1965 - 60 years ago - August Part 1

1965 - 60 years ago - August Part 1

2.—At a meeting of electors at the Town Hall Mr. C. A. E. Goodsman was elected a Centenier of St. Helier in place of the late Centenier H. E. Aubin.—Two visiting Frenchman whose 26 ft. yacht was holed after collision with the foils of the hydrofoil Condor I in St. Helier Harbour this evening were accommodated by the Bailiff, Mr. R. H. Le Masurier, at his home.

3.—The hearing of the action before the Royal Court in which Jersey Contractors Ltd. are suing Mr. C. Wright (trading as Renoufs Ltd.) for over £6,000 in connection with the settlement of the account for the building of nine flats at La Haule, was not resumed today owing to the indisposition of counsel for the defendant and no date was fixed for its continuation.

4.—St. Ouen's Parish Hall was packed this evening for the presentation by the Constable. Mr, E. W. Vautier, on behalf of the parishioners, of a magnificently carved oak presidential chair to the Senechal of Sark, Mr. W. Baker, to mark the quarter centenary of the colonization of that island by natives of St. Ouen.

5.—Tons of hay, straw and over 1,00 boxes of seed potatoes were destroyed when fire swept through a granite barn above the stables at Les Avenues, Trinity, this afternoon ; the barn was completely gutted but no one was hurt.—Despite teeming rain, today's Country Horse Show and Gymkhana at St. Mary was a great success, nearly 800 people attending. attending.

6.—A sentence of three year's probation was imposed on 34-year-old Leonard Frederick Saunders, of Birmingham at the Royal Court after counsel had made a moving submission against the 12 months imprisonment asked for, a condition being that he repay the amount of money he had obtained by fraud.

7.—In variable sailing conditions, yachts of all classes have good races at Gorey Regatta.

8.—Annual service of remembrance held by the Old Contemptibles' Association at St. Andrew's Church; it was revealed that Capt. H. A Wallis, the treasurer, would shortly be leaving the Island for health reasons.

10.—Sentence of death was passed by the Bailiff on 27-year-old Dublin-

born Anthony Oliver Lynch at a brief sitting of the Full Court today ; accused had pleaded guilty to the murder by stabbing of Madeleine Mabel Fox in Stafford Lane on the night of Thursday, March 18.—Out break of fire at Corbin's furniture store, Minden Place, at 4 o'clock this afternoon causes damage estimated in the region of £30,000 ; the fire was brought under control in two hours.—At an inquest held on the body of Mr. David Ferguson Gentleman Hunter, the 58-year-old visitor found dead in a hired car after it had collided with another car on the road near St. Brelade's Parish Church, it was stated that deceased had a very bad heart and could have died at any time ; a verdict in accordance with this evidence was returned.

11.—Following strong protests by Commodore Shipping Services, Local agents for the ss Lisieux, against the sudden weekend decision to reduce the vessel's weekly sailings between Jersey and St. Malo from three to one the French company agreed to restore the Thursday services.

12.—St. Brelade's Fête and Water Carnival, held at St. Aubin's in glorious weather; among other outdoor events was the J.M.C. and L.C.C. sand race meeting at St. Ouen, inter-insular rifle shooting at Crabbe in which Jersey defeated Guernsey by 18 points to gain the Lt.-Governors' Trophy, and two open-air concerts at Springfield given by Donovan, the " folk poet " and Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders in which the attendance reached 2,000.

13.—The 20-year-old youth, Clive Edward Thurlow, who was killed on Thursday when the car he was driving mounted a bank at Mont de la Rocque, St. Aubin, and plunged 150 feet into the valley below, had been disqualified from driving since March ; he was using the car without the owner's permission and prior to the crash had consumed a considerable amount of alcohol ; this was revealed at the inquest today, when a verdict in accordance with the evidence was recorded.—At West Park Pavilion three out of the Island's five contestants took the placings in the regional finals of the " Miss ITV " Bathing Beauty Contest sponsored by Channel Television : the winner was 17-year-old Miss Karen Elizabeth Cornish, a local girl and maid of honour at this year's Battle of Flowers.

14.—Fire broke out in the engine room of the oil tanker Anthony M in the early hours of this morning but was quickly dealt with as the Fire Service were already •in attendance, having been called to pump out water in the engine room ; the generating equipment suffered severe damage.—Final day of Jersey Rifle Association annual prize meeting at Crabbe.—Finals of the annual tennis tournament played off in brilliant weather at Grands Vaux.—At the J.S.C. pool the men's team defeated the Army Swimming Union by 44 points to 22 ; in the water polo match played on the Sunday the A.S.U. gained an 8-7 victory.

Some Jersey 1981 Adverts - Part 2

These are from a Jersey Street Directory from 1981.

It is fascinating to see which hotels and businesses have survived and which have gone. Although there is a sadness is seeing so many hotels lost.

In this post -

• The Britannia Group
• Elegance - closed
• WJ Le Quesne Scaffolding
• Seymour Hotels of Jersey - only Pomme D'Or and Merton remain
• Chelsea Hotel - closed
• Hotel Chateau Valeuse - closed
• Apollo Hotel - closed
• William Seddon Building Contractors

The Sunday Archive: The Pilot, September 1994 – Part 5

The Sunday Archive: The Pilot, September 1994 – Part 5

From Martin Inman
Hospital Chaplain

WHEN we pray for healing, whether for our-selves or for others, what do we want?

Michael Mayne, the Dean of Westminster, suffered for quite a while about ten years ago from that mysterious syndrome known as ME. It can be a most debilitating illness. For a time it seemed to him in his weakness and pain and perplexity that it could be life-threatening. After his recovery he wrote this:

"It was during the long period of convalescence that I first began to ask the most obvious, yet the most elusive, question of all: when I pray for healing, what do I really want? And one day it came to me with startling clarity that what I wanted most of all was not simply to be healed physically, but to learn the lessons of my sickness. I wanted that last year to be redeemed, to be a valued part of my journey."

To some that may sound a little too neat, especially to those who know the greatest depths of bewilderment and anxiety, uncertainty or grief. Yet in speaking of his desire that the year of his illness should be redeemed, Mayne was not suggesting that all our lives can have a happy ending. Christ achieved redemption by the manner in which he met the full force of human sin and its consequences and the manner in which he faced the anguish of Gethsemane and the desolation of the cross. This redemption is about reacting to what is negative and destructive in such a way as to draw good out of it.

Dennis Potter, the playwright who died recently, was lying in a hospital bed some years ago with that crippling skin disease Psoriasis wrestled with the question of how good can be drawn out of the negative and the destructive. In other words he asked how the time of the illness could be redeemed.

The answer which he found himself coming to was in terms of that response to the world, natural to us all as children but then lost, of wonder at its beauty and order, of giving attention to the present moment and learning to live in it. In his illness, during long spells in hospital, Potter began to concentrate and pay attention to what was happening to him and in him and in front of him. By learning to inhabit the present in this way he found that "the actual sting of the moment became a point of such unexpected clarity that I could use it, if not as a window, then certainly as a widening chink of light through which I could look." He was learning to face something other than his own beleaguered self.

