Guernsey Goat Trail will now take place in May next year

The event had been due to take place this month, but has had to be postponed.

Autism Guernsey partnered with the Guernsey Adult Literacy Project to organise the 2020 Guernsey Goat Trail, also known as a parade, following the success of the 2011 donkeys and 2012 cows to raise money for the two charities.

However, the coronavirus outbreak has meant some of the goats would not be painted in time.

The painted goats were due to go on display on the arm of the Crown Pier at the arts Seafront Sunday on 7 June, with a raffle for the public to try to win a painted goat, then from 8 June until the beginning of September they were to be displayed around the island. But with 14 of the 52 goats being painted by schools and schools only just going back, as well as the current general uncertainty, the decision was made to postpone.

Autism Guernsey fundraising manager Mandy Morris said it would be something to look forward to next year.

‘Unfortunately, we have made the difficult decision to postpone the goat trail until May 2021,’ she said.

‘This is due to the uncertainty of everything.’

Local businesses and individuals were invited to sponsor and name a goat and when they arrived in March they were collected by the local artists, clubs and community groups, schools, charities and day centres that will be decorating them.

They will be fitted to plinths made by the prison inmates, Paul’s Joinery, R & D De Jersey and R.H. Le Tissier, with plaques, supplied by Dowding Signs, detailing the names of the goat, sponsor and designer or painter fixed to these.

Mrs Morris added that they had provisionally booked Government House for spring next year for a drinks reception for the sponsors and possibly the artists, with the Autism Guernsey goat going on public display on Liberation Day 2021 as part of the raffle competition to win it.

A goat trail, with the painted goats, will then commence in May around the island until the end of August, concluding with an auction in September to raise funds for Autism Guernsey and GALP to continue carrying out the vital work they do supporting individuals impacted by autism and adults with literacy difficulties.