| Author |
Message |
Karin
Guest
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 25, 2010 - 03:13 pm: |   |
HOW about starting up the Fermain ferry service again? Great for visitors, fun for locals, no parking problems. Simple.
KARIN |
Julie Allen
Guest
| | Posted on Saturday, August 21, 2010 - 10:22 am: | |
HERE we are, kids’ summer hols, weather bad, nothing to do yet again.
It’s about time tourism woke up and realised this. I have been to Jersey for the day and was amazed at how much there was to do over there and just how little there is over here. No wonder Jersey is so busy. I know where I would rather spend my hols.
I was chatting to some visitors, who had been here the last two weeks, on the Condor on their way home and they won’t be coming back due to lack of things for their kids to do due to wet weather.
If it rains, the beach is out. OK, there’s Beau Sejour if you want to go there and swim or are sporty, but why have we not got anything else to do in wet weather? Beau Sejour does not compare to Jersey’s Aqua Splash leisure pool in any way. We spent a pleasant couple of hours at the amazing adventure park and maze. Everyone had a good time there. They talk about extending runways over here – I would not bother. We’ve got nothing to entertain visitors or locals, so why should they want to visit us?
If you ask me, I’d say go to Jersey – much more entertainment over there.
So come on, whoever this concerns, wake up and start fixing these issues. We have a great island when the weather is fine – you cannot beat our beaches. But when it’s raining, we all hibernate at home. This is wrong and has been like this for too long.
Do Guernsey a favour and build some decent holiday entertainment that we can use all year round. I know I speak for most of Guernsey in this boring holiday situation.
JULIE ALLEN |
Peter A. Lewis
Guest
| | Posted on Friday, August 20, 2010 - 02:57 pm: | |
FERMAIN Bay – support it, don’t suppress it.
As a local resident of Village de Putron I am fortunate to be able to walk down to Fermain Bay with my dog most days throughout the year. It is indeed a very beautiful part of our island and is featured in various local websites, including Martel Maides and Swoffers Estate Agents, Fermain Valley Hotel, Holidays-Guernsey.com and ‘Why Guernsey?’ on YouTube. So I believe it is fair to assume that Fermain Bay is being widely promoted as an attraction in Guernsey. I therefore cannot understand the apparent intransigence of the Environment Department and transport authority, who appear to be in denial about the need to provide limited vehicular access and parking in the bay.
Unlike many of us who are able to walk down to Fermain, many tourists with elderly relatives and/or young children are in essence denied the opportunity to enjoy the area on an ad hoc basis. Inspector Terry Coule is quoted in the Guernsey Press of 10 August as saying, ‘if there is a requirement to visit the area by car then a temporary permit can be obtained from the enquiry office at the police station, but the needs of the applicant will be assessed and a permit refused unless there is a pressing need.’ Sounds like an edict from High Command during the years of the Occupation.
I noticed in another Press article recently that a police spokesperson said that traffic wardens would be visiting the area on a regular basis to enforce the parking restrictions, as emergency access to the bay was required at all times. As I stated previously, I have been walking down to the bay on a regular basis for over 12 years and have never once witnessed any restrictions to the slipway, which, to my knowledge, is no longer used for landing any form of rescue vessel.
Unfortunately, my wife, who normally walks with me down to the bay, recently underwent a serious operation and is currently unable to walk down to the bay, so I drove her down a week or so ago as the sun was shining and I thought that a coffee at the Beach Café would do her good. The cup of coffee turned out to be quite expensive as I received a £30 fine for unauthorised parking, along with several other tourists with their young families. Welcome to Guernsey, have a nice day.
The current temporary permit system unfortunately does not work because tourists are mostly unaware of its existence and most locals find it totally impractical to continually trudge down to the police station for a permit in order to take elderly or disabled relatives/friends down to the bay and which are only valid for a very limited period time and have been known to take 24 hours to be issued. These permits are not actually available to families with very young children who may also be unable to walk down to the bay. Not exactly user friendly. This beautiful part of Guernsey heritage should be made freely accessible to walkers, with or without walking sticks, toddlers in pushchairs and disabled people. Why should certain sectors of the public be denied the pleasure of this area?
Surely the logical solution to this problem is to provide additional parking (assuming that’s not a crime against the state) at the bottom of the road leading down to the bay, with time restrictions and spaces for disabled people, so that many more less fortunate than myself can enjoy one of our ‘jewels in the crown’.
It should be a simple and cost effective solution to allow the land opposite the slipway to be used as a parking area without spoiling the peace and tranquillity at all.
A much better solution than employing public servants to hand out parking tickets to tourists and locals alike in the middle of an economic recession.
PETER A. LEWIS |
Olga Short
Guest
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 20, 2010 - 02:03 pm: | |
WE HAVE been fortunate to have had many holidays in Guernsey over the past 10 years and always have a wonderful time exploring the island. We stay at La Grande Mare at Vazon Bay and the staff there are just great and so is the food.
It really made my holiday this year to see the Andy Goldsworthy film River and Tides at the new Performing Arts Centre, to see the exhibition of his work at The Greenhouse, and on the last day of our holiday, to watch him and the art students creating a sand sculpture at Pembroke.
