- Community News round-up
- JCG student shortlisted in national writing competition based on West End musical Wicked
- Olympics-inspired design wins engineering competition
- Honour for firefighter who followed his dream
A JERSEY College for Girls pupil who admits to being obsessed with the West End hit musical Wicked is a finalist in a national writing competition which celebrates the show.
Hollie Price (14), the daughter of Matthew and Sarah Price, discovered this week that she was among 100 young people shortlisted in five age categories for the 2015 Wicked Young Writers’ Award.
When she went to see the musical for a third time in February Hollie decided that she would put her thoughts on paper and enter the competition. ‘I’m more than slightly obsessed with the show,’ she said. ‘And I enjoy creative writing, so I thought it would be a pretty good idea.’
Hollie, who lives in Grouville, added that she loves the theatre and her ambition is to perform in the musical, playing Elphaba. ‘I’d like to do musical theatre and be in Wicked,’ she said. ‘Acting is my favourite thing.’
Her story is based on this ambition but she had almost forgotten she had submitted it until this week, when thanks to a call to the competition’s PR company from the JEP to obtain contact details she discovered that it had been shortlisted.
The original email informing her of her success must have gone astray, but the text from the PR company led her mum to call them to discover the good news.
It means that they are now booked to go to London on Monday and will be at the Apollo Victoria Theatre for the results and awards.
Each finalist in the five categories (5-7, 8-10, 11-14, 15-17, and 18-25) will receive a published copy of their entry as part of the annual Wicked Young Writers’ Award Anthology.
Individual winners from each age category will also receive a certificate signed by the Duchess of Cornwall, patron of the award, and Michael Morpurgo, the former Children’s Laureate and best-selling author of War Horse; the chance to see the show with family or friends; plus £50 worth of book tokens for themselves and £100 worth of tokens for their school.
The competition was launched five years ago by the team behind Wicked to reward excellence in writing, encourage creativity and
help develop writing talent among young people across Britain.
Annies velodrome designs a winner
A VISIT to the 2012 London Olympics velodrome was the inspiration behind the winning entry in an engineering design competition for young women
Jersey College for Girls student Annie Bugbird put forward a scheme for an indoor cycling track at Fort Regent and was delighted to be named the winner of the local section of the competition.
Building the Future, Shaping our World, is both a local and global female engineering competition which has been organised by JCG head girl Rachel Hayden through the International Women’s Academy to promote women in engineering.
Annie, the daughter of Jonathan and Heather Bugbird, of St Helier, who is celebrating her 16th birthday today, said that she entered to gain experience, not with any expectation of winning, and was ‘over the moon’ and ‘really happy’ when she was told the result.
‘I’m very interested in engineering so saw it as a way of expanding my experience,’ she said.
‘I had never done anything like this before. I’ve never designed a building so it was a nice opportunity.’
As well as her interest in engineering, she is keen on sport and having seen the velodrome built for the 2012 London Olympics, decided that this would be perfect for Jersey.
The competition invited participants to design a sports venue for Fort Regent and was open to individuals or teams of four people, aged between 13 and 18 years.
Sponsored by Le Masurier, it attracted ten entries with designs ranging from an indoor ski slope to sports science research labs. In second place was JCG student Poppy Ginnis with a design for an ice skating rink and in third was a team from Hautlieu – CZGJ (Cara Ross, Zoe Salisbury, Gabriela Clarke and Jessica Toudic) – with a design for a multi-use sports centre.
Annie received an iPad Mini 3 and tickets to the opening ceremony of the NatWest Island Games (being held at Howard Davis Park this evening) and will also have the opportunity to present her scheme to States Members. The runners-up received Amazon vouchers.
Rachel, who is also a talented singer and will be performing at the Games opening ceremony, was delighted at the outcome.
‘I am really pleased that the competition has been such a success and achieved my aim, which was to raise awareness of engineering as a career for girls,’ she said, adding her thanks to the JCG Foundation, the sponsors and the judges.
