The freedom to swim

Saturday 09 May 2020

Keen swimmers are being encouraged to take to the water today in dedication of a woman who was arrested and fined for swimming in La Jaonnet bay during the Occupation.

The message comes from 30baysin30days organiser Liz Stonebridge, who spoke of the physical and mental health benefits of people being able to swim during the current lockdown.

Last year, the annual fundraiser told the story of a local resident who was sanctioned after she went for a swim.

Ms Stonebridge said that memory is even more poignant now.

"For Liberation Day last year the 30baysin30days Instagram post was inspired by a display at the incredible Occupation Museum which showed that local resident Pearl Luff had been arrested by the Germans in September 1943 and fined for swimming in La Jaonnet bay," she said.

"The museum has an unbelievable amount of memorabilia that immerse you into that period of our island’s history but it was this story that stuck with me for weeks after my visit.

"We are incredibly lucky to live on such a beautiful island with so many different beaches and although 30baysin30days was set-up to encourage people to explore them it is still easy to get caught up in life to not make the most of what we have on our doorstep or be complacent in not maximising our opportunities to enjoy it.

Pictured: Part of a display put on by Guernsey Museums featuring Pearl Luff, who was arrested for swimming during the German Occupation (Picture Credit: Guernsey Museums).

"Guernsey proudly celebrates Liberation Day each year but before now it has been difficult to fully appreciate what it must have felt like to have freedom restricted.

"The experience of life during the Covid-19 when Deputy St Pier stated that the regulations would be “imposing the most far reaching deprivation of personal liberties since the Second World War” has provided a glimpse but significantly during this crisis islanders were given the freedom to swim in the sea which has helped many appreciate both the physical and mental benefits it brings. Thoughts have regularly wandered to how Pearl and all those islanders must have felt when at times during the Occupation and living under much tougher conditions, for a longer period of time.

In response to that post last year, Team_Mermaids_uk and Lorna Froome dedicated their daily swim on 9 May to Pearl, saying that it would become an annual tradition.

Ms Stonebridge said that newfound tradition had captured the imagination and was an inspiration.

"This year more than any other it feels like an important tradition to encourage all islanders to be part of so that when we emerge from this pandemic with life as a “new normal” we can always honour that loss of freedom in a new way."