30/12/2013 BBC Channel Islands News

John Good evening. There's growing We are back with the

John Good evening. There's growing support among local charities

tonight for more help and shelter to be provided for women in Jersey.

Over Christmas, Caring Hands, which offers shelter and help for men, put

posters on the back of buses asking men to ring up if they were going to

be lonely at Christmas, but a number of women rang up too. The charity

couldn't help them but thinks there needs to be more shelter for lonely

women in the Island. Meanwhile there is now more help for homeless people

in Jersey after the Shelter Trust reopened the Roseneath Centre. The

building in St Helier closed two years ago because it didn't have

enough money. Since then, it's been bought by the Health and Social

Services Department and refurbished, creating 22 single rooms. Guy Le

Maistre is the vice Chair of the Shelter Trust. Earlier he told me

who Roseneath would be for. It is additional accommodation for the

homeless community. Roseneath is part of the second stage, which is

supported living. It is available to anyone. Sometimes people moving on

through the first stage of emergency accommodation will move into

Roseneath. We get referrals from people outside and partner agencies.

It is available to anyone, male or female, preferably over 25, because

we have a dedicated facility for young people. How badly needly is

the Roseneath Centre? It is another valuable asset for Shelter Trust. It

provides additional capacity for us. That is not to say that there is a

problem, there is enough capacity in the system, but what it does do, is

because it creates more units, at the moment we have a number of

people who were living in shared accommodation, on one of our

existing sites, so it provides the opportunity for us to move toward

single occupancy, which is obviously great for the residents, in terms of

getting back on their feet and giving people the time and space...

As we all do, have their own personal space. The Carings Hands

charity which runs the men's refuge says there's a growing number of

women wanting help, does the Shelter Trust see this happening too? It is

something we have noticed. Around one in ten of the homeless community

were female and that has doubled in the last couple of years. The

existing shelters are for both male and female and there is enough

provision for them. I think at this time of year, for different reasons,

sometimes there is greater demand at this particular time. Condor Ferries

is making safety improvements to its guard rail system after a member of

staff fell and was injured. The guard rail keeps people or vehicles

from dangerous or off`limits areas on the ferry. The deck hand was

trying to catch a mooring rope of a ferry in St Malo and fell over.

Condor have told the BBC they've since made changes to prevent a

similar accident in future. A smoke alarm saved the lives of a mother

and her eight`year`old son when a fire broke out in their home in St

John in Jersey. It started in the conservatory and spread to rest of

the building in the early hours of yesterday morning. The woman and

child were treated by paramedics for breathing in smoke. The semidetached

house was extensively damaged by smoke and the conservatory was

completely destroyed by the fire. The most likely cause of the fire

was a faulty heater in the conservatory. There are calls for

Guernsey's Health Minister to resign following a big underspend on the

budget for bowel cancer screening. Deputy Mark Dorey admits he wrongly

told politicians there was no money left for the screening programme.

Now Deputy Mike Hadley says the minister should step down for

misleading the States. Tonight Deputy Dorey said he'd been let down

by HSSD civil servants over the underspend. What we will do is that

there will be a separate call centre, a simple process, because

any money spent on Bal cancer screening, you will get the analysis

for that. We will correct the problem. As it was set up, it was

not done. The Channel Islands' biggest sporting event of the year

is just a few months away. The Commonwealth Games will be held in

Glasgow over the summer of 2014. Guernsey will be sending the largest

team from the islands and as Mike Wilkins reports, one of their best

athletes is back on track. Guernsey on the global stage at the last

Commonwealth Games in Delhi. And in a few months time the team will be

going for gold in Glasgow. This is known to many athletes, they have

spent many hours training and one of Guernsey's boast high`profile

athletes is Lee Merrion. You were the fastest Briton at the last

Olympics. That was the last time you competitively raced. You have had a

tough time. Going back into training after the Olympics, I picked up an

injury, thought it was innocuous, but unfortunately it was one of

those things. I put myself through the rigours of probation for

qualifying. I had a rough year with injury, quite a bit of surgery. I am

now over the worst of that and back in training and looking forward to

Glasgow. This man is responsible for the team and says Glasgow should be

a more straightforward affair. Guernsey didn't manage to win any

medals last time, but rest assured there are golden hopes for Glasgow.

Glasgow will be a lot easier than Delhi. There were lots of things

that were problematic right the way through the games. Glasgow will be

far better organised than that. I think my job will be easier, having

said that, there is an awful lot to do. The opening ceremony is just

over the road from the games. We have that excitement building up,

even now. Just to be able to have the team there, to see them come in,

makes you feel terribly proud and very excited. Guernsey didn't manage

to win any medals last time, but rest assured there are golden hopes

for Glasgow. Time for the weather. We do have

some unsettled weather with us for the end of the year and for the

start of next year as well. Tomorrow is a windy day, some rain at first,

but it is clear for some sunshine, with still a few showers tomorrow

afternoon. At the moment we are in between two weather systems, some

dry weather with us at the moment, but by tomorrow, this cold front

will sweep in bringing rain and windy conditions. On Wednesday, we

are looking at fairly heavy rain along with some particularly strong

winds for New Year's Day. For the moment, we have clear skies and as

we go through the night, Cloud will increase, some rain will arrive and

these winds will pick up as well. A mild night with temperatures no

lower than eight degrees. First thing tomorrow, cloudy with

outbreaks of rain. Into tomorrow afternoon, we will see some sunshine

as well with the chance of a shower. Still quite breezy tomorrow, but the

winds are not as strong, temperatures up to 11 degrees. At

sea tomorrow, the South and south`westerly winds are forced five

to six. Some rain and showers at sea, and the week ahead contains

some wet weather, particularly on Wednesday, some heavy rain along

with some strong winds and once that clears, Thursday and Friday, still

some heavy showers. I will be back at 10pm. Goodbye.

Another day off strong winds, heavy rain and flooding. At least things

are quiet at the moment. The rain has cleared off and the wind is

lighter. There might be some ice in Scotland, but through the night, the

wind picks up, lifting temperatures, but more heavy rain pushing in. The

rain band is not quite a significant us today, but it will leave surface

water flooding. Some heavy bursts clearing Northern Ireland by first

light. It reaches the east coast by the time we get to lunchtime, after

a few morning showers. The wind is falling lighter, easing down from

the gusty nature. A bit of sunshine through the afternoon. The

temperature is a bit higher than they should be at this stage of