residents enjoy once a week.

The spread would not have looked out of place at a wedding reception, and once again, residents can opt to enjoy a sherry, beer or glass of wine with their meal as the bar is kept open throughout mealtimes.

“We are able to cater for all dietary requirements and chef is always able to rustle up an alternative if a resident fancies just a light tasty salad or soup. He is also a genius with puddings and there is always something for those with a sweet tooth to enjoy after their lunch or supper”, says Shirley.

There is an emphasis on healthy eating, but not at the cost of providing hearty, home cooked treats too.

“We also make sure that there are always cakes and biscuits made for afternoon tea and we pride ourselves on adding those extra special touches like after dinner chocolates served with teas and coffees.”

Shirley explains that her chef realises the importance of the social aspect of the whole dining experience.

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FOOD “We do give residents the option to eat in their own room if they prefer, but most do choose to gather and eat their meals with their friends.”

The kitchen has to provide breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner each day and snacks are provided on request too.

“Eating well is very important to ensure that our residents are given the best care possible so we really do invest in the best, both in staff and in the foods provided. We like to think that our standards meet those of a hotel – and residents certainly seem to agree and enjoy what Adelino provides for them each day.”

The residents have special meals on celebration days like Valentine’s Day, Easter and of course Christmas Day when chef pulls out all the stops to put on a festive banquet and an array of buffet meals.

“He will also happily bake birthday cakes for residents and pancakes for Shrove Tuesday with delicious homemade toffee sauce and ice-cream.

Adelino says that for him the joy of the job is the knowledge that residents look forward to their dining experience.

“I worked as a head chef at a top restaurant We use the best of local ingredients for many years, but I including fish freshly caught off the came to work here three years ago and I get so coast that day. Residents often enjoy much satisfaction from crab and fresh lobster and ormers my work.

The great thing about when they are in season. We also buy working at the home is in fresh local vegetables and the best being able to take as much time as I need cuts of meat to devise great dishes and enjoy seeing them served up.

In the restaurant I was always rushing - here it is a much happier calmer kitchen and we all get along so well.

Residents seem to love my home cooked pies – cottage pies and luxury fish pies, and roasts are popular too. But I do enjoy creating our weekly buffets and I know the residents love them. It gives me great job satisfaction and I enjoy providing the meals residents ask me for. It really does make a difference.”

“

For further information: www.chateauxdestielles.co.uk

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Paynton fisherman’s Easyfit- £29.98

Durban Large Knit Cushion £18.98 Roscanna Sofa £379

Colours Felicity Star Rug 120cmx170cm £55

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HOME AND INTERIORS

LIFE’S A BREEZE Blue and Grey Embossed Coastal Canvas £14.98

Imagine a coastal retreat, simple, practical and full of light and natural materials. Bring that nautical mood into your home with deckchair stripes, rope detailing and a fresh, cheerful colour palette. The trend in 2014 is for vivid colours mixed with a more suble tone of chalky greys together with eclectic and distinctive furniture pieces.

Large Wicker Basket with Heart £6.98 Add a touch of rustic style to your chosen room with this stylish large glass hurricane lantern, with an attached rope handle. £14.98

8

Astryd Round Knitted Floor Pouffe £49.98

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St Saviours Reservoir

Hougue Ricart

The population of Guernsey consumes about 4,500 Megalitres (million litres) of water each year - enough to fill the large swimming pool at Beau Sejour 9,000 times over!

Juas

Longue Hougue

FEATURE

KEEP ON RUNNING Every time we turn on our taps at home to be greeted with a stream of crystal clear and clean Guernsey water, spare a moment to think about the committed team at Guernsey Water who make it happen. The Rock spent a day with them, and you will be as impressed as we were when you read about the lengths they go to achieve their very high standards.

It’s barely 8 am and it’s all very calm in Guernsey Water’s control room at their St Andrew’s Brickfields operational depot.

The guys on the night shift have just left and a new team is keeping an eye on the huge bank of camera screens and systems that fill a whole wall. They give the team a bird’s eye view of what is happening at the reservoirs and treatment plants. The screens also monitor the actual water treatment processes ensuring that the balance in the water content is as good as it can be.

It’s all very space age and indicative of how watchful and innovative the utility is about ensuring that Guernsey water is of a very high standard.

Nathan Silk is the Quality and Risk Assurance Manager and head scientist at Guernsey Water, and has worked at the board for 14 years.

He is passionate about the anti-pollution measures which are proving so successful throughout the Island’s water catchment area.

“We don’t come under the regulation of the UK water industry, but we take their guidelines as best practice for water

quality. This year our results our better than ever,” he says.

This is due to stringent controls and legislation governing the water catchment area and the restrictions on the use of chemicals, which helps to achieve a water provision infrastructure which is the envy of many UK authorities.

“Unlike UK water companies, Guernsey Water has stringent legislation which works to protect our water catchment area and make sure Islanders are mindful of how to manage waste water and any commercial or household chemicals.

“We prevent pollution from entering the water supply by being proactive about managing our catchment area, which covers the majority of the Island.”

The emphasis is very much on prevention being better than cure.

He explains that Guernsey is much more focused on protecting and processing clean water – and the utility is delighted that the public are happy to work with them. They visit commercial premises to carry out audits and says Nathan; the airport is one of the biggest focuses due to its location adjacent to streams that flow

directly into St Saviours reservoir.

“Because of the new infrastructure at the airport a lot of thought and future provision was made so any contaminated groundwater can be treated on site. It is a great example of some creative forward thinking and it works well.”

Guernsey has 16 reservoirs, many of them tucked away, and these are monitored and secure. Water is tested every step along the way as it is collected from streams or pumped through automated pumping stations, and the team work pretty much around the clock to make sure all practises are carried out to the letter.

Nathan explains that there were 7,870 separate water quality tests undertaken last year.

“We test against all the quality parameters at the various treatment plants, service reservoirs, and perhaps most importantly, at the customers’ taps. We know how the entire system is working and we have the capability to identify and fix any problems very quickly.

In addition to our raw water storage, we also have three active treatment plants and four treated water storage facilities at Frie

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Plaidy and Forest Road, including the Water Tower.”

Islanders, he says, are vigilant and happy to work with the Water Board if they have concerns about their supply, or note any potential pollution or problems. Guernsey Water’s ongoing success story is partly due to the help and advice the team is happy to offer to Islanders concerning any problems with the water supply.

“We have adopted a sensible, proactive approach to our policies and people feel able and do – talk to us to ensure that water coming out of their tap is the best it can be. It says it all that our water quality results for 2013 came back at an astonishing 99.94% against the near-8,000 samples taken. This is our best ever result, and is also better than the one recorded for Jersey in 2013…”

Nathan Silk is the Quality and Risk Assurance Manager and head scientist at the Water Board

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“

Because of the new infrastructure at the airport a lot of thought and future provision was made so any contaminated groundwater can be treated on site. It is a great example of some creative forward thinking and it works well.

Unusual/Interesting Facts

Mandy Le Prevost hands out pre-lunch Sherry

GW has 16 storage reservoirs on the Island, and most of them are former quarries located in the north.

The quarry at Longue Hougue holds a 1/3 more water than St Saviour’s reservoir.

If you combine the clean water mains (488km) and wastewater sewers (250km) then laid them end to end, they would extend from Guernsey to Glasgow! They would also circle Guernsey 15 times…

The old engraved window from GW’s Town Office is framed and on display at Brickfield House. Back when it was in situ in the Town Office, many passing people used to sit on the windowsill and have a chat on their mobile phones or an argument, and everything would be heard by those in the office…

The States only took control of the Island’s water supply in 1920 – originally it was under the control of the Guernsey Water Company.

GW carry out routine random water quality checks at customer taps at around 170 different properties visited each year.

These samples are tested against 141 bacteriological and chemical criteria.

Of GW’s 25,000 or so customers, 64% of them are on a water meter. The other 36% pay their water bills according to the TRP rating of their property.

GW has 11-months’ worth of water storage in their reservoirs, quarries and tanks.

The population of Guernsey consumes about 4,500 Megalitres (million litres) of water each year - enough to fill the large swimming pool at Beau Sejour 9,000 times over!

For further information: Tel: 239500 E: customer.service@water.gg W: www.water.gg

The Rock meets the man who makes sure your tap water is safe Mike de Carteret is Guernsey Water’s Distribution Scientist and he is the man to call if you have concerns about the water coming out of your tap.

Each year he carries out random spot checks all over the Island to make sure water is clean and pollution-free, and he says it’s a job that gives him great satisfaction.

“People are often surprised when I turn up and they are generally very happy that we are being so vigilant”, says Mike.

He makes around 170 random checks each year – and since he took on the job in August 2012, all the tests undertaken have met the standards set.

“There have been a couple of times when I have received an unusual sample, but when I have gone back to do another check, it turns out that the problem was with the customer’s internal plumbing rather than the water itself.”

Should there be any concerns, Mike does

an on-site test then takes away samples to undertake more intensive analysis.

“If any problems do arise with the samples, we can trace it back through the system in order to find out where the issue is.”

Another part of Mike’s job is to respond to queries and concerns from customers who have noticed a problem with their water.

“Occasionally we have customers ring us up with concerns about water colour, taste or odour, and I will make it my priority to attend their property as quickly as possible.

There is usually a simple explanation to the issue, and customers are advised as to what to do next to solve the problem.”

He says that the reaction of Islanders to his surprise visits is usually very positive.

“I think they are just happy that we are being careful and carry out tests to make sure our water is safe and the best it can be.”

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Chris Sheppard, Performance Development Manager, gives us an exclusive insight into a day at Guernsey Water 8am – Work for the day begins for our wastewater team and contractors Geotrant on the St Andrew’s Phase 2 sewer extension programme. Work is currently being carried out on St Andrew’s Road and involves the installation of vitrified clay sewers into the road at depths of between 1.5 – 2.5m. The foul sewer network currently allows 75% of properties in the Island to connect, with the remaining 25% of properties utilising cesspits. Cesspits are emptied on a regular basis by sewage tankers and the sewage is then inserted into the sewerage system at one of a series of emptying points on the Island.

This project in St Andrews, which incorporates the area around Les Naftiaux, will allow around 110 properties to connect to the foul sewer system.

10am – We have a rolling programme of sewer maintenance, and this morning we are carrying out a survey of a sewer in the Vale to check its condition. Our operator is using a remote CCTV system which can be lowered into the sewer through a manhole, and remotely guided along the length of the sewer. Captured footage can then be viewed later to see if there are any problems that might need attention. Typical problems include tree/plant root systems forcing their way into the sewer, and ‘fatbergs’ – fats, oils and grease which have been flushed into the foul sewer, then solidify when they cool.

These can cause sewer blockages, so we always encourage customers to dispose of fats via rubbish bins once cooled.

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11am – We currently have three Water Treatment Works at St Saviours, Longue Hougue and Kings Mills, and our water production staff carry out checks on these plants at regular intervals to check that all systems are running correctly.

1pm – Our compliance plumbing inspectors carry out checks on domestic and commercial oil installations to ensure that everything is compliant with our legal standard, the Water Byelaws. Oil pollution from leaking or sub-standard tanks poses a real threat to our streams and groundwater here in Guernsey, as the hydrocarbons in oil cannot be removed from raw water with our traditional methods of treatment. Plumbing installations are also checked, and are not deemed legal until compliant with the Water Byelaws. Guernsey Water has the power to bring about prosecutions in the event of non-compliance from customers, but we would prefer to work with customers and fuel companies to make sure that this is not necessary.

2pm - Customer service – dealing with queries on the wastewater charge. Our friendly and helpful customer service team are the first port of call for customers with queries on everything related to the business, but their primary focus is on dealing with customer accounts and records, water and wastewater billing and other general queries. They have recently set up an automated telephone questionnaire for customers to take part in, and this will help us get feedback on how we are performing.

3pm – Our water distribution team are currently installing a new raw water main which will allow water to be transported from La Mare de Carteret pumping station to our Capelles storage system. This will add more resilience to our network in terms of how we are able to transfer water around our system when necessary. At present, the main is being installed in the Rue des Annevilles in the Vale.

4pm – Performance Development Manager – dealing with a media enquiry about the recent flooding incidents. He will liaise with staff who have expertise in this area, and draft a response. This will then be signed off by the Director of Water Services and sent to the media. Comments are often backed up by website and social media coverage, and sometimes there will be queries coming through on GW’s Facebook and Twitter accounts.

5pm – Guernsey Water closes to the public, the phones switch over, but the Control Room continues their 24-hour shift.

Control Room staff are on hand to monitor our assets, checking systems are operating as expected, monitoring CCTV footage of certain assets, and dealing with any emergencies that might come up e.g. burst main, pollution incident etc. e.g. burst main, pollution incident etc.

One of Peter and Shirley’s rescue dogs is a popular addidtion to the home

From wells, to quarries and flooded valleys.

How did it all begin?

Formed in the late 19th century, the Guernsey Water Company operated as the Island’s only water supplier and distributor.

