30/10/2013 BBC Channel Islands News

That is all from the BBC's news at six, so it is goodbye from me,

Guernsey's Education Minister is describing today's States debate as

the hardest moment in his political career. Robert Sillars is asking

deputies to approve the closure of St Andrew's Primary and St Sampson's

Infants schools. Meanwhile, outside the States building, protests

against the proposals have been gaining support, as Penny Elderfield

reports. It's a campaign that's spread around

the Island. Blue ribbons sending out a message to keep St Andrews Primary

and St Sampsons Infants open. And it's a campaign that ends here.

Thousands have signed a petition. Now it's over to the States and

Education is sticking to its guns. We accent totally that it is a very

good single entry school but they are very difficult to manage. For

consistency across the island, two and three form is better. I will

train commits the deputies that what we recommend is the right way

forward and democracy will determine if they believe BUT it'll be tough

to convince everyone in the States closing the schools makes sense

That we have got things right. It is very simple, we do not believe the

arguments about educational outcomes under savings that the education

Department say they will make will do not exist. We are confident we

have put as many arguments as possible before the deputy and we

will see how the debate goes. It's almost the end of the road for

this debate. By tomorrow the fate of these two schools should be known.

A care home for older people in Jersey is to close ten months

earlier than planned. The Maison De Ville was due to shut in December

next year because it's too expensive to run. But around half the

residents have already moved out, now the rest will need to be found

new homes by the end of February. Some staff have already taken

redundancy and the future for others is uncertain. Pam Caulfield reports.

Jersey's oldest care home is out of date. Those living and working here

are running out of time. Three quarters of the building is empty

and the 12 remaining residents need to be moved out by February. It is

ten months earlier than originally planned. Many of the residents have

found alternative accommodation sooner than expected and we have

been able to look after them largely in our other residential homes. The

health professionals working with us have advised that it is not in the

best interest of the residents to be left in a home that is mostly empty

and they want us to find alternative accommodation for the remaining

residents as soon as we can. The home has been losing money to the

tune of ?2 million a year. Its closure was announced in May. At

that time there were 24 staff here and have taken voluntary redundancy.

The rest have moved on and those remaining have less time to find

work. Are their jobs out there for them in the Medicare system? That is

the discussions we are having now, what alternatives there are or job

shares or reductions in hours that could be accommodated. We want to

maintain as many staff as we can. They are well`trained and valuable

of staff. Those who need support later in life will continue to get

it but from spring they will not be cared for here, ending four decades

of care at this home here. More news from around the islands

now: A man remains in hospital a week after being Tasered by Guernsey

Police. It's only the second time the force

has used the electric weapon. It follows a disturbance at a property

in St Sampsons, when a 40`year`old man armed with kitchen knives and a

hypodermic needle threatened officers and also to harm himself.

Police say while the effects of the Taser are temporary, the man was

taken to hospital because of concerns about his physical and

mental well being. A criminal investigation is underway.

Alcohol use is still a problem in Jersey, according to a report from

the Home Affairs department on crime levels for last year. The amount of

alcohol drunk in the island has decreased, but is still higher than

other countries in Europe. There was an increase in the number of

night`time assaults in town and over half of all cases of domestic abuse

recorded in 2012 involved alcohol. However the report also showed

overall recorded crime in Jersey has fallen to its lowest level since

2005. The States of Guernsey are

advertising for a new top civil servant. The incumbent Mike Brown is

stepping down from the job after two decades as the Chief Executive. The

terms and conditions offer a generous relocation package and say

the successful candidate must act as a champion for Guernsey.

Seaweed has been used for centuries by farmers in the Channel Islands as

a cheap, natural fertiliser. But there's concern a new law could see

them being charged for it. Licences could be introduced to regulate who

can harvest this natural resource, and where from. Tim Robinson

reports. This stuff has been collected by

farmers and gardeners and spread on fields and flower beds in Jersey for

pretty much as long as history can remember.

It's vraic, and for over 100 years, its collection has been regulated by

this two page law, written in French in 1894. It was drawn up to stop

punch`ups on the beaches over the prized fertiliser, but the

department for economic development says it's stifling new marine

industries like ormer farming, because it contains rules on when

seaweed can be cut. It wants to replace it with this new law, the

cost of which would be recouped by charging people for licenses to do

it. But that's made some worry they'll be charged to collect vraic.

Nick Joualt has studied Jersey's association with the seaweed right

back to the 14th century. It does seem like a sledgehammer to

crack a nut, we're replacing a two page law, a simple law, with a 5

page doucment which is difficult to understand. I'm just a bit concerned

that people have been collecting seaweed for time immemorial, and

whether this will impact on it. The department says it's new laws

would only apply to the activity of cutting live seaweed, not the

gathering of seaweed broken off and cast up on the beach. Collection by

farmers and the general public would be able to continue as it does at

present. So farmers and gardeners can relax for now, but the law would

allow future ministers to apply a levy on vraic at any point.

You're watching the BBC in the Channel Islands. Later in Spotlight

with Rebecca and Simon: Agatha Christie's Devon home becomes the

setting for one of Hercule Poirot's final cases.

