The high point of the summer

They are also major community occasions, involving many thousands of Islanders.

However, in spite of the huge success of late-comers on the festival scene, one event remains paramount – our great floral festival, the Battle of Flowers. The high point of the summer, it is as much a part of Jersey’s special identity as Jersey cattle and the Jersey Royal.

But, as the floats make their way around the Victoria Avenue arena today and during tomorrow’s Moonlight Parade, those watching should remember that although Battle might be a magical experience, it does not happen by magic.

Its success, the scale of the spectacle and the pleasure given to so many spectators depends on months of hard work put in by teams of dedicated volunteers.

Those who dress up to appear on the floats or dance around them play their vital parts, but they are in a minority among enthusiasts. Let us all pay tribute to the float designers, costume-makers, carpenters, flower-stickers, the sponsors and the many others who, through intense co-operative effort, help to produce the experience that is Battle.

Last, but by no means least, let us turn our attention to the float drivers. All of them put up with cramped, hot conditions throughout the Battle and some of them are even unable to see where they are going, relying on instructions relayed by a guide walking beside the float.

It is, meanwhile, worth remembering that, quite rightly, Battle is backed by money from the public purse. Despite alarms that are sounded almost annually, sufficient funds always seem to be found to make the big day not only happen but also happen magnificently.

This is just as it should be. The full value of the summer’s major public occasion is hard to calculate, but it is unthinkable that its existence should ever be jeopardised by funds drying up. Even in these difficult economic times, States support should clearly continue.

If it were ever withdrawn, it would broadcast the deeply depressing and counterproductive messages that the Island was turning in on itself and in such deep trouble that fun and celebration had become things of the past.