The first Web-party on St Helena - ever |
During our voyage from Cape Town to St
Helena an idea took form. Why not have a party for those who have contributed to
www.sthelena? We knew that onboard the RMS Sthelena was our friend from the mailing-list
Mr John Gasbarre (known as Islandman), we also knew that on St Helena was another
subscriber - Mr Urs Steiner with family. Well, it turned out more and more that this could
be a nice opportunity to gather friends of the Internet and St Helena one evening. It was
not easy to find a  suitable
place for the happening - the first Web-party on St Helena - which still lacks this
facility to the world. But when we met Mikael Olsson (a Swede), a contact we had made
earlier during the years, who has been on St Helena for more than a year, we just threw
out the idea. Why not, he said, you can use this place - we have a barbecue as well as
plenty of space in the garden. He then showed us the facilities and also what was needed
for a good party. The proposal from "Mike" and his companion Mrs Bernice Spencer
was accepted by us. We then just had to fix a day - it turned out to be Monday before
Christmas. We then try to contact our "victims" - the people who in one way or
another has helped us with information for the web-page. A lot of preparations then took
place - with help of Mike and his friends. On Monday evening people rushed in to the
garden - Manfred Rippich was the first to arrive. He was to our surprise on the island NOT giving
us notice until we arrived. Manfred contacted us back in 1993 regarding an article in a
German magazine. other guests were Tony Leo and Derek Richards with wife Linda (from R St
Helena), Urs Steiner with wife Sue, Islandman, people who we met on the RMS - Mark with
fiencee Belinda, Joanna and James (both will be on the island for more than a year working
for the Government), Stedson Stroud (a Saint with lot of ideas), Iva Henry (the
Postmistress), Pat Musk (our landlord and also the Sheriff of St Helena) and others. Jan
and I had a surprise for the guests - we could present a typical Swedish bun (named after
St Lucia - the Saint) with saffran and raisins specially made for us by  the bakery of Benjamins. It was a success! I could
present some emails from the mailing-list for some persons, among them Tony - isn't he a
little surprised after reading a letter from a close friend of his? After that we invited
the people for BBQ together with  wine or beer. Then there were a lot of discussions
around the tables. Tony could tell the true story about "peanuts" - an amazing
story about what could happen in a live-broadcast and using nick-names. Of course more
could be said about this web-party. I know most of the guests appreciated our small
geisture og having this party. Hopefully we, I mean the web-page, can have some positive
influences in the coming future. The party went on after midnight and we were quite
satisfied of having some 25 guests. John Ekwall
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