Deputies work with the Guernsey Occupation Society over Vega plaque

Monday, 23 December 2024 08:05

Guernsey Museums and the political head of the Planning Authority and her deputy will help ensure a plaque to the Red Cross ship Vega is in place for 7 May 2025.

The SS Vega made six trips to Guernsey and Jersey towards the end of the war, bringing food parcels to a population with little to eat.

The penultimate visit was on 7 May 1945.

Paul le Pelley, the vice president of the Channel Islands Occupation Society, had wanted to put up a plaque by the Cambridge Berth at St Peter Port harbour to commemorate its first docking on 27 December 1944.

However, he says no planning application was made, as the Society was concerned about the cost of that process.

"We weren't sure what the planning situation was, but we knew fees were involved."

After Island FM broke the story, Mr le Pelley says help came quickly, initially from Guernsey Museums:

"They offered to provide the paperwork and do a rough draft (of the planning process) for us.

The vice president of Planning was then in touch to explain what the rules were. If it's just a plaque that's attached to a wall, providing it's no more than one metre in dimension, there's no fee.

"We've got the permission agreed verbally that we can put it on the wall, to our design."

He says although they will have missed the 27 December anniversary, they intend to get a plaque in place for 7 May 2025, just ahead of the 80 celebrations of Liberation.