It’s been a hectic few months since the last newsletter in July and the pattern seems set to continue for the immediate future with planned visits to the island to support the OTEP/RSPB Wirebird and EU Invasive Species projects early in 2007.

This year’s United Kingdom Overseas Territories Conservation Forum (UKOTCF) conference saw St Helena represented by a delegation of 4 – the largest delegation to date. Thanks to the sponsorship of the UKOTCF for myself, and Miss Lucy Caesar (Director/Curator, the Museum of St Helena ) and of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) for Mr Gavin Ellick ( “Eddie Duff” Conservation Officer, SHNT) we were able to join Mrs Kedell Worboys (SHG UK Representative) - a blend of youth, enthusiasm, experience and energy! Eddie and Cathy also attended the workshops held before and after the conference.

The main conference started with a presentation by Martin Drury, Chairman of the Landmark Trust who gave a talk about the importance of conserving historic buildings by giving them a purpose as holiday homes for the top end of the heritage tourism market. He illustrated his talk with photos from several Overseas Territories including several houses on St Helena.  The increasing concerns of how to conserve our built heritage was raised from the floor during the question time and the need to identify funding to assist private owners (and governments dependent on GIA such as St Helena) maintain and restore historic buildings and sites to support sustainable heritage tourism. We held separate meetings outside the main conference with Department for International Development (DFID) representatives on this issue and since returning to St Helena have met with Private Sector advisor Mr Peter Wilson. We hope to develop a means of steering funding of the built environment into the overall tourism-related developments which must take place alongside airport development. Without some sort of small grant system to support the private owners of historic buildings and training in restoration techniques as well as an understanding of how one can develop historic buildings without compromising their heritage value are all elements which need the urgent attention of SHNT, SHG and St Helena as a whole if we are not to lose this key asset for future sustainable tourism.

The main emphasis of the conference was on the richness and value of the biodiversity to be found in the Overseas Territories – vastly more than within the UK and Europe together! The key sessions included Environment Charters and Strategic Planning where St Helena gave a short presentation on the use of the Turks & Caicos model for developing the Environment Charter Strategy for Action and it was good to see that we are not being left behind in this work: OTEP funding has supported projects on island like the Protection of the Central Peaks; St Helena Environmental Information System| (SHEIS) and the Wirebird project. Another key session was on Environmental Education and the UKOTs. Here it was possible to highlight the Education Packs researched by former SHNT director Mrs Barbara B George and recently formatted by Robin Richards for the website and CD.  Other presentations included one from Bermuda where they have an interactive Conservation pack. The integration of conservation and sustainable livelihoods saw us split our team into two in order to participate in the terrestrial and marine workshops. Eddie went to the marine workshop whilst the remaining delegates from St Helena attended the terrestrial workshop at which Dick Beales, Senior Environmental Advisor, DFID, gave a presentation on The Environmental Impacts of the airport development on St Helena. He prefaced his presentation by saying that he had worked closely with Isabel Peters to prepare the presentation. There was concern expressed from the floor about how effective mitigation measures could be when the research into recently discovered endemic invertebrates and into the wirebird was still needed to understand whether or not alternative sites could be found or other steps could be taken to reduce the loss of habitat and potential loss of species.  There was an interesting session on Obtaining and Using Resources (not just money) with Gibraltar representative John Cortes, giving us an insight as to why Gibraltar ‘s volunteer source has been so successfully drawn into the environment lobby with correspondingly success in persuading  government to take environmentally sound decisions. The restoration of hill slopes to native species has resulted in the return of migratory birds to this habitat. The value placed upon the environment in terms of developing sustainable tourism was also noted by contributors to this session.

The session on Species conservation issues was an opportunity for a presentation on the recently agreed EU Regional project on Invasive Species by Clare Miller from the RSPB. What is quite clear is that this project will not see work on the removal of any invasive species but will see a lot of work on researching and getting baseline information on them as a precursor to a second project under which measures would be taken for their reduction/eradication/ ongoing control. Clare will be visiting St Helena early in 2007 and the appointment of a local project officer is now being undertaken.  We enjoyed the opportunity of seeing conservation work in action at the Jersey Durrell Wildlife Centre where we spent the final afternoon of the main conference viewing some of the endangered species from Overseas Territories (and elsewhere) for which Captive Breeding programmes are in place – these included the Montserrat Golden Oriole and Mountain Chicken (not a bird but a frog!).

During the conference Jersey had one of its lowest tides for four years and we visited Jersey’s first Ramsar site, walking out across the sea-bed at low water. Jersey doubles in size at low tide! We walked out through oyster beds, wave-cut platforms, sand banks and saltwater-filled gullies to one of Jersey’s defence towers. It wasn’t too hard to believe that Jersey was once linked by land to France! 

