“Dear Alderney Week Team

Thank you for a brilliant week.  I sent my husband off on the "Family Yacht", also known as the Floating Caravan, ahead of us to ensure our holiday accommodation was safely in place in Alderney Harbour.   

Myself, our son (12), daughter(10) and Ruby the labrador travelled to Southampton Airport to embark on the new experience of flying Aurigny. Having been to Alderney on several occasions a few years ago by yacht, travelling by plane was so speedy despite the slight delay due to the fog hovering over the island. We were looking forward to the various exciting events planned for the week and we were not disappointed.

We arrived late on the Saturday so retired to our boat. Hope the other occupants of the little yellow plane did not mind my dog's heavy breathing. Sunday was a day of watching as the little holiday Prince and Princess were chosen-all loving the Beach. Ruby loved the beach too (Saline of course), but I'm not sure dogs were invited to be a Holiday Princess. The evening found us all snuggled up on a rug on the Butes watching Mamma Mia - hilarious.

Monday being Cavalcade Day was great fun. We found a good spot at the top of Victoria Street to watch the amazing results of weeks of hard work as the colourful floats and walking groups poured down the street. Busy on the Butes with some fab fundraising ideas to borrow back home.

Tuesday we wandered a bit, happened to find Miss Alderney looking after her cow and her beautiful calf, then focused our energies on Canine Capers. Brilliant fun. Ruby and I joined in all the events, including the Agility which she came second in!! Not bad for an eight year old who has never done anything like that before. I must say the compere, Jaques with the French Poodle Mimi provided us with a catchline for the rest of the holiday.

Wednesday's daytime highlight was the Sandcastle competition with some amazing artistic talent being displayed on Braye Beach. We loved the turtle and the giant hand as well as the various landmarks from around the world. The  evening of course found us back on the Butes being entertained by you mad lot. Ronnie's "There's a hole in my Jetty" had us in tears. A copy of the lyrics would be great as we keep trying to sing it and not getting very far. Brilliantly topical and very very funny even for visitors like us.

Thursday although wet had the RNLI events. We had booked an early dinner at Harbour Lights for our daughter's 11th birthday so we could go on the Ghost Walk. Lots of scary moments, in the museum and a particularly over dramatic ghost in the graveyard.

“After watching the Daft Raft race on Friday morning we headed out of the Harbour to Guernsey to reminisce about a very entertaining fun filled week. Thank you so much for all of your hard work. We'll be back.”

3 September 2009 - The Edington Family, Ickenham, Middlesex  

“...The week went extremely well and all feedback received from both visitors and industry has been very positive. As the largest tourism event in the calendar, Alderney Week is the highlight of the year for so many...”

9 September 2009 - Joanna Parmentier, States of Alderney Marketing & PR Manager

“I write to thank you and all the members of your team and of course the very many helpers that you enlisted to produce and excellent Alderney Week.

I know that everyone who was on the island during the week enjoyed the many events that your team organised. The popularity of Alderney Week is such that the population of the island increases significantly during the week – which is a welcomed boost to our tourism industry.”

14 August 2009 - Sir Norman Browse, President of the States of Alderney