16/12/2013 BBC Channel Islands News

arrives on Friday. Can't wait! That's all

Aurigny's taken the top spot in a survey of the world's best

short`haul airlines. Readers of the consumer magazine Which? Ranked

Aurigny higher than other major carriers such as British Airways,

EasyJet, and Ryanair. Factors considered in the poll included

value for money, baggage allowance and leg room. A Jersey`based travel

operator has helped uncover an internet scam targeting the ski

holiday market. Con artists are trying to steal thousands of pounds

from holiday`makers by posing as the owners of luxury chalets. A Jersey

company is one of those being targeted and it's owner is trying to

stop the scam. Pam Caulfield reports. It is the beginning of the

ski season and while some holiday`makers are hitting the

school 's `` slopes, others have been left high and dry. Con artist

target genuine travel websites like this one. We find this alternate

site three weeks ago, you can see the photographs all taken from my

site. The boys as chalet owners, advertise on other sites with the

one contact details and take money off of holiday`makers. I would take

to think our chalets are being used in this week to corn people out of

money. We are doing our best, highlighting, contacting the agents

and operators to make sure they are doing the bit to keep an eye on this

as well. It is within hard to stop. This woman and her friends paid

13,000 homes to a conman. We cannot believe we were so gullible, we are

all professionals, we live in London and use the intranet daily. We felt

stupid to fall prey and that aims to a plan like this. Victims might not

only lose the money but they might not know they have been scammed

until they arrive at the resort. We do not want people who have spent

money out one of these fraudulent listings and to turn up with another

family and fourth or to go into the same property. That is what we want

to avoid. If it looks too good to be true, it probably is. Coming up

later: Christmas countdown, the Street transformed into a giant

advent calendar. No, ahead of Christmas this week we are featuring

festive songs and carols. Tonight David a signing choir in Jersey.

That was beautiful and we will be hearing from another festive choir

tomorrow. And staying with the festive theme, hundreds of people in

Guernsey were getting into the spirit yesterday. They were taking

part in the annual Santa Fun Run. They were running for the charity

Aid Reaching Children, which helps children all around the world. It is

beginning to look a lot like Christmas at the weather is not

being ball. How is it working? It is looking more like a wet Christmas

than a white Christmas at the moment. We have been this evening.

It will be wet through much of the data model and windy at times. It

does remain relatively mild for the next few days. This suite of cloud

will push up from the South West. We have some weather fronts which will

bring rain and keep clean throughout the night and tomorrow. The weather

front will clear towards the end of the day tomorrow. The next weather

system will be shown from the West on Wednesday bringing more rain. The

isobars close together so gale force winds are possible. That is towards

the end of the week. Some heavy bursts of rain through the night.

Heavy winds coming from the east and north`east. Temperature is now lower

than seven degrees. A wet start to tomorrow, water on the Lord's first

ring tomorrow. The rain should start to ease as we go through the data

model. The wind will ease by the end of the model. Temperatures tomorrow

afternoon reaching up to 10 degrees. Out at sea tomorrow we have been or

drizzle at times. Modric, occasionally prove his ability. ``

moderate, occasionally poor visibility.

The rest of the week will still see some wet weather with us, rain

arriving on Wednesday, strong winds, still breezy on Thursday and Friday

but the wind will not be quite so strong and we will see some drier

and brighter weather as well. Find out if that wet and windy weather

will affect any of your travel plans by tuning into our radio stations.

From us for now, good buy. help they can get. With big projects

like the Atlantic Array of the table, small`scale projects could be

the future. Now you'll remember during the Olympics there was a lot

of talk about the legacy the games would leave. Well, one thing to have

come out of London 2012 is the sport of handball. Yes, it's one of the

most popular sports in Europe and it could be taking off in Devon. Now,

the hunt's on to find enough under`16s to form the county's very

first handball team. Our North Devon reporter Andrea Ormsby has the

story. He grew up playing handball in France. His coaching skills are

much needed because here, handball is something you get a penalty for

in football. It is inclusive, it is a team sport, it is everything I

like in a sport. It is great. At the moment we are attacking this way.

The blues have the ball. Very quickly, they are moving back down

the pitch. We want to get handball to be a commonly played sport. At

the moment, we are trying to get people to find out about it and try

it and then we will hopefully set up competitions. It might be little

known, but handball is massive in Europe, with 19 million players and

more than 150,000 teams. It is the second most played team sport for

men and the second for women and these children love it. It is fun.

You can pass it around, you can shoot, it makes you feel nice. You

can get to score. I enjoy doing sport, but this is really good, you

get to be a team player and you get to have fun passing and trying to

score goals. So far there is only one handball club in the South West

and an organisation set up last year is trying to change that. The goal

is to have Devon's very first under 16 's team ready to compete in the

national schools Championships next year. Onto the rest of the sport and

Ruta Meilutyte has continued her golden form in the pool, hasn't she,

Dave? Exeter Chiefs are virtually out of rugby's European Cup after

going down 32`20 at holders Toulon. They were outscored by four tries to

two, although they led 7`5 with Don Armand's excellent score in the

first half, the South African's first for the Chiefs. But the French

side went on to strengthen their grip at the top of Pool Two with

Jonny Wilkinson dashing in to complete Toulon's scoring. Only

Plymouth Argyle suffered defeat out of the South West Football League

teams this weekend. John Sheridan's return to his former club

Chesterfield ended in a 2`0 loss. But the rest came out unbeaten.

Here's how the managers and fans reacted. It was a tired affair, both

teams tried to the game. They knew a win would have been the better

results. We are disappointed. We felt we had some good situations.

