Son is thrilled that research for Sure directory discovered photo of his mum

A SCENE from the first Liberation Day celebrations features on this year’s Sure telephone directory, which aims to be an improvement on last year’s.

This picture of, left to right, Elizabeth Taylor, John Taylor and Hazel Carre at the end of the cavalcade on the first Liberation Day 74 years ago features on the cover of the new Sure directory.

The image, which is believed to be of brother and sister John and Elizabeth Taylor posing next to Hazel Carre, was taken a year to the day after the Channel Islands were liberated from German occupation.

The trio formed part of the Liberation Day Parade Cavalcade in 1946, which started at the Halfway and finished at the White Rock, and competed in the best decorated cycles with cyclists in costume competition. Elizabeth, who won her class, decorated her bike in the theme Guernsey 1746 and dressed in old-fashioned costume.

The Guernsey Press reported on Friday 10 May 1946 that Hazel Carre was one of the first entrants to come into view in the cavalcade riding her decorated bike which bore the insignia of Our Liberators.

Phil Rowe, standing back left, was delighted that a picture of his late mum, Hazel, has been used on the new Sure telephone directory. Next to him is Trevor Burke, general manager of the Yello Media Group. In front are Mike Fawkner-Corbett, Sure’s head of consumer, and the Priaulx Library’s Sue Laker.

Sure sourced the image from the Priaulx Library, working with the librarians to discover the story behind the image and the children featured.

In later years, both John and Elizabeth moved to Canada, while Hazel, who was evacuated to St Helen’s during the war, spent the rest of her life in Guernsey and contributed to the local arts and dancing scene.

Hazel, later known as Hazel Rowe, was a prominent figure in Gadoc, choreographing several shows in the 1970s, ’80s and early ’90s. Hazel passed away last year, leaving behind two sons, Phil and Adrian.

Son Phil was astonished to hear that a photo of his mother as a child would be on the cover.

‘Guernsey’s history and Liberation are topics that really interest me and I have several old photographs of my mother as a child. However, this is the first time that I have ever seen this image,’ he said.

‘My mother was a dancer and heavily involved in the dancing community so I’m not surprised to see her dressed up in costume for the first ever Liberation Day celebration in 1946.’

. Last year’s book landed Sure with an £80,000 fine from the Data Protection Authority.

It had more than 200 mistakes.

For this year’s edition, all customers who have not previously asked to be excluded from the directory and are due to have their details printed for the 2020/21 edition received an email or letter informing them that they are due to be included in the White Pages, which lists the name, address and phone number or numbers.

The Sure 2020/21 directory is available from Monday.

Islanders will appear in the directory if no action was taken after receiving the email or letter by 30 June.

Customers with a mobile listing only will not have their address published.

The 2020/21 telephone directory will be available from Monday.