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Generations of islanders have performed in bands and other groups, as well as marshalled, built the arena, provided first aid, and handed out drinks and programmes at the Battle of Flowers - but times, and our communities, change.
In the mid-80s, when 15 million people would tune into watch Bergerac each week, there were more than 30,000 hotel or guest house beds; now there are around 7,000.
Today, Battle is now mostly watched by local residents, and many argue that the carnival has changed from a tourist event to a community event.
But not all communities in modern Jersey are involved, and with costs going up, and the number of floats going down, many argue that it is time for a rethink.
Yet although the number of people watching Battle has fallen from the 30,000s of the 70s and 80s - when people would stand, sit on wooden benches, or perhaps watch from towers of pallet boards on the back of a trailer - it is still popular.
Pictured: St. Saviour's striking Huang Long entry was the only large paper float in this year's parade (Alex Cordiner)
More than 20,000 people attended the two parades last week, including 13,000 at the Moonlight Parade, and the feedback – especially from last Friday – was overwhelmingly positive.
One of the highlights of Battle for the past three decades has invariably been the entry of the Optimists’ Club – whose grand designs, attention to detail and choreography have resulted in multiple Prix d’Honneur awards.
But this year, the club’s winning ‘When Movies Were Movies’ entry was made without the support of a lead sponsor.
Without such corporate support, the future of the Optimists’ involvement in Battle, at least in entering a large float, is in doubt.
In the second of a two-part focus on the future of Battle, Express speaks to the club, as well as Economic Development Minister Kirsten Morel, who has responsibility for the Government’s relationship with the carnival.
We also revisit a 2015 report commissioned by a predecessor of Deputy Morel’s, which offered some solutions.
Is it time to dust off those recommendations?
Most people watching Battle sit up when the Optimists’ Club gets close. For decades, the float entered by the sports and social club has been the standard to which other entries aspire to.
Nic Bouchard is an integral part of the club and son of Steve, who has designed many award-winning floats for the club. Nic has been involved since he was born, and is keen to point out that his year of birth – 1987 – was the first year the Optimists won the coveted Prix d’Honneur.
Like the exhibitors which Express spoke to yesterday, Nic is clear in his view that the parade needs to modernise to reflect Jersey today.
Pictured: The Prix d'Honneur-winning winning Optimists' Club. (Optimists' Club)
He said: “We need support from Visit Jersey, the Government and locals to turn Battle into an event that everybody wants. We had fantastic heydays in the 90s and early 2000s, but we have seen a decline since then.
“The number of floats in the parades last week was low. Back in 2002 [the centenary Battle], we had all 12 parishes in the parade, but that hasn’t been repeated and we lost a couple more this year.
“It takes a lot of commitment to create a Battle of Flowers’ float. Is there a way of doing it without as much commitment when people’s time is less?
“The event as a whole has to take that into consideration. How do we make it something that locals want to attend?”
Nic added: “This year, we definitely saw a difference between the Day and Moonlight parades, not just in terms of the attendance but also the buzz, liveliness and the atmosphere. How do we maintain the essence of that and make sure we are producing an event that a paying public want to see?
“That said, should it be a free parade and, if it is, how do we finance that? There are examples around the world where it has been achieved with great success. Other carnivals have also changed their formats to great success, and we should be no different.”
Pictured: The Optimists' Club need a new lead sponsor to continue with its senior float. (Alex Cordiner)
Nic recognises that a significant number of people support Battle and its role in bringing communities together is very real, but not always appreciated outside the sheds and marquees, which become a hive of activity as the parades draw near.
One pressing matter for the Optimists is finding a lead sponsor – who can provide some or all of the £7,500 of extra money that the club has to find to build a spectacular senior float, which this year it had to find itself.
Nic said: “Up to 2019, we were very fortunate to have a lead sponsor in the Insurance Corporation of the Channel Islands. They were fantastic and we would not have had the success we did without them. They took a lot of the financial insecurities away so we didn’t need to do any extra fundraising and could focus our efforts on the float.
“We need to make Battle more appealing to corporate sponsors because we need their money to continue to do what we are doing now. If we don’t find a sponsor, we won’t be able to enter a senior float, and it is very difficult to come back once you have had a break.
“Sponsoring Battle goes to the heart of supporting the Jersey community and we would certainly welcome the involvement of any sponsor in creating our floats.”
Nic said that the next Battle Board had an opportunity to try new things – perhaps moving the parades to a weekend or revisiting suggestions in the 2015 report.
“Discussions need to be held at the right level involving people with the right experience,” he said. “When it comes to the report, perhaps, not enough in it was actioned.
