Mother and daughter create stamps celebrating Alderney French

Josie and Sally Pond are hoping to keep the language alive

A mother and daughter from Alderney have created eight stamps with Guernsey Post inspired by Alderney patois.

The island's French language is based on Norman French and is no longer spoken fluently in Alderney.

Author Royston Raymond worked with teacher Sally Pond for about eight years to compile a dictionary in Aoeur'gnaeux.

After his death, Mrs Pond has worked with her daughter to create stamps with illustrations and phrases in patois.

Each painting took three to four days to complete

The designs are inspired by the teachings of Mr Raymond, who called himself the "last rememberer" of the language and was determined to not let the language die out, Mrs Pond said.

He approached Mrs Pond when she was a French teacher about 11 years ago, and as a retired French teacher himself, asked if she would collaborate on a project to create an Aoeur'gnaeux dictionary for Alderney children.

While compiling the dictionary, Mr Raymond, who wrote stories in Alderney patois, worked with Mrs Pond to teach children the language in her school.

Their worked together until Mr Raymond died in 2019.

"When he passed away he left me his notebooks which I'm still working through," said Mrs Pond.

"I've only recently ... been able to pick them up again because it was too sad really - I could still hear his voice as I was working on them.

"I was contacted by Guernsey Post for some Alderney patois for some fruit and veg stamps, and then I said 'how about we do some stamps in the future with phrases in Alderney patois?'," Mrs Pond said.

Over a year, Mrs Pond worked with her illustrator daughter Josie to create the A4 acrylic designs.

Miss Pond said she included Easter eggs in the illustrations as a nod to Mr Raymond's passion for keeping the language alive.

Features include Braye Harbour, Platte Saline and the Marais pub

"Mum basically gave me the ideas and then I ran with it - I'm always inspired by Alderney," Miss Pond said.

It was Miss Pond's idea to feature her mum and Mr Royston on one of the stamps, discussing the dictionary.

"It brought a tear to my eye when I saw them," Mrs Pond said.

"I've known for 18 months that we were doing them but when they finally came out it was overwhelming. He would be extremely proud."

Mrs Pond is still working her way through Mr Raymond's notebooks.

She estimates the dictionary will reach 5,000 words when she completes it.

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