- States Members support changes to the Liberation celebrations
- Many Islanders angry that the festivities are moving from Liberation Square to the People’s Park
- Video: We took to the streets to see what people thought
- Pictures – Gallery of images from Liberation Day 1945
POLITICIANS from all sides of the House have leapt to the defence of the Bailiff after he was heavily criticised for making changes to this year’s Liberation Day celebrations.
Islanders young and old have condemned the plans to move the celebrations from Liberation Square to the People’s Park, which have been put forward by the Bailiff’s Chambers.
Critics, who include a 12-year-old girl who has written to the Bailiff and the head of Age Concern in the Island, say that the 70th anniversary events on Saturday 9 May should be held where they have been for years – in Liberation Square.
They are also concerned that Occupation survivors are not being given a big enough role in the celebrations.
However, politicians have backed the Bailiff and said that the move allows more Islanders to attend the celebrations and that people should reserve judgment until after the event.
Chief Minister Ian Gorst said that he had spoken to the Bailiff’s Chambers and that veterans would be included in the ceremonies.
He said: ‘I have no doubt that they will be able to be accommodated.
‘This is an opportunity to hopefully get everybody who wants to attend to have a good view, to be really part of the celebration and commemoration.
‘It gives us the ability to put the older generation who were here during the Occupation into marquees and to have proper seating arrangements at the heart of the commemoration.’
Among the planned celebrations is the traditional flag-raising re-enactment at the Pomme d’Or Hotel, which will be carried out by young cadets.
St Helier Constable Simon Crowcroft said: ‘It is right every so often to try to introduce changes to keep ceremonies fresh and encourage the next generation to take an interest in Liberation Day.
‘Logistically Liberation Square does produce challenges and the choice of People’s Park was decided because there are a lot of people expected to attend.’
St Helier Deputy Sam Mézec said that he understood Islanders’ concerns that the re-enactment might not be the main focus but that he did not believe Islanders should worry because the celebrations ‘will be brilliant’.
He said: ‘When Jersey puts on events like these, we tend to do them really well.
‘I don’t think people need to worry that the celebrations won’t be very good, because they will be brilliant.’
St Clement Constable Len Norman said that he had had unprecedented requests from parishioners requesting tickets for Liberation Day and agreed that moving to People’s Park gave more people the chance to attend.
St Helier Deputy Richard Rondel said that while it was ‘a shame’ that Liberation Square would not be a main focus this year, he did not think that it would be a permanent move.
‘I trust the Bailiff’s organisation group will put on a good event,’ he said.
‘Lots of people may be sceptical and I understand that.
He added: ‘We are expecting a large volume of people as it is the 70th anniversary, and I don’t think it will be a permanent move but we will see how the event runs this year.’
On Tuesday the States rejected a proposition to make Friday 8 May a public holiday in lieu of Liberation Day falling on a Saturday this year.
GRAINVILLE schoolgirl Leah Trott (12) has written to the Bailiff saying that is she ‘annoyed’ that her elderly relatives will not be able to celebrate, as is traditional, in Liberation Square.
Her great-grandmother, Eileen Barrette, and great-great aunt, Enid Davis, have stood in the same spot in front of the Pomme d’Or Hotel, at 11 am every Liberation Day since the end of the war but now worry if they will be able to walk from Liberation Square to the People’s Park to participate in the celebrations.
‘I urge you to please think about the older generation. Do you have elderly relatives in your family that you respect as much as I do?
‘If you do, think of them. Do you want to ruin their last few years by ruining their traditions?
‘Please change your mind and change it back.’
Ms Barrette (87) said that the celebrations should stay in Liberation Square as long as survivors from the Occupation are still around.
‘I was beside myself when I heard they were moving it,’ she said. ‘The handful of people who are left are my age and we don’t want change.
‘Let them wait a few years until we are all gone and then they can have the celebrations wherever they want.’
MEANWHILE, Occupation survivor Daphne Minihane, from the charity Age Concern, who have organised a free lunch at the Pomme d’Or for those who were in the Island when it was liberated, said: ‘The people of the day are the old people who lived through the Occupation – they are the VIPs.’
LIBERATION Day is a time for the community to come together to mark one of the important days in Island history and to celebrate freedom.
This year it has a special significance both because it is the 70th anniversary and because our freedoms are once again under attack, this time by terrorists at war with western democratic values.
It is a great shame, therefore, that plans to change what has become the accepted format and running order on 9 May have become such a divisive issue.
The Bailiff’s office must sit down, explain its plans and listen to those with concerns as a matter of urgency.
We asked our followers on Facebook whether they agreed with the States decision not to make Friday 8 May a Bank Holiday:
David Le Mottee: Don’t think it matters what we think. The States like to play God.
Kamil Slezakiewicz: 8 or 9 Bank Holidays this year. I think that’s more than enough.
Martin Brennan: It’s not about how many Bank Holidays we get, this is 70 years so calls for a special occasion.
Stephen Mandel: Another big decision made by the few for the many.
Paul Le Clercq: I bet they’re having a tax payer funded do…..
