The Martello Tower at L'Etacq

In this map you can see the tower at L'Etacq which presumably was demolished for the German bunker to be built. It's here in the 1913 ordnance survey map.

The British built eight true Martello towers in Jersey, three between 1808 and 1814, and five between 1834 and 1837. The German occupation forces destroyed one of the second group, L'Etacq, during World War II. It was built in 1832. The bunker now is used by Faulkner Fisheries.

I wondered if there were any photos of it, and sure enough there were.

Phil Bougeard has supplied me with photos of what it used to look like:

Jersey Temp Passe gave me this photo:

The Martello tower at L'Etacq, located at the northern end of St Ouen’s Bay in Jersey, was built between 1832 and 1834 by contractor John Benest at a cost of £840. It was part of a broader British coastal defence strategy during the 19th century, modelled on the Martello towers used along England’s south coast.

Key Details About the Tower

• Construction date: 1833 (within the 1832–1834 window)

• Builder: John Benest, a Jersey contractor

• Armament: Initially mounted a 32-pounder gun; by 1840, it had a 24-pounder on a traversing platform

• Garrison: Housed one sergeant and twelve men, with a magazine for 70 barrels of gunpowder

 Destruction by German Forces

• During the German Occupation of Jersey in WWII, the tower was demolished in 1944.

• It was replaced with Strongpoint L’Etacquerel, a fortified bunker designed to house a 10.5cm coastal gun, part of the Atlantic Wall defences.

This tower was one of several Martellos built in Jersey during the 1830s, reflecting British military engineering trends of the time.

“The Last Watch”

The sea was quiet that morning, unnaturally so. Émile Le Brocq stood at the edge of the shingle, his boat moored and idle, nets untouched. He’d fished these waters since boyhood, long before the Germans came, long before the tower at L’Etacq became a silhouette against the sky he trusted.

It had always been there—solid, stubborn, like the old men who built it. His grandfather had told stories of hauling stone for John Benest, of the tower’s gun that never fired in anger, only in drills and pride. To Émile, it was more than a relic. It was a marker, a memory, a guardian of the bay.

Now, it was rubble.

He’d watched them do it. Not quickly, not with ceremony. The Germans had brought their engineers, their explosives, their cold precision. No one was allowed close, but Émile had anchored offshore, pretending to mend a net while his heart frayed.

The blast came like a cough from the earth. Dust rose, then silence. The tower was gone.

Émile felt it in his chest—not just the shock, but the ache of something stolen. The tower had never harmed anyone. It had stood watch through storms and wars, indifferent yet loyal. Its destruction wasn’t strategy—it was erasure.

He lit his pipe with trembling fingers. Around him, the sea resumed its rhythm, as if nothing had changed. But everything had.

That night, he walked the beach alone. Where the tower had stood, there was only scorched stone and the beginnings of a bunker—angular, foreign, wrong. He knelt and picked up a fragment of granite, still warm. It fit in his palm like a memory.

“They think they own this place,” he whispered to the wind. “But they don’t know what they’ve broken.”

He buried the stone in the sand, a quiet act of defiance. Tomorrow, he’d fish again. He’d nod to the gulls and curse the tide and pretend not to notice the absence on the headland.

But he’d remember. And someday, when the island was free, he’d tell his grandson about the tower that watched the sea, and the day it fell—not to time, but to men who mistook silence for surrender.

The Sunday Archive: The Pilot, October 1997 - Part 5

The Sunday Archive: The Pilot, October 1997 - Part 5

St Luke and St James
DAVID JONES Priest-in-Charge

TIDES AND SEASONS

I OFTEN stand and watch the sea and ponder at its many moods, its beauty and its anger. As you travel along that ever changing seaward scene of Havre des Pas and the St Clement's Coast Road, it’s always different in colours, and mood and the state of the tide. Most beautiful to behold but not a thing to do if you are driving!

The Christian people of our Island in years past knew much about the ebb and flow of life, just as they knew the intricacies of tide and channel, wind and wave. For as they knew, everything in this life is visited by its tides and seasons. As we enter the season of autumn the more alive and alert we are, the more we will be alert to change and challenge. For like the seasons and the tide, life never stands still, but with God is always moving. All of us are caught up in the ebb and flow of the whole creation. We are a very small and frail craft in a mighty ocean. Yet we may be privileged to discover, in the ebb and flow, that nothing is lost, only changed. The end of one thing always heralds the beginning of something new and all is secure in He who is the Maker and Redeemer, in Jesus.

