11th May 1949
A liberation celebration ended in disaster
Celebration turned to tragedy at Vazon on 11 May 1949.
Twenty-year-old David Bougourd, who was secretary of the Guernsey Motor Cycle and Car Club was killed when racing there. The race had been put on to celebrate the Guernsey’s liberation four years earlier.
The Birmingham Daily Gazette described Bougard as one of Guernsey’s leading motorists.
Its report on the tragedy, published the following day, put him in an MG Midget, which turned over during a 10-lap handicap race. He was taken to hospital but died two hours later.
Island-wide commemoration
The race was part of a larger celebration taking place all over the island. It included a cavalcade on the east coast. Guernsey continues to hold a cavalcade as part of its annual liberation commemoration.
According to the Northern Daily Mail, which made no mention of the death,
Guernsey … celebrated Liberation Day with services of thanksgiving, motor cycle and car racing on the sands, road, athletic and cycling events, a fancy dress cavalcade, and an evening water carnival and fireworks display.
Sand racing at Vazon
Sand racing still takes place on Guernsey, often at Vazon, under the auspices of the Guernsey Motor Cycle and Car Club of which Bougard was secretary.
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Other events that occured in May
Guernsey declared a State of Emergency
- The most severe water shortage since records began called for drastic measures.
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Elizabeth College is founded in St Peter Port
- The school got going very slowly, and for almost 200 years had fewer pupils than staff.
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Guernsey deportee, nurse Gladys Skillett was born
- Gladys Skillett was the first deportee to give birth in a German internment camp.
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British papers reported Dame of Sark’s deportation
- News that the Dame of Sark had been deported to a German concentration camp turned out to be false.
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