I went there in May and it is absolutely beautiful. Well worth the

watch! Have you ever met anyone who can

travel faster on water than a high speed ferry? Well, nor have I. But

one man in Guernsey is aiming to do just that. Martyn Ogier is a

windsurfer who's heading to Africa at the end of this week in an

attempt to be the first British man to break a speed sailing record

That'd mean travelling at more than 50 knots over 500 metres. Mike

Wilkins reports. On the windswept shores of Namibia,

a Guernseyman zooming along at speeds of more than 50 knots on a

windsurf. This was Martyn Ogier last year. At 6' seven", this gliding

giant is the British record holder over ten metres and is aiming to

break the record over 500m. It is one heck of a buzz. I guess it is

like riding a roller`coaster. A 500 metres run takes about 18 seconds

and you are peaking at about 60 mph. It is a rush.

Martyn's love for windsurfing was born in Guernsey and he's been on a

windsurf eversince he was 11. And although the years have moved on, he

told me he still feels he's got what it takes. My wife thinks I am a bit

crazy and probably getting a bit too long in the tooth but I don't know.

They say if you are good enough you are old enough that I like to swing

it around and say if you are good enough, you are young enough.

When you're travelling almost twice as fast as Condor's high speed

catamarans, with just a wet suit to protect you, this is a dangerous

sport to pursue. But Martyn is confident that with the right kit

and conditions he could return home a record`breaker.

We thought that was Mike at the end, we have not seen him since! C what

the weather has in store. Good evening. Nothing is settling

down at the moment across the Channel Islands. We will see more

wet weather overnight and including the weekend, the breeze will be a

feature of the weather again but not as strong as we saw on Sunday and

Monday. For most people we have a lot of cloud which will produce a

lot of rain. It will mostly clear but it will stay cloudy. The cloud

across Earth at the moment is the one producing outbreaks of rain

later this evening. It will be a fairly weak affair. Do not `` do not

expect too much in the way of rainfall. Freshening southerly

breeze will become strong to near gale force `` gale force for a time.

We still have the weather front close by. More low pressure comes in

on Friday and it could be windy and wet. This rain band is overnight

tonight. The main feature is rain but there will be a lot of cloud and

it will be mild and windy. Tomorrow the rain is slow to clear in the

morning. Some filaments of raid across last until the end of the

morning. It will eventually clear and cheer up in the afternoon. Do

not expect too much brightness. The cloud will be stubborn and 15

degrees is the top temperature. This is the forecast for coastal waters.

The serving is mostly choppy. Our main surfing Beatties `` beaches

will be up to three feet and rather choppy. The average wins will be

around 20 or 25 mph but we could have dusts of 40 or 50.

Finally, love could soon be in the air at Durrell as a new male Andean

bear has arrived at the wildlife park. Quechua comes to Jersey from a

zoo in the Netherlands. He'll join Bahia the female bear, who arrived a

few months ago. It's hoped the pair will breed within the next few

years. You can see those pictures on our

Facebook page. That is it for now. I will have the headlines at 8pm. See

you later. We have got some typical autumnal

weather. A reasonable start to the day tomorrow, but clouding up with

plenty of showers to end the day. This weather is giving us rain at

the moment, and drifting eastwards overnight. You can see great big

lumps of cloud heading our way from the Atlantic. Any diners will be

short lived. `` any dryness will be short lived. This area of low

pressure is moving in quite fast, bringing quite wet weather, heavy

rain, as we head into Friday. The afternoon looks particularly wet. As

we move into the weekend, it becomes windy again. That line of cloud

which is coming through this evening is moving steadily. Whilst we see

some rain now, it will Peter out towards the early hours of the

morning. We have enough clear skies to allow early mist and fog to ``

fog patches to form. A truly start to the day therefore. For most of it

will be dry and the mist will shift, but it will gradually cried over ``

cloud over and by the afternoon there will be rained pretty much

everywhere. Light to start with, the breeze increasing as the afternoon

goes on, coming quite strong by the evening. Quite well and tomorrow

though, despite all that cloud. For the Isles of Scilly, briefly bright

in the morning but the cloud will roll in along with the rain.

Becoming quite wet through the afternoon. High water times.

It will be quite messy for our servers, particularly in the

afternoon. The waves though. The visibility will fall to moderate

in the showers. I thought I would take you into the weekend, because

we are watching and other area of low pressure. It is quite a deep low

which will mean the weekend is windy on both days, but we are a bit

concerned about the strength of the wind, particularly overnight on

Saturday. It could be quite lively with gusts of 60 or 70 mph. Gales

again possible through this weekend. Plenty of rain on there has

well. Write a wet forecast. The rain on Friday could be quite intense so

we do have a warning about that from the Met office. As we move into the

weekend, plenty of showers around and slightly colder air heading our

way. Through Saturday and Sunday and certainly do the early part of next

week, watch the winds go from West to north`westerly with a drop in

temperatures. Make most of any or dry weather. Have a good evening.

That is it from us this evening. There will be hourly updates on your

BBC local radio station but from all of us here, have a good night.

Goodbye.