By 1920, the company was providing water to 1,850 domestic customers. The primary water sources at that time were seven wells in the St Martins and Forest areas. In 1920 it was agreed that the States should take over the growing responsibility for the Island’s water supply, and the States Water Board was formed. It was an inauspicious start as the following year had the lowest rainfall ever recorded, putting the Island’s water supplies under great strain. During the next 15 years, the Board constructed the Island’s first WTW (Water Treatment Works) at Kings Mills and St Saviours, which utilised gravity filters and chlorination equipment. Pumping stations were built to make use of water flowing through the Island’s valleys.

By 1930, consumption had risen to 1,100ML every year and it was clear that increased storage capacity would be required. Initially, disused quarries in the north of the Island were

purchased to help maintain supplies, but it was clear that demand was only going to increase further. In 1936, the Board proposed the construction of an impounding reservoir in St Saviour’s valley which would create a 1,090ML reservoir. The project was agreed and work began in 1938. Work on the dam was halted during World War II, but commenced again in 1946 following the Island’s liberation from the occupying forces. The dam was sealed in January 1947, and by April, the reservoir was full to overflowing. Over the following years, more pumping stations were built, disused quarries purchased and a new WTW constructed at Juas to meet the continuing increase in demand. In 2009 a new WTW was built at Longue Hougue, superceding Juas, which reverted to a storage reservoir. This plant and St Saviours were upgraded with state-of-the-art membrane technology, which treats the water by removing anything larger than 4 microns (a micron is a thousandth of a millimetre – 1/1,000 mm).

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THE

MOST LOVED BUSINESS IN GUERSEY 2014

CAR

FINDER

VANTASTIC

Voted the BEST, most LOVED Car Dealer in the British Isles 2012 !

For more information visit www.thebestofguernsey.co.uk bluchip.gg or highest call 200390 We supply the quality vehicles

by our loyal local customers on

at the lowest possible prices !

Any make or model supplied to order !

Minivans / 4x4s / Sports / MPVs / Vans

Finance / Insurance arranged

It is safe to say that Guernsey’s roads are a constant buzz of commerical vehicles as various trades go about their business.

Over the last few months Bluchip has seen a sharp uptake in the commercial van market. It seems that business is good in Guernsey – if van sales are anything to go Jamie’s options by. A trend mirrored in the UK. In March there was a substantial increase of 28.2% over the previous year 2013, with 11,731 registrations, boosting the rolling 12-month total by 13.8%.

Ford led the market with 2160 van sales, but their French counterparts Renault weren’t far behind.

Ford has been the consistent of reliability in the commercial vehicle market. Great styling in a modern, smart manner, the all new Transit is quiet and refined on the move more car-like than van-like.The 125PS engine is ‘torquey’ enough without shredding the front tyres every time you take off and the short shift gearshift is also a delight to use The Transit’s cabin is a driver’s delight, too: mobile phone holder, USB/aux input and an extra electric socket; takeaway coffee holders; deep bins for 1.5 litre water bottles.

But most importantly what can the Transit hold? Let’s start with four large standard 8 feet x 4 feet (2440mm x 1220mm) boards, stacked or flat on the floor; or three Euro

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We are your local Minivan experts ! 15 to 20 panel vans & people carriers always in stock / in transit.

In our new carfinder feature, Jamie Lowe from Bluchip solves all your car quandries. In the second issue Steve is lookingTELfor a commercial van 200390 for his new building business. We put Jamie Lowe to the test of finding solutions and why they’re perfect for this Guernsey professional.

pallets; and something the old Transit could never do, three metre load lengths – such as pipes, copper tubing and softwood.

The Renault Trafic meanwhile has proved a phenomenal success since its launch in 2001 and despite this, there is certainly nothing old hat about this van.

Businesses see the importance of turning up at a client’s premises in a smart vehicle and the Trafic fits the bill. Vans just don’t come any more comfortable than this. There is plenty of space for three adults in the cab and with a nice light clutch action and a slick six-speed gearbox, you might just as well be driving a large MPV. The Trafic might be the king of the Europeans but Nissan have a thoroughbred of their own. The Nissan NV200 is neat, tidy and comfortable, easy to manoeuvre and is ideal for a workhorse if you’re in the building trade. Its drivability makes it suitable for both around-town operations and long trips. The generous loadspace for a vehicle of this size is a bonus. My final choice is the Guernsey van of choice.

It’s of course the mini van. Now this vehicle is small enough to fit down the quietest lane but carries enough load to refurbish your average Clos house. We have serviced every type in this range but my choices would be the classic Suzuki Carry Van and Daihatsu Extol.

At Bluchip we have serviced hundreds of mini vans, some with over 150,000

View all of our fantastic stock on your PC or Mobile or visit us at Southside.

www.bluchip.gg

miles on the clock and still going strong.

The Carry and Extol are fun to drive and ideal for local business’s whose daily tasks involve lots of stopping and starting in busy traffic. Has its place but not suitable for larger occupants requiring space in the cab.

Toyota’s “indestructible” Hilux would be my choice if you’re after a pick up. A new look and new hi-tech features were introduced for the remodelled 2012 edition. The redoubtable pick-up has been given a comprehensive re-style from the A-pillar forwards, with a new bonnet, radiator grille, headlamps and bumper, plus new wheel designs and new side bars and steps for the top-ofthe-range Hilux Invincible.

The interior has been given a new look, too, with new upper dashboard design and horizontal instrument cluster that emphasise the breadth and roominess of the cabin.

The revised lay-out incorporates the new Toyota Touch multimedia unit with a full colour 6.1-inch touchscreen. The Touch package, fitted as standard to the HL3 and Invincible models also includes Bluetooth and a USB port for connecting digital music players.

We can source all of these models and a range of vans for businesses so please give is a call on 200390 or pop in and see us at Bluchip Southside, St Sampsons.

NISSAN’S NV200

THE INDESTRUCTIBLE TOYOTA HILUX

THE ALL NEW RENAULT TRAFIC SPORT.

SAVE SAVE SAVE BLUCHIP CAN SAVE YOU £ THOUSANDS ON THE LIST PRICE OF THE ALL NEW RENAULT TRAFIC

SUZUKI CARRY VAN

N.B.

THE ALL NEW TRANSIT

If you’re looking to buy a new or second hand van or car then why not try Bluchip who can source from all over the UK and beyond if necessary. Fifteen years of experience make them hard to beat for customer service and price.

THE BLUCHIP STORY Bluchip was started in 1999 out of pure frustration with the lethargy in the local motor trade, that the owners had encountered. Bluchip’s intention was to import their own cars and attempt to save money in the process. After successfully importing their own vehicles, friends and family soon started asking them to help import their next new cars too. 15 years later and they are still going from strength to strength. This year sees them win both the coveted title of “‘Most Loved’ Business in Guernsey 2014 and ‘Most Loved’ Car Dealer in the British Isles 2014.

No mean feat for a small garage.

Bluchip pride themselves in giving their customers the best, hassle free buying experience around, whilst ensuring they get the exact vehicles they want, without compromise. They always ensure their customers get the best possible prices too and all their new and ex demo UK imports are VAT FREE. Bluchip also have their own highly skilled mechanics, who are on hand to service your vehicle. The service team use all the latest diagnostics tools and they can supply and fit parts to order, including state-of-the-art tuning parts.

“Whatever the make or model Bluchip can find it for you. They may even have it in stock.”

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BIG REDUCTIONS R EXTENSIVE RANGE Voted the BEST most LOVED Car Dealer in the British Isles Toyota Mr2 convertible, 2003, black, semi automatic - now only

£2,750

5xSuzuki Carry vans, fully serviced inc cambelts, various colours from £3,250 Nissan Figaro, green, nice condition, retro styled auto, reduced to

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Honda Jazz SE, petrol, manual, black, 2004, 44,000 miles, very reliable

£3,650

3x Daihatsu Extol vans - perfect Island Minivan, fully serviced, from

£3,995

Perodua Kenari, last ever one sold in Guernsey,2011 model, silver, manual £3,995 Renault Kangoo wheelchair access vehicle - amazing value

SAVINGS BETWEEN

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Toyota Aygo Plus Petrol Manual 2009 - the perfect Island car, easy to park £4,750

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Mini one, 2005, silver, alloys, high spec, lovely condition, just reduced £750 £4,750 Renault Modus Dynamique, Automatic, 2009, only 15,000m - immaculate £4,850 MG TF LE 500 convertible(with hard top) grey, only 17,000m

£4,995

Honda Acty and Vamos - 2 in stock locally and 100’s available to import £4,995 Hyundai i10 Petrol Manual 2010, silver, roof rack, great modern small car £4.995 Suzuki Grand Vitara Petrol Manual 2005, silver, only 32,000 miles

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Mazda 5 TS Diesel Manual 2005, grey, great 7 seater MPV

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Daihatsu Atrai7 / Toyota Sparky range - 6 in stock, more arriving soon £5,995 Westfield SEI Petrol Manual 1995, black, great condition, very fast car!

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Suzuki Everylandy XC Petrol Auto 2002, white, high spec 7 seater MPV £6,495 Ford Transit 300 SWB, 2000cc diesel, manual, white, lovely condition £6,750 Honda Jazz EX iShift, 2010 model, very high spec, glass roof, reduced £6,750 New shape Daihatsu Terios, silver, manual, 42,000 miles. Best small 4x4 £6,750 Volkswagen Touareg 2.5 TDI Automatic 2004, grey, very high spec.

£6,995

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SPRING BREAKERS The Rock looks at ideas for a weekend with a difference for foodies, culture vultures and those looking to unwind. Blue Islands’ take us on a spring breaker!

In association with

Blue Islands www.blueislands.com

The Royal Crescent in Bath

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Shopping in Bath

“

Sample delicious local ingredients from some of the best producers in the South West including Bath Soft Cheese, Upton Cheyney Chilli Company, Juice to Go, Kidner’s Organics, Eggardon Rare Breeds, Ivor’s Ice Cream and La Dame Gateau.

There is so much going on in England during the spring.

Food festivals, art exhibitions, family fun, cookery courses and spa breaks all with a little difference.

We call it the UK with a slice of Je ne sais quoi so here is our pick of the things to do, the places to stay and where it all happens.

BRISTOL & BATH With new flights now on a Saturday, Bristol and the surrounding area is a great short break destination. There’s also so much to do. We’ll start with the Eat Drink Bristol Fashion – A very popular “pop-up” event that celebrates Bristol’s thriving food and drink industry takes place between the 5th -18th May. The city’s Queen Square will host a spectacular “tipi village” that will house a fine dining restaurant for 100 people, a tapas cafe for 200, fully licensed bars, a live performance stage and an exhibition space.

Eat Drink Bristol Fashion will see many of Bristol’s best chefs and independent restaurants return to the iconic tipis as they each take a turn to wow diners with their menus.

Further detail of each menu, plus details on the live music line-ups are listed on www.eatdrinkbristolfashion. co.uk.

Dyrham Park is a gorgeous 17th century National Trust property and on May 18th a Love Food Festival will be taking place at this stunning venue.

Visitors will enjoy breathtaking views whilst tasting and buying delicious local produce – a real feast for the senses.

Seasonal activities will also feature in collaboration with the National Trust’s

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TRAVEL

EAT DRINK BRISTOL FASHION www.eatdrinkbristolfashion.co.uk.

’50 things to do before you’re 11 and ¾’ – think leaf rubbing, foraging and much more.

Watch Bath’s Rachel Demuth cooking with seasonal Riverford produce and add some new vegetable-friendly recipes to your repertoire, or help your children to make some of their own elderflower cordial to take home.

Sample delicious local ingredients from some of the best producers in the South West including Bath Soft Cheese, Upton Cheyney Chilli Company, Juice to Go, Kidner’s Organics, Eggardon Rare Breeds, Ivor’s Ice Cream and La Dame Gateau. When it’s time for lunch you will be spoilt for choice with some exciting street food options, including Burger Theory, The Spanish Buffet, Old Sodbury Roasters, Burrito Loco and Barefoot Pizza. Grow Glenhalme herbs will be on hand to discuss growing culinary and medicinal herbs. The children’s area will have plenty of fun and games for them to burn off some energy before tasting something new for lunch. Watch them play or go on a story walk adventure, while you sit back and relax at Dick Willows’ cider bar and take in the beautiful view of the deer park. http://www.lovefoodfestival.com

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Get out and about with the Bristol Walking Festival 2014, from 26 April to 26 May 2014.

Bristol Walking Festival aims to inspire more people to go walking, showcase the city both locally and nationally and celebrate Bristol’s reputation as a green, vibrant and creative place.

Voted European Green Capital for 2015, Bristol wants to lead the way in the build-up with a dynamic and exciting programme for the walking festival.

Last year over 30 organisations were involved with the delivery of the week-long festival. This year Bristol plan to double that and provide an even more varied programme with over 100 walks and events.

The festival programme will include walks around four themes: walking with art and creativity, walking for active travel, walking for leisure and learning, walking for health. For further nformation visit www.visitbristol.co.uk.

After a day spent in Bristol why not take the short journey to the Roman town of Bath. If you’re looking to rejuvenate yourself after a day walking and eating your way round the county’s capital take time out at the ancient spa town with a modern twist.

