07/02/2014 BBC Channel Islands News

Good evening. Welcome to Friday s When is it going to end?

Good evening. Welcome to Friday s BBC Channel Islands. We're heading

into the weekend looking at these stories for you this evening: First

the weather, now French strike action cripples Condor ferries with

no services to France for the foreseeable future. Flooding brings

chaos to Guernsey, as dozens of roads are submerged. Plus, we look

at how sea birds, and even hedgehogs, are suffering in the

winter storms. Another big storm moving into our

corner of Europe. Exceptional gusts of wind, over 70 mph tomorrow

afternoon over the island. All the details later in the programme.

Condor has cancelled ferries to and from St Malo for a second day due to

industrial action. French crew staged an unofficial walk`out

yesterday, and have not returned to work today. Edward Sault is live at

Jersey's Elizabeth Harbour tonight. Edward, why are staff on strike The

crew of Condor went on strike yesterday, this is the deck crew,

rather than the cabin crew. Their terms and conditions are based on

legislation in Guernsey because that is where Condor ferries are based,

but the French crew wanted change to French legislation saying they do

not get good pay and they say Social Security benefits are not good for

them either. This is what the union had to say by phone from France

There needs to be a provision in the contract with Condor, which says

that it operates between Germany and Saint Malo only if there isn't an

agreement `` an agreement between them. They want to be part of the

resolution of the conflict. Condor told me earlier that this strike

came out of the blue for them. They have representatives on board to try

and negotiate a solution with the crew. It would be inappropriate for

us to come up with a solution that is not right that only our

colleagues but also to make sure the company is viable and to make sure

that the islanders are protected. The last thing we want to do is have

some pressure on fares, so we want to make sure everything we do is the

right solution for everybody. Pressure has been mounting on both

governments in Jersey and Guernsey to get involved. We have heard in

the last few moments that jersey are considering intervening. It's not

clear how long the disruption will last, but sailing tomorrow has been

cancelled. Condor say because of the bad weather predicted, and not

because of the ongoing industrial action. Edward, thank you. The

Channel Islands had a brief moment today to recover from the week's

stormy weather. Guernsey was hit particularly hard last night, as

roads were flooded after exceptional rainfall. The island has already had

its wettest February in 35 years. Mike Wilkins reports.

After a night where dozens of Guernsey's roads were flooded, this

morning some were still submerged. I am close to this reservoir, and

behind me you can see the road is still flooded and obviously

unsurpassable. It's not just the roads that have had a soaking, water

has knocked this church and pre`school out of action for weeks.

It's one of those acts of God, if you like. And, of course, this main

hall is a day school for the little bears of which they have had to make

alternative emergency arrangements elsewhere. It is like an evacuation.

And just down the road another kind of damage was being surveyed, the

damage to our wildlife. It is a major concern. Already we can say

that birds like cormorants, shags, maybe a few other species will have

already decided that they cannot breathe this year. It's early

February but that decision will be made for them. They won't be able to

get into condition to last the breeding season, so survival becomes

priority rather than breeding. Over at the animal shelter, guillemots

are among some of the animals brought in during the storms,

including this pigeon called Droopy who has a broken wing. If anybody

comes across an injured animal, we would urge them to call this here.

Or just pop the animal to the shelter, there's somebody here 4

hours a day, seven days a week and somebody in a vehicle ready to

respond to any sick or injured animal. There has been some good

news on the wildlife front. Earlier in the week this young dolphin was

stranded at Pembroke Bay. Well, today, I spotted him swimming around

Beaucette Marina, where I believe there's a decent supply of fish to

keep him going. Well, a happy ending in Guernsey,

but in Jersey the bad weather has been causing problems for the

island's wildlife. Conservationists are worried after dozens of dead sea

birds have washed up, while animals like hedgehogs are struggling to

hibernate. And there are fears the weather could be the final straw for

one well`loved island resident. Jen Smith has more. Puffins are

unmistakable birds with their brightly coloured bills and can

sometimes be spotted on parts of the island 's coast. Puffins in Jersey

are a rare sight at the best of times. But if you're going to have

any chance of spotting one, it's here on the north coast that you've

got the best odds. Unfortunately those odds have now been cut.

Durrell's bird expert Dr Glyn Young says Jersey's puffins are dying out.

Some go further south in the Atlantic, but obviously birds that

winter long way out to sea in rough weather have bad problems, and when

the sea becomes rough they cannot feed and they get thrown around in

the wind. It's not very nice out there. And it's not just puffins

that have been affected by this year's stormy seas and gale force

winds. Dr Young says his team's found dozens of dead birds of all

species. We call these wrecks. Following big storms you get a wreck

of sea birds, big not just dead ones, sick ones, or sometimes one

just washed into land when they shouldn't be. This time of year

with the storms, it's not unusual. The weather's also affected wildlife

on land. These Jersey hedgehogs have struggled to hibernate because the

wind and rain has left them hungry. You're being asked to keep an eye

out for island wildlife before the winter's out.