Autumn in our churches is often the time of new things, new opportunities as well as the yearly rhythms with which we are accustomed

We at St Luke's have begun a regular Monday night time of prayer at 8 pm, open to everyone, of course. To pray and to practise, to learn new ways of prayer, and together to grow closer to our God.

With the ebbing of the year we are looking forward to the future of new tides and seasons. Part of our preparation comes from making sure that the faith we claim, is a faith we know! See the list at the back of church for our seven week look at the creed we profess, in our `Credo' course.

* * *

Thank you to everyone who supported the Romanian shoe box appeal and the Harvest gift envelopes for the work of Save the Children. It's good to report that our "Pip & Jim's" nursery is being well supported and thank you for shutting all our new gates! I know they are a nuisance, but they do help.

We welcome to St Luke's the brilliant young English violinist, Anakay Koshka this month. She will be giving three recitals in the church on 1st, 2nd & 3rd October at 7.30 pm in aid of the Royal National Institute for the Blind. Do please come and support this good cause, and hear a world class performance. Anakay made her debut in 1996 at Carnegie Hall, New York, and is giving her services free in support of this worthy cause.

Finally, our congratulations to Ted and Barbara Dobson on their Golden Wedding celebrations. May you have many more happy years together.

HOLY BAPTISM. 17th August, Emily Aubert; 31st August, Tyler Paull.

St Martin
By Lawrence Turner, Rector

From
LAWRENCE TURNER Rector

IT can't be that time of year already! Oh, but it is! YES! — it's time to start thinking about the Christmas Market again! This year the Market returns to its usual venue back in St Martin's Public Hall and the date is the last Saturday in November (29th).

As you well know, the Market is our major annual fund-raiser. As in previous years we need to make sure that it is a MAJOR success! And for the market to be successful everyone must play their part. So, as ever, WE NEED YOUR HELP — we need things to sell and customers to buy them. Your help will be required to do both of these. It really is a case of every-one mucking in and doing something! Not all the jobs are big ones and we well recognise that we all have different talents and capacities. Let's not leave it to the "faithful few" — let's make it the "faithful all," working together to produce the best result ever.

NOW is the time to start thinking about doing something for the Market and making it successful. You'll find the date and venue of the first meeting to make preliminary preparations below. Please come and offer your services. If you cannot come then please find someone who can and tell them what you can do and they can pass it on. We can then note your offer and do something about it. If everyone does their bit then it will save the "few" doing the lot again!

The date of the Market should be in your diary (Saturday 7th December, just in case) so you can now start dropping hints to friends and relatives for their support. It's also a good time to start thinking, if you haven't done already, about the stalls we usually have at the Market and decide what you can contribute to any of them. That done please tell the stallholders (a list of whose names and stalls will be displayed in the porch by the time you read this) how you will help them.

The Christmas Market has always been a success in the past; let's make sure that this year is not the exception to the rule!

CHRISTMAS MARKET MEETING. The preliminary meeting to get things moving on this front will be held in church on Tuesday 21st October at 8 pm. Everyone is more than welcome to come along and offer their help, suggestions and what have you, so please make every effort to be there; we need you.

HOLY DAYS. Two dates in October demand our attention each year. The first is Saturday 18th, when we remember with thanksgiving the life and work of St Luke, Evangelist and Doctor. The second is a double feast, that of St Simon and St Jude, Apostles, on Tuesday 28th. And now the usual October reminder that you should note that Saturday 1st November is the Feast of All Saints. On all of these days there will be a celebration of the Holy Communion at 7.30 pm. The Commemoration of All Souls falls on Sunday 2nd November.

MOTHERS' UNION. This is our annual joint meeting when we welcome members from other Island branches and any other people who would like to come along. Our speaker at 2.30 pm on Wednesday 8th October in the Public Hall will be Dr M Marks telling us of his visits overseas. Please note that there will also be a Bring and Buy Stall to raise money for the work of Mothers' Union Overseas.

CONGREGATIONAL MEET¬ING. We finally managed to hold this important meeting which was rather well attended. Changes were made to various committees etc and many things were fully discussed. The "Who's Who" notice in the porch box has been updated to reflect those changes, amongst which was the retirement of the Brigadier as chairman of the Finance Committee and I would like to record our debt of gratitude for all his sterling work since the Trust Fund was begun. The decision was also made to use the newly published Lectionary and Collects from this coming Advent Sunday for all our ASB Communion Services. Any services from the Prayer Book will be unchanged and use the usual Lectionary.

