Measures to combat alcohol-abuse have been identified as a key public health priority for our islands.

Members at yesterday’s Shadow Health and Wellbeing Board, which will soon take over the management of health and social services on the Isles of Scilly, heard that 90 people were admitted to St Mary’s hospital in 2009/10 due to alcohol-related illnesses including acute intoxication, liver disease and injuries from falling.

The report from the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Drug and Alcohol Action Team said that, while those numbers were too small for meaningful analysis, they were in-line with other statistics in the region and nationally that show a significant rise in alcohol-related admissions over the past ten years.

Bob Crossland, manager of the service, which is based in Cornwall, said for the past couple of years, the islands have been “disconnected” from his team’s alcohol abuse services.

Bob said a worker visits on a fortnightly basis to help local frontline staff dealing with alcohol abuse, such as the GP surgery.

But he added that the new Health and Wellbeing Board will need to take responsibility for managing these services in the future.

Jez Baynes, one of the authors of the report, says the range of alcohol services on Scilly are less well developed than on the mainland and it‘s a good time to review the services.

Unlike mainland community hospitals, our hospital cannot deliver detox programmes because they don’t have the correct certification. Patients currently have to travel to Helston or St Ives to get that service.

Jez also described the “Home and Dry” home detox kits, but again, these cannot be delivered by our Health Centre because the staff haven’t been trained.

He recommended employing a part-time alcohol abuse worker for the islands to coordinate local activities, rather than relying on support from the mainland.

That will cost an estimated £17,000, but Councillors said they couldn’t agree to this until they knew what the final health and wellbeing budget was going to be. Final settlements are not expected until the autumn.

Cllr David Pearson felt this investment could save money spent on treatment in the long-term. But Cllr Amanda Martin was more sceptical, saying it wasn’t clear from the report what benefits there would be for tax payers.

The report also recommended engaging with local licensees to encourage best practice in the industry and introducing Cornwall’s “Best Bar None” award scheme. Councillors felt that should be taken up with the local Pubwatch group.

Cllr Marian Bennett asked for the proposals to be investigated and brought back to a future meeting and that was supported by other members.

The Town Hall

The Council is to introduce a scheme to support out-of-workpeople in Scilly.

Joel Williams, Children’s Centre and Extended Services Manager, said this was needed because, while various parts of the Council already provide information on training, employment and financial hardship, that was not “fully integrated” and some departments may not be aware of what others were able to offer.

His department had an interest in this area, he said, because there was a link between unemployment and child poverty.

The programme, called Scilly Works, will be based on a similar scheme in Cornwall.

Joel said the idea is to create more “collaborative working arrangements” with local and mainland partners, such as Job Centre Plus and Citizens’ Advice.

However, Joel admitted that, “unemployment isn’t a massive issue on the islands at the moment, in fact there is under-employment.”

Joel said they intend to apply for £10,000 to fund the initial work.

Data from the Office for National Statistics in April this year show that Scilly had a total of 13 unemployment benefit claimants, representing 1.1% of the working population.

This compares with 4.8% nationally.

The Isles of Scilly Health Centre has a new doctor.

Dr John Garman started work here three weeks ago after moving over to the islands with his wife, three children and two dogs.

He is replacing Dr Schwarz who is moving to a new job on the mainland.

John has worked for the last nine years in the Helston Medical Centre, which has been running our GP surgery since last August.

John says the 25 miles of water between the mainland and us seems to make a huge difference to medical practice.

He says everyone here multitasks much more than on the mainland, something he described as “very refreshing,” but added that he’s “still getting his head around how everything works here” particularly the transport issues.

And he says it’s also obvious that people don’t have access to the same range of services as on the mainland, which can be frustrating.

However, he said that while Scilly and Helston are very different, there are also many similarities, particularly the rural communities that they both serve.

John’s background is in hospital medicine in the elderly, particularly in Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases, and he was lead GP at Helston Community Hospital. He’s hoping to bring those skills to the islands.