A Jersey gynaecologist will have to go through a period of re`education

and assessment before he can go back into unrestricted practice in either

the NHS or privately, after action from a disciplinary body. Dr Gamal

Mohamed admitted poor performance in four key areas of his work. The

Medical Practitioners Tribunal service could have decided to strike

him off, but instead agreed that he could continue to work under

supervision. He has already had an offer of retraining at a hospital in

Birmingham. The Chief Ministers of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man

have reaffirmed their commitment to working together on a range of key

international issues. Senator Ian Gorst, Deputy Peter Harwood and

Member of the House of Keys Allan Bell met in Douglas in the Isle of

Man today. The meeting focused on banking reform, and social issues.

Two extra customs officers will be employed next summer in a bid to

reduce excessive amounts of duty`free tobacco being imported

into Jersey. Nearly 2,000 searches were carried out at the port and

airport last year, and over 180 000 cigarettes were seized from

passengers going over their duty`free limit. That's worth

?39,000 in duty evasion. Could you save three months' salary for a

rainy day? Well, that's the recommendation from Jersey's

Citizens Advice Bureau, as concerns grow about the level of personal

debt in the island. So how doable is saving 90 days of pay? We've been

out in St Helier to find out. It is a nice thought, but whether

people can practically do it at the moment is another issue. I think

everybody would like to, but if it could really happen, I think people

would struggle. Actually, we don't put any money aside because all of

the money we are saving is for the baby. Burning is OK but it's saving

it is the hard part, especially families with children, it's

expensive `` earning. You have to pay your rent, food, bills. There's

nothing left. You can't save. It must be jolly difficult now. It was

difficult enough in my era, but it must be really difficult now.

It seems saving is tough for lots of islanders at the moment, but just

how healthy are our collective finances? Jersey's Consumer Council

has partnered up with the Citizens Advice Bureau and Community Savings

limited to launch an anonymous survey to find out. Emma Chambers

reports. The stresses and strains debt can

bring, causing many people to bury their heads in the sand rather than

talking about it. And that's why this survey has been launched. It's

been sent out to 4,000 randomly`chosen households to find

out the state of our personal finances. You don't put your name on

it, so it's hoped this anonymity will encourage people to be open

about debt worries. It is, I think, a far wider problem, particularly in

relation to loans and credit cards. I think with less affluent people

there is a growing payday loan crisis as well. To find out how

serious the issue is on the island, Jerzy's consumer Council has teamed

up with two local charities that help those with money troubles ``

Jersey. This is the first time we've worked together in a concerted way,

so when we get the results, we want to drive through them and get

something meaningful out the back of them and so we can focus better on

what we are doing and provide a service tailored to the needs of the

community. One of those services will educate people how to manage

their spending. If we can start running workshops with people so

people don't bury their head in the sand, Cumbria by surly. There is a

stick `` they come to us early. There is a stigma, but we want them

to come here and help each other out. It's hoped the survey findings

will help people with money problems find a brighter future. If we were

saving for a rainy day, we would have used it all up this week as we

have had rain and wild weather. It is the winds to look out for this

week. I think so, but that's not to say

the rain won't cause problems. I think the main theme is the strength

of the winds. It's a deep area of low pressure, and the weather `` we

are the furthest away really, but even where we are we will feel the

influence. Mainly because it will whip up the seas and we will have

some big waves coming in from the west or south west tomorrow. Severe

gale force winds and the showers. Every time a shower comes along the

winds pick up even more. We are expected to see some lively gusts of

wind. That is a warning to the weekend. It might ease a little bit

on Sunday. Perhaps some good news in the forecast, but the tides are not

as high as they have been and we have moved up the spring tides, so

that is good news. But the strength of the wind could be damaging, up to

70 mph on Saturday afternoon. Here is the low a big one, taking up much

of the Atlantic. Moving steadily towards the middle of the islands.

One line of rain will creep away during the night and be replaced by

showers and it is the blustery showers that followed behind that

could give us the real strength of wind. We will see some gusts of

wind, slightly less windy in Sunday. The isobars not so tightly

packed. Having said that, still a risk blustery showers. Windy and wet

tonight with gusts up to 50 or 0 mph. The winds are veering south,

dropping overnight, and temperatures down to six degrees. Tomorrow,

plenty of showers around, briefly some sunshine to cheer us up, but

steadily increasing strength of wind. And by the the gusts of up to

40 or 50 mph, much stronger than that though in some of the blustery

showers coming along as well. You need to wrap up warm as nine degrees

as the top temperature. As the forecast the coastal waters, here

they are. `` the forecast for the coastal waters.

