MOVEMBER! Grow a 'tache, for charity cash!

Getting ready in the mornings should be easier for some island men from Saturday. There won'tbe a need to shave their top lips. St Mary's police are launching MOVEMBER, a challenge to grow a moustache. The idea is that you’ll be sponsored for prostate cancer charity fundraising.

Growing will start on Saturday 14^th November 2009 and the adjudication will take place in The Bishop and Wolf on the evening of Sunday 20^th December 2009.

You can enter individually or preferably as a team of 3.

Individual entry costs £4 per person.  Team entry costs £10.

Pick up an application form from The Bishop and Wolf, the police station, the paper shop or download from Radio Scilly website.

Entrants must have their clean shaven face authenticated by the girls at the paper shop sometime on Saturday 14^th November or Monday 16^th November 2009.

On the evening of the adjudication a member of the local community will be awarding prizes for the longest moustache, the funniest moustache and overall the best moustache.

All proceeds raised will be donated to the charity MOVEMBER – raising prostate cancer awareness.

Rules. 

1.  The moustache shall not join the sideburns..this would be a beard.

2.  The moustache shall not join the handlebars on the chin..this would be a goatee, however a small complimentary growth under the bottom lip is allowed (aka the tickler)

Get an application form by clicking here.

Get a sponsor form here.

The files above are Docx. That's the latest word format. If you cannot open it you may need to find a programme on the net that does!

Radio Scilly is sad to report the death of Isles of Scilly perfumery owner, Pete Hobson.

Pete who was in his late 50s, was found dead at the Perfumery at Porthloo earlier this week. He leaves a teenage son, Jack, in Surrey.

Keri worked closely with Pete and lodged with him for a while at Harbour Walls in the late 1990s. He shares some memories.

Pete was a true character. With his Plus Fours and Plus Twos trousers. He used to tell me the difference. I don't remember. What an impression he would have made for anyone walking into the perfumery in his 1920s style clothing or trademark Tilley Hat that brought him the nickname, Pete the Hat. I know of one person who saw him striding along the coast-path one night in the moonlight who swore they had seen a ghost!

Pete first discovered Scilly when his friend also from Surrey, John Clare told him about the islands. John used to own Evergreen Cottage.

Pete was considering a move to the Canaries to make perfume using local flowers and fragrances when he fell in love with Scilly after Jon told him to move over. He opened the perfumery in the late 90s.

Pete was respected for his perfume work in the industry. He worked closely with Anita Roddick, the Body Shop founder in the 70s and had plenty of stories to tell!

Pete was also an experienced artist and studied arts and design at College in the 70s in London. He created the Radio Scilly logo and the logo for the  boatshed and had an eye for design. He created all of his labels and signage.

When at College , Pete developed his music skills. He had a passion for drumming, as Camelrock attendees will know.  Some people may know that he was hired by the band The Marmalade from contacts he made during his Arts Degree. He didn't make Top of The Pops but used to drum with the band when they performed gigs all over the UK. And there were more good stories there, too!

Pete especially loved Latin influenced rhythms  and Soul. Anyone creeping up on the Perfumery at Porthloo on a quiet, out-of-season Sunday would have heard the Gary White Foundation being played at full-pelt!  Pete presented for Radio Scilly for a time, having been a long time supporter of the Radio Project.  

Pete was also a keen astronomer and set up the former IOS Astronomy club. In fact, when Pete got behind a project, he really went for it. He created a short-lived Chinese Takeaway service from the kitchen of his Winter let in Harbour walls in 2000. You had to order a day in advance. It ended after a hen party at the LSB pub was served a pile of steaming goo after the container lids came off in transit at the Old Town Church bend.  And I think Environmental Health may have had a say in it, too!

There are a lot of good things you can say about Pete and I hope people will remember him for his fabulous stories, positivity and enthusiasm.

It is no secret that Pete had a battle with drink over the years. He was never aggressive with it and usually just sloped off home, early. Sometimes, after a few White Wines, he became overly excited about pushing his favourite pub game of Spoof, involving second-guessing which hand contained a Pound, on anyone in the vicinity!  New seasonal staff quickly learned to say they knew how to play, to avoid the long induction process into the rules of  Spoof for a second time. Pete had a love of terrible jokes and when nobody laughed, he'd punctuate the silence with "Timing!". Almost his catchphrase.  He spent a fortune on strange practical joke type gifts, including the hideous Scorpion in an ice cube I was given one Christmas.

