Advent Journey’s End

My final advent poem looks at the conclusion of a journey, an old story, and yet a story re-enacted in part by all displaced peoples, whether by reason of war or conquest or for political ends.

Advent Journey’s End

When will a journey reach an end?
The departure, forced by the state
An unmarried mother, with a friend
And the hour is already far too late

Dusty roads, so many come and tread
Displaced people, leaving behind home
What of the future: a sense of dread
As onwards, on the move they roam

Arrival: it is packed like a shanty town
Knock on doors, so weary and no bed
Along narrow streets, along and down
Where can the mother lay her head?

This is a lesson all about her survival
A stable found for the child’s arrival

The Legend of the Plank

Two commentaries on "The Legend of the Plank", one by Philip Ahier, followed by a second by myself which looks at the possible purpose of the story as a form of propaganda.

The Legend of the Plank
By Philip Ahier

This is one of the oldest traditions which has been handed down through the centuries.

We first meet it in Jean Poingdestre's "Caesarea" (1682, p. 75) in which he scouts the whole idea of Jersey's ever having been linked to the Continent:—

"Neither will I mention another yet more fabulous tale of the conjunction of Jersey to Normandy by a Plank or by a Bridge, which never was, unless it was before the Flood."

Then came Plees, in his "Account of Jersey," (1817, pp. 8-10), who wrote:—

"There is a legendary tradition that this Island was once so contiguous to France that persons passed over on a plank or bridge, paying a small toll to the Abbey of Coutances . . . it must have been at a remote period, as no historical account whatever records or alludes to it."

The story of the fiction was further elaborated in 1829 by M. l'Abbe Manet of St. Malo, who, in a work entitled "De l'Etat Ancien et l'Etat Actuel de la Baie du Mont St. Michel et de Cancales," wrote:—

"There is a belief founded on the most trustworthy authorities that long before the ocean encroached upon the Coast of France in the month of March, 701, Jersey, Guernsey and all the Islands of the Norman Archipelago were part of the Continent.

"There is even a tradition in Jersey—a tradition corroborated by a very old MS. (which we have read) that during the lifetime of St. Lo, who died on the 21st of September, 565, Jersey was separated only from its ecclesiastical diocese of Coutances by a small stream over which the inhabitants were bound to provide a plank for the Archdeacon of the Mother Church whenever he paid the Islanders a visit.

"But even though History remains silent on this point, the overwhelming belt of rocks which surround this Island and the others and which shelve more or less gradually towards the coast of France, would suffice alone to prove what we have put forward, for it is a fact, which can be verified every day by taking soundings, that if the whole of the English Channel were to become entirely dried up from Calais to Havre, only the abatement of the waters would leave equally dry the area between Batz and Ushant in such a way that the Archipelago would revert to what it was in the beginning—an integral part of Lower Normandy." (De La Croix in his "History of Jersey," Vol. 1, p. 4).

"To round off the argument which we have adduced, it is but necessary to glance at the English map of the Channel, published in 1794 by Thomas Geffereys, and better still, that of Mons. Buache, shewing the base of the Canal, inserted in the Journal of the Academy of Science, 1752."

It will be seen that the learned Abbot does not give the source and date of the very old MS. which he had had the privilege of reading. According to this ecclesiastic, the date of this cataclysm occurred in A.D. 701. It will be subsequently seen that various dates from A.D. 701-709 are given.

In 1834, William Inglis wrote his "Channel Islands", (Vol. 1, p. 77), and on the subject of the Plank, said:—

"There are traditions, not only that the chain of rocks formed, in remote times, a part of the Island, but that it was connected by a bridge with France.

"That the former may have some foundation is probable . . but that Jersey ever approached at any period, the shores of the Continent, is an assertion too ridiculous to merit examination. Marvels are always popular, and the people of Jersey are not less credulous than their neighbours."(!)

Both Inglis and Plees, who had probably not read Manet's treatise, were severely criticised by De La Croix for doubting the Legend of the Plank.

In 1835, the Rev. Edward Durell, in his Annotations to Falle's "History of Jersey," refers several times to the inundation or catastrophe:—

"Tradition and the local appearance of Elizabeth Castle confirm the supposition that all betwixt the Castle and the Town was once dry land," but he added, "at what period that precisely happened, it is now impossible to ascertain." (p. 289).

However, on turning to page 377, Mr. Durell makes a reference to M. l'Abbe Manet's hypothesis:—

"According to M. Manet, the great inundation of the sea which formed the Bay of St. Michel in France, happened in 708, long after the arrival of St. Magloire, and the death of St. Helier . . . But, . . . though the fact of those inroads of the sea is unquestionable, the date which we can reason from probabilities, must ever remain uncertain." (loc. cit. p. 377).

Then, when describing The Hermitage on page 433, Durell gave the date of the inundation as A.D. 704.

The next author to tackle the Legend of the Plank was Jean Patriarche Ahier in 1852, in his "Tableaux Historiques de Jersey." He was much influenced by M. l'Abbe Manet's hypothesis:—

"This tradition seems to me to have a sufficiently historical genuineness to mention it in a serious work. I refer to the Plank from which the Bishop or the Archdeacon of Coutances walked from France to Jersey previous to 709. Notwithstanding the fact that the story is similarly reported in Jersey and on the Continent, there is not agreement as to the site where the bridge stood. In Jersey, it is believed that it stood on the East coast at Rozel, at St. Catherine's, or at Mont Orgueil; but in the Cotentin the peasants maintain that it stood in the front of Regneville, at the bottom of the River Coutances.

"This tradition, by reason of its having been transmitted orally, has become distorted in time, but it seems to me easy to give its primitive character and to reconcile oral tradition with written ones." (loc. cit. p. 103).

Jean Patriarche Ahier did quote three authorities for his statements:—

(1) "The History of the Monks of St. Michel and of the Order of St. Benedict," where there is a reference to the right claimed by the Bishop of Coutances to use this bridge.

(2) Hermant, in his "Biography of the Bishops of Bayeux," speaks of the same bridge.

(3) Le Canu, in his "History of the Bishopric of Coutances," refers to the bridge. "There is an unshakeable tradition that Jersey was situated not far distant from the Continent by the length of a plank; this tradition is more widespread than the Diocese of Coutances." (also quoted by De La Croix "Jersey" Vol, 1. p. 5).

During the whole course of his "Tableaux Historiques," which he described as a "serious work," he only mentions three Legends, viz., The Plank, Caesar in Jersey, and La Hougue Bie, and with regard to the Legend of the Plank, he was compelled to admit that there was not agreement as to where the Plank (or Bridge) actually stood.

The next writer, who discussed at considerable length the "Legend of the Plank," and one who strongly argued in its favour, was De La Croix, in his "Jersey, ses Institutions, etc." (1858), (Vol. 1, p. 4.) He attacked Plees and Inglis. :—

"Si les auteurs ci-dessus avaient consulte de M. l'Abbe Manet, ils n'eussent assurement point ecrit d'une maniere aussi absolue et aussi tranchante sur un sujet qu'ils ne sent point donnes la peine d'approfondir. 

De La Croix gave a very graphic account of the cataclysm:—

"In 709 there occurred a violent invasion (encroachment) by the sea of the forest which bounded the area of the Diocese of Coutances.