“Battle has a long history and a lot of tradition but sometimes change is required. There has been a lot of discussion about whether Thursday at 2 pm is the best day and time. Since the report, further things have changed but we can’t waste another year by commissioning another report. The time to act is now.
“Am I optimistic? Absolutely. There is a huge amount of a passion but the time is now – it is adapt or face the consequences.”
Deputy Morel was one of several politicians who worked on a float this year and appeared in the Day Parade, sporting a Paul Hollywood mask. The former St. Lawrence Deputy, who now also represents St. John and Trinity, returned to his home parish’s association to help flower its ‘Battle of Flours’ entry.
Against this backdrop, it is perhaps unsurprising that he is supportive of the event.
Pictured: Deputy Morel on the St. Lawrence float, masquerading as celebrity baker Paul Hollywood. (Alex Cordiner)
“Battle shows itself time and again to be a really important community event,” he said. “In supporting St. Lawrence, I saw 10-year-olds working alongside 80-year-olds in a wonderful show of togetherness and common purpose. I don’t think you get that anywhere else.
“For me, Battle is so important to the community and it is really important that it has a future in Jersey.”
He added: “It was always going to be difficult to get up and running again after covid. There were empty seats in the Day Parade and not too much activity between floats, although I understand that it really picked up at the Moonlight Parade, which unfortunately I couldn’t make.
“For me, it is the relevance of Battle is the important bit. It is not for me, as someone in their 40s, to stay how it should change but it does need to stay with the times.
“Funding is important, as is access to resources to help, including people. That is where Government can support Battle.”
Deputy Morel said he would be seeking an early discussion with the Battle Board to chart a way forward.
“Government stands ready to help Battle to change; it is not for me or Government to tell Battle how to change but to support it.
The Board, led by Margaret Fitzgerald, has done an amazing job but whenever there is change, there is an opportunity to look at things with fresh eyes.
“I would argue that is an important heritage and cultural event so there maybe scope to reach into other sources of Government funding as it falls within the 1% arts and heritage funding commitment. We also need to look at the wider issue of volunteering and how society as a whole prioritises its time.
“I want to help and make sure Battle has a long-term future.”
In 2015, the Government commissioned events’ organiser Sara Felton to make some recommendations on how Battle might be modernised and made more commercial.
In words that have been echoed this year, the report said that saving the Battle was “much more deep-rooted than simply applying a few tweaks to the current parade”.
Ms Felton warned: “While float production costs continue to escalate, there is a danger that the quality and number of exhibitors participating will also continue to fall; which will ultimately lead to a continued decline in the quality of the event.
Pictured: The Battle returned in 2022 after a two-year break forced by covid. (Alex Cordiner)
She added: “This is fundamentally a community event that provides an enhancement to a visitor’s experience on island, rather than a specific motivation to visit.
“The vast majority of internationally well-known events began as those produced by their community for their community, the most successful of which have gone on to become world famous; this was once the case for the Battle of Flowers.
“In order to regain the reputation the event once had, it first needs to re-ingratiate itself into the island’s community.”
Her findings included:
installing an executive director who doesn’t have immediate links with the Battle of Flowers, but has an overview and understanding of its cultural significance within the island and can challenge decisions being made by the current board, is highly recommended and long overdue.
serious consideration should be given to the possibility of imposing conditions on grant allocation: e.g. funds being paid directly to the parish Constables in order to regain the full participation of all 12 parishes in the event, thereby adding to the wider community’s involvement.
a full cost-benefit analysis should also be considered, in order to determine whether the investment made by government yields what is considered by all to be an agreeable return. While this event remains one that has significant cultural heritage locally, it no longer has the same profile that it once had in regards to the tourism industry. Further illustrating this is a community, not tourism event.
Other suggestions made to the author included re-routing the parade through the centre of St. Helier, holding it earlier in the summer, separating the Event Director from the main Battle board, and staging a ticketed static display in the People’s Park.
But the report concluded: “While there are a great number of additional practical recommendations that could be made to modernise the event, there are many fundamental things that need to be considered before these could be possible, including: the categorisation of the event; the source and allocation of grant funding, sponsorship gained; and of course, physical resources and expertise.”
Back in 2015, Ms Felton felt there was “apparent institutionalised resistance to change at the highest level, which is ultimately restricting the opportunity for growth. This, alongside working towards mainly trying to satisfy those who have always historically attended the event, is further limiting the opportunities for change.”
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the report did not go down well in some quarters and its findings were not fully embraced.
Seven years and a pandemic later, with Battle facing similar challenges, it does appear that everyone is now united in believing that change is needed – and needed soon – to ensure the long-term future of Jersey’s longstanding and much-cherished carnival.
Battle Cries I: Why change is needed for the parade to bloom again
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