‘SAINTS’ HONOURED WITH THEIR OWN AIRPORT AT LAST

CAPA Centre for Aviation, 16^th November, 2011

After years of vacillation the British Government has finally agreed to underwrite the cost of an airport on the South Atlantic island of Saint Helena and has issued a Design, Build and Operate (DBO) contract for USD340 million. The 4000 islanders, known as ‘Saints’, who rely on an infrequent mail ship to leave and return to their British Overseas Territory home, will within four years have a much more frequent method of access and egress, as long as airlines can be convinced of the value of operating there. But the fact the DBO contractor is a South African company speaks volumes about the UK airport industry’s inability to finance and build infrastructure, even on its own ‘turf’.

It was in April 2005 that Airport Investor Monthly last reported on the proposed new airport for the 16km x 8km island, at which time it appeared that the project might be about to enter the construction phase. But with the onset of the recession, it was postponed on several occasions.

One of the world’s remotest islands

St. Helena is one of the 13 remaining UK Overseas Territories, 16 degrees south of the equator, between Brazil and Angola, and one of the world’s remotest islands, presently accessible only by sea from African ports or from Ascension Island, another British territory, 750 miles northwest. Located 1900km from Africa, Ascension Island is its nearest neighbour.

The passenger and supply ship RMS St. Helena was due to reach the end of its working life in 2010 but its service has been extended out of necessity, operating between Cape Town and St. Helena. The objective has been both to replace it, and to boost the island’s economy, which presently is merely one of self-sustainment by providing an airport.

UK assistance to St. Helena was then about GBP13 million per year but has since risen to GBP35 million out of a total of GBP60 million allocated annually to the South Atlantic Territories, which also comprises Ascension Island (which is populated almost exclusively by military and support personnel) and Tristan da Cunha to the south, which remains virtually inaccessible. These amounts include budgetary support to meet essential public services and to subsidise St. Helena’s dedicated shipping service.

...to take the island “off the books” of the UK taxpayer...

Although it is never publicly stated, the intention of the present Coalition Government, which has taken a renewed interest in St. Helena since it was elected in May-2010, is as much to take the island “off the books” of the UK taxpayer, as it is to provide overdue transport infrastructure. Fortunately, in this instance the two objectives are in unison as it is anticipated that the airport will multiply visitor numbers from around 800 per annum to 29,000, thus creating a self-sustaining tourism industry. Britain is almost as indebted as any of the economies currently making the news (Greece, Italy etc) if one takes into account the hidden amounts of debt in private finance initiative (PFI) transactions and collapsed pension funds, hence the need even to save amounts as relatively small as GBP35 million.

2250m runway called for

The original plan, put together by the London-based consultant Alan Stratford, called for a 2250m runway at Prosperous Bay Plain, on the eastern coast of the island; sufficiently adequate to support safe operation of A320 and B737-800 types. The British Department for International Development (DFID), which typically supports education and infrastructure in the Third World and war-torn countries like Iraq and Afghanistan, and which is the only Department of State to have had its budget ‘ring-fenced’, was given the job of providing funding, subject to satisfactory bids for a DBO contract and an environmental impact assessment. According to the DFID at the time, “All private sector interest in St. Helena will be considered on an equal footing.”

The project also included technical advice to help establish regular scheduled air services and to support St. Helena in reaping the economic benefits of air access for the island. Increased tourism and inward investment was expected to follow in the wake of the much improved access arrangements.

DFID clearly takes the project seriously...

DFID clearly takes the project seriously. Within the last three months it has advertised for and appointed a “Private Sector Advisor” for the three South Atlantic Territories, with the clear implication that he or she will be expected to ensure St. Helena at least begins to ‘pay for itself’ within two years, which rather runs contrary to its usual ethos.

For some time the frontrunner for the contract was an Italian company, Impregilo, based in Milan, and which has become the leading Italian construction and engineering business operating in the environmental sector, with a track record that includes the Kariba Dam in Zambia and Zimbabwe (1959) and the salvage of the Abu Simbel temples in Egypt (1968). That record does not include many airports, just four contracts, in Italy, Argentina and Bolivia and all in the 1980s/90s. The other bidder was South Africa’s Basil Read but Impregilo won on the basis of ‘best overall value’.

But then the British Government pulled back in light of the recent global economic turmoil. In Jan-2011, new design, build, operate and transfer bids were sought from both Impregilo and Basil Read, but only the South African group actually made an offer this time out.

DFID is funding the entire USD340 million (GBP200 million) project from UK taxpayers contributions...

DFID is funding the entire USD340 million (GBP200 million) project from UK taxpayers contributions, which will now involve a 3500sqm airport building and a 1800m concrete runway (down from 2250m), with, as previously proposed, a taxiway and apron able to cater for aircraft of a size equivalent to an A320, or a Boeing 737-800.

Impressive logistics

As with any airport development on a small island the logistics are impressive. The works will also include an eight-million cubic metre rock fill embankment through which a 750 metre-long reinforced concrete culvert will run, air traffic control and safety systems, a bulk fuel installation for six-million litres of diesel and aviation fuel and a 14km access road up the mountain to the airport site.

Temporary harbour facilities will also be developed to allow a roll-on/roll-off vessel to bring in materials from South Africa and Basil Read would also develop a temporary runway to enable the use of a C130-type aircraft to facilitate quicker access to the site. That runway should be developed within 18 months of the commencement of construction.

The contractors will need to bring in everything from food to the building materials needed for the development of the airport building, which, it is understood will be modelled on another airport of a similar size - that at Nelspruit in Mpumalanga province in South Africa.

New technology enables larger aircraft

A new technology, engineered material arresting system will allow the airport to receive larger aircraft on the short runway...

A new technology, engineered material arresting system will allow the airport to receive larger aircraft on the short runway but does not explain the delight currently being shown in the Falkland Islands that the inhabitants there (who are largely self-sufficient now even though it is still a British Overseas Territory) will be able to reach the UK in 7.5 hours, about half the length of the current journey time. It is difficult to imagine any aircraft that is capable of flying ETOPs operations on that length of journey (approximately 7000 km) being able to use such a short runway, new technology or not. The originally conceived 2250m runway might have been more appropriate. There are approximately 400 ‘Saints’ in the Falkland Islands but any air service would clearly not be designed specifically for them.

There may be some truth in the theory being promoted in the international media that the renewed desire to build the airport is somehow linked to the perceived need to have transport for British troops to the Falkland Islands again in the event of a second invasion by Argentina, which has been belligerent recently. There is no merchant marine left to do it by sea as in 1982.

...construction could begin in May-2012...