Make the most of Bath’s natural thermal waters with a one day spa package experience that spans 2000 years! The special package costs £66.00 (flights not included) each and includes: A ticket to the Roman Baths » A voucher for a 3 course lunch or Champagne afternoon tea in the Pump Room » A voucher for a 2 hour spa session at Thermae Bath Spa The Roman Baths Discover what the Romans did for Bath: see the source of the thermal waters and explore the monumental remains of the great Roman temple and magnificent bath-house, still flowing with natural hot water.

Visit the Pump Room restaurant Overlooking the spring, enjoy a three course lunch, served between 12-2.30pm at The Pump Room.

Lunch includes a starter, main course and pudding (drinks not included).

It is possible to have a Champagne afternoon tea instead of lunch, served between 2.30-4.30pm, your tea includes a glass of Champagne, smoked salmon

BRISTOL WALKING FESTIVAL and cucumber sandwiches, scones with clotted cream and fruit preserves, Pump Room pastries and a dessert shot, with a pot of tea or coffee. Please note that due to demand reservations are not taken at weekends, so please arrive as soon as possible after 12.15pm to be seated for lunch.

Thermae Bath Spa
 Complete your spa experience with a two hour visit to Thermae Bath Spa, where you can relax in natural thermal waters that have brought health and vitality to the city for centuries. The spa session includes the use of the open-air roof top pool, the in-door Minerva Bath, and the aroma steam rooms. Towel, robe and slippers are not included in the package but can be hired from the reception at the Spa if required. The Spa is open from 9.00am- 9.30pm (pools & steam rooms close at 9.00pm, last entry 7.30pm.)

Bookings are not taken in advance unless you are a group of 8+ or you are having a treatment (treatments are not included in the spa package). You may wish to visit the spa early in the day to ensure entry, especially during the busiest times from Friday evening until Sunday afternoon.

LOVE FOOD FESTIVAL - SUNDAY 18TH MAY

Bath Spa package ÂŁ66 (flights not included) From clockwise top left: Treatments atThermae Spa, The Royal Bath Spa, Afternoon tea at The Pump Room and The spa pool at Thermae.

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TRAVEL Bath has many things to entertain but a hidden gem is a vegetarian cookery school. Opened in 2001 The Vegetarian Cookery School is run by professional chef and restaurateur Rachel Demuth- a pioneer of vegetarian, vegan and organic cooking. Rachel specialises in unpretentious, creative and healthy food for anyone wishing to learn to cook without fish or meat, and translates the approach to her cookery school.

The courses are highly instructive, , catering for mixed abilities- from the greenest beginner to the highly experienced. Courses aim to provide inspiration and ideas that are easily achievable back at home, through a mix of hands-on cooking and demonstration, with an emphasis on simplicity and fun.

Choose from more than 20 courses, including Fast and Delicious or Quick and Easy Italian for those short of time.

Mediterranean Feast and Flavours of Italy will appeal to those who enjoy zippy, vibrant European lifestyles, whilst Thai, Vietnamese, Mexican, Moorish and Southern Indian may be favoured by the more adventurous worldwide traveller. Supplementary courses will focus on healthy eating and special diets, such as Gluten Free, which will be of particular interest and benefit to celiacs, other courses will appeal to Vegans.

Each course caters for a maximum of 16 people cooking 10 different dishes on each day. At the end of the day students enjoy the food they’ve created. One-day courses run from 10 a.m. to 4.30pm, and cost £135. Evening Workshops cost £45 from 6.30pm until 9pm. Half Day Workshops & Young Chef workshops cost £80 from 10am until 2pm.

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Rachel Demuth

WHERE TO EAT

The Porter, Bath An ambitious addition to Bath’s social, cultural and foodie scene, The Porter spreads itself over four floors with two bars serving specialist craft beers and cocktails, a lounge and private rooms, plus an all-day ‘kitchen-style’ eatery headed up by one-time Michelin-starred chef Robert Clayton (ex-Bath Priory et al). Classics such as grilled plaice and chips, roast chicken salad or liver and bacon with mash share the limelight with gussied-up Anglo-Mediterranean

ideas ranging from roast scallops with butternut squash purée and chorizo to cannon of lamb with sun-blush tomatoes, courgettes and thyme sauce. To finish, investigate the interesting regional cheeses or pick something sweet such as sticky toffee pud with honeycomb ice cream. The Porter also has a formidable line-up of events, from a kids’ cinema club to wine tastings and live music.

38 CLIFTON, BRISTOL

HAMPSHIRE With the new link to Southampton Airport, Blue Island’s can open up spring breaks to Hampshire. This season’s highlights include a fair at Downton Abbey, a world class act and art exhibitions.

WHERE TO STAY

You’ll feel on top of the world in this smartly converted Georgian merchant’s house, with panoramic views across the city from the back and the delightful Clifton Downs in front.

Up a lavender-lined front path, through a stained glass door, find huge style and comfort, without a whiff of pretension: knobbly oatmeal carpets, wide floorboards, beautiful colours, modern art (including a superb sculpture by Cornish artist Tom Leaper) and a few happily battered antiques. Bedrooms are upstairs or down, all with big beds, deep mattresses, long views, clever panelling and bathrooms you’ll want to take home - the top suites with splendid brass baths and Victorian tiling.

Breakfast is fresh and west-country sourced. Go for the Full Monty or smoked salmon and scrambled eggs. Huge fun to watch the skies and have a cream tea or

evening drink in the gravelled back terrace, where there are comfortable rattan chairs and sofas among colourful pots of plants from the Scilly Isles (there is a family link).

You are within walking distance of good restaurants, pubs and the city centre.

Visit www.number38clifton.com/

Highclare Game and Country Fair The countryside event of the southern counties arrives at the grounds of Highclere Castle (known to you and I as Downton Abbey). This May, bringing back family favourites such as the Knights of Middle England and a fantastic entertainment bill that all ages can get involved in.

Famed for its stunning backdrop, the Highclere Country Fair has nestled neatly into the grounds of Highclere Castle for 18 years, with the Castle standing proudly amidst the 1,000 acres of stunning parkland. Of course, many visitors will recognise the Castle from ITV’s Downton Abbey and visitors to this year’s countryside showcase will be able to see the backdrop to the Castle in all its full splendour whilst meandering around the many stalls and arenas this year’s event has lined-up.

A fantastic place to bring the whole family too, this year’s Highclere Country Fair welcomes a variety of features and demonstrations. For the 2014 season, families can look forward to the return of the jousters, the Knights of Middle England, Ye Olde Redtail Falconry and Cyril the Squirrel, plus new for this year, a Tree Climbing Championship, the Mid Wales Axemen Team plus a superb Food Festival where visitors can try out lots of homemade goods and produce.

The Highclere Country Fair takes place over 25th and 26th May 2014.

Visit www.countrymanfairs.co.uk.

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TRAVEL

Highclere Country Fair takes place over 25th and 26th May 2014

FLY TO SOUTHAMPTON WITH BLUE ISLANDS FROM £39 NEW 66 seat ATR 72 aircraft NEW Saturday evening service perfect for day travel Add return anytime train to London Waterloo for just £30 ALL FLIGHTS FROM GUERNSEY & JERSEY TO SOUTHAMPTON New 07:15 departure from Guernsey & Jersey Complimentary lounge access for all passengers No nasty baggage charges at check-in Free fast-track security at Southampton Airport Transparent pricing - what you see is what you pay Real people at check-in

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WHERE TO VISIT

SEA CITY MUSEUM A new exhibition at the SeaCity Museum, Southampton, ‘Ship to Shore’ explores the different ways that artists have engaged with seas and oceans.

The exhibition is an intriguing visual feast of paintings, films, photography and prints alongside archival objects evoking the disorientating vastness of oceans, the romance of sea travel and ship-to-shore communications. Works by contemporary artists such as Tacita Dean, Tracy Emin, Susan Hiller, Steffi Klenz, Richard Long, Langlands and Bell, Humphrey Ocean, Simon Patterson, Zineb Sedira and Yinka Shonibare MBE

are exhibited alongside historic paintings including La Vague by Gustav Courbet.

Ship to Shore also offers the visitor a rich visual and audio experience, where the voices of the past are linked with the present, enigmatically joined by the theme of the sea. Ship to Shore is curated by Dr Jean Wainwright in collaboration with the SeaCity Museum and John Hansard Gallery, and is shown across both venues. Artists exhibiting at the John Hansard Gallery include Chris Burden, Thomas Joshua Cooper, Isaac Julien and Catherine Yass.

Moscow State Circus – The world’s best Mayflower Park | 30th April 2014 – 5th May 2014 The Moscow State Circus returns to the UK with its latest & greatest production to date, set in the mystical centre of Moscow’s cultural & artistic quarter ‘PARK GORKOGO’ (Gorky Park) is the perfect seasonal back drop for what is undoubtedly the greatest & most famous circus on earth. This years show features the Award winning Flying Trapeze of Alievs White Birds * The unbelievable rollerskating of the Veslovskis Three bathing beauties swept up on the revolving Ariel Ring and the unique Yakovlev Vertical Pole Jugglers. From the most demanding feats of strength from the hand balancing of Vladislav Khostik to the Kozak whip crackers & the revolving Russian Swing, catapulting its 10 strong troupe high into the apex of the chapitou at breakneck speed.

Patrick Litchfield exhibition Mottisfont, National Trust | 17th March 2014 – 21st April 2014 The largest display ever mounted of portraits by celebrated royal photographer Patrick Lichfield. This exhibition features 50 large format portraits created from the 1960s onwards. Lichfield worked with many of the world’s most famous and glamorous faces, from royalty and fashion models to sporting legends and cinema stars. His informal, sometimes playful approach, helped him to create portraits that offer a glimpse into worlds and personalities often hidden from public view. From a brooding Oliver Reed to Princess Diana and her bridesmaids, Mick and Bianca Jagger laughing in their wedding car to the Queen off-duty on the royal yacht Brittania, this exhibition captures the extraordinary talent of one of Britain’s most successful and cherished photographers.

LIVE AT THE O2 BIGGEST BANDS, BEST COMEDIANS AND TOP SPORTING EVENTS ARE JUST OVER AN HOUR AWAY FROM GUERNSEY (VIA JERSEY).

• TICKETS FOR ALL THE TOP ACTS • PACKAGES INCLUDE HOTEL STAY • GREAT CHOICE OF HOTELS • 10 MINS FROM LONDON WATERLOO APRIL 11/12 - Miranda Hart APRIL 16 - Elbow APRIL 24/25/26 - McBusted live MAY 6 - Miley Cyrus MAY 20 - WWE Smackdown MAY 23 - Nine Inch Nails MAY 25 - Little Mix MAY 26 - Barry Manilow MAY 27/28/30/31 - Katy Perry VISIT BLUEISLANDS.COM/02 FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

FLY TO BRISTOL WITH BLUE ISLANDS FROM £84 Twice daily flights to Bristol from Guernsey, with new Saturday service starting from 29 March 2014. Connecting from and to Guernsey is fast and easy thanks to the new Blue Shuttle inter island schedule. No time is wasted as the larger 46 seat ATR aircraft is used for the entire journey and fast turnarounds mean there is no need to get off the aircraft in Jersey.

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TRAVEL

Winchester Hat Fair (4-8 July) Winchester’s Hat Fair began in 1974 as a busker’s festival and is now Britain’s longest running celebration of street arts. The annual festival incorporates outdoor and site specific works, musical events, spectacles and a children’s procession.

2014 brings the 40th anniversary of the Hat Fair, returning on the first weekend of July, from Friday 4th to Sunday 6th. A crazy, colourful celebration of theatre and music, now in its 38th year, where entertainers perform voluntarily in exchange for money to be thrown into their hats. Supported by local businesses, colleges and organisations, this FREE festival takes Hat Fair takes over the whole of Winchester’s ancient city centre.

Over the weekend there will be interactive installations around the town, walkabout acts, and shows, plus many other festival treats and surprises. The programme usually includes innovative community and education projects that include local school children.

Friday is traditionally the unofficial ‘Festival Warm up Day’ and Schools Day, with a colourful procession of over 1000 children in costume with music and dance, culminating in outdoor theatre, circus and craft workshops in the grounds of the cathedral. Winchester Hat Fair from 4th to 6th July.

Hatfair.co.uk.

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DAY RETURN With a new link to Southampton airport via Blue Islands, a day at one of the UK’s best events is now on your doorstep. The Rock looks at what you could do in a day ftravelling to the UK.

WHAT’S ON Need more reasons to visit? Why not plan your trip to coincide with one of the fantastic events happening close to Southampton Airport this year?

Date

Event

24 May

Barry Manilow, Ageas Bowl

12 – 15 June

Isle of Wight Festival

21 June Round

The Island Yacht Race, Isle of Wight

23 June - 6 July

Wimbledon Championships

26 – 29 June

Goodwood Festival of Speed

4 – 6 July

Winchester Hat Fair

27 – 31 July

England v India Test Match, Ageas Bowl

29 – 31 July

New Forest & Hampshire County Show

29 July – 2 August

Glorious Goodwood

2 – 9 August

Cowes Week, Isle of Wight

25 August

Supercar Showdown, Beaulieu

28 – 31 August

Bournemouth Air Festival

4 – 7 September

Bestival, Isle of Wight

12 – 14 September

Goodwood Revival

12 – 21 September

Southampton Boat Show

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TRAVEL Sunday 11th May and the final game of the seasons sees Southampton at home against Man Utd. Tickets will be hard to come by but the hospitality packages are very good value. Especially if you go with a group of mates. A corporate box is available for ÂŁ2700 for category A games based on 10 sharing. ÂŁ270 a head including a three course lunch. Ticket enquiries: 0845 688 9288

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Air Festival (29-31st Aug) The Bournemouth Air Festival is more than just an Air Show!

