10 November 2006
Jersey’s Signal Station will soon be back in action, with the Jersey flag proudly flying above the harbour. The flag will be raised on Thursday, November 9, to mark the celebrations for Fort Regent’s 200th anniversary and it is planned that it will fly day and night in the future. At night, the mast will be floodlit.
The reinstatement of the Signal Station landmark has come about through an agreement between the States and the Jersey Heritage Trust. The Trust will in future operate the Station, ensuring that the station is ‘dressed overall’ on special days and anniversaries, cones will be flown for strong winds and the traditional ‘T’ flag.
will mark big tides.
Jersey’s Lieutenant Governor, Lieutenant General Andrew Ridgway, will be at the Fort to watch the flag being raised on Thursday, as part of the anniversary celebrations.
Daily signals at the Station were stopped 18 months ago because costs had become unsustainable for Jersey Harbours. This was greeted by public disappointment but since then the Jersey Heritage Trust has flown flags to mark special days, such as Royal birthdays. Deputy Alan Maclean, Assistant Minister for Economic Development, promised that he would do what he could to help the Station open again.
The Jersey Heritage Trust has agreed to manage the Station; and a member of the Trust’s staff will raise flags and cones. Trust Director Jonathan Carter said: ‘This is about a living tradition. After the Napoleonic Wars, it was Jersey’s merchants who kept the Signal Station, so it’s one of the strongest symbols of the commercial traditions of the harbour and in a wider sense, of Jersey’s entrepreneurial spirit. This was the last manned signal station in the British Isles and it is a unique and special tradition.’
The States Property Holdings Department will pay the cost of maintaining the Station and its mast. The States will pay the Trust £18,000 a year for managing the Station. This is a considerable saving on the previous operating costs of about £70,000 a year and it is less than the income the States receives from the rental for communication masts on the site.
The service offered to the public by the mast will not be as extensive as in the past and mariners will be advised to rely on information from Jersey Coastguards and the Met Office for authoritative advice.
Deputy Maclean said: “I’m delighted that a truly cost-effective solution has been found to enable us to reopen the Signal Station. It is one of our important traditions, it demonstrates our maritime history and it is one of the features of the landscape which makes Jersey special. This is why it deserves to be maintained, so long as it isn’t a disproportionate drain on public resources. I can’t wait to see the flags and the storm cones flying again, or to see the mast illuminated at Christmas.”
gov.je