Old pictures of shrine wanted 15 years on from reopening
VOLUNTEERS at the shell shrine at Fort Hommet are appealing for photos and film of the bunker taken in the 1960s and 70s.
They are celebrating the 15th anniversary of the reopening of the Shrine of the Sacred Heart following a major restoration project and now want more information about how it looked originally.
‘In particular, we would like to know how the floor looked in the 1960s and 1970s,’ said Ian Blanchard, a member of the committee which looks after the shrine.
‘We are yet to find such photos or film, but we know they exist. They must be in someone’s attic or under the stairs. We hope anyone who can help us will get in touch.’
Additional work was carried out a few years ago when an old photograph was found showing that there was once a heart in
the centre of the cross on the
floor.
‘But the floor is still incomplete,’ said Mr Blanchard. ‘If anyone has photos or cine film we would be grateful to see them and then we could complete the restoration of Bert’s shrine.’
The Shrine was the idea of Hubert Le Galloudec – known as Bert – who cleared out the searchlight bunker in the 1960s, painstakingly decorating it with hundreds of shells collected by his wife, Maisie.
They wanted to create a place of peace out of a place of war as a memory to slave workers who died during the German Occupation of the Bailiwick.
They made good progress on their project. But it was also vandalised on several occasions, as a result of which the States closed the bunker, and in the early 1970s a wall was constructed to block off the shrine until the restoration project was launched in
2005.
‘Everything was ruined. When we first came in, there was water up to our ankles, dead rats and mould everywhere,’ said Mr Blanchard.
‘When we cleaned the walls, we realised just how unique it
was. We love it. It’s a very special place.’
Dozens of visitors turned up to see the bunker when an open day was held on Sunday.
Nigel Starkey, from Worcester, had been hoping to visit for years and was delighted finally to get the chance.
‘I have been coming to the island for 30 years – every year until the pandemic – but I have never been to the shrine when it was open and so I have never seen inside, he said.
‘I am a member of the Channel Islands’ Occupation Society. I love looking around old German bunkers.
‘I’m very interested to be able to see the shrine. You can see a lot of work has gone into making it what it is today.’
