Two new faces and one familiar face can now be seen, with effect from this month, fronting three different elements of the Authority’s community services provision: in Porthcressa Public Library, at Park House and with Adult Social Care.
Linda Thomas has just departed her post at the islands’ dental surgery and taken on the role of Scilly’s librarian... again. She held the job previously when the library was located first in the Wesleyan Chapel and then at Carn Thomas.
‘With libraries closing up and down the country today due to growing budgetary pressures, the islands are really fortunate at Porthcressa to have such fantastic new premises,’ says Linda. ’I want to make sure that as many people as possible - young and old - get to come and take advantage of all the facilities here and see the place not just as a source of books. I’ve got lots of ideas and I want to hear from users too about what they’d like to see.’
Adult Social Care manager Beverley Hodgson was a staff nurse in neurosurgery, orthopaedics and paediatrics before training as a midwife. She also spent six months in Pakistan’s Sind desert as both midwife and nurse. She then worked as a district nurse before deciding to qualify as a social worker.
‘I came to Scilly on spec in October as a locum social worker in what I thought would be rather like a ‘gap year,’ said Beverley. ‘But my husband Ian and I have found the islands so much to our liking that I’ve now accepted the position on a permanent basis.’
The second new face belongs to Jane Trimarco. She’s the replacement for Jean Sleigh as manager of the Council’s residential home at Park House. Unlike Beverley, Jane had actually seen sight of Scilly before moving here.
She’s been running an assisted living domiciliary establishment in Northamptonshire for Extracare, a charity for the elderly. But for the past 10 years she’s also been coming here on holiday.
However, her links to the islands go much deeper than that. In fact they’re in her very DNA because the family name back in the 19th century was actually Woodcock and they lived on Samson.
‘After Samson, the family stayed on Tresco until the 1920s before leaving for the mainland,’ says Jane, who is an amateur dramatics enthusiast and was chair of a 50-strong choir which has sung all over the country, including the Albert Hall.
’I am thrilled to get this job at Park House. I do have a passion for community involvement and considerable experience in getting people together from all sorts of different backgrounds and this could be of key importance in my new role,’ she added.