Local primary pupils take on star status when they perform the ribbon cutting ceremony to officially launch the ?365,000 new look Co-op store on St Mary?s, Isles of Scilly.

Children from The Five Islands School will be presented with a donation of ?200 for school funds by store manager Bob Gilmour to mark the occasion.

?As a community retailer it is appropriate that we involve the community in our special events and we are delighted our local school is playing a central role in the relaunch of our store,? said Bob.

The store is among the first of the Co-operative Group?s 3,300 outlets in the UK to feature the consumer-owned business? new identity, The co-operative, which aims to highlight improved standards as well as its commitment to supporting local communities and ethical trading policies.

– Press release from The Co-op. Issued on 16 May regarding today’s events.

Radio Scilly will broadcast from a studio above Island Properties on St Mary?s when it launches in September.

It is hoped the station will move to its new home at Porthmellon in June if a planning application is successful.

It was based at the Star Castle and Broadcasting Shed on Porthloo during previous transmissions.

A presenter training programme is due to begin in July, founder Keri Jones writes on his blog.

Radio Scilly intends transmitting from the existing radio mast by the Coastguard Tower at Telegraph, which will offer clear reception all over the Islands.

?The signal strength will be just as good as the BBC,? says Keri, who has been spending most of his time sorting out funding.

?I have applied for some special grants that will help us out in buying equipment. That has taken quite some time in writing applications, making calls and having meetings.

?Radio Scilly wants to offer free training to all Island residents and Five Island School pupils. I have had many meetings about this on St Mary?s and we?ve had some positive feedback.

“My current challenge is to secure funding for equipment that we can use to deliver this training.?

He is planning to train about 100 people over the next five years.

Keri is currently sorting through some 6,000 songs for the daytime playlist and says he welcomes any suggestions.

Get in touch with him at keri@radioscilly.com and check out the rest of his news at http://www.radioscilly.com.

The salvage firm which recovered treasure with an estimated value of ?253 million from a shipwreck off Scilly has been accused of whisking its haul back to the United States to stop the UK staking a claim.

The Daily Mail newspaper said the US firm Odyssey Marine Exploration worked on the wreck of the English ship in a highly secret operation then carefully avoided landing their treasure on British soil.

The vessel is thought to be the 17th century Merchant Royal, which sank off the Islands in 1641 with the loss of 18 lives.

Landing the treasure in the UK would have meant having to inform the Government’s Receiver of Wreck.

This would likely have lead to it being impounded and caused a legal wrangle over ownership rights.

Instead, some 500,000 gold and silver coins were secretly moved to the tax haven of Gibraltar before being flown to Florida, where they are being examined by experts.

A spokesman for the Receiver of Wreck confirmed they were not told of any large treasure hoard being landed in the UK.

Under salvage law, Odyssey could get up to 90% of the loot?s value, depending on whether other claimants come forward.

With the treasure now in the US, it is unlikely that Britain will seek a share.

But as the cargo originally belonged to Spain, experts believe its government may have a case.

Descendants of ship?s captain John Limbrey are already reportedly making inquiries about his personal fortune, thought to have been lost when the ship sank.

Shipwreck expert Richard Larn, who lives on St Mary?s, said he spoke to Odyssey co-founder Greg Stemm about the Merchant Royal in two years ago.

“He admitted that he was looking for the ship but wouldn’t say where he thought she was,? he told the Daily Mail.

“Basically, his ships have been mowing up and down the ocean around the Isles of Scilly for two years.?

Although Odyssey said the haul was discovered in international water 40 miles off Land’s End, some experts believe it could have been more like 25 miles.

Some 75% of thefts on Scilly could have been avoided, a police officer has said.

Islands’ Pc Tony Kan conducted his own community safety survey over three successive night duties and found 20 vehicles insecure in the Hugh Town area alone.

?Lots of people leave keys in cars and doors unlocked,” he told ScillyNews. “They don?t take the normal precautions people on the mainland would.

