| Author |
Message |
Dame Mary Perkins
Guest
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 26, 2010 - 03:46 pm: |   |
I FELT I had to write to say a collective thank you for the many wonderful letters of thanks I have received from islanders who attended our Specsavers Liberation Tea dances this year.
Some of the comments we have received include: 'I have just returned from Specsavers Tea Dance and am still dancing on air with the excitement of it all, thank you for a truly wonderful afternoon'. I particularly enjoyed the comment from one lady who said that 'one cannot help wondering if some of us stay alive well beyond the allotted three score and 10 just so no one else will get our tickets - I admit to having reached the age of 83 and am already planning what to wear next year'.
The sense of camaraderie, of shared experience and memory, makes this definitely one of my favourite events of the year and it is heartwarming to hear that people enjoyed catching up with old friends, the music and dancing and afternoon tea, which is kindly sponsored by the Guernsey Dairy and Warrys.
Each year we spend a lot of time searching out the best authentic entertainment to bring over to the island, including a big band, 40s-style singers, dancers and speciality acts, so it is lovely that people so enjoyed the entertainment this year, our special 65th anniversary event.
Until this year, my team have had the unfortunate task of having to turn people away because we couldn't accommodate everyone in the Sir John Loveridge Hall due to health and safety regulations, so I was delighted that this year we were able to put on two tea dances, and seeing and hearing how much people enjoyed the day, I am very pleased to say that we will be repeating this again next year.
And just a reminder that we are already taking early bookings for the Hangar Ball, which was a sell-out this year.
DAME MARY PERKINS,
Specsavers. |
K. H. Munro
Guest
| | Posted on Friday, May 21, 2010 - 02:32 pm: | |
WE THOUGHT that in view of the number of former evacuees attending the reception at Elizabeth College on 8 May that not everyone would have seen the following notice advising them that photographs taken at the time will be available to download on the Guernsey Events Company website: www.eventguernsey.com.
K. H. MUNRO,
Guernsey Evacuees 70th Anniversary Committee. |
Peter Stechman
Guest
| | Posted on Friday, May 21, 2010 - 02:30 pm: | |
FOLLOWING on from my comments about last year's FFO celebrations, printed in the Guernsey Press, and bumping into your 'Tracey' chatting up the Chelsea Pensioners last week on the seafront, I felt it appropriate to give another 'What a visitor thought' account of my visit now that I'm back in the UK.
The 65th freedom from Occupation celebrations was an outstanding event and I thoroughly enjoyed all that was put on for islanders and visitors. The military vehicle show at Saumarez Park and the Sunday cavalcade, with all sorts of vintage vehicles, marching bands and that crazy old bicycle gang whizzing around, really did it for me.
I had a good viewing spot across the road from M&S, under a loudspeaker - great commentary and wasn't bothered at all by the crowds as I videoed the cavalcade. A copy of my video is off to friends in Australia, who were very interested in the celebrations.
Even the Germans managed to get in on the act, pulling guns and stuff. Well they would do, wouldn't they?
Just like old times. The person sitting behind the gun being pulled by a German tractor in your picture number 0966770 in the Liberation 65 paper, hand gesture a little familiar, pencil moustache missing, but you never know.
Really good promotional papers and booklets by the Guernsey Press and the Tourist Board, the old photos and reminiscences were excellent and there was lots to bring back home and show family and friends. I missed last year's rock and roll band Oobopschbam in the Swing Time tent, but it was all great entertainment.
The Specsavers Hangar Ball on Saturday night with Ray MacVay leading the Glenn Miller Orchestra, MC Dennis Burns, George Formby lookalike, Paul Casper and the Jumpin Jitterbugs dancers made it a lovely evening.
I escorted my son-in-law Nick's mother Jean and her sister Sybil but only managed to get in a few dances as the dancefloor was a bit crowded. However, I did sweep the only female Chelsea Pensioner off her feet with a gentle jive, everyone envying my dancing partner. Lovely.
The Gurkhas - I'm glad I was sitting a few tables away when they did their cultural display with kukris drawn.
I wouldn't like to face them on the battlefield or the dancefloor and it was good to see the local girls getting the Gurkhas up for a Guernsey waltz, marvellous to see these with the Chelsea Pensioners.
I was sat on table 18 next to an islander who was five years old when the Occupation started. She told me about the bean jar, how they would make it on a Saturday and take it across to the local baker who would cook it for the family.
I managed a few dances ending with a gorgeous filly on my table with Forties-style hair, terrific costumes. Great fun.
Dame Mary Perkins declined to dance with me for the second year. She had obviously seen me with East End Wide Boys Viv the Spiv and Mickey the Fish and thought I may try to flog her some bent NHS glasses. Anyway, you're not in uniform she said.
