Herm ferry runs aground
This week in Guernsey
Trident VI ran aground on a return trip from Herm this week in 2003, rupturing three sections of its hull and letting in water. Passengers were evacuated to Trident V while the lifeboat pulled Trident VI free of the rocks and towed it back to St Peter Port.
Actor Oliver Reed was jailed in Guernsey this week in 1984 after smashing a window at the Duke of Normandie hotel while standing in the car park wearing only his underwear. The Gladiator actor was kept in custody for a couple of days and said, on his release, that while he’d been treated well the food could have been better.
The post-Occupation military government was disbanded this week in 1945, after just 90 days’ operation. Guernsey’s new Lieutenant-Governor, Major-General Philip Neame, arrived to take over from the military, and the guns that German forces had installed at Castle Cornet were fired in his honour.
A St Sampson pensioner was buried in a landslide 101 years ago this week when 10,000 tons of rubble slid down the western slope of the Longue Hougue Quarry, taking 83-year-old Mrs Martin with it. Her body was never discovered amid the rubble, which had made such a noise as it slipped that it was heard right across Guernsey.
Queen Victoria visited Guernsey this week in 1846, becoming the first reigning monarch to do so in six centuries. She hadn’t given any warning of her arrival. The visit was a success nonetheless, and Victoria Tower was built to commemorate it. She returned a few years later once the tower had been completed.
Guernsey’s laws were completely overhauled this week in 1948 with new regulations covering everything from what to do if someone was physically incapable to vote to how many people should sit in the States of Deliberation. It also finally allowed elections to be held by secret ballot.
Wesleyans celebrated 100 years on Guernsey this week in 1884 with a festival in Cambridge Park that the Star described as “a monster gathering of the Sunday School teachers and scholars of the various chapels in the islands”.
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