The Jersey National Park has taken on a six-year lease of The Frances Le Sueur Centre in St Ouen’s Bay, which they will use as an information, education and events centre from October 2019.
Situated along the Five Mile road at La Mielle de Morville, the building was originally opened in 1995 as an office for States rangers and as an educational facility for children to learn about the bay’s biodiversity. The centre will continue to be a prime focus for young people through environmental education and awareness.
The centre is named after Frances le Sueur, a naturalist and botanist who lived in the bay and campaigned throughout the 1960s and 70s to persuade the States to protect the area’s unique biodiversity, which even then was under threat from creeping residential development. The centre is constructed from reclaimed timber and is set back in a quiet, natural habitat which is home to many forms of plants and animals.
Mike Stentiford, MBE said:
“We are delighted that we now have a base for the first time since the Park was established in 2014 and it is fitting that it is located in what we consider to be ‘the heart of the Park’. The fact that the building is dedicated to a naturalist with such passion for the natural world makes it even more special.”
The centre will also become a key location for collaborating with other local groups and businesses by promoting current environmental issues such as climate change, healthy living, plastic reduction, electric cars and waste management etc.
Jim Hopley, Chairman commented: “Having the centre will enable us to welcome visitors and provide information on all other designated parts of our National Park plus its diversity of scenery, flora, fauna and wealth of historic and cultural heritage. It will also host a variety of environmentally social events which signifies a huge step forward for the future of the Park.”
The Park will ‘relaunch’ the centre to the public for the first time on 6 October 2019, when the Jersey National Park and the National Trust for Jersey join forces to host a celebration marking the 10-year anniversary of the ‘Line in the Sand’. This demonstration was part of the National Trust for Jersey Coastline Campaign which became the trigger point for establishing the Jersey National Park.
