This site was set up to fill a gap in media coverage of St Helena, a remote British Island far to the west of Africa, the content will have occasional references to other South Atlantic Islands. This site was originally maintained by Simon Pipe. In June 2020 Simon decided that he would no longer continue to maintain the site and he was happy to close this St Helena online chapter. In June 2020 St Helena online was transferred to Johnny Clingham who was keen to keep all of the documented content as it covered some key events on St Helena. Simon pressed his first blog post on the site on 24th October 2011 “It’s a long way to Half Tree Hollow… so why am I blogging?” and by February 2018 some 1200 blog post later was what made Simons successful St Helena online.
Simon a former print and BBC journalist spent five months on St Helena in 1996/7, when he wrote for the St Helena News and broadcast a weekly programme on Radio St Helena. Simon subsequently served a brief stint as producer/presenter of the now-defunct BBC World Service programme, calling the Falklands. A return trip to St Helena in 2009 resulted in a dispatch for the BBC Radio 4 programme, From Our Own Correspondent, here, and a report for the BBC News website, here. Simon also helped island students make a video report that received extensive national exposure as part of the BBC News School Report project – it’s also on YouTube. In 2012, Simon contributed a chapter about media on remote islands – including St Helena – to a book about local media: What Do We Mean By Local? Grass-Roots Journalism – Its Death and Rebirth. www.abramis.co.uk
Meet Johnny Clingham who is an Island born St Helenian who now manages the St Helena online domain.
Simon Pipe created St Helena online all those years ago. Simon covered many great stories on St Helena, although some of them are archive here on this site they make great reading.