Ex-Islands boatman John Hicks is organising a Scilly reunion in Bristol.

The get-together is for ex-Scillonians, people who have lived there in the past, and people who love the Islands, says John, who lived on St Mary?s for 40 years before leaving in 1997.

?There are a great many Scillonians and expats that live up this way so I thought it might be a nice idea,? he explains.

?I’ve found this wonderful old Tudor Coaching Inn dating back to 1589 where we can have our reunion.

“We can have a good old knees up, a bit of nosh and chin wag, maybe crash out for the night with a good old sing song to boot.?

John, who ran the Swordfish II for 16 years, says he is hoping to get some or all of the Male Voice Choir to provide the entertainment.

The party will be held at the Ship Inn in Thornbury Road, Alverston from 7pm on November 10.

Check out the details at the reunion website at:
http://www.thestagelights.co.uk/scilly.htm
And our interview with John at:
http://scillynews.severecci.net/?p=11438

Former Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy MP is to visit the Isles of Scilly.

Mr Kennedy will take a short break on the Islands with his wife and two-year-old son following a visit with Scilly’s MP Andrew George in St Ives next week.

He will discuss the challenges of local affordable housing in the constituency in comparison with his own Scottish constituency of Ross, Skye and Lochaber.

Mr George said: ?It is a privilege and an enormous pleasure to have Charles and his family taking the trouble to come all this way.

?Charles has always had a tremendous charm and a quick wit which even his political opponents cannot fail to be impressed by.”

Prince Charles received a ?1 million pay rise from the Duchy of Cornwall last year.

His annual private income from the Duchy estate - which includes the Isles of Scilly - has now risen to more than ?15 million.

Its revenue has doubled in the last five years.

The prince’s annual accounts, to be published at the end of this month, will show his earnings were boosted by rising interest rates as well as property and stock market gains.

Sources said the Duchy estate, set up in 1337, earned ?11 million in what was an ?exceptional? year.

Profits from share dealings are thought to have provided a further ?4 million. Five years ago, the Duchy?s investment portfolio returned income of only ?352,000.

The Duchy?s property assets are now worth ?500 million, while his shares, bonds and other investments are worth ?100 million.

The Clarence House review will also reveal that Charles continues to be the country?s major individual charity benefactor, raising millions for his 16 main charities, including the Prince?s Trust.

And it will show that his office is the equivalent of a mid-sized company with more than 100 staff, of which nearly 30 work for him personally such as chefs, valets and gardeners.

Charles pays the expenses of wife Camilla and those of Princes William and Harry - both of whom are salaried army officers - from his private income.

But taxpayers foot the bill for royal security, maintenance of Clarence House and official trips.

Senior Labour MP Ian Davidson, who sits on the Public Accounts committee, said: “This once again demonstrates the need for there to be closer examination of all of the Prince of Wales’ expenditure.

“Many of us remain concerned that he is able to spend so much money on fripperies while he obtains tax benefits unavailable to the rest of us mere mortals.

“This bumper bonus is the equivalent to winning ?1 million on the lottery for every month of the year.”

Radio Scilly and the Islands have featured on a major national radio show.

Commercial stations from across the UK linked up for a special programme on Sunday night to celebrate the achievements of local radio.

The live debate was the culmination of The Big Listen, a week-long campaign to gather listeners? views about the future of commercial radio.

The two-hour programme was networked to 60 stations across the country from London’s LBC Radio.

Radio Scilly director Keri Jones was invited to appear as a guest speaker and as a representative of smaller, non-metropolitan stations.

And with millions of people potentially listening, he was keen to get a plug in for the Isles of Scilly.

“I’m determined to do my bit to help promote Scilly because every little bit of publicity helps people who run businesses on the islands. That’s why I was delighted to accept the invitation to appear,? he said.

?It was pretty daunting going on straight after Sir Richard Branson though! He talked about Virgin Radio and I put a plug in for the islands and Radio Scilly. Talk about a contrast!”

TV presenter Toby Anstis, who hosted the show, was particularly interested in Radio Scilly’s claim to be the “world’s smallest radio station” and its potential immediate audience of just 2,150.

Keri pointed out that there was currently a pregnancy boom on Scilly and those extra potential listeners would be very much welcome.

Radio Scilly begins live FM and internet broadcasting on September 3 from studios above Island Properties on Porthmellon.

Get in touch with Keri and check out his blog at http://www.radioscilly.com.

The Five Islands School has been classed as ?outstanding? in every respect after a recent inspection by Ofsted.

It was given the grade 1 rating in all categories - achievements /standards, personal development and well-being, quality of provision, including teaching, leadership / management and care, guidance and support.

?The Five Islands is an outstanding school and the children and young people educated there are a credit to this unique island community,? the report said.

The glowing appraisal comes four years after the school was placed in ?special measures? following an Ofsted inspection which found more than 12% of teaching and 20% pupil learning to be unsatisfactory.

