2020 Vision... 'Mr Liberation'

Thursday 02 January 2020

A free concert featuring "big names" at West Park is to be one of the key events in what's being billed as the "most spectacular" Liberation commemoration Jersey will have ever seen, it has been revealed.

The admission came from Deputy Kevin Pamplin, organiser-in-chief of events marking 75 years since arguably the most important date in local history: the Liberation of the island after five long years of German Occupation on 9 May.

He was the first of a number of islanders to sit down with Express to outline his '2020 vision' - part of a new series in which islanders with grand plans for the coming year reveal all...

"We held a number of workshops earlier in the year," Deputy Pamplin explains, "to find out what the public wanted, before we started drawing up any plans."

The result is a year-long celebration with a week of concentrated activity at the beginning of May.

Pictured: The milestone anniversary is coming up on 9 May.

Traditionally, like England, the Channel Islands have designated the first Monday in May as a Bank Holiday, but this year it’ll be slightly different. It’ll only be a holiday in Jersey – England and Guernsey are taking the Friday off instead.

"We decided to stick with giving islanders the day off," says Deputy Pamplin, "so they can still enjoy the traditional, and increasingly popular, Barclay’s Boat Show, which we had already planned for."

But islanders will also be getting an extra day’s holiday later in the week. Jersey is following England and Guernsey giving workers Friday 8 May off to celebrate the 75^th anniversary of the ending of the Second World War. 

Rather candidly, Deputy Pamplin admits the extra day’s holiday was somewhat forced on the island and has put an added strain on the Liberation Day Committee’s budget but Jersey would have seemed out of step had it not followed suit.

One of the advantages, he says, of having staged the boat show earlier in the week is that a lot of the infrastructure can be used by the events that follow. 

It’s planned to start the Friday celebrations with a brief – possibly open-air – States Assembly sitting in the Royal Square. But the main focus of attention will be in the afternoon at the Winston Churchill Memorial Gardens at St. Brelade.

According to Deputy Pamplin, "One of the messages we heard loud and clear from our workshops was that everyone needs to feel included in the celebrations. So, we are going to stage a family-friendly event with a party atmosphere, and hopefully lots of free activities, so the island’s various communities can come together and enjoy themselves."

Saturday will be the big day. As in recent years, Liberation Square will be the focus of activity.

It was here that hundreds of islanders gathered in 1945 to watch the allies come ashore, and hoist the Union flag from the balcony of the Pomme d’Or Hotel. Later, the crowd cheered as the Swastika at Fort Regent was lowered and another Union flag hoisted.

Pictured: Once again Liberation Square will be the focus of the celebrations.

It was all captured forever by Old Victorian ‘Dixie’ Landick in glorious colour using film he’d kept hidden throughout the Occupation, and is now faithful reenacted every year by the Island’s Territorial Army as a key element in the celebrations. 

There was so much uproar a number of years ago when it was announced the main focus was being shifted from Liberation Square to West Park, that plans had to be changed almost at the eleventh hour.

"We’ve learned our lesson," Deputy Pamplin says shaking his head, as if thinking how could anyone have been so silly to change something that has become so valued by those islanders who lived through events.

He says the States have also listened to the public outcry that followed the announcement that millions of pounds were going to be spent on extinguishing the slip road that separates Liberation Square from the Weighbridge. It’ll simply be closed for the day. But, he believes, the idea may only have been "shelved" rather than scrapped.

For big Liberation anniversary celebrations, a Royal has often come to the island. In the past, that’s included the Queen, and Prince Charles.

Deputy Pamplin says he has to keep tight-lipped, but says if the person or people they’ve invited can make it, "It’s likely Liberation Square will be packed".

Even if that doesn’t happen, extra seating and big screens are being put up across the venue so everyone gets a good view.

Pictured: Despite some changes, plans for the 75th anniversary celebrations of the Liberation will still include the traditional reenactment of the troops coming ashore. (Dixie Landick)

In a break with what’s happened in the past, the plan would for the Royal or Royals to come to the island on the Friday night, attend Jersey’s celebrations in the morning and then fly to Guernsey in the afternoon. Usually, it has been the other way round. 

Deputy Pamplin says other messages that came out of the workshops were that the celebrations were often too stuffy, that those who were in the island at the time have often felt side-lined at the expense of the "great and good", and that young islanders need to feel engaged if Liberation Day is to remain meaningful in the future. 

That’s why the States Assembly sitting is being moved. It’ll also allow the Royal or Royals more time for a walkabout on the Saturday.

States Members and Jurats are also being ousted from the main stage, to make room for Occupation veterans and young islanders. After the seriousness of the morning, a carnival atmosphere is planned in the afternoon.

The evening will culminate in a free concert at West Park for which people will have to enter a lottery. Again, Deputy Pamplin won’t be drawn, but says they hope to able to announce some "big" names.

The parishes "will be doing their own thing" on the Sunday, and, according to Deputy Pamplin, those plans are already well advanced. 

Organisation for the big day remains ongoing and not everything is set in stone, but islanders can expect the first big announcements about the programme next week.

Deputy Pamplin’s vision for 2020 is for an "inclusive island, where the past is remembered and the future welcomed with open arms".

Tomorrow: Neil Faudemer and Sally Minty-Gravett's 20:20 vision...