Family continue ormering tradition
GATHERERS took to the shoreline for the last-but-one ormering tide of the year on Easter Sunday.
Scout HQ manager Tracey de la Haye, daughter Emily, and Birmingham school teacher Charlotte Winder tried their luck near Lihou Island.
‘We try and do a couple of ormering tides a year,’ said Mrs de la Haye. ‘We normally do the area around the Pulias Pond – last time we got eight,’ she said.
Mrs de La Haye, who said she had collected a few ormers, was using a hook that had been handed down the generations in her family.
‘I think it’s a Guernsey tradition and something you pass down. I used to go ormering with my father, and two of my daughters are with me today.
‘When I was a kid you could turn a rock and find a whole family underneath, but it’s not as easy now. There are plenty of small ones around which we can’t take but it’s encouraging for the future.
‘Even if you don’t get anything it’s a good bit of exercise.’
Mrs de la Haye’s friend, Ms Winder, who was in Guernsey to visit family, was ormering for the first time.
‘I think it’s really good fun,’ she said.’It’s about lifting a rock and not knowing if there’s anything underneath but when there is, it’s a big yes.
‘I’ve found one today, but the rest were too small and the experts have got the remainder.’
The last ormering tide is on 30 April.