?While we don?t have to worry about a lot of crime as Scilly is very safe, I?m concerned about the drunk who leaves the pub and thinks it would be good to race around the Islands in a car.?

He said last year a group of drunk fishermen had been on a crime spree around the Islands, picking up vehicles and abandoning them.

?These things could have disastrous consequences. People could end up getting killed,? he said.

Three St Mary’s men were recently given 12 month supervision orders and a total of 300 hours of community service after admitting a spate of burglaries and thefts on a single night in January.

A fourth was referred to Truro Magistrates’ Court for sentencing over the same incidents.

?The police are working hard to keep these Islands safe,? said Pc Kan.

?This is a message to anyone who considers committing crimes. You will be caught and given the appropriate sentence, i.e. community service on the Islands or prison.?

The renovation of Bryher?s Church quay is well under way.

The revamp is part of a ?4m scheme to improve quays on the four off-Islands over the next three years.

Work on Church quay began in late March and will take an estimated 14 weeks.

?There is huge machinery and lots going on, but the new landing craft makes light work of things,? said one Bryher local.

The work is being carried out by contractors Nuttall John Martin and is funded by the Department for Transport, the Duchy of Cornwall and Tresco Estate.

It will involve repairs, widening and lengthening, new seawalls, waiting shelters, freight handling and passenger embarkation areas, and facilities for the disabled.

Work on St Martins is set to begin in June, with St Agnes and Anneka’s quay on Bryher scheduled for mid-September.

Check out this and other Scilly pics on http://scillywebcam.blogspot.com

Gold and silver coins worth an estimated ?253 million are thought to have been found off Scilly.

US salvage company Odyssey Marine Exploration said it believed the 17 tonnes of coins have an estimated value of ?506 each.

It is thought the coins may have come from the English ship Merchant Royal, known as the ‘Eldorado of the seas’, which sank off the Islands in 1641 laden with bullion from Mexico.

?For this colonial era, I think (the find) is unprecedented,? said coin expert Nick Bruyer. ?I don?t know of anything equal or comparable to it.?

The firm has flown the 500,000 coins back to its base in Florida to be examined.

It has not disclosed the site of the wreck, codenamed the Black Swan, for legal and security reasons.

But experts believe a statement given to a US court in the autumn suggests it was the Merchant Royal.

A US court has granted Odyssey ownership of the contents of the ship, which is lying 100m (328ft) under the water.

The haul is by far the biggest in the firm’s 13-year history and it is likely to return to the site for more artefacts.

Chief executive John Morris said he believed the find will have ?immense historical significance? and could become one of the most publicised in history.

An Isles of Scilly councillor has condemned a decision to bring a piece of wreckage from the HMS Association back to the Islands at a cost of ?20,000.

Cllr Gordon Bilsborough said returning the sternboard of the ship, famously wrecked in 1707, will cost the average taxpayer ?20 per head.

The artefact, which is currently at Penzance Magistrates? Court, will be displayed in the council chamber.

“Time and time again I have to explain to local people why the roads are not being repaired; why the Town Hall public hall is an utter disgrace and why the Porthcressa promenade keeps flooding when it rains; and then have to inform them that we don’t have the money,? he said.

?Yet we take ?20,000 out of council’s reserves to acquire an ancient piece of wood.?

The board is due to form part of a commemoration of the 300th anniversary of the disaster to be held on Scilly later this year.

Its return was brought about after negotiations between Penwith and the Islands’ council.

“The cost of acquiring this sternboard equates to ?20 on the council tax of a ‘D’ band property,” said Mr Bilsborough.

“At the risk of being criticised, I am not a Philistine and recognise the historical importance of the artefact, but what do I say to council tax payers when they ask me about the cost, when money is needed for more important local problems?

?I suggest that those who want this artefact ought to pay for it and not force it on the hard-pressed taxpayers.”

Mr Bilsborough, who was re-elected in 2005, told Members the decision to spend the money should have been made by full council and not just the policy and resources committee.

And he opposed displaying the sternboard in the council chamber, claiming it would not attract tourists as the chamber is locked when not in use.