Oh yes I am. I was wearing a nice jacket and strides. I'm in disguise, I said. I'm a German spy. So where's your monocle? she asked.
I had to think fast under such intense questioning so I said I had left it at home as it kept falling out. Well you can guess what came next. 'You should've gone to Specsavers!' Boom boom.
I did manage to get her autograph on my programme with 2 xx's. I would have preferred it on a blank cheque but you can't have everything.
I also got Ray MacVay and many other entertainers to sign my programme, lovely mementoes.
Once again, I can't wait to see what Guernsey puts on next year and will tell all my friends on the mainland about what a marvellous time we had with video footage to prove it.
Thank you Guernsey for a marvellous time. Well done all.
PETER STECHMAN,
London. |
L. B. Pipet
Guest
| | Posted on Monday, May 17, 2010 - 02:06 pm: | |
EVERY year we read Liberation stories, mostly repeat stories like the one when the harbour was bombed by the Germans. You do not explain why the harbour was bombed. You do not say why the children who paraded all day at school were told to go home.
The ship that was supposed to take us to England had been sent to Alderney to collect the cows and we were told to be at the White Rock at 6am the next morning. The ship returned with the cows. They unloaded the cows, the ship was covered in muck and although they worked all night, the ship was still in a filthy condition. I was nine years old.
Who was to blame for the White Rock being bombed? I know. I was one of those who did not go to the White Rock to go on the ship the next morning. When the refugees returned, the children who had remained were forgotten, the reason being those who had evacuated were more experienced in many ways.
As for some of the books written, I have not read any of them. I suppose it's something to read. A friend who did read some of them asked me if it was correct that a child picking up potatoes that had fallen off a German wagon was hit in the stomach by a German with the butt of his rifle. If a German had done that, he would have been shot.
L. B. PIPET |
Steve Le Page
Guest
| | Posted on Saturday, May 15, 2010 - 10:27 am: | |
MY WIFE and I really enjoyed what were brilliant Liberation Day celebrations in Town, especially the singing, which was full of joy and community spirit.
However, our day was somewhat marred by someone damaging our Accord, parked at the Customs shed end of North Beach during the firework display, without leaving a note of their details.
The bash was sufficient to split and hole the rear bumper, which will require replacement.
So to that person I say, 'where is your community spirit?' You know who you are.
STEVE LE PAGE. |
Jason Le Ray
Guest
| | Posted on Friday, May 14, 2010 - 02:56 pm: | |
WHILE attending the superb Liberation Day cavalcade, it occurred to me that the occasion was absolutely made for our victorious footballing heroes to parade their two pieces of silverware to the biggest crowd of onlookers they could have hoped for.
They would surely have secured the biggest cheer of the day.
Many congratulations to Tony and the team. They deserve all the plaudits they are receiving.
JASON LE RAY |
Annette Archer
Guest
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 12, 2010 - 02:25 pm: | |
I WOULD like to say thank you to the constables and parish of St Martin's and volunteers for the lovely street party on Saturday, also Horst and Angie from The Queen's Hotel.
The sun shone and the music was good and it was a lovely community atmosphere and I am sure everyone enjoyed it.
ANNETTE ARCHER. |
T. Butcher
Guest
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 05, 2010 - 02:31 pm: | |
NOW that it is 70 years since the Second World War evacuation, I hear and read a lot about the people who were evacuated to Scotland and Manchester and more towns in the north of England.
My family and I went to St Albans, Hertfordshire, which is less than 30 miles from London. I have not heard of anyone else who went to that area from Guernsey or even Jersey. It would be nice to know if there were any.
Since I have grown up, I have always wondered why we were sent to such a dangerous area - when we used to go to school, a lot of times we had to run for cover from the bombing that went on during the day as well at night. Most nights, we took shelter under the stairs. What good this would have done I wonder now, but at the time we did what we could and were told.
When we could make it we went down to the air-raid shelter about a mile away or the railway station, which we rather enjoyed in a way because we met a lot of children and played games, being kids, instead of sleeping.
We had an Anderson shelter delivered to our house. As my father was in the army, we children had to bury it in the back garden. It took us about a fortnight and was a lot of fun. On the first night that it was (sort of) finished we wanted to sleep in it to test it. That was the only time we did, being 'afraid of the creepy crawlies and the bogey man'.
I went back 10 years ago to see what I could see and remember. It was very nostalgic. I was even invited into the house we lived in during the war. My goodness, it was small - the two downstairs rooms, front/dining rooms, were no bigger than 10ft x 10ft and the kitchen was so small two people had to squeeze past each other. I can't believe my mother and seven children could have lived there, but then we were happy and when you are happy and contented you don't seem to take notice of the faults around you and, as kids, you don't see these things with the same perspective - and in those days, we appreciated what we had.
