St Martin’s douzeniers do extensive voluntary work taking care of the parish, more than islanders might think.
After hearing about the launch of Project St Peter Port – the parish officials’ initiative to push for more pride in Town’s appearance, with a focus on flowers, vibrancy and clearing-up – the constables of St Martin’s, Dave Beausire and newly-appointed Rob Prow, said their douzaine has been working hard on the parish’s appearance for years.
‘We’ve got a gang of four volunteers on the douzaine who have saved the ratepayer about £100,000 doing plumbing, electrical work and other renovations to our building,’ said Mr Beausire, who has served six years as constable.
‘All the flowers on the junctions are flowers that we put out.’
He said the floral group meet twice a year to change the flowers. They ‘make a night of it’ with wine and cheese and all parishioners are encouraged to get involved.
Working parties are organised for any areas that need attention, not just flowers,’ he said.
‘Quite often, we do stuff that’s got nothing to do with us, but if it’s around the parish and needs cleaning or fixing, we’ll do what we can,’ said Mr Beausire.
Recent works include replacing the steps at the Martello tower that give access from Icart to Saints Bay and replacing road signs.
The parish has 32 abreuveurs – historical water troughs that were used by all islanders to water their animals. Though most are privately-owned, the douzeniers offer to maintain and clean them, so they can still be used today.
‘We took two tonnes of soil out of one of them the other day,’ said Mr Beausire.
Other efforts include managing the fief de Blanchelande – the cliff land from Petit Bot to Petit Port.
‘If a tree falls down, one of us has to deal with it,’ said Mr Beausire.
The parish also owns, operate and maintain the Saints Bay Beach Kiosk.
They recently repainted it and added a new roof and decking area. With their own truck and commercial licence, Mr Beausire said the douzaine are self-reliant for tipping. They look after car parks, do regular litter-picking, make community spaces accessible for wheelchairs and are looking to introduce seating areas for public lunch spots.
They have also installed more dog bins.
Mr Prow joined as constable last month, and said there was much to learn, as the douzaine’s work is vast.
‘There’s a hard core of volunteers who’ve got all the skills and they’re prepared to put their own time in. Saves the ratepayer lots of money and the work they do is top quality because they take pride in it.
‘Dave’s got both the commitment and the experience – put those two together and the parish is cooking on gas.’
They said they encourage more people to volunteer for working groups.
‘The more we’ve got on the team, the more we can do,’ said Mr Beausire.
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