Pete was intending to work with the Eden Project, with whom he had maintained a working relationship. He often went over for a few days to share his skils and knowledge with tour parties. He was also developing more perfumes and fragrances under his middle name, Whittard, for export to the mainland, at the time of his death.

Anyone who knew him well will share stories of an enthusiastic, intelligent man with a passion for music and these islands. A man who died too young.

For once Pete, your "timing" was really bad.

Keri

We've been talking about the food quality in Scilly today- Aug 10th

Keith Bradford from St Martins Hotel says..

This subject is very close to my heart and even closer to my wallet so I have a vested interest in Good Food and Good Service. This is such an important issue for Scilly that we all have to raise the bar and improve our service standards in order to survive.

Let me start by saying that in our business you can never please all the people all the time.

That said, there is absolutely no excuse for poor food or poor service - even in a recession.

We deal with the most unpredictable commodity of all - Humans, and the most perfect meal or stay can turn out to be a disaster if, for example,  the participants have an argument with each other and then take it out on the staff, as happens from time to time.

The Hospitality standards in Scilly have improved massively over the last ten years, mainly due to the introduction of more professional staff and better trained local staff. The problem we have here is that Hospitality standards on the mainland have continued to improve leaving some businesses here struggling to keep up.

Furthermore, people's expectations have risen both in terms of quality and value for money so businesses must adapt to the ever changing trading environment.

The issue here is how we deal with complaints; every establishment has them (and if they say they don't, they are lying) and every establishment should have a clear policy for dealing with them sensitively.

So, if a visitor or local has a problem with an establishment, I recommend the following;

1. Always complain at the time; but do so in a measured, concise way, preferably away from other people and without being aggressive.

2. Always try to speak to the most senior person on duty.

3. Decide before you make your complaint what you want to achieve in order to rectify the problem, and be reasonable.

4. A properly explained, valid complaint should always result in a satisfactory compromise.

5. If you don't get a satisfactory response to a valid complaint, take photographic evidence, and take the name of the person you complained to. Try to record as much detail of your complaint as you can, sticking to the facts only.

6. As a visitor, report the facts to the person you are staying with and ask them to recommend who you should take your complaint to.

7. As a local, report your concerns to the owner of the establishment.

No operator enjoys complaints, but If you don't complain, their standards will not improve.

And finally, there are some really good places in Scilly that offer good food and service - just ask a local where they are!

 This from an anonymous St Mary's listener..

I think that the big problem we have on the islands where food and its service is concerned is the total apathy of some operators towards thier product.

A good product sells itself and that includes the people selling the product! ?I have raised this issue, personally, with individuals who respond with a 'yeah, yeah...well nobody complains to me'  ?This shows absolutely No interest or passion whatsoever in thier product! ?These food providers MUST take pride in thier product and they MUST train the people that sell thier product to take pride in it as well.

How can anyone sell anything they're not proud of? ?I used to recommend several eateries on the islands to visitors, but over the past two or three seasons I have found myself only able to recommend one or two restaurants, one hotel restaurant and NONE of the pubs!

Come on Scilly! Good food and good service costs no more than it should already. ?Take care & pride in your product. Take care & pride in your people and your business will take care of itself!

Simples! It's a meercat!

Stella, who also owns Dennis the Albino Skunk, now has a meercat called Edmund. He is very friendly as Keri found out. Some guests at the Atlantic Hotel were delighted. Some horrified!

Danger UXB?

The Bomb Squad came to deal with an old mortar and evacuated Bay View Terrace. All ended well. We had reports into the evening on Radio Scilly. This is the roadblock outside our studios.

The Thomas family live at Sandybanks opposite the area where the EOD team were investigating the item uncovered in building work. They made their own blast protection gear!

Le Grand Bleu, Roman Abramovitch's vessel in The Roads today. It is rather large! 370 feet long! Martin Guy sent us this snap!

`And here is the same vessel as seen by Colin Ridsdale.

From Sam Mallon's window, below.

Choco - lot!

Some listeners know exactly how to get into our good books, just look at what we've been sent! This is the real reason Keri's been off air this week, never try and eat an entire tin of chocolates in one go!

Maths Question:

Very tricky maths! Note: this riddle must be done in your head only, do not write it down. Take 1000 and add 40, 1000, 30, 1000, 20, 1000, and 10. What is the new total? Did you get 5000? The correct answer is actually 4100. Don't believe it? Check it with your calculator! The decimal sequence confuses our brain, which always jumps to the highest decimals (100s instead of 10s).

