Navy veteran sad he will lose last link to his place of birth
A ROYAL NAVY veteran who was born in Guernsey and worked for the island is disappointed to hear that one of his last links to the island is being severed by travel restrictions.
Frank Audoire is trying to renew his passport and has always been proud to have the Bailiwick of Guernsey wording on the front of it.
However, the only way for him to achieve this, on what he believes will be his last ever passport, is to go to the passport office on the White Rock in person. But he has retired to the south-west of France.
His current passport is due to expire in five months and the law in France is such that someone travelling on a passport which has less than six months before it expires runs the risk of not being allowed back into the country.
‘I’ve always been incredibly proud of my Guernsey heritage, generations of my family were born there and I still have strong links with the island,’ he said.
‘When I was in the Navy, being from Guernsey was very important to me and I have always valued the island – it’s a part of who I am.’
Mr Audoire worked for the Guernsey Police while he lived in Guernsey and served on the Board of Health where he helped train nurses to reach their nursing qualifications. His three children were born at the Princess Elizabeth Hospital.
‘When the housing law changed in 1975 when I was in the UK, it meant I lost the ability to buy local market housing, so I came back on a 10-year licence and had to re-qualify,’ he said.
‘I felt then like I had lost a bit of my heritage as a Guernseyman and now I feel like I’m losing more all over again.’
France’s lockdown measures and his expiring passport mean that even if Mr Audoire wanted to travel to Guernsey to go to the passport office, he could not do so.
‘I’ve contacted Immigration and they have said the same thing. Of course I could just get a British passport from the UK, but it’s that Guernsey wording on the front that I value so highly.
‘I’m over 70 now and this is probably going to be my last passport.
‘I feel sad that I’m going to lose the Guernsey connection on it.’
When Mr Audoire was in the UK he was able to change his passport and have a Guernsey one then. He wondered why – in the time of Covid and restricted travel – it was impossible for him to have an official document with a connection to his heritage without being in the island physically.
‘It’s a tenuous link, but it’s all I’ve got – other than my last name which is one of the four oldest surnames in the Channel Islands,’ he said.
‘I find it rather sad, I just wish there was something that could be done.’
To add to his disappointment, Mr Audoire was unable to visit Guernsey for the 75th anniversary of the Liberation and missed the centenary celebrations of Guernsey Police.