The design phase commences immediately and construction could begin in May-2012. Most of the expertise will be derived from South Africa, but Basil Read has indicated that it will employ as many locals as possible in the building and the operation of the facility. (Impregilo had also sent senior representatives to St. Helena to assess the capabilities of locals in that respect.)

Construction will take place over a 48-month period and operation of the airport will continue for 10 years in a contract valued at approximately USD57 million. The award has increased the size of Basil Read’s order book to USD1.6 billion.

Lanseria Airport offers useful expertise

Operational support will come from Lanseria Airport, the privately operated Gauteng province facility to the north of Johannesburg, which, after languishing for several years, has been building up both domestic and international LCC services, as well as acting as a private/business jet airport for Johannesburg and Pretoria. It is unlikely St. Helena will see many business jets, unless Sir Richard Branson decides to buy it, having lost some of his Necker (Caribbean) island to fire, but Lanseria’s expertise will be useful for the type of commercial aircraft that it will see. Basil Read has a joint venture relationship with Lanseria Airport.

...it’s most important goal is to tempt at least some of that diaspora back...

The St. Helena Government itself sees the airport as key to improving logistics for its population and the diaspora that has moved overseas (mainly to Britain) that is greater than the indigenous population; and supporting economic development. It’s most important goal is to tempt at least some of that diaspora back, either permanently, or occasionally with transferable funds.

St. Helena will have to battle to attract tourists

There is much work to be done.

After that, the secondary goal is to increase tourism. But who will come? A 1800m runway will not support intercontinental flights, especially as the nearest alternative airport is so far away. Tourists will, almost by necessity, come initially from South Africa (where St. Helena will be pitched into tough competition with Mauritius and the Seychelles to attract them), possibly from Namibia, and then from Europe (even possibly Asia in time) via either of those places. It could feature as a two-centre vacation location, or a side trip, or as part of a fly-cruise programme. There is much work to be done. In the longer term it may be able to attract traffic from Latin America, especially Brazil, though again runway size will count in the equation, and the Government will be encouraged by the emergence of a ‘string’ of vacation islands down the western side of Africa, including the Azores, Madeira, the Canary Islands and the Cape Verde islands, that St. Helena might possibly tap into.

The tourist infrastructure is of concern. There are hotels, bed & breakfast, guest house and self catering units available already, but they cater for 800 visits per annum not 30,000. Growth in residential infrastructure has to come rapidly and outside assistance will be needed.

St. Helena? See Our Comment, below.

The island is certainly an attractive place though it has little in the way of beaches, even fewer roads and its tourist offering momentarily centres on ‘relaxation’ far away from the daily throng, walking in the gentle hills. The attraction of more than 30 times the present level of visitors is almost oxymoronic to the aim of offering a ‘get-away-from-it-all’ island. Its principal feature, for which it is known globally, attracting many visitors despite its remoteness, is the tomb of French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, who was exiled there. Current plans call for the airport to be operational by 2015, on the 200th anniversary of Napoleon’s arrival into final exile.

With that sort of pedigree it is perhaps a little surprising that Aeroports de Paris, through one or both of its engineering and management units, is not more involved here, or perhaps one of the smaller French airport operators that dabbles abroad, like Lyon or Nice. There is certainly the potential for quite a few French tourists to make the journey each year.

A nation of shopkeepers, but not airport builders

...most notable in its absence is the UK...

The country most notable in its absence is the UK itself. During the last five years, British companies have declined somewhat in importance on the global stage where airport construction is concerned, though it is still surprising not to read of companies such as Mott McDonald, Amey or Lagan having any involvement, even if some, like the aforementioned Stratford, and Atkins, which undertook an environmental audit in 2004, have been. As for British operators, they have virtually disappeared off the radar altogether where foreign projects are concerned, which surely must be a worry to the UK Government’s Trade and Business departments.

As Napoleon himself famously said, ‘England is a nation of shopkeepers’, but he might have added not of airport builders or operators. At a demanding British Overseas Territory new build, green field airport, where skills could be put on show for the world to see, just where are the British?

Background information:

The British Government Project Memorandum can be found at: webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk & www.dfid.gov.uk/pubs/files/st-helena-proj-memo.pdf.

Our Comment

The island is certainly an attractive place, but we’re not convinced that the ‘photo they’ve used to illustrate that was actually taken on St. Helena! We’ve only been here seven years and haven’t explored absolutely everywhere, but we’re sure a spectacular rock promontary like the one in the ‘photo would have come to our attention. If you know the island better than we do and that is here somewhere, please contact us - we’d like to visit it! Otherwise you might want to contact the CAPA Centre for Aviation and ask them about it.

DORSET SHEEP BOUND FOR ST. HELENA ON ROYAL MAIL SHIP

By Laura Kitching, Dorest Echo, 18^th October 2011

Vet Joe Collins with one of the sheep

Sixty chickens and a flock of sheep were loaded on to the Royal Mail Ship St. Helena as it made its final voyage from Portland Port.

The 6,767-tonne vessel, which is one of only two Royal Mail Ships left in the world and is a lifeline for its tropical island namesake in the South Atlantic, marked the end of an era as it departed borough waters.

Veterinarian Joe Hollins said the cargo of animals aimed to rejuvenate St. Helena’s economy.

He said:

“The flock of sheep and 60 chickens are designed to transform the island.

Six breeders brought the sheep in three trailers, they are Dorpers - originally Dorset Horns and Persian Blackheads - which were developed by the Department for Agriculture in South Africa for arid lands.

They’re tough, hardy breeds that forage well.

St. Helena has historically imported British breeds because it’s an overseas territory but it’s a tropical island with a lot of fly strike.

This breed is self-sheering so they will be more resistant.

We also had 60 lohmann brown chickens, which are specialist egg layers.”

Mr Hollins, who previously ran veterinary practices in Andover and the Falklands Islands, added:

“We’re trying to make the island more sustainable; the island used to fill three ship holds a day with produce now it doesn’t produce much.

I’m the island’s first vet and it’s such a challenging role - it’s rare to get virgin territory so there’s a hell of a lot to do.

It encompasses conservation, public health and pest control.

It’s a fantastic and beautiful island with laid back and friendly locals but it has severe economic problems because it doesn’t produce much capital and relies on grants and UN aid.”

Mr Hollins said the island had a rich history and had played a key role in the abolition of slavery and the French territories but now suffered from strong and healthy young people leaving to work abroad.

The average salary is £5,000 a year, despite a high cost of living.

RMS St. Helena was docked at Portland Port for a week before making its final scheduled voyage from the United Kingdom last Friday.

The 128-berth cargo and passenger ship, which celebrates its 21^st anniversary next month, will instead make more regular trips between Cape Town, Ascension Island and St. Helena to improve island access.

Our Comment

Not a baaaad idea?

