That was the Month in Jersey: August 1966 – Part 1

Some more from Jersey Life, 1966.

That was the Month in Jersey: August 1966 – Part 1

By Phyllida Campbell

With the summer at its height it is now or never for all those who make their living from tourism. Oceans of paint applied last winter, tons upon tons of concrete blocks rising to form annexes and extensions to buildings, thousands of land and sea miles covered in the search for new stock, shoe leather worn away on visits to the Bank Manager, hard bargaining for red-branded ‘H’ cars—if all that effort is not paying off now, then lessons will have been learned for next time.

Shopkeepers, like farmers, are wary of admitting to an exceptionally good season. However thronged their premises, they voice only modified rapture at the fact that they are rushed off their feet. Still, there are few grumbles this year so far. The shipping strike was more than nuisance value, but most wholesalers and retailers ordered their stocks well ahead and made good use of parcel post and air freight.

[The National Union of Seamen went on strike in May 1966 for better pay and condions. The strike continued until 1 July 1966]

Inevitably the big departmental stores with winter trade ahead must be the losers to a certain extent. Mr. G. F. Voisin, owner of Voisin and Company of King Street explained ‘Although sales were affected very little, autumn will be the time when we are bound to feel an echo of the strike. The small boarding and guest house proprietors who will be our customers will have less money to spend’.

The Unlucky Ones

He was right. It is the ‘little people' in the world of Jersey tourism who have taken the rap. Mr. and Mrs. Guesthouse Keeper with such a short time in which to take money, regarded their empty bedrooms in an agony of dismay. Away went the hope of working off the mortgage this year.

The big hotels, most of their clientele airborne, came off much better. ‘One could put our loss at that time at about five per cent‘ said Mr. Brian Packer of the Dolphin Hotel on Gorey Pier. ‘We have so few people who come by sea, but it was awkward not being able to get supplies of English draught beer’.

That amazing mushroom, the car hire industry, did not escape entirely unscathed. ‘We had some mid-week cancellations’ said Group Captain Thomson, a partner in Hallmark Cars who are in the hire business in a big way. ‘Competition is so keen now that even the odd cancellation can hurt us. So many small outfits start up each season, make a little money, then pack up’.

All the same, the verdict of all those who serve the tourists, from the humble deck-chair concessionaire to the luxury hotelier, is ‘a good season and long may it last!’

The Farming Scene

While holiday-makers explore the bays and crowd the night spots, the agricultural community who form the true backbone of the Island, work quietly on with their army of Breton labourers, occasionally slipping out to sea in the small hours for a bit of trawling by way of relaxation. Although disinclined to undue optimism, growers cautiously admit to a good potato season despite the  sharp drop in prim at the beginning of July. They went as high as 106/- per cwt. in early June and cropping was heavy, averaging 8 tons per vergee. Thanks to the cargo ships that carried on by special dispensation the strike had precious little effect. The heavy rainfall early in July was bad luck as it did affect the seed crop for next year to a certain extent.

Indoor tomato growers did reasonably well with an increased income per plant and prices higher than last year. Outdoor tomatoes look well except in some cases of early planting in bad weather, broccoli planting is going on apace and the gladioli crop has just about come to an end. Their trouble has been shortage of moisture and a certain percentage of Thrips, but the price has been steady.

A great deal of capital on this island is tied up in the daffodil crop, and with the Scilly Isles in hot competition, heavy rainfall from now on could be a hazard. 

Particularly versed in daffodils is a new arrival in Jersey, Mr. Peter Bastion, an able and amiable young Yorkshireman who has been seconded to our Department of Agriculture from the National Agricultural Advisory Service. He has had a good deal of experience in the Scillies where he specialised in farm management and daffodils. After many awful warnings before his arrival, he is delighted by the kindliness and friendliness of the farming community.

Strange Thefts

How pleasant it is that the Beatniks, with their long dirty hair, skin-tight ragged jeans and moronic-looking girl friends, have almost deserted us this year. Perhaps that is the one good thing for which we have to thank the shipping strike. There weren’t any passenger ships when warm weather began, so perhaps they decided to take their dubious custom elsewhere. 

Even without this undesirable element, strange and sometimes pointless thefts occur here all through the summer. To mention only a few this month, two tortoises disappeared from the Zoo, eight ladies’ blouses vanished from the British Railways unloading quay, a trumpet was snatched from one parked car, a sewing machine from another, and last but not least in Guernsey the Union Jack was filched from the Castle Cornet.

Wits of the Month

Mr. Michael Newell, Jersey’s Police Court Magistrate, about to give judgement on two Irish roisterers, who were alleged to have almost torn each other’s trousers off in a scuffle, remarked: This is not a Breach of the Peace, but a piece of the breeches’.

Lord Stanley of Alderley, a keen sailor, proposing the bride's health at the Hardy-Brett wedding in Gorey, wound up by saying ‘I shall conclude with the last words of another famous sea-faring man who died 160 years ago—Kiss me Hardy!’ And this he proceeded to do.