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Please do not close the Occupation Tapestry
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From Cynthia Rumboll.
AS the overall co-ordinator of the Occupation Tapestry, the possibility that the Heritage Trust might be forced to close the Tapestry Gallery, and the tapestries either stored or displayed in some other environment which would most certainly be less sympathetic, is beyond belief.
The tapestry is a priceless part of our heritage. It was created over a period of five years by the people of Jersey – some 250 embroiderers who put in 24,000 hours of work, together with the researchers, the archivists, the designer, those who ordered and sorted the wool swatches and, just as important, the many hundreds of local people who put a stitch or two into their own parish tapestry – so that they could be part of this living heritage and the definitive record of that unique chapter in Jersey’s history: the Occupation.
Let us not forget that the States of Jersey commissioned the tapestry in the first place as being the most appropriate way to commemorate the war years, and at the 50th anniversary of the Liberation, it was opened by HRH the Prince of Wales.
The artistry, the commitment and effort that went into its creation was, I suspect, far more than the States could have imagined at the outset, but even the most cynical of States Members of the time, having viewed the finished article, understood that the tapestry was the modern Bayeux, set to become an undisputed part of Jersey’s heritage.
Hence the unanimous agreement to provide the necessary funding to convert the workshops on the quay of the Town Marina to a gallery so superb and so extraordinarily sympathetic that to visit the tapestry is an exceptionally informative and emotional experience.
Following completion, the States decided to hand over the tapestry to the Jersey Heritage Trust for maintenance and safekeeping on the understanding that the tapestry be displayed publicly so that both visitors and locals alike would ‘come for tens of hundreds of years to admire it and get some feeling for what actually happened’.
I have spoken recently with many of those involved in the creation of the tapestry; all are deeply upset at the thought that we might lose the gallery, uniquely designed for the tapestry and which provides the ideal calm and reflective environment for those trying to understand life during the Occupation years.
The States provided the perfect home, surely not to be tinkered with, nor to be at the mercy of short-term budgetary expedients. May I urge all those involved in the decision making process to recognise the unique nature of both the tapestry and its gallery and their invaluable role in Jersey’s heritage.
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