"A south-westerly wind, which blew incessantly for three months with great violence, overturned the trees in the direction of the wind and gathered together the waters from the Ocean in such quantities from our coasts that the March tide-s overstepped their ordinary limits and overwhelmed a large stretch of country. "Nevertheless, it was only in 860, that all the forest was completely submerged and then the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, and Alderney found themselves further away from the Continent than hitherto." (loc. cit. Vol. 1, p. 4).

Mr. Joseph Sinel, in his monograph on "The Relative Ages of the Channel Islands", (B.S.J. Vol. VI, pp. 431-2), discusses the Legend of the Plank in two paragraphs:—

"This stream is supposed to have existed where there is now a depression of sea bottom, between the Bank known as "Les Boeufs" and the gently sloping shore of La Rocque at a distance of 9 miles from either shore as the land now stands.

"It was doubtless knowledge of the existence of this depression (it is 3 feet deep) which has given rise to the legend; an attempt to clothe old ideas in modern dress."

There is no doubt whatever that Jersey was at one time joined to the mainland of France, but the precise date when the separation took place is not definitely known; the matter comes within the purview of geology and pre-history rather than that of chronological history.

But whether a plank or bridge joined the Island to France is a moot point and until the original MS. referred to by M. l'Abbe Manet is unearthed, I prefer to suspend judgement thereon.

"In attempting to lift the veil between the historic and the prehistoric, a mass of conjecture, much of it of a controversial nature, is inevitable. There are many theories, one is that the Island was separated from France by a narrow stream spanned by a plank 2,000 years ago, and another that the inundation of the post-glacial forest of Scissy was cataclysmic in origin, the legendary lore of Brittany refers to the great upheaval of the 8th century, whilst others maintain that the process of land subsidence was gradual. Suffice it to say that where geological experts disagree, it is not within the province of the folklorist to arbitrate."

(J. Sinel, "Pre-historic Times and Men of the Channel Islands," p. 17)

The Legend of the Plank

By Tony Bellows

"They say," said Win, "that the space between the castle and the town was once a meadow. For that matter, they also say that the whole channel between here and France was once so narrow that the Bishop of Coutances used to cross to Jersey on a plank." ("The Spanish Chest" by Edna A. Brown)

The story of the plank first appears in Jean Poingdestre’s "Caesarea" of 1682, in which he mentions a "fabulous tale of the conjunction of Jersey to Normandy by a Plank or by a Bridge". This is elaborated by Plees in his 1817 "Account of Jersey" to mention that persons passing over the plank or bridge paid a toll "to the Abbey of Coutances"; Plees also notes that there is no historical records he can find for this.

The story has undergone variant forms since this, one in 1829 by l’Abbe Manet of St Malo in which the plank was laid down for the Archdeacon of Coutances when he visited. This is attributed to the lifetime of St Lo, around 500 AD, according to an old manuscript which Manet cites as having read, but singularly fails to mention where this could be found.

The evidence of geology is for the split from France taking place many years before historical times, yet there still persist people today who take this story, or its variants, as proof that the separation from France occurred in historical times, possible around 400 AD. But apart from this story, one has to ask what other evidence there is for such a theory. 

The cave at Belle Hougue is of singular importance for prehistoric times because it supplies evidence (in deer bones) which corroborates the geological record for Jersey being separated from France by a high sea level. One would expect similar evidence in support of this theory, and even better evidence in the form of historical documentation of some description, but none is forthcoming. There is no mention of churches or centres of population in the vast area presumed to have been swept away by the tides. The burden of proof must be on those who would overturn the geological record in favour of one story with poor documentation.

In fact, I see the treatment of the story here very much like that of the Creationists who take the book of Genesis as depicting literal historical events; there is an inability to understand what the story is really about.

The form of the plank story is clearly that of folklore rather than history. The story lacks any historical underpinning, and in its variant forms shifts forward and backwards quite easily, being set at the time of St Lo, around 500 AD, and at later times mentioned in connection with a catastrophic inundation around AD 700. The location of the plank is not mentioned on either side of the divide, but also shifts about. But the key to the story does exist, and it lies in one of the authorities mentioned by later writers - "The History of the Monks of Mont St Michael and of the Order of St Benedict", which contains a reference to a right by the Bishop of Coutance to use the plank or bridge.

Form criticism is the method of examining stories, in which we consider why a story was told in its original setting, and what purpose it had in the community in which it arose, and how the form developed. In stories like the plank, as with stories in which dragons feature, the story is told in a coded form akin to allegory. Symbols are representatives of something else, but this makes the story accessible to everyone, and so it is successfully communicated widely.

If we look at the legend of the plank from this context, we see that above all else it is an argument for the authority of the diocese of Coutance over the Jersey. It is saying that Coutance has religious authority and ties over Jersey, and the people of Jersey must pay respect to this authority. It is a story told when such authority might be a matter of dispute, when the Island might be becoming too independent in religious affairs, and it is set in the distant past precisely to give it the weight of authority; it says that this was the case in the distant past, before the present situation. This also explains the strange connection of the plank with the Bishop (or Archdeacon) of Coutances. Why else tell a story about the connection with France, and just mention a Bishop crossing?

Having said that, when do we date the story, and what communities do we place it in? The fact that one of the authorities ties back to Mont St Michel suggests that it is placed between 1000 AD and 1100 AD, when (according to Balleine) the continental Church was taking significant control over the Jersey Churches. If we place the writing of the Life of St Helier around this time, then we have two stories written to make differing claims.

The Life of Helier was clearly written to establish the independence of the Priory of St Helier from Coutances, while the Story of the Plank does the exact opposite. Notice how the Life of Helier talks of Helier as a hermit on an Island, which could only be reached by boats. The Plank says that this is untrue, around this time Jersey was almost part of France, an Island in name alone, and the Bishop used to visit regularly. It is the answer to the Life of Helier - the counter claim! The medieval map which once existed in Mont St Michel which showed an enlarged Jersey and a small channel between Jersey and France, is the geographical support for the same claim.

This was a time when the practice of forged documents purporting to have ancient provenance was rife. It must not be forgotten that with religious control came economic dues from the area under control, and so considerable wealth was involved; it was not just a religious matter, but one which also involved considerable financial gain!

Of course, the original context became lost in time, and like so many folk and fairy tales, it probably survived largely as an oral tradition, and was in time mistaken for history. People realised that Jersey was once part of France, but were not being able to date this scientifically; in this context, the story was retained as a "just so" story, and with the story of a great inundation around 700 AD, it changed its function.

There may well have been great inroads into the Jersey coast around 700 AD, but linked to the story of the plank, and with the need to separate Jersey geographically by the time of the Norman rulers, what was probably a purely local affair becomes a grand catastrophe, and a new ending to the story of the plank. Now it is Jersey’s own version of a Flood myth, or a Lost Continent (like the myth of Atlantis), where a vast tract of land is wiped out in a deluge, and is lost beneath the waves.

Postscript:

My piece was referenced in "Semantics of the Sea – Stories and Science along the Celtic Seaboard."
K. E. Kavanagh and M. R. Bates, School of Archaeology, History and Anthropology, University of Wales.

