24/04/2017 Channel Islands News

I'm Charlie McArdle, welcome to Monday's BBC Channel Islands.

It wasn't the fairy tale ending they'd hoped.

Jersey Reds miss the chance to make history by just one point.

Beautiful Jersey, but there are concerns that cost cutting

I am hugely proud of everyone, managing to get us this far.

And a charity milestone means children from the Channel Islands

will have access to a new trauma and emergency department

When your child is in an accident, you want them to get the best care

they possibly can and this trauma centre will give them that care.

Brave and bold and a huge confidence boost for the future.

It may not have been the result the Jersey Reds were after,

but their narrow defeat in the British and Irish Cup bodes

In a nail-biting final in Cork, the cup was snatched from Jersey's

And not to confuse you, but the Reds were playing in blue.

Our Sports Editor, Tim Pryor, was in Cork and sent this report.

To lose any final is getting bad to lose like this is cool at the end of

the best season in the club's long history. Jersey got the best

possible start with a try after just one minute. They built up an 18

point lead. But the hosts scored tries of their own either side of

half-time to steal the momentum. Hardy with a try for the Jersey Reds

in the second half. But it was Munster who dominated as the game

wore on, despite brilliant support from the fans who travelled to cheer

on their side. A penalty ten minutes from the end gave the Irish said the

victory and the cup by the narrowest of margins. To come away to Munster,

a quality team, I think the boys rolled up their sleeves and put in a

real effort and we can only be proud of them. They can look back with

pride on a season that saw their highest ever finish in the league

and this memorable run to the cup final. It has been a massive season

for the fellas. I am hugely proud of everyone of them. Managing to get

this far. It is not the fairy tale ending that we wanted but those

things will now be etched in history. An occasion to remember for

the players, staff and supporters but no luck of the Irish for jersey

in Cork. Back on home turf, I asked the club

chairman, David Lapidus, They were very disappointed. I was

with them... They managed to have a few beers but they were disappointed

because they got so close and yet so far. One point is nothing really.

But they were very disappointed. Financially, it has been a tricky

season. Does reaching the final bring with it a financial boost?

Well, it is certainly a reputational boost but we don't make too much

money out of it anyway. It would have been better if we could have

played in Jersey and we would have got an enormous crowd, I would

think, for jersey anyway. We look forward to getting revenge next

season. Three men have been charged

with importing 27 kilos of cannabis resin into Jersey,

after being stopped A multi agency team of customs,

police as well as fire and rescue were involved

in the operation in St Ouen's Bay During a magistrates hearing today,

the court was told the cannabis had The men will appear in

the Royal Court in six weeks' time. The two Burmese men facing the death

penalty of the murder of Jerseyman David Miller on a Thai

beach have been given more time to lodge a final appeal

against their conviction. The men have been given to the 23rd

of May to challenge the verdict, and are expected to question

the DNA evidence. They were convicted of murdering

David Miller and Hannah Witheridge in Koh Tao in September 2014

and sentenced to death. Parents in Guernsey are being urged

to make sure their children's vaccinations against measles

are up to date. It follows an outbreak

of the disease in parts of Europe, including France,

Portugal and Italy. A similar warning has

been issued in Jersey. I think it is very important that

parents ensure that their children's vaccines are up to date. In Guernsey

we know that MMR coverage is 96.1%, which is above the World Health

Organization target of 95%. Looking at what is happening, we would not

expect significant spread of me would accrue measles within

Guernsey. A Jersey politician has raised

concerns that thousands of pounds of maintenance cuts to the islands

parks and gardens Senator Ferguson claims

the infrastructure departments savings can be seen with the loss

of many plants. The iconic castle may attract people

to Gorey but the flowers... What do visitors think? I think the garden

is very beautiful and a lot of colour. It is very good. They are

not as good as they used to be. We have been coming here for several

years. They have always been absolutely beautiful and well cared

for and this year, they look as though they haven't been. And that

is the concern of this politician. The upkeep of the park hasn't been

outsourced, Sarah Ferguson believes budget cuts are to blame. She is

worried about the impact it could have on visitors. Part of the

attraction for visitors are our floral displays and if we start

lowering the standards then we are affecting tourism. Tourism is

terribly important. But the department behind it says the beds

had to go because rabbits decimate the rose plants, not because of the

savings they have to make every year. We have done that. But is not

to the detriment of the long-term park. All of our main parks are

green flag accredited. We aim to maintain that for the future. These

patches of soil will be turned into a sensory garden.

