JERSEY’S major celebrations of the Island’s special constitutional status got off to an enthusiastic start at St Catherine over the weekend.

More than 250 Islanders turned out to plant 800 trees over five publicly-owned fields to create La Bouaไs’sie du Duc – Duke’s wood in Jèrriais – as a living legacy of their pride in the special place in which they live.This year marks the 800th anniversary of the Channel Islands swearing allegiance to the Crown and the planting was the first event in the year-long celebrations.

The chairman of the 1204-2004 committee, Nigel Quérée, put his back into the project, working in all four sessions on Saturday and Sunday.’This has been a fantastic start to the 2004 celebrations and we can now look forward to every event being just as successful,’ he said.

‘I thought it would be successful from the reaction of people to the appeal to buy the trees but it’s been everything we could have hoped for.’