Either side of the main conference was a workshop- the first on Biodiversity and Impact Assessment which was led by Dr Jo Treweek and Dr Bill Phillips and provided us with valuable insight into EIA and the importance of mainstreaming biodiversity as a key issue for developers, planners and decision-makers. This workshop included a Role play session where we undertook to lobby against a hypothetical hotel/marina development on “Paradise Isle” and had the unusual experience of being approached by the “developers” who wished to bribe us by making large monetary contributions to our organisation! Using a digital camera we recorded video footage of the “bribe” which somewhat undermined the developer’s credibility. Following the main conference Eddie and I attended a one day RSPB workshop on Bird Monitoring.

I am indebted to Mrs Phyllis Coleman Admin Assistant for her untiring work in the office & to the Trust Council members for their support. It’s also been really good to have Stephane Van de Velde working on the National Heritage Register for us as a volunteer – he is a history graduate from Belgium spending 3 months on St Helena.

With all best wishes for a Happy Christmas and Peaceful and “Green” New Year to all our members here and overseas.

Mrs Cathy Hopkins, Director.

OTEP/RSPB Conservation of Wirebird project

The fencing work and clearance of invasive weeds under the Trial Pasture Restoration has been completed and we are encouragingthe public to support the project by avoiding any unauthorized access to the two paddocks in the trial. Public access to the Pipe Ridge area for firewood has been secured through a route along the edge of another paddock and we have alerted the public to the need to keep the gates to the paddocks closed at all times. We have also asked that people respect the wirebird and cattle by keeping their dogs under control and taking all litter home with them.  We are having notices placed near the gates to remind the public of the project. Eddie has additional work now with monitoring of the ward height and vegetation composition in the trial paddocks. He has also been assisting the Access surveyors to site trial pits away from wirebird nests. The workshops to prepare a management plan have been delayed until April. Meanwhile, ANRD staff have been working with Eddie on this year’s census which should be completed before Christmas.

St Helena Environmental Information System –SHEIS

Len Coleman has been appointed GIS Manager and Gina Williams as Metadatabase Manager– congratulations to both of them! Meanwhile, we are asking DFID to consider an extension to the project to ensure that further training is given to stakeholders and we have the system well and truly bedded in here and ready to develop further beyond 2007. We hope to be able to bring the consultants here for a further visit next year. And the really good news for the Trust is that we have been awarded a grant by the Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) for the license and software to purchase ArcView 9x.

Millennium Forest-There is a steady flow of local and overseas visitors subscribing to the Forest and the prolonged winter has allowed planting to continue later than usual – as summer begins to creep in, the issue of concern will be the watering of the seedlings as the supply from the Waste Stabilisation Ponds still has not been restored.

We have submitted a proposal for the 2007 funding round of Overseas Territories Environment Programme to provide much needed investment for conservation of the Endangered St Helena Gumwood at two key sites: Peak Dale, where the largest remnant of woodland survives, with approximately 1,000 trees and the Millennium Forest, a community forest restoration project, where approx 6,000 trees have been planted by the public. If successful this project will see the Trust working closely with the Agriculture and Natural Resources Department. Improved infrastructure and organisational management of Peak Dale Gumwoods and the Millennium Forest will enable the forests to realise their potential as places of inspiration & education that engages people in conservation. Thereby promoting the successful long term survival of these two contrasting unique and valuable forests as places of large scale habitat restoration.

St Helena Tourism Report on Festival of Arts & Culture

The ambitious Festival of Arts and Culture served as a warm welcome to the 581 passengers from the MV Marco Polo on 6 December. The festival ran from 2 to 16 December which meant that passengers from the MV Artemis also had opportunity to witness the final day. Importantly, the festival allowed St Helenians themselves to witness local talent and to participate. In speaking about how the festival came about, Pamela Young, Director of Tourism said that, two years ago, the Tourist Office launched a Festival of Music. Following a review, it was decided that the event should be expanded to encompass all kinds of arts and culture as this would provide an opportunity to raise awareness about, promote and preserve St Helena’s talents and traditions. Nicola Osborne, Research and Development Officer in the Tourist Office, described the festival as an opportunity to “showcase Island talents.” The festival included over 25 events, all with an arts and culture theme. Various groups contributed to the activities which took place in Jamestown as well as districts around the island.

