St Peter’s Church display re-enacts 1946 celebrations
THE names of many places to where Guernsey children were evacuated in 1940 are being displayed at Les Buttes, St Peter’s, next to the war memorial.
In 2015, the parish douzaine and La Houguette Primary School sought to replicate a photograph from the 1946 Liberation celebration for the 70th anniversary cavalcade.
Douzenier Tim Langlois, who came up with the idea, had stored the boards in a barn at his home for the past five years.
‘We put so much effort into making them I thought it would be nice to use them again,’ he said.
Mr Langlois said his fellow douzeniers at the time had given great help in making the boards, which each say ‘thank you’.
He said it was unfortunate that the commemorations for the 75th anniversary of the Liberation were cancelled due to Covid-19 but this was a chance to do something. He hoped people would enjoy it.
It would be nice to rekindle links with some of these places, according to Mr Langlois.
‘Children from St Pierre du Bois were evacuated to Disley, Cheshire, just outside of Stockport, and the town still has a Guernsey milk can on display in St Mary’s church, which also flies the Guernsey flag during our Liberation Day week,’ he said.
‘I think it would be an interesting lesson in history to ask schoolchildren from various island schools to write letters to some of these locations in the UK and share family stories from their grandparents and great grandparents.’
Bunting hung from the lamppost at Les Buttes is intended to replicate the rainbow symbol of hope, while the rector of St Peter’s, the Rev. Adrian Datta, has added the Union flags.