Sunday a bit quieter, sharp showers, colder air, and a bit of respite on

Monday, but Monday night going into Tuesday, more wind and rain. Be

careful this week and `` weekend. BBC radio Jersey and radio Guernsey

will keep you up`to`date with travel problems over the weekend, but from

the TV team, that's it for now. We leave you with some images of our

stormy, stormy week. be Easter. And the bad weather

continues. David is here with me now. Albert

had `` how bad will it get this weekend? There are a couple of

subtle differences but the strength of wind is a worry at this stage. 70

to 80 mph winds which will cause damage and disruption through

Saturday afternoon as well as get more rainfall. Another 25

millimetres possible tonight. Even more through Saturday. You can find

out where the most up`to`date warnings are by going to the Met

office website or for the flood warnings please go to the

environment agency website. Thank you. A full forecast later in the

programme. Onto the sport now and Dave's been

getting his feet wet in Torquay but not in the sea. So, please explain,

Mr Gibbins. Hello. The weather has affected South West sport,

especially at Torquay United and Exeter city. Both clubs have had two

home games called off so far this winter, with the possibility of a

third this weekend. It means they lose out on vital income through the

turnstiles and that has serious repercussions. Torquay United last

play David Ballmer here on January the 4th. They have been pitchfork to

into trying, albeit in vain, to try to get the surface in a decent

condition. Alas, the amount of water has proved to be the winner. Even

working on golf courses, I don't think I have ever experienced such

an amount of rain consecutively. Even with the rain last year, it was

spread over more time. I have never experienced anything like it. A key

revenue scheme `` revenue stream has been taken away from the club. Last

year, they make the club secretary redundant along with two part`time

ground staff, so they are feeling the pinch. We do have overdraft

facilities with our bank manager and there is a little bit of money in

the account, but the harsh galaxy is that money must be found. As we have

seen in the past, that money has come from our wonderful Board of

Directors who have made short`term loans to help us through the cash

flow problem. Welcome to Waterworld, I don't know what we are

doing here. We don't do home games! The manager was appointed only a

month ago, but due to the weather, he has had his first three games as

a way games. It is incredible, isn't it, not to be able to work at home

but there is not much you can do. Other than spending ten or ?15,000

to get the pitch covered, which we might have to do in future. If it

saves four games a season in the long run, it pays for itself in two

or three. The weather of course will have the final say in what's on and

off this weekend. The rest of the regional football could be badly

affected after the overnight deluge. Your BBC local radio station and BBC

Sport Online will keep you informed. In rugby, Exeter Chiefs' Premiership

duel with Northampton looks safe enough. However, the Cornish

Pirates' game at Moseley tonight has been called off.

Exeter Chiefs rugby player Jack Nowell has another chance to make an

impact for England in his second international appearance. The

20`year`old wing, from Newlyn, faces Scotland at Murrayfield tomorrow in

the Six Nations' Championship. Nowell showed glimpses of what he

can do last weekend during England's defeat in Paris against France.

The current issue is not something that has hit him before but I think

a whole lot of things came into it, the emotion, the intensity, so it

was a disappointing ten to take him off `` time to take him off but he

is such a strong character that he will bounce back this week. I am

sure. Finally, four of the world's top

windsurfers have flown in to the South West to confront the extreme

weather expected this weekend. The Red Bull Storm Chasers have been to

Ireland and Tasmania to face the wildest conditions. Now, it's

Gwithian in Cornwall. Postcards around the region are warning people

not to put themselves at risk and to stay well clear of breaking waves.

Have a safe weekend. A private collection of paintings by

the late artist Robert Lenkiewicz opens for the first time to the

public tomorrow. The "Family Matters" exhibition features

paintings owned by the Plymouth artist's family.

It's being held at Hannahs at Seale`Hayne, an education and arts

centre for people with learning disabilities near Newton Abbot. From

there Spotlight's Janine Jansen reports. This Plymouth artists had

11 children with seven different women, dying in 2002 aged 60. Now an

exhibition of Private family paintings will be shown to be public

for the very first time. We are absolutely thrilled. One of the aims

was that we became percent of excellence for art and last year we

had a fantastic exhibition and this year we have this incredible

exhibition. Annie Hill Smith had three children with him and it was

her idea to show the public the paintings. It happens that a lot of

the extended family have paintings, in a way that most people have

photographs, we have Robert's work. They will see every kind of

domesticity, I suppose. From somebody in labour to somebody

wrapped up in a buggy. It is just that the person who is creating the

images wasn't a dad with a camera, it was a dad with a pencil or a

paintbrush. You have got one of the most unique artists since someone

like William Blake in England who again was ignored and now is a

national treasure. Robert was like our fine golf, our great original

artist who asked the question that we did not want to be asked. And yet

we have pushed him aside and forgotten him and it is a great

shame. The exhibition opens tomorrow and runs until the 23rd of March.