For many parents of seriously ill children in the Channel Islands,

the expert facilities at Southampton General have provided

Now an appeal to create a new Children's Trauma

and Emergency Department has reached a big milestone, its

raised its first million, helped by a charity set up

by the actors Sarah Parish and James Murray in memory

Fresh from our screens in ITV's Broadchurch,

actor Sarah Parish enjoys plenty of work and a high profile,

but it's this role which is closest to her heart,

It was the tragic loss of their baby daughter Ella-Jayne

which has closely linked the couple to Southampton General.

Sarah and James see a new hospital as her legacy.

When your child is in an accident, you want them to get the best care

that they possibly can and this trauma centre will give them that

care. They have specialist x-ray rooms and they will be 11

observation areas. Anything a child needs one they really are critically

ill, this place will have. They will have the best chance for survival.

We provide the major trauma service for this region and we deal with all

the seriously injured children from nine counties and children come over

from the Channel Islands. We need to have an environment where the skills

that the people have here can work effectively for them. The building

is an empty shell at the moment and there is a lot of hard work ahead.

To transform this area is going to take a lot more money. The search is

on four major donors, individuals or businesses, prepared to donate not

tens but hundreds of thousands of pounds in return for naming rights,

a plaque above a door. Still ?1.5 million to race in just one year.

A man from Sark has gone missing in the UK and hasn't been seen

51-year-old Steve Grey travelled to Poole from Guernsey on a planned

trip and had been staying in various hotels.

The police in Dorset have appealed for help in finding him,

saying his disappearance is out of character and are asking anyone

who has been in contact with him recently to get in touch.

It's been fairly sunny but I have noticed a chill in the air

We are at risk of seeing a little bit of overnight frost for a couple

of days. Feeling much more chilly outside. This was before the cloud

rolled up today. Many others seeing some sunshine. The cloud is thicker

and it will bring as some spots of rain overnight. They risk of a few

showers tomorrow. Add a touch of frost. I know it is towards the end

of the month but we will see a drop in temperatures. A line of cloud

across central Britain. That is where the colder rare boundary

years. It is crossing the Channel. It'll move into France. It will

introduce arctic air. Quite a big drop in the temperatures. The risk

of some overnight frost. Temperatures start to come back up

again as the winds rotating around come in from the Atlantic and from

the West. Overnight, that first weather system will give us a few

spots of rain. These skies were clear before it gets like tomorrow

morning. We start the day pretty chilly with a risk of a frost.

Tomorrow, we have got some sunshine. A chance of a passing shower but

pretty isolated. A pretty raw feeling northerly wind and ten or 11

degrees will be the maximum temperature. It will feel colder.

There are the times of high water. A bit more of a breeze. Winds will be

about a force for- five. Another cold day on Wednesday and then

temperatures start to come back up again towards the end of the week.

That is the words we like to hear, temperatures coming up towards the

end of the week. You are up-to-date with the latest news. Good night.

Now a roundup of other stories making the news in the South West.

There are concerns for the welfare for a missing 13-year-old girl

Anastasia Groom has links to Taunton and Exeter and officers believe it's

likely she's in one of these two places, or somewhere

She's described as white, around 5ft 1in tall,

of stocky build with dark hair with red colouring, worn

The jury in the trial of a Bulgarian man accused

of murdering his former partner in Exeter, has today heard

from three of the victim's former work colleagues.

The court heard that Gergana Prodanova told other workers

at the Great Western Hotel that Kostadin Kostov beat her

Mr Kostov denies murder and the trial continues.

Police have launched an investigation into a suspicious

fire at a Torquay hotel, early yesterday morning.

More than 100 young farmers were staying at the Bancourt Hotel

while in the resort for their annual convention and had to spend the rest

of the night sleeping on the floor at the Riviera Centre.

Police are treating it as arson with intent to endanger life.

