Memorial benches refurbished by La Moye prisoners

Wednesday, 26 March 2025 12:22

The memorial bench for Anne Pryke's husband, Roger, at Rozel Habour, has been taken care of and had the plaque replaced.

Ports of Jersey has teamed up with prison educators at La Moye to care for the 160 benches around Jersey's harbours.

90% of the benches around the harbour feature plaques and memorials.

At no cost to family members and friends, the benches will be cared for and kept smart by Ports of Jersey and La Moye, honouring the memories of those commemorated.

Anne Pryke is pleased with the refurbishment of a bench placed at Rozel Harbour in memory of her husband, Roger.

She has thanked the prisoners for their work:

“Thank you so much for sorting out the bench. It is amazing and such a great asset.

"I'm so very pleased and to have the plaque replaced too. It's such wonderful service."

A refurbished bench in St Catherine's.

Historic Harbours Manager, Mark Byrne, said this is a great partnership for Ports, La Moye, and families:

“We routinely maintain the benches on our historic harbour estate, but it takes a week to ten days to refurbish each bench, which is slower than we would like.

"We approached the prison service to see if this project would interest them as part of their rehabilitation work with prisoners."

Mark manages the logistics of the project, buying supplies for the prisoners to use and transporting the benches to and from the prison.

At the prison, the team fixes the legs, cleans the stainless steel, paints any cast iron sections in Oxford Blue to reflect their marine setting, and polishes the memorial plaques.

The prisoners are paid for their work, and Ports of Jersey has donated two orbital sanders so more people can take part in the project.

The project will refurbish 80-100 benches and will cost £7,500 for materials and prisoners’ time.

The project will be assessed and, if deemed a success, could be extended into a rolling programme of work with the prison service.

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