"I understood then," wrote Potter, "that God is not an unctuous palliative a or super-pill or a sugary abstraction, but someone present in the quick of being, one's own being, and in the present tense itself, in existence as it exists, in the fibre and the pulse of the world, and in the minute-by-minute drama of an ever-continuing, ever-poised, ever-accessible creation.

"I understood that because I paid attention. I do not yet understand but can only describe in the most tentative way something else which I know I feel. Which is that the world is being made right in front of us, and we stand always at the edge of this creation, and in living out our lives give back piece by piece what has been given to us to use and work with and wrestle with.

We shape our own lives and find our own humanity in the long passage from premonitions and innocence through the darkness of mortal distress, carelessness and apparent absurdity into the light that we know is there if we have the patience and the courage to be still, to concentrate — to be alert."

It is, I believe, that attention to the present moment which bespeaks confidence and trust in God, come what may, which is the true healing of the human spirit.



ST MARY
From TONY HART Rector

MANY richly deserved tributes have been paid to Giles Howard as eighteen years of service as Almoner ended this year. A combination of wise counsel, practical expertise and personal charm, friendliness and generosity have been used unstintingly in the service of the church and parish. He is seen above, in a photograph by Richard Dorey, receiving from the Rector on behalf of the congregation a cut-glass punch bowl, etched with a drawing of St Mary's Church. Mandi Cadoret, wife of St Mary's Verger, Brian, looks on. The ceremony took place before a crowd of about 160 at the church barbecue in the Rectory garden on 17th July.

AU REVOIR. Three ministerial colleagues have moved on in quick succession recently. Michael Stear has wave-pierced to a parish in Weymouth; Terry Hampton is to take a break from parish ministry in Israel; . and Michael Nicolle plans to luxuriate in one of Jersey's quieter (!) parishes (no — retired clergy are always in great demand and extremely busy). All will be greatly missed by their own congregations and parishes and, indeed, by the whole Island. Having been baptised and nurtured in the Faith as a boy at St Paul's and been at school with both Terry Hampton and Michael Nicolle, I feel a triple sense of loss. We at St Mary's wish them, together with Angela, Rosemary and Gwen and their families, every blessing in the Lord and the greatest of good fortune as a new phase of life opens up for them all.

PATRONAL FESTIVAL AND GIFT DAY (Sunday 11th September). When we look back over the past year and begin to count not our complaints but our blessings few of us will fail to be overwhelmed at our good fortune. Living in peace and relative affluence compared with so many millions of ordinary people in the world should engender the desire to offer thanks to God. Our special Day of Thanksgiving in this Parish is traditionally the Sunday following St Mary's Day (8th September) and all parishioners, members of the congregation and friends are invited to join us at worship. The Family Eucharist is at 10 o'clock and is followed by Mattins (Book of Common Prayer, said) at 11.15. In the evening, Choral Evensong will be sung at 6.30 pm led by the choirs of St John, St Peter and St Mary.

On the material level, we need to find over £18,000 for the annual "Quota" paid to the Diocese, plus at least £10,000 to cover the normal running expenses of St Mary's Church. Thanks to your generosity and despite being the smallest Parish in the Island numerically, we managed to pay our way last year and trust that we can look forward to another good response to the Gift Day Appeal on 11th September.

SUNDAY SCHOOL begins the new term in Church at 10 am on 11th September when children, parents, grandparents and friends are invited to join in the Family Service. On the following Sunday (18th) there will be a Family Picnic beginning at mid-day at St Brelade's. Further details from Claire Jepson (483312), Eira Wykes (862162) or Vivienne Dorey (863858). Sunday School meets the following week (25th) at 9.45 am at St Mary's School.

HARVEST THANKSGIVING will take place on 2nd October with Holy Communion at 8.30 am, Harvest Family Eucharist at 10 am and Songs of Praise at 6.30 pm. The Harvest Supper will be held at the Parish Hall at 7.45 pm (tickets from Richard Dorey, 863858).

MOTHERS' UNION. Congratulations and thanks to those who helped at the Deanery Overseas Sale at Church House on 15th July, and to Sharon Knight in particular. St Mary's stall raised £201 of the grand total of £1,064. The day was rounded off most satisfactorily with a very pleasant Annual Dinner at Weston's Bistro. The next meeting takes place on Monday 19th September at 7.30 pm in the Rectory Barn Loft when Holy Communion will be followed by a speaker on the International Year of the Family.

REGISTERS

HOLY BAPTISM. 10th July, George Francis

Fisher Clifford; 14th August, Lucy Fleur

Baudains, Daniel John Le Vavasseur dit Durell.

HOLY MATRIMONY. 5th August, Nicholas John Kershaw and Karen Lesley Michel.

ST MARK'S
From
CHRISTOPHER BUCKLEY Vicar



AS I write, in the first week of August, the main part of the building work inside the church has been completed and the redecorating of the interior has commenced. After this the carpet, which has already been chosen, will be laid throughout the church. Then the nave altar and communion rails, which are currently being constructed, will be ready to be put in position. The work has gone well inside the building, but there were problems when water was found to be pouring through the roof during the early part of June, resulting in several thousand pounds worth of repairs that had not been budgeted for. This problem was tackled immediately, for it occurred at the time that Messrs Hill, Norman & Beard were working on the refurbishment of the organ and water damage to the instrument had to be made good without delay and the roof itself made watertight. Fortunately our insurers met the cost of repairs to the organ and the instrument was back in one piece and sounding superb for the 24-hour Hymn marathon over the weekend of 16th and 17th July. That weekend was a great success and we received the support of many people from all over the Island. As well as enjoying a wide range of church music, including some pretty lively keyboard playing in the early hours of Sunday morning that "Jelly-Roll" Morton would have been proud of, nearly £500 was raised for the refurbishment fund. Grateful thanks are due to Ruth Adams for her work in organising the event and to the numerous choirs, soloists and musicians who supported us.

Looking ahead, on Sunday 15th September there will be a special service at 10 am to celebrate 75 years of continuous Guiding at St Mark's Church. If you were ever a member of the 5th Jersey St Mark's Guide Company do try to come along on that Sunday.

The actual 150th Anniversary of the church falls on Thursday 13th October and at 8 pm on that day there will be a special Eucharist, in the presence of the Lieutenant-Governor and Lady Sutton, at which the Celebrant and Preacher will be the Right Reverend John Perry, Bishop of Southampton, who is very kindly travelling to Jersey especially for this occasion. Do make a note in your diary to be with us on that special evening.

The week of celebrations start on Saturday 8th October at 5.30 pm when we will be able to enjoy a glass of wine whilst viewing the exhibition of paintings by Jersey artists and the floral displays that will be a special feature of our week's events. There will be a Songs of Praise on Sunday 9th October at 8 pm and on the Tuesday evening (11th October) at 8 pm there will be a Magic Lantern Show presented by Mr Darner Waddington.

The week ends with a Concert on the Saturday evening, 15th October, featuring, among others, the Holmchase Choir and the Harmony Men. The church will be open throughout the week and it will undoubtedly be a week to remember. Be sure to mark your diaries now!

Night Scented Stock

One from the archive, from 13th May 2005. 

