When the editor contacted me, I had no idea that I would still be writing articles for the Parish Magazine ten years later, and more than just one per edition, nor than he and his wife would both become very good friends.
I can't find the original email he sent me, but it was on the lines of - I've read your blog, and you seem to be able to write well, would you be interested in writing for La Baguette. The last time I had been involved with a magazine was the Jersey Mensa Magazine "Thinks!" back in the 1980s, when my friend Ken Webb co-opted me to write pieces for it, but that admittedly was much smaller scale - this would be going out to all the households in the Parish!
My blog has on occasion, well more than one occasion, been political, but I knew that the Parish Magazine, so as not to cause division in the Parish, was deliberately a-political. Later I found that was the result of making the mistake of being more political when it began! A Parish Magazine should bring the Parish together, not cause divisions, which I think is a very worthwhile enterprise - after all social media and blogs are a place for politics where opinions are more divided.
What to write? Charles Green ("Gloop"), our maths teacher, also did local history excursions on Saturday mornings and as I later found out, was also part of the thriving Junior Société. One of the first, if not the first, local history bit I attended was a look at the history of St Brelade's Church, so that would be a good place to start! (Nowadays I sometimes meet tourists there and ask - do you want a short history tour? And lots say yes, story plus place makes memories). I also remembered my science on Latin names for limpets - that was Dr John Renouf, who took the Junior Société on geology trails around Jersey. Put those with an anecdote from G.R. Balleine on a former Constable, and I thought I had my story.
I emailed back with it: "Here's the piece, which I've tried to keep light, but informative. Hope it is suitable. If so, it can go in attributable to me. You could lose the first paragraph "There are many things.." although I like it as an "opener" to draw people in. All the facts have been researched; including the 400 limpets statistic in an academic journal, which shows just how many you would need to stay alive! There is a mention of Constables (change to Connetable by all means) but it is very non-political - and gives I think a nice meaty ending to the piece. I wouldn't want to lose that paragraph."
And here was the reply: "Thought I should let you see how I am proposing to present your
article. Please feel free to comment. I have taken the liberty of referring to Constable Pipon as Monsieur rather than Mr...that tradition still remains (at least in St. Brelade) where the Constable is still formally addressed as 'Monsieur le Connetable'"
Ten years on, and we are still chatting and writing for La Baguette. Who would have thought it?
For this reprint, something a bit special. I have obtained on eBay a postcard (see above) which shows the Honorary Police Gallery in St Brelade's Church. The Constable would usually have been there in Church services, although below if a Parish Assembly was taking place. It would no doubt have been very handy for a quiet smoke, or to fall asleep unnoticed in sermons (the pulpit is below).
The Rector J.A. Balleine, much to the resentment of the Honorary Police, removed it in his restoration of the church, (along with the box pews in the photo) and replaced it with an organ instead. He also built the Church hall which could be used for Parish Assemblies, which function it performed well until the new Parish Hall was established at St Aubin. There would be no more misbehaviour by Constables in Church!
Limpet Gathering
And the story of a Connétable who also became unstuck!
There are many things that ordinary people do, that don't make it into the history books. Here is one personal anecdote.
In St Brelade's Bay, as a young boy, I would gather limpets with my sister from the rocks at the end of the bay. The trick is to take a small trowel, and rapidly slice into the rock below the base of the limpet, then it falls off complete. You have to be quick, or it suddenly grips hard, and is impossible to shift.
Ours would be cooked for our cat, Spitfire, but during the Occupation, some Islanders had permission to forage for limpets to supplement their meagre diet. It is estimated that on diet of limpets alone, 400 would be needed daily for enough calories, so they would have been hard pressed to find enough to eat!
The Latin name for a limpet is patella vulgata, which is a description of what it looks like - it means "common kneecap", and if you look at a limpet, it does indeed look something like a kneecap, especially if you had knobbly knees, like I did as a young boy.
Limpets can also be found on the granite walls of St Brelade's Church. Look at the walls by the windows just as you enter, and there they are, the empty shells of limpets from ages past. What tales they could tell!
One story that the limpets might tell dates from 1708.
Before the present Parish Hall was located at St Aubin, and before the Church Hall was built, Parish Assemblies were held within the Church itself.
During one Assembly, the Constable lost his temper, and swore. That was not done in a Church! So one Sunday a shocked congregation heard the Rector, standing in the pulpit, excommunicating the Constable, Monsieur Pipon - "cut off from the Body of Christ as a septic limb". He could no longer attend Parish Assemblies until he had shown public contrition in front of the congregation, because no excommunicated person could enter a church.
I wonder if any Rectors in modern times have felt regret at losing that power over their Constables!
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