The schools’ Christmas activities contributed to the programme and included a variety entertainment, carol services, a festive parade and a float procession. The Ladies Orchestra hosted cocktails and carols at the Consulate Hotel, and the Young Enthusiasts performed a Piano and Song Recital at Prince Andrew School. The Young Enthusiasts include Rebecca Lawrence, Robyn Sim and Sasha Yon (pianists) who were joined by guest vocalists and instrumentalists for the recital. At the former Public Works & Services Department Store, the St Helena Government displayed  Metal Art from a Royal Court of Cameroon (Bamoum), part of Michel Dancoisne-Martineau’s collection. All of the sculptures were exhibited on locally made art stands which were specially created for the exhibition using recycled “junk”. This demonstrated what local craftsmen and women could create from what most of us would consider as “rubbish”. The exhibition was supported by the French Government and Fox Motors and donations were taken in aid of the St Helena Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Other activities included guided walks, art and craft demonstrations, Christmas Church festivals, a photographic exhibition on the theme of our Built Heritage, co- hosted by the National Trust and Museum of St Helena and an ‘Around the World’ Art Exhibition.  The finale on Saturday saw a festive parade through Jamestown in the morning and a very interesting Napoleonic Longwood walk in the afternoon.

Mud & Stone

We launched the new temporary exhibit at the Museum of St Helena during the festival of arts & culture. ‘Mud & Stone’ is a photographic exhibition, raising awareness of St Helena’s crumbling heritage and produced by the Museum and the Trust. “St Helena’s built heritage is as unique as its people. It defines the “Saint” and it represents a lost culture. Change is inevitable – we live in a dynamic world. We are part of a culture of consumerism and change. However change does not mean we have to loose sight of our heritage. What we have does not have to be forgotten . What has been lost can be re-created. Moreover what is here – is now. The rich legacy of our past can be blended into our future” Lucy Caesar and Cathy Hopkins.

NEWS OF THE FLAX MILL MUSEUM

The St Helena National Trust is working with the Museum of St Helena and others to establish an industrial style museum dedicated to a vital era of the Island’s history, the flax industry.

Where are we?

The Pipe Building is an early industrial building, with a Victorian Ruston steam driven fixed bed engine, and is being renovated to house the new museum. It is situated behind the Prison in Narrabacks; we share the building with the Rehabilitation Centre with our door facing up the street. The building has been made available to the Trust by the St Helena Government.

What’s been achieved so far?

• Grant money of £5,000 from the Bryan Guinness Fund, secured with help from the UK Overseas Territories Conservation Forum, has been used to renovate the inside of the building. External renovations to the brick work and circular window are still to be carried out with assistance from the Tourism Office.

• Donations have been gratefully received from four donors for interpretation ‘story’ boards which draw primarily on historical material and documents from Ken Denholm and Nick Thorpe.

• We also have a lot of photographs to display, a video shot in 1962, and the audio tape of the Fibre Musical performed by schoolchildren for Prince Andrew in 1984. Interpretation of these resources has been made possible with the procurement of audio visual equipment with a grant from Good Government Funds.

• Volunteer, Brian Turpin has worked hard to make replicas of two of the large machines used in the processing of the flax, a stripper, which stripped off the green non fibrous tissue leaving the fibre and a scutcher which removed any dry non fibrous material and short fibre, called ‘tow’. The materials for the construction were donated by Nick Thorpe and included original parts from the Fairyland flax mill.

• Ryan Moyce and Edward Baldwin have provided valuable assistance in the preparation of the interpretation panels.

• The Friends of St Helena have generously donated £1,000 to contribute towards the costs of installing electricity into the building, glazing the windows, constructing housing for the audio visual equipment and materials for the construction of a wheelchair ramp.

• Keith Hopkins kindly built the wheelchair ramp.

• Jamestown cubs and scouts happily gave their time to help to clean the Ruston engine.

We are extremely grateful to all the individuals and organizations that have helped to get us to where we are today.

Come along and see for yourself

We invite you to come along and take a look and find out more about this important piece of the island’s history which is within living memory for many Saints today.

We need your help to bring the museum ‘to life’.

The Museum is still ‘work in progress’ and there is still much to do to finish the exhibits and make it an informative and entertaining place to visit.

You can help by:

• Perhaps you have information, suggestions or ideas to make the displays or interpretation better.
• If you have experiences of life during the flax industry days we’d love to hear from you.
• We’d also love to hear from you, if you have any memorabilia from that era which you would be willing to be put on display.
• Perhaps you might like to share your experiences with visitors and be a guide when the Museum opens?

Or you might know something about the steam engine? Or have an interest in its restoration?

• BUT, most of all we hope you will come along and enjoy your visit!

Donations for the reconstruction of a stripper and the restoration of a rope-maker  would be warmly appreciated.

For further information contact Lucy Caesar, Curator St Helena Museum on tel. 2845 or Cathy Hopkins, Director of the St Helena National Trust on tel. 2190