May 10, 2021
THE memories and lessons from the Occupation must be preserved, the Bailiff said, as he reflected on the ‘importance of community’ yesterday as Jersey marked the 76th anniversary of Liberation Day.
The Bailiff Timothy Le Cocq. Picture: DAVID FERGUSON. (30815995)
Timothy Le Cocq struck an optimistic tone in his speech, describing how far the Island had come since the pandemic started last year and how he hoped ‘in 12 months’ time you will be celebrating with me in and around Liberation Square’.
May 1945 is still a real memory for a number of Islanders, he said, including for Barbara Jouanny, the Face of Liberation commemorated in last year’s ArtHouse Jersey community art project.
In 2012, American heiress Tanya Dick-Stock and her husband discovered an enormous trove of documents while clearing out space ahead of their lavish wedding.
In a locked, indoor squash court of the bride’s palatial, 58-acre manor house on the island of Jersey, off the coast of France, they stumbled upon hundreds of bank boxes haphazardly stuffed with more than 350,000 confidential papers from her father’s offshore trust business.
“We walked in and were like, ‘What is this?’” says Dick-Stock. “The files had been there for years and no one had ever touched them. We had no idea what we were sitting on.”