An 'Audlem' visit to Guernsey

Earlier this month the Channel Island of Guernsey was pleased to welcome a party of VIPs from Audlem, the award winning village in Cheshire, which included Mike Hill and his wife Pamela together with his Minder, Mike Parker and his wife Barbara.

The party spent a week on the Island, staying at the cliff-top **** Hotel Bon Port, where they were able to take in the magnificent views of Guernsey's south coast and walk the meandering, wild flower-strewn coastal path down to (and up to!) tiny coves and small fishing harbours.

The visitors undertook a full programme during their stay, with visits to places of interest, including seeing many of the relics of the fortifications, built by the German occupying forces (with slave labour) during their 5 year stay in WW11 as part of Hitler's so called " impregnable " Atlantic Wall.

Castle CornetLater in their stay Messrs Hill and Parker were given a conducted tour of Castle Cornet, while their wives descended on the Boutiques and Fashion Houses along the traffic free streets of St. Peter Port. The Castle, dating from the 11th century, stands sentinel over the entrance to the harbour of St. Peter Port.

During its long history it has resisted many would be invaders. At the time of the English Civil War the Castle declared for the King and the Island for Parliament with the result that exchanges of cannon fire took place between the two sides.

It was only in 1940 that the Castle's defences were at last breached when the might of the German Wehrmacht descended on the Island. At the end of their tour of the Castle Messrs Hill and Parker were invited to be present at the ceremony of the firing of the Castle's Noon-Day gun. This takes place each day when the gunner's assistant focuses his telescope on the clock tower of the Town Church of St. Peter Port and when the clock begins to strike the noon hour he orders the cannon to be fired.

At the RacesOne of the highlights of the visit was the party's presence at the Island's race course for the annual May flat race meeting. The race course stands in the centre of the Island's main golf course and boasts the running rails which once graced Ascot race course until its recent refurbishment.

Prior to attending the races the party lunched at the Royal Guernsey Golf Club. It was during lunch that Mr Hill, while perusing the race card, noted that PD (David) Evans, the Welsh race horse trainer, had a horse entered in three of the five races on the card. In the event this was to prove a most profitable observation!

After lunch the group and their hosts took a leisurely stroll to the race course where seating had been arranged for them on the "Hill", an exclusive viewing area alongside the paddock.

The afternoon racing programme was enjoyed by all but, perhaps, more so by Mike Hill who, following his astute reading of the race card, soon had the Guernsey Bookies running for cover. David Evans' Wahoo Sam, Penang Cinta and Goodbye Cash (which was what the Bookies were soon saying) duly obliged by winning their respective races and Mike had "cleaned up!"

Speaking at the airport prior to returning to the UK, Mike Hill told his hosts their stay had been a most enjoyable one and that they had been very impressed with the beauty of the Island and the hospitality they had encountered. He went on to say he had welcomed the opportunity to meet and speak with a number of islanders who had been evacuated to the UK during the German Occupation of the Island and in particular those who had been evacuated to the Audlem/Nantwich
area.

Afterword:
On the day of the Audlem party's departure it was reported that duty free sales at Guernsey Airport rose sharply ...... it has not been possible to establish if this was in anyway linked to Audlem's day at the Guernsey races!

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