JUMBLE SALE. This is scheduled for Saturday 18th October at 2 pm in the Public Hall. So NOW is the time to seek out all those unwanted items, both yours and other people's, and let us have them ready for sale. This sale is the one we use to help defray the preparation expenses of the Christmas Market and its stall-holders so that they are not out of pocket as they get their stalls ready for the big day.

RESULT. By common consent our summer event "Farm Fair" was an enormous success and the result was £2,528 clear which is marvellous (£1,000 up on last year's effort!). Everyone enjoyed themselves, all seemed to buy lots of things at the car boot, many compliments were passed about the fantastic meals and loads of favourable comments were passed. So, a good day was had by all and we must say a very big thank you to everyone who contributed to its success in any way, particularly to the Perchard family for their hospitality!

IRENE'S EFFORT. Irene Barnard is going to Spain in November, not to holiday as you might imagine, but to run a marathon! She would like to be sponsored for her efforts in the race and give to the church the money she makes. Sponsorship forms will be available in church this month to allow you to get the sponsorship organised for Irene's and the church's benefit. Please do your best — you did a splendid job when Rosemary did her parachute jump; let's see what we can do this time.

CONFIRMATION 1998. May next year does seem an awfully long way off but it has to be faced that before anyone can be Confirmed some preparation has to take place. This means that classes have to be arranged. NOW is therefore the time to get things underway and find out if there is anyone out there who wants to be Confirmed next year. It may be you, it may be someone else, who has thought about getting Confirmed but, either way, give yourself, or them, the necessary shove and see me before long so we can get rolling. Don't forget, it is never too old to be Confirmed! You may be too young but never too old to confirm before a Bishop that promise made on your behalf at your Baptism, however many years ago.

FROM THE REGISTER

WEDDINGS 1996: 3rd August, Jeremy Thomas and Imogen Cox; 24th August, Paul McEvoy and Yvette Bisson; 14th September, Darren Fryer and Rachel Da Silva; 9th November, Denis Therezien and Julia Rowland. 1997: 19th April, Cristin Bouchet and Elizabeth Thorn; 24th May, Jonathan Overland and Sophie Biisel; 4th July, Steven Blampied and Anita Sampson; 16th August, Paul Vane and Celia Gaudin; 6th September, Alastair Syvret and Katherine Blanchet.

St Saviour
From
ANTHONY SWINDELL Rector

THE current debate about a reduction by two in the number of stipendiary Anglican clergy on the Island ought to prompt some reflection on the aims and objectives of ministry. For example, are we primarily trying to serve geo-graphical areas or gathered congregations? Or if it is both, what is the relationship between the two? And what of the super-abundant staffing compared with the mainland?

It would probably have sharpened every-body's thinking if the Diocese had proposed to reduce clergy numbers by a half. We might then have had a more purposeful debate on priorities. As it is, the general atmosphere is that all we need is a small adjustment — and preferably not "here" in the speaker's parish or district church.

We need to decide whether we are to have a "bedrock" policy, keeping the twelve historic parishes staffed each with their own Rectors, no matter what may be added on to them. Or, at the other extreme, if the sort of teams proposed by David Wastie were favoured, we would need to know what sort of needs they would address. Such alternatives are not simply better or worse ways of arranging staffing, but imply contrasting ways of conducting ministry.

BAPTISM. 10th August, Lani Summer Tappenden; 7th September, Sarah Emma Queree, Hannah Louise Queree.

MARRIAGES. 7th August, Dean Alun Whitcombe and Dawn Romeril; 30th August, Shane Roger Sweeney and Alison Claire Walker.

FUNERALS. 19th August, Margaret Marion Breuilly; 29th August, Leonard Hinton.

Footnotes

Something a bit playful, having just heavily footnoted a historical study, I thought I'd ponder the relevance of footnotes in a poem.

