The Western Railway: Memories of Don Filleul

Back in the second half of 2011, when I had just started writing for La Baguette, the St Brelade's Parish Magazine, I exchanged an email correspondence with Don Filleul, and out of this, with some extra research at the library, came the first of a series of articles, entitled "Parishioners Remember", giving a chance for readers to listen to the memories of older Parishioners, of Jersey in years gone by. This particular piece came out in the Christmas edition, 2011.

If you have a memory about St. Brelade in days gone by, that you would like to share with readers of La Baguette, please contact me, as I'm still interviewing people in the Parish, and telling their stories in the Parish Magazine. It need not be as far back as 1936 - there is plenty of scope for post-war memories of the 1950s to the 1980s, all of which are now decades past.

The Western Railway: Memories of Don Filleul, a former States member, and St Brelade Parishioner.

Don was born at Greve d'Azette in 1926, very close to the station of the Jersey Eastern Railway. He still has very early memories of those trains. "I can remember travelling to Gorey, and to the Snow Hill terminus.", he says, "And thus began a lifetime devotion to railways."

The Jersey Eastern Railway ceased to run on 21 June 1929, because of declining profits, and henceforth, train excursions were on the Western Railway. The young master Filleul was taken frequently to Corbiere on the Western Railway, mostly with an aunt as his main companion on these journeys. Some of the coaches can still be seen at Pallot's Steam Museum, with their facing seats, and no corridors between carriages.

There was little to offer at Corbiere but the view, so they just returned, but for the young boy, travelling by train was enjoyable in itself. "It must have taken about half an hour from Town to St. Aubin", he recalls, "and there was a wait there before the onward journey to Corbiere." He remembers that he developed preferences for certain engines, and also disliked others - "Anyone remember the one painted light green? I didn't care for that." He was intensely interested in the engines, all of which had names. But he never got to speak to the drivers - "Auntie did not allow me to make friends with the drivers. In those days such contact was out of order."

By the 1930s, the Jersey Railway was under pressure from the buses which could travel over a wider catchment area than trains.

During the winter, all the rolling stock of the Jersey Railway was stored in the St Aubin station, and on the night of 16 October 1936, a fire broke out. This destroyed much of the station building, 15 of the carriages, and damaged the Terminus Hotel. Don's father took him to see the devastation. "The horror of course was the fire at St. Aubin's station, the destroyed coaches the awful stench of the place is almost still with me.", he recalls, "Dad took me there - he was also a bit soft about trains, and we stared with sadness at the catastrophe."

That was the final blow to the already struggling railway company, and it was decided to close the railway entirely. The track and remaining rolling stock was sold off, and the way between St Aubin and Corbiere became a public walk, which it remains to this day.

The Terminus Hotel later became the Parish Hall and offices, replacing the use of the Church Hall at St Brelade's Church for Parish Assemblies.

http://www.labaguette.org.je/Edition18.php?p=3000106

Remembering the Coronation

The 60th Anniversary of the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II took place on June 2, 1953. Around 8,200 guests witnessed the historic proceedings, with 27 million people staring at the events on the graining 425 line black and white television sets.
 
There's a game called "connections" when you see how many people you have connecting you with someone. I can play it with the Coronation; a very close connection, because my mother was in London to see the procession. So that's pretty close! I was actually completely unaware of this, as she only mentioned it to me when I was wondering out loud whether any St Brelade Parishioners had been in London, and she said that she had been. There's something wonderfully joyful in discovering a part of your family history that you didn't know before like that - family stories are usually interesting but small scale, and then suddenly there's a connection to an event on the world stage.

Incidentally, if anyone reading this from Jersey also has memories of going to London, and would like to share them, I'd love to hear from them and put them up on this blog for others to read.

Meanwhile, this is her account, as first seen in "Parishioners Remember" in La Baguette, the St Brelade's Parish Magazine:

BACK in 1953, there was a special airline day trip to go to London from Jersey offering Islanders the opportunity to see the Coronation procession of Queen Elizabeth II.

St Brelade Parishioner Ann Shepard saw this advertised at the specially reduced rate of £6 per person, in the JEP. That does not seem a great deal now, but her weekly take home pay back in 1953 was just £5, so it was more than one week's wages. But it was a chance of a lifetime, and she decided to go with her friend Beryl.

Along with other Islanders, the two 19 year olds had to be at the Weighbridge at 5.30 in the morning, where a coach took them to the Airport. The trip was popular, and she remembers that the Dakota airplane was full.