Incredible display teams from the Royal Air Force, Royal Navy and Royal Marines including beach assaults, awesome jets, pilots, aircraft, helicopters, fireworks, entertainment, 3-miles of Pier to Pier trading, ground displays, street entertainers, interactive military villages and live music from local, national and military bands…this is all ‘by the sea and completely free!’

Whether it is on the ground action, in the air displays or evening entertainment, there’s plenty for everyone to enjoy at this year’s seventh annual Bournemouth Air Festival.

The Festival site is open daily from 10am with displays starting late morning/ early afternoon. (details are regularly updated on www. bournemouthair.co.uk)

The Ageas Bowl will host the third Test of a five-match Investec Series between England and India in 2014, with the match at the home of Hampshire Cricket starting on Sunday 27 July. It’s been a fixture that, throughout history, has been full of drama and cricketing excellence - from Fred Trueman’s 8-31 as the visitors made a firstinnings 58 at Old Trafford in 1952 to Sunil Gavaskar’s 221 to take India to within nine runs of scoring 438 to win a match in 1979.

And with both countries still featuring some of the biggest names in the global game at the moment this Series promises to be just as big! Tickets from £36. You can purchase tickets online at http://www.ageasbowl.com.

You probably think you already know about Southampton airport Being the closest air link to Guernsey on the mainland, it’s likely you have travelled through Southampton Airport at some point. But how does it stack up against the larger London airports in terms of convenience and ease of access to the destinations that matter to you?

Why Southampton?

There are eight flights a day, giving you more flexibility than London Gatwick The rail links are unrivalled – it’s just 99 steps from the terminal to the train station and there are over 180 rail services a day to destinations across the country The airport is a pleasure to travel through – it’s easy, fast and friendly There are NO escalators, travelators or long walks to deal with – unlike the larger alternatives Southampton has just been voted the ‘Top UK Airport’ by Wanderlust Magazine readers – and they’re a well-travelled bunch!

Flight choices Blue Islands fly to Southampton from Guernsey up to three times a day and offer complimentary lounge access at Guernsey for all passengers plus free fast-track security at Southampton Airport. Passengers can enjoy complimentary hot bacon sandwiches for breakfast and a full Champagne bar service for the return flights. It’s the premier way to travel and their new 66 seat aircraft means there are even more seats into Southampton from Guernsey.

Flybe, Europe’s largest independent regional airline, operates a Southampton service from Guernsey up to five times a day. New for 2014; Flybe are offering an additional lunchtime flight to Guernsey, starting at the end of March.

Cultural Towns and Cities Southampton is the perfect location from which to enjoy a city break. With excellent rail links from the airport’s station, you can enjoy the hustle, bustle and cultural delights of a city in minutes.

Southampton City Centre (7 minutes by train) Why go anywhere else when there’s so much to do on the airport’s doorstep?

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Glorious Goodwood The most beautiful race day in the world Goodwood racecourse is awash with colour. A vibrant sea of Panamas, Pimm’s and panache. The scene is set for the world’s greatest horses and jockeys to do battle as they strive for top honours at our iconic five-day Festival meeting.

Be inspired by a rich horseracing heritage and experience the delights of an afternoon at ‘Glorious’. 29th to the2nd August.

Bestival Bestival returns to the beautiful Robin Hill Country Park, on the Isle of Wight from 4 to 7 September 2014. This years theme is ‘Desert Island Disco’ so be sure to get your disco beach wear lined up for the party of all parties to end the Festival summer.

The headline acts confirmed for 2014 are OutKast, Foals and Beck and Chic featuring Nile Rodgers. Other acts include Busta Rhymes (UK exclusive), Disclosure, London Grammar, Paloma Faith, Basement Jaxx, Candi Station and literally hundreds more acts to be announced including the Sunday headline act, check out the Bestival Facebook pages for the very latest!

Goodwood festival of speed The 2014 Goodwood Festival of Speed will take place from Thursday 26 June to Sunday 29 June.

The theme for the 2014 Goodwood Festival of Speed is ‘Addicted to Winning – The Unbeatable Champions of Motor Sport’. This 2014 theme will celebrate the legendary drivers and riders, teams and manufacturers, who have swept all before them in their sport.

The Goodwood Festival of Speed will open with the Moving Motor Show on Thursday 26 June 2014, to give new car buyers and motoring enthusiasts the opportunity to see the very latest models up close, and in many cases drive them on a dedicated vehicle evaluation route within the grounds of the Goodwood Estate, including the revered Festival hillclimb.

FIND US

Don’t let herbicide pollution DAMPEN OUR LOVE OF WATER LOVE YOUR WATER

Guernsey’s streams, reservoirs and groundwater are at risk from pollution by relatively small quantities of herbicides.

European Community and UK Water Quality Regulations stipulate that an individual herbicide (weedkiller) in drinking water should not exceed 100 nanograms per litre (one part per ten thousand million). The Prevention of Pollution (Guernsey) Law, 1989, states that ‘No person shall cause or permit the occurrence of pollution, or cause or permit a risk of pollution to arise’. In order to ensure compliance with the Law, Guernsey Water advises that herbicides should not be applied to high-risk areas such as stream banks, ponds, wet meadows, marshy areas, douits, drainage ditches, above ground or underground culverts within the Water Catchment Area.

For further information about how to prevent pollution in your area please download our Application of Herbicides Within the Water Catchment Area advice sheet at http://www.water.gg/your-environment/catchment-protection

Tel: 239500 • Fax: 234649 • Email: customer.service@water.gg Address: PO Box 30, Brickfield House, St Andrew, GY1 3AS Web: www.water.gg

“

I’m not sure where they get their athletic gene from, certainly not me!

Must be their mother.

Derek Coates Jake Coates, son of Derek Coates, the founder of Healthspan, takes on one of the world’s most gruelling challenges in a bid to raise money for Ovarian Cancer.

On the 4th April 2014 Jake Coates, a trained doctor now living in Manly Australia, will take part in the Marathon Des Sables (MdS) which is ranked as one of the world’s toughest foot races on Earth.

Like Jake himself, the race is in its 29th year but it continues to be one of the high lights of the ultra endurance event calendar. It takes place under the scorching and relentless Moroccan sun and each year many participants fail to complete the course.

Jake will be running in 100 degrees heat over rolling sand dunes whilst carrying his own kit bag, which contains everything he needs to survive.

The race is a true multi-stage adventure through a formidable landscape. Jake will have run the equivalent of six marathons in five or six days, a total of some 251 km - 158 miles * (*subject to the race route), in a bid to raise money for charity.

Jake will be running this race to raise money for his beloved Aunt Soozie who, after recovering from a well overdue hip

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FEATURE

CONQUERED Another instalment in our series of articles looking at Guernsey folk and their rather strange habit of spending free time taking on the most ridiculous challenges the world can throw at them. This time Jake Coates is about to set off on a 156 mile run, all in the aid of Ovarian Cancer Action...

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Jake participating in The Colour Run

operation in 2013, was then diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer. She is currently undergoing treatment and it was Jake himself who spurred Soozie to challenge her GP over her diagnosis. When Jake was home in 2013, he saw his aunt and knew instantly that there was something wrong. He urged her to go back to her GP and specifically ask for further blood work. The tests were given and the next day she was admitted to hospital. After muscle biopsies, multiple scans and

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opinions she was diagnosed sadly with Ovarian Cancer.

Jake is no stranger to marathon running and fundraising for charity and his efforts all began about three years ago after injuring his shoulder while playing rugby. Since then, he has run a number of marathons including Barcelona, Prague and Sydney and has just finished one in under three hours, the Orange (NSW, Australia), as part of his MdS training.

In 2007, Jake also undertook an expedition in South America which involved climbing five peaks (all over 6000m) in five days in the southern Alteplano region of Bolivia. Jake and a team of 10 friends completed the expedition ‘Challenge Bolivia’ and exceeded their target of raising £10,000 for children in the local region of Bolivia for schooling and healthcare.

Whilst Jake feels he is not naturally gifted or blessed with the right build, his

Jake training on the beach in Manly, Australia with the kit he will need to survive the arduous terrain and unremitting Moroccan desert sun.

“

Jake and I both share a modicum of genetic insanity which propels us both occasionally to go where angels fear to tread. It’s therefore completely in character for him now to be running the insanely challenging Marathon de Sables to raise money for ovarian cancer.

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Clockwise from top left: Jake, aged three, with his auntie who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer last year. Jake’s partner Charlie manages the fundraising and the man himself completing the Prague marathon.

Pledge support by visiting https://www.justgiving. com/Jacob-Coates1 as Jake Coates takes on one of the toughest and most incredible challenges running across saltpans, up desert-mountains, through ruined towns and through the occasional sand storm.

More than 7000 women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer in the UK each year with more than 4500 dying annually. Survival rates for Ovarian Cancer in the UK are amongst the lowest in Europe.

pre MdS training schedule is going well. “It’s not too bad, I have really enjoyed everything, even the early 4am starts! It has been a real learning curve,” says Jake. “I am improving in speed and stamina every day, my appetite has become insatiable and I am eating us out of house and home!” I hope the summer heat in Australia will make running in the Moroccan heat easier and give me a little head start on some of my Northern hemisphere running counterparts!”

With less than six weeks to go now the pressure is on and he still has kit to buy and test, flights to book, money to raise, dehydrated food to taste as well as continue with the training. It is vital that he gets his weight right for both him personally and the kit he has to carry. Kit bags include literally everything from bedding, food, water, first aid, compass, maps as well as water needed for each day.

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So far Jake’s training has involved: Running an average of 130 - 150kms a week Getting up at 4am with runs of 2.5-3 hours most mornings so he has the evenings to revise for further medical exams in August!

Weekends involve back-to-back 3545km long runs to get himself used to running on tired legs plus he has done a few practice 60km+ day races to prepare as day 5 of MdS is 90km.

For the last 2 months he has been running with a rucksack of about 12-14 kg, something he says has “has taken some getting used to, especially with my old bad shoulder from the rugby days.”

He eats LOTS of EVERYTHING! to keep up the energy levels, consumes almost no alcohol and has very early nights

About the Marathon des Sables Known simply as the MdS, the race is a gruelling multi-stage adventure through a formidable landscape in one of the world’s most inhospitable climates - the Sahara desert. The rules require you to be selfsufficient, to carry with you on your back everything except water that you need to survive. You are given a place in a tent to sleep at night, but any other equipment and food must be carried.

Started in 1986 by Patrick Bauer, the

race is now in its 29th consecutive year and continues to grow in popularity every edition. Places are much sought after, but those who do make it to the start line are richly rewarded. Under the scorching Moroccan sun, life-long friendships are fostered through a shared experience of unforgettable days spent running across saltpans, up desert-mountains, through ruined towns and through the occasional sand storm.

The Marathon des Sables is open to individuals and teams of individuals, amateur and elite runners. With runners coming from all over the world, the MdS is a truly international event that has a positive impact on the local environment and in local communities. Through the MdS foundation Solidarite, runners have raised funds to help hundreds of families through education and improve their quality of life.

Pledge support by visiting: www.justgiving.com/Jacob-Coates1 100

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HEALTH AND FITNESS In association with Tri-Fit

Fit for life Russ Smith is our new fitness supremo and he has agreed to impart a fountain of fitness knowledge in his new advice column.

In this edition, with the Milk Run coming back for the summer, he explains why running is all about pacing yourself.

Want to learn more about how you can improve your pacing or take advantage of a FREE TRIAL at the TRI Fitness Running Club: just email russ@3fit.co.uk

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ow certainly is the time to get those running shoes on and enjoy the good weather that is just around the corner.

But what happens, trainers go on, you head out off to the coast and within one mile, your hanging on for dear life because you’ve over cooked it already! The line between setting a new personal best and a near miss is often razor thin. A simple mistake like running just a few seconds too fast per mile at any point during a race could change your primary energy system and spell disaster for a personal record attempt. To make the task more difficult, during a race your sense of pace and effort often get thrown off as adrenaline rushes through your body and hundreds of runners fly by you and test your ego.

Unfortunately, pacing is not an aspect of racing most runners are particularly good at. A recent study found that recreational runners misjudged their pacing efforts by almost 40 seconds per mile compared to experienced runners, who were only off by about 10 seconds per mile.

Given the importance of pacing and its obvious difficulty for many runners, how do you separate yourself from the pack and train to pace yourself like clockwork?

In order to improve your ability to pace

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yourself, you simply must practice pacing – there are no shortcuts. Learning to pace yourself isn’t something that comes easy.