Footnotes

We hide away, at the back of the book,
Lonely perhaps, as never a second look
By most readers. Maybe the small print,
Poor eyesight means needs must squint
To see us. And yet we are always there:
In academia, where there is great care
Taken to support the main body of text;
But often the reader is quite perplexed
At our complexity. For we give details
To substantiate the main text’s tales,
And arguments, references, comment;
So I like to think we are heaven sent,
By a scholarly angel, to bless the word,
And when the body of text is misheard,
Put the reader straight. And sometime
Chatty, sometimes deep, we chime
With the academic reviewer, but not
Always the public, dismissed as rot,
Because they do not fully understand:
We are the foundation, the hidden hand,
The buried treasure, the hidden gold,
And that is why we can be so bold,
For then our task is done, we can rest,
Assured that our wording is the best!

Visitors Guide to The Channel Islands 1967 - Perfumes

At the back of Jersey Topic 1967, the Visitors Guide gave details of where the tourist could go.

This week - Perfume shops

BABS TILLEY

13 The Parade, St. Helier.

Literally thousands and thousands of bottles of perfume are on sale at Babs Tilley—the bright, attractive window displays give some idea of the range carried in stock. The perfumes are said to range from Arden to Worth, including all French exclusive brands. The business first began in Jersey as far back as 1935 - all the stock had vanished after the German occupation and Mrs. Tilley had to begin again. She recently extended the premises to cater for the demand.

This is a picture of Jennie Lyon—one of Jersey's best-known models—just about to STEP INTO ELEGANCE.

Elegance is not just a shop in King Street, St. Helier, but one of the finest retail perfume houses in the Channel Islands, if not in the United Kingdom.

Their claim to being specialists in perfume is unassailable for where else can you find well over 300 different perfumes and 60 or 70 men's toiletries, after-shaves and colognes? Not content with this vast selection, the House of Elegance offers some of the most famous names in cosmetics, 15 in all, including the fabulous Estee Lauder from New York.

Elegance of King Street was started 10 years ago by Mr. and Mrs. Sayers, who are now ably assisted by their son, Mr. Noel Sayers, and a trained staff to give you the service and advice they are famed for.

It is unusual to find men serving perfume, but experience has proved that men often prefer to take advice from men when buying perfumes, and women appreciate a man's viewpoint when buying for men.

There is no doubt whatever that Elegance are THE specialists in their field, not only in their intimate knowledge of perfumes, but in the range which they carry. They are appointed exclusive agents in the Channel Islands for several French perfumes and men's lines quite unobtainable in the U.K.

Their full range covers almost every type from the cheapest to the dearest, from the traditional floral fragrance to the modern, sophisticated perfumes worn by the famous models.

Truly, Elegance is one of the most cosmopolitan shops in the Channel Islands, both in what it sells and the people it serves.

Voisins is THE department store in King Street. Privately-owned, this old-established store has a reputation for service, helpful sales staff and a "with-it" approach to selling.

The perfumery and cosmetic departments consist of some of the most attractively-displayed sections in Europe, and Voisins regularly receive visits from display artists from London and Paris who, hearing of the quality of the display, come to see and discuss display matters.

Perfumes can be classified into several types typical examples are as follows:

MOSS AND FERN PERFUMES: Moss and fern is a non-floral classification, but these perfumes—sometimes referred to as fougere-type—carry a tang of the countryside. Imagine the green notes of mosses and ferns, the strong flavour-scent of sage and rosemary and the clean coolness of mint. All these call to mind the perfumes which fall into this group. Many of them have the earthy notes found in oak-moss, costus and labdanum. Moss and fern perfumes are very versatile in their combination of the open-air with deeper undertones.

FLOWER FANTASY PERFUMES are comparable to a mixed bouquet of real flowers. Whilst all perfumes contain some flower notes, the fragrances in the flower fantasy group are a subtle harmony of several floral notes, and are as pleasing to the nose as a vase of flowers in mingled tones is pleasing to the eye. Flower fantasy perfumes may, of course, have other distinguishable notes as well as their florals, but these are always of secondary importance to the flowery overtones.

FRESH PERFUMES are, perhaps, especially suitable for the younger woman since, although they differ in their notes, they are all light in character, and have distinct "fruity" notes. Some perfumes in this group have an easily-discernible top note (some perfumers call it "green") obtained from the citrus family of fruits such as oranges, lemons and bergamots. Other fresh perfumes have another type of fruity note—the smooth scent of peaches ripening in the sun.

Woody perfumes, like all perfumes, have some flower chords, although their classification is non-floral. But you can recognise their tenacious undertones of aromatic exotic sandalwood, camphoric cedarwood and rosewood, by the warm resinous notes of gums and balsams and by the dry-powdery notes of vertivert and patchouli. Because of their warmth, woody perfumes are perfect for the sophisticate and, because of their natural scents are perfect for the outdoor girl.