He is also a GP trainer and is looking forward to trainee GP’s coming over, something he said is very good for the Health Centre.

John has been to Scilly with his family previously on holiday and has played cricket on tour here several times.

He said jumped at the chance to move here when the opportunity came up.

Officials from the Marine Management Organisation will today continue checking whether food premises have completed the paperwork for purchasing fish.

Visiting staff boarded boats in St Mary’s harbour yesterday and they inspected food premises on all of the islands. It’s part of a clampdown on chefs who buy fish from hobbyists.

IFCA Officer Steve Watt says the MMO staff will return twice this summer.

Their action follows a meeting between two professional fisherman and four hobby fishermen in The Mermaid on Monday. The professionals have been concerned that amateurs may have sold their fish for profit.

In Cornwall, shellfish catch has been limited to two per day. Steve Watt says the meeting, which was cordial, stopped short of setting a catch quota like the mainland and instead backed a voluntary code.

All hobbyists will tag their pots and nobody will have more than 10 pots per boat.

The meeting heard some concerns that most pots are now the double-entry parlour pots, which crustaceans can’t escape from and those tend to increase the yield.

Steve Watt explained that the voluntary code would have to be self-policing as the IFCA hasn’t applied to put a by-law in place.

The Five Islands School

Around 30 Five Island School pupils, aged between 10 and 14 years, are in their final week of rehearsals for their first musical, Bugsy Malone, in the new performance hall.

Head of Drama, Tania Reynolds, says the new performance hall facilities will help the youngsters achieve their full potential.

The new stage is bigger than their old facilities at Carn Thomas and allows more creative possibilities, as well as having improved sound and lighting.

Tania says it’s been a big task putting on a show that requires singing and keeping up American accents and this has pushed the kids to the limit. But the youngsters on stage and behind the scenes have risen to the challenge, she says.

Tania and the pupils have been working hard in preparation for the production, rehearsing after school and during lunchtimes. Tania says its harder putting on a musical than a normal stage play, because of the challenge of singing and choreography.

And she says that the reality of going out on stage is starting to hit some of the youngsters, but that is why drama is so good for building up their confidence.

The two performances will be held on Thursday 24th and Friday 25th May at 7pm.

On the Thursday night, the PTA will serve light refreshments during the interval.

On the Friday night, hot food will be available during the interval and all food needs to be pre-ordered when purchasing tickets, which are available from the school reception.

A selection of the work on display

Creative arts using the medium of fabrics are the focus of the Art Scilly festival yesterday and today.

The Scilly Stitchers have been showing what they can achieve with felting, quilting, sewing and knitting.

The group mixes stitching skills with the social setting of their Thursday sessions and Tania Weller says the group has expanded and diversified from the original Lyonesse Quilters, formed 12 years ago.

She says some of the younger members are into newer techniques such as felting, free machine embroidery and silk painting.

Tania says she’s pleased that the group is taking part in Art Scilly as more and more people are enjoying the creative side of stitching, partly because of recent TV exposure for the craft

And she says the hobby is very much up-and-coming, with plenty of younger people starting the craft. It’s also being seen as more of an art form these days too.

While TV exposure of stitching has helped draw attention to the pastime, long-time member Sue Williams isn’t a fan of how shows like Kirstie Allsopp’s series represent the craft.

She says Kirstie makes it look like something that takes minutes, but in reality it doesn’t, says Sue. It takes a long time to make something worthwhile, she says.

Sue says you have to plan ahead if you are a stitcher in Scilly because getting the fabric is difficult.

She has a huge stock and always buys lengths of fabric when she goes to the mainland.

Jill Wilson says one of the exhibits has taken half a century of work. It’s a table cloth started by Margaret Tiedeman’s mother-in-law, Violet, who was born 100 years ago on the day the Titanic sank. Margaret has been bringing the piece along to the group and has finally finished it in time for the exhibition.

