En Voyage_Issue#11_Flickbook

En Voyage
AURIGNY NEWS
Image courtesy of the Guernsey Press
HIGH FLYER GEORGIE
WINS ‘ANNIVERSARY’
PRIMARY SCHOOLS
COMPETITON
Vale Primary School pupil Georgie
Le Page won a flight for her entire
class when she was crowned
winner of our Bailiwick-wide
Primary Schools Competition.
Georgie beat more than 500
children from across Guernsey and
Alderney to the top prize with her
‘colourful and bold’ Aurigny birthday
card design. The competition was
to design a birthday card to mark
Aurigny’s 50th anniversary.
Aurigny CEO Mark Darby helped
to unveil a giant version of the
winning design at Guernsey
Airport in front of the six finalists,
their families and teachers.
The competition’s runner-up was
St Martin’s Primary School’s Alex
Brimage who won a £200 voucher
for his school. This can be used by
the school to support any fundraising
activities/events being held this year.
A public Facebook vote helped us
to pick six finalists, with thousands
of people voting for their favourite
design online. Representatives
from Aurigny’s chosen charities
of the year, the GSPCA and Male
Uprising Guernsey (MUG), then had
the difficult decision to pick the
winning design and the runner-up.
Aurigny CEO Mark Darby said the
airline had been overwhelmed by
both the number of entries and
the standard of all the designs.
‘You can see how much hard
work has been put in by the pupils
and we’d like to issue a big thank
you to everyone who took part.
Our judges said it was a really
tough task to pick a winner. They
were all fantastic designs and all
so different. Congratulations to
Georgie and Alex, and once again,
we’d like to thank all the pupils who
took part. They all did brilliantly.’
HAPPY 50 TH TO JEFF
AND AURIGNY
Aurigny is not the only one
celebrating its 50th birthday this
year. Passenger Jeff Fox has also
been celebrating the big 5-0 and
says it was extra special to share
the milestone with Aurigny.
Jeff, who is a partner at Ray &
Scott Jewellers in Guernsey, said
he was recently returning from
birthday weekend celebrations,
and the Aurigny flight crew
took special care of him and his
delicate hand luggage – a specially
engraved bottle with the words
‘Foxy, 50 Not Out’.
‘Sharing my 50th with Aurigny is
special,’ he said. ‘My first flight ever
was from East Midlands 13 years
ago when I came to settle my
family here and become partner
at Ray & Scott Jewellers. The
following month my first ever Joey
flight was to Alderney to deliver
a clock and I loved the ability to
island hop.’
From everyone at Aurigny, we
wish you a very happy 50th year.
AURIGNY HITS THE
COURT WITH FRENCH
TENNIS LEGEND
It’s not often you get the chance to
share the court with a legend of the
sport. So, when cult favourite and
former doubles champion Henri
Leconte came over to Guernsey, we
jumped at the chance to join him for
a rally and catch up.
Henri, French Open singles
finalist in 1988 and French Open
men’s doubles winner in ‘84, was
visiting the island as the guest of
honour at Guernsey Tennis Club,
to open Guernsey’s first ever padel
courts. His own padel company,
Henri Leconte Padel, constructed
the courts at the newly named
Guernsey Padel Club and he
joined us for a chat at the grand
opening, sharing with us his
passion for the game.
‘I’m really pleased because I love
the game. I have loved the game
for 18 or 19 years. It is such an
easy game to play. You can play
with everybody. You can play with
your wife, you can play with your
mother, father, grandfather, and for
someone who has never touched
a racket, it is such an easy game to
play, compared to tennis.
‘You have to understand that in
Padel it’s not necessary to hit the
ball hard. That’s why the ladies are
playing very well. They are very -
you know - smart.’
Padel is a racket sport that is
surging in popularity around
the world. Typically it’s played in
doubles on an enclosed court,
smaller than the size of a tennis
court. One of the main differences
to tennis is that the court has
walls and the balls can be played
off them in a similar way as in the
game of squash. Solid stringless
racquets are used.
At Guernsey Padel Club, Henri
cut the ribbon to open the three
courts, before entertaining the
crowds with his famous oncourt
antics during a series of
entertaining exhibition matches.
‘It’s always nice to play. And
winning. We try the best we can
and the best team wins, but still at
the end, you’re just fighting.’
Henri flew over with Aurigny for
what was his first trip to Guernsey,
but hopefully it won’t be his last.
He also shared a rally with us, as
part of the day’s entertainment.
We won’t say who won, but Henri
said he rated our flying more than
our on-court skills
‘It’s very nice (in Guernsey). I had
a very nice flight this morning from
Gatwick, coming here nice and
easy. It was just a perfect time and
also the weather – why anyone
says in Guernsey it’s not nice. The
weather’s always nice.’
10 En Voyage | Aurigny’s Magazine