Lessons from Sir Banks (and others)
WITH recognition paid to Sir Donald Banks this week in the form of a blue plaque at his former family home in the High Street, interest naturally turns to what he did to earn such.
A war hero in the First World War, he became a different kind of hero in the Second World War, driving a desk in the British Civil Service but putting the fate of evacuated and occupied islanders very much to the top of his agenda.
Along with founding the Guernsey Society in London, still going 80 years on, one of his feats was contributing to an influential paper, Nos Iles, a symposium on the future of the islands which set out thoughts on a way forward.
The paper still contains much that is relevant nearly 80 years on, with notable contributions about the abilities of the islands to work together. On that, little seems to have changed. The report notes enhanced collaboration in the pre-war period, but also warns future island leaders to bear in mind the history of cooperation and, at times, the lack of it.
The recommendation was that the island would be well advised to meet common post-war challenges together – though the authors seemed to underestimate the islands’ powers of recovery.
‘Without a disposition for islanders to work together, the most elaborate scheme will break down. With it, even a most imperfect scheme will be able to work, and to eliminate its imperfections in the course of its working.’
That much still rings true today.