In addition to the complete range of perfume and cosmetics, Voisins latest addition is a men's bar situated in the Menswear Department. Designed to cater for the ever-growing demand for men's toilet preparations.

It is the normal policy of Voisins to offer a free perfume sample with every purchase.

A new addition to the Cosmetics Department is the WIG BAR, stocking the fabulous new wigs and hairpieces by Wigalore. These are 100 per cent human hair and are sold at the amazingly-low price of five guineas for the hairpiece and 14 guineas for the full wig.

Among the greatest names in perfumes and cosmetics Voisins' are agents for :—

BALENCIAGA
BALMAIN
BARBARA GOULD
BRONNLEY
CARON CARVEN
CHANEL
CHRISTIAN DIOR
COTY D'ORSAY
ELIZABETH ARDEN
GALA GRES GIVENCHY
GUERLAIN
HELENA RUBINSTEIN HOUBIGANT
JEAN D'ALBRET
JEAN NATE
JEAN PATOU
LANVIN
LENTHERIC
LUBIN
MARCEL ROCHAS
MARY QUANT
MAX FACTOR
MILOT MOLYNEAUX
MORNY NINA RICCI
NORMAN HARTNELL
RAPHAEL
REVLON REVILLON
STEP PERFUME SPRAYS SCHIAPARELLI
SUZANNE THIERRY
TABAC VIGNY WEIL
WORTH YARDLEY

 

Christianity in Action: 52 Lessons in Christian Ethics - Lesson 1: Four Things Necessary to a Good Life: (1) Revolt against Evil

The local historian G.R. Balleine was also a clergyman, and in the 1920s and 1930s, he penned number of books to help Sunday School Teachers. He’s a master of the pithy anecdote or illustration to bring something to life, and can be seen as an indirect precursor in some ways to later writers such as William Barclay.

I hope on successive Thursdays to transcribe and post chapters of this book.

These lessons also open a window into a clergyman writing in the 1920s and 1930s - what they believed, how they saw the world, sometimes through the lens of Empire, and showing the cultural assumptions of the day.

Some of those we have rightly set aside, but others can challenge us today.

[Warning: Balleine was writing in the 1920s and 1930s, and his views reflect the beliefs of many at that time. However, as a time capsule of the prevailing beliefs, this can be very useful for the historians of that period.]  

Christianity in Action: 52 Lessons in Christian Ethics
By G.R. Balleine

Lesson 1: Four Things Necessary to a Good Life: (1) Revolt against Evil

PASSAGE TO BE READ: Exodus xiv. 5-28.
TEXT TO BE LEARNT “What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? “(2 Cor. vi. 14.)
HYMNS: “We are soldiers of Christ " and " Do no sinful action."
COLLECTS for First Sunday in Advent and Third Sunday after Easter.
AIM: To stir up the class to real warfare against their besetting sins.

I. ON BEING GOOD.

(a) When the Princess Victoria was first told that she was to be Queen of England, she said solemnly, “Then I will be good." Hitherto she had been rather a wilful, troublesome little girl; but the thought of the great position that awaited her made her resolve to be good. I want you to feel that God has some great work waiting for each of you. I want you to feel it so strongly that you will make the same resolve, “I will be good."

(b) But there are many different ideas as to what “being good" means. Some things which we regard as good a heathen would regard as crazy, while we should consider horrible some things which he thought good. In our new course of lessons this year we are going to try to learn how to “be good" according to the teaching of the Christian Religion.

II. WANTED AN EXODUS.

(a) Let us begin with two Bible stories. Think of the Children of Israel in Egypt. Egypt was a land of plenty. The Nile is full of fish. Its banks swarm with wild fowl. Its soil is so fertile that there is “corn in Egypt" when there is famine elsewhere. The Israelites said later, “We remember the fish which we did eat in Egypt for nought, the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic “(Num. xi. 5). But Egypt was a heathen land, where it was difficult to serve God properly. And Egypt was a land of slavery, where the people had to toil, building cities for a heathen king. Moses, one of their number, fled to the Wilderness, and there one night a vision came to him. A desert bush seemed to glow with light, and yet not to be burnt, and from the midst of the light a Voice told him that all his people might come out of Egypt, as he had done, and become a great nation, and settle in a land of their own, " a good land and a large, a land flowing with milk and honey " (Exod. iii. 8), and that he must go back and bring them out:

"I will send thee that thou mayest bring forth My people out of Egypt " (Exod. iii. 10). It was not an easy task. Pharaoh was determined not to let the people go. The Israelites themselves were not anxious to make the effort to escape. " They hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit and for cruel bondage " (Exod. vi. 9). They said, " Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians " (Exod. xiv. 12). But he persevered. And all the wonderful history of the Jews dates from the Exodus (the word means the " Going out "), the moment when they threw down their tools, and marched right out of Egypt. Read Passage.