The part of the text referencing it is as follows:

Let us sail out from the British coast for a moment to the skirts of Jersey, where we can consider the Bishop of Coutances and his Plank. Whilst this story is a familiar one to Jersey islanders it is not so to other shores. In 1682 the historian Jean Poingdestre writes of a “fabulous tale of the conjunction of Jersey to Normandy” (Poingdestre, 1889) wherein the Bishop would cross back and forth by manner of a plank, or bridge. He maintains that the locals affirm the crossings to have occurred in the sixth century, which he queries. His queries are met with assertions explaining that until the eighth century the boundary was still shallow but a storm was caused by a priest in La Rocque profaning on hallowed soil, causing divine retribution in the form of a storm which swallowed the marshy plain beneath an engulfing sea. Variant forms of the alleged legend exist, setting it sometimes during a cataclysmic inundation in 700 AD and sometimes two hundred years earlier in the time of St Lo and some four hundred years later amongst the Monks of Mont St. Michel.  

The local historian Tony Bellows (Bellows, 2014) has taken a different slant to the interpretation, proposing the flood to be no more than a symbol of independence, the traversed plank to be a political allegory for Norman religious authority over Jersey.  Geologically we can be confident that the creation of a seaway between Jersey and France was created between 6500 and 7000 BP (Sturt et al., 2013) and despite the presence of significant stretches of terrain in the vicinity of the Ecrehous it would have been impossible to cross without sea-going craft from at least the Neolithic period thereby perhaps lending credence to Bellows hypothesis.

Advent Signs

Continuing my sequence of advent poems, this is the penultimate one.

Advent Signs

Stars align, shift, in the night sky
Balaam’s star in the winter night
Wisdom found in heavens high
For those that read signs aright

Jupiter and Regulus dance above
The sign is presenting of a king
Venus shining bestowing love
In Gloria, the heavens sing

Journey across the desert sand
Following the pattern drawn
Writ large as if by cosmic hand
Travel by night until each dawn

This is a lesson to seek on high
The coming glory to espy

1974 - 50 Years Ago - December Part 2

1974 - 50 Years Ago - December Part 2

16.-The problem of under-age drinking -has, led the licensing Bench to issue stern warnings to applicants for the liquor licences from January 1,. when. the new Licensing Law comes into operation.

17.-The Elfine Hotel, on Gorey Pier, which had, its licence revoked in June after complaints from neighbours of noise and disorderly behaviour, will be allowed to reopen its doors in the New Year.

18.-The 50p gallon of petrol has arrived in Jersey. Following yesterday's announcement by the UK' Government that wholesale prices could be raised, Island rates on all grades of petrol were increased by9p today-and further increases may well be in the offing.

19.-An application for an entertainments licence for the Demi des Pas Hotel, where the disco is run, was refused today. by the Licensing Assembly who said that the Premise's were not right far late-night entertainment

20.-In one of his last engagements befere retiring at the.end of the year, the Bailiff, Sir Robert Le Masurier, presented the Imperial Service Medal to the former States Offices telephonist, Mrs; Irene Devonia de la Cour.

21.-Police are investigating the death of a man found critically injured on the pavement at the rear of Sand Street multi-storey ear park shortly before L30 this morning. It appears that he may have fallen from the top.

23.-It seems unlikely that the illuminated Christmas cross- will appear on Fort Regent this year. The cross is obtained by /erecting  lights on the mast at the Signals Station, but high winds over the past few days have forced the men of the Harbour Works Department to postpone their plans.

24.-Proposals to allow 16-year-olds, to ride autocycles and farmers' sons to drive tractors on Jersey's roada are to be discussed in the near future by the States Defence Committee. There will also be talks about possibly extending the "life" of a driving licence  to three years. All 53 people, including two babies, on board a British Island Airways Dart Herald, miraculously escaped unhurt when the plane crash-landed at Jersey Airport at 7.20  p.m.

25.-Sandrine Riou was Jersey's only Christmas Day baby-weighing in at 7 lb. 13 ozs. Her mother, Mrs. Marie Riou. is the wife of a French farmworker. The couple have three other children.

26.-The Green Room Club pantomime, "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" opened at the. Opera House this afternoon.

28.-The Gas Company 'announced that the price of gas is to go up by an average of 51- per cent from April 1.

30.-The investigation into Jersey's Christmas Eve air crash' has been completed by the two inspectors from-. the UK Department of Trade's Accident Investigation Branch. They flew out of the Island this morning, leaving behind permission for the aircraft to be moved.

31.-Electricity charges are to go up by an average of 24 per cent from tomorrow.

Advent Fears

A look at Advent from the perspective of the strong tyrant... and indeed strong tyrants everywhere. That kind of ruler is always looking at potential threats, secure because they eliminate possible rivals, and never sleeping that easily in their bed, however much they enjoy the trappings of wealth.

Advent Fears

The mighty scorn the humble peasant
And tread the poor beneath their feet
They live in finest luxury so pleasant
And yet fear a shadow of defeat

The cold wind blows on the hillside
Whistles through the Palace ground
Baleful stars starring down one-eyed
A threat to the king now crowned

Prophecy speaks of a danger here
For another king is coming soon
The King is sleepless by his fear
Cold wind brings a mournful tune

This is a lesson to show the King
Fearing light as heavens sing.

1974 - 50 Years Ago - December Part 1

1974 - 50 Years Ago - December Part 1

2.-PAC to consider new States Committee on Energy. Housing Committe lift ban on pets on estates.

3.--Jersey is not affected by the bakery workers' strike on the mainland, and there is no question of there being any bread shortage in the Island.

4.-Heads of• Roman Catholic schools' on the Island were surprised to .hear that Education Committee president Senator Reg Jeune, had revealed the existence of a confidential working party looking. into States aid to private schools.

5.-The anti-terrorism Order in Council was formally registered in the Royal CoUrt this afternoon.

6.-Jersey is likely to introduce voluntary restrictions on lighting, heating and motoring in order to reduce .winter oil consumption. But no decisions will be taken until controls are imposed in the UK-probably next week.

7.-Capt. Francis Ahier, a Jurat of the Royal Court and former Merchant Navy Captain who saw service at sea during two world, wars, died at a local nursing home. He was 86.

9.-About .600 local teachers should be getting a £100 bonus in time for Christmas. The Burnham Committee decided at the end of last week to award a lump sum payment of £100 as an interim award, pending the full report and recommendations, later this month,' of the Houghton Committee on teachers' pay.

10.-The Barrett Plan is not to be updated by an outside adviser. The States decided this today by a substantial majority, after a: long debate, on Senator John Le Marquand's proposal.

12.-Senator Wilfred Krichetski died this morning when his car crashed into a lorry near the Airport. He was 58. •

13.-Hotel charges in Jersey will be up by an average of 30 per cent next year, and some establishments have reserved the right to put oiv a further increase of between five 'and 20 per cent from July 1.

15.-The funeral of Senator Wilfred Krichefski . took place at the Jewish Synagogue at Tabor, St. Brelade.