Mathew John Davis: I serve in the Air Force and I am very proud of my heritage and I can’t believe the States Members haven’t agreed to a day off! Utter disgrace! Total joke!
Fay Merton: Yes, it is the right decision!
From June Beslièvre.
I SHARE the disgust of many at the way the 70th anniversary celebrations of the Liberation have been organised.
To have entertainment and a tea party running from 2 pm to late evening is one thing but to cut out all the things that matter most to the people who were here during the Occupation is shameful; they were the ones who endured so much so that the rest could enjoy the party.
The visit by the Royal Navy with the troops on board, youngsters with their parents re-enacting the scenes down the harbour as Liberation began, with soldiers distributing sweets, then the flag-raising ceremony and service of remembrance.
The final sing-song with the Band of the Island of Jersey and young people singing, then Sadie Rennard’s glorious rendition of Beautiful Jersey, that is the way it should still be done. The party in the park can still follow.
There seems no point in moving the service to 8 May, who is going to be there? Why is the ceremony in the park going to include a meeting of the States?
What an opportunity has been lost, youngsters will just have a jolly day without knowing what Liberation is all about.
From Hazel Haines.
I FEEL that I must reply to the letter from June Beslièvre (JEP 6 March) with regard to the celebrations for the 70th Anniversary of the Liberation.
I am one of the people on whose behalf she purports to speak and I totally disagree with her.
We are all in our 70s, 80s or 90s and in ten years’ time most of us will have popped our clogs.
The arrangements have been well thought-out for the needs of our generation and it is only for one year. If younger people need to see re-enactments of the Liberation of the Island they have many more years ahead in which to do so. We do not.
The reason it is in the park is so that if the weather isn’t kind there is shelter, somewhere to sit and somewhere to place extra loos, which is very important to our generation.
There have been many years in which re-enactments and sing-songs have taken place and there will be again.
The ticketing is strictly controlled so that only those people who were here during the Occupation, or who were interned or in the forces, will be able to attend and transport to and from the location is laid on.
I congratulate the lady from the Bailiff’s office who is organising this year’s events and to whom I have spoken on the phone. She was most helpful and my sister and I were only yesterday saying how well she understood the needs of our generation.
I do not know to whom June Beslièvre refers as many people feeling disgust or whether because she feels this way she assumes others do too.
As she uses the word ‘they’ when referring to people who were here at the Liberation, I assume she is younger. I suggest she actually speaks to someone who was here. She may change her mind.
From Glenda Le Masurier.
WELL done June Beslièvre (JEP 6 March). Thank you for voicing what we feel must be the views of a great many ofthose of us who were here at the Liberation, those who felt the elation and excitement of that momentous event.
We feel the 70th Anniversary should have remained entirely as in previous years, a ceremony enjoyed by hundreds of our generation.
It would be interesting to know… Why? And who decided on these disjointed arrangements, not at all in keeping with the occasion?
From Dennis and Judy Le Flem.
MY wife and I are both Liberation people with both our families having been in trouble disobeying the German regulations – my wife’s father having been imprisoned for having a radio and my family for helping the Russian prisoners, all of which we remember well.
It was a very hard and rough five years of German Occupation for all locals at that time – no cars, radios and a shortage of food. At the end, I was 19 years old and Judy 14 years, her dad being released from prison near that time.
On the morning of 9 May I remember cycling from our farm past West Park, seeing the battle ships in the bay, also the unloading of lorries and jeeps in the bay, on to the Liberation Square to see and hear the band leading the first British troops up the harbour to the Pomme d’Or Hotel with loud cheers from us locals.
It was a once in a lifetime, memorable day for us – the raising of the Union Jack flags with the same happening at the Fort, also a fine speech from our strong Bailiff, who with his non-paid States Members did everything they could to thwart the German orders and many regulations for the sake of the Islanders.
It has become a historical and traditional day and time for Jersey, which should continue to celebrate factual events as they happened. Altering original historic events is an insult to the survivors of that day. We will also really miss Sadie Rennard’s voice and song of Beautiful Jersey, treasured memories by the survivors of the five-year Occupation.
It seems that the States Members have agreed, without any consultation with the people of Jersey, to alter this historical Liberation Day to suit themselves. Where have they been in the last 70 years? I say to these very important people, by all means have your celebration in the park at 2 pm, but my wife and I will go to Liberation Square in the morning to celebrate the real history of Jersey, and to relive our memories of that very historical day, as the Island has done for the past 70 years. It was good enough for Her Majesty The Queen and Prince Charles on their visits but not obviously for some of our present States Members.
On Liberation Day there is a luncheon for the Occupation people at the Pomme d’Or Hotel. Please note that this is paid for by the charity Age Concern. We hope to be looking forward to meeting those present, if we are allocated tickets.
From Ann Denton.
I HEARTILY agree with every word June Beslièvre wrote about the Liberation Day celebrations (JEP 6 March).
I was both saddened and angry when I heard of them.
The 70th anniversary has been turned into a huge meaningless party with little to do with thanksgiving for our freedom from occupation.
