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As I move on from Bailiwick Express to new challenges over this New Year, I can honestly say that writing most of Connect and editing the magazine will be very near the top of the list of things I’ll miss most.
For a reporter on a daily paper, like Express, the news cycle is never more than 24 hours long. There is always a sense of immediacy and change. Connect provides an opportunity to take a step back from the daily news cycle and meet interesting people in business and other walks of island life who may not normally be anywhere near the headlines. Over the past 15 months as Editor, and before that as a contributing writer, I hope the privilege of listening to and learning from such people has been reflected in the stories we have published in these pages.
This edition of Connect is another celebration of local endeavour and achievement. Our Cover Story is with Mark and Penny Dravers, who from humble beginnings 40 years ago have built a hugely successful business exporting oyster seed around the world.
Special Report features also features an export success story: Arthur Eldridge’s Guernsey Woollens, a company with a proud history going back to the 1970s, and now sending thousands of our iconic guernsey jumpers and other garments every year to all four corners of the earth.
Deputy Lindsay de Sausmarez writes about another export success of sorts – Guernsey’s waste strategy – and argues that we should all take more pride in talking rubbish.
Moving away from exports, we visit two local institutions: Elizabeth College and the Priaulx Library. In Unplugged, Dot Carruthers, the College’s Foundation and Marketing Director, speaks about the school’s ongoing investment in its students and facilities. In No Ordinary Day Job, Steve Foote reflects on his first year (nearly) as Chief Executive of the Library and talks about its need to evolve while retaining all it has done so well for decades.
In a special feature to celebrate freelance local photographers, we invited two of the island’s best, Tim Sebire and Steve Archenoul, to select some of their favourite shots. Tim and Steve kindly allow Express to use their images in our daily news email.
We hear from two inspirational local women. Writer Poppy Murray guests with an opinion column about people power and Shelaine Green tells us about her work as Chair of Women in Public Life. And our regular features again include a restaurant review, an update on the work of our Charity Partner, GROW, local events in December and January, and Take 5, which offers a selection of less familiar but perhaps more achievable New Year’s resolutions.
In 2023, Connect will celebrate its 100th issue. In the meantime, I’m signing off, first with sincere thanks to the brilliant team of designers, photographers, writers and sales managers who work hard on Connect, and second wishing readers a happy Christmas and a peaceful and prosperous New Year.