Three people suffered minor injuries.

Plymouth's Labour group says renewing the Trident nuclear

programme is key for the city and the party is committed to it.

It follows comments from the Conservative Defence

Secretary Sir Michael Fallon that Labour would pose a security risk

if elected because of Jeremy Corbyn's opposition

It's being called one of the most challenging jobs in society today,

and figures reveal hundreds of vacancies for children's social

Amid warnings of the impact on vulnerable children and families,

councils across the region are stepping up efforts to encourage

more people to consider a career as a social worker.

Like any journey, to a job but for children, social workers, it goes --

what goes on behind doors is what matters. It is a tricky situation.

It is damp if you do and damp if you don't. Dealing with families is

delicate and you have to be sensitive and it is tricky to get it

right all of the time. Their professions battled a negative image

after a series of high-profile cases like that of baby P. Nationally

there is a problem of bringing people into children's social work.

It is probably one of the most challenging jobs in our society

today. According to figures, across the south-west there are nearly 300

vacancies for children social workers.

Alex is one of 33 new recruits taken on in the last five years in

Cornwall where they run their own training programme and now Cornwall

is getting involved in a government bursary scheme with 11 other

Southwest authorities that offers a 14 month FastTrack scheme. You have

the added value of the different resources and perspectives. We have

to be honest as well, we have to make the most of what we have got

and by pooling all resources and expertise, it is an opportunity to

give people in Cornwall and opportunity to train and work with

children and families. This year's round of the scheme is open in till

early May with authorities encouraging applicants to come

forward. The football season is building

to a nail-biting finish, The lasers illuminating the seafront

in Weymouth and why some want to return to the light bulbs

of the past. Onto sport now and there's good news

and bad news from the weekend. Torquay United have nearly pulled

off the great escape for a second year running and after Saturday's

win, their destiny is now Exeter City left it very late

to keep their play-off hopes on track, while Plymouth Argyle

gained ground in the Just a few miles from

the white cliffs of Dover Well, higher than they have been

for the last couple of weeks. His header just before

half-time putting them ahead against a team chasing promotion,

but the battle for league survival proved to be the stronger motivator

and Torquay doubled their lead and it was that man Williams

again finding the net. Minutes later and Dover

pulled a goal back. The two-goal cushion gone

led to a nervy finish and despite a late chance,

Torquay held on and are now out of The battle for survival

is almost won. Exeter City have been

living off late chances, but when David Wheeler's scuff

somehow evaded the visiting keeper, no-one at St James Park was

expecting a comeback from Morecambe. And it took something

special from Kevin Anderson That is how it stayed until stoppage

time and it would not be an Exeter City game

without a late goal. Reuben Reid won the penalty

and drilled it home. Liam McAlinden's amazing

run ended with a third, Exeter could do Plymouth Argyle

a favour next week when they play The Pilgrims are now

just two points behind, Six goals last week,

but a very different story This effort from Graham Carey

was as close as any for Argyle. Luke McCormick was certainly

the busier of the two keepers. Not that he could have done much

about this if it had An uneventful match

but another point gained Could the fans even be cheering

Exeter City next week? It was a top weekend

for Plymouth Leander's Ben Proud, who took two British titles and two

British records in 24 hours at the British

Championships in Sheffield. He beat his own record

to retain his 50m freestyle title in a time of 21.32,

with his clubmate Tom Fannon finishing well

in second to take silver. Then Proud won the 50m butterfly

in a time of 22.8 seconds. Devon boxer Tommy Langford's

dream of becoming a world champion suffered a major

setback this weekend. The 27-year-old from Bideford

put his unbeaten record on the line in Leicester against the much-feared

Georgian Av-tandil Kurts- idza. In the fifth round he was knocked

down by a left hook and the referee Before this Langford had

seemed to be ahead on most The fight was for the WBO

middleweight interim title, with the winner taking on world

champ Billy Joe Saunders. There was disappointment

in the London Marathon for Devon's Jo Pavey,

who was trying to qualify for this The 43-year-old was forced to retire

at the 16 mile mark. She said she wanted to carry on,

but from about 13 miles her And finally, the Plymouth Raiders

season is over after they failed to make the playoffs for the fourth

year in a row. They lost their last six

games which saw them Good news and bad news. It is a

roller-coaster that sports bulletin. Thank you.

