To mark the celebration of Liberation Day in the Channel Islands, Jersey Rotary Club held a Peace Pole ceremony on a beautiful, sunny day in the Peace Garden in Vallée des Vaux.

The May 8th celebration is special date since it represents the end of hostilities in Europe at the end of the Second World War in 1945, and precedes the annual celebration of Liberation Day in the Channel Islands on 9th May.

A group of around 50 people of all ages were welcomed to the event by Madeleine De La Cour, President of Jersey Rotary Club, before Tony Allchurch, Rotary Peace Officer, explained the significance of the Peace Pole as a symbol of a universal aspiration for peace and conflict resolution.

Honoured guests for the occasion were the Connetable of St. Helier, Simon Crowcroft, with The Mayor of Trenton New Jersey, USA, Reed Gusciora, plus a group of 21 children from D’Auvergne School in St Helier, Jersey, with their teachers.

The Rotary club President laid the first trowel of earth around the Peace Pole and then invited the special guests to do the same. The school children followed in groups of three or four, each group holding a national flag aloft and then speaking the words on the Peace Pole in the language of that nation. Rotarians, friends and guests then completed the task of installing the Peace Pole.

This brief but memorable ceremony was then concluded with everyone holding hands in a large circle around the Peace Pole and together speaking the words of the peace message “May Peace Prevail on Earth” followed by a round of applause.

This event celebrates the Centenary of Rotary Club of Jersey. May 8th is an auspicious date since this is the anniversary of the event in 2015 when Jersey was first recognised as a Rotary Peace Island at a special ceremony in the Town Hall in St Helier which was attended by The Bailiff of Jersey, the Chief Minister, Past Rotary in Great Britain & Ireland President, Peter King, and Past District Governor, Mike Jackson.