SS Vega model to appear in Liberation cavalcade

A large model replica of the SS Vega, a Red Cross Ship, will be used in Guernsey's Liberation Day celebrations.

The Channel Islands Occupation Society worked with the States Prison and the Prisoner charity CLIP to build it.

SS Vega brought Red Cross food parcels for the civilians in the islands after the occupying German forces were cut off from the continent following D-Day.

The new model ship will be towed in the Liberation 80 cavalcade on 9 May.

'A lifeline'

The Red Cross SS Vega first visited the island in December 1944.

It supplied more than 119,000 standard food parcels during the first visit and continued to visit the islands throughout the German Occupation and after liberation in May 1945.

John De Carteret, prison governor, said he thought it was really exciting.

He said: "For me personally what the Vega signifies... it basically was a lifeline.

"My family were directly affected by that because they were here during the occupation and I think it's a great thing for us to get involved in."

Prisoner Anthony Hamon said he painted the signage and red crosses.

"It's reliving our history so that's the main thing about it really, reliving it and celebrating the past."

Adrian Dilcock, committee member of th Channel Islands Occupation Society, said: "This is really a massive part of our heritage.

"This symbolises really, the keeping people alive and also the suffering by people that were evacuated and by people that stayed here."

He added he hoped there would be somewhere for the model to be stored or displayed after Liberation Day.

Andrew Ozanne, founder of CLIP, said the scheme aimed to help prisoners build up skills that could help them find employment once they have served their sentence.

"The workshop is sophisticated, it's got a lot of equipment, and people here in Guernsey are learning to become carpenters or learning skills," he said.

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