Now, many seaside holidays are not complete without an evening time

Most resorts decorate them with lights all year

This is how Torquay still looks during a night-time stroll.

Weymouth used to have a very similar appearance, but when the borough

welcomed the Olympics, it decided to replace the fairy

lights around the bay with bright green lasers.

But should they have been so quick to dispense with tradition?

Dated, dilapidated. In Weymouth at the beginning of the decade, the

winds of change were blowing and it was decided a traditional seaside

look had had its day. But only a few years after they disappeared, the

borough council is now looking at whether the fairy lights should be

brought back. It would look really pretty and be nice for everybody to

see. It is a traditional seafront so it would look nice with the very

lights. They are part of the history of Weymouth. It makes the whole

promenade look festive. There has been a lot of pressure to return to

the past in part due to delight replace them. No matter how they

might look like a steel frame, these are lights. Green lasers beamed

through fog and rain with mixed response. They were quite nice and

bright. I think they were really cool. Either serve the fairy lights

because they are more traditional as far as the breach resort is

concerned. Both are nice. Why can't we have both? The local authority is

still looking at how to eliminate the seafront, but dispensing with

the future may prove just as tricky as dispensing with the past.

Something a little more light-hearted.

A seagull may have bitten off more than he could chew when he stole

some false teeth from a seaside bench in Devon.

The feathered-felon, more commonly known for stealing

chips, snapped up the abandoned gnashers in Torquay.

A picture of the garrulous gull was shared widely on social media.

A post on the Spotted Newton Abbot Facebook page said,

"Unfortunately anyone missing them will need to contact the seagull

Oh, dear! What a disappointed seagull hoping for chips! Let's move

on. Time for the weather. Good evening. We have been talking about

this cold spell of weather. It will probably last one, two days. Ahead

of the front bringing that change, some quite is testing cloud

formations. -- interesting cloud formations. The cloud is not thick

enough to produce a fuchsia hours. It will clear tonight and opening

the door to Arctic air. We will not see the huge swing in temperatures

that other parts will see, but it will feel colder tomorrow. There

will be some sunshine and quite sharp showers, but quite a high risk

of frost forming tonight. That cold air is heading quite a long way

south. It will help to northern Spain by the middle of the week.

Quite a big change for many. A lot of cloud capable of producing a

fuchsia hours. That introduces the colder air as it sinks southwards

and the Arctic air will be with us tomorrow and Wednesday. Around the

top of this area of high pressure, more cloud coming from a slightly

less cold direction, so temperatures back up Thursday and Friday and

high-pressure looking pretty close and possibly for their weekend

ahead. Let's look at the detail for what will happen right through this

evening will stop let's have a look at some of the pictures where there

was some flowers out at this time of year. Everything is getting into

leaf. Pretty good at this time of year and most of the trees are now

out so it looks like we will see some fine weather to look forward

to, but some of these spring flowers will be in for a shock as we see

that frost turn up both tonight and also tomorrow night. The detailed

then for overnight tonight, we have got high-pressure coming in at the

end of the week, but this cloud is producing spots of rain this

evening. It sinks southwards. No real rain on it for those that need

it and once it clears the south coast, that cold air will arrive. We

are looking at a frost overnight tonight with temperatures between -1

and two or three degrees. Lots of sunshine tomorrow. A fuchsia hours.

By the afternoon, some of the showers turned out to be quite

heavy. Ten, 11 degrees, it will feel more like six or seven. The forecast

for the Isles of Scilly. Sunny spells. Times of high water. And for

our surfers, more waves but they will be rather choppy along the

north coast because the winds are northerly, four or five. But we

start to warm up towards the end of the week and towards the holiday

weekend. Have a good evening. That is all from us for now. There will

be an update at 10:30pm tonight and we are back tomorrow evening. From

everyone, good night. There are times in the life

of a nation when the choices we make define

the character of our country, times when people stand up

and demand real, significant change. we have the chance to shape

a brighter future for Britain and I believe we have the vision

and the plan to do it. That is why I have set out

my plan for Britain.