Annie’s winning design will now be entered into the global competition, which is sponsored by Hawksford, and is about to be launched, and all entries will be displayed in the Games Village.
The judges were Chief Minister Ian Gorst, Dr Jon Hare, an engineering professor at the University of Southampton, John Rogers, head of Transport and Technical Services, Becky Slater, a civil engineer at Arup, Steve Bailey, NatWest Island Games Director, and Brian McCarthy, managing director of Le Masurier.
More information can be obtained at www.iwa-building-the-future.com or the Facebook Page Building the Future, Shaping our World.
Honour for a firefighter who followed his dream
AN ISLANDER who dreamt of becoming a firefighter as a young boy has been recognised for his two decades of work with Jersey Fire and Rescue Service.
Retained firefighter Craig Hartley (44) – who every night is on call ready to join a rapid-response team in case of an emergency – is to be awarded the long service and good conduct medal.
While serving at St Brelade’s Western Fire Station, with other part-time crew, Mr Hartley has attended some of the Island’s most serious incidents over the past two decades.
But it was hearing the sirens of fire engines as they drove past his home in Newcastle that first sparked his interest. And after relocating to Jersey as a young man, following family holidays to the Island, he spotted an advert calling for people to join the Fire and Rescue Service.
Mr Hartley, a father of two, said: ‘As a child living in Newcastle every time I heard fire engines I used to run to the bottom of the street and watch them go by.
‘I applied and was accepted in March 1995. My first call-out was a full emergency at the airport. There was a plane coming in with some sort of difficulty, but it managed to land safely.’
Among the incidents that Mr Hartley has attended during his service include an acid spill at La Collette in 1995, the La Cala club fire in 2000 and a major fire at Hotel de France in 2002.
He also attended the Bouley Bay headland fire in 2006, the fire at Broadlands lodging house in 2008, the Val de la Mare fire in 2009 and the gasometer fire at Gas Place three years ago.
Mr Hartley said that he enjoyed giving something back to the community as a retained fire fighter as well as the ‘buzz’ that came from helping in an emergency.
Talking about his long service and good conduct award, Mr Hartley, who is the head of procurement at law firm Mourant Ozannes, said: ‘It means a lot to me. It is an achievement I’m proud of.’
Watch Commander Ryan Hall added: ‘We would like to congratulate Craig in achieving his 20 years long service and good conduct medal in recognition for his commitment to the Western Fire Station as an on-call fire fighter.
‘Many have worked with and know Craig well, and he has shown great enthusiasm and is respected by his crews and colleagues.’
RBC volunteers dig for Durrell
EFFORTS to eradicate a poisonous weed from the intended home of the Chilean flamingos at Durrell were given a boost recently by a team of volunteers from RBC Wealth Management.
A group of 22 employees dug up and hauled out three tons of hemlock water dropwort from the enclosure after the aquatic plant took root in the middle valley of the wildlife park, threatening to wipe out more delicate native flora.
The volunteering was part of the bank’s RBC Blue Water Project – a ten-year global commitment to help provide access to drinkable, swimmable, fishable water, now and for future generations. The bank also donated £40,000 from the project to enable Durrell to introduce a range of water-saving initiatives including using rainwater to flush toilets at the wildlife park and educating local schoolchildren about water sustainability.
Caryl Kemp, head of landscape at Durrell, said that they were extremely grateful to the bank not only for the generous donation, but also to the staff for giving up their time to help.
‘We only have a small landscaping team here at Durrell and we’re very busy focusing on the public areas and pathways at this time of year,’ she said. ‘This additional help makes a huge difference.’
Francis Binney, environmental officer at RBC Wealth Management, said that playing an active role in supporting Durrell was an important element of their partnership with the charity. ‘Our employees are always keen to get involved and it’s also a great way for them to see how the financial support RBC has contributed is put to use.’ he said. ‘Durrell is a fantastic organisation and we are proud to support them.’
