Citizens due Pompey trip

SENIOR Citizens in Alderney will jet off for a week's fun hopefully in the sun in Portsmouth this year.

The June trip is being laid on by the island's branch of Age Concern after last year's annual outing was cancelled due to the Olympics pushing up accommodation costs.

More than 20 residents are expected to go on the holiday to Southsea.

Age Concern organiser Barbara Benfield, pictured, said everyone was looking forward to it.

'When we went to Weymouth in 2011 everyone had an excellent time,' she said. 'They enjoyed trips to the theatre, the amusement arcade and they also really enjoyed seeing the plaques there commemorating the evacuation from Alderney to Weymouth during the Second World War.

'There was also a wartime parade that went on all day featuring uniforms and vehicles from the period and that went down well.'

This year the group will be staying at the seafront Victorian Royal Beach Hotel, with views over the Solent.

Their trips mean residents also enjoy the luxury of swimming in a heated pool – whereas in Alderney they only have the sea.

Aurigny offers reduced rates for the trip and lays on an extra plane flying after the scheduled flight if necessary, so residents can arrive together.

Extra wheelchairs and walking aids are packed so that those with reduced mobility can come and have a good time.