PRESTON BUS STATION [AND ST. HELENA] ON UK MONUMENT ‘AT RISK’ LIST

www.bbc.co.uk/news, 5^th October 2011

Preston Bus Station may be demolished as part of a redevelopment scheme in the city. The “brutalist” style building, earmarked for demolition, is one of seven monuments being placed on an “at risk” list by the World Monuments Fund (WMF). Its 2012 World Monuments Watch list also includes The Hayward Gallery and Coventry Cathedral.

These latest entries mean the UK now has 30 sites on the WMF’s list. Others include Birmingham Central Library, Quarr Abbey on the Isle of Wight and the South Atlantic island of Saint Helena.

Launched in 1996, the list of monuments at risk is issued every two years and has identified 67 monuments from around the world in its latest report. The WMF has included 688 sites in 132 countries and territories on its nine watch lists so far.

The WMF says its list “seeks to draw international attention as well as local community support for some of the world’s most treasured locations”. It also says that a monument or building’s inclusion on its watch list can be crucial in raising awareness and funds for its preservation.

[For brevity we have omitted information on the UK sites listed]

The report also lists the South Atlantic island of Saint Helena, once home to the French Emperor Napoleon in exile. The WMF notes the island “is not eligible for most conservation funding available in the United Kingdom, even though it is a British Territory”. The watch list adds: “If more resources were made available to the island, the conserved built heritage could be used to bolster the economy through tourism development, especially after the construction of a planned airport.”

WMF chief executive Jonathan Foyle said:

“For a decade and a half, the Watch has reminded us that no country is immune to man-made and natural disasters, and the casual degradations of its built environment. We can never afford to take for granted our irreplaceable and enriching cultural inheritance, but in an age of greater austerity this Watch further reminds to be vigilant, look after and enjoy historic places, many of which we could not afford to build today.”

Our comment

We’re a little disturbed to discover we’re living in a monument . . . but if anyone’s offering funds to help maintain the island’s wonderful collection of historic buildings we’re sure that would be most welcome.

A LONG JOURNEY BEGINS FOR COMMONWEALTH ATHLETES

three.fm, Isle of Man, 23^rd August 2011

Five weeks away from home for St. Helena team

The first team of athletes to begin their journey to the Isle of Man for the Commonwealth Youth Games - St. Helena - have already begun their journey.

St. Helena is a tiny volcanic island in the South Atlantic Ocean and is part of the British Overseas Territories, which also includes Ascension Islands and the islands of Tristan da Cunha. Saint Helena measures about 16 by 8 kilometres and has a population of just over 4,000.

The four athletes - 15 year old Jessica Sim, and 17 year old Sarafina Yon, Tyrel Ellick, and Myles Henry - are joined by two officials, Jeremy Roberts and Wendy Benjamin.

They are travelling some 1,200 miles south to Cape Town by ship before they can begin their 11hr flight north to the UK, where travel will then be by coach and ferry before they reach the Isle of Man.

Because St. Helena has no airport and it is serviced by only one ship, the RMS St. Helena, the team is destined to be away from their island home for more than 5 weeks in order to attend the Games.

FOLLOW UP: ST. HELENA DJ SENDS BEST WISHES TO TEAM AFTER 2 WEEK JOURNEY

three.fm, Isle of Man, 3^rd September 2011

He said it’s been a major effort for the teenagers due to a lack of facilities on an Island a third of the size of the Isle of Man.

After a journey of almost two weeks across the South Atlantic Ocean, the Commonwealth Youth Games team from Saint Helena arrives on the Isle Of Man this evening.

The four athletes - 15 year old Jessica Sim, and 17 year old Sarafina Yon, Tyrel Ellick, and Myles Henry - travelled 1,200 miles by ship before flying from South Africa to the Isle of Man.

In an exclusive interview with 3FM, Mike Olson from St. Helena’s radio station SaintFM{2} said everyone on St. Helena has been touched by the games.

He said the people are urging the young athletes to perform to the best of their abilities despite it being a major effort for the teenagers due to a lack of facilities on an Island a third of the size of the Isle of Man.

The first day of official competition will be Friday 9^th September.

FOR GADDAFI, A HOME ON ST. HELENA

By William C. Goodfellow, The Washington Post, 3^rd June 2011 (Reproduced in the St. Helena Independent, 3^rd June 2011)

In an effort to break the stalemate in Libya and avoid further bloodshed, President Obama asked Russian President Dmitry Medvedev last month to tell Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi that he will remain alive if he leaves Libya. Medvedev, in a news conference, said Russia would not take him in.

The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Gaddafi and his son Saif al-Islam, who certainly belong in The Hague - but at what cost?

Obama wants to avoid a repeat of the four-month battle to dislodge Ivory Coast strongman Laurent Gbagbo. Thousands of civilians were killed, at least 800,000 were forced from their homes, and that country’s financial capital and largest city, Abidjan, was laid to waste.

Neither the United Nations secretary general nor the French military was able to talk Gbagbo out of his bunker. Facing the prospect of life in prison, he felt that he had no choice but to fight to the bitter end. Had they been able to offer Gbagbo a way out, the standoff might have ended months earlier. The way out would have been permanent exile.

Is it possible that the international community could send a dictator such as Gbagbo or Gaddafi somewhere and ensure that they never return? What is needed is a place so remote and well guarded that these unsavory characters could never escape.

In 1815, Europe had a similar problem. Napoleon Bonaparte was responsible for 17 years of devastating wars across Europe that took the lives of as many as 6 million people. He had escaped from his exile on the island of Elba, in the Mediterranean, and was able to raise an army of 200,000 before his final defeat at Waterloo.

To ensure that he never again returned, Britain exiled Napoleon to St. Helena, a territory in the middle of the South Atlantic. One of the most remote islands on the planet, it is more than a thousand miles from the nearest land.

St. Helena remains incredibly isolated, with no commercial airport (although one is planned) and just over 4,000 inhabitants, a 20 percent decline in the past decade. Blue Hill district, on the southwest part of the island, has an area of 14 square miles with only 153 inhabitants and seems like an ideal spot for what might be called a retirement village for exiled dictators.

Britain, which still owns St. Helena, could lease a parcel of land to the United Nations, whose blue-helmeted guards would be in charge of security. The United Nations could erect a comfortable cottage, or perhaps a large tent, separated from the rest of the island by tall stockade fencing. Gaddafi could get snail mail (which would be read by guards, as is the case in most prisons), but there would be no Internet or phone service.

Gaddafi could bring along immediate family members: his spouse and children. Napoleon arrived on St. Helena with a small cadre of supporters who were forced to sign a document committing them to remain on the island with him indefinitely. (Napoleon’s wife chose to stay in France, where she had a well-publicized affair with an Austrian count who was her escort, much to Napoleon’s dismay.)