Power Cut July 23rd

Scilly was plunged into darkness at around 10.20 at night. The power came on for a few seconds after 20 minutes of outage, to cheers from The Mermaid drinkers, and then it went off again. Steve Watt, from Radio Scilly and the TIC staff member Sophie Bromham were behind the bar and had to resort to candles and writing tabs on paper. Here are some pics! The power went back on at 11pm!

23rd of July... something of interest from the police today.

Our local police team have won an award as the best neighbourhood police team in Cornwall. They'll now be going up against the winning teams from Plymouth and Devon for a further award.

Congratulations to them from everyone here at Radio Scilly!

Inspector Jean Phillips tells us about the award

There's also a counter terrorism team on the isles at the moment. Don't worry, it's all been planned, the team comes a few times a year.

Sgt Ashley Putman explains the visit

We've had a great messae in from a couple who were almost stranded on Scilly.  Gill and Michael Radley had quite a trip back and would like to thank every one involved, here's what they told us...  

Reasons why Scilly life is  fab! 17th July 2009

Morning Keri

Several things happened yesterday to make me very grateful that I live on Scilly.

1. Tony from the Health food shop stopped once again to give  me a lift to work.

2. After work I went into the Co-op but couldn't find  my purse so went home to search without success. Checking to see if I might have dropped it in Tony's car I couldn't find the Health Food Store number in the directory so phoned Island Home Hardware to see if they had it. Julia Day took the trouble to go to the Health Food shop to find it out for me.

3. Yvonne from the Health Food shop then took the time to search her car (without success)

4. I then phoned the Co-op. I had dropped it in there. Jackie had handed it to Bob the manager who told me that they had already arranged for Carl to drop it off to me at home when he finished work. Which he did. Wow! Thanks all.

Ro Bennett

COOL CONTEST ON THE MORNING SHOW!

There is an exhibition & Canvas Sale at cost Prices atThe Masonic Hall, Church Road, St Mary's.

Thursday 6th August 10am-2pm & 4pm-7pm

Friday 7th August 10am-2pm & 4pm-7pm

Saturday 8th August 10am-2pm

Dave, one of Tony Dingley’s mates is holding it!

Over 120 canvas of various sizes and styles.

Original images of Landscapes, People, Gigs, Scillonian, Birds, Images from the 60’s and 70’s, Memorabilia. People are welcome just to come and look. There'll be lots of old advert's from the early 60's, A Porthcressa Restaurant menu from 1973 on which Sirloin Steak is £1 and soup of the day 10p and various other memorabilia!

Dave is donating 3 x Canvas, RNLI, Precious Lives appeal and The League of Friends via the TIC as raffle prizes

A Radio Scilly listener will give win  a 20" x 28" Canvas with any picture on they choose.

(worth over £200!)

The winner can send a digital photo image or a photograph for scanning and Dave will do the rest.

So tell Keri what pic you have to put on a canvas.

You have until August the 1^st. Email studio@radioscilly.com

HI, have just got back home in Sidmouth, after three weeks stay at South Hill on Bryher, and noticed that affordable housing has sprung up at Rushey Bay. (pic above)  Bill Skudder ,Sidmouth.

Ray2!

Above is a picture of Ray 2. Ray was been snatched from The Mermaid. He has been photographed getting cash out of the Hughtown Cashpoint and visiting the Paper shop on his Facebook page recently. He was returned in the back of Q Cabs after an appeal on Radio Scilly!

Is this the end?

Above is a cloud seen from the Radio Scilly studio window, we're all pretty worried I can tell you! Steve's just hopped on the news bike shouting something about a lead lined bunker he built on a wet weekend in 1964

Stella and Griff let their pets feed on Keri's back wall! They will hopefully lead the Christmas events. Yes, they are Reindeer!

Five Islands School lads sing Trelawney as part of the Sing Up Government music initiative.

Click to view. And they pretend to be mooses! Click here.

This is why you should turn your mobile off! Obama's speech interupted by a mobile! Listen here.

George Teideman was on-air on June 23rd talking about atmospheric phemomena you can see at this time of year. Click to hear him talk about the clouds you can see above the isles at this time of year. They are called Noctiucent clouds and you can see some (not local ones) here.

George talked of the green flash. See it in this pic taken by Nigel @ the airport buffet.

James May and Richard Hammond visited St Marys on May 21st to take part in a challenge for Tv's Top Gear. The show's broadcast set for July 12th on BBC2. The men used a Porsche to race a first class letter from Scilly to Orkney. The letter was fitted with a tracking device and was posted at Porthloo. The rules were slightly bent to help them. The mailbox was opened later than normal. Our pics show the arrival of the car at the quay on the Scillonian.