Channel Islands Heritage Festival reveals events schedule
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The full programme of events for the 2016 Channel Islands Heritage Festival across the Bailiwick of Guernsey and Jersey has been released.
The programme, which will run from 25 March to 10 May, features exclusive openings, guided walks, family adventures and coastal tours.
Across Guernsey and the Bailiwick islands of Herm, Sark and Alderney alone there will be 55 events and activities, 42 guided walks, four cycling tours, two coach tours, three boat tours and 11 exhibitions that can be visited and enjoyed over the 45 days. The full list and details of all activities taking place across the Bailiwick of Guernsey, as well as those taking place in Jersey, can be found in the comprehensive Festival Guide, available to download from VisitGuernsey.com.
The Victor Hugo in Guernsey Festival will run alongside this year’s Heritage Festival from 2 – 10 April to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Victor Hugo’s novel, Toilers of the Sea, which was inspired by and set in Guernsey during Hugo’s time in exile. Eight days of Hugo-themed events will take place across the island to explore how the Channel Islands influenced the writer’s life and works.
The latest events to be added to the Bailiwick’s programme at the 2016 Channel Islands Heritage Festival include:
Resistance Nest Schonbucht Mitte
Belle Greve Bay Bunker
25 March, 14.00 – 16.00
Festung Guernsey, a group of local volunteers dedicated to restoring and preserving the Island’s wartime defences, will be giving a guided tour of the German defences of Belle Greve Bay on Guernsey’s east coast. The resistance nest was built by the Germans during their occupation in the Second World War and includes a type 676 Pak casemate for a Czech 4.7 anti‐tank gun. Admission is free.
www.visitguernsey.com/event/resistance-nest-schonbucht-mitte-1
Seafarers Coach Tour
Liberation Monument
28 March, 2 May, 9.30 – 17.00
From famous admirals to Bordeaux, the fishing port that inspired Victor Hugo’s Toilers of the Sea, this day long tour around the island delves into Guernsey’s rich maritime and seafaring heritage. It will also include a visit to two working harbours, entry to La Vallette Underground Military Museum, the Shipwreck Museum at Fort Grey and lunch. The price is £55 per person.
Maritime Themed Talks with Local Experts
Frossard Theatre, Candie Gardens
Every Wednesday from 30 March to 18 May, 14.30 – 16.00
Each week during the festival, a leading expert will give a talk on the Bailiwick of Guernsey’s maritime heritage. Speakers include former Guernsey harbour master Captain Peter Gill, local historian Gregory Stevens Cox on Shipping in Victor Hugo’s time, archeologist Jason Monahan on Guernsey’s Roman shipwreck, Castel historian Eric Grimsley on Coastline Towers, Richard Lord from Sealord Photography on Fish and Foreshore, and Guernsey’s former Greffier Ken Tough on the Effect of the Occupation on Guernsey’s coastline. The talks are £5 per session (pay at the door), or £35 for all eight sessions (pay online).
www.visitguernsey.com/event/maritime-themed-talks-local-experts
The Sea Around Us – guided walk in Sark
Sark Visitor Centre
7, 21 April and 5 May, 11.15 – 13.10
A two hour guided walk on the island of Sark, a 45 minute ferry from Guernsey, to explore the island’s fishing methods, local navigation and pilotage, and the natural history of the archipelago’s seas and shores. The fairly easy stroll will finish at Pilcher Monument on the island’s west coast. The price is £4 for adults and £2 for children under 14.
www.visitguernsey.com/event/sea-around-us-sark
Batterie Generaloberst Dollman Open Day
La Trigale
1 May, 13.30 – 16.30
This German Coastal Artillery Battery houses the last gun of its type in Europe and was restored by Guernsey Armouries in 1997. When the restoration project was started, initial inspection showed the bunkers to be remarkably intact with armoured doors and a bunker telephone still in situ. Today, work still continues to put final touches in place with new features still being restored. However, the site will be fully open to the public during the festival for a day of living history and displays. Simulated gun firing will take place on the hour at 14.00, 15.00 and 16.00. Entry is by donation.
www.visitguernsey.com/event/batterie-generaloberst-dollmann-open-day
For a full list of events and activities, please visit www.visitguernsey.com/heritage-festival
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