A HALLOWEEN disco at the Mermaid Tavern marked the end of a busy half-term and the real start of winter.

Herm’s little horrors were out in full force, with almost all children on the island dressing up for the disco and fancy dress competition.

The fancy dress winner was Will Knight as the Grim Reaper, but he had close competition from several witches, a ghost, a vampire and a werewolf. Other children had put together some – occasionally unidentifiable – Gothic masterpieces, but all were in the spooky spirit of Halloween.

There wasn’t much dressing up from the adults this year, but those who made the effort were a green witch, a feisty devil, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a hunchback and a decidedly friendly-looking and non-threatening robot.

Today the children will be dressing up in their scary costumes again in order to ‘trick or treat’ around the village. Even the adults look forward to creeping around the pitch-black island by torchlight, wondering if we’ll bump into any of our ghostly residents.

As the Mermaid heads into its winter schedule, it will for the first time in many years be opening its doors for Sunday lunch, starting this weekend.

There will be a special Trident service leaving from Cambridge steps at 11am and returning to Guernsey at 3.30pm, with the boat fare reduced from £9.50 to £7 on Sundays only.

As usual we will have special Christmas shopping days, which are always popular with Guernsey visitors. These will be held on 29 and 30 November and 6, 7, 13, 14, 20 and 21 December.

The gift shops are already fully stocked with quality Christmas items and a range of clothing.