Two and a half years ago, a chance discovery on Dartmoor sent

archaeologists into a spin. It was a previously unexcavated tomb `

complete with a treasure trove of prehistoric jewellery, bags and

beads. The finds raised the tantalising

possibility that this was the final resting place of a moorland

Princess. As Sam Smith reports, the mystery is unravelled in a special

BBC South West programme tonight. It may be the most important

archaeological find on Dartmoor ever. I have worked on Dartmoor for

over 20 years and never would have anticipated something like this. In

tonight's programme, Mike goes on the Trail of the discovery of a 4000

year`old tomb which is the history books. This kind of fine is

incredibly rare. They do not come along every few years, every 100

years. Wow, look at that. He meets the team of craftsmen trying to

understand these fines by creating detailed replicas. We have ended up

with a product very similar to the originals. He reveals how

magnificent the artefacts would have been when new and what they tell us

about the people who made them. The story is a vivid insight into how

skilled ancient crafts were, how sophisticated their society must

have been, and above all, the respect for the dead in what seems

to have been a deeply spiritual culture.

Sam Smith with a preview of what is a fascinating programme. It's called

Mystery of the Moor and it's at 7.30 here on BBC One.

We have been warned of more serious weather to come. How bad is it

looking? There is way to address this up. The strength of wind is

likely to be up to 70 or 80 mph tomorrow afternoon. Slightly

different direction than earlier in the week, with slightly less high

tides, but we are expecting severe gale force winds, showers that could

have a wintry flavour as we get into Sunday, so there is a lot happening

at the moment. There is a warning about heavy rain both tonight and

into tomorrow. Accompanying map, strong winds. Winds tonight of about

60 mph. Perhaps dropping a little bit overnight, but picking up

tomorrow with gusts tomorrow afternoon of up to 60 to 80 mph.

Inland, we could still see 60 to 70 mph. The environment agency have 25

flood lines of `` flood warnings across the south`west, with two

severe flood warnings. There is the flood line number: Please go to

their website if you want to as well. This curl of Cloud is the size

of the storm. It is so big it is taking up most of the Atlantic. A

very deep area of low pressure as it moves toward Ireland. A line of rain

crossing us through the night, moving quite fast, being replaced by

showers both tomorrow and Sunday. Earlier today, as you can see, we

had a clearance of all the cloud, the winds were lighter and we had a

bit of sunshine. This `` these pictures were taken earlier and you

could be forgiven for thinking this was a pleasant summers day, but that

was only this morning, as the cloud moved in a game this afternoon. A

small chance for people to enjoy some sunshine but it will be a

different story tomorrow. The winds will be a real feature. Let's look

at what is happening overnight tonight. This is the rain band

spilling across the south`west of England, roundabout 2225 millimetres

of rain overnight. It will be replaced by showers. `` 20`25

millimetres of rain. Gale force winds overnight, with temperatures

down as low as five or six degrees. Tomorrow, showers will come and go

throughout the night, with some very heavy showers in places. When they

turn up, we get increased wind strength as well. For most of us, it

will be at severe gale force for most of the day, but the speeds will

increase throughout the Bristol Channel coast and North Devon

tomorrow afternoon. Temperatures tomorrow eight or nine degrees. Some

very big waves outer sea, with severe gale force winds and heavy

showers as well for the Isles of Scilly.

The coast is a dangerous place to be. This

The coast is a dangerous place to be. is the average height of ways

that we expect to see but it could be as high as 20 feet in parts of

Cornwall and Devon. Now, the coastal waters forecast:

it really is very, very lightly. Slightly less windy on Sunday, quiet

on Monday, more wet weather on Tuesday.

Our main news tonight, another area of the region has fallen foul of the

weather as a rail line in Somerset is blocked. And the Prime Minister

says lessons will be learned. Tonight the emergency services have

told us they're on stand`by to deal with the next storm heading towards

our region. They've set up special control centres in Truro, Plymouth

and Exeter. BBC Radio Cornwall and BBC Radio Devon are on air

throughout this evening with special programmes. And of course, there'll

be continuing coverage of the weather situation on BBC local

radio, here on Spotlight and online across the weekend.

Have a safe weekend. Good night. It's your job to keep law

and order, isn't it? It must be exciting being

a policewoman. It has its moments.