Members of the St. David's community are being urged to come out tonight to a special meeting to create a community council for residents.

The Bermuda Community Education Advisory Council has organised the gathering in a bid to get residents involved in their community more, and to get people to talk about issues that affect and interest them.

Community education coordinator Eugene Vickers said St. David's was growing all the time with new residents, and he believed if a council was created it would help to break down barriers and introduce people. “We are forming a community council in St. David's to help to develop the community,” said Mr. Vickers.

“We want to talk to the young people to find out what interests them, what their opinions are and where they are going, We want to build the community and help families who may need assistance.”

Mr. Vickers said a community council could offer support and advice to residents, as well as some financial assistance, where it was particularly needed. The first meeting will be held tonight at Clearwater Middle School from 7 p.m., and those interested in forming a council will be asked to meet once a month after that.

Anyone interested in attending should turn up at the school, but for those who are unable to make it but would like to know more, call the Bermuda Community Education Advisory Council on 236-0829.

Post Offices around the Island will be closing early today for a first ever staff general meeting.

Postmaster General George Outerbridge said all Post Offices would close at 4 p.m. so a meeting could be held to enable discussions about a comprehensive review of the postal system. He said he planned to look at staff development, business efficiencies and future business opportunities within the Post Office.

The aim is to turn the Post Office into a profit making entity, and the staff will discuss ways in which to make it possible.

The People's Pharmacy on Victoria Street is planning on becoming even more people-friendly with the addition of a self-serve coffee and food area in the store.

Donna Pearman of the People's Pharmacy said the store was also planning on renovating the upper level of the Victoria Street property into offices, possibly to rent out.

“It's depending on Planning - as soon as we get planning permission we want to go ahead,” she said, estimating that would be no later than June. The store plans to renovate the retail area to include a small self-serve coffee and sandwich area, with other pre-packaged foods available.

Students who entered the first annual web design competition organised by the Bermuda Careers Centre and Bermudaliving.com touched on issues of teen pregnancy, drug prevention and gang violence in their creations.

And the 18 people who took part in the contest to design web pages will be awarded prizes tonight at an awards ceremony at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute at 6.15 p.m. tonight.

The web design competition was put on by the Bermuda Careers Centre to help encourage youngsters to be creative. The centre's managing director Derek Smith said the contest had turned up some really exciting and innovative entries.

“It was great to see the kind of talent that was on the Island,” said Mr. Smith. He said that some of the entrants simply “blew the judges away” with their graphics, architecture and web- building skills.

And at the ceremony, attended by Education Minister Paula Cox and Telecommunications Minister Renee Webb, many of the entries will be on display. There will also be a Minister's Choice Award presented by Ms Webb. For further information, telephone Bermuda Careers Center at 292-5056.

The Bermuda Counsellors' Association will focus on helping counsellors maintain their own mental health with a workshop slated to address topics such as professional burnout and stress management.

“Counsellors are so accustomed to caring for others that they often do not take the time out to care for themselves,” said BCA Chairperson Mira Ingemann. “This can lead to burnout and stress which makes them less effective practitioners. We are hoping this workshop will encourage counsellors to take a time out for themselves which will help rejuvenate them both professionally and personally.”

The workshop, organised to celebrate April as Counselling Awareness Month, is set to take place tomorrow at the Windreach Recreational Village.

Other topics include coping with the lack of clinical supervision, therapeutic games, and enhancing and managing your professional practice. The workshops will be presented by locally-based clinical psychologist Dr. Paul Harlow and will run from 8.30 a.m. until 2 p.m. The cost is $25 for BCA members and $35 for non-members.

Bermuda's Elbow Beach Hotel was recognised as one of the best hotels in the Caribbean by readers of Departures magazine

Departures - a luxury lifestyle magazine published exclusively for American Express platinum and centurion card members - made the choice after surveying its readers on their favourite hotels world wide, in a first time poll.

The survey welcomed over 50,000 online responses as readers selected their favourites among big city hotels, boutique hotels, country hotels, luxury resorts, ski lodges, beach hotels, domestic and international airlines and cruise lines.

Elbow Beach was selected as one of the top 20 hotels in the Atlantic & Caribbean region.