Night Scented Stock

The air is fresh, cool, so vibrant
With a promise of abandonment
To the wild night now awakening
The rustle of leaves begins to sing
With the sweetest perfume in the air
The slightest breeze caressing hair
Night scented stock swaying slow
Like dancing partners in air flow
This is a night of magic, of wonder
Now arises fragrance of lavender
All assails the senses, goes so deep
Am I awake, or dreaming, asleep?
Then the moon emerges in white
From behind clouds comes to sight
Bathing landscapes in pale glow
Moon beams trickle down below
Touch the skin, reach the heart
Her finest pleasures to impart
Giving wonder, joy, ecstasy
To those adoring worthily.

G.R. Balleine on July and Jersey

G.R. Balleine on July and Jersey

(From "The Pilot, 1947)

July gets its name from Julius Caesar, a fact which reminds us of the power of martyrdom. Julius was a genius, but many citizens disliked him. Had he died in his bed, we should still be calling this month Quintil, which was its old name. But he was savagely murdered. At once the sympathy of the city swung over to his side. No honour was too great for him, and among other things the Senate decreed that the month in which he was born should henceforth be called July. This is a minor illustration of a truth that Christians know well. Death often succeeds, when everything else fails. “I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me.”

If July speaks of Julius Caesar, it brings another thought, the need of internationalism. When Julius in his little boat approached the cliffs of Dover, Britain for the first time became part of Europe. It was drawn out of its isolation, and made to mix with foreigners, and became entangled in world-wide politics. July‘s name proclaims that, whether we like it or no, we have got to be good Europeans.

The Dog Days, the hottest season of the year, begin on July 3rd, and last till August 11th. Their name comes from the fact that Sirius, the Dog Star, is then in the ascendant.

Two major Saints’ Days occur this month, St. Mary Magdalene, restored to her old dignity as a Red Letter Saint by the Revised Calendar, and St. James the Greater. St. Mary of Magdala was one of the women who ministered to our Lord of their substance, i.e., provided funds for His mission. She stood at the foot of the cross and was the first witness of the Resurrection. She is also the most maligned woman in History. She had been a demoniac, i.e., she had suffered from some form of mental disease, and our Lord had healed her; but tradition has identified her with the “woman who was a sinner,” who bathed His feet with her tears; so that any mawkishly tearful person is described as “maudlin," and Refuges for reformed prostitutes are called Magdalene Homes. There is not, however, the smallest ground for believing that the two women were the same. The Chapelle de la Madelaine stood till the 18th century in the north-west corner of the Town Churchyard.

St. James, son of Zebedee and brother of St. John, the fisherman who heard Christ's call, while he was mending his net, became one of the leading Apostles. He was the first of the Twelve to suffer martyrdom, being “slain by the sword “by order of Herod Agrippa, (July 25th, however, cannot be the date of his death, for Acts tells us that it took place just before Passover). He became the Patron Saint of Spain in its long struggle with the Moors, and so was regarded as the Champion of Christendom against the Infidel.

Most Festivals had a special dish, and Gorey fishermen were busy on their oyster-bed at this season ; for everyone tried to get oysters for dinner on St. James's Day, perhaps because the scallop-shell was the badge worn by pilgrims who visited the Shrine at Santiago in Spain, where St. James was said to be buried. In the Middle Ages a special ship left Jersey every year to carry pilgrims there.

In addition to Christmas the Virgin Mary is honoured with four Festivals, the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Purification, and in the Revised Calendar her Falling Asleep. The second of these occurs this month. It commemorates the visit that she paid to her cousin Elizabeth before the birth of the Baptist, and the singing of the Magnificat.

We told the story of St. Martin of Tours in last December's number. He has two Festivals in our Calendar. We have already met him on November 11th, the day of his death. July 4th commemorates the Translation (i.e., the removal) of his body seventy years later to a magnificent tomb in the Basilica at Tours. This was once a great day in St. Saviour's parish, when the Fraternity of St. Martin-in-Summer held its Mass, its Procession, and its Supper. In addition to the three Churches that bear his name there is the Fontaine de St. Martin in St. Lawrence.

July 15th commemorates yet another Translation, that of the bones of St. Swithun, the humble-minded Bishop of Winchester, who, the old chronicler says, "as he lay a-dying begged that none would bury him in the church, but in a lowly place, where the feet of wayfarers might walk on his grave and the rain of heaven fall on him; for he loved no pomp in his life, and none would he have after death."

Nevertheless a century later his remains were brought into the Minster; and, after another century had passed, when Winchester Cathedral was rebuilt, they were transferred again with great solemnity to a shrine behind the high altar. This was on July 15th, and a contemporary record says that the weather was fine. But later a story arose that, when the monks tried to move the coffin, such a deluge of rain began and continued for forty days, that the ceremony had to be postponed. This gave rise to the belief:--

St. Swithun's Day, if thou dost rain,
For forty days it will remain.
St. Swithun's Day, if thou he fair
For forty clays 'twill rain no mair

This tradition in other lands is attached to other Saints; in part of France to St. Medard (June 8th),

Quand it pleut a St. Medard,
Il pleut quarante jours plus tard;

elsewhere in France to St. Gervais (July 4th):

S'il pleut le jour de St. Gervais,
Il pleut quarante jours après,

In Flanders the critical day is St. Godelieve's (July 6th) ; in Germany the Day of the Seven Sleepers • (June 27th), in Scotland the Translation of St. Martin, “Martin a bhuilg.”

The official rainfall figures taken at the St. Louis Observatory, which Father Rey has been kind enough to give me, show that the St. Swithun’s omen does not work in Jersey. The last rainless St. Swithun's Day was in 1935, and that was followed by 17 days of rain and 23 fine days. For the following years, on each of which it rained on St. Swithun's Day, the figures are :-1936, 25 wet, 15 fine ; 1937, 13 wet, 27 fine ; 1938, 15 wet, 25 fine ; 1939, 22 wet, 18 fine ; 1940, 15 wet, 25 fine ; 1941, 30 wet, 10 fine ; 1942, 17 wet, 23 fine ; 1943, 21 wet, 19 fine ; 1944, 13 wet, 27 fine ; 1945, 19 wet, 21 fine ; 1947, 30 wet, 10 fine.

If someone should suggest that our weather is more French than English, and therefore that we lie within the sphere of St. Medard, I can only add that St. Medard's figures confute the legend even more conclusively than St. Swithun's.

Three Saint's Days remain. We told what is known of St. Helier the Hermit in last July's number. His Day began to be kept on July 16th by certain Augustinian Priories in the 15th century, and it was added to the Coutances Breviary late in the 17th century. It is not recognized by the Roman Martyrology.

St. Margaret, the Virgin Martyr of Antioch, was the heroine of one of those sensational legends the Middle Ages loved. One version says that she vanquished a dragon by signing the cross on its breast, another that the dragon swallowed her alive, but split in two, when she made the sacred sign inside its tummy.

Poppies their sanguine mantle spread
From the blood of the Dragon St. Margaret shed.

She was an immensely popular Saint. Thousands of babies have been christened Margaret after her; 260 English churches bear her name; and there used to be at Grouville a Chapelle de Ste Marguerite.

St. Anne was reputed to be the Virgin Mary's mother. She is not mentioned in Scripture; but her name is found in three Apocryphal Gospels and on paintings in the Catacombs. The Chapel at St. Ouen's Manor was dedicated in her honour; and there was also a Chapelle de Ste. Anne at Rozel.

