Jersey Children's Day marked with outdoor events

Large-scale events for Jersey Children's Day have taken place today (Sunday 3 July).

Open-air celebrations were held at Millbrook in St Lawrence and St Helier's Howard Davis Park.

As well as food and entertainment, there were also representatives from local organisations with a focus on how to improve the lives of children and young people and keep them safe.

The idea for Jersey Children's Day followed recommendations made by a Citizen's Panel which was set up in the wake of the Independent Jersey Care Inquiry.Local campaigner Cheyenne O'Connor was delighted to see the first public events to mark the day finally take place.

"The amount of people that have showed up today just shows how many people want to be involved in putting our children first and making sure they've got a good future ahead of them.

"We need to make sure children are happy and having a good time. The children of today will hopefully never experience what the children of 40 years, 20 years ago experienced. We've just got to make sure we've got them at the forefront of our mind and that we're putting them first with everything."

This is the third Jersey Children' Day to take place, with events to mark the day in the previous two years being scaled back due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Jersey Heritage is giving free entry to their sites to anyone aged under 18 to mark the day.