Channel Islands
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The Channel Islands are a group of islands off the northern coast of France. They belonged to the Dukes of Normandy, and when Duke William conquered England, it meant that these islands became connected with the English crown. This connection has continued ever since. The islands have no collective governance - each one is self-governing. The largest is Jersey, then Guernsey, Alderney and Sark. There are also a number of tiny inhabited islands. Jersey and Guernsey are open to the Faith. Violet McKinley and Evelyn Baxter were two of the Knights of Bahá’u’lláh to the islands. The islands spoke French dialects until recently, but especially since World War II, English has almost completely replaced the local dialects.
The Channel Islands constitute a cluster under current teaching plans, but there are not enough Bahá'ís there at present to have established a Programme of Growth. Although not administratively part of the United Kingdom, they fall, for Bahá'í purposes, under the National Spiritual Assembly of the United Kingdom. For some years, there was a Local Spiritual Assembly covering the whole island of Jersey, and another for the island of Guernsey, but at present there are not enough Bahá'ís in any one place to form an Assembly. It seems likely that henceforth, any Local Spiritual Assemblies which form would be for local government areas, such as the parishes in Guernsey, and no longer for the whole island.