I also visited the school I went to and the shops by where we lived. It hasn't changed much at all. I even remember my mother sending me to the shop around the corner with a 10 bob note to get some potatoes. When I went to pay for them, I didn't have the money. I had dropped it. I was shocked. Ten bob then was a lot of money. I didn't know what to do. On the way back to tell my mum the bad news, I hunted for that note. When I got home, crying my eyes out, I told mum and we all went out to find it. I did, under a big double gate with only an inch or so gap under it. What a relief that was. I went to that gate again and stood and stared.
I am not sure what the equivalent of 10 bob is today, but when I started work here in 1951 my week's wage was £1.1s.0d, which is today £1.10p - and I had to work 48 hours a week. After six months or so, I left that job as I was offered another for a shilling a week more.
Like I said, we were contented and what we had we looked after and treasured it, but I don't think the kids do today. Maybe it's easy come, easy go or there is too much going for them.
I know there is for me. I try to keep up with all this technology and I am that way inclined. I can do most of it, but I think I am a 'little' bit too old to remember it all. My brain doesn't work the same now. I envy the young ones in a way. They have a lot more to come, who knows just what. Nothing seems to be impossible these days. I wonder if those 'little' people are making something that can make us 20 or 30 years 'younger'.
I will have one - maybe a double.
T. BUTCHER. |
Kate Barrett
Guest
| | Posted on Thursday, April 22, 2010 - 02:26 pm: | |
CALLING all relatives of Guernsey people in the Perth area of West Australia.
Following the success last year of the Liberation Day celebration that was held in Perth, we are hoping that this year will be even better.
Please let your family and friends know that there will be a celebration on Sunday 9 May at 1pm in the Women's Memorial Gardens, Kings Park.
It's a wonderful opportunity to meet up with old friends and make new ones. So let's make the 65th truly memorable.
For further information, please contact:
KATE BARRETT
North Fremantle.
Warrenbarrett2@ bigpond.com |
C. Saunders
Guest
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 20, 2010 - 02:01 pm: | |
MAY I, through your column, let it be known that I wrote a letter to Roy Sarre four weeks ago asking him to book me a seat for the Liberation Day service, or if he knew that someone could do so.
To this day I have not received such a letter in reply. My apologies if my letter went astray but why? A disappointed old ex-liberator.
In the meantime, a kind lady from the home has done just that, of which I am most thankful for.
C. SAUNDERS,
Methodist Home.
GP Editor's footnote: Roy Sarre responds: 'Always happy to help and co-operate.
Mr Saunders may not realise that hundreds of people, of all ages, want to come to the special People's Service at 10.30am on 9 May at St James - it takes time to organise an unticketed/free event. But it's going to be 'great/ special'.
What date did he write in? He got his reply 'for a guest's seat' days ago - last week. Thanks for keeping me posted. Had he phoned me we could also have discussed. C'est la vie.' |
David Stone
Guest
| | Posted on Monday, March 22, 2010 - 02:48 pm: | |
EARLY in the morning of 9 May 1945 I was standing at the barbed-wire gate near the Weighbridge leading to the White Rock. There were a number of people gathered there, but I don't recall it being a huge crowd.
But I do remember someone managed to open the gate just as the Tommies appeared at the far end of the White Rock and started marching towards us.
Since there had been some debate over the surrender, they might have been a little taken aback by a crowd running towards them. However, we were friendly.
I currently live in Alaska, but will be in Guernsey for the 65th anniversary of Liberation and would like to invite others who were at the gate to contact me to see if we can reminisce about the original liberation. I shall be travelling between now and 9 May, but can always be reached by email at dstone132@ gmail.com.
DAVID STONE,
Alaska,
USA. |
Herbert Winterflood
Guest
| | Posted on Saturday, May 30, 2009 - 10:35 am: | |
ON FRIDAY 22 May your newspaper devoted a full page to the publication of two letters - one deploring the quality of entertainment provided for the public on Liberation Day this year and the other praising what had been offered.
The contents of both letters excluded the need for giving thanks on 9 May, concentrating entirely on entertainment.
For those people who experienced the Occupation and for the evacuees and deportees from the islands, Liberation Day is a time when we give thanks, as many do, for the restoration of freedom brought about by the grace of God and the huge number of men and women who fought, many dying, for the price of freedom.
The celebrations have a place on 9 May, and may they long be organised, but not to the detriment of the central theme of remembrance.
HERBERT WINTERFLOOD. |
Tony Webber
Guest
| | Posted on Monday, May 25, 2009 - 11:08 am: | |
ON MY mother's first Liberation Day without my father (he sadly passed away last July), she opened the Guernsey Press and to her absolute surprise and delight she saw a picture of him in Rob Batiste's article on the history of KGV. This really cheered her up and made her day.