Some Jersey 1981 Adverts - Part 1

These are from a Jersey Street Directory from 1981.

It is fascinating to see which hotels and businesses have survived and which have gone. Although there is a sadness is seeing so many hotels lost.

In this post - 

• Langlois, furniture shop and auctioneers - closed
• Preston Travel - closed
• Save and Prosper (Jersey) Limited
• Falles Hire Cars
• Falles Airport Garage
• Bagot Road Garage
• Scope Personnel Services
• Hotel L'Horizon - Still exists, now part of Handpicked Hotels
• Oaklands Lodge Hotel
• Mermaid Hotel - now Lakeside Care Home

The Pilot: The Rectors Leave the States

The Dean’s Letter
By the Very Reverend Matthew Le Marinel

My dear Friends

Since I last wrote the States by a narrow majority, with three Rectors, and others, abstaining from voting, have decided that the Rectors shall cease to be ex-officio members of the Assembly and be replaced by elected deputies—a seat being retained for the Dean with the right of speech but not of vote.

From the point of view of the Church I have no doubt that this decision is to be welcomed. In Jersey, as elsewhere, the cure of souls in any parish is one that occupies the full time and energies of the Incumbent, while much of the work that we have hitherto been called upon to do, especially in Committee, can be done just as well by laymen; nor have we been ordained for public life or public work, however valuable or urgent these may be.

The Rectors will now be free to devote themselves entirely to their Priestly work without being constantly called away from their parishes on official business, and the work of the Church will gain enormously. But I wish I could be equally certain that the change will be for the good of the island. Time alone will prove this.

It is true that the Rectors will now be eligible for election as deputies, though I am bound to say that in my opinion it would be most undesirable for any of us to stand for election. Indeed we have unanimously agreed not to do so. Meanwhile we must all pray that suitable candidates will come forward to replace us, and that, when the time comes, the electorate will be guided aright in its choice.

The visit of the Bishop of Southampton passed off very happily, and came to an end all too soon. The various services and meetings were all very well attended, and His Lordship expressed to me his opinion that there are evident signs of spiritual vitality on the island and that church life is both active and vigorous. I need hardly say how much we look forward to the next occasion upon which he is able to come this way.

It was a great disappointment to us that. weather conditions curtailed the visit of Field-Marshal Viscount Montgomery to the island, and made it impossible for him to attend the official service at St Helier's on the Sunday morning. His Lordship is above all a devoted son of the Church, a living example of how the highest character is always founded upon Christian principles and ideals.

Hearty congratulations to Rev F. W. Killer, Vicar of S. Mark's, who on Trinity Sunday kept the silver jubilee of his Ordination. We pray that he may be with us yet for many years to continue the splendid work that he is doing. Congratulations also to the Church in Guernsey on the appointment of Rev. E. L. Frossard, Rector of S. Sampson's, to the Deanery of that island. I am hoping to be present at his Installation by the Bishop on July 25th.

It was a great happiness to me to dedicate and bless on Trinity Sunday the handsome war memorial generously presented to Holy Trinity Church by Dr. and Mrs. Fraser. It is a very beautiful addition to an already beautiful church. It is much to be hoped that there will be in every church a memorial that records not only the sacrifice of those who laid down . their lives but also the gratitude of all for their deliverance and for the horrors that they were spared.

I should like to take this opportunity of expressing my appreciation and gratitude to all those who have offered me their congratulations on being installed as an Honorary Canon of Winchester. But in point of fact it is not really a matter for congratulation.

For by the new Cathedral Statutes, which came into force some three years ago, the Deans of Jersey and Guernsey, and also the Archdeacons of Winchester and Basingstoke, are ex-officio Honorary Canons of the Cathedral. All that has happened now is that somewhat late in the day I have been formally installed. None the less I deeply appreciate all the kind messages that I have received.

The Sunday Archive: The Pilot, September 1994 – Part 4

The Pilot, September 1994 – Part 4

Parish News

ST MARTIN
From
LAWRENCE TURNER Rector

THE deadline for these notes is Battle of Flowers Day and so they will be finished slightly early and then posted off! This will allow me, as for the past six years, to join in flowering the Parish Float and hoping we have got it right again this year. To me the Battle of Flowers seems to spell the end of the summer and the start of the gradual slide into autumn. Autumn always then leads on to thoughts of the harvest and, naturally, to the Harvest Festival season when we give thanks for God's goodness to us and to all people throughout the year and throughout the world.

Not many people realise that there is no real provision in the Prayer Book for Harvest Thanksgiving. Remarkably, it was only in the last century that such celebrations began to remind us of the many physical blessings bestowed upon us by Almighty God each and every day, season by season, year by year. The food we eat, the clothes we wear, the means of keeping warm, the multitude of machines we use in our everyday lives and so many other blessings. I have much sympathy with the idea of not just bringing fruit and vegetables into church for harvest but also machines and a bag of coal as well! Individually we should remember every day but, as a body of Christian people, individual churches set aside one Sunday each year in September or October to remember as a body those blessings not only as individuals but also as a group. In the West we have little need to bother about seasonal fruits as many people do elsewhere in the world since we are privileged to enjoy the fruitfulness of all the earth at all times thanks to modern methods and worldwide transport.

Therefore, I do hope that you will take note of the services detailed below and join with us in our corporate Thanksgiving for the Harvest we all enjoy in so much abundance throughout the year.

HARVEST THANKSGIVINGS. On Sunday 11th September, St Martin's Methodist Chapel will be holding their Harvest Thanksgiving ser-vices. As usual, we are invited to the United Evening Service at 6.30 pm at the Chapel that day. There will be no Evensong in the Parish Church that evening and I hope that many of you will come along to the Chapel and worship there.

Our own Harvest Thanksgiving services will be on Sunday 25th September. Please see the "Services Box" alongside for details. At the United Evensong our Methodist brethren will be joining us as they do each year.

HARVEST LUNCH. Once again we shall be having Harvest Lunches at 12.30 pm, i.e. after the Family Communion, in the Public Hall. For the last three years these have been a great success and have proved a very enjoyable way of raising money to pay our Quota. Tickets will be on sale soon after you read this so please keep an eye out for the announcements.

HOLY DAYS. We shall observe two feast days, both towards the end of the month. On Wednesday the 21st, we remember and give thanks for the life and witness of the Apostle, St Matthew. The other feast, that of Michaelmas, is on Thursday the 29th this year. The Feast of St Michael and All Angels is very dear to my heart as you know, as an old said at every Communion "Therefore with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven." There will be a celebration of Holy Communion at 7.30 pm in the Lady Chapel on both those days, as well as the usual 10.30 am Wednesday Communion for St Matthew!

SUNDAY SCHOOL. The summer recess of the Sunday School ends on second Sunday of this month, September 11th. May I remind everyone that the Sunday School meets every Sunday at 10.30 am in the Public Hall and lasts roughly an hour. This means that parents can bring children to Sunday School and attend the 10.30 am church service if they so wish since both start and finish at roughly the same time.

MOTHERS' UNION. We shall meet on Wednesday 14th September at 2.30 pm at Christine de la Haye's and Dr John Taylor, well known to us all, will be asking the question, "Do you have the time?"

