St Peter’s bright idea for Games

The Floral St Peter’s Group are behind the displays, which will see 19 bikes displayed across seven sites.

The group had already purchased two granite troughs to sit alongside the church gates at Les Buttes, thanks to a grant from Floral Guernsey.

But the group wanted to take its Island Games displays further.

Floral St Peter’s group member Sue de Laune came up with the idea of using cycles as the frame for the parish floral planting.

‘I was driving past the filter [at Les Brehauts] and thought about how we could get three racing bikes to represent

first, second and third,’ she said.

‘And it went from there.’

Allister Carey, founder of the Eleanor Foundation, Dan Thwaite from Adventure Cycles and the charity shop Go donated cycles, which were no longer usable, to the project.

Nancy Golland, Liz Froome and Mrs de Laune then set to work spray painting 19 bikes and fitting wicker baskets and panniers, many of which were sourced from charity shops, to place plants.

The Les Brehauts bikes have now been painted to depict the medals which will be awarded, with the Men’s Shed team helping to secure the bikes using metal pole fittings.

Mrs de Laune was pleased with how it had worked out.

‘I’m thrilled with how they look,’ she said.

‘We have been working on them since February, March, but it has all come together.’

There are also blue and yellow bikes at La Houguette, the school’s colours, while there are purple bikes at the church and pink at the Venture Garage. A red children’s bike is at the old fief seat at the Longfrie, with red geraniums.

Raymond Evison has donated clematis, which are being used around some of the bikes.

It is planned that green and white bikes – in the Island Games colours – will be installed on a bank by the Route de la Tourelle junction. It is also hoped there will be a display somewhere at Rocquaine, but the location is still to be confirmed.

The bikes will be in place until the end of the summer.

• The cycling time-trial will start and finish in St Peter’s on 10 July, with the cycling road race on 12 July.