Unfortunately, I had to leave before the tide interacted with the sculpture. If any of your readers have a photograph of that stage of the event, I would be delighted if they would be kind enough to email a copy to olgashort@ ntlworld.com.
We look forward to our next holiday in June 2011, if not before.
OLGA SHORT,
Grimsby. |
Mary Kenton
Guest
| | Posted on Friday, July 16, 2010 - 02:14 pm: | |
ORIANA loved being at St Peter Port on Saturday 10 July but it was a very hot day and no one coming ashore could find anywhere to sit in the shade. We couldn’t find comfortable seats (except for church).
The Tapestry Museum (so imaginative) and Victor Hugo’s amazing Hauteville House were historically so interesting.
Thank you.
MARY KENTON,
Oriana cruise ship.
P.S. We’ll be back in oil-spill country soon, USA. |
Anon
Guest
| | Posted on Thursday, July 15, 2010 - 03:09 pm: | |
I READ with disbelief that States Tourism have no interest in joining Jersey to petition the BBC to include Guernsey on national weather maps. What an opportunity to gain free publicity. No wonder Jersey does so much better in promoting their island. They always seem to be ahead of the game.
The apathy shown by our lot suggests that the department should be scrapped or staff replaced with someone with some enthusiasm. I wrote to the BBC recently asking why Guernsey and the Channel Islands were excluded from their nationwide weather maps. Their lukewarm response was that the presenters had little time in which to include us but they would pass on my comments.
Islanders have to pay the full TV licence fee, we should therefore expect a full service in return.
I have no connection whatsoever with the tourist industry.
Name and address withheld. |
Simon Mankelow
Guest
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 19, 2010 - 02:37 pm: | |
THE Walking Weeks are a great way for visitors to see Guernsey and learn some of its history from an accredited guide. I will not name you individually - except for Elizabeth Gardener-Wheeler, who has a new walk, Golden Guernsey.
As the name suggests it is animal related. But, you also visit the farm where Guernsey ice cream is made and later to where goat's cheese is produced.
As to my companions on the walks, many of whom I am now proud to say are friends, the majority are locals, which always amazes me. On most walks they outnumber visitors, and on occasion I have been the only visitor. May the Walking Weeks continue for many years to come.
SIMON MANKELOW,
Tunbridge Wells, Kent. |
Peter Falla
Guest
| | Posted on Saturday, May 08, 2010 - 10:46 am: | |
Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention and for giving us the opportunity to respond.
As a department we take all complaints seriously and on the rare occasion that a complaint is made, we treat that complaint as an opportunity to review our procedures and services accordingly.
The Guernsey Information Centre staff deals with 350 visitors in a day and on average, on occasions more than 1,000 visitors can visit the centre in one day. These customers come from many parts of Europe and indeed the world, and can vary greatly in their individual ability to communicate with staff.
As a department, we have a training policy for staff employed at the Guernsey Information Centre to ensure they can communicate as effectively as possible with non-English speaking visitors. Currently the centre staff comprises: one German speaking staff member and also a part-time fluent French speaker, another full-time staff member is currently undertaking French lessons, a fluent French speaking student also works at the centre during the key summer months between June and September and during weekends.
The French and German population are key visitor markets for Guernsey, therefore we also have VisitGuernsey printed literature freely available with good signage within the centre. A review of the feasibility of using an electronic multi-lingual electronic translator at the centre is being undertaken.
We would like to assure our visitors that meeting their needs when visiting the centre is paramount.
Peter Falla,
Marketing director,
Culture and Leisure Department |
C. Graziani
Guest
| | Posted on Saturday, May 08, 2010 - 10:44 am: | |
I WAS in the High Street on 26 April and an elderly French couple from Chartres stopped me to ask how to get to Victor Hugo House and Candie Museum. I had time, so I walked them up to Candie Museum.
They told me that at the North Plantation Tourist Information, no one could speak French. They could not believe it, and continued, what is the point of such a 'posh' tourist office if they don't have staff with language knowledge?
I told them to write to the Tourist Authority and/or the Guernsey Press and make a complaint. They told me they will never come back to Guernsey but go back to Jersey because there, they are trying harder and are more professional.
My final thought, what is the point of our Culture and Leisure spending on advertising when they cannot supply a decent service? Why don't they spend more on professional staff that can speak at least two foreign languages to make tourists welcome?
C. GRAZIANI.
C.Graziani@ hotmail.co.uk. |
Arthur Jenkins
Guest
| | Posted on Saturday, April 24, 2010 - 10:23 am: | |
I HAVE just returned after a stay in your beautiful island and, as on my previous visits, found the scenery so beautiful and the people so friendly.
However, I feel bound to say I cannot believe the island needs such a lavish airport terminal building, and does the administration of local justice really need so many new courts?
I also found the tourist trade appears to be quite unjustified in its drink prices - in one not too upmarket restaurant, coffee at £1.95 a small cup and locally produced cider at £4.25 a small bottle. Definitely in the 'rip-off' category.
Keep up the good work.
I am an OAP, so unlikely to be able to afford to come to the island again.
ARTHUR JENKINS,
Cornwall. |
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