The school, which has 277 pupils aged from four to 16, is a federation of the four former primary schools and the former Isles of Scilly Secondary School.

Three inspectors visited all the school sites during a two-day visit. They observed all teachers, spoke to pupils and had several meetings with staff.

The report said pupils were confident, motivated and enjoyed all aspects of their learning, and that the curriculum was “greatly enriched” by the dedication of staff.

It added that the head teacher and his team provided outstanding capacity for further improvement, and that “outstanding relationships” between the school’s staff and pupils were key to success and ?evident in all its work?.

It noted that the federation system, which came into effect in 2002, had taken time to become embedded, but added it ?created many challenges but also affords the school many opportunities.?

The only area for improvement was inadequacies in the accommodation at the Carn Thomas base, which had the “potential to constrain innovative curriculum
development.? However, plans are currently under way for a new school to be built.

Headteacher Andrew Penman said he was “absolutely thrilled” by the report.

“They are the fruit of four years’ hard work by a large team of people and it is great to have the improvement that this school has made in that time recognised in this way,” he told The Cornishman newspaper.

Hundreds of amateur sailors living on and visiting the Islands could be affected by new plans to introduce a ?drink-sail? alcohol limit.

The Department of Transport has announced that restrictions for professional sailors, brought in March 2004, will now also apply to amateurs.

People navigating yachts, speedboats, cruisers and canal boats in inland and territorial waters at sea while over the limit could now be prosecuted in the same way as motorists.

They will face a maximum fine of ?5,000 or two years in prison if found guilty.

The law will apply to those “involved in the navigation of a vessel” longer than 7m (23ft) and/or capable of speeds of 7 knots or more.

Jet skis are exempt from the ruling but ministers are hoping to include them as soon as possible.

The limit equates roughly to a pint and a half or two pints of normal strength beer, three 175ml measures of wine or three pub measures of spirits.

St Mary?s man Philip Colver was this week cleared of manslaughter and grievous bodily harm over his involvement in a boat crash which killed 31-year-old Benjamin Cochrane in July 2005.

Colver, 32, had consumed up to ten pints of beer before getting behind the wheel of a 21ft speedboat which was in collision with Mr Cochrane?s 15ft Dory off St Mawes.

Mr Cochrane had also been drinkng, Truro Crown Court heard.

Colver was sentenced to 150 hours’ community work after admitting three offences under the Merchant Shipping Act.

Mr Cochrane?s father Jamie said his family supported new laws to help stop such a tragedy happening again.

“So that Ben’s death was not in vain, one of our main aims would be that there is legislation brought in to stop drink-driving at sea. It’s okay to have a drink but not 10 pints,” he told the Daily Mail.

He also expressed shock at Colver?s sentence. “He’s got 150 hours’ community service on the island where he lives. There’s a death involved and we’ve got to live without Ben,” he said.

Transport Minister Stephen Ladyman said: “Everyone has the right to enjoy themselves on the water, but in a way that does not put others at risk.

“I am satisfied that in bringing in an alcohol limit for non-professional mariners and in setting the exclusion limit at 7 metres and 7 knots we are providing the best balance between improving safety and avoiding unnecessary regulation.”

The Isles of Scilly is to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the British Navy?s worst peacetime martime disaster with a series of events in October.

A large proportion of the British Navy fleet was returning from Gibraltar on 22 October 1707 when its longitude was misjudged in poor visibility.

The flagship Association along with three other ships in the fleet were wrecked on the western approaches with the loss of an estimated 1,600 men.

Legend states that Sir Cloudisley Shovell, the fleet?s commander and the most respected officer of the time, was washed up on Porth Hellick beach on St Mary’s, where he survived until a local woman killed him to steal his ring.

He was buried in a simple grave at Porth Hellick, but later exhumed and buried in Westminster Abbey.

The wrecks led to the offer of a prize for an instrument to measure longitude.

Among guest speakers on the subject in October will be Dava Sobel, US author of the best-selling book ?Longitude?, and Astronomer Royal Sir Arnold Wolfendale.

76-year-old veteran diver and wrecks expert Richard Larn, from St Mary?s, and John Taylor, a horologist and expert on John Harrison - the English carpenter who finally solved ?the longitude problem? - will also appear.

Larn and the late Navy diver Roy Graham initiated the research and successful search for the wrecks, said Phillip Hygate, chief executive of Islands’ council, which is putting together the events.

The speeches will be followed by a visit by the fishery patrol vessel HMS Mersey and the laying of wreaths near the Gilstone rock.

The Association?s sternboard, which has been housed in the main Penzance magistrates? court, is also expected to be on show in an exhibition, opening in August, of finds from the four wrecks.

Check out our interview with Roy Graham here: http://scillynews.severecci.net/?p=11449

A St Mary’s man has been found not guilty of manslaughter over his involvement in a boat crash in which a man was killed and two others injured.

Philip Colver, 32, was driving the 21ft speedboat Carrie Kate when it was in collision with a 15ft Dory driven by Benjamin Cochrane off St Mawes.