Advent Hopes

Advent Hopes

The darkest days come, the longest night
Yet on a clear night, the stars shine out
The planets adorn the heavens so bright
And their songs bring hope to doubt

Poor shepherds, on the hillside with sheep
Scraping a living, for their families at home
Beneath the stars, their silent vigil keep
Watchful eyes upon where sheep roam

Cold is the night, huddling by a warming fire
Telling tales of old, a famous shepherd boy
Lifting the spirits, hearing hope’s desire
And their words bring so near that joy

This is a lesson true to hold fast and wait
And find the path to be made straight

Traffic: The Big Snarl Up

Traffic: The Big Snarl Up
Jersey Topic 1965

Where are the multi-storey car parks
What steps are being taken to fight the traffic chaos
Will we have parking meters soon
Who is taking the problem seriously

A topical point: it is said of St. Helier that the only way to find a parking space is to be born on it. Anyone who has known the frustration of driving in.o St Helier and attempting to park a car—legally or illegally—will know how true this is. But what is being done ? `Statistically, the problem is so frightening that one look at the figures is enough to make you push them in a drawer, lock it and forget all about them.

But the facts are these: car ownership by 1980 on present trends will be about 27,600 cars —an increase of 46 % on today's figure. And take a look at these figures. In the fifteen years from. 1948 to 1963 the number of commercial vehicles has risen by 23 %, public transport vehicles by 46 % and private cars by 182 %.

Car ownership today is less than three people per car, equivalent to the density of the United States and compared to 11 persons per car in the United Kingdom. Clearly Jersey in general and St. Helier, a town designed for the horse and trap, in particular have a vast problem of traffic and car parking to cope with.

The writing was on the wall in 1962 when the Island Development Plan was presented to the States. This stated categorically: "The Town, as the centre of the economic and social life of the Island is the focal point of almost all traffic movement. Probably half of the total 20,000 vehicles are based within the Town and the remainder are drawn as to a magnet into its narrow crowded streets. Congestion is acute, especially in and around the central shopping area . . . within the next decade or less, conditions will become intolerable".

A report presented to the States on October 13th last year, prepared by a traffic expert, Mr. J. D. W. Jeffrey, T.D., M.I.C.E., M. Inst.H.E., said: "It is obvious that if the streets are to be cleared of parked vehicles more off-street parking is vital . . . a figure of at least 3,000 spaces should be the target".

These words seem to be lost on the States who, whenever traffic is debated, bury their heads in the sand and try to ignore the problem.

Parking in St. Helier is the problem of the Constable of St. Helier. He and his Town Hall staff have been doing a Canute every year fully realising that they would eventually be swamped by traffic chaos. At the moment St. Helier has sixteen wardens. This is to be increased to 20 with an additional six on temporary for the summer. They will be operating throughout the day, in the evening, and on Sundays. Their brief? To keep traffic flowing. They will be equipped with radio controlled jeeps which can keep in constant touch with the Town Hall to race to trouble spots.

TOPIC is full of admiration for these efforts in easing the problem. But these are only temporary measures and will eventually be ineffective against the rising tide of car popula-tion. There is only one answer to easing the traffic and parking problem and that is the provision of multi-storey car parks in carefully sited positions.

Car parking comes under the Defence Committee, led by Senator Ralph Vibert. And no one could be more concerned about the problem than he is. His Committee presented a report to the House in September last year, which said : "It is obvious that further car parking space is required near the centre of town. The Committee has been awaiting a decision of the States in respect of the tunnel but now considers that the need is so urgent that car parking plans should proceed irrespective of this decision."

The report recommended that multi-storey car parks should be built at Snow Hill and the Cattle Market at a cost of £342,000. The Committee were told to go and interest private enterprise. This they have done and shortly they will be presenting their plans to the States for approval. Rightly Senator Vibert could not tell TOPIC what these plans were but he gave a good clue when, during Fort Regent debate, he said that private companies would only be interested in coming to Jersey if they could handle all the car parking sites in St. Helier.

It is to be hoped that when the matter comes before the States they will not delay what is a vital decision to wait for any more traffic reports or surveys. For one doesn't need an expert to see just what St. Helier will be like in five years time if the States continue to dither over this matter.

When traffic is next discussed those members of the States who do not think the problem is serious should take heed of the words of the Jeffrey report : . . I feel much of the traffic regulation in St. Helier has been ,dealt with very much on an ad hoc basic . . . traffic management is now a very important subject and in the U.K. it is the responsibility of the engineers working in close co-operation with the police. I am of the opinion that very careful consideration must be given as a matter of urgency to the reorganisation of the present system of traffic management on the lines of the modern methods in use in the U.K."

TOPIC concludes : Jersey motorists get their motoring very cheaply indeed. They must be prepared to pay to park their cars either in car parks or in the streets—for it is certain that parking meters must come to St. Helier if multi-storey car parks are built otherwise people will still park on the streets. The only alternative is a complete ban on all street parking. Whilst recognising that the provision of two multi-storey car parks will be a considerable improvement it will not be the answer to the traffic problem of the seventies. What is needed is a Traffic Engineering Department to plan for the future and make sure that we never get as far behind as we are now

1 Multi-storey car parks can help the problem of traffic chaos. They have been promised for a long time. Will we ever get them?

2 Car ownership in Jersey is as high as in the United States. By 1980 conditions will be chaotic unless there is proper planning.

  
3 Traffic wardens in their jeep set out to keep traffic moving in St. Helier.

4 The Snow Hill bus site—it has been proposed to turn this former bus station into a multi-storey car park.

The Nazi Ideology and Capture of the Minds of Children

I think one of the most chilling images of the recent "House Through Time" was the look at the German teacher in Primary Schools. The reading primers had originally no Nozi propaganda or imagery in the early 1930s. By the late 1930s, they were full of it.

I suppose I have always wondered when seeing the Hitler Youth at rallies how they could have been sucked into this pernicious ideology. Images of teenagers saluting in rallies are widespread, but I had never before seen pages of a children's book before. Of course, we tend to see the war and its symbolism in black and white, which distances it from us. The book, however, unlike film clips and photographs is there with swastikas against vivid red flags. One of the first words they had to learn in the new regime, as David Olusoga told us, was "Heil". As in "Heil Hitler". 

It is I suppose logical that if you want to capture a State, you start with the youngest hearts and minds, and inculcate them in your ideology. 

You also go after the academics and professionals. A doctor living in the block in Berlin left to go to America because, being Jewish, he lost his job. As David said:

"For Herbert Rosenfeld, a Jewish doctor living in Pfalzburger Strasse, it means the loss of his livelihood. His contract is abruptly terminated as a result of new policies preventing Jews from working in the professions. He is stripped of his job as a dermatologist because he is 'not of Aryan descent."

But those who were Jewish sympathisers who stood up for their rights were also in a perilous situation. Poke their head above the parapet, and they would be taken away. 

An ideology cannot stand contradiction, and we can see how the beliefs taken on by the young fed into the wider picture. The Nazi book burnings were a campaign conducted by the German Student Union  to ceremonially burn books in Nazi Germany and Austria in the 1930s. 

It was those young people who now became the ambassadors for the regime, set on burning any books which were viewed as being subversive or as representing ideologies opposed to Nazism. These included books written by Jewish, half-Jewish, communist, socialist, anarchist, liberal, pacifist, and sexologist authors among others. The initial books burned were those of Karl Marx and Karl Kautsky, but came to include very many authors, including Albert Einstein, Helen Keller, writers in French and English, and effectively any book incompatible with Nazi ideology. 

