Having a blast on Guernsey's west coast

Lady Corder certainly made an impression during a visit to Ronez Limited with His Excellency.

As part of the Lieutenant-Governor's visit to Les Vardes quarry, Lady Corder pressed the button to blast more than 1,000 tonnes of rock from its base.  

The Lieutenant-Governor and Lady Corder were hosted at the site by Mr Steve Roussel, General Manager of Ronez and a Director of the company. Mr Roussel started the visit with a briefing on the company's history, product range and future plans, before driving the visitors down to the floor of the quarry 47m below sea level to see explosive charges being laid in the rock floor. Then it was time to retreat to safety at ground level, beside a WWII German bunker. A siren sounded its warning across Guernsey's west coast before Lady Corder detonated the blast remotely, using a wireless console, to send tons of rock into the air.

Commercial quarrying in the Channel Islands can be traced back as far back as 1651. The industry reached its peak in the 19th century, when paving stones and chippings were exported in bulk to mainland Britain.  Today, Ronez supplies the Channel Islands with aggregates, ready-mixed concrete, asphalt and precast concrete products.