From Mary Upton, tapestry co-ordinator, Parish of St Brelade.
I WRITE on behalf of the ladies who dedicatedly worked on the Occupation Tapestry.

Imagine 228 workers diligently working a total of 30,000 hours, unpaid. Hard to believe these days but it did happen in the case of the creation of the Occupation Tapestry when that number of ladies in the Island worked at least 7.5 million stitches in the creation of the 12 wonderful historical tapestries.

This icon regarding life in Jersey under Occupation is at present displayed at the Maritime Museum in the Tapestry Gallery but, according to the news, it is under threat of being pulled down and stored away for posterity and forgotten.

Initially, these historical panels were assigned to the Heritage Trust for safekeeping and for them to be displayed for the people of Jersey and for visitors to the Island, so it is with considerable disappointment to the dedicated ladies who did so much hard work to have their dedication and skills treated in this manner.

When I contacted members of the St Brelade team they all voiced their opinions with dismay and disbelief at the proposed action and have reiterated a quotation from the tapestry video: ‘People will come for tens and hundreds of years to admire the tapestry and get a feeling for what actually happened.’

Please, everybody, don’t allow this wonderful creation to be stored away and forgotten.