Victorian Walled Kitchen Garden in Saumarez Park needs volunteers, old cards, egg boxes and small gifts

January 31st, 2014 by Richard Lord

The Guernsey Botanical Trust 25 January 2014 ‘Garden Gossip‘ newsletter states that the Victorian Walled Kitchen Garden is now an accredited Guernsey visitor attraction.

The beautiful garden expects many visitors in 2014. The garden hopes to open from 10.00 a.m. to 4 p.m. from Tuesdays to Sundays between March and September 2014 and Bank Holidays, but the Guernsey Botanical Trust needs a sufficient number of volunteers to open the garden gates, put out the information boards and greet visitors.

The charity is asking for new volunteers to offer three hours per week for the 2014 season.

The charity is launching a “Meet the Team” evening on Thursday 13 February 2014 at 7.00 p.m. at the Castel Douzaine room, Les Beaucamps.

The charity also requests donations of items photographed in the image above.

Contact it by emailing: [email protected]

The Caves youth centre on Upper Mansell Street in St Peter Port

January 31st, 2014 by Richard Lord

Matthew Sawbridge, The Caves Youth Centre Manager, spoke to Sustainable Guernsey about plans for the youth centre on Upper Mansell Street, Trinity Square in St Peter Port.

The Caves on Upper Mansell Street next to Trinity Square in St Peter Port (click image to expand – ©RLLord)

The Caves, which uses the former ‘The Caves du Bordeaux’ premises, has been set-up by Guernsey Youth, which is an independent charity headed by Wayne Bulpitt.

Matthew Sawbridge, who has a three year contract funded by the Lloyds TSB Foundation for the Channel Islands, is reaching out to every secondary school on the island, the Guernsey College of Further Education, and two sixth form centres to let young people know about The Caves.

“The Caves will cater for people aged 11 to 24 years old, and has a maximum capacity of 70 people upstairs, and up to 40 on the ground floor.”

“The ground floor has been set-up primarily as a youth café.” Continue reading

Guernsey conservation projects can enter 2014 Conservation Awards

January 29th, 2014 by Insurance Corporation Conservation Awards

Guernsey conservationists are encouraged to celebrate their work in this year’s Insurance Corporation Conservation Awards.

Now in their 24th year, the awards are open to individuals, businesses, organisations and schools that have created, or who have plans to create, an environmental project for the benefit of the Island.

Glyn Smith, Insurance Corporation managing director, said “this year we will introducing a new award in honour of Peter Walpole, Insurance Corporation chairman and founder of the Conservation Awards.” Continue reading

The 2014 Rock to Rocque Bike Ride in aid of Les Bourgs Hospice will be on 25 May

January 28th, 2014 by Heritage Group Ltd

Rock to Rocque cyclists approach the entrance to Fort Grey in Rocquaine Bay on Guernsey’s west coast on 26 May 2013 (click image to expand – ©RLLord)

The Rock to Rocque Bike Ride sponsored by Heritage will be on Sunday 25 May 2014.

The annual bike ride, now in its 21st year, has become a key event in the local fundraising calendar with all proceeds going to Les Bourgs Hospice.

Last year the event attracted 1050 cyclists and raised a record £35,000 for the Hospice.

This year, organisers hope to at least equal, if not surpass last year’s results.

Mira Domaille, event organiser, said “the event was a massive success last year so we want to make sure people have it in their diaries early this year so that we can raise as much money as possible for the Hospice.” Continue reading

Wastewater extension to close St Andrew’s Road from 4 February to 17 March 2014

January 28th, 2014 by Guernsey Water

Young People Guernsey’s The Hub in St Peter Port needs volunteers

January 27th, 2014 by Young People Guernsey

(please click image to open and download the flyer as a PDF file to your computer)

Young People Guernsey (YPG) is in need of volunteers for The HUB on The Bordage in St Peter Port

YPG needs your help to find more volunteers for The HUB.

The Hub entrance on The Bordage, St Peter Port (click image to expand – ©RLLord)

Such is the demand for the service that YPG wants to Continue reading

Take3 Guernsey volunteers pick-up Petit Port’s litter

January 27th, 2014 by Richard Lord

In mid-January 2014, Karen Marsh, Take3 Guernsey member, instigated a beach clean by posting on the group’s Facebook page to ask if anyone was organising one.