(b) A thousand years passed away. The Jews were again captives among the heathen,, this time in Babylon. Through their sins they had lost the land which God had given them. Again there came to them a Prophet. His words are pre-served for us at the end of the Book of Isaiah : " Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence : touch no unclean thing ; go ye out of the midst of her " (Isa. li. 11). Many of the Jews had grown so comfortable that they would not leave Babylon. These were gradually absorbed among the heathen, and we hear no more of them. It was only a comparatively small company who obeyed, and turned their backs on the heathen city, and set out to rebuild Jerusalem. But they alone had a future. The Jewish race, as we know it today, is descended from them.

(c) Now think of the New Testament story. We find the disciples of Jesus organized in a little society, and the name that they gave to their society was the Church. The word Church means in Greek " those who have been called out." The early Christians felt that they had made an Exodus, that they had come out, and turned their backs on many things that other people were clinging to. They were those who had obeyed the call, " Go ye out from thence."

(d) Bunyan, in the Pilgrim's Progress, shows us what this means. He shows us a large number of pilgrims on their way to the Heavenly City. They have very different types of character and very different adventures. But in every case the first step in their journey is the same. They had to come out from the city in which they were living. Christian and his family, Faithful, and Mercy, and many of the other pilgrims came from the City of Destruction. Two of them (Honest and Mr. Fearing) came from the Town of Stupidity ; three from the Market Town of Lovegain ; one (Hopeful) from Vanity ; one from the Country of Conceit. They did not all come out of the same things ; but they all had to turn their backs on something before they could become pilgrims.

(e) And the first of our Baptismal Promises was that we " should renounce the devil and all his works, the pomps and vanity of this wicked world, and all the sinful lusts of the flesh."

(f) Henry Drummond was a splendid preacher to young men, and one of his favourite mottoes was Don't be an amphibian. An amphibian is a creature like a tadpole, that is half an animal and half a fish. He meant, " Don't be half and half, a sort of religious tadpole, half in one world and half in another. Be an out and out Christian. Turn your back on what is wrong and what is second rate, and step out boldly for better things."

III. THREE THINGS TO COME OUT OF.

(a) First of all, Christians promise to renounce bad deeds, " the works of the Devil." If we have got into the habit of doing something that we know to be wrong, we must turn our backs on it, and come out, as the Israelites came out of Egypt. " What is Repentance? " asked the teacher. " Being sorry for sin," said the child who did not think. But the thoughtful child corrected him : " No, being sorry enough for our sin to chuck it." He remembered his Catechism : "Repentance whereby we forsake sin."

(b) One Sunday evening after church in a country town you might have seen a prosperous grocer in his Sunday clothes—top-hat, frock-coat and all—rolling an enormous barrel down the street. He trundled it right out of the town to the edge of an old quarry, and sent it flying. It was marked P.D. That stood for Pepper Dust—a black tasteless dust, with which he had been accustomed to adulterate his pepper. That night in church he had made up his mind to be a Christian. Then he remembered the P.D. barrel. He rightly determined to get rid of it before he went to bed.

(c) The prophet Zechariah taught the necessity of renouncing wickedness by a curious picture (Zech. v. 5-11). He said that he saw a woman whose name was Wickedness. But in use among the Jews, a round wooden barrel holding about seven gallons. And the top of the ephah was sealed up with a heavy lead lid, so that she could not get out. And the barrel was given to two messengers who flew with wings like storks, that they might carry it to the land of Shinar, the desolate marsh lands on the banks of the Euphrates. Wickedness might perhaps find a home in a barbarous heathen district like that, but she could not be tolerated for a moment among the People of God.