FLOWER LADIES. On Thursday 8th September at 8 pm, anyone who is at all interested in helping is invited to meet in church to plan the decoration of the church for our Harvest Thanksgiving. Remember, you don't have to be an expert; enthusiasm and willingness count for a great deal!



ST ANDREWS
From
DESMOND SPRINGHAM Vicar

THANKS. First, a sincere "thank you" to all St Andrew's Church family, and to the clergy and members of other churches, who supported me by your prayers and expressions of best wishes for a speedy recovery. Whilst my time in hospital was short — two days for angioplasty, followed by a few days of taking it easy — yet it makes one realise how important the backing of family, friends, and the Christian family is. It's as though the Lord uses all this human goodwill and the prayer backing to create the right sort of atmosphere or climate to surround the person in need. I have now learned from first-hand experience how important this is. Never think that your attitude, your expressions of goodwill, your prayers don't really count. They are all important. Let's remember this for anyone we know who is in need.

IN MEMORIAM. In July, we dedicated two stained glass windows, in memory of Carol de Gruchy, Mr Phil Jean, and Mr Phil Perchard. It was a very moving service as we remembered the lives of these three dear people, all of whom had been closely linked to St Andrew's. The windows actually came from St James Church, and we are very grateful that they were made available to us. They have been adapted and now fit in very well in St Andrew's Church.

CHALLENGE. Said the sergeant major to the trainee drill instructor as his squad was disappearing off the parade ground: "Say something, even if it is only 'good-bye' !" Well, for last month's PILOT, I felt had nothing to "say" -- I was stumped.

Have you ever tried to put yourself in the shoes of the preacher? He always needs some-thing to say — a message. I understand, that at one service during the revival in Rwanda, one preacher did stand up and say that the Lord had not given him any message, and with that he sat down. As a result, some people were convinced of the genuineness of the Faith and were converted!

In fact, of course, there is plenty to say: we have the written Word of God, and the task of the preacher is to pass on that message. A few weeks ago I found that there was too much to say, and I did not even get to the second reading for that day. Had I done so, provided people had still been "with me," we would have found it particularly challenging.

"Take no anxious thought for tomorrow" —that was part of the reading: "what you shall eat, what you shall put on"; "Your heavenly Father knows . . ." These are Jesus' own words — the One in whom we believe. What does he mean? In the light of the present situation in Rwanda, how do they apply? Can we believe them? There has certainly been no wonderful heavenly answer to the needs of those starving people. Does that mean that the words are not reliable? Should we just ignore them or get rid of this particular passage?

Perhaps the answer is "closer to home," rather simpler: the answer is in our hands. Our heavenly Father knows the needs of these people, and so do we, his well-provided-for children. And many have already been responding to their needs; there is room for greater response. This may be the answer in this particular case.

When God "says something," we can ignore it, gloss over it; but if we start to think about it, then be ready for a challenge.

HOLY BAPTISM. 19th June, Stephen David Robin Tyler; 10th July, Paige Lydia Horgan, Jordan Elliot Paul James; 31st, Chloe Elizabeth Rayson; Siobhan Olivia Hartnoll.

HOLY MATRIMONY. 4th June, Allan McLean to Helen Attenborough; 11th, Craig Berry to Rebecca Horn; 30th, Ruth Manley to Andrew Makinson; 2nd July, Ian L'Amy to Melanie Robson; 30th, Service of Blessing and Thanksgiving for the Marriage of John Long to Anne Taunton; 6th August, Andrew Rodgers to Pamela Whitworth; Andrew Smith to Jillian Fawns.

FUNERALS. 22nd July, Dorothy Gallienne, aged 80; 28th, Annie Shepherd, aged 88.



ST LAWRENCE AND ST MATTHEW
From NEVILLE BEAMER

Rector and Vicar

AT the beginning of last month, we were all saddened by the death of Sidney Lee. We extend our sympathy to his sister Ruby and also to his many close friends. Here is an appreciation given by Alan Gillham:

Sidney Ernest Lee was born in London in 1915. When war broke out he joined the Royal Artillery. Prior .to going to the Egyptian Desert, where he spent most of the war years, he married Muriel and they were a devoted couple until Muriel's death forty years later.

Immediately after the Liberation Sidney did a brief tour of duty in Jersey, and when his military service ended, he took up the position of General Manager at Voisin & Co in King Street, serving the company for thirty-seven years. Together with Tim Voisin, he was instrumental in making Voisins a leading Island retailer and applied this successful business formula to their new store in St Malo, which opened in 1969.

His leisure activity revolved around the world of amateur dramatics, and he and Muriel played a full and active part for many years in the Green Room Club.

Shortly after moving to St Lawrence, they became active members of St Matthew's Church, Millbrook, where Sidney served for many years as Churchwarden, and was then appointed Reader. He had a great love for missionary work and represented the Intercontinental Church Society (Intercon). He was responsible for raising large sums for this work amongst English-speaking people abroad. As Reader, Sidney loved his Lord, and led and preached with much conviction and sincerity at services in Anglican churches throughout the Island. But he was, perhaps, best known for his ministry to visitors at the St Matthew's Summer Songs of Praise services, where people would often comment that the evening had been the highlight of their stay in Jersey.

Sidney Lee was quiet, gracious and humble, with a wonderful sense of humour. It was a joy for many of us to be present at St Matthew's for a very special thanksgiving service for his life, and a great privilege to have known such a lovely Christian man with so great a faith.

AT ST MATTHEW'S on Sunday 18th September at the Family Worship service we will be pleased to welcome the Rt Rev John Perry, Bishop of Southampton. The following Sunday (25th September) is Harvest Thanksgiving, with the morning service at 10.30 am, and at 7 pm Harvest Praise, when we will have with us our former Vicar, Laurie Binder.

AT ST LAWRENCE we will be holding our services of Harvest Thanksgiving on Sunday 2nd October, with a special Harvest Thanks-giving service at 10 am when we will welcome the Very Rev John Seaford, Dean of Jersey. At 6 pm there will be a Harvest Songs of Praise, when it will be good to welcome back our former Rector, Laurie Binder.

Gaza

If I make this a theme of poetry more than once this year, it is because caught in the struggle, no one seems to care of children shot or mutilated. There's a blame game going on, and innocent lives caught in the middle suffer. I come again and again, thinking of the children, and this verse often comes to my mind: "It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble". These are crimes against humanity, as Rory Stewart said recently, and I concur. 

There is a hymn: "All people that on Earth do dwell / Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice." There is not much cheer or singing in the Gaza where infrastructure in Gaza, including roads, water and electricity, is left in ruins by Israeli attacks, and people survive in refugee camps, their homes bombed out and destroyed. I have taken the hymn, and reworded it to better reflect the situation there. Pray for peace, for the sake of the children there.

Gaza

In refugee camps they dwell
Sob and cry with tearful voice
Those full of fear, despair they tell
Come their enemies who rejoice

Gaza, you know, is ruined indeed
The missile strikes do there unmake
Those wretched folk, no aid to feed
And rifle fire the children take

The hospitals they bomb and raise
The lack of food takes many too
The evil legacy of men lives on always
And it is wicked so to do.

