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