St Clement miss out on Battle Crown due to lateness

The Jersey Battle of Flowers is more than just a parade of floats and dancers, it is also a highly competitive event with designers and builders working to claim the top prize, the Prix d’Honneur.

It is Jersey’s largest tourism event in the busiest week of the year with more than 13,000 people lining Victoria Avenue to watch the main day parade.

Every year two float builders compete for that top prize, the St Helier based Optimists Club and the parish of St Clement. Optimists have won the grand prize for the past four years and in 2016 they became the first team to win it for a fifth year in a row.

It was very close though. There were just four points between winners Optimists Club with their Ghost Ship float and second place St Clement who created a Wild West theme.

With a competition that close literally every point counts, so it must have been a shock when the St Clement team were told they’d been docked points due to being late into the arena.

St Clement float designer Marcus Davies said they lost points for being three minutes late and more points for using a little too much dried grass.

Mr Davies went on to say while they were upset when they heard they have moved on and are pleased with the awards they did win.

He said: “Three minutes to lose ten points and then to lose the major award isn’t very fair, it leaves a sour taste in your mouth.”

He explained that a new rules came in this year where all floats had to be in the arena by a certain time.

“Being so close was gutting and to make it even worse we were having a team dinner after the event and had a telephone call from the chairman to confirm we had been deducted 15 points for being late to the park and for overstepping our percentage of dried grasses on the float,” Mr Davies told BBC Radio Jersey.

Ten of the points were from arriving in the park at Millbrook three minutes late.

He said: “This year they brought in a new rule that all floats had to be at the park by 9:30 which was fine.

“We made provision to get there from the Royal Jersey Showground but the Honorary Police were 40 minutes late and so we lost valuable time there.

“We rang ahead to say we were going to be late and got there as quickly as we could but in the end we were three minutes late and lost 10 points.”

The Olympics, Carnival and the Toy Story films were among the inspiration for the dozens of floats at the event.

The 26 floats, made with a mixture of real and paper flowers, came in a variety of sizes from large parish-built affairs to small family efforts.

Steve Bouchard from the Optimists Club said: “Nobody has ever won it five years in a row so it is something we can be proud of.

“We are putting a few ideas together for next year and we are planning something special.”

Photos and Video Clips filmed by me Copyright BBC.