So, don’t get discouraged. In the meantime, here are some tips and workouts that should help speed the process along:

1. Learn to listen to your body.

The first step in becoming a better pacer is by learning to listen to your body and recognizing subtle changes in pace and effort. One of the most effective ways to practice this technique is to listen to your breathing. Feel the rhythm in your legs, and notice the motion of your arms.

If you start to breath slower, faster, deeper or more shallow, check your pace to see how this breathing change correlates with your speed.

2. Develop pace-specific pace workouts.

You can also integrate specific workouts into your training schedule that will help you feel the difference between a small change in pace.

3. Simulate race conditions.

Once you’ve started to get the hang of pacing in workouts, the next challenge is learning to do so in a race situation. The first few miles of a major race can be a blur and it can be very difficult to keep your wits

about you when adrenaline is flowing and everyone seems to be cruising by you.

Set up three or four specific workouts in your training that you complete at a local road race. The races don’t have to be large or even the same distance as your goal race. Your objective is to run your own paces, not run a good time. On race day, simply run your intended workout at your goal pace. Don’t let the crowds or excitement get the best of you and monitor how different it feels compared to when you’re doing a workout on your own.

4. Vary your terrain.

Varying the terrain of your workout can also be an effective way to improve your pacing skills. If you’re having a difficult time controlling your pace in races and workouts, consider running your workouts on the track. The constant and accurate feedback every 400 meters is helpful if you can’t seem to lock down the right pace and will help you begin to develop a good feel for pacing. At the TRI Fitness Running Club, we ensure that pacing starts to become second nature and after a while you’ll be able to hold those paces really well!

HEALTH AND FITNESS

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It was through teaching that I noticed it wasn’t only me feeling overwhelmed by the lifestyle we were leading as corporate citizens. A good proportion of people coming for respite to my yoga classes were working tirelessly with ever-increasing hours.

ALL THE RIGHT MOVES In her new regular column. Power Yoga teacher Caroline Wickham asks if you’re feeling overwhelmed by the corporate citizen lifestyle?

Up until September last year, for a grand total of twenty years, I had the experience of living and breathing the corporate daily lifestyle. Somewhere and at sometime within those 20 years the corporate lifestyle changed, for me, from being meaningful and relatively enjoyable to being overpowering, increasingly stressful and un-enjoyable. I can’t place exactly when this happened because it occurred gradually, or maybe the change was me drawing towards middle age and questioning the meaning of life?

It seems more so than ever before, our modern lifestyles are filled to the brim with busy-ness, doing and achieving and can become extremely overwhelming if we’re not mindful. They can make us sick if we let them. Statistics are telling us that as many as one in four in the UK will suffer mental illness in the course of a year. They show clearly that stress, depression and anxiety account for the majority of days lost due to workrelated ill health in the UK, following the lead already set by the USA. “Normal to many working people these days means getting dressed in clothes they have bought for work, driving through traffic in a car they are still paying for in order to get to the job they need so they can pay for the clothes, car and the house that is left empty all day in order to afford to live in it.” (Ellen Goodman, the Boston Globe).

At 45, I knew I had to find more meaning in my life and started teaching again, on top of my full time career in finance. It was through teaching that I noticed it wasn’t only me feeling overwhelmed by the lifestyle we were leading as corporate citizens. A good proportion of people coming for respite to my yoga classes were working tirelessly with ever-increasing hours, expectations to do more work and with less people to share the workload with. Yoga served not only as a fitness regime but also a release from the constant and increasing expectations.

Yoga created a bit of ‘me’ time and space for quietening down the busy mind – time to just ‘be’ and, most importantly, to be OK with that.

Now that there isn’t enough time to just ‘be’ or to experience life in the moment, as a result, many of us in today’s frenetic world believe that our happiness lies somewhere out in the future, and not in the present moment. We have adopted the habit of working towards happiness, rather than allowing ourselves the possibility of happiness right now. This is the current modern way of living that shapes our world and especially the world of work. As a result, our world becomes one of perpetual discontent or dissatisfaction, even amidst our current times of great abundance.

If the life worth living exists for us somewhere out in the future – a better model of car or house, a better job, a dream holiday or finding the right partner, it implies that our life right now is not good enough. Yet we have so much to be grateful for which our forefathers didn’t. Our future will never be any better than how we are accustomed to creating our present. The way we are habituated to perceiving the present right now is the way we will also perceive the future. We need to be able to experience the full depth of the present moment. Having control of our own minds is the biggest step towards finding happiness in our day-today working lives, not one that we create for ourselves in the future.

Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans! (John Lennon) Yoga is a way of living, with the principle aim to teach us how to use our minds wisely and to stop the constant flow of thought traffic (averaging 60,000 thoughts in one day!)

Our minds can either elevate us providing complete freedom or they can degrade us, making us their prisoners. Through disciplined training and using our minds skilfully we can create the world we want to live in by learning the simple technique of meditation or learning to be mindful. Ten minutes a day is all that is required to make the biggest change towards a life worth living now and not towards imagining a life worth living in the future.

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HEALTH AND FITNESS

FULL OF RUNNING This year over 35,000 people are expected to take part in the arduous 26.2 mile London Marathon course through the city to raise money for their chosen charities. The Rock caught up with those intrepid Guernsey runners who will be joining participants from across the globe.

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t’s the largest annual fundraiser in the world with the total money raised by the runners in 2013 exceeding an astonishing £53,000,000.

People from all kinds of backgrounds from across the world have been taking part since the first event was held in 1981 and last year runners came from as far afield as Israel and Guatemala.

The occupation of the runners varies too, with people taking part from all sorts of professions - the most prevalent group represented being teachers, followed by accountants.

Many people know that celebrities are also a regular feature on the course; the 2014 race will see footballer Michael Owen, presenter Miquita Oliver and former Blue Peter presenter Helen Skelton all taking part.

This year countless islanders will join them, taking on the challenge of their lives and embarking on a strenuous training schedule in anticipation for the big day on Sunday 13 April.

You’ve probably noticed a rise in fluorescent clad runners taking to the coastal roads in Guernsey of late. The Rock spoke to three local runners about their chosen charities, why they decided to sign up and the difficulties they face in the coming weeks.

Sharon McMillan and Stuart Dowding both work for Mercator Trust Company Limited, recently acquired by First Names Group, Sharon as Director and Chief Operating Officer and Stuart as an Associate Director of the company.

This year they’re running in a team of three along with Lisa Norman Head of Guernsey Financial Intermediaries Team at Investec Bank (Channel Islands) Limited (not pictured), raising money for the Teenage Cancer Trust. As a group they aim to raise a total of between £10,000 and

£15,000.

Sharon and Lisa only found out that they were taking part in the marathon when they received a text from Stuart to say he’d signed them up, but they’re all as eager to complete the marathon and raise as much money as they can.

Stuart began training in October and says he’s often had to fit his schedule around travelling for work, finding himself running around London late at night or early in the morning.

Sharon talked about the importance of having her team mates as support, but has an alternative to train with for when they’re not available: “Most of my running is with my three year old Dalmatian, Purdy, who can run faster and longer than me any day. She also keeps me

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company when I can’t get out with my fellow team members. On the long runs when you don’t have a running buddy it can seem much harder.”

Sharon has been following an eight week programme set out for her by Guernsey’s Olympic athlete Lee Merrien. She and Stuart also received further encouragement and advice from Stuart Hardie at Primal Running.

Having previously only run a maximum of around three miles Sharon says she can’t believe she’s at the stage now where she hopes to complete the 26.2 miles in less than five hours.

When asked how Stuart thinks he’ll fare in terms of a finishing time he said: “Ideally less than five hours too, but really I’m just looking to survive!”

As part of the Teenage Cancer Trust committee, Stuart is not only gathering funds from his own marathon effort but also helped to organise the Teenage Cancer Trust Ball to raise extra money for the cause.

This committee has already raised £350,000 on island towards the building of a specialist teenage cancer unit in Southampton.

The marathon alone hopes to raise an added £250,000 to the money already raised thanks to 120 people who will be running for the cause this year. Lisa says that this too signals the beginning of her commitment to fundraising for the Teenage Cancer Trust: “Investec in Guernsey kindly sponsored TCT for the past 3 years and this will be my personal effort after finishing our sponsorship to continue to aid the fund raising for TCT Guernsey.”

Brooke Kenyon works as a PR consultant at Orchard PR and is running her first ever marathon to raise money for The British Heart Foundation. Brooke is training alongside her friend Gemma Chapman who works at Carey Olsen and is also running for the same charity.

Brooke hopes to raise £2,500 for the cause and has been rallying round friends and colleagues using her “Just Giving” page.

Running in memory of her husband’s uncle Tony Cooper who sadly had a sudden fatal heart attack in 2013, Brooke’s training has been all the more testing due to the recent birth of Seth, her first baby born in June last year.

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Stuart Dowding is a first time marathon runner – and he says, it will be his first and last! But the novice runner has thrown himself into an intensive training programme with fellow Mercator colleague Sharon McMillan and both are running to raise money for the Teenage Cancer Trust. The Rock magazine kept them company for a very brief part of one of their 17 mile training runs to find out how they – and fellow runner Brooke Kenyon from Orchard PR are faring.

BROOKE KENYON Brooke says that she simply wants to get over the line!

“I have never run more than a half marathon and took up this much bigger challenge a few months after having my first baby so it’s not been that easy to get the training in.” But Seth is now ten months old and once she was able to let him out of her sight, Brooke has been able to commit to the three hours plus her recent training runs have needed.

“I have always wanted to do a full marathon before I turn 30 and hopefully I will be achieving that aim. I really started training properly in December with my running partner Gemma Chapman who is also raising money for a heart charity. If we make it in under five hours I will be very pleased. It will be a major achievement so fingers crossed we all get over that finish line!” To sponsor Brooke visit http://www.justgiving.com/brookekenyon

STUART DOWDING “I am not a runner and don’t intend to be after this, but I said I would do it and here I am.” The programme has been an intensive one and he says the hardest thing about the training is coping with the weather. “There are times when it is blowing a gale and raining and you don’t feel like going out there but you have to!”

To sponsor Stuart visit www.virginmoneygiving.com/team/Guernsey

SHARON McMILLAN Fellow novice runner Sharon McMillan says that she found the hardest thing to do was to find time to fit all the running around a busy work schedule.

“It certainly takes over your life but I was amazed at how quickly you can work up from being a novice runner to running several miles with little difficulty. I would say to anyone who is thinking of doing it, that it is not as hard as you may think and there is a lot of help and advise at hand.”

The team have been helped by Stuart Hardie and Lee Merrien and are simply keen to get to the finish line. To sponsor Sharon visit www.virginmoneygiving.com/team/Guernsey

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It certainly takes over your life but I was amazed at how quickly you can work up from being a novice runner to running several miles with little difficulty. I would say to anyone who is thinking of doing it, that it is not as hard as you may think and there is a lot of help and advise at hand.

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BACK TO BASICS Looking and feeling good can be a constant stress. We’re bombarded on a daily basis with a constant stream of advice, imagery and opinion on how to diet or which fitness regime is the best around. Fortunately, common sense prevails with the help of our resident fitness expert and all round nice bloke Russ Smith. Russ says the key to a successful fitness regime is to cut through all the jargon, opinion and pressure and go back to basics.

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e like to keep things uncomplicated at TRI Fitness.

We promote a simple ethic that all can follow. It’s not rocket science but it is the simple truth about the science of your body. Healthy eating combined with an exercise program that is applicable to you the individual will work. This approach is about balance. Finding the right excercise or eating plan that makes you feel in control of and works for you is the route to success. You should not need to deprive yourself of the odd glass of wine and you should be able to enjoy that meal out with the girlfriends without feeling guilty about ordering a dessert.

Quite simply, finding the balance in your nutrition and your fitness training will enhance your lifestyle ten-fold.

When it comes to the gym you should also feel at home in the environment.

I love what I do but the thought of somebody feeling like they’ve entered a prison would upset me. The correct way to approach a gym is to see it as a part of your lifestyle just like going to your favourite shop or haidresser. It should be friendly, professional and perhaps most importantly - value for money. But what is the correct way to train? Again, finding what works for you is the key to this and with advice you can dispel a lot of the myphs associated with working out.

At The TRI Fitness Factory we can help you find the best way to train but also some good old fashioned honesty to your training regime. Again lets not complicate

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the issues. Let’s start with training with weights. There is a miss perception that women who train with heavy weights become bulky and while none of us want to be Mr or Mrs Universe, free weight training can be hugely beneficial. Women have too much estrogen to build large amounts of bulk. Guys build muscles faster because they have testosterone.

So ladies, don’t fear the barbells. Strength training actually helps decrease body fat, increase lean muscle mass and burn calories more efficiently. Simple science once again.

So if I was instructing you at The TRI Fitness Factory, you will learn to squat, push & pull weights in all different directions to get the body shape that you desire.

Your weight is also not the be all and end all of starting a fitness routine. As a new gym member you should’nt be thinking of weghing yourself every day thereafter seeking so called tangible results. Week-after-week, you may not see a downward trend on the scale. If you are into week four of your training program and you are not seeing any visible results and starting to query why you started in the first place, then we sit down and assess why that may be the case. It can be a really simple answer such as the timing of your nutrition and when to eat the right foods at the right timeThe science tells us that after a few months of increased exercise, you will become healthier because you have

reduced risk factors such as blood sugar levels. Even though a person may not be losing weight, their health has improved in ways that might not be measured.