Of course, dictators such as Gaddafi should not get a free pass. Exile to St. Helena should be offered to break only the most intractable sieges. The U.N. Security Council has the authority to prevent the International Criminal Court from prosecuting a case. Justice would be better served if Gaddafi and his ilk ended up at The Hague. But the international community has an even higher obligation to protect the lives of innocent civilians and to prevent unnecessary suffering and destruction.

St. Helena could work with Hotel California rules: You can check in but you can never check out. Gaddafi would be destined to die there in quiet retirement. For sure, it would be a great place for penning memoirs, and following in Napoleon’s footsteps would lend a certain cachet.

Another requirement would be total divestment of financial assets of dictators and their family members. Every offshore account and every piece of real estate in London or Dubai would be forfeited, with the money going back to the treasury of their home country. St. Helena would be all-inclusive, so there would be no need to carry cash.

Gaddafi might turn out to be the only dictator to end up on St. Helena. With so many worthy candidates, however, and doubtless many more to come, it is possible that St. Helena could get a much-needed economic boost from new residents.

The real objective in all this would be to avoid the kind of bloodshed and devastation the world witnessed in Ivory Coast. Unfortunately, it continues in Libya.

The writer is executive director of the Center for International Policy in Washington.

NAPOLEON USED YEARS ON ST. HELENA TO LEARN ENGLISH

Vicky Buffery, Reuters, 31^st May 2011 [taken from the Baltimore Sun]

Greying, inkstained notebook fragments showing Napoleon Bonaparte’s efforts two centuries ago to grasp the English language go on auction in Paris at the weekend, alongside some 350 other Napoleonic artefacts.

Captured by the British at Waterloo and held on the remote Atlantic island of Saint Helena until his death in 1821, the French emperor used his time in captivity to learn English -- although the scraps show the military mastermind to be a less-than-model pupil. Written in Napoleon’s spidery handwriting, the remnants of his lessons from a French count also in exile on Saint Helena show how the headstrong leader doodled to combat boredom, and struggled with the intricacies of English grammar.

“Even learning English, he couldn’t shake off the soldier, the army man inside him. His doodles are of walls and designs of military fortifications,” said Jean-Pierre Osenat, chairman of Paris-based auction house Osenat, which is handling the sale. The auction house expects the paper scraps, mounted on three framed boards, to fetch up to 9,500 euros ($13,660) in total at Sunday’s auction.

As ruler of France from 1804 to 1815, Napoleon established a powerful military empire extending over much of Western Europe before being defeated by the Duke of Wellington’s forces at the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815 and taken hostage. It was while being transferred to Saint Helena that he voiced his shame at never having learnt English, and his companion in exile, the Count of Las Cases, happily obliged by giving him lessons over the subsequent years. “It’s incredible to think that after fighting the English for his entire life, Napoleon only decided to learn English at the end. He could have thought of it before,” said Osenat.

“RUN, RUNNED, RUNNING”

But the fearless leader and military strategist, who successfully invaded Egypt and Italy and famously escaped exile in Elba, appears to have stumbled over the idiosyncrasies of irregular English verbs, like many before and after him.

“Run, runned, running,” Napoleon wrote on one piece of paper. On another he translates the French "Qu’est-ce qui etait arrive?" as "What was it arrived," rather than "What has happened?"

Also up for sale on Sunday will be a rare document from the French Revolution, a handwritten record of Louis XVI’s death sentence by the newly formed parliament or National Convention in 1793, a move which was to pave the way for Napoleon’s rise. The document lists the names of all Convention members along with their choice of sentence for the fallen monarch, who was tried for treason after his flight from Paris in 1791 and capture at the town of Varennes in northeastern France. Some members voted for imprisonment, others for exile, but a small majority, including famed revolutionaries Maximilien Robespierre and Jean-Paul Marat chose to sentence the king to the guillotine.

Bertrand Barere, another Convention member, added a particularly damning verdict, transcribed in the record:

"Only the dead never come back, I vote that he die."

Later annotations, added in 1818 in the right-hand margin of each page, show the fate of each member of the Convention, and are testimony to the bloodthirsty turn the Revolution was about to take with the onset of the Reign of Terror. Many of the names in the list, including Robespierre and the Duc d’Orleans, died at the guillotine, while Marat was assassinated in his bathtub by Royalist sympathizer Charlotte Corday.

Also featured in The Daily Telegraph.

Our comment

This reminds me of a more recent event along similar lines.

A few years ago two stowaways arrived in St. Helena, having fled from The Congo. The circumstances of their arrival are rather sad, and their attempt to gain asylum failed so they were eventually sent back to The Congo, with unknown results. But there was one amusing aspect of their time here.

They arrived speaking only French, and learned English during their stay in the local prison (there are no other facilities to house such arrivals). They left feeling confident that they had grasped a new language that might prove useful to them in the future (perhaps in their next escape). But what they didn’t realise, and nobody had the heart to tell them, is that the ‘English’ they’d learned from their fellow inmates was actually broad Saint.

After six years here I can understand many of the local words and phrases, but only as long as the speaker has a relatively light accent. I would certainly need an interpreter to talk to some people on the island (as per the previous post on the subtitling of the Tourist Office video) unless they were to moderate their speech for my benefit, which fortunately most Saints do. How our two Congo boys coped when they discovered that the ‘English’ they’d learned was near incomprehensible to most of the English-speaking word I don’t know.
JT 1^st June 2011

FOLLOW UP STORY: NAPOLEON’S ENGLISH LESSONS SELL FOR 90,000 EUROS

AFP, Paris, 6^th June 2011

Napoleon’s first English lessons while he was banished to exile on the South Atlantic island of Saint Helena fetched more than 93,000 euros at an auction in France Sunday, several times more than they had been valued.

A fragment of a sketch made in 1816 by Emperor Napoleon while having English lessons

Three lots of text in English and French, as well as drawings, by the fallen emperor had been valued 7,000 to 9,500 euros, said the Osenat auction house.

“Qu’es qui étoit arrivé. What was it arrived,” Napoleon wrote in his first stumbling efforts to grasp the language of his adversaries.

In other exercises he wrote: “Combien etoint-ils. How many were they” and “Comment se portoient-ils. How do they do”.

The private Museum of Letters and Manuscripts in Paris paid 93,125 euros for the lots, which it said it would put on display from June 21.

The same museum paid 53,750 euros for manuscripts that Napoleon edited at Saint Helena for his memoirs, including his account of his victorious Battle of the Bridge of Arcole in 1796.

