A crowd gathered near the end of L’Eperquerie last week to mark the completion of the restoration work on the Butts tower and remember the life of Dennis Hurden. The restoration work was organised by La Société Sercquaise and led by council member Jeremy La Trobe-Bateman and was partly paid for by a bequest from the Hurden family. Various other benefactors donated the rest of the money to cover the cost of the stonework and pointing and Phil Godwin provided the scaffolding free of charge. Dennis’s son Antony was at the celebration that also included the fixing of a sundial topograph near the tower in memory of his father. As well as indicating the other Channel Islands the topograph also points out the direction of places that were special to Dennis such as New Orleans, St Michael’s Mount and Mont St Michel. Peter Gabriel Byrne provided music with his guitar and Helen Plummer baked a cake for the occasion in the shape of the tower itself. Her partner Dick Wilson not only did the pointing on the tower but also on the cake that was much enjoyed by all with a glass of champagne.

Pictures by Sue Daly L – R The newly restored tower, Enjoying the music, Helen’s cake, The sundial topograph