Healthspan team helps out in Lihou as storm batters island
OLD crab pots, a canister of petrol and several plastic bottles were carried by storms onto Lihou island yesterday.
Guernsey’s west coast faced south-westerly winds of force four to five early yesterday morning, with gusts up to force seven, a spokesman for the Guernsey Met office said.
Later in the morning the wind picked up to 25 knots, with gusts at the top end of force eight from the west.
Lihou was hit particularly hard by the winds and warden Steve Sarre spent the morning clearing up some of the rubbish that had been carried from the sea by the storm onto the banks around the island.
‘The strong winds meant a lot of stuff has washed up overnight so I’ve been busy picking that up, while some volunteers have been helping with maintenance work inside the house,’ said Mr Sarre.
Five members of the design team at Healthspan volunteered their time to help Mr Sarre with some of the many renovation projects on Lihou.
Simon Sole from Healthspan said he has been a regular visitor to the island since he was a child.
‘When I heard that there was a new warden I reached out in the hope we could help out with some odd jobs as part of our team’s corporate responsibility pledge.
‘Steve said there was so much to do and so we’ve got stuck right in, painting the bedrooms and corridors of the house to help with the general renovations.’
With eight rooms available to rent in the house and only a three-hour time slot before the causeway was cut off by the tide, the team had their work cut out. Donations from Trust Corporation, the Le Feuvre family and the John Ramplin Charitable Trust have meant a new oven, grill and a chimney can be installed to improve the house ready for next summer’s guests.
A further £7,500 will be spent by the Lihou Charitable Trust on replacing windows in the house which have been broken by the wind or no longer open.
‘Next year we plan to take a good look at repairs to the roof to ensure the house is watertight and draught-free,’ said Mr Sarre.
‘A lot needs doing, so I’m so grateful for all the volunteers who are lending a hand to breathe a bit of new life into the house.’
Recently, a local tradesman, Adam Le Page, took a ‘working holiday’ in Lihou completing various renovation tasks around the island.
As a beneficiary of the Rotary Walk, the Lihou Charitable Trust received £2,300 which was spent on new bows, arrows and targets for the archery range to be re-established in the summer for team-building activities when schools visit.
A defibrillator will also be installed in the island if planning permission is granted.
The Met office spokesman said there was not much to look forward to this week weather-wise: ‘More showers [are expected today and tomorrow], with a brief drier spell on Friday night before rain returns on Saturday.
‘Temperatures will also start to fall away over the next few days as the wind goes around to a north-easterly direction by Saturday night – although this also comes with the slight positive that we should get some drier weather early next week.’
