A new ambulatory event is coming to Scilly. A press release follows…

A colourful new event will seek to celebrate the special environment of the Isles of Scilly. Walk Scilly 2007, a seven day walking festival will be taking place between 26 March and 2 April. The Islands are an ideal place for walking and island-hopping. A designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, this stunning and historic archipelago offers miles upon miles of protected inland and coastal paths, just waiting to be explored.

Did you know for example, Scilly has the highest number of prehistoric burial sites in the UK? Or some of the greatest concentrations of historic shipwrecks in Europe? Or that it’s a mecca for rare migrant bird species? The event will see a series of themed guided walks taking place with a variety of local experts leading 16 walks on topics such as archaeology, the narcissi flower industry, churches and coves, flora and fauna, castles and cliffs, beaches and birds, bats and boats. There will be additional talks and presentations in the evenings and an opening night dinner and dance with very special guests. The festival will close with a final day charity walk around St Mary’s involving as many visitors and locals as possible.

The charity walk will be raising money to support the vital work of the IOS Wildlife Trust. The Trust’s role is to protect the wildlife of the Islands and conserve the habitats, landscape and archaeological sites for the benefit and enjoyment of the public.

So why not pack your walking boots and head for Scilly for a great break? For more information on booking the walks and accommodation offers check out http://www.walkscilly.co.uk or phone Scilly Tourism on 01720 422536.

Scilly may be paradise to some but it?s clearly not everybody?s cup of tea.

A Times TV critic has said the experience of living on the Islands would make her ‘need to breathe into a brown paper bag’.

Carol Midgley describes new series An Island Parish as ?slow, slumberous, beautiful and often very dull - a bit, I imagine, like living on the Isles of Scilly.?

After calling the programme a cunning plot by the BBC to exploit the January depression with the rat race by ‘feeding us Good Life porn’, she says it didn?t wash with her.

‘Maybe it’s the years I spent living in London being ignored by people who had lived on my street for a decade, but the very thought of everyone knowing my business and needing a boat to escape my neighbours makes me need to breathe into a brown paper bag,’ she writes.

By the end of the show, Ms Midgley says she was starting to feel stressed.

‘I couldn’t quite cope with the idea of the farmer doubling up as the fireman and the police having to use the tourists’ holiday ferry to get to the scene of the crime unless I was, say, Miss Hoolie in Balamory.’

She probably won’t be visiting any time soon then.

You can now receive Scilly News in your RSS aggregator!

|What?|

RSS feeds use XML to send information to news aggregators. You add the sites you like to your aggregator, and it will organise the content for you. This means that you can have the information of many different sites organised into a more digestable format.

|These aggregators sound interesting. How do I get one?|

Well, there’s differnt types, all of which are freely downloadable on the web.

I personally use Sage for Mozilla, but you can probably get one for any browser. You can also download aggregators which collect the information into MS Outlook. There is also the opportunity to do it all over the web without downloading a thing, at http://www.bloglines.com/ or Google Homepage http://www.google.co.uk/ig

|How do I add Scilly News?|

How do I add Scilly News? Either drag or copy the address below into your aggregator to add our feed.

In Jan 2007, the feed was updated to better conform with XML/RSS standards (so if you’ve tried to add it before and failed, please try again).

Scilly is like Ambridge at its best, according to the producer of new series An Island Parish.

?People seem to keep an eye on each other, look after each other, help each other out,? Nigel Farrell told ScillyNews.

He likened Scilly to the home village of long-running radio soap The Archers when we caught up with him ahead of the programme?s start on Monday.

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And he let us know what we can expect from the show.

?We?ve followed a broad range of Island stories: the appointment and arrival of the new Chaplain, Father Guy Scott, and his departure from his old parish of Mullion on the mainland, and the work of retired priests Donald and Margaret Marr who have been ?holding the fort? in his absence,” he said.

?Also, the crisis caused by the departure of the Island vet Rick Barrowman; the arrival of the new bobby WPC Nikki Green; the problems of accommodation for young people on the Isles; trawlerman Martin Bond?s attempts to bring in enough high-quality fish to supply St Mary?s restaurants and pubs?..and lots more.”

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The crew, from production company Tiger Aspect, started filming at the gig championships in May and have been on the Islands for several days a month thorughout 2006.

They will finish after Father Guy?s induction service on St Mary?s on January 25.

The series is a spin-off of A Seaside Parish, which followed the Bishop of Truro, Bishop Bill, as he travelled around his diocese in 2005.

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Nigel said: ?Bishop Bill became involved in two issues on his remotest parish. The appointment of Andrew Penman as the new head of the Five Islands school; and the departure after ten years in the job of Julian Ould, the Chaplain to the Isles.

?At the beginning of 2006 the search began for a new Chaplain which seemed to form the perfect narrative for a spin-off series, which in time became An Island Parish.?

He admits he was enchanted by Scilly and its similarity to Ambridge.

?For example, I was struck by how the entire population of St Martin?s turned out for Kenny Goddard?s funeral back in August, along with a lot of folk from other islands of course. Later we filmed a wedding on St Agnes ? every single islander was invited,? he said.

?Obviously there?s a down side to this in the sense that everyone knows everyone else?s business ? but on balance, it?s a strong, old-fashioned sense of community which is very aspirational for people looking in from the mainland.?

An Island Parish
Monday BBC2 8.30pm

The Archers (a story of everyday country folk)
Daily R4 2pm and 7pm.

Are you between 11 and 18? Do you find it impossible to answer a question until someone has asked you 17 times? Are you prepared to kiss hundreds of babies no matter how much they scream?

If so, you may have it in you to be a politician.

An exciting opportunity has arisen for any budding Blairs, Camerons or Thatchers on the Islands.

Young people on Scilly have been invited to stand for election to the UK’s Youth Parliament.

Students at Five Islands School’s secondary site and recent school-leavers can apply to represent the Islands on the 300-strong body for the next 12 months.

The winning candidate will have the responsibility of representing all children and young people on Scilly with the support of a deputy.

Duties will include involvement in district and county forums, the South West Regional MYP group and attendance at July’s annual meeting.

The United Kingdom Youth Parliament (UKYP) aims to give a voice to the young people of the UK between the ages of 11 and 18 that will be heard and listened to by local and national government, providers of services for young people and other agencies that have an interest in the views and needs of young people.

Each local authority area represents a constituency and 90% currently have a YP member.

The council says it is looking for an “enthusiastic and committed person willing to grasp this excellent opportunity”.

Hustings will take place through January, with the election to be held during the week of February 5.

Application packs can be collected in the Secondary School reception or in the Early Years and Youth Office at Carn Thomas on St Mary’s.

The closing date is Friday January 12.

It’s surveys a go-go these days, and Scilly has once again come out on top.

People on the Islands are the least likely to develop health problems, according to a new report.

A health map has identified the sickest places in the country, where bad diets and unhealthy lifestyles will put pressure on the NHS.

Market researchers CACI and TNS used a combination of official data, surveys and the census to divide local authority areas into four groups.

They analysed a total of 287 lifestyle variables including smoking, high consumption of fast food, low consumption of fruit and vegetables, single-parent families, income and demographic characteristics.

Maps were then drawn highlighting areas where health problems are beginning to form.

The Isles of Scilly came out top in the fourth group, where people are generally healthy and have lifestyles that suggest a lower risk of serious illness in future years.

Other areas in the group included Eden in Cumbria, the Orkney Islands, the City of London, Ealing, and Mid Suffolk.

Eight out of ten places in group one - the most unhealthy areas with high levels of serious illness and poor diets - are in south Wales.