A table cloth that's been 50 years in the making

Mary Humphries was a member of the original Lyonesse Quilters.

One of their first works was a quilt to mark the year 2000. It’s seen by thousands of visitors and locals each year at the airport.

Mary says it was a massive job and took the group around 6 months to make. Sadly, says Mary, it’s starting to look a bit ‘jaded’ but hopes they can get together to do some repairs soon.

Tania says the group enjoy working on special charitable fundraising projects. They’ve been making bags for the Vet Support Group to sell, and will also be taking part in the Linus Project again this year.

That project involves making quilts, which are given as comfort blankets to children at St Austell’s Little Harbour Children’s Hospice.

Mary says the group, who meet on Thursdays, are a friendly and supportive bunch. She says they’re never critical, but try to encourage every member, whatever their skill level.

Tania says a lot for people who admire their work and they’re particularly blown away by the intricacy of some of the pieces.

Subsidence under the amphitheatre

The remaining problems with the Five Islands School build are just snagging issues, Councillors have been told.

Council Chief Executive Philip Hygate told Members that says most of the remaining work was related to “fine detail finish” and falls within what is expected by the Royal Association of Architecture.

But Philip added that one floor in the science classroom will need to be re-laid in the holidays. The contractors will pay for that work, and reconstruction of the amphitheatre.

Engineers are currently trying to find the best way to fix that walled area at the School entrance. Meetings have been held with the builders on site after the tiered amphitheatre collapsed for a second time, following the storm on April 30th. Philip said it was a  “disappointment” and discussions with the contractors have been “full and frank.”

Philip says the Council has paid out over £16m for the work but they have held back some of the building money and it won’t all be paid until they are happy with the job.

A firm of structural engineers, Jubb has now been appointed by Kier to solve the amphitheatre problem. They’ve suggested a wider base to the wall and the reduction of the dry stone on the facing side.

The footpath has been rerouted away from the wall, which was has been partially demolished, and the area has been fenced it off.

The plan is to finish the amphitheatre in June.

Construction company Kier had asked for extra time on the scheme and Gordon Bilsborough was worried that would have a knock on effect on the Porthcressa work.

Mr Hygate said that it would not delay other works as the work extension was related to paperwork and settling claims.

Philip told Councillors he’d been stopped in the street by locals who wanted to compliment him on the sports hall.

He said that some people had remarked how deceptively large it was inside, adding that he thought the sports hall and school were two very fine assets for the community.

Council Chambers at the Old Wesleyan Chapel

The question of whether off-island Councillors should have reserved places on council committees has been raised in the annual Full Council meeting.

The debate started while Councillors were discussing the Community Services committee. It has 8 positions and half have to be reserved for off-island members.

Cllr Richard McCarthy, who represents St Agnes, felt that an additional St Mary’s member should be appointed as many of the committee functions, including Lifelong Learning, Park House and the new sports facilities are St Mary’s based.

The difficulties of balancing the committees with a prescribed number of off-island representatives became clear when members tried to appoint to the General Purposes committee.

The vote became complicated and the meeting descended into chaos.

At one point, Cllr John Goddard asked “can someone explain what path we’re going down?” adding, “this is getting completely out of hand.”

Cllr Dudley Mumford twice questioned the guaranteed off-island committee places.

The General Purposes committee oversees the airport, roads and Council-operated water services with a £1m budget.

Dudley said there was one off-island member who had attended just 3 out of 18 meetings. A compromise was found by electing Cllr Mike Nelhams to serve as the Tresco representative instead Cllr Robert Dorrien-Smith.

Cllr Christine Savill said she wouldn’t be averse to Dudley’s suggestion that off-island ring fencing should be discussed but it shouldn’t be rushed.

She wanted Dudley to “go with the flow for another year.”

Philip Hygate confirmed to Dudley that the off-island ring fencing could be dropped if Councillors wished.