Guernsey Press

Lihou Island has new tractor and trailer

LIHOU ISLAND will be served by a new tractor and trailer thanks to charitable funding.

Published
Guernsey Association of Charities youth sector member and Sure Community Foundation chairman Karen Jagger and Lihou Island warden Richard Curtis with the new tractor and trailer. (22560188)

The Guernsey Association of Charities has paid for the tractor with money from the CI Christmas Lottery and the Sure Community Foundation has bought the trailer.

Lihou Charitable Trust warden Richard Curtis said the previous tractor had passed its use-by date.

‘We have to have an older mechanical tractor,’ he said. ‘The new ones tend to be electronic and the water gets in everywhere with the constant crossing of the causeway. The new one will be a lump of rust in seven years as the sea water takes its toll, but we can’t do anything about it.’

The previous tractor had been in use since 2011. The new one, which was sourced from France, was built in 1990.

‘The tractor and trailer are the first and last things that people see when visiting Lihou and they are our shop window,’ said Mr Curtis.

Karen Jagger, AGC youth sector member and Sure Community Foundation chairman, said Mr Curtis had initially approached the AGC with a request to fund both.

‘The tractor was approved with 100% funding but they could not afford to pay for both,’ she said. ‘The AGC is always massively oversubscribed and demand usually trebles the funding available. We couldn’t fund both as we need to stretch the money as far as possible and be as inclusive to as many areas of the community as we can.’

The Sure Community Foundation stepped in to fund the new trailer.

‘The tractor and trailer feed Lihou Island and the vast majority of Guernsey schools go there each year,’ said Mrs Jagger. ‘Richard has a long-standing relationship with the Sure Community Foundation and we feel the LCT is a good charity for lots of reasons.’

Mr Curtis said Lihou Island was the only residential centre for schools locally and it was a stepping stone to help youngsters have the confidence to go further to places such as the UK and France.

He said 65% of the 3,600 people who used the house on Lihou Island each year were children. It is a great nature resource and it has been established that 50% of children who visited Lihou had never been rock pooling before.

‘It’s Swallows and Amazons stuff,’ said Mr Curtis. ‘It’s a chance for youngsters to experience freedom without traffic, WiFi, games consoles and all the clutter of modern life.’

  • Further details of the LCT can be found at www.lihouisland.com.