The Office of the Chief Secretary has had news that the Royal British Legion received the sum of £328.42 from St Helena. This money was raised through the sale of poppy’s on St Helena last year. The year before, St Helena raised £463.46.

The Poppy Appeal said that they were most grateful for the money raised. This money will go towards helping persons who have served and are currently serving in the Armed Forces by providing financial, social and emotional support. Last year over 300,000 people came to the Legion for help and over £40 million was spent on caring for ex-service men and women and their dependents.

A brochure published by the Royal British Legion states that "£50 ensures ten housebound or hospitalised people receive a visit, £250 installs a lifeline alarm for medical emergencies, £500 sends a disabled person and carer on holiday, £1500 buys a powered wheelchair."

The Poppy Appeal remains the main source of revenue for The Royal British Legion’s Benevolent Fund and each year, the Legion receives requests for help from more and more people.

On St Helena, poppy’s are sold by schools, various shops and organisations for 5p.

Gone are the days when people could not be employed by the St Helena Government because they had reached the age of 60 years or over. Taking into account the problems with staffing attrition, a decision was made to employ persons who are over the age of 60 years.

Barbara George, Chief Personnel Officer feels that, in today’s terms, 60 "is not as "old" as it once was." It is felt that many people, who are over the age of 60 years, would, in fact, be an asset to the St Helena Government, possibly having gained a wealth of experience from working in a Government post for many years and probably even having received training. It is also felt that there may be St Helenians who have worked abroad, are returning to the Island to retire, and are prepared to take on employment within Government.

Younger persons will not be disadvantaged by this new scheme, because as long as they are suitable for the post, they will be considered over the retired person even if it means that they will require training. Also, a person will not be able to automatically remain in post if they have reached the age of 60 years. Employees reaching retirement age will first have to discuss the matter with his or her Head of Department. The post will have to be advertised, and the employee will have to apply through an open recruitment process.

This new scheme is already in operation and Barbara said that it is working well. People will be taken on a 12-month contract and if they are entitled to a pension, they will still receive it when they reach the age of 60. If they are re-employed after their 60^th birthday, they will not receive any additional pension entitlements.

People who took early retirement will also be entitled to be re employed.

There was provision under Government’s Public Service Orders for a person, already employed in Government to continue working in their role after retirement age. The Governor could give approval to this in exceptional cases.

The new policy applies not just to people within SHG, but anyone who is suitable for the post.

The idea is to take retired persons into the public service in non-managerial roles, although if there are no suitable applicants, a retired person might be considered for a managerial post. All persons employed after 60 years of age will be on a fixed term contract.

Commenting on the future of this scheme, Barbara said: "St Helena, in addition to experiencing a skills migration, is also left with an ageing population and a very low annual birth rate. All of theses factors will impact on future employment issues for St Helena."

The remainder of June will be a busy time in terms of Strategic Planning for St Helena. The six overarching Strategic Objectives have been agreed and, plans will start to be made for achieving these objectives this month.

It is hoped that the six Strategic Objectives Groups will be formed very soon, and before this month ends, they will have been briefed about Strategic Planning. They will also meet as separate groups to start brainstorming and planning for how they will help the Government departments work towards achieving the objectives.

As is the case every year, the thirteen departments will be putting together their business plans, and this year, these plans will also reflect what is stated in the six overarching strategic objectives. The remainder of the 13 objectives will also be taken into consideration.

The Strategic Objectives Groups will be chaired by a Councillor and will also include another Councillor, two officers from the St Helena Government and representatives from the private sector or the voluntary sector.