(d) We promise, however, to renounce, not only all that is sinful, but also all that is silly and worthless and empty:" the pomps and vanity of this wicked world." In the Pilgrim's Progress Hopeful came, not out of the City of Destruction, but out of the Town of Vanity. There was a boy who could play the penny whistle to perfection. Everyone was charmed with his performance. But he used to sit on the top of his summer-house tootling away when he ought to have been doing his home work. He was bottom of his class. He was ruining his prospects in life. But one day his head master made him see his folly. He came home, broke his penny whistle, and began to devote his attention to things that did matter.

(e) We renounce bad deeds. We renounce trash. And we also promise to renounce bad desires—" the sinful lusts of the flesh." If our thoughts are always longing for bad things we cannot be good. We cannot help bad thoughts stealing into our heads sometimes. Even our Lord found bad ideas entering His mind at His Temptation. But when they come, we can bundle them out quickly. The Chinese say : " You can't keep bats from flying round your head, but you can keep them from building their nests in your hair."

(f) To-day's collect prays "that we may cast away the works of darkness." This is the first step towards a good life. Let all repeat text.

1981 Jersey Street Directory - Trades and Professions: Newsagents to Oil and Petroleum Distributors

NEWSAGENTS & BOOKSELLERS— WHOLESALE
L.S.T., Ltd., 9 Patriotic Street, S.H. White, W. & Son, Devonshire Place, S.H.

NEWSPAPERS
Channel Islands Times, Halkett St., S.H. Tel. 25368.
Jersey Evening Post, Five Oaks, S.S. Tel. 73333.

NUMISMATICIANS
Jersey Coin Co., 26 Halkett Street, S.H. Tel. 25743.
Seaby (Overseas) Ltd., 18 Hill St., S.H. Tel. 22471.

NURSERYMEN
Bexon, H. C. & H. W., La Dirnerie Nurseries.
Carnation Nursery, Haute Tombette, S.M.
Les Demi Verges, Rue d'Elysee, Les Augerez, S.P.
Mount Nursery & Garden Centre, Bouley Bay, Trinity.
Ransom's Garden Centre, Grasfort, Faldouet, Gorey.
St. Peter's Nursery, Airport Road, S.P. Tel. 43582.
Sunset Nurseries, St. Ouen's Bay, Jersey.
Valentine, The Elms, S.O. Tel. 81006.

NURSERY SCHOOLS & DAY NURSERIES
Aquila Day Nursery, 1 Great Union Road, S.H.
Ashdown School and Nursery, 47 St. Mark's Road, S.H.
Central Day Nursery, St. Simon's Church Hall, Gt. Union Road, S.H.
St. Helier Day Nursery, La Corderie, Green Street, S.H.
Sunshine Nursery Schools, Millbrook, S.P.

NURSING AGENCIES
Channel Islands Nursing Agency, Le Pissot, S.P.
Guardian Nursing Agency, 10 Cleve-land Road, S.H.
Osborne Nursing Agency, Okanagan, Le Hocq Lane, S.C.

NURSING HOMES
Beauport Nursing Home Ltd., Route des Genets, S.B. Tel. 44676.
Bon Air Nursing Home, Bon Air Rd.,S.S.
Fauvic House, Fauvic Road, Grou-
Greenwood Nursing Home, La Rocque, S.C.
Guardian Nursing Home, La Rigondaine, Grouville.
Palm Springs. Nursing Home Ltd., Trinity Hill, S.H.
The Limes Nursing Home, Green St., S.H.
Villa Soleil Nursing Home, La Rigon-daine, Grouville.

OFFICE & CONTRACT CLEANERS
Bagatelle Window & Office Cleaners, 36 Nomond Avenue, La Pouguelaye, S.H.
Donway Building Maintenance Co. Ltd., Rue des Pres Tradin' Estate, Longueville, S.S.
Island Wide Cleaning Services, 8 La Chaumiere de l'Orme, Rue au Blanc, Grouville.
Jersey Carpet & Office Cleaners, 55 Lewis Street, S.H, Tel. 31765/ 43649.
Scot Young Office Cleaning Services (CI) Ltd., Bagateile Farm, Clair-mont Road, S.S.
Spencer Cleaning Service, Chaumiere D'Or, Grouville.

OFFICE EQUIPMENT ENGINEERS
Collins Ltd., 1-2 Vine Street, S.H.
Office Supplies Ltd., 2 Oxford Rd., S.H.
David Wood, J., Bath Street, S.H. 41138.

OFFICE EQUIPMENT & FURNITURE
Caribonum Sales. O Box 39. S