2004 Events So Far
6th January 2004 - Royal Square
Supporting the Jersey Heritage Trust and the Constable of St Helier were the men of the Jersey Militia in commemoration of the 223rd anniversary of the Battle of Jersey. Held on the site of the historic battle, The Royal Square, men of the Militia gave fire as the tale of the battle was unfolded to members of the public. The Bailiff and States Members were in attendance for this important date in Jersey's history. After the celebration the "Death of Major Peirson" was re-created by members of the public and the Militia. The Militia retired to "The Peirson" pub after the event where refreshments were served.
Marching off to the King street to re-enter the Royal Square from Peirson Place and the spot were Major Peirson fell
Fire! Withdrawal The tableau "The Peirson" pub and refreshments
28th March 2004 - Elizabeth Castle
A good start to the season at Elizabeth Castle with lovely weather and a fair turn-out. The usual cannon firing took place and musket drill was brought up to speed after the Winter rest. The Distaff were busy in the kitchen, the spinning wheel was going a pace and lace making was in progress. All in all a good day.
18th April 2004 - Elizabeth Castle
Regrettably the weather was atrocious for our second event at the Castle. The wind was high and at one point stopped the ladies in their tracks as they couldn't move forward. The soldiers hats were flying and the rain set in but we still were able to welcome some visitors who had braved the weather.
21 April 2004 - HM Queen Elizabeth II's Birthday
To celebrate Her Majesty's birthday and our Island's 800 years connection with the Crown a 21 gun salute followed by a 7 gun volley was fired from the Glacis Field on Mont de la Ville overlooking the harbour and Elizabeth Castle. Although we expected heavy rain throughout God was kind and a clearing in the weather made the event more pleasant. Onlookers were kind enough to show their appreciation with applause. (See Jersey Heritage webpage for other celebrations of the 1204-2004 anniversary - http://www.1204-2004.je/ )
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23rd May 2004 - Elizabeth Castle
We had a smaller turnout than normal but still had enough people to give a good impression to the fair number of visitors in attendance. The weather was good and all went well. The militia wives had a great deal of interest shown in our newly acquired tea brick and sugar cone as well as the normal display items of the 18th century.
13th June 2004 - Elizabeth Castle
A hot day weather wise with a variety of things going on. A lot of Dutch visitors who were delighted with the musket displays. Cannon displays went well and the ladies had a great deal of interest shown in their wares.
Flame from the six pounder Talk amongst the Militia Time to clean the musket
Members of the distaff about their business
11th July 2004 - Elizabeth Castle
Bad weather the week before flooded the Militia Room and it was still drying out when we arrived. There were a good number of visitors in view of weather conditions which grew progressively worse. Martha and Nell looked after them within the Militia Room, Caroline demonstrated lace and Polly spinning at the entrance. Worsening weather conditions after lunch caused closure of the Castle by 2.30 and after a hurried clear up we reluctantly departed.
Photograph by Dave Marsh
8th August - Badger's Holt, St. Brelade
August is normally a quiet month for the Militia with family matters and holidays taking priority. However, this year a small contingent attended a fund raising event at Badger's Holt for the Jersey Astronomy Club. Guard duty for the men and a static display with embroidery, herbalism, and spinning for the ladies we hope gave interest to the visitors and helped raise funds for the installation of a dome kindly donated to the Astronomy Club by Sir Patrick Moore. Nevil Maskelyne (1732-1811) was Royal Astronomer in 1781 and in 1765 he determined longitude on ocean voyages.
15th August - St. Lawrence
The Constable of St. Lawrence kindly requested that we join his parishioners for a Family Fun Day. As we are the St. Lawrence Battalion it gave us great pleasure to do so. The ladies demonstrated their spinning and herbalism and explained fashions of the 18th century. The Militia marched and fired their muskets throughout the day. The parishioners, other Islanders and visitors showed a great deal of interest in the history of the Militia and their uniforms.
11th September - Fort Catel/Greve de L'Ecq Barracks
Well over six hundred people visited the National Trust for Jersey sites at Greve de L'Ecq on a beautiful sunny day, marred only by one heavy shower at lunchtime. We all thoroughly enjoyed this event as the visitors seemed genuinely interested in history. Our recruiting leaflets were exhausted! A cannon was placed at the entrance to Fort Catel and fired every hour on the hour. The infantry entertained people on the barracks parade ground with their musket drill, finishing, for the first time, with a bayonet charge. Three of our ladies were available to talk about spinning, bobbin lace making and medicinal matters of the 18th century.
Fort Catel At the Gates of Fort Catel
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Photographs 3, 6 and 10 above are reproduced with kind permission of John McGinnis
31st October - Elizabeth Castle
All Jersey Heritage sites closed for the winter today. Although we expected a cold, damp day for the time of the year at it was surprisingly sunny with a brief smattering of rain in the afternoon. As summer time had demised the day before the day went very quickly. The Battalion did their musket drill to attract visitors to the Parade Ground and marched to the Castle Green where they explained their presence and the cannon used before firing. The public were then invited to talk to the gunners about the Militia and their Brown Bess muskets. It was Lydia's last day with the Militia, and her birthday, before she would move to England, hoping to find a living history group to join near Eastbourne. The men gave her a resounding rendition of Happy Birthday at the luncheon table. We all went home a little sad that the season had finished but eager to plan the following year.
Waiting for the Boat Back to Barracks Off duty
26th November - The Smugglers' Inn - Ouasné
Our annual dinner took place at one of the oldest inns in the Island and the room was appropriately dressed by our Treasurer, Dave Wood and his wife Sue. The Chef produced a good menu with a suckling pig as the centrepiece. Two of our ladies had taken the opportunity to sew their first gowns and hope to be able to use them occasionally next year at Hamptonne.
This site was updated on 7th December 2004
e-mail Dave Dorgan <dale@itl.net>