The Guernsey volunteer group takes its name from the non-profit Take3 organisation founded in Australia in 2009, which “asks everyone to simply take three pieces of rubbish with you when visiting a beach, and raising awareness of the consequences of plastic debris on the world’s oceans.”

Rachel Burton replied to Karen that Petit Port beach on Guernsey’s south coast was heavily littered from washed-up debris after the strong storms of early January 2014 and needed to be cleaned.

The beach at Petit Port on 19 January 2014 (click image to expand – ©RLLord)

Jan Dockerill of the States of Guernsey Environment Department suggested that volunteer litter pickers meet on the beach at 11 am on Sunday 19 January 2014 to begin the clean-up.

Some of the plastic beach litter prior to the 19 January beach clean that had been collected and placed behind the chain link fence that protects beach visitors from rock falls at Petit Port. (click image to expand – ©RLLord)

Some Take3 Guernsey members visited the Petit Port sea Continue reading

The Guernsey Society of the Men of the Trees beautifies and adds biodiversity to Delancey Park

January 27th, 2014 by Richard Lord

The Guernsey Society of the Men of the Trees volunteers planted trees on east-facing terraced land marked on maps as wildlife habitat in Delancey Park, St Sampson on Saturday morning, 25 January 2014.

Some of the wood cleared from the terraces in Delancey Park by Community Service (click image to expand – ©RLLord)

The St Sampson parish land, which had become overgrown and had accumulated litter, was cleared by Community Service before The Guernsey Society of the Men of the Trees volunteers began planting.

The States of Guernsey Culture and Leisure department maintain Delancey Park to provide facilities such as the football field, the bowling green, and the children’s playground.

Litter, which was removed, on the terraces where The Guernsey Society of the Men of the Trees planted trees (click image to expand – ©RLLord)

Andrew McCutcheon, Secretary of the Guernsey charity, said Continue reading

Long term exposure to air pollution linked to heart attacks and angina

January 22nd, 2014 by British Medical Journal

Research conducted at the Department of Epidemiology in Rome, Italy and published in the paper ‘Long term exposure to ambient air pollution and incidence of acute coronary events’ on bmj.com suggests that long term exposure to particulate matter in outdoor air is strongly linked to heart attacks and angina, and this association persists at levels of exposure below the current European limits.

Traffic causes local air pollution in the narrow streets of St Peter Port (click image to expand – ©RLLord)

The results support lowering of the EU limits for particulate matter air pollution.

Ambient particulate matter air pollution is estimated to cause 3.2 million deaths worldwide per year, but the association between long term exposure to air pollution and incidence of coronary events remains controversial. Continue reading

Sitting for long periods increases heart failure risk in men

January 21st, 2014 by American Heart Association

Sitting for long periods increases heart failure risk in men, even for those who exercise regularly, according to new research published in the American Heart Association journal Circulation: Heart Failure.

Preventing heart failure, researchers found, requires a two-part behavioral approach: high levels of physical activity plus low levels of sedentary time.

The study is the first to examine the link between heart failure risk and sedentary time, said Deborah Rohm Young, Ph.D., lead researcher and a senior scientist at Kaiser Permanente in Pasadena, California.

“Be more active and sit less. That’s the message here,” Dr Young said.

Researchers followed a racially diverse group of 84,170 men ages 45 to 69 without heart failure.

Exercise levels were calculated in METs, or metabolic equivalent of task, a measure of the body’s energy use.

Sedentary levels were measured in hours.

After an average of nearly eight years of follow-up, researchers found:

Men with low levels of physical activity were 52% more likely to develop heart failure than men with high physical activity levels, even after adjusting for differences in sedentary time.

Outside of work, men who spent five or more hours a day sitting were 34% more likely to develop heart failure than men who spent no more than two hours a day sitting, regardless of how much they exercised.

Heart failure risk more than doubled in men who sat for at least five hours a day, and got little exercise compared to men who were very physically active and sat for two hours or less a day.

Study limitations included: since no women were studied the results may not apply to them; results were self-reported, which could mean physical activity was over reported; results were based only on time outside of work and can’t be applied to overall sedentary activity; and participants were members of comprehensive health plans, so results may not apply to men lacking health insurance.

Dr Young said “the study supports the American Heart Association recommendation that people get at least 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity aerobic activity to reduce their risk for heart failure and other cardiovascular diseases.”