From Margaret Church.
IT is so sad to learn what will be built on the Fort d’Auvergne Hotel site in the future. The area will be completely spoilt.
Havre des Pas was unique, a truly Victorian part of Jersey. I was brought up around that area, having been born at Halesea, a house which at that time was run as a nursing home.
As regards the house next door to the hotel, deemed to be of local importance, I do not believe it originally belonged to the hotel. The property belonged to a Mrs Venement who, together with her daughter Kathleen (a friend of my mother) ran a guest house there after the Occupation.
The hotels either side of the house were keen to buy it and it would appear that Fort d’Auvergne was successful.
As for the merits of the naked man statue and why it should be situated in that area, a thought has occurred to me. Maybe it is to commemorate the loss of the ‘Low Cement’ (men’s bathing place) which is now no more, buried under tons of rubble.
