Guernsey visitors head home itching
PLUS: Guernsey hosts Island Games + Sark sailors disappear
Record breaking plate sale
A Guernsey number plate sold for £240,000 eight years ago this week. The distinctive 007 plate had been expected to sell for ‘just’ £60,000 at auction. The plate, which was a brand new issue from the States of Guernsey that hadn’t been used on a vehicle before, was auctioned by Martel Maides. Registration plates have been compulsory on all road-going vehicles in Guernsey since 1908. While cars are not permitted on Sark or Herm, both allow tractors, but there is no requirement for them to display a number plate.
Guernsey hosts Island Games
Guernsey hosted the opening ceremony of the second Island Games this week in 1987, welcoming 1049 athletes from 18 different islands to its shores. The home team won 17 gold, 19 silver and 28 bronze medals, which put it third overall. Athletes competed in nine sports, in an event that cost a bargain £32,000 to host. A further £15,000 worth of free facilities and services were provided on top, but it still represents remarkable value for money. The Games were officially opened by the Queen, at Footes Lane, at 2.30pm on 10 September and, at the closing ceremony at Beau Sejour on the 17th, responsibility for hosting the next Island Games passed to Torshavn, the capital of the Faroe Islands.
High winds hit Guernsey
Trees were ripped up, ships were wrecked and people were killed when Guernsey was struck by a hurricane this week in 1869. The average wind speed reached 68 miles an hour for 12 hours, tearing roofs off buildings and running cross-channel ships aground.
Sark sailors disappear
Six students and a teacher went missing as they sailed from Sark this week in 1959. The boys were aged between 14 and 16, and only two of their bodies were ever recovered - the first almost a month later when it washed up on a Cornish beach. The teacher and his boat were never found, and what happened remains a mystery.
Itchy, scratchy, yellow polkadot bikinis
Guernsey holidaymakers were arriving home this week in September 1967 to discover they were carrying a few souvenirs that they would rather have left behind. The island was suffering a serious infestation of fleas, which was so bad it was at risk of putting people off visiting at all.
Baron de Saumarez created
The first Baron de Saumarez was given his title this week in 1831. James Saumarez (originally Sausmarez) had served alongside Nelson and became commander in chief of the navy at Plymouth. Despite the family’s Guernsey roots, it was based for many years not in the island itself, but outside Ipswich, in Suffolk.