Annual blessing of the fleet held
ALDERNEY’S fishermen, parishioners, lifeboat crew and clergy gathered at the harbour for the annual blessing of the fleet.
The service, believed to have begun in the 1980s, is performed to keep those who work and play at sea, safe from harm.
The service was led by religious leaders from the island’s Anglican, Methodist, Salvation Army and Catholic denominations.
New St Anne’s Church husband and wife team, the Rev. Jan and Tony Fowler, were attending their first fleet blessing.
Alderney’s brass band gathered at the quayside to play the hymn Deep Harmony, Crimond and Eternal Father. Afterwards they changed pace to perform the shanty What Shall We Do With the Drunken Sailor.
Among the fishermen attending were members of the Gaudion and Gillingham families – some of the last members of Alderney’s tiny working fishing fleet.
Ray Gaudion, former president of the Licensed Fishing Vessels Association, never misses a blessing. Before the island had an official lifeboat, as the owner of the only vessel with radar technology, Mr Gaudion was the man most often called out to sailors in distress.
He has lost two cousins and an uncle to the sea and has gone out to help ‘hundreds’ of people in trouble.
This Sunday residents and visitors are being invited to bring their animals to the Butes for a Blessing of the Pets. The ecumenical event is being staged by Churches Together.