In the middle of the flight to England, the Captain announced over the communications system that news had just been received that Sir Edmund Hillary had reached the summit of Mount Everest. He was the first climber to achieve that goal. The press called the successful ascent a coronation gift. In London, they took a train to Hyde Park, where they saw the Queen and the Coronation Procession proceeding along Birdcage Walk, followed by all the other dignitaries, most notably Salote, Queen of Tonga, in her open carriage. After the Coronation, they saw the Queen again, now processing towards Buckingham Palace.

After the crowds had gone, Ann and Beryl made friends with two young South African men, who had also been watching the show, and they were treated to a meal out. But all too soon, it was time to get the plane back to Jersey, and Ann remembers being so tired that she slept for the entire flight. But it had been a memorable day, and one she still treasures.

Winter Visitors

Well, I have just finished helping pack up La Baguette for the festive edition. It's now over a year since I've been helping write articles for La Baguette, working with the editor Jeff Hathaway, which has been a most rewarding experience. There are discussions over possible articles, people to interview, photos to take, events to report on. Of course, the bulk of the work is his - the clever layouts on the desktop publishing software, getting the advertising, writing articles himself to ensure it is all filled, and getting in material from contributors. I'm just the assistant editor, adding bits and pieces. But it is fun planning it, seeing it take shape, getting the variety of interesting articles, and gradually seeing it come together. There's nothing quite like working in a team, even if I go off, research, interview, write and email in the material. And the Christmas edition is now heading off for distribution to all Parishioners in St Brelade. It's quite amazing, when you stop to think about it.

Unlike other Parish magazines, the format is not long articles, with pages of advertising, but short articles each with a photo. It's for the casual reader, who wants a "Reader's Digest" in short form of Parish matters, and I think it also has a nice diversity, and for those who like puns, Jeff has made an art form of punning story titles! The Christmas edition has several lighter articles, including one that I hope people will chuckle when they read - on "Mother Christmas".

Here's one of the first stories I did back in 2011, where I emailed Mike Stentiford (who has just supplied an interesting article on robins) and Bertram Bree, and collated their replies in an article about Brent geese. Surprisingly, lots of people mistook Greylag geese for Brent geese, despite their clear differences, and thought they were here all year round - the Brent are migratory, the Greylags are local, so it was a good chance to explain and inform, and put the record straight:

Winter Visitors
by Tony Bellows

ST. AUBIN'S Harbour is where you might often see geese, but what may not be realised is that there are two different species who live there. One local and permanently resident, and the other seasonal, choosing Jersey as their winter holiday destination.

Jersey is already well known for being host to Dark-bellied Brent geese who travel from their nesting sites above the Arctic Circle and the plains of Siberia making an 8,000 mile journey. They start arriving in Jersey generally during October and November and by January their numbers are often in excess of 1,000 individuals. "The first record of them in a Jersey history book was way back in 1694" says local conservationist and bird expert Mike Stentiford. "They are attracted to the sea grasses growing off the island's coast. But they don't stay at St Aubin's harbour. The harbour area is instead temporary home to Pale-bellied Brent geese during the winter, and although they look similar, they actually fly in from Canada."

Mike Stentiford says: "This is what makes them so special as there are only a half-dozen other areas (in France and Ireland) where these Canadian immigrants winter. Because of the muddy waters around the periphery of St Aubin's harbour, a perfect food source can be found such as eel-grass, seaweed and mussels."

But what about the geese seen during our summer months at St Aubin's harbour? The ones whom Mike says "have a bit of an 'avian club' whereby life is all about loitering with little intent!"

These are Greylag geese, who at some time in the past escaped or were let loose by their owner. They can be easily distinguished from Brents by their orange bills. Local birdwatcher Bertram Bree says stray Greylag geese are also quite commonly found on the French mainland close to us. Once domesticated, many have now become wild. The Greylag Geese, however, have their own importance. Bertram notes that it was this species of geese which formed the basis of famous zoologist Konrad Lorenz's work on 'imprinting'; this is where younger geese 'imprint on their parents' as goslings, latching after them and following them around to learn their habits.

In St Aubin's Harbour, they sometimes seem to 'imprint" on the people, when they wander up the slipway and into the road after them, looking for hand-outs.

Pale-bellied Brent geese are the smallest of the goose family and color rings have been used to plot their departure from Canada and arrival in St Aubin. They are darker than the Greylags, and have distinct white bellies, and usually around 40 of them, arrive in September. But they can also be distinguished by their feeding habits. Mike comments: "Whereas Brents are specialised feeders, the feral Greylags have a fairly open mind on what they eat - scraps from the public and anything they can find on the seashore."