They’re stuck in this paradigm that weight is the ultimate barometer for fitness. They don’t realise the progress they’ve made and give up. So how about we measured your training success by using your body shape as the marker. Taking photos every two weeks and taking measurements every four would be a great indicator wouldn’t it!

At the TRI Fitness Factory we have recently started our Ladies Strength & Shape Group which is designed to allow the ladies of Guernsey to come into a new gym environment where they can build confidence, mix with a great crowd of like-minded people, learn some fresh training techniques whilst changing their body shape without even realising it!

The program includes an introduction to the TRI Fitness Factory, training and coaching guidance from the TRI Fitness Strength & Conditioning Coaches, group coaching hours and a fully comprehensive nutrition plan designed to complement your training in the gym where you will actually be encouraged to eat!! In addition exclusive access to our TRI Fitness Online Strength & Shape group will allow you to be part of a community that will find you itching to get back to the gym for your next training session….

Want to learn more about how you can improve your fitness? Simply email Russ today: russ@3fit.co.uk 109

HEALTH AND FITNESS Nial Keely

SPORT RELIEF Keeping fit can sometimes lead to injury but the pharmacy at Grande Rue, St Martins have it covered. From effective support bandages to innovative freeze and heat packs to a wide range of vitamin supplements.

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If you have ever taken part in one of the marathons around the island, walks – or runs, then you will be well versed in what any self- respecting runner or walker needs to have to hand.

Niall Keely and his team at Grande Rue Pharmacy can advise on the best treatments and cures for your sporting ills. “We have one of the widest ranges of vitamin and fitness care products from ankle and knee supports to the latest heat and freeze packs”,explains Niall.

With a whole series of runs taking place soon, including the Rocque to Rock in May and Fathers Day Milk Run, you’ll need all the help you can to recover.

“We are able to give help and advice to anyone wishing to start out on a fitness programme and have a huge range of supplements to give you a start. But we also have lots of support and after care products should you need them post run or walk.”

Wellman and Wellwoman Sport contains specially selected nutrients to help support men who want to excel in sports and fitness, as well as meet the needs of an all-round active life. The formula includes riboflavin (vit. B2) and vitamin B6 which contribute to normal energy release.

Physicool’s medically formulated coolant is used globally throughout hospitals, physiotherapy practices, and is popular with professional football clubs. The versatile Physicool Cooling Bandage has proved to greatly reduce swelling and inflammation, reducing pain whilst helping speed up the recovery process, getting people back up on their feet fast.

Biofreeze Long Lasting Analgeastic Pain Relief Gel with Ilex. Fully penetrates joints and muscles in three minutes and gives effective pain relief for hours. Effectively relieves pain for arthritis, sore muscles, joints, backache, strains and sprains

Compeed® hydrocolloid technology is an active gel with moisture absorbing particles.

Compeed® plaster acts like a second skin to support the natural moisture balance, to: Relieve blister pain instantly. Protect and cushion against rubbing. Offer fast wound healing. Stays in place for several days.

ThermaCare Muscle & Joint Heat Wraps are designed to adhere to multiple locations on your body, providing flexible, long-lasting pain relief wherever you need it. Single-use wraps can be applied to sore muscles and joints, so you can power through your day with long-lasting heat relief. Patented heat cell technology penetrates deep to the source of pain, increasing blood flow to promote muscle healing, while relieving pain for up to 16 hours

WHY DEEP HEAT? What is Deep Heat Rub? Mentholatum Deep Heat Rub is a fast acting painkilling, non-greasy cream which is rapidly absorbed by the skin and produces gentle warmth.

When can I use it?

Before and after sport or to relieve pain. Hot treatment is also very effective as a follow up to cold treatment, which is frequently recommended for sports and other activity injuries. Apply the cold treatment then, when the swelling and inflammation has subsided, apply the hot treatment. Perfect for massage.

Especially good for: Rheumatic pain, Sciatica, Lumbago, Sprains Muscle stiffness How does it work?

The penetrating warmth of products in the Deep Heat range helps stimulate circulation, relax stiffness and get oxygen back into tense, painful tissues and muscles.

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Specialising in optimism

ONTHEROCK-CI.COM

HELLO@ ONTHEROCK-CI.COM

INTERVIEW

N ORDINARY PLAYER During the day Ryan-Zico Black is employed as a young care worker and highly qualified football coach. His weekend job is starring for Guernsey FC and as Jon Taylor discovered, he is no ordinary player.

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hen Paul Gascoigne makes you his first signing as a manager and on meeting you, hugs the breath out of you and then plants a smacker on your lips, or one of the best players ever to have graced the World Cup invites you to play for him at the Maracana stadium in Rio, you know life as a professional footballer is never going to be dull.

Ryan-Zico Black has experienced more than most in his playing career. He’s been attached to famous league sides including Southampton, Bournemouth, Plymouth,

Exeter, Reading and Preston North End. His non-league career spans Northwich Victoria, Morecambe, Barrow, Glenavon, Lancaster and Kettering during Paul Gascoigne’s tenure at the club. He’s also represented Northern Ireland Under18s and Under-21s. Ryan-Zico is, without any doubt, Guernsey’s most travelled professional footballer. His trials and tribulations were immortalized in his own autobiography, which is an honest and forthright expose of the challenges and truths of trying to make it professionally.

“If I had been a more consistent player

I might have made it at a higher level.

There were rumours of Manchester City and Blackburn Rovers coming after me at one time but my focus was always on playing the way I believed would get me success and that was with vision and passion. I love to create opportunities for others and this has always been my game,” says Ryan-Zico.

He didn’t always see eye to eye with managers but he never fell short of his principles. He plays, like his father before him, with a Gallic flair and passion for his game. His stubbornness to succeed

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is testament to his Guernsey roots and Catholic upbringing. This same character saw him recover from a double-break of his right tibia and fibula in that infamous 4-3 FA Vase win over Erith Town last season, and his fighting spirit should serve as inspiration to the very young people who turn up every weekend to watch their hero at Footes Lane.

I first encountered Ryan-Zico Black playing in a five-a-side tournament at Beau Sejour. He must have been 15 or 16 at the time and he was ‘mixing’ it with players ten and twenty years his senior. The boy ‘done good’ and his winning attitude shone through even then. Following his return to Guernsey and his career with Guernsey FC, my most recent meeting with him was while watching him coach my ten year old at a Guernsey FC Summer School.

It would be easy for me to make a cynical remark at this juncture about Guernsey’s most heralded football team making monetary hay while the sun of

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popularity shines on their backs. However, the reality is that Ryan-Zico and so many other of the Green Lions and their coaching colleagues are as dedicated to this project as they are to turning out for the club itself. Ryan-Zico takes his role with Guernsey FC Soccer School very seriously indeed, and it’s not the first time he’s helped develop young talent.

Whilst playing professionally in the UK and with his team mates otherwise engaged in other extra curricular activities, Ryan-Zico took on responsibility for coaching at the Morecambe FC Soccer Academy, and enjoyed passing his knowledge and experiences on to children aspiring to be future professionals. His coaching experience also includes spells with Glenavon FC in Northern Ireland; Ryan-Zico holds the FA Level 3 and prestigious UEFA B coaching qualifications as well as having completed the FA Youth Award and Level 1 Futsal course.

“The Guernsey FC Soccer School is the brainchild of my head coach, Tony Vance. He created it with the principal aim of offering additional, focused coaching to boys and girls within school years One through to Six,” says Ryan-Zico.

Coaching sessions are held after school and during school holidays and have been developed to complement the coaching Primary school aged children currently receive through their local clubs and schools.

“The sessions are about having fun, and we include a variety of elements focused on our innovative GFC Soccer Skills Awards Scheme which, in my experience of coaching in the UK, is quite unique in its approach to teaching the core skills and techniques of football. The standards of skill and football technique have certainly improved since I was at school.

“Securing the future success of our local clubs and Guernsey FC senior side is what the GFC Soccer School is all about.

Ryan-Zico stands next to his manager, fellow GFC Soccer School coach Tony Vance.

With the rate at which some of these players develop we may well have stars in the making,” says Tony Vance. “The next Matt Le Tissier, Ross Allen, Chris Tardif or even Ryan-Zico Black might begin their learning and development process here at the Guernsey FC Soccer School.”

Ryan-Zico’s story should certainly serve as motivation to those young players seeking a path to a career in football.

Ryan-‘Zico’ was always destined to take up the Beautiful Game after his father wanted to name him after his favourite Brazilian player. However, Sue, his mother, suggested that perhaps the prodigal one should be given a slightly more formal forename and so Ryan-Zico was welcomed into the football fraternity on August 4th 1981. Many of us know his mother through her job as a nurse and his father Dessie through his charity fund raising. Dessie was also an accomplished player himself who turned out in his native Belfast for the Star of the Sea youth club

where he was teammate with IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands. After moving to England to pursue his own playing career, Dessie played for Fareham and Eastleigh while Sue was training to be a nurse in Southampton. The couple returned to Sue’s native Guernsey when she had finished her studies and was pregnant with Ryan-Zico.

The young Ryan-Zico went to Notre Dame Primary School with his sister Dionne-Maire but was soon attracting the attention of the professional clubs. He became a Southampton academy player by the age of 11 so I ask him what advice he would give a young player with similar ambitions. “Get used to using both feet,” he suggests. For those unaware of this football parlance, it refers to players who are adept at playing the game proficiently with both their right and left foot (most of us are predominantly left or right footed).

He also recommends listening. “Most of today’s club coaches at youth level

are FA qualified so boys and girls must listen to their instruction and take advice accordingly. The local GFA apply the same training principles as any club in the UK and this will go a long way to developing and sustaining our football talent for years to come,” explains Ryan-Zico.

As someone who has been with Guernsey FC from the outset, Ryan-Zico believes youth is vital to the side’s ongoing success. “We have a great momentum with this team. The fans are incredible, perhaps the best I have played for, but we need to develop our youth policy in order to progress. I’ve played at the highest non-league level and I believe Guernsey can reach the top of the pyramid if we get our policy right with youth. The Guernsey FA HPPP Academy squads (formerly known as the Aztec Academy) are now competing regularly against top teams in the UK and this holds us in good stead for the future,” says Ryan-Zico.

Guernsey FC’s players all recognise

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“We have a great momentum with this team. The fans are incredible, perhaps the best I have played for but we need to develop our youth policy in order to progress.

I’ve played at the highest non-league level and I believe Guernsey can reach the top of the pyramid if we get our policy right with youth.

the effort made by the backroom teams.

Everyone takes on responsibilities above and beyond their job descriptions, and our coaches in particular should be recognised for their commitment. I’ve worked with professional managers who don’t dedicate as much time to their team or community as our manager and coaches do - and ours are unpaid. I would like also to pay tribute to Mike Thomas our physio. Without his help and devotion to the team I don’t know whether I’d be back playing today,” says Ryan-Zico.

Guernsey FC’s progress is something

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islanders all take great interest in but how far can we go? We are limited in terms of player resource, however, our accessibility to ‘Grade A’ facilities, top notch coaches and inspiring players like Ryan-Zico Black make the dream of progress a potential reality.

Some of the members of the Vauvert Boys’ A and B and Girls’ football teams with their recently won trophies, pictured with Vauvert Year 2 Teacher and Football Coach, Tom Langlois, behind them. Tony Vance and Steve Brehaut of Resolution IT are on the right.

Without the support of local sponsors the GFC Soccer School would find it difficult to run such an impressive program of activities.

Having played together at Sylvans and for Guernsey for 15 years, Resolution IT Director Steve Brehaut and Green Lions Head Coach Tony Vance, linked up again on the pitch via Resolution IT’s sponsorship of the GFC Soccer School. Fellow Director, Olly Duquemin, explains: “Knowing Tony’s drive and ambition would be at the forefront of the project to raise the standard of local football, we were only too pleased to join forces.

“Not only do the coaches help the young boys and girls to develop their sporting abilities, but they also

assist by acting as role models too.

The coaching methods they utilise also allow the children to develop leadership and teamwork skills, and also provide them with enhanced confidence, which ultimately can be very important life lessons,” he continues.

As an add-on to their sponsorship, Resolution IT and GFC Soccer School have now provided a set of goals for Vauvert School, and these were assembled this week.

“Vauvert doesn’t have a playing field of its own, and therefore it isn’t so easy for the children to practice.

We thought that the provision of the goals would help them with their facilities,” explains Tony.

Continues Steve Brehaut: “We understand that the Vauvert Under 9s and the Girls’ Football Team both won tournaments recently. Now they have the goals they will be able to practice more easily and this will help them to build on their success.”

For further information about GFC Soccer School visit www.guernseyfc. com/soccerschool-home

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ASK

BEAUTY

AMELIA

The Rock’s resident beauty columnist IS here to help YOU!

Through this column Amelia plans to answer your beauty questions - whether it be trying to copy one of your favourite celebrity’s looks, dealing with wild, unruly hair or specific skin complaints...