Dissenting voices were silenced, and where those opinions lived on in books, they were destroyed. As the Nazi ideology spread, the police, far from preventing scapegoating and threats against those who stood out, were also suborned to take action against those people.

Could it happen again? Certainly. Perhaps not in the same way, but the same signs would be visible. The demonising of critics of an ideology, the promotion of it to young children, the silencing of dissenting voices, the removal of books from libraries. Subjects of debate become taboo. These would all be warning signs, as would the fear that to speak out would be dangerous, and it would be better to just keep silent and not speak out. We should not assume that just because we have freedoms now, we will keep them.

“The peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it."(John Stuart Mill)

"If thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought. A bad usage can spread by tradition and imitation, even among people who should and do know better. "(George Orwell)

References:

A clip of the schoolbooks from the BBC website

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0jwkhb1

Who pays the Ferryman

Take sides! Always take sides! You will sometimes be wrong—but the man who refuses to take sides must always be wrong! Heaven save us from poltroons who fear to make a choice. Let us stand up and be counted." (The Right Honourable John Joseph Bonforte)

A political poem for a change today. This is a comment on the fiasco which is the Jersey indecision over a Ferry operator, where the Minister says "we have to delay and make sure we get in right", while holiday makers cannot make bookings after March, food importers and exporters cannot plan ahead, and I suspect they are trying hard to find a way of going with the preferred operator, which has been known since the chief officer of the department let the cat out of the bag months ago.

Who pays the Ferryman

Who pays the Ferryman? It is not I
Said the Minister, with a great sigh
Legality, finances, and don’t forget
It all takes time, and so not just yet
The words of nonsense tumble out
A decision reached without a doubt
He said: We have got to get this right
Began in January, now an end in sight?
Holidaymakers cannot book, chaos here
But I will soon sort it, he says, never fear
We will reset the clock, and start again
Retreating to his departmental den
He has my confidence, Chief Minister said
So that makes two! His career is dead
Nearly eleven months and still no choice
Until he decides, and says Rejoice, Rejoice!
Like Thatcher at the Falklands, but I say
He’s more like General Galtieri with delay
So let us sum up, the case to debunk
I think his ship is well and truly sunk

Dennis Ryan: Constable of St Helier

Top Level Viewpoint:

Dennis Ryan: Constable of St Helier [1961-1968]
Jersey Topic 1965

You know when you have been talking at length with him that he belongs to a progressive school. He is conscious of the past, but doesn't worship it. If he thinks an old established system is inefficient he has no qualms about burying it once he has found a better one to replace it. Equally so he will not destroy something that is efficient because it is old. He is modern and topical.

He has the same practical attitude about the honorary system in Jersey. Because he belongs to it does not mean that he blindly supports it. "If I found that public safety was being threatened or there were glaring inefficiencies in police work because of the honorary system I would be the first to call for its abolition". He added: "I have said many times publicly that provided the honorary police realise their limitations they can continue to serve Jersey well. It is when they try and go outside of their field that trouble starts". He is a strong supporter of the system on social grounds. "The system does encourage people to play an active part in community. To lose this would be a great pity".

Dennis Ryan is a businessman of no mean ability. As chairman of a building business, the largest garage network in the Channel Islands and a hotel group, he needs to organise himself properly to carry out these duties. Add to this his work as Constable of St. Helier and a member of the States and you have a picture of a man who must use every minute of the day.

Ideas run from him like a gushing tap. Always he is probing, twisting, debating—you can see his mind working when you talk to him. He admits to having a tape recorder in his car so that when he thinks of something as he is driving, the idea is not lost in a mass of everyday detail but recorded. He keeps a notebook by his bed for the same reason. He is a man who requires very little sleep and who often starts work at 4 a.m. "I have never been a night worker" he says. "But after a few hours sleep I find I can start work again and work best early in the morning".

He makes all-important policy decisions in the early hours. I asked him if all this work was really necessary. Did he think differently now about work after his recent thrombosis, which laid him up for six weeks? "Yes, that did shake me up" he admits. "I had time to stop and think about things and I now take things a lot easier." His illness also made him very aware of the number of friends he has that he didn't know about. His admittance to hospital caused great concern amongst his parishioners and he was very touched by the numbers of get-well messages he received.

He was also amused by a number of people who insisted that he took things easier and then worked them-selves up into a fine lather in front of him about the parking problem. What did he think was the biggest problem facing Jersey? His reply came quick and to the point: "Undeniably over-population. I think the time has come for us to tackle this problem seriously. The population is rising faster than any of us realise. I would like to see a commission appointed to investigate the control of immigration should be done as quickly as possible."

When he took over as Constable of St. the image of the office had slipped to a very low level. Evidence of the drastic shake-up that was to follow has the Ryan stamp all over it. The office of Constable was given a new dignity.

The Town Hall staff knew that here was about business methods and was going to put them into practice. Was it difficult doing this? "No biggest problem was to modernise the organisation and in this the Town Clerk's great experience has been the vital factor.

The staff had no plan to work to. They were thinking along out-dated lines and I wanted them to be up-to-date in their way of thinking but to be planning for it is the future we are concerned with.

He will perhaps be best remembered attempts to lighten the burden of people in distress and for the aged. He was prominent in scrapping the term “Poor Law” and substituting "Public Assistance". St Helier House, that marvellous old people's institution was his brainchild. Did this, in fact, represent his political leanings? He says. "Undoubtedly. I am left of centre and this came from my own home background".

Family life means a great deal to him. He has six children, three by his first marriage, which was dissolved and he married his second wife, Maisie, in 1954. She is a woman whom he describes as "my greatest asset”.

His originality can also be painful, how to solve the problem of cars speeding on the drive to his lovely home at St. John, he put notices up but no one took any notice. So he built a hump across the drive at the entrance to his courtyard. Speeding guests now knock at his door rubbing their heads as they bump the ceiling of their cars. “It stops them speeding" he says with a smile.

Repeating the Past

Mass deportations, the removal of citizenship even from people born in the country. A generational sweep up of a community, targeting those marked out and vilified as an existential threat. Is history about to repeat itself? Not exactly, but there are parallels, and there is a gathering storm.

Repeating the Past

The clear blue sky, then a storm cloud
Darkening skies threaten the worse
First the rallies, and cheering crowd
And for the outsider comes a curse

Night darkens, and dim the lamps
The rulers decide, and take a stand
Round them all up, place in camps
For we have to protect our land

Now the hurricane unleashes force
The stranger, the alien, blown away
Mass deportations take their course
Oblivion is waiting, so they say

We have been along this bad road before
Taken by a leader whose followers adore

The Swimming Pool Boom and the Men Behind It

For a few years in the 1970s, we had a subscription to the St Brelade's Bay pool (as mentioned below) and before our dinner around 6.30, around 5.45 when the guests were heading to the dining room, we would cycle down and have the pool virtually to ourselves, and see how many laps we could do, or how far we could swim underwater. On busy summer occasions it was also nice, as the small stall there sold ice cream scoops in cones, and hot chocolate. Both delicious after a swim! My friend Nigel Miles' father David Miles was chief accountant at the Seymour Group, so we'd also have occasions when we could use that pool too, and David Seymour (now just retiring from the group), and a friend at school, was often also there. In those days, it wasn't covered in, but it still had incredibly high diving boards. I think I managed one of the slightly higher ones - I went to see the view from the top one, but slunk back down, like Mr Bean does when he goes to a high diving board! Friends of my parents (who we also knew from school), such as the Stilwels has - like the article mentioned - also had swimming pools installed. It was very much a way of showing you had arrived!