For why? Forgotten the common good
For no mercy found is sure
Rubble where the homes once stood
And long those suffering here endure

The Victorian December 1983: CCF Reports

The Victorian December 1983: CCF Reports

Army Section

THE Army Section is bulging at the seams with 28 new cadets and it is doubtful at the time of writing whether all will be kitted out by half term. The Signals section continue their run of successtk_or near the top of the Schools' Radio network. Neil Harris directs the group and his services range from those within the Contingent including many weekend camps to the sports field, the Challenge at St. Ouen's Manor and the 1000 yard range at Les Landes. Well done to all concerned.

Army camp will be fully reported elsewhere but I must congratulate the cadets on their keenness and willingness to take part in the rather hectic round of activities on Dartmoor. It would be good to see a resurgence of the R.E.M.E. group. Our four N.C.O.s soldier on manfully but with no new cadets joining the future hangs in the balance. Until we have more boys interested then there is no chance of any specialist accommodation. Special thanks to Ian Gray for his sterling work in the stores and also in the field. He attended the U.K.L.F. leadership course at Thetford at Easter.

The red minibus has at last gone to its grave—sold for. spares. It has done a good job over the last ten years. We debate the possibility of obtaining a replacement. Decision soon and a possible appeal for lots of cash.

Inspection day was wet to say the least; the rain started after the inspecting officer had received his salute and begun to inspect the guards. All were soaked—the inspecting officer, headmaster, parents, officers and cadets. One unfortunate cadet fainted and sustained a cut to his chin. After stitching at the hospital Sanchez gallantly returned to the fray. Well done but if I may say so a poor show on the part of our local newspaper to headline the event — even guardsmen pass out every now and again. The I.O. was Captain Simon Palmer, R.N. deputy director of Naval Recruiting (Officers). We hope he will soon welcome under his wing Andrew Sugden and Nick Quer& as Dartmouth entries. The programme went off without a hitch despite the rain which made the whole afternoon more impressive especially in view of the incredible self-discipline and splendid bearing of the cadets on the parade.

My heartfelt thanks to all my officers and N.C.O.s for their hard work and dedication over the last two terms, especially to Robin Stockton, my second-in-command who is taking more and more of the wight of organisation as time goes on. I hope that the Director'of Territorials and Cadets, Major-General R. Gerrard-Wright, will reinforce these thanks when he visits us on the autumn field day.

Last but by no means least we welcome our new S.S.I., Sgt. Barrie Tostevin. He has served in the R.A.F. for more than 20 years and was a member of the R.A.F. target rifle team at Bisley this year and in Jersey. We all wish Barrie and Maureen a long and happy association with the Contingent and with the Island.

J.E.P.

Royal Navy Section

SINCE the last report the catamaran has only sunk twice — both times with Paul Jacobs driving (are these unsuccessful attempts at suicide?), though one afternoon it did decide that it would rather stay in one place than be blown all over the ocean and proceeded to anchor itself to the seabed in the small roads with its mast.

Our sailing activities this season really have fulfilled the part they are supposed to play in the course of the Royal Navy Section in that everyone seems to have enjoyed themselves so much. We have spent virtually every Friday afternoon afloat since the beginning of May and only had to start to curtail the sailing as half term approached this term. The boats were telling us that it was time to stay dry for the winter.

Our fleet has been augmented considerably by the generosity of some local people who have loaned us the use of various dinghies that have not been used for some time. Our cadets have responded to the generosity gratefully and have endeavoured to maintain their charges to get maximum use out of them. Also this year we have had the use of a powerful guard boat loaned to us by Mr. Doug Lidster —many thanks indeed sir. It has literally been the kingpin in the season's success. By the time of printing I hope that we may have raised the cash necessary to purchase the craft as it is for sale. Otherwise our activities for next season will be severely restricted.

Training continues throughout the year none the less, and with the winter closing in as I write we look forward to activities that provide an education for the cadets largely outside the classroom but so as not to get our feet wet. Thoughts of the summer have faded though expeditions to the living hell of the South of France last June and August to sample 'big-boat' sailing on the Mediterranean will certainly be memories to last a while. 'Trio', a 30-foot cruiser-racer provided a opportunity to gain experience towards the R.Y.A. Competent Crew and Day Skipper certificates —hopefully these will be completed soon. Travel by rail from St. Malo to Perpignan, though tiring, passed quickly overnight, and was certainly exceptional value for money. Our more extensive cruise during the summer covered the entire Languedoc-Rouissillon coastline from St. Cyprien to Port Carmargue. Restaurants were sampled in most ports of call as they provided an excellent opportunity for the cadets to practice their French. Vocabulary now includes such delights as moules fargies and assiette de crudites! Their culinary expertise was also tested on board though, with each taking a turn at attempting to poison the rest of us. The temptation to test the waves down in Africa for a warm winter was almost overwhelming — perhaps next year?

The Royal Navy have been host to 21 cadets this summer too. Five gained sailing qualifications at H.M.S. Raleigh in Plymouth while others discovered Royal Naval Establishments in 'quick time' at H.M.S. Excellent in Portsmouth and at Raleigh. Seven seniors decided that Scotland was to be won, and by all accounts they nearly succeeded. They flew into Glasgow by jet to take over the Garelochead Adventurous Training Course. Their activities included canoeing, rock-climbing and sailing, as well as a two-day expedition into the mountains to sleep overnight in polythene dustbin liners! Survival of the fittest indeed. Reports from the commander of the course showed that our cadets had by and large created a favourable impression and proved themselves more than capable throughout the week.

Our new recruits this year seem bright and keen —essential ingredients for enthusiasm to develop. We also welcome Messrs. Pickup and Baker to the commissioned ranks to maintain the officer-cadet ratio — we now have a section strength of 46. This has also enabled some of the more senior members of the section to gain promotion. P.O. Quer& becomes' Cadet Coxswain and is now the senior cadet in the section, Learner, Godel and Willing become Petty Officers, and Jouault, Le Ruez, Davies, Ruellan and Millard-Beer are now Leading Seamen after some fierce competition for the places available. The choices were very difficult.

Thanks as ever to staff for help and ideas, and particularly to the Colonel for a generous purse this year.

RAF Section

THIS term and the holidays have resounded to the joyous noise of the aircraft engine. At the start Sgt. Hunter attended Eastleigh airport to complete thirty hours of flying training. This training was part of a sixth form scholarship and gives a cadet solo flying experience. Flt. Sgt. Rossler terminated the summer by completing his scholarship at Bournemouth airport. They both now wear their flying scholarship wings and are to be congratulated on their achievement.

While some do it with engines others do it without. Sgt. Le Fondre gained his gliding wings at Upavon during August. Sgt. Nott, at South Cemey, completed the week's gliding course without going solo. By accident, or was it design, he was invited back in May for another week's gliding. Despite bad weather he, like Le Fondre, now wears his gliding wings.

Field day came and went much as before. Flying was cancelled and an impromptu 'search and attack' exercise on the sand dunes was substituted. It was interesting to note that cadets neither got lost nor got wet this time. The failure to fly was much less of a disappointment than it has been before since other flying opportunities occurred during the term. These began with 20 minute trips in a Devon aircraft and ended with an hour's flying in an Andover of No. 115 Squadron. Nearly all the cadets flew on these trips and also in a helicopter.