It also bought a list of assembly member votes during the French Revolution on the sentence for Louis XVI, who was eventually sent to the guillotine in 1793.

The manuscript of about 20 pages is one of several copies, with the original held in the Archives of France. It nonetheless fetched 35,000 euros after being estimated at between 2,000 and 3,000 euros.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the auction was that 187,500 euros was handed over for a document concerning the end of the French expedition in Egypt. It had been valued at between 6,000 and 8,000 euros.

The 29-line missive by Egyptian general Ya’qub Hanna to Napoleon is written in gold and black ink.

After his defeat to the British at the 1815 Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon was imprisoned and then exiled to Saint Helena where he died in 1821 age 51.

NAPOLEON: SAINT HELENA’S CLAIM TO FAME

By Bob Reis, World Coin News, www.numismaster.com April 2011

Saint Helena is a little island in the middle of the south Atlantic ocean about halfway between Brazil and Angola, each about 1,200 miles away. The island is British territory, part of an administrative unit including Ascension Island about 800 miles northwest and the Tristan da Cunha group 1,500 miles south.

There were no mammals there before the humans arrived, probably in 1502 but possibly the year after. Either way, the humans were of the Portuguese persuasion, the name they gave the place referred to the wife of Roman emperor Constantine. It was so convenient for them, the Portuguese, as they were doing business and making mayhem on both sides of the Atlantic at that latitude. There was stuff to eat - birds and fish - trees to repair their boats, fresh water and a great little protected harbor. They just had to build some buildings, a little church, etc., and loosed some livestock (including rats) to roam about, but they didn’t put in any permanent settlers.

The English and the Dutch located Saint Helena in the 1580s and began to hang out there to ambush the Portuguese and Spanish boats that would show up. It was not worth the trouble, the Iberians decided after a while. The India ships would stop off at Cabinda in Angola before proceeding on to Europe. The Dutch made a formal claim in 1633 but did nothing much on the ground. Notwithstanding the Dutch paperwork, Oliver Cromwell in England gave a charter to the East India Company in 1657 to develop the island.

A little fort and some houses were built, and agriculture began. The Dutch occupied the island for a few months in 1673. East India forces took it back and development continued at an increased rate. The first coins attributed to Saint Helena appeared during this period. One can see pictures of them in the Standard Catalog of World Coins: dump type copper farthing and halfpenny, small silver 3 pence, all dated 1714. They are very reminiscent of contemporary company coins of, say, Madras in India. No offerings of these coins were found in a web search.

Administrative ineptitude and corruption on top of ecological degradation (deforestation leading to drought leading to agricultural failure, a bloom of rats and disease) brought a proposal from the governor to abandon the settlement. Strategic considerations prevailed and the colony continued as a money-losing operation. In a 1723 census, 1,100 people were noted, more than half of them slaves.

Reforms in governance allowed some social stability to be attained during the 18th century. Import of slaves was prohibited in 1792, leading to a labor shortage as economic growth continued. Chinese workers were imported, eventually getting to be about a sixth of the population, which in the early 19th century exceeded 3,500.

The island became famous in the standard historical narrative when the British brought Napoleon there. He had escaped from the island in the Mediterranean where they had kept him previously. It was thought, correctly as it turned out, that Saint Helena would be harder to get away from. Napoleon was placed there in 1815 and died in 1821. Rumours that he was poisoned circulated from the time of his death and though nothing was proved, recent tests have shown the presence of arsenic in the green floral decoration of the wallpaper in the house he lived in. Napoleon’s body is in Paris. The French have shown no interest in exhuming it, so the question remains.

1821 is numismatically significant as the year of issue of the inordinately common Saint Helena halfpenny. Why is it so common? Certainly those coins were not all sent to Saint Helena, used, then put up in airtight jars to be rediscovered for marketing to us collectors in the 20th century. Some search turned up the likely explanation.

The coins were struck on order of the East India Company. The same year there appeared a merchant token on the island, perhaps to the displeasure of said company. So, I asked, were the coins struck in India or England? Wish I had the Pridmore books sitting on my shelf. A web search turned up nothing until I looked for Heaton mint, where I found the proper reference. A “second” Soho mint was built in 1798 but had run out of work to do in 1813 when the mass production of private tokens ceased. The machinery was sold to the East India Company along with a contract for a last production run of the Saint Helena coins. Most but certainly not all of the mintage remained in England, along with some of the typical proofs of the period, and that is why we have such an easy time of collecting the 1821 halfpenny today. The machinery was sent to Bombay, where the similar looking coppers of the 1830s were struck. The dies stayed in England, where they were used to create a mule with the reverse of the 1830 Guernsey 4 doubles.

The actual money on the island was reported in contemporary documents to be the usual mix of the period: worn coins of the world, mostly Spanish, counterfeits, bits of metal. Pattern coins dated 1833 listed in the SCWC date to the year of the takeover of the governance of the island by the British crown. I found no information on these other than a 1903 reference to their existence.

Attempts were made to regularize the economy through the 19th century. All involved the import of British coins. The early arrivals disappeared. Gold vanished quickly, silver more slowly, in the direction of India, where they carried a premium. Eventually rates and trade patterns changed sufficiently to keep some of the coins on the island. But the strategic value of the place diminished, neglect ensued, emigration proceeded. Despite a temporary population boom during the 1840s when freed slaves were kept there on their way back to Africa, and another in 1900 and 1901 when prisoners taken during the Boer were similarly accommodated, the island languished.

A business was developed processing flax all the way from New Zealand. It declined after the 1950s and went bust in 1965.

The association of Saint Helena with Ascension began in 1922; with Tristan da Cunha in 1938. Modern coinage began in 1973 when a series of collector coins was launched. Sale of copper-nickel crowns by the British Royal Mint was profitable during that period and apparently has remained so over the years. These non-circulating coins continue to be made in great variety for numerous governments. People buy them, the mint makes money, the governments get something. Apparently everyone is happy. One should mention in this context the manufacture of silver and some gold versions of some of these coins. The silvers are generally fairly easy to find, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen one of the golds. Big chunk of gold like that, I imagine I would have noticed if I’d seen one at a show. But no, never.

None of these coins circulated to any degree on the island, though I have run into two circulated silver versions of the 1973 25 pence. Obviously this means . . . um, what exactly does it mean? Notwithstanding the low population there (and in Ascension), a decision was made to have a circulating coinage made especially for both of them together. Do they circulate on the islands? Don’t know. One could get the coins as sets from the Royal Mint. Singles have been reasonably available on the market, I imagine by way of favored dealers having purchased them from the mint rather than through travellers returning from there because, after all, hardly anyone visits for tourist purposes.

About 4,000 people live on Saint Helena, about 700 on Ascension and almost 300 on Tristan da Cunha. Probably more people collect the coins than live in the entire territory.