The Swimming Pool Boom and the Men Behind It
Jersey Topic 1965

There has been a quiet boom taking place in Jersey during the last five years. It has affected the way of life of residents and tourists alike and has gone on unnoticed and unhindered. It is a swimming pool boom. Five years ago a swimming pool was considered a luxury by hoteliers apd residents. Now it is reaching the stage that if you haven't a pool at the bottom of your garden you are definitely out of fashion.

There are now in Jersey about 60 pools of various shapes and sizes and it is estimated that in another five years there will be 250. Orders for next winter are pouring in to the two firms who specialise in swimming pool construction in Jersey—Channel Island Contracting Co. Ltd. (Gilliam Seahorse Pools) and Landfield Ltd.

The Gilliam 'piece de resistance'—the St. Brelades Bay Hotel pool.

The boom is part of our new and affluent society. Wealthy residents coming to Jersey and buying a home soon discover that the vagaries of the Jersey tidal system make swimming in the sea time-wasting—and it is, of course, very cold: Also the pool sets off the house and adds greatly to its market value. Hotels find that the fact that they have a pool gives them a distinct edge over those that don't, as well as providing an air of luxury for their guests at a comparatively small outlay. And let's be honest, we all like luxury.

Amongst the island's top star hotels the St. Brelades Bay was the first to see the need to provide a swimming pool for their guests. Many people regarded it as amazing that a hotel on the edge of such a magnificent beach should see it necessary to install a swimming pool. But it proved an instant success both for residents of the hotel and island people who are able to join a club on an annual subscription, which entitles them to use the pool and the fine night club attached to the hotel. Other hotels have followed suit. Not only the big ones, but the smaller ones too.

Work continues on the Merton Hotel swimming pool

Today, the hotel without a pool is a neck behind in the race to offer the best amenities. Certainly the biggest swimming pool to be built this winter was the Merton Hotel pool. This was swimming pool construction on a vast scale—the largest private enterprise pool believed to have been built in the British Isles. The pool is built to A.S.A. specifications, is of international size and has diving towers 10 metres high. The diving tank is fifteen feet deep and at the other end is a children's pool. From end to end the pool measures 204 feet.

Why did the Merton Hotel, a highly successful establishment with full bookings every year from May to October see the need to put in a pool of this vast size ? Mr. Robin Seymour, joint managing director of Seymours Ltd., said "In these days of increasing competition from the Continent and indeed within Jersey itself it is only sensible to keep moving forward. We regard the provision of a swimming pool as being another amenity to offer our guests. It is an added attraction and it keeps us up in the race".

He added : "The reason for making it so big was that when we were planning the pool we saw that to cater for over 600 people we needed a pool almost of inter-national size. We felt we might just as well spend the extra money and in fact make it international. It will now be possible for us to hold international events at the Merton".

  

The Merton swimming pool is one of the thirty being built this winter by Channel Island Contracting Co. Ltd. Man behind the company—and indeed the main figure in the Jersey swimming pool boom—is Mr. Michael Lee, an energetic 36-year-old Hampshire man. He came to Jersey in 1960 with William F. Rees & Co. engaged on Sewerage Board work. He saw the great future for swimming pools in the island and in 1962 formed his own company with a partner to specialise in swimming pool construction. He linked with Gilliam Pools of Purley, who provide all the filtration equipment for his pools, and in his first year he built ten pools; his staff was about a dozen. Last year he built twenty. This year thirty are on the go. Next year it will be fifty. And his staff has risen to nearly 100.

The company offer a complete service to the pool buyer. This includes a basic design for the pool from his design team, the construction and final landscaping and, most important, servicing and upkeep of filtration equipment. For this the company has a fleet of three radio controlled vans in constant touch with head office so that they can dash to a pool immediately anything goes wrong. Says Mr. Lee: "For hotels, the swimming pool has become an economic necessity. It means an increase in bookings, happier guests who are delighted at the luxury in the back garden and an increase in profits within the hotel as it encourages people to stay and spend their money".

He added: "As far as private homes are concerned the swimming pool is replacing the car in the one-upmanship stakes. These views were endorsed by the other firm connected with swimming pool building in Jersey, Land-field Ltd. Primarily a building company, they formed a swimming pool division two years ago headed by 20-year-old Mr. John H. Marshman and Mr. Vernon Brooks. Their first pool was in Guernsey for the States at La Valette, which was built through an associate company. This year they are building six pools in various parts of Jersey.

They have linked with Swimquip, a firm dealing with the latest American filtration equipment. Visiting Jersey last month to see the swimming pool boom at close quarters was Col. Bill McBlain Stephen, managing director of Swimquip in Britain. After looking around the island he told me: "I think it true to say that the potential in Jersey is very big, as indeed it is in Britain, where the swimming pool business has grown fantastically in the last three years. Through Landfield Swimquip we hope to serve that potential".

Already the Landfield order book is filling for next year. Amongst their schemes is an exciting project for a hotel roof-top pool. They also run a scheme with a finance company to enable people to purchase pools on an easy payment plan and this will enable small hotels and guest houses to finance this amenity without a big capital outlay initially. Says Mr. Marshman: "Swimming pools are here to stay. Interest in them is tremendous and we are getting enquiries every day".

In America at the present moment is a director of Landfield Ltd., visiting California on a three week round trip studying the latest methods of filtration and pool construction. What is the cost of a pool? For a reasonably sized one in the garden from £1,500 upwards.

But both swimming pool companies offer a range of portable pools for those who just want a little one. These sell from about £200. The fashion in swimming pools in Jersey has also brought about increased business in garden furniture. In Jersey last month was Mr. F. W. Odell, a director of L. E. Gant Ltd., manufacturers of Elegant and Leisure Garden furniture. His company's leisure chairs will be very evident around pools in the island this year. So there it is. Are you in fashion ? Have you got a swimming pool at the bottom of your garden ?

War Zone

For today's poem, which is about war and remembrance, I decided on an acrostic for a change. Sharp eyed readers will spot the words it spells out.

