Funding of £123K for events showcasing best of Guernsey
A range of 17 organisations and events are benefiting from a £123,000 package of grants from Guernsey's Tourism Management Board.The money is for activities designed to attract more visitors to the Bailiwick, including an international chess festival, a Liberation tour of military vehicles and La Beltane festival on Sark.The funds have been allocated by the Committee for Economic Development which considered 38 applications for events celebrating Guernsey's heritage, culture, food, and sporting communities.Hannah Beacom, TMB's chair, said: "We know our Bailiwick is beautiful and full of rich culture and heritage, and it is vital to support those projects which showcase the best it has to offer to visitors."
'Great help'
Director of La Beltane festival Jolie Rose said the next edition was going to be "bigger and better" with an "amazing line-up planned and more fabulous activities throughout the day to enjoy. "The TMB has also given money to Guernsey Rally. Director Caren Vidamour said it "will be of great help to us ensuring the 2025 Guernsey Rally is a spectacular local event and enjoyed by its many supporters".
The rally returns on 28 February and 1 March after last year's event was cancelled by the States which said it could not justify the administration involved.Other organisations receiving grants include the Art for Guernsey Renoir Walk, A Table in Guernsey Food Festival, the Guernsey Military Group – 2025 Liberation Tour and St James Events – Global Collection Festival.There is also money for sporting events including Tornado Fitness Racing Series and the men's and women's Twenty20 international teams.
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I could sit and gaze at it all day. Next morning, after a hearty breakfast of kippers and poached eggs, I walk through ornamental gardens to the Priaulx Library. This elegant Georgian townhouse holds a precious archive of wartime documents. Chief Librarian Sue Laker shows me the highlights, including the newsletters of the Guernsey Underground News Service (GUNS). This clandestine, uncensored newspaper was produced and distributed at great risk by its heroic citizen journalists. Betrayed by an informer, five members of the editorial team were sent to German prison camps. Only three of them survived. These illicit newsletters were preserved by Sue's wartime predecessor, Ralph Durand, an acclaimed novelist who risked his life to hide them here for locals to read in secret. After the war Durand wrote a book called Guernsey Under German Rule. Sadly, he didn't live to see it published. He died in December 1945, of cardiac failure brought on by malnutrition. I finish up at Castle Cornet. 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As I walk back along the causeway which links Castle Cornet to the mainland, I think of all the sacrifices these islanders have made to defend their freedom – from the French and then the Germans – and it makes me feel very small. I hear the noonday cannon from the castle, fired every day, a stirring symbol of independence, and I recall the last lines of Shakespeare's King Lear: The oldest hath borne most: we that are young, Shall never see so much, nor live so long. How to do it Aurigny flies direct to Guernsey from London City, London Gatwick, Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Exeter, Leeds-Bradford, Manchester and Southampton. Guernsey's only five-star hotel, the Old Government House, has all the usual luxury mod cons, but its greatest assets are its rich history and friendly staff. Doubles from £252, including breakfast. 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