Réception à Longwood House : soutien local à la campagne de restauration de Longwood House

Hier soir, le 2 novembre, avec le soutien du “support group” à la restauration de Longwood (National Trust – Tourism office et Gouvernement de Sainte-Hélène), nous avons organisé à Longwood une « cheese & wine party » afin de promouvoir localement notre souscription.

gâteau confectionné localement à l’occasion de l’opération “Sauvons Longwood House”

Cent trente personnes sont venus nous soutenir. Cette soirée était entièrement financée par la compagnie de télécommunication locale, Cable & Wireless plc et par l’Office du Tourisme de l’île.

Les participations individuelles de £5 ont été intégralement versées dans le fonds commun qui sera très prochainement transféré à la Fondation Napoléon par l’Office du Tourisme et le National Trust. Le succès de cette soirée confirme, si besoin en était, le soutien des autorités et de la population locale.

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Voici mon petit discours (en grande partie dicté par la Fondation Napoléon) :

Your Excellency, Ladies and Gentlemen,

1 - With their donations both large and small, nearly 1,200 companies and private individuals have to date contributed to the campaign to save this. Today we have reached 985 000 Euros.

Therefore, we can say that our fundraising appeal has reached its first goal, set at 700,000 €, to fund the restoration of the Generals' Wing. This has been added to the 700,000 € set aside by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Work is scheduled to begin as soon my Ministry sends me the “formal” authorization to do so.

2 – Thanks to the generosity of one and all, we even are now in a position to continue our work and proceed with restoring the interiors and furniture of the emperor's apartments. For this, a further 200,000 € is required, which - once added to the sum already raised by the appeal - will allow us to:

- restore the drapes, carpets, and tapestries in the bedroom, the bathroom, and the salon at Longwood (the latter was the room in which the emperor died).

- repatriate to France one-hundred or so original items of furniture from Longwood to allow specialists to restore them. Once this work is complete, they will be placed on public display in a specially-organized exhibition, before being transported back to St Helena.

If we are successful in this new goal, we shall all have contributed to the most extensive restoration project undertaken since the 1860s, an achievement most worthy of national recognition.

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On a more personal note I would like to say again how touched I am to see you all here tonight to support this venture.

Thank you for Cable & Wireless which help to finance this event

Thank you to the SHG (specially the Tourism Office, the Police & the Finance departments), Dfid, FCO (Foreign and Commonwealth Office), the National Trust for their continuous support for the initiative not only to protect the memoirs of the Napoleonic history on the island but also to transform the French Properties into an recognized heritage.

To conclude this presentation, I have to underline here the importance of my team, employees of the French Properties: It is them who gave me the license to go for this venture by releasing me from the every day’s worries of the maintenance of the properties. Yes this is the flexibility, adaptability and hard work of Diana, Byron, George, Adrian, Bradley, Arthur and Anthony we all should tonight be grateful to. No you will not find them among the guests ... tonight; once again, they are our hosts.