THE government will reopen Howard Davis Hall to the public on weekends for the next seven weeks after a months-long campaign by Islanders that was backed by the JEP.
The news comes just days after the government also committed to restoring and returning a portrait of Howard Davis, the son of TB Davis, who gifted the hall and the St Saviour park to the Jersey public in perpetuity in 1939, to the building two years after it was removed along with other memorabilia.
In a statement yesterday, Infrastructure Minister Andy Jehan confirmed that, beginning on 15 February, Howard Davis Hall would be open to the public from 11am to 3pm on Saturdays and Sundays for seven weeks.
Mr Jehan also said that discussions were under way with Jersey Heritage about the management of the hall, two years after it was handed to a private company, Ghost Kitchen, for use as a high-end wedding and events space.
“Howard Davis Hall holds significant historical and cultural value for our island. Ensuring its preservation while increasing public access is a key priority,” he said. “I’m pleased to see progress on this work and look forward to seeing the hall brought back into greater use for the community.”
The news will be welcomed by campaigners, led by Islander Sue Hardy, who have repeatedly argued that the effective privatisation of the hall was expressly against the wishes of TB Davis, the Jersey-born businessman and philanthropist.
Repeated efforts by the JEP and campaigners to obtain details of the deal with Ghost Kitchen and how much money was made from it have been rebuffed by the government, which has claimed that the information is commercially sensitive.
Writing in the JEP on Monday, Ms Hardy said: “Jersey Heritage accept that the restoration of Howard’s portrait and historical interpretation is their role and it will be replaced in the hall together with other family pictures and the original furnishings.”
A spokesperson for Jersey Heritage told the JEP: “The portrait is in safe storage with us and is going to be restored. We have engaged local art conservator Susie Pinel to carry out the work, which is due to start mid-March and will take three weeks to complete.”
On the subject of the government making money from the rental of the hall, Ms Hardy wrote: “Any notion of using the premises for financial gain should be abandoned. The park and hall is not an asset of the States – it is different; it belongs to the park, given to the people in memory of a much-loved son.
“It was not provided as a source of income to prop up the finances of States departments whose duty it is to care for the gifts so generously bestowed and which, by today’s values, must be worth many millions of pounds.
“Any events held for the benefit of the general public must be without any admission charge.”