The photo published was of my father, Jimmy Webber, as wicket keeper, with Frank Stroobant, the bowler, and R. L. S. Bichard as the batsman, in the first ever cricket game played at KGV in August 1939
Only months later, my father was in England, having left his banking employment in Guernsey to volunteer for the Army. He subsequently met and married my mother in London during the war.
He served in the Desert campaign and, after the war, decided to make the Army his career, retiring as a Lt-Colonel in the Royal Signals. My father was an unassuming and respected man locally, but he would have been very proud, if slightly embarrassed, that his photo was published on our national day.
TONY WEBBER |
Dame Mary Perkins
Guest
| | Posted on Friday, May 15, 2009 - 03:33 pm: | |
PLEASE may I, on behalf of Specsavers, thank everyone who attended the Specsavers Liberation Tea Dance and Hangar Ball and for all the wonderful feedback we have received.
It is heartening that so many people continue to support these community events and really enter into the spirit of things.
As usual the daytime event for people who lived through the Occupation years was oversubscribed but we did our very best to accommodate as many people as possible by offering those on the waiting list a free place to the evening ball. We will, of course, continue to review how we approach this event, which proves more popular every year.
We have had so many letters, emails and cards commenting on how much people enjoyed themselves. It is very encouraging for my team who organise these two events to receive this, so many thanks for taking the time and effort to contact us.
We are already in the process of planning next year's events, which promise to be even bigger and better than ever in what will be the 65th anniversary of Liberation. I hope that as many of your readers as possible will help us celebrate this special occasion.
DAME MARY PERKINS,
Founder, Specsavers Optical Group. |
A Veteran
Guest
| | Posted on Monday, May 04, 2009 - 10:15 am: | |
AMIDST all the joy and celebrations of Liberation Day give a thought and remember in your prayers some of the men who made it all possible.
On D-Day, 6 June 1944, the Allied forces landed on the beaches of Normandy in order to gain a foothold in Europe and liberate it from the German forces, before eventually liberating this lovely island of ours.
On that day alone 10,000 Allied soldiers, sailors and airmen were killed, wounded or went missing.
There followed another year of bloodshed and slaughter before Europe was liberated and eventually our island.
'Lest we forget'.
A VETERAN. |
Dame Mary Perkins
Guest
| | Posted on Monday, April 27, 2009 - 02:09 pm: | |
We are extremely sorry that we cannot accommodate everyone at the Specsavers Liberation Tea Dance, which yet again is vastly over subscribed. This year there were even more pensioners applying - more than 900 - but unfortunately the biggest venue in the island, the Sir John Loveridge Hall, can only accommodate 784 people, so some are always going to be disappointed.
The criteria for qualification for a place at the tea dance remains the same as previous years - that you are either Guernsey born, lived through the Occupation, were evacuated or saw active service. To enable us to assess people more fairly, an application form was published this year so as to avoid places being allocated to people who did not qualify for whatever reason.
Priority is given to those people who meet these criteria (and in some cases their carers) but unfortunately there is not enough room even for all those who do, so for us to comply with health and safety regulations, lines have to be drawn. As long as this event continues to be so popular, there are going to be disappointed applicants.
We could fit slightly more people in if we lost the dance floor, which would cause outrage to some, but we cannot lose the tables and chairs as I think your reader might be suggesting, as people do need somewhere to sit and rest their cup of tea. Also, not everyone goes just to dance - many go to see old friends, to sit and listen to the music and enjoy afternoon refreshments. Trying to please everyone is proving very difficult.
However, as a gesture of good will we have offered everyone who can't be fitted in to the daytime event a free place at the evening Hangar Ball, which is open to all at a subsidised cost of £25 per head, including a traditional Guernsey supper. Many pensioners have been extremely happy to take up this offer as the entertainment is exactly the same and they appreciate that Specsavers, as sponsor and organiser, are doing everything we can to please as many people as we can, and long may we continue to do so.
Dame Mary Perkins,
Specsavers |
D. Hanley
Guest
| | Posted on Monday, April 27, 2009 - 02:08 pm: | |
REGARDING the Liberation Tea Dance - I was so disappointed about not letting several of us elderly people go to the dance this year as quite a lot of us married Guernsey partners.
I'm nearly 88. There aren't many of us left as they have all got to be 65 or over, all old age pensioners. I still go dancing every week and met my partner who also is English born and lost his Guernsey wife. There can't be many left. Some elderly people don't go because they don't dance. Some still are married to English people or from other countries so won't be able to go as they will not go on their own.
I came here in early 1945 as all my in-laws were here during the occupation. Five have died. So please Dame Mary, it would probably only last another couple of years as everyone will then have to be 67 or over, so why not have it as a dance and not a tea party, charging £2 at the door for pensioners and £3 for the younger generation, otherwise it's just going to fold.
MRS D. HANLEY |
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