A few collector coins were issued for the two islands together from 1986 to 1996. After a few years’ break in the late 1980s, issue of collector crowns for the individual islands resumed and has continued until today. Why not, must go the reasoning, people buy them. If they weren’t around who would know anything about those places so far from everyplace else? Hurray for coins.

ST. HELENA REFORESTATION WINS CONSERVATION AWARD

www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/st-helena.html April 2011

A forest restoration project on one of the most remote inhabited islands in the world has just won a major UK conservation award. But this is no ordinary forest and no ordinary island - for the trees are endangered and are found nowhere else in the world and the island is St. Helena, an Overseas Territory of the UK.

Flying the flag for the International Year of Forests, the St. Helena Millennium Forest Project will be presented with the Joint Nature Conservation Committee’s Blue Turtle Award for nature conservation in the UK Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies.

The eastern half of St. Helena was once covered with a huge swathe of native forest known as the Great Wood. During the 1700s most of the native trees had succumbed to the combined effects of felling for timber by settlers, browsing by goats and rooting by pigs; and by the 20th century only a few of the native gumwood trees survived. Gumwoods are found nowhere else in the world, and like other trees endemic to St. Helena, are all threatened with extinction. At the initiative of the local community, the St. Helena Millennium Forest project was launched with the goal of reinstating native forest on degraded wasteland. More than 250 hectares of land has been set aside for restoration and, since 2002, over 10,000 gumwood trees have been planted.

JNCC’s Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies Programme Manager Tony Weighell, one of the award’s judges, said: ‘I want to congratulate all involved in the St. Helena Millennium Forest Project. This is exactly the sort of innovative, community-based initiative that should be encouraged. St. Helena provides important lessons for our management of forests globally - it’s better to protect and conserve our forests now than to attempt to restore them later.’

Defra is playing an increasingly important role in supporting biodiversity in the UK Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. Presenting the award on behalf of JNCC, Environment Minister Richard Benyon said: ‘Our Overseas Territories are a precious repository of unique biodiversity and often serve as home to some of the world’s most vulnerable species. Recent events in the South Atlantic have shown the fragility of such habitats and our duty to protect them has never been clearer.

‘The St. Helena Millennium Forest Project is an excellent example of how a community can come together for the sake of a better environment and a greener future. I’m delighted to see the excellent efforts getting well-deserved credit.’

Rebecca Cairns-Wicks, president of the St. Helena National Trust said: ‘The Millennium Forest is a genuine community initiative, with hundreds of our islanders already planting endemic trees.

‘Visitors and overseas supporters are also able to donate a tree, leaving a personal legacy to this story of ecological recovery. The St. Helena National Trust has a long-term vision and commitment to the project which will expand and improve the ecological diversification of the forest and develop the site as a leading environmental tourism attraction.’

Our note: The Blue Turtle Award is given annually by The JNCC, a “statutory adviser to UK Government and devolved administrations”.

NOT AS OBSERVANT AS I FIRST THOUGHT

St. Helena Independent, 28^th January 2011

OK, we don’t normally include items from the local press but this, from Vince Thompson’s “A Funny Thing Happened” column, warranted an exception.

I was checking the progress of the ARC Round the World yacht race after they left St. Helena. The leading yacht was just about to leave the South Atlantic.

The report from the yacht, sent to a website, included one observation that surprised me at first. Crew member Dee Caffari said, ‘I think we are going to start a new club, the St. Helena club, as we all float around going nowhere for awhile’.

My first reaction was to think this person was only here for 3 days at most, during that short time they must really have got to know how things are in this Island at the moment. Then I realised the report was talking about the weather. The yacht was being slowed down by the light winds in the South Atlantic high pressure belt, otherwise known as the St. Helena High.

COMMENT ON ST. HELENA’S PARTICIPATION IN THE COMMONWEALTH GAMES 2010

“THE TINY SOUTH ATLANTIC SPECK OF SAINT HELENA”

sportal.co.nz 04^th October 2010

From sprawling Australia to the tiny south Atlantic speck of Saint Helena, they came to Delhi on Sunday night to hear Prince Charles declare open a Commonwealth Games so blighted by chaotic preparations they once feared it might not happen at all.

Read the full article here . . .

TAKING THE SLOW BOAT

www.telegraph.co.uk 04^th October 2010

The Saint Helena team, Britain’s second oldest remaining colony after Bermuda, showed us how travel used to be for sporting teams.

Its four-man squad - all shooters whose guns have been lent by the Jersey team - took the RMS Helena, the only boat for inhabitants, which took five days to reach Cape Town. Amazingly, they had to leave for Delhi on August 26 as the boat was being taken to the Cape for repair.

At 69, Cyril Leo is the oldest member and is accompanied by son Rico. Their trip has been paid for by the British government and Leo junior says he would like to train in Britain. Diary wishes them well.

Read the full article here . . .

ST. HELENA PILGRIMAGE

The Press, New Zealand, 12^th April 2010

Dependent as the “Saints” are on that vital sea connection, it is no wonder that they throng to the harbour edge when the RMS arrives.

It is almost 11am as my fellow passengers wait in the forward saloon of the ship for the launch that will ferry us ashore. Immigration formalities have been completed on board, and the RMS is anchored off shore from Jamestown.

Beyond the crowds on the waterfront I can see a U-shaped valley dotted with low-rise buildings. To the right of the valley I can just make out the infamous Jacob’s Ladder of 699 steps leading almost vertically upwards to the old military fortifications. I had been told that if you succeed in ascending and descending these steps in one day, the St. Helena Museum will issue you with a special certificate.

Stepping ashore from the motor launch, and taking care not to slip into the water, as certain visitors including a certain colonial governor in his plumed hat are said to have done, I am amazed by the buildings.

Anywhere else, time or a buoyant economy would have ensured their demolition and replacement, or restoration and preservation in a historic precinct. Their use would perhaps be limited to art centres and antique shops, dead affairs after dark.

On St. Helena they are still being used the way they were originally intended, as shops, offices or flats. The absence of a growth economy has ensured their preservation, if not their restoration.

A wide range of accommodation is available for travellers on the island, ranging from full-service hotels to bed and breakfasts and self- catering flats and cottages.

My lodgings of choice are on Napoleon St in the centre of Jamestown. Here, in the middle of things, I can get a good feeling for the town and the island, because much of St. Helena’s daily activity seems only minutes from my door.

My interest in a supposed Napoleon connection with Canterbury had initially sparked my curiosity about the island.

A story exists that the willow trees that used to shade the old French graveyard at Akaroa were grown from cuttings taken from trees beside Napoleon’s grave on St. Helena, and that the willows along the Avon River banks in Christchurch were also from these cuttings. Commemorating this is a plaque beside the Avon in Victoria Park.

