Latest news with #RodBryans
BBC News
09-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Legacy project passes on Occupation stories in Jersey
A project which aims to keep the memory of Occupation survivors alive has launched in Legacy it has combined the words of islanders who lived through that period of history, with photos depicting different are now on display in Jersey's Royal Square, where crowds celebrated Liberation Day 80 years leader Rod Bryans said his aim was to capture memories, while eye-witnesses were still alive. "I'd taken a photograph of my grand-daughter holding a picture of my grandfather, her great-great grandfather and explaining that if he hadn't existed, I wouldn't be here. That's where the idea came from," he said. One of Mr Bryans' subjects is Eileen Lerche-Thomsen, who was a child in St Ouen, at the remembered German troops training in her family's garden, and the impact their presence had on daily life."There were soldiers everywhere," she said."All the cars had been requisitioned, and they'd also ordered us to give up cameras and radios. All those things had disappeared."However, as a child, she had found new toys by picking up the tiny parachutes used to drop British propaganda leaflets. Maurice Dubras, whose family owned a shop and barbers in St Helier, told Mr Bryans they had toasted to peace on Liberation day."I remember hearing Winston Churchill saying the Dear Channel Islands were to be freed, and I still feel emotional. "I want my own children and grandchildren to understand what we went through."Mr Bryans described memories as "a golden thread" which ran through the generations."There's a saying that your ancestors live through you and I think that's really important," he said.
BBC News
06-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Jersey school days under Nazi occupation relived
School days under Nazi occupation relived 16 minutes ago Share Save Robert Hall BBC News, Jersey Share Save Rod Bryans François Le Maistre shared his memories of German soldiers hunting through houses looking for hidden radio sets - such as the one his family had Starting school at any time is a daunting experience but when François Le Maistre started he did so while his island home was occupied by the Nazis and he did not speak a word of English. Now 88 years old he returned to Les Landes School to share his experience with the current pupils. "Bouônjour. Coumme est qu'ous êtes? I'm sure all of you will understand that is Jèrriais. That's all I spoke. That was the only language I spoke when I came to this school in January 1944," he told pupils. "None of us who came from the country spoke any English. We we were like friends, all of us in school, because we were all, and had been, occupied by this time, for a long time." Mr Le Maistre told the pupils: "Mum and dad, they had a vegetable garden. They had chickens. They grew things like swedes and carrots and potatoes and peas and beans. "Now, the people in town had nothing, and for a great part of the war, a lot of the people in town were starving. "I remember, we had five Red Cross parcels and you know the thing that I liked the best was a tin called Klim... it's milk spelt backwards, isn't it, and it was dried milk and we loved it!" He said: "When the Germans first came, all the radios were taken away. "They went through houses, everybody's houses and your radio was confiscated. "Alongside our big farm kitchen, we had a big fire. On each side, we had two big armchairs. Those armchairs were stood on carpets. "Underneath the carpet on the right hand side of the fire was a small trapdoor, and that's where my parents hid the crystal [radio] set." Rod Bryans François Le Maistre alongside his cherished tin of Klim, powdered milk Mr Le Maistre said: "Towards the end of the war, after the D-Day landing, the Germans knew that things weren't going well for them in France. They were much more mellow. Much calmer. "From my memory I never had a German threatening any of us kids, they never stopped us, waylaid us, nothing like that, and in the 1950s they came back to kind of apologise for what they had been doing during the occupation." He said: "[On Liberation Day] there was a huge crowd of people, lots of kids of our age. It was the joy of the crowd, you felt uplifted. There were celebrations by the school too. "I'm going to be 88 this year. I lived through it all, and its a great privilege to still be here". 'How lucky we are' For the Les Landes pupils of 2025, hearing the wartime stories from a former pupil, and seeing the objects that were important to him when he was their age, was something they said they would not forget. Orla said: "We hear the stories about World War Two, but we don't hear from the people who have experienced it. So it's really nice that they're sharing that with us." Milly and Dillan said they would remember the occupation stories Dillan said: "I think it's really important. To know how lucky we are, and also so we can't make the same mistake again." Evie said: "I think it's amazing that we can still hear about these types of things…and when they're gone, we can pass them down more generations. So it will never be a story that's forgotten." Follow BBC Jersey on X and Facebook. Send your story ideas to