War Zone

At times, the world seems always at war
There high above, the sound of rockets roar

The bombs are falling, breaking houses apart
Here are the dying, the ceasing beating heart
Every day, Von Clausewitz writes his art

Gone are the times of plenty, times of peace
Onward goes the battles that never cease
Into darkness, thick mud of no man’s land
Now barbed wire, there a dead man’s hand
Great war and men die like the grains of sand

Death stalks here, black knight upon a horse
Onwards riding, onwards a deadly course
Who can survive where his shadow fell
None can know the hour, none can tell

Onwards Christian soldiers, going to your death
Fighting the crusades, drawing your last breath

The padre on the front line, where to stand?
He can be a patriot, drum-beat of the band
Every war brings challenge, a lie of the land

Seek just war, to stop a madman’s genocide
Unless good soldiers act, turning the tide
New every day will be those who have died

And of the home front, awaiting the news
Now hear of the slaughter of so many Jews
Defiance on beaches, to save not to lose

In ancient of days, the sword and the spear
Now comes the time of the nuclear fear

The poppy is worn, to remember the dead
Here is the silence, and softly we tread
Each wreath laid so slowly, symbol in red

Mourning the sons at the Somme that were lost
Oh let us never forget Normandy and the cost
Reach out to reconcile, past enemy to share
New hopes for the future, in place of despair
In the sunset of death, far from the mayhem
Now sounds the trumpet, let age not condemn
Great this sacrifice, we will remember them.

1974 - 50 Years Ago - November Part 2

1974 - 50 Years Ago - November Part 2

18. Coal goes up by 30p a hundredweight. The miner's pay rise, freight costs and general overheads have combined to push the price from £1.12 to £1.42 a bag,

19.The appointment of Fort Regent's director was announced. The top job--one of- the -highest paid in the Jersey civil service—has gone to a 29-year-old Englishman, Mr. Peter Donald Smyth.

20.Fifteen hundred explanatory pamphlets went out to Island employers this week explaining the new social security insurance system which comes into effect on January 1, Another 1,000 will follow shortly. Three of seven teenage thugs, who made vicious late-night attacks on• two men, one of them a 70-year-old—were jailed for three years by the Full Court yesterday. The other four were sent to Borstal, and the Bailiff, Sir Robert Le Masurier, warned: "Any further offences of this sort of violence will be treated in the same way."

22.—Two St. Lawrence houses which have stood empty for three years are finally to be demolished and the site redeveloped. Baycroft and Kirkstone, neighbouring properties on the landside of the Route de la Haule near Beaumont and the subject of sortie 'controversy within the;: parish, are to be pulled down and in their place will rise four' blocks comprising 21 flats .

24.-,,.When fire broke out .at- the ,Hotel Revere in Kensington Place this morning, the manager, Mr. William Carmody, took his wife. and 17. month-old baby out of their bedroom window on to the roof. They got down to the courtyard but found the doors locked—their cries for help aroused neighbours who called the Fire Service. The Carmody and other children were brought to safety by the owner. The fire started in the reception area on the ground floor, and the firemen managed to confine, it to that area, and to the bedroom immediately above.

25.—Following the collapse last week of its parent company, Triumph Investment Trust, local bank Whyte. Gasc and Co. (Channel Islands) Ltd., of Mulcaster Street, has ceased taking deposits and has had all its current 'deposits frozen. No local staff, however. have been laid off.

26.—The emergency measures announced yesterday by the British Government to combat IRA terrorism will be extended to Jersey immediately, they come into force in the UK. This was announced in the States by Defence, Committee president Deputy John Riley.

28.—-Mr. David Forster (20) killed in head-on crash on the Trodez Road; St Ouen. Austen’sCircus opens at Springfield. .

29.—Passports or similar documents advised for travel to UK following bomb incidents—Details of alteration: to New North Road published, Ronez Quarries to meet the cost.

30.--—The Finance and Economics Committee’s decision to double corporation tax next ’year to. £600 in the hope of bringing in. an extra £600,000 may force many companies to leave Jersey.

Who Pays the Ferryman?

"Trying to make things work in government is sometimes like trying to sew a button on a custard pie." (Hyman Rickover)

What will the outcome be? How will the vote go? The American Election?

No, the convoluted and mind-boggling slow decision making on a vote by Jersey's Council of Ministers to select a Ferry Operator - and make it look as if the Chief Officer didn't blow gaff on the intended firm when he voted online (and engaged one company on social media). 

If they come in favour of the Danish firm, it looks as if this was their intention all along, and they are just seeking good excuses to hide that fact. If they come in favour of Brittany Ferries, it looks as if they have given way to Guernsey.

And now, at the eleventh hour, they are thinking they can have a different operator (if they can justify it), and from Davy Jones Locker, I can hear the rattle of chains of Channel Island Ferries which metaphorically sank, apparently without trace, as no one has apparently read what happened when there were two operators. 

Maybe Kirsten Morel should borrow a copy of "Ferries of the Channel Islands: Past & Present" before the ghost of ferries past catches up with him.

The murmurings (don't expect details from the good Deputy) about "legal implications" and "legal advice needed" maybe suggest that some non-contractual but verbal "nod" had been given to the Danish firm, which is worrying. We still don't know the cost of the docking trials yet, and probably never will. If the bid is approved, it will be "commercially sensitive", if it fails, it will be available in the published States accounts (buried there in grouped figures, no doubt).

As for asking for extra details at the 11th hour, they've had at least from September, probably longer, to glean the necessary information.

And finally, we were told on Friday that a decision would be made on Monday. But of course, with this shambles, no decision has yet been made. When in 1907, there was a run on banks in the USA, JP Morgan summoned all the bankers to his residence, locked the doors, and wouldn't let them out until they had found a solution. Alas, the Minister is no J.P. Morgan. 

Meanwhile, tourists, tour operators, food companies, are all stuck in limbo, and if tourism takes a dive next year, we can know who to blame - the Minister for Economic Indecision.

The Gap in the Curtain

I pinched the title, but not the contents, of this poem from that wonderful spooky John Buchan book, which even though it has dated in some ways, is still wonderful to re-read. The poem is reflective of the Celtic festival of Samhain which passed earlier this week, and also uses a well-known hymn as the basis for its rhythmic schema.

The Gap in the Curtain

The veil so invisible
Known to the wise
In dark inaccessible
Hid from our eyes
But there ever glorious,
The parting of ways
Death comes, so victorious
The banshee we praise.

Dark wine is for tasting
The grail of the night
Drink deep, never wasting
It opens our sight
We can see the grey mountains
The borders above
And drink deep of such fountains
In mourning, we love.

The Cailleach in her glory
The goddess of night
Come let us adore thee
And open our sight
The veil we would render
And help us to see
The gap in the curtain
Where hideth does she

1974 - 50 Years Ago - November Part 1

1974 - 50 Years Ago - November Part 1

1 .Jersey resident Mr. Alan Harris announced his engagement to one of Britain’s top female tennis players, Miss Veronica Burton. Martyr mum Mrs. Michelle Perrée, the woman who refused to pay £6 in fines as a protest against “inadequate parking facilities” in the town began her mum-day jail sentence.

2.—-.-Last month 39 motorists were convicted at the Police Court for drunken driving; bringing the total for the first ten months of this year to 312, which was 42 more than in the same period last year.

4.-—It was announced that a pint of milk would go up from 8 ½ ip to 10p on December 1.

7.—The “ Jersey Evening Post’s ”' Hostess Seminar was held at the Hotel 'de France and over 600 women attended this very successful function. Guest speakers were Katie Boyle, flower display expert Julia Clements, and wonder-cook Marguerite Patten.

8.—Further damage to the reclamation site by last month’s stormy weather has forced the Dutch contractors, Ballast Nedam, to stop work on extending the outer arm or: the breakwater. Instead they will spend the winter trying .to catch up with the toe-wall and concrete cobs to give better protection to the new wall.

