Pride of Guernsey: 'Everything you want a kiosk to be'

SAVE L’Ancresse sea wall campaigner Kay Smyth’s cheerful attitude has led the kiosk at the bay’s eastern end to be nominated for the Cimandis-sponsored Welcome of the Year Award.

Their nominator wrote how well the kiosk greets tourists and islanders who visit regularly.

‘Thank goodness for an authentic Guernsey kiosk with a hint of the nostalgic – windbreaks to rent, buckets and spades to buy – and loos that are so loved that the ladies’ features a vase of flowers.

‘It’s not just tourists who return year in, year out: Kay Smyth greets her multitude of regulars by name and offers anything from sandwiches and tea – in a proper pot – to crab salads and home-made cake.

‘Visitors love it, locals use it as a summer meeting place, sandy-footed kids potter up from the beach for lollies. In short, it’s everything you want a kiosk to be, thanks to Kay and her cheerful team.’

Ms Smyth’s passion for L’Ancresse beach has shone through recently with the petition she set up with her partner Eddie Percy to protest against the Committee for Environment & Infrastructure’s plan to pull down a 200m section of the wartime anti-tank wall which now acts as a sea defence.

She is encouraging people to show support by putting a donation in the RNLI box at the kiosk in exchange for a ribbon to tie to the safety fence next to the damaged section of wall.