Our goalkeeper made a couple of good saves. Keeper did not have make

saves. `` their keeper. What a terrific goal! He is going forward

again. A chance here. It is our second goal for Exeter city! Then a

sharps! At a horrific goal! `` a brilliant goal. The goals we give

away were a joke. It give us a mountain to climb. I thought we

dominated the first half. It is about scoring goals. We had a

penalty, if he had scored, the game would have been different. Everyone

says how good the team is. We have not put points on the table. That

was the aim. Today, I thought we were excellent against one of the

best teams in the league. Plymouth College swimmer Ruta Meilutyte has

added two more gold medals to take her haul this year to 14. The

16`year`old Olympic and World champion set a new European

short`course Championship record, pipping her great rival Yuliya

Efimova of Russia. Ruta won a total of three medals in Denmark,

including two golds and a silver, to end a phenomenal year for the

Lithuanian who lives, trains and studies in Plymouth. Finally, kite

racing's European Champion, Olly Bridge from Exmouth, came second at

the inaugural Oceanic Championships at Fremantle in Australia. He was

runner`up to the World champion, Florian Gruber of Germany.

16`year`old Bridge pressurised Gruber all week, winning two races

in the regatta and more than ?2,000 in prize money. That looks

tremendous! A group of volunteers is planning to restart a centuries old

industry along the Somerset coastline ` oyster farming. The

group in the village of Porlock, near Minehead have already received

grants of ?17,000 for a pilot project using oysters from Falmouth.

Our Somerset Correspondent Clinton Rogers has the story. In this area

is where the old fish traps and tidal ponds used to be. Out there

somewhere beneath the sea there are apparently still the remnants of the

oyster farms of Porlock Wear. In the day, they produced a delicacy

renowned across the country. The best tasting oysters anywhere, or so

they claimed. The oyster industry here disappeared about 80 years ago.

In a few years time we will have an industry here. Now a voluntary

organisation dedicated to encouraging economic growth, wants

to restart the industry. To create new jobs in an area where such

things are almost as rare as oysters. We are one of the oldest

communities in the country `` country. It is difficult for young

people with families to find good employment so that they can stay

here. Is this the answer? We think it is. ?17,000 has been given to

fund a pilot project. Initially, young oysters will be brought in

from other fisheries, like here in Falmouth, and then they will be

cultivated in Porlock. It will be an important test to see if the waters

here can still sustain oysters. Eventually, if everything works out

fine, we will have hundreds of oysters. It will be quite good in

the local pubs. The trial will last one year at if it is successful,

then this bay will once again see commercial oyster production, but

what makes this project unique is that if and when it makes money,

that money will be reinvested into another community project. Always

with the aim of growing new jobs. Now do you have an advent calendar?

Well, what if your whole street became an advent calendar? That's

what they've done in Ashburton in South Devon. Neighbours in St

Lawrence Lane have dressed up their windows to help with the countdown

to Christmas. Johnny Rutherford has been to have a look. Just off one of

the main streets and Ashburton is St Lawrence Lane. In May look like an

average street, but something the residents are doing is causing

excitement `` it may look like. The whole street has been transformed

into what local residents are calling a living calendar. I sent

about 35 letters and about 28 people replied wanting to be apart of it. I

had to turn a few people down. It has been amazing, really lovely.

Each day is a surprise. I am number 18 and the box has come down from

the attic and I think flashing lights are essential. We are

nervous. It has become competitive. It is lovely. We had a little boy

coming home from school and he was very excited because he had found 11

and you could hear him jumping up and down with excitement. It made it

all worthwhile for us. I want to see the next one. I want to see the man

leading the elephants. I like how they used everything they can think

of. I like the nativity scenes. Which house will display tomorrow's

window? That secret stays with the cat.

More of a wet Christmas rather than a white Christmas. Some rain with us

for tonight, the week ahead is looking rather unsettled. Some

strong winds at times, especially for the middle part of the week. For

today, we had cloud coming up from the south, it has kept things mild,

but we have some weather fronts bringing rain for tonight. Some

heavy downpours for a time. Tomorrow could be the best day of the week in

terms of a dry and bright day. By the time we get to wear them stay,

and other system moves in, some gales are possible. Today we had

some rain, some heavy downpours, and some fairly cloudy conditions. If

you're on the roads tonight, there is a lot of water. Tomorrow, that

rain will start to clear away and with light winds and clearer skies,

some mist and fog is likely, and temperatures will drop down to three

or four degrees. Parts of the countryside could be lower than

that. You might find some mist and fog tomorrow, the sun should clear

that away, a few showers close to the south coast, but otherwise you

are looking at a dry day with some lighter winds temperatures reaching

up to around eight or nine degrees. For the Isles of Scilly, a fairly

dry and bright day, moderate winds. Times of high water... For the

surfers, some decent waves for the North Coast. Generally clean waves.

Choppy on the south coast. The coastal waters forecast... The week

ahead continues and settles, so make the most of the dry and bright

weather tomorrow. On weapon state there will be heavy rain arriving

from the West `` Wednesday. Thursday and Friday is still quite breezy,

but a bit cooler. A few showers could turn wintry, but on Friday it

looks like we will return to more wet and windy weather.

Now, before we go this evening, as is our tradition in the run up to

Christmas, we have the first of our Christmas Carols. This year we

recorded singers and choirs from our four counties in the Mary Harris

Chapel at the University of Exeter. Tonight we leave you with the Sterts

Singers from Cornwall. Goodnight.