10 -A 606-lb. German anti-Shipping mine was safely blown up after a 40-hour drama. A giant crane, scooping the sea-bed at the La. Collette land reclamation site, had brought ashore the canister at 8.30 on Friday night.

12.—It was announced that the Establishment Committee, in conjunction with the States Postal Committee, had appointed Miss P. A. Egan to the post of Controller of Mails.

13.—Jersey's hoteliers and guest house keepers are now looking back on a season in which business turnover reached new records but high overheads cut into profits. But although unforeseen .price rises could not be offset by-raising charges mid-season,, profits have still been made, and there is no indication of • financial disasters within the hotel industry. • "

14.—Jersey's mail is to go 'metric' from September next year. The changeover will coincide with the UK Post Office's switch to grams, kilograms, millimetres and metres..

15:—The Jersey Licensed Victuallers Association are, putting 1p on tots of spirits and aperitifs, and 2p on soft drinks. The price increases are blamed on escalating costs in running a pub.

Lost Souls

This weekend I will be lighting a candle for loved ones lost, but I got to thinking about those who die alone, no family, no one to mourn. Who will light a candle for them?

Lost Souls

All Souls night, last days of Fall,
Lighting a candle, an act to recall:
Friends and family that we mourn,
Gone far from us, to distant bourne,
That tears apart life, ends in grief,
Blown off in gales, as a fallen leaf,
Vast ages past, but lives so short;
At the Grey Havens, a final port,
Before the journey, across a sea,
Memories fade, by small degree:
But names remain, the love we felt,
When in harmony together dwelt;
Yet what of those unknown, apart:
They died unloved, alone of heart;
Lost souls, graveside once so bare:
Only Priest and undertaker there;
So sad, so sad, that such came to be:
No loved ones mourn, no family;
We will call of names yet unknown:
Light a candle, make them known;
Remember them, in this our way:
When at All Souls, we come to pray.

Regional TV in 1978: Channel Television

Channel Television is the trading name of Channel Islands Communications (Television) Limited, which is a limited liability company registered in Jersey and is the programme contractor appointed by the Independent Broadcasting Authority for the Channel Islands.

Despite its small size, Channel Television produces an average of three-and-a-half hours of its own programmes each week in its studios in Jersey and Guernsey. Local news is clearly an important element and viewers in the Islands now enjoy an extra late-night bulletin as well as lunch-time news in English and a close-down bulletin and weather report in French. A weekly programme provides information about what's on and a short monthly parliamentary feature is produced. Events and topics of local interest are covered in greater depth in the twice-weekly Report at Six.

The Television Centre, ST HELIER, Jersey, Channel Islands
Tel: 0534 23451
Les Arcades, ST PETER PORT,
Guernsey, Channel Islands
Tel: 0481 23451

Directors. E D Collas (Chairman); K A Killip, OBE (Managing Director); E H Bod¬man; Harold Fielding; M Letto; G Le G Peek; A E O'D Troy; F H Walker.

Officers. Brian Turner (Operations Man¬ager); Phill Mottram Brown (Head of Sales); John Rothwell (Head of News and Features); Miss W M Fearon (Company Secretary).

Staff. The total staff of the company is 64.

Religious Advisory Committee. The Very Rev Tom Goss, Dean of Jersey (representing Anglican Church, Jersey); Rev D Mahy (Roman Catholic, Jersey); Rev Donald R Lee, MBE (Free Churches, Jersey); The Very Rev F W Cogman, Dean of Guernsey (representing Anglican Church, Guernsey); Rev B Fisher, MA (Roman Catholic Church, Guernsey); Rev K E Street (Free Church, Guernsey).

Programme Journal. Channel Television Times is published by Channel Islands Communications (Television) Ltd, and its editorial address is: Smith Street, St Peter Port, Guernsey.

Studios. JERSEY. Studio One 40 ft by 25 ft — three colour cameras equipped with ten to one zoom lenses, and normal sound facilities for television and film recording. Presentation Studio with colour camera. Two colour telecine units for 35mm, slide and 16mm projection with optical, mag¬netic and SEPMAG facilities. In addition one telecine unit equipped with `Coxbox' colour synthesiser for presentation and advertiser's slides.

GUERNSEY. Studio measuring 30 ft by 20 ft designed for live television usage and 16mm film production. A microwave link from Guernsey to Jersey provides for live television inserts from Guernsey into local programmes.

Film Facilities. Channel has two film units, one in Jersey and one in Guernsey. They are equipped with Arriflex 16 BL, Auricon 16mm Pro-600 and Bolex Reflex electrically driven hand-held-sound/silent cameras. Nagra full-track tape recorders equipped with Neopilot sync are used with the above cameras. The station is equipped with transfer facilities from Neopilot ÷ in. tape to double-headed working, using PAG magnetic film recorders. There is a pre¬view theatre equipped with a 16mm projector capable of showing COMOPT, COMMAG, SEPMAG and DUO-SEPMAG films, and a dubbing suite with commen¬tary recording booth. Channel also pro¬cesses and prints its own VNF Colour Film.

Programmes. Channel News, a ten-minute bulletin, transmitted at six o'clock on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday — a `hard news' look at the day's events, with filmed and live reports. Channel Lunchtime News, What's on Where and Weather, a twelve-minute bulletin and diary of events taking place in the Channel Islands, followed by a weather forecast and tidal information. The programme is trans-mitted live every weekday.

Report at Six, a 35-minute news and current affairs magazine, transmitted at 6p.m. on Tuesday and Friday. The programme includes full local news coverage, with an extended look at political affairs emanating from the four Channel Islands parliaments. Also included in Report at Six is 'Police File', a live five-minute insert on local crime, presented by a police officer.

Channel Late Night News and Weather, a three-minute round-up of the day's headlines, transmitted live immediately following News at Ten from ITN.

Channel News Headlines, a three-minute bulletin of local news and sports results at 6.10p.m. on Sundays.

Election Specials, Channel provides full coverage of elections for the island parliaments. These include The Hustings and Election Results. Today in the Guernsey States, a five-minute programme covering debate and the decisions made in the parliament's monthly sessions.

Reporting on the weekly meetings of the Jersey States is included in the Tuesday edition of Report at Six.

French speaking inhabitants are provided with several programmes in their own language live on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and Commentaires, a French language current affairs programme on Tuesday nights. Both programmes include a 'Bulletin Meteorologique', a French weather forecast.

Puffin's Birthday Greetings, a daily series of programmes in which Oscar Puffin, the station mascot, sends greetings to young viewers, helped by the duty announcer. On Saturday morning Oscar has his own ten-minute greetings programme, with cartoons.

Link Up, a monthly half-hour programme looking at Channel Islands' religious communities and the questions affecting them.

Jack Douglas at Home, a kitchen chat-show for men, with women in mind, hosted by the comedian and his wife, Susan, with recipes and tips from Jack's guests from the Channel Islands and the world of entertainment.

Channel Report Special, an occasional hour-long programme, designed to examine important island topics in depth. It is generally transmitted live with maxi-mum community participation, phone facilities and a studio audience.