Q

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PRODU C Derma T NEWS pre-cle logica anse w ipes

Densifique’ by Kérastase Bain Stimuliste

by Kérastase

TOP TIP

Thinning hair seems to be a problem that I am being asked about more and more these days. Common in both men and women of all ages, I find that men, in particular in the 20-30 age bracket regularly ask me how to stop their receding hairlines and thinning areas.

I recommend ‘Densifique’ by Kérastase. It is a 3 month hair loss programme sold in a box of 30. We have had fantastic results and clients always come back after their first month to buy more. After using the treatment over 3 months, you will not have to do it again for 5 years.

Densifique densifies hair capillaries for more body, flexibility and hair growth. It can be applied morning or evening to dry or damp hair.

A great shampoo that really compliments densifique programme is Bain Stimuliste another amazing product by Kerastase. This is specifically for fine, thinning hair and is priced at £13.75.

If you are looking for a cheaper alternative than Densifique, I would just use Stimuliste Shampoo with the Stimuliste Spray. It is a nutri-energising daily anti-hair loss spray that reinforces the hair fibre and nourishes from root to tip so the hair looks denser.

Amelia, Please help! I’m worried about my hair thinning. Can I do anything to improve this?

Using mousses and volume sprays before blow drying will immediately make hair appear fuller. Using a round brush will also add height.

Achieve ultra-clean and healthy skin on-the-go! The wipe melts off layers of excess sebum, sunscreen, water proof make-up and environmental pollutions making these ideal for travelling or just a deep cleanse before using your daily cleanser. Retails at £11.68 with 20 wipes included.

Q

Amelia, How do I get a good arch with my eyebrows?

a

A great way to get a good arch is to brush your eyebrows upwards and fill the gaps with a pencil and shadow.

Pencil, a great fix for mimicking hairs- £9.00

Palette good for filling in to give more of a colour- £20.00

Grow baby grow helps boost hair growth- £20.00

Brow beater hairspray for the brows- £15.00 Available instore at allbeauty, Smith Street

I would recommend a HD brow treatment with one of our beauty therapists.

The HD brows is a seven step treatment that helps to find the perfect eyebrow shape for your face and of course give you the best arch possible. £35 a treatment after your fifth treatment the sixth is free. This treatment is recommended once a month

Step oneeyebrow analysis Step two- tinting Step three- measuring for shape Step four- waxing Step five- threading Step six- tweezing

Please keep your questions coming and I will answer a couple of them in the next The Rock issue. To get in touch, you can email: info@allbeautysalon.com You can also pop in to see me at allbeauty in Smith Street anytime if you want more hands on advice or want to chat through anything beauty related.

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BEAUTY

BEAUTY NEWS:

Editor’s CHOICE

Beauty Editor’s Choice The Guinot Hydraclean facial from allbeauty (£25) This is the time of the year when I generally get stuck into some serious spring cleaning –and due to an early sunshine holiday started off with a fabulous deep cleansing facial.

Georgia Le Page

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T

ime poor and stressed seem to be the words that describe my life at present, so the prospect of a few days in the sunshine ahead of spring was too much of a temptation to resist.

The problem is with months spent in over heated offices, and my face and body looking lacklustre I did not feel my holiday best.

To the rescue came Georgia and the beauty therapy team at allbeauty in Smith Street. Georgia recommended the fabulous deep cleansing and moisturising hydra clean facial which is the ideal boost for a complexion needing a quick – and effective – fix.

At this time of the year most of us are feeling the after effects of layering on clothes – and make up – to counteract the winter blasts, so a cleansing facial is just the thing to turn the tables and get you feeling and looking brighter.

Naomi was my therapist for this 40 minute relaxing facial which begins with a deep cleanse and exfoliating procedure.

She applied a gentle textured exfoliating cream followed by a toner and warming heat mitts to take off any debris.

Then came the fun part. A cooling gel was applied all over my face and she used the heated hydra clean rods to help push the hydration gel deep into the layers of skin.

“You get a brighter fuller complexion which is instantly lifting and fresher” said Naomi. A big ask from a fairly small machine but it did the trick.

After the session, which gave me my first dose of relaxation in weeks, the gel is taken off with those cleansing warm mitts, and Naomi selected the Nutrizone moisturiser to give my skin its final deep hydrating drink.

My skin felt soft and supple and refreshed and apart from a slick of lip gloss and a sweep of mascara I did not feel the need to spoil the effect with heavy makeup.

This is the perfect antidote to a skin tired out by winter and a great way to give you a fresh holiday complexion.

Says Naomi: “This is a deep cleansing hydrating facial which suits all ages and skins and we tailor the products we use to suit each skin type.”

Feeling a little more able to face the beach and go make up free I can only wish I had the time to go back and have a top to toe exfoliating scrub – with a little more hydration magic.

My SPF 30 is packed and I am ready to go.

To find out more about the hydra clean facial – and the many other face and body treatments available from albeauty, Call 721221 for an appointment.

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BEAUTY

BEAUTY NEWS: TREATMENT SPOTLIGHT: Electrolysis – Hair removal treatment Electrolysis is a Hair Removal treatment method for permanent hair removal that was invented more than 100 years ago. This method has been one of the oldest method of hair removal. According to the US Food and Drug Administration, electrolysis is the only method that can claim to remove hair permanently. Most areas of the body can be treated with electrolysis, including the face, chest, abdomen and legs. It is very safe, reliable and effective. It is a suitable treatment for all hair, hair colour and skin types. Unlike depilatories or bleaches, no harsh chemicals are used.

Electrolysis involves delivering energy via a fine sterile needle into the hair follicle. The energy destroys the cells responsible for hair growth. The loosened hair is then removed with sterile stainless steel tweezers. There are no permanent side effects. Sometimes, a slight reddening of the skin occurs after treatment, but this lasts usually only for a few hours.

The equipment:

The ‘Sylvia Lewis’ Diamaster Epilation unit uses a patented disposable needle.

The needle is coated and insulated to 1mm of the tip providing protection against heat damage and discomfort.

NB

The Day Salon team has over 26 years experience in Electrolysis and with Hannah Adam, who previously worked at Maureen Gillanders, joining the team that experience grows still further.

Hannah, who joins the Day Salon on April 14th, also has four years experience in Semi-Permanent Cosmetics.

How does it work?

A pre-sterilized disposable needle delivers an electric current and the area to be treated is cauterized.

A doctors note may be required for some conditions prior to treatment. Advanced Electrolysis Treatments involve using the electrolysis current to remove fibrous and vascular skin blemishes such as: Telangiectasia - also known as red veins, thread veins and dilated capillaries Red thread veins are caused by a variety of reasons which include hereditary, hormones, pregnancy, smoking, exposure to varied temperatures, trauma to the skin, ageing, alcohol and spicy foods. People also tend to develop facial thread veins as their veins begin to lose their elasticity and become dilated appearing as permanently dilated capillaries.

After skin care treatment includes:

Avoid the area for 24 hours after the treatment – Do not, rub the area, wash over it or apply any skincare products including make-up. Do not touch the area.

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Spider Naevus veins - centrally dilated blood vessel with smaller capillaries radiating from it like spiders legs Cherry Angioma: - also known as blood spots or Campbell de Morgan spots Skin Tags - frequently found in areas of friction especially on the neck, underarms and below the breast Milia - sometimes known as whiteheads and are pearly white rounded lumps on cheeks and around eyes and eyelids A 15 minute Sylvia Lewis treatment is available from THE DAY SALON priced at £15.00.

Red Vein and Skin Tag Removal is £35.00 for 15 minutes The consultation is free. Call Racheal and her team on 727191

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FEATURE

“

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During the 1970’s scientists made great leaps in our understanding of these beasts.

A massive asteroid impact looks to be the ‘smoking gun’ which explains the extinction

THE HISTORY MAN With Dr Jason Monaghan

What, no Dinosaurs?

C

hildren love dinosaurs - big, bizarre and scary, with impossible names from a land far away and long ago. Unlike, say dragons and unicorns, they are also real. You don’t need to ‘believe’ in dinosaurs to find them fun.

As monsters they make great toys, and as we grow up we find there is fascinating science emerging from their study.

It wasn’t always like this. When I was a boy in the sixties the word ‘geek’ had not yet been coined for the sort of seven year old who borrows adult books about fossils and palaeontology out of the library.

The dinosaur was not mainstream. There were no cuddly brontosaurus’ for toddlers, no dino colouring books and only a few plastic kits from Aurora when I wanted a model. Far fewer species were known, and these were the stereotypes Triceratops, Stegosaurus, Tyrannosaurus and so on.

They were cold-blooded, stupid reptiles who occasionally turned up as stop-motion monsters in films like One Million Years BC. Experts could only guess why such successful animals that had dominated the planet for 160 million years became extinct 65 million years ago. My local museum had no dino bones, so the Natural History Museum in London became a shrine I dreamed of visiting.

Gradually dinosaurs came out of museums and universities to become public property. A new age of dinosaurs

saw children’s books, toys, games, cartoon characters, dino-shaped biscuits and jellies take over the world. Oddly it made their study seem less grown-up, as if we were indeed researching dragons and unicorns.

During the 1970’s scientists made great leaps in our understanding of these beasts.

A massive asteroid impact looks to be the ‘smoking gun’ which explains the extinction. Study of their skeletons showed some dinosaurs were warm-blooded, then that ‘theropod’ dinosaurs were the ancestors of birds. Many new species included fast-moving small predators like Velociraptor, dinos with feathers and some that lived in trees. Studies have been made of their blood supply, digestion and running speeds. Species have been found nesting like birds, laying eggs, hunting in packs, migrating in herds and we can work out what colours some of them were. For a dino-geek, all this is really exciting.

So finally, in 2006, I took a post in a museum. And as luck would have it, Guernsey Museum has no dinosaurs.

Not one. A couple of bones and other fossils have come into the collections from elsewhere, but a lonely tooth from an extinct species of elephant is our most ancient creature we have from Guernsey. It is not because we don’t have old rocks – some outcrops at Jerbourg are up to 2,600 million years old, almost half the age of the Earth. All our major rocks have fiery

origins, formed deep in the earth and later pushed up to the surface. The youngest of these are about 550 million years old and formed before there was any life on land.

Above them, once upon a time, would have been deposited layers of sedimentary rocks such as sandstones or limestones including some dating to the time of the dinosaurs. These have all been eroded away by wind and water. If we ever had dinosaurs walking over our heads, the evidence is long gone.

So, I’m still dinosaur hunting whenever I can, but I have to travel to places like the tiny Mormon town of Blanding, Utah whose dinosaur museum I visited in 2012. Out in the desert, in killing heat, a young Navajo woman guided my wife and I across sandstone beds where dinosaur tracks run for mile after mile and there are loose bones scattered on the surface as we would find shells on our beaches. Meanwhile, a body of experts insist that as aves (birds) is a group of theropod dinosaurs, the dinosaur is technically not extinct at all. Perhaps the closest a Guernsey Museum visitor will come to dinosaurs is that chicken stalking the flowerbeds outside my office window.

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COMMUNITY Catherine Hall and Anne Blondel

VOLUNTEER In our series meeting those that dedicate their time and make effort to help others in our community we find two ladies championing the rights and interests of all people with autism in the Bailiwick of Guernsey. Anne Blondel, Autism Guernsey’s Outreach Co-ordinator discusses the work she does with Catherine Hall, who is the Branch Officer with The National Autistic Society. Their aim is to provide help and support which can make a positive difference to the lives of individuals with autism and their families.

So how did I become the Outreach Co-ordinator for Autism Guernsey?

Previously I was employed by the Health and Social Service Department and was with them for twenty-four years.

February 2013 I felt the time was right for a change, although I was sad to leave I knew it was the right time for me.

I felt very privileged that in July 2013 I was offered the Outreach Co-ordinator post for Autism Guernsey, the position is a joint project funded through Autism Guernsey and The National Autistic Society.

The Aim of the Outreach Coordinator is to develop and deliver an effective Outreach service for individuals in the Bailiwick affected by autism.

I am not afraid to say I was excited but nervous too, you know what it is like wanting to do the very best you can (I am a person who gives 100% , for me it has to be that way).

I had previously worked in a Person centered way for those of you who may not have come across it, A way of working out what is important to and for the person presently and for the future. This is developed in partnership with the person, family, friends, professionals and others involved in the persons life I truly believed this principal could work on a larger scale, so I arranged three workshops aimed at Under 12, 1218 years, 18 years and over Based on the principal of the person centered review the workshops explored What was working for them? What wasn’t working for them? What they would like to see happen?

This meant we could come up with an Action plan. A few examples of these were: The Interest Group for Adults The Adult Interest Group are young adults on the autism spectrum, they meet once a month, usually the last Sunday of the month at The Hampshire Lodge, a social gathering. They socialise and decide on other activities, some in groups , some in pairs whatever they are interested in, we recently went out for a meal, very relaxed and enjoyed by all.

We are so lucky that Jan, Peter (of the Hampshire Lodge) Helen and Peter (parents) take a hands on approach, we also have Tom who works very hard at notifying members of what is being planned.