Mr Cochrane, 31, who was from St Mawes, died in the crash in July 2005.

The jury at Truro Crown Court also cleared Colver of a charge of grievous bodily harm against one of Mr Cochrane’s passengers, his brother Frazer.

When sentencing, Mr Justice Owen said it was to Colver’s credit that he “never sought to avoid responsibility for the death”.

“What the public should appreciate is that ‘do not drink and drive’ applies as much to power boats as to motor vehicles,” he said.

He added that he recognised Colver carried a “heavy burden of guilt”.

Colver admitted three lesser offences under the Merchant Shipping Act - driving at excess speed, failing to keep a proper watch and failure to exhibit navigation lights - and was sentenced to 150 hours’ community work.

A St Mary?s man involved in a fatal boat crash has told a court how sorry he is that a man was killed.

Philip Colver is is charged with the manslaughter of 31-year-old Benjamin Cochrane, from St Mawes.

“It’s something I think about every day - every morning and every night - and I want to express how sorry I am to his friends and family that he lost his life in the accident,” he told Truro Crown Court.

Colver, 32, was driving the speedboat Carrie Kate when it was in collision with a fishing boat driven by Mr Cochrane off St Mawes at about 10pm on July 16 2005.

He denies manslaughter and one charge of causing grievous bodily harm to one of Mr Cochrane’s passengers, his brother Frazer.

Earlier judge Mr Justice Owen directed the jury to return a not guilty verdict on the charge of committing grievous bodily harm against another passenger, Chay Richardson.

He said Mr Richardson’s injuries were not thought to be serious enough to warrant the charge.

Both helsman had been drinking before the crash. Mr Cochrane?s boat did not have navigational lights fitted and the Carrie Kate did not have her lights switched on.

Colver told Paul Dunkels QC, defending, that he could not explain why he had not switched on the lights. ?Maybe an absence of mind, possibly I didn’t think it was that dark.”

He said he would not disagree with an expert witness who had deduced from a breathalyser test that he had consumed about 10 pints of beer during the day.

The defence team argue that the Carrie Kate was travelling at approximately 25 knots (29mph). Colver said he accepted that he had been driving too fast.

He also agreed with Prosecutor Philip Mott QC that the combination of going out where there are no lanes, without any lights and having drunk too much alcohol was ?stupid?.

Character witness Kevin Pender, an ex-St Mary?s publican, told the court Colver was a “thoughtful and intelligent” man who raises money for charity.

He said Colver had been a great help to him and his family when he lost an eye in an accident while working on a pleasure boat.

Colver would drive from Falmouth to Penzance to pick up Mr Pender’s children and take them to visit their father in hospital in Plymouth, he said.

The trial continues.

A speedboat driven by a St Mary?s man which killed his friend in a collision took off like “a skier hitting a ski jump” because of its high speed, a court has heard.

Philip Colver, 32, has pleaded not guilty to the manslaughter of 31-year-old Benjamin Cochrane, who died when the vessel crashed into his fishing boat off St Mawes on July 16 2005.

He also denied causing grievous bodily harm to Ben’s brother Frazer and friend Chay Richardson, who were also in Cochrane’s 15ft Dory.

He admitted breaching marine regulations by failing to keep a proper watch, driving at excess speed and failing to exhibit navigational lights.

Prosecution witness Anthony Heslop of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), said: “When it hit the Ketts [Mr Cochrane’s boat] it had the effect of a skier hitting a ski jump - there was very little damage to the Ketts.

“I conclude that Carrie Kate [Colver’s boat] would have been going at very close to its absolute full speed to clear the Ketts. That speed would be approximately 30 knots (35mph)”.

He said he doubted the Carrie Kate could have cleared the Ketts at 25 knots.

MCA marine surveyor Capt Roderick Johnson told the court he considered 8-10 knots a suitable speed for the water between Falmouth and St Mawes where the collision took place, but with lights on.

The Ketts did not have any lights and the Carrie Kate’s were not switched on, Truro Crown Court was told.

On Tuesday the jury visited the scene of the accident at St Mawes.

The eight men and four women, along with judge Mr Justice Owen, watched from St Mawes Castle as a speedboat similar to the Carrie Kate came across the water.

They then returned to court to hear evidence from two passengers who were in Colver’s boat.

Ciaron Gray, who was in the boat with girlfriend Alison Jenkin and her friend Rosanna Martin, said Colver “was not drunk and did not appear to be affected by the alcohol he had consumed. I had no concerns about his ability to control the boat or about travelling quite fast.”

Rosanna Martin said Colver did not strike her as being drunk.

On Monday, prosecutor Philip Mott QC had told the jury that both Colver and Cochrane had been drinking and were more than twice the legal drink-driving limit when the crash happened.

The pair had been drinking together in a pub in Falmouth earlier in the day.

“The allegation against Colver is not that he was negligent, he is charged with being so grossly negligent that his crime is categorised as manslaughter,” he said.

The trial continues.