Fact or fiction?

I visit the St. Helena Records Office to see whether they have any record of a French whaler, Le Nil, visiting the island in 1837 or 1838, on its way to New Zealand.

Unfortunately, the office, although internationally famous for its records keeping, has no record of Le Nil visiting St. Helena, but visits by whalers, known as the vagabonds of the ocean, were often unscheduled and unrecorded. So the jury is still out on that issue, for a while, I think.

After visiting Napoleon’s house at Longwood and his grave site, I can report that there are no longer any willows growing beside the grave. Nor are there any remains of Napoleon. They were repatriated to France in 1840.

Apparently there were willows - Salix bonapartea - and numerous early images of the grave site confirm this, but they had died out by 1870. Over-enthusiastic souvenir hunters had destroyed the trees.

I had an idea of taking cuttings from a willow growing beside the Avon and bringing them to St. Helena, where I could plant them at the grave site and so repatriate the strain, creating a true willow link between Canterbury, New Zealand, and St. Helena.

But when I put the idea to Michel Martineau, the French consul on St. Helena, he was Gallically unimpressed. The willow link between New Zealand and St. Helena is inconsequential as far as he is concerned. “There are hundreds of these stories,” he mutters into the phone. “They are nothing! Europe and North America are full of willows growing from Salix bonapartea.”

Since he rules over Longwood and the grave site in the name of France on this tiny British island, his word is law.

So the willow-tree story continues to be a pretty “histoire”.

But there is another plant that most certainly links New Zealand with St. Helena: Phormium tenax or New Zealand flax.

For 60 years from 1907, New Zealand flax ensured the economic prosperity of the island. It was planted, grown and processed into fibre for the British Post Office.

Synthetic fibres killed off the industry in 1966, and as a result, St. Helena was thrust into economic stagnation, from which it has never recovered. Indeed, it is now an economic liability for the British Government. The Empire bites back, as it were.

But the flax plant itself certainly wasn’t killed off. It continues to thrive in the ideal subtropical climate, and has started to choke indigenous plants.

Economic hope on the island now rests on tourism, the international economic backstop when all else fails. But that won’t happen until the airport issue is sorted out. Annual tourist numbers now amount to about 1000 a year, so tourism is hardly a growth industry, and if the airport is finally built, one of the island’s major tourist attractions - its remoteness - will be lost.

However, for those who can reach the island, St. Helena offers great opportunities for hiking and climbing amid an amazing variety of landscape and flora, considering that the total land area amounts to only about 120 square kilometres. Within a couple of hours, one can walk from semi-desert to lush rainforest. Much of the landscape reminds me of New Zealand, especially when I see the flax bushes and native cabbage trees waving in the breeze.

On one of my journeys of exploration on the island, I come across a most unexpected artefact: flax machinery hidden away in an old shed down a steep valley.

Wiping away the dust, I note the manufacturer’s name on the machine: Booth MacDonald, Christchurch.

Another Canterbury connection is maritime: steering gear of a ship sticking out of the water in the Jamestown harbour.

It is attached to the wreck of the SS Papanui, destroyed in a fire in 1911 on a voyage from Britain to Australia.

The 350 passengers were all saved, and the “Saints” sheltered them until another ship came by and picked them up.

The event is commemorated on a brass plaque fixed to the wall of the Jamestown library.

As I prepare to farewell the little island that has been my home for eight days and board the boat that will take me back to the RMS St. Helena, I am amazed by how one can travel for a month and many thousands of kilometres to one of the Earth’s remotest places and still find connections with Canterbury.

St. Helena was also used by the British to exile Zulu chief Dinizulu in the late 19th century and up to 6000 Boer prisoners at the turn of the 20th century from the South African War.

QUEEN’S BATON MEETS SAINT HELENA’S OLDEST RESIDENT

The Sports Campus, 6^th February 2010

After an epic journey across the Atlantic ocean on board the RMS St. Helena, the Queen’s Baton 2010 Delhi reached the world’s most isolated island; Saint Helena.

The entire island showed up to greet the Queen’s Baton amongst a lot of cheering and hooting. Governor of Saint Helena, Governor Gurr was the first to receive the Queen’s Baton before it was passed to the school children who had lined the 699 steps, Jacobs Ladder to the top.

The Baton then went on to cheer and bring joy to the older generation when it visited an old age home and was greeted by the oldest resident of Saint Helena, Hilda Clingham aged 99 years and 7 months, who also has the distinction of holding the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games Baton. The Baton travelled through the length and breadth of the picturesque island and was carried by the residents and athletes in a highly charged and happy atmosphere.

The historical island, Britain’s second oldest remaining colony has seen the exile of Napoleon Bonaparte, Dinuzulu KaCetshwayo and over 5,000 Boer prisoners.

Saint Helena with a history of over 500 years is an island of volcanic origin in the South Atlantic Ocean. Britain’s second oldest remaining colony (after Bermuda), Saint Helena is one of the most isolated islands in the world and was for several centuries of vital strategic importance to ships sailing to Europe from Asia and South Africa. Saint Helena measures about 16 by 8 kilometres and has a population of 4,255.

The baton is being carried by legendary RMS St. Helena which is a unique vessel. She is one of the only two ocean-going vessels in the world still to carry the venerable title of Royal Mail Ship, held in the past by so many famous British passenger liners. In addition to carrying passengers in well-fed comfort, she is almost the sole source of supply of all goods for her island namesake. RMS St. Helena is not just a passenger vessel; it’s a working ship, plying the Atlantic Ocean, carrying goods and people nearly halfway around the world.

ST. HELENA: THE ISLAND THAT BRITAIN FORGOT

Richard Webber, The Daily Express UK, 30^th January 2010

It is just a speck on the world map, a small corner of the globe that is 1,200 miles off the west coast of Africa but remains forever and unmistakably British. The last time St. Helena made headlines was when Napoleon Bonaparte died there in 1821.

But now despite deep-rooted loyalty to all things British, the island’s 4,000-strong population feels betrayed by the mother country. And the reason for their anger is Whitehall’s suspension of plans for a long-promised and much-needed airport for the island. The decision has been caused by the recession, the airport evidently seen as an easy overseas spending commitment to cut.

Now the islanders are warning that the postponed air link could sound the death knell for a community that has been under British rule for more than 500 years and is our second-oldest colony after Bermuda.

And already the population is starting to dwindle alarmingly, particularly among the younger age group. St. Helena’s inhabitants warn that 85 per cent of those aged between 25 and 45 have left during the past 10 years.

