Picnics are not unique to Jersey, of course, but they have been a major part of the island's social life for at least 150 years, and still remain so today. Most family photograph albums contain pictures of family groups enjoying a day at the seaside, complete with al fresco meal. Venues for picnics have not been exclusively coastal, but an outing to the beach in a farming family's potato van (suitably cleaned for the occasion) was very much part of the rural way of life in the late 19th and early 20th century.
The arrival of the motor car gave affluent families who were not part of the farming community the opportunity to travel around the island. Although there were certainly families in an earlier age who had their own horse and trap, it was a means of transport which required more space and greater facilities than the motorised vehicles which replaced them. Others would have had to settle for hiring the carriage for their outing, perhaps together with friends and neighbours or as part of an outing for an organised group or business.
The really affluent had their own beach huts, which in pre-Second World War years began to proliferate at St Ouen's Bay, Ouaisne and Grouville, but all of these disappeared during or after the Occupation as more controls began to be exercised over buildings in prime coastal locations.
Seaside picnics
All such activities came to a standstill during the Occupation, but one way or another, most islanders would be part of a group for whom a drive through the countryside, culminating in a picnic at the seaside, was one of the highlights of their year during the 1930s and again after the War.
The train services from St Helier to St Aubin and La Corbière and to Gorey, followed by island-wide bus services, had made it easier and more affordable to organise picnic outings, and as car ownership became more widespread in the 1920s and 1930s, far from being an annual treat, the family picnic became a regular occurrence during the summer months. Jersey families prided themselves in knowing just the right spot to find a parking space and a stretch of coastline sheltered from whichever direction the wind was blowing, and inaccessible to holidaymakers dependent on public transport.
Among the most popular locations for a picnic outing were the large beaches of St Ouen's, St Aubin's and Grouville Bays, but others looked for the challenge of a climb down to Portelet, Beauport, Plemont and other less accessible beaches; visits to the caves at Plemont and Greve de Lecq; or low-water fishing among the rock pools of the east coast.
Our gallery of pictures also includes images of seaside chalets, which proliferated during the years between the two world wars, so that by the time the Germans occupied the island in 1940, dozens could be found along the Royal Bay of Grouville in the east, at Ouaisne on the south coast, and along the length of St Ouen's Bay in the west. The Germans removed virtually all of them as they built seawalls and defences along the coast, and stricter planning conditions in the years after the war meant that few could be rebuilt.
Gallery
1919.jpg)
A Pellow's Britannia outing identified from the card back as 1869
Another Britannia outing. The number on the back of the card suggests that this was also taken in 1869
A 1930s beach scene
A choir picnic at Plemont in 1921. Probably from one of the Methodist churches
An outing for the Renouf family of St Martin in 1922
A Le Bas family picnic in the 1920s
A picnic at St Ouen in the 1960s
A family outing in the 1900s
An outing by horse and cart
A stop at a hostellerie for an 1875 picnic outing
Only the richest Victorian families could afford their own horse and carriage
A family outing in 1910
A large group with a hired charabanc for a 1920s picnic outing
The Foot family enjoy a picnic in Grouville
1927 family picnic
A seaside outing
A group pauses for a photograph at La Corbiere
Children on the beach in Edwardian times
1906 picnic photographed by Francis de Faye
An unknown 'Auntie Dorothy' relaxes on an unidentified Jersey slipway
1906 beach outing
1905 clifftop outing
Weekend parties at seaside chalets were popular in the 1920s and 30s but all the chalets have now been demolished
Picnic at the Hermitage
Picnic at Corbiere in 1910
A 1923 picnic on the beach
A family picnic at La Corbiere
A family picnic at La Corbiere
A family picnic at La Corbiere
A family picnic for Le Sueurs and Picots
Members of the Le Sueur and Picot families on an outing
On the beach at St Catherine in 1937
Members of the Renouf family in the sea in the Royal Bay of Grouville
A beach chalet in 1923
A beach hut in the 1920s
Beach huts in the 1930s
St Ouen's Bay, 1937
Mayo family picnic
Mayo family at Bouley Bay in 1906
On the beach in 1905
A Lawford family picnic in the 1890s
Members of the Gottrel, Le Saux and Battam families on the beach in 1948
A 1926 picnic for Telephones Department staff
A family picnic captured on an early colour cine film
A family beach picnic
Sunday school outings in horse-drawn carriages and later on the back of farmers' lorries were a Jersey tradition which often ended in a picnic
Sunday school outing
A large group poses for a photograph on the beach in 1910 - who and where are not known
A 1960s picnic/camp in the north of St Ouen's Bay
An alfresco lunch with a glass of beer for three ladies at Mont Orgueil Castle in the 1920s
A group portrait on the rocks, somewhere on the north coast