An overnight camping exercise was successfully completed despite the night-time distractions to be seen

Summer camp at R.A.F. Wittering was a success. 115 Squadron flew us to and from the camp in another Andover aircraft thus giving the ten cadets who went over two hours each of flying time. In addition to the usual Station visits the cadets enjoyed some 25 minutes each of Chipmunk flying from Marshall's airfield at Cambridge. There was a visit to an R.A.F. range on the Wash to see gunnery and bombing practice by a variety of aircraft including some of the United States Air Force. Other highlights of the camp were the use of self-loading rifles and the raffle of a chicken lunch(!)

This was a truly splendid term. Both the cadets and Flying Officer Evans are to be praised on what they have done for the section. We are also indebted to the Commanding Officer and crews of 115 Squadron for the most welcome flying. Our thanks must also be extended to the office of the Lieutenant-Governor and to the airport for allowing the aircraft to visit Jersey.

A.E.H

Transgender Clinic

Meet Helen Webberley—founder of GenderGP, infamous for promoting controversial gender treatments including hormone therapy for kids. While new to many, Webberley has long haunted those aware of her disturbing history of medical malpractice. NHS England now urgently warns GPs not to engage with her unregulated clinic.

GenderGP began in 2015 as an online gender clinic, established by Helen and husband Michael Webberley to bypass NHS waitlists. Initially praised by some, it soon gained notoriety for regulatory evasion, clinical recklessness, and troubling patient outcomes.

In 2018, Webberley was convicted of running an illegal, unregistered clinic from her home after ignoring warnings from health regulators, including the Care Quality Commission. She was fined £12,000 and initially banned by the GMC from practising, citing serious safety breaches.

To dodge UK oversight, the Webberleys relocated GenderGP first to Spain and later to Singapore, exploiting weaker international regulation. Tribunals explicitly condemned these moves as deliberate attempts to evade patient protection rules.

Michael Webberley was struck off in 2022 following a tribunal that documented a "catalogue of failings". He prescribed puberty blockers and hormones without thorough assessments or proper informed consent—diagnosing one 9-year-old from only a brief questionnaire.

Helen Webberley's practices also raised severe concerns. She dangerously prescribed testosterone to a 12-year-old without critical follow-up. Despite parents pleading for help over their child's worsening mental health, Webberley offered no response or clinical review, risking serious harm.

Although initially stripped of her medical licence, Helen Webberley regained it following an appeal citing procedural issues, though the tribunal’s clinical criticisms remained undisputed. Questions about her methods and ethics persist strongly among medical professionals.

Patients have reported feeling "betrayed" by GenderGP’s reliance on AI-driven treatment decisions. Rather than personalised, professional care, many received automated, template-based guidance, raising accusations of prioritising profit over patient safety.

Tragically, one teenage patient under GenderGP's care died by suicide shortly after receiving hormone treatment—prompting calls for regulatory investigations. High Court judges have since publicly expressed serious concerns over patient safety within the clinic.

The recent NHS directive explicitly instructs UK GPs not to engage with GenderGP, highlighting patient safety risks and lack of accountability. Helen Webberley's name is now synonymous with medical recklessness—a stark cautionary tale of clinical horror and thorough disregard for patient welfare.

Comments

She did lose her license in 2024:

As of July 19, 2024, Dr. Helen Webberley’s licence to practise medicine in the UK was withdrawn by the General Medical Council (GMC) due to her failure to complete the required five-year revalidation process. This revalidation is a standard procedure ensuring that doctors maintain up-to-date knowledge and are fit to practise. Dr. Webberley cited her prolonged suspension from 2017 to 2023 and the lack of a designated body or responsible officer to oversee her revalidation as reasons for her non-compliance.

Although she remains on the GMC’s medical register, the absence of a valid licence means she cannot legally practise medicine in the UK. Dr. Webberley has not publicly indicated any plans to appeal this decision or seek reinstatement of her licence.

This doesn’t stop her from being involved with Gender GP as it’s registered in Singapore and operates online.

The Sunday Archive: The Pilot, September 1994 – Part 3

The Pilot, September 1994 – Part 3



A Little Faith
By Tony Keogh

CLOCAMORRAN, set where the American Atlantic meets the European continent, is a small village on the west coast of Ireland, lost to the whole world and to any AA map. It is a place where nothing happens and everything happens; the squat grey church leaning into the wind had seen it all; she sat like a cosy mother with her children of past generations gathered around her skirts. It was to her that the villagers came for all the rites of passage — to baptise the babies, to marry the young people and to bury those whose time had come, whatever their ages.

Father Donal, it seemed, had been there in the parish as long as the church had been standing. The highlight of his week was the Saturday night confessions and he lived in hope of hearing something new through the grid of the confessional. For the most part, it was the same dull old sins which he listened to "ad nauseum."

A few years ago, his Saturdays had been brightened by Mona Kelway, a robust widow lady in her sixties. She had acquired a parrot of some indescribable age and dubious ancestry. After confessing her own pedantic misdemeanours, she then spent twice as long confessing the parrot's sins. It transpired that the bird could curse and blaspheme in four different languages, but after about a year, even this novelty began to pall.

However, Father Donal also had a star within his congregation; his name was Daniel. Father Donal often wondered whether Daniel came to confess his sins or to brag about them. In his more mercenary moments, he wished that he was a literary agent rather than a priest; such were the adventures of Daniel. On one occasion, the verger was startled to hear, coming from the priest's box, "How many times?" There were times when Father Donal had to stop himself from breaking into gales of helpless laughter. However, every time he would pull himself together and play the strict and stern pastor. "Daniel, you must try harder," declared Father Donal. "I know, Father, but it is so hard, to try harder," acknowledged Daniel. "Have faith, my boy, have faith." Every week, the same conversation took place and every week, Daniel would turn up to delight the old priest with fresh tales to tell.

It was a cold wet west-of-Ireland morning as Father Donal was pushing his bicycle out of the village when he recognised Daniel's battered old Land Rover. The bonnet was up and Daniel looked like his biblical namesake with his head in the lion's mouth. Daniel did not hear Father's approach and the language grew louder and more purple as he failed to get the vehicle to burst into life. "Daniel, Daniel, such language," said Father. "Sorry, Father," said Daniel, "but I have tried everything to get this beast to go." "Have you tried a little prayer, my boy?" inquired Father. Daniel looked at him as if he had gone dolally tip tap, the wind and the whisky had finally affected Father Donal's brain. So to humour him, he piously knelt by his conveyance and uttered a prayer, kicked the tyre and turned the ignition key. The Land Rover shuddered twice and roared into life.

As Daniel shot off out the village, Father Donal smiled at the retreating vehicle and muttered, "Well, I'll be jiggered, it worked!"



Letters to the Editor


Got any gripes? Here's the place to air them. Comments welcome on anything that irritates you from the Press, national and local (including this magazine!), visual and audio media and so on. Just write to the Editor, Roger Hibbeard — and let off steam

NOT ALL BAD APPLES

Dear Editor,

I despaired when I read the Jersey Evening Post's headline "Vice-Dean attacks uncaring bosses" — the rhetoric of the bad old days of industrial relations. As has been said elsewhere, no doubt there is the odd bad apple in the employers' barrel; and no doubt Michael Halliwell has seen evidence of the kind of abuses he cites. However, to extrapolate from the particular to the general does no more than to draw dangerous, divisive and totally unsupportable conclusions. Let him look around his congregation: does it contain employers? Are they the kind of employer he castigates?