?I was disappointed that I received no support from the members of the policy and resources committee who voted six to one to spend the money, but I remain unrepentant,? he told ScillyNews.

?I have yet to find a member of the public who disagrees with me on this.?

The HMS Association was wrecked along with two other ships off the Gilstone Ledge on October 22 1707 with the loss of about 1,500 men.

The Islands’ council has been threatened with legal action after failing to comply with new disability discrimination laws.

The Disability Rights Commission has issued the authority with a compliance notice because it has not written an equality scheme.

The scheme, which outlines how the council promotes disability equality, was due to be completed by December 4.

Commission spokeswoman Marie Rye said Scilly was one of nine out of 1,700 public bodies which had not registered their report.

She said both the commission and the government office for disabilities had written requesting the document but had not received it.

The council denied it had received a letter from the commission prior to this week.

It now has 28 days to comply with the notice to prevent being taken to court.

What’s an independent woman to do when the ex-boss stalking her turns out to be a homicidal werewolf?

Head to the Isles of Scilly of course.

The Islands have a starring role in a spicy paranormal romance.

New novel Beyond the Beast tells the story of Taite Gibson, an independent investigator with the Pima County Attorney’s office in Tucson, Arizona.

When she finds herself with a maniacal stalker on her trail - a stalker who is also a werewolf - she flees to Scilly to seek the help of renowned horror novelist and werewolf expert Ryder Merrick.

What she doesn’t know, and discovers only after she’s fallen in love with him, is that Ryder is also a werewolf.

It’s a recipe for some hot action.

ScillyNews caught up with the book?s author, acclaimed erotic novelist Sherrill Quinn.

?It?s sort of a Wuthering Heights meets The Wolfman, but with a happy ending,? she says.

?The main plot is the heroine being stalked by a werewolf, but there is a sub-plot involving drug smuggling, using the area’s history as a smugglers’ haven. There is action, adventure, suspense and, of course, romance.?

The novel, which is awaiting publication, started out as a short story called Past Land’s End which took place on a fictional island off Cornwall.

?I have always been fascinated with the legends of werewolves and making the hero one just seemed natural,? she says.

?As the story evolved, Ryder Merrick became a loner who has isolated himself on an island because he’s afraid of what he could do.

?The fictional island wasn’t working for me, so I jumped on the Internet and began to do some research, and came across the Isles of Scilly. Perfect!?

Sherrill, who grew up in Ohio but now lives in Arizona, spent 20 years in human resources before starting a second career in erotic romance in early 2005.

Her first book was published in February 2006 and she had a further 11 under her belt by the end of the year.

Although she has never been to the Islands and did all her research on the web, the 44-year-old says she would love to visit in the future.

Check out her website at http://www.sherrillquinn.com

Dolphins could disappear from the coast of Scilly and other parts of the South West in four years unless action is taken to protect them, marine experts have warned.

More than a dozen species of dolphin, whale and porpoise are regularly seen off the Islands, as well as Dorset, Devon, and Cornwall.

They are often spotted by passengers on the Scillonian.

But a report analysing 14 years of records shows an “alarming decline” in the sighting of some species in the area, particularly bottlenose dolphins.

It also shows an increase in the number of dead dolphins washed up on beaches.

The decline is blamed on dolphins being caught in nets between fishing boats.

The joint report by Marine Connection and The Wildlife Trusts highlights the 14 species of cetaceans regularly spotted off the South West, dubbed England’s ‘Dolphin Coast’.

Lissa Goodwin, fisheries and policy officer for Marine Connection, said: “Entanglement in fishing gear is the number one cause of death in stranded dolphins, particularly common dolphins and harbour porpoises.

“There is a very real danger that we could be seeing the last of the bottlenose dolphins off the South West shores. We need to take urgent action.?

Sightings peaked at 335 in 1992 but by 2004 the number had fallen to 60. Just 16 have been reported in the region this year, an all-time low.

The South West Dolphin Report was launched on Monday night.