Volunteers have also now joined the group and are a valuable asset.

The Parent Social Group Before this group was set up some of the parents felt isolatedBarry and did not know Marley anyone in their position.

It is not always one of the first easy, receiving the news that your organisers andchild is on the spectrumGeorge no matter how gently Sauvage the parents are informed they have to come to terms with the diagnosis.

Some feel because of this group; they are not alone now they have each other’s support.

Some of the group has also arranged

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“We are one of the most active branches of the NAS, and we are proud of the services that we do manage to provide. However although there are many advantages to being part of a large UK charity, as a branch we cannot directly employ staff and develop professionally managed services. As an independent charity Autism Guernsey is able to develop the services that have been on our ‘wish list’ for many years.”

a night out something that they had not experienced in a very long time, a chance to unwind and have fun.

It is a great group of parents who I have a lot of respect for not so different than The Interest Group really!

Summer Support There seems a shortage of support available to individuals when the schools close for the holidays, so now Outreach and NAS are working together to find some activities and 1-1 support .

Catherine Hall (NAS) is such a dedicated lady and it is so clear that she just wants to support the children and their parents. (which she has been doing for many years ) Catherine has children (well young adults now) on the spectrum so she does have such understanding and I have huge respect for this lady. “We are one of the most active branches of the NAS, and we are proud of the services that we do manage to provide. However although there are many advantages to being part of a large UK charity, as a branch we cannot directly employ staff and develop professionally managed services. As an independent charity Autism Guernsey is able to develop the services that have been on our ‘wish list’ for many years. We have been working with Autism Guernsey since it’s launch last year and the Outreach Service has been developed as a joint project.

We hope to work together even more closely in the future coordinating our efforts and pooling resources to provide the best support that we can for people with autism and their families in Guernsey,” says Catherine.

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Jo Horsepool (a teacher) volunteers for NAS is so keen and most of her spare time is dedicated to support. (By the way, Jo is taking part in this years’ Dance floor challenge so if you go please look out for her and give her a Big Cheer).

Outreach One on One So the one-on-one practical support is beginning to thrive - it enables just that bit extra support to families.

Such a magic moment happened quite a few months ago (I wish I could have bottled it!) A young child had a session in a sensory room. Ill never forget the first time he came when he saw the lights and the equipment he looked up and went Wow it’s a Magic room, the look on his face and wander in his eyes was something more precious than gold, both his Mum and I both filled up and from that moment we knew then it really was ‘The magic room’.

Its important to find the right connection for the individual it isn’t always rocket science, it’s all about listening and responding and not letting the person down.

Sensory facilities are good for all To have a sensory facility somewhere like Beau Sejour would be awesome. Maybe that is a project for The Community. Any takers?

Adult support is so important and not always straight forward as there are people who have not received a diagnosis and they really would like this to happen.

I have met people that cope with day to day but when they open up it shows how important it is to them and their families why a diagnosis is needed.

It is not about a label but a way of

understanding and using different strategies to cope with their life.

When I support a parent it may look like we are just friends going out for a coffee as we get to know each other it can feel like this.

I can not stress enough how parents of children can feel having to explain why their child might be screaming in a shop. It doesn’t always mean the child is misbehaving it may just mean the noise levels are too much for them or the shop has become over crowded and they really cannot cope.

I believe there is always a reason for a behavior and there is always a solution its just finding a way to provide the right support, and for people in the community be more Autism Aware.

So now a plug, April is Autism Awareness Month and between us all we are looking to really support the Community to get involved.

There are many events taking place such as 2 April -The Autism Awareness DayOnesie Wednesday, 9 April – Mission To Lars Film Show, 12-April-The L’Eree Beach Clean.

E H T K L I M IS N U R CK! BA

Father’s Day

HALF

MARATHON THE GUERNSEY DAIRY FATHER’S DAY HALF MARATHON IS A FANTASTIC FAMILY FUN DAY AND TAKES PLACE ON SUNDAY 15TH JUNE 2014 STARTS AT L’EREE @ 9.30AM AND FINISHES IN THE CENTRE OF ST PETER PORT Recent reports have suggested that milk is an effective post-exercise sports recovery drink containing a wide range of vitamins and minerals and is deemed particularly useful after a sustained bout of physical activity. 2014 sees the return of the Guernsey Dairy sponsored ‘Milk Run’ organised in conjunction with the GIAAC so what better time to sign up to raise money for a charity of your choice and get behind a premium local product that has a reputation of being ‘the original and best’.

FOR MORE INFORMATION GO TO WWW.GUERNSEYATHLETICS.ORG.GG/HALF

t! i o d n a c u o Y ! n o o G www.guernseydairy.com

WELL BEING

ARE YOU LISTENING? THIS IS A WORLD FIRST

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There’s every need to shout about the World’s first invisible hearing aid no matter how young or old you are and it’s now available in Guernsey as Melanie Pickard reports

H

earing loss; it’s a serious problem for over 10 million people in the UK and it is a condition that can affect anyone and any age, but there is no longer a reason to suffer in silence.

Whether your hearing loss is a result of noise damage or just wear and tear, a large range of incredible solutions are now available and Hidden Hearing are here to help.

Hidden Hearing has been supporting people living with a hearing loss for over 40 years, offering the very best in hearing aid technology and advice. Each customer is treated as an individual and offered a hearing assessment to identify their needs and requirements before a custom hearing solution is suggested.

With the advanced technology that is available today all hearing aids can be tailored to meet specific requirements whilst supporting individual hearing issues. Digital hearing aids can now be programmed according to an individual’s needs, so if you have difficulty hearing in a busy environment such as a bar or restaurant, your hearing aid can be set to make the person you are having a conversation with sound much clearer, without the need for them to compete with the noise in the room.

It’s not just the sound quality that has

dramatically changed over the years but the look and feel of hearing aids are so impressive today that they really need to be seen to be believed. We often think of the unsightly banana shaped hearing aids that would sit on the back of your ear looking bulky and uncomfortable. Today’s

Helen Atkins

hearing aids can be as small as a fingernail and so discreet that they are often referred to as invisible.

One such hearing aid is the SoundLens, describe by Hidden Hearing as their first invisible hearing aid, it is small and

comfortable when it is placed into the ear canal where it then disappears from view.

It’s the perfect solution for anyone who views their hearing loss as a very private matter, the SoundLens is not only one of the most powerful little hearing aids on the market but it is also the most discreet.

One person who knows all about the SoundLens and its fantastic benefits is Helen Atkins, Hidden Hearing’s dispenser for the Channel Islands.

Helen tells us “Hearing aids have transformed incredibly through the latest technology and can assist in a better quality of life for someone who is suffering in silence with hearing loss, cosmetically they are so good that people don’t even notice them”.

A Jersey resident herself, Helen takes enormous pride in supporting the people of Guernsey and Jersey when it comes to hearing loss, and with 20 years’ experience there isn’t much Helen doesn’t know about the subject.

Helen encourages as many people as possible to have regular hearing assessments in order to keep one of their vital five senses in check, “People should start coming for hearing tests earlier, the older they are, the more hard of hearing they get. It is so important; if hearing loss is not picked up people can become

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isolated. They either feel a nuisance if they have to keep asking people to repeat themselves, or they get used to being in a world of their own and withdraw. I have had people say to me that they’ve stopped going to places because of it, or that they’re not picking things up at meetings” To find out more about what Hidden Hearing can do for you and your hearing, or even for a loved one you may have concerns for, pop in and meet Helen who will be more than happy to help.

Helen attends the Health Exchange in Guernsey each week on a Tuesday between 9:30am and 5:00pm and welcomes anyone to visit.

Or if you would prefer to book an appointment call 01534 789993

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Getting the righ advice about your hearing In the same way that we wouldn’t think of speaking to a GP with our eyes or our teeth, a Hearing Aid Dispenser is a great place to start if you are concerned about your hearing. You can access an appointment directly by walking into a Hearing Care Centre, making a phone call or even online. Within a matter of days you should be in front of a State Registered Hearing Aid Dispenser who can advise you on possible courses of action following a thorough hearing test.

These potential outcomes will be: Onward referral to your GP this will only happen if your Hearing Aid Dispenser finds a condition which requires immediate medical attention (eg excessive ear wax or infection).

Do nothing. It is your choice what happens next and we hope that you only make this decision having looked at all the available support.

Choose from a range of Hearing care solutions available from the Hearing Care Specialist such as Hidden Hearing. A lot of the questions and tests in a consultation help inform a Hearing Aid Dispenser what type of hearing system would be suitable for you and whether you should consider using one at all. The most important thing is that you are in a position to choose what to do having been presented with all the facts. Most Hidden Hearing clients were

unaware that there are literally hundreds of different types of hearing aids on the market today. A key skill of the Hearing Aid Dispenser is matching the potential client to the product and this can only be done after a thorough hearing test and investigating areas of listening difficulty.

It is a common question to ask what the difference is between obtaining a hearing aid on the NHS and buying one privately.

Aside from speed of delivery, one of the most important differences is choice.

When you invest in a hearing system, you can decide who you want to buy it from, where you want to buy it from and what type of hearing aid you want. Also; if you buy a hearing aid system from a Hearing Care Specialist such as Hidden Hearing, you have a guarantee that it will improve your hearing or they will refund your money back!

Anyone that becomes a client of Hidden Hearing is entered into a structured program of free aftercare that ensures continued satisfactory use. Regular checkups and annual hearing tests mean that your Hearing Aid Dispenser can fine tune your hearing aids if your hearing changes and carry out any routine maintenance as required.

Dr Hilary Jones

HEAR MORE CLEARLY

with

The first invisible digital hearing aid made for you

“Is your hearing as good as it used to be?”

For a FREE Hearing Health Check come in and see us or call now on:

01534 789993 Quote ref: LCAD5041

Hidden Hearing, The Health Exchange, Albert House, South Esplanade, St Peter Port GY1 1AW

Over 90%

of our customers from the Channel Islands would recommend us Dr. Hilary Jones

GP and TV Doctor

WELL BEING

How laser eye surgery changed my life

I

CAN SEE

CLEARLY NOW THE LENSES HAVE GONE

Jill Chadwick has been reliant on contact lenses for more than 20 years but laser eye surgery has suddenly put her life back in focus. She tells how in just two weeks following a simple day trip to Jersey for her laser procedure, her vision has never been better.

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I

was a small child when it was discovered that I was very short sighted. My schoolwork was suffering and it was found that I could not see the black board.

So began a life lived with spectacles, which I hated to wear – followed by contact lenses and all the hassle of daily cleansing routines and fiddling around getting lenses in and out of my eyes.

I wore gas permeable lenses for years before constant eye infections pushed me to use ‘soft’ lenses, which I found harder to look after – and way harder to place in my eyes. Travelling was not great either as you always have to ensure you have solutions– and, oh, just to be able to run in the sea without goggles or eyes closed shut.

Spectacles had proved to be a trial too over the years.

The taunt that men don’t make passes at girls who wear glasses is a true one so I never did like to wear mine on nights out!

The upshot was that on more than one occasion I would go out on dates and walk into the gents instead of the ladies – and on one memorable evening I waited at the bar behind a tall man who I mistakenly thought was my date! My friends thought it hilarious that I was so short sighted – I was just fed up of seeing life blurred!

Contact lenses followed but while it was fabulous not to have to wear glasses, activities like swimming were tricky –and every morning began with the whole lens cleaning merry go round.

Losing lenses was a regular happening and travelling with lenses is not much fun either.

Laser corrective eye surgery is not new new but it has taken me a few years to get around to looking into having the procedure. There are so many myths about it. Will It hurt, will I go blind , will it be effective? But I decided it was worth looking into if you pardon the pun.

I was delighted that all your consultations take place in Guernsey. Dave Baker of the Jersey Vision Correction Clinic has a consulting room at the Tri Fitness Factory at Mont Arrivee and he is in the island on a weekly basis to meet new clients and to give follow up care.

I went along to have my eyes tested and measured for the laser procedure and just two weeks later the clinic had booked my flights and I was on my way to a whole new way of life. Mark Wevill, a corneal surgeon, flies into Jersey to help carry out the procedure which takes place at a pristine clinic just outside St Helier.

Everyone has asked me if it was painful…..the answer is a definite no! Each eye took about 45 seconds to sort. Yes, you are awake, but you have anaesthetic in each eye and the surgeon simply asks you to focus on a red light above you – and within seconds it is all over.

You fly home with ‘artificial’ tears and drops and back up anaesthetic drops should you need them, but I never did.

You are also told that your eyes may feel a little like they have grit in – and you can become light sensitive for a day or so, which I did, but again, a few drops did the trick.

I was seeing well enough to drive within a few days and within two weeks I was amazed to be reading signs and car number plates miles in the distance! No more fiddling around with eyes, no more solutions or looking for lost lenses.

A few days ago I had an early morning yoga session and it was heaven to just jump out of bed, throw on a track suit – and run out of the door. Previously my eyes would have complained to have lenses shoved in at them at dawn. Life is brighter, easy and better. Every day I drive off to work amazed that I can see so well – and I can’t wait for the summer to run and dive into the sea and actually be able to see it!

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