Still together on a ‘different’ Liberation Day

Not very different – for that, we need only to turn the clock back 12 months for Lockdown I – but definitely rather different.

For some, a throwback to those days in the 1970s and early 1980s when Liberation Day celebrations appeared to only really come alive with a full cavalcade on the significant five and 10-year anniversaries, and before St Peter Port was taken over with full-blown funfairs.

There seems to have been considerable support raised over the past 36 hours or so for similar style celebrations to continue in the future.

Some would disagree – they might argue about the States doing the day ‘on the cheap’, or they might look at not-so-nostalgic photos of packed crowds of thousands along the Quay just a dozen or so years ago and wonder why we just cannot repeat those moments, which were clearly popular?

Sunday’s effort to run a cavalcade fully around the island was quite ambitious but certainly worthwhile. Organisers will learn from the delays incurred and while that did dampen the day for some, many did stick with it until the vehicles arrived, up to an hour late towards the end of the procession.

Have the lockdowns and #GuernseyTogether spirit changed our feelings for these big occasions? It seems we may now be more prepared to accept more simple entertainment and make our own fun.

Do we want parishes to be involved in putting on more modest events, rather than simply channelling thousands into Town, where parents have been concerned for some time about how small children can sometimes mix uncomfortably with heavy drinkers on packed piers?

A new-style Liberation Day gives families the chance to celebrate as families, Town to accommodate usual bank holiday activities in bars and restaurants, and a chance for us all to make the best of Guernsey at its best – we may not all be in the same place, but on this most important of days, are still #GuernseyTogether in spirit.