Guernsey’s past is shaped by movement: ships, aircraft, newspapers, and people all connect the island to much larger worlds. This week’s stories move from the tragedy of wartime attack to the energy of trade, transport, and public life. Some entries mark disruption and loss, while others show how islanders adapted, built, and kept going. Taken together, they offer a compact view of a community repeatedly tested by events beyond its shores.
Born in Forest in 1802, William Le Lacheur turned a seafaring background into a commercial empire that reshaped Costa Rica’s economy. He captained vessels and founded Le Lacheur & Co, building a fleet and importing coffee to Britain in exchange for silver coin that flowed back to Central America as capital and trade goods.
Beyond commerce, Le Lacheur promoted his Protestant beliefs, carrying and selling Bibles in Costa Rica at cost; his life combined maritime entrepreneurship with religious conviction. He died in London in 1863 and is buried in Highgate Cemetery.
On 28 June 2015 Aurigny’s famous red‑nosed Trislander G‑JOEY made its final scheduled trip, ending nearly four decades of island service. The quirky little aircraft — painted for Comic Relief in 1988 and later adorned with a smiling face — linked the islands and the mainland, performing thousands of short, essential hops. Retired because of rising operating costs, Joey was kept locally as the centrepiece of a small attraction, marking the end of an era in inter‑island aviation.
On the evening of 28 June 1940, Luftwaffe aircraft attacked St Peter Port, strafing harbour traffic and bombing for nearly an hour in advance of the occupation. The raid killed and injured dozens, struck produce convoys and even fired on the lifeboat while it carried out rescues, and it collapsed any remaining illusion that evacuation was unnecessary.
Contemporary accounts describe shock and dismay: the attack hastened the island’s experience of war and set the scene for the subsequent invasion and occupation.
First issued on 29 June 1813 in St Peter Port as the Guernsey Weekly Advertiser, The Star was the island’s earliest English‑language paper and would later merge with the Guernsey Evening Press to become the Guernsey Press and Star.
Over two centuries the title evolved through occupation, paper shortages and changing ownership, remaining a central civic institution and a daily source of local news for generations of islanders.
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