The infrastructure of civilised society cannot exist without enterprise. The Island's revenues are the fruits of enter-prise: there is no other source. Entrepreneurs are the engine of our economy, and the Vice-Dean would serve our community better if he expressed admiration and support for them. "Employers" are not a group of overpaid, uncaring Gradgrinds. Between 85 and 90 per cent of businesses in Jersey employ fewer than ten people, and in such companies the employer is distinguished from his employees only by the risk he has taken and the liability and responsibility he shoulders.

Work doesn't necessarily stop at 5 pm: deadlines have to be met; some tasks are seasonal or cyclical. Just as employers have responsibilities, employees have duties, and I should have liked the Vice-Dean to have balanced his remarks in this respect. The Protestant Ethic -- the identification of Christian duty with hard work — is the foundation of the economic powerhouse that Northern Europe has been since the Reformation. When Martin Luther translated the New Testament he translated the Greek word 7tOVOS (ponos) — which means hard work — as "duty." To the Christian, work is a form of worship

It is pure fantasy to lay the collapse of modern society upon uncaring bosses. The Church would do well to look at its own success rate in holding the fabric of society together. If the Church had succeeded in instilling and cultivating clearly defined moral standards there would be fewer broken families, fewer one parent families, less need for entrepreneurs to generate more and more taxes to pay for the social services which support those failures and which has spawned a dependency culture.

The reason it hasn't succeeded is because it is perceived to be largely irrelevant and almost totally lacking in authority: rather like Prince Charles commenting on architecture. Fewer than three per cent of the population of the UK ever go to church.

I disagree that the "spirit of compassion" is dying in Island life. Jersey is packed with charitable and caring people and organisations who give unstintingly of their time and resources; there are countless individual acts of kindness daily; we raise vastly more per head of population in charitable funds than the UK.

The Vice-Dean looks to the "charismata" to combat the evils he describes: in my opinion he looks in vain; at least as currently used by most churches. The charismatic gifts were given with the specific purpose of empowering the disciples and early Christians to deliver Christ's Gospel. They changed the world for ever. Today these gifts seem largely to be squandered: far from changing the world they are more often the excuse for creating a club of welcoming Church of England into an exclusive clique whose form of worship is often a self-indulgent entertainment where the still small voice has no chance of being heard.

Let the Church put its own house in order before it presumes to castigate that section of our community which has the courage and commitment to provide the comfortable context within which the Vice-Dean and the rest of us live.

Yours faithfully

IAN THOMAS

Getting the young to pull out the stops

Dear Editor,

Here we are again in the holiday season with the usual panic to find someone to play the organ for Divine Service — whilst the otherwise unnoticed regular organist takes his break. In my occasional capacity as peripatetic (or should it be pathetic?) organist — that is one who stands in for those who are ill or away for any reason —there are none of the Island's Anglican churches and a number of others at which I have not been asked to help. At my own Parish Church we are fortunate in having a regular organist and others besides myself who are able to "stand in." In other places the situation with regard to deputising is more serious.

Where are the (young) organists of the future? Will pipe organs survive into the next century in our churches? Should they be allowed so to do bearing in mind their high capital outlay, maintenance required and problems when things go wrong — which always seem to happen at a particularly important moment in a service. Should they be replaced by a cheaper and trouble free electronic organ? (With modern digital technology very few can, in fact, detect the difference). These are weighty matters for Parish Church authorities to consider in these days of financial difficulty.

Keyboard skills nowadays are learnt by many youngsters and if we are serious about bringing them into active participation in the life of the Church we must (however difficult live individually may find it) unbend a little and encourage them. Due to their extensive educational pressures on time available most young people do not have the time to prepare concert performances of pre- and post-service music.

Nor is it necessary for them so to do. What is required is a small nucleus, say three or four young players, in each church to form part of the music team with the organist. (It is only in the British Isles that the organist is regarded so lowly. Elsewhere he is the local music expert giving tuition and advising at schools and colleges, organising concerts, training choirs). All that is required is the ability to draw a single stop and play the music for a hymn accurately on a single keyboard. If playing only once a month this would not require too much practice. The more difficult matters of psalms and canticles can follow later when confidence and competence have been established. The service should be shared with the organist, the novice gradually taking on more and more until that day when he takes his first complete service.

So come on you keyboarders! Let's have some action now to ensure that we will still hear the "King of Instruments" in our churches during the next century. Having been given the ability to play, such a small commitment cannot really be so much to ask can it?

Yours sincerely

DR J J TAYLOR

President, Jersey Association of Organists



Trip to Iona

After a 25 hour journey, we arrived in Iona on Saturday 23rd July for a week-long youth festival, set up by the Iona Community. There were roughly 200 16 to 25-year¬olds present, who were accommodated either in the Abbey or the Macleod centre. Some people chose, very unwisely, to camp in the Abbey grounds, but as their tents either flooded or blew away, they had to move inside anyway.

Our days there began and ended with a service in the Abbey. These acts of worship were simple but very meaningful and most took place lit only by candlelight. We found the most moving and enjoyable one to be the healing service, which, took place on Tuesday evening. Two services in the week were planned by the young people attending the worship workshops.

 

There were a variety of workshops to choose from, each taking place on the mornings of Monday and Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Each person covered two different workshops over the four mornings, choosing from subjects such as communicating with God, relationships, drama, media and art.

Afternoons consisted mainly of free time, during which planned activities were also available. These included a visit to a nearby island called Staffa, a football match (which was highly amusing!), and a time of learning new songs. It was also possible to simply enjoy being with new friends and take pictures of the beautiful scenery.

 

After the evening service each night, there were organised events, such the concert, which turned out to be very interesting, as everyone went in drag! There was also a ceilidh (the Scottish equivalent of a barn dance!) which was great fun, and a cabaret. On two nights there was a dance in the village hall, which finished very late and left us very tired the following mornings.

We feel that the time which we spent on Iona was very valuable as we made many new Christian friends, with whom we could share our ideas and faith. Going to Iona was a unique experience that we wish everyone in the church could share.

'FEEL THE SPIRIT'
NATIONAL TOUR PRODUCTION COMES TO JERSEY

This widely acclaimed two-hour revue captures the heady revival days of the late 19th century, taking in music hall, gospel and a dose of Victorian vulgarity.

"Feel the Spirit" tells the story of the partnership of Moody and Sankey, mainly in song. Although their songs made Victorian England a nation of whistlers their message is relevant to us all today — we all know "Blessed Assurance" to name just one of their songs. So you can imagine the audience participation is high.

The production has been produced by Tony Jasper, who plays D L Moody, and is performed by a London cast of eight professional actors. It is to be staged at the Arts Centre on Tuesday and Wednesday 11th/12th October and starts at 8 pm. There is also a matinee performance on the Wednesday at 2.30 pm.

The reviews for "Feel the Spirit" are excellent — "There is a timelessness about the play which makes sense today . . . quite stunning" (Methodist Recorder); "Remarkable" say The Stage; "at times electrifying" recorded the Baptist Times; "Wonderful Evening" from. Church of England Newspaper; "A night of hope and inspiration" say Church Times.

This is an event which everyone can enjoy and a great opportunity to spread God's word.

SO BOOK THESE OATES NOW!