Although most celebrations have been cancelled, Delphine Ferry-Denman is determined that Jersey’s special day will at least be marked in style in her own parish.
Vice-chairwoman of St Peter’s Battle of Flowers Association, Miss Ferry-Denman is no stranger to organisational challenges, but putting on a party when people are not allowed to meet together might have deterred others.
However, she said that her ‘locked down Liberation party’ was a deceptively simple idea with participants providing their own refreshments and food in front gardens at 3pm on 9 May. They must observe the requirements of social-distancing but will at least be able to talk to neighbours and feel involved in a larger celebration.
‘This year is such a special anniversary and it’s a shame that so many things have had to be cancelled. I just think it’s an important milestone for the Island to recognise and to do it like this will be quite old-fashioned in a sense.
‘It’s important that people are in their front gardens so that we can see each other and see the way we have decorated our gardens,’ she said, adding that the parish of St Peter had agreed to offer a prize of £100 for the best decorations.
She explained that the wording for the advertising of the event had to be approved by the Constable to ensure that they had complied with the latest requirements concerning social-distancing and other public health guidance.
The rules include ensuring that no-one strays into another person’s garden and that any conversations over fences, hedges or flower beds take place while maintaining the required two-metre social distance. In spite of this Miss Ferry-Denman is optimistic that the event will provide ‘a heart-warming’ way of marking 75 years since the Island’s liberation.
‘It was just an idea that came to me one night and I thought let’s ask the question and it’s has sort of escalated a bit from there,’ she said.
To have a chance of winning the parish’s prize, parishioners should take a good-quality photograph of their garden, yard or balcony decorated with a theme celebrating the Liberation anniversary and email it to: lesclefseditor@gmail.com by 16 May.
The winner will be published in the parish magazine, Les Clefs.
