Plenty more tales of life in Town

The team at Jersey Archive will continue to share stories about the history of St Helier with a second series of monthly talks about life in the Island’s capital.

‘What’s Your Town’s Story?’ (WYTS) is the Archive’s main outreach programme for 2022 and is a continuation of last year’s series, which also focused on St Helier. Having covered the centre of Town during 2021, the archivists have turned their attention to stories about well-known streets on the outskirts of St Helier, such as Wellington Road, Ann Street and Green Street. 

The WYTS talks will take place at Jersey Archive at 10am on the third Saturday of every month. They will also be recorded and added to www.jerseyheritage.org for anyone who was unable to attend in-person. The first talk is on Saturday, 19 March and will focus on Old and New St John’s Road. Entry to all the talks is free, although booking a place in advance is advised. 

The Archive will also continue to be open to the public from 9am-1pm each Saturday and there will be an opportunity to take a behind-the-scenes Archive tour in December. 

Stuart Nicolle, Jersey Heritage’s Senior Archivist, said: “There is an abundance of fascinating stories about St Helier and we felt like we had barely scratched the surface during our ‘What’s Your Town’s Story?’ talks last year. Continuing the series this year will allow us to move out from the very centre of Town and reveal the history of some of the streets on the outskirts of St Helier. Our team is really looking forward to highlighting some of the little-known history of these areas, which Islanders walk and drive through every day. 

“We are also delighted to be able to welcome back people to listen to our talks at the Archive, something we missed during the height of the pandemic when everything went online.”

He added: “We will still record the talks to share online afterwards for anyone who can’t make it in-person, which also means that we can continue to reach the fantastic online audience from around the world that we have built up over the past couple of years.”

WYTS programme 2022: 

• 19 March – Old and New St John’s Road 

• 16 April – Wellington Road 

• 21 May – Midvale Road 

• 18 June – Trinity Road/Town Mills 

• 16 July – Cannon Street/Clare Street 

• 20 August – Ann Street 

• 17 September – Beresford Street 

• 15 October – Val Plaisant 

• 19 November – Green Street 

• 17 December – Tours of the Archive 

Places can be reserved by calling 833300 or emailing archives@jerseyheritage.org.