“Demographically, St. Helena is a ticking time bomb,” says resident Joe Terry. “The average age of the population is accelerating far quicker than it would in a normal community and this is combined with a chronic shortage of working-age people to care for the increasing number of the elderly.”

Islander John Styles adds: “St. Helena is in danger of becoming an expensive, isolated old people’s home funded by the British taxpayer.”

Currently this tiny outpost’s only lifeline is the RMS St. Helena, the last working Royal Mail ship. Two hundred years ago the island was a busy staging post with more than 1,000 ships dropping anchor annually; now this is the only regular visitor.

The 20-year-old workhorse provides the only means of reaching St. Helena from the UK, often battling rough seas to reach the 47-square-mile rocky outcrop. It travels twice a year from Portland, Devon, and the trip takes around 15 days.

It was originally due to be pensioned off this year but plans to replace its two engines will prolong its life. It isn’t immune to the odd breakdown, leading to delays in the island receiving supplies. In the Nineties the ship broke down en route from England full of Christmas goodies. When it finally docked, shops were desperately trying to sell Christmas puddings and mince pies in April.

As well as delivering letters from loved ones and essential provisions around the world it ferries in 1,000 tourists who provide valuable income to the community, as do the approximately 3,000 cruise-ship passengers who stop off for a few hours.

Many come to see Longwood House, where Napoleon lived out his final six years after defeat at Waterloo, and his burial place for 19 years until his body was returned to France.

The main reason the islanders are so keen on the airport was the expected tenfold increase in visitors, pumping an extra £10million annually into the local economy.

“In 2005 the UK government stated that it would fund the design, construction and initial operation of an airport, to open in 2010,” says John Turner, 51, who swapped Hertfordshire for St. Helena in 2005 with his two children and wife Catherine, 48, to manage the island’s only bank.

The islanders want to stand on their own feet, says Catherine, but with the airport project suspended she adds: “The British taxpayer can now look forward to paying £30million a year to St. Helena indefinitely.”

John Styles, 61, an islander since 2000 who runs his own farm and wine business with wife Lynnette, 57, says: “Britain still pours millions in to other countries, even China - one of the largest economies in the world - yet doesn’t seem to care about supporting its own people any more.”

Joe Terry, 61, who lives on St. Helena with his 52-year-old wife Daisy, says: “Decisions are being made on a short-term basis by faraway British bureaucrats who are mostly not qualified to run a barbecue, let alone an island with its own particular strengths, potential and weaknesses.”

Nearly 20 per cent of the population has left the island’s rocky shores in the past decade and businesses, many launched on the promise of an airport, are closing their doors for good. It is estimated that around £19million has been lost because of the airport saga.

Darrin and Sharon Henry are packing their bags for a second time and moving to London to open a photo studio. They lived in Hertfordshire for four years until returning to their homeland in 2004, when talk of an airport meant the future looked rosy.

Having sold their card and gift shop, they’re sad to be leaving their families again. But Darrin, 39, says: “Since the airport project was paused, business died overnight. Throughout 2009 the island began to decline again, making business very hard but the community is suffering socially too.” The Henrys worry about their homeland, where the average manual wage is around £70 a week. “The island will survive on handouts from the British Government but it will be a degrading and meagre existence,” claims Sharon, 35. “Already we are importing expats to fill jobs such as nursing and policing, due to so many people having left.”

For years many of the island’s breadwinners have been forced to work abroad, sending money back to their families left behind.

“The social impact of this, such as children being raised by grand- parents because their parents are overseas, are well documented,” says John Turner. “Go into any school and there will be a map on the wall where children have put pins to indicate where their parents are. It’s rare for a child to have both parents here. Many have neither; the airport would have resolved that.”

The island is so remote that patients requiring major treatment or operations have to sail to Cape Town in South Africa, seven days away. But if the RMS St. Helena has just sailed, it can be eight weeks before the patient can leave. “Even the most virulent anti- airport opponents would welcome air links for medical evacuation reasons. A flight to South Africa would take only four hours,” says Joe Terry.

St. Helena’s stunning landscape of high cliffs, rugged mountains and deep-wooded valleys are a tourist heaven. The island’s only prison currently houses just two inmates, while the crime rate hardly overruns the 26-strong police force.

The police report for last week, for instance, published in the weekly newspaper, revealed a total of 16 incidents including two arrests for being drunk in public places, a verbal warning for a breach of the peace and three people failing to comply with road traffic signs.

St. Helena is a world apart. There are no cinemas, theatres, mobile phones, amusement arcades, multi-storey car parks, traffic lights or fast food restaurants.

“The horrors you get elsewhere in the world don’t exist here,” explains Catherine Turner. “No child has ever been snatched or murdered, there aren’t any hard drugs and road accidents are infrequent because the national speed limit is 30mph - as low as 10 in places.”

More than a third of the working population are employed by local government, while the rest are fishermen, farmers and shopkeepers.

After the hectic pace of life in England, it took time for the Turners to adjust to island life. No one rushes in St. Helena, partly because of the weather. Thanks to its temperate climate, temperatures rarely drop below 10C or above 30C.

“Usually it’s too hot to rush, and being a small island it doesn’t take long to reach anywhere. Besides, you can only drive with one hand on the wheel because it’s custom to wave at every driver you pass,” smiles Catherine.

In the small capital Jamestown, brand new 4x4s share the roads with ageing Austin Maxis, Ford Cortinas and even Zephyrs.

Yet even now with the local economy struggling, wages low and many of the younger population forced off the island in pursuit of work, the advantages of life on St. Helena make up for its current plight say many residents.

Joe Terry says: “Where else can children play safely on their own, and people walk the streets 24 hours a day without fear? We may not have an airport but there’s no road rage, dangerous dogs, racial tension - the list goes on.”

John Turner agrees. “Despite having been kicked in the teeth again, the islanders remain mostly cheerful, albeit in a stoic sort of way, and are always friendly and helpful to each other,” he says. “There are so many things we like about living here; the airport would make many things better but we came here before the airport was announced.”

From the ‘have your say’ section . . .

FORGOT OR DECIDED TO DE-POPULATE?

"The decision taken by HM Govt to "pause" the project was totally irrational in that it flew in the face of all the economic modelling and feasibility studies that DFID themselves had commissioned. Even when the further period of public consultation was announced DFID recognised in the Consultation Document that their own preferred option, to delay making a decision for up to 5 years, was not the most economically viable solution, but again they pressed on with even further extensions to the delay. To say that the project was paused in Dec 2008 because of the "current economic climate", whilst openly showing on their website that they granted £118.4M to the world’s second largest economy is simply a further insult to the British people who are suffering as a direct result of their incompetence...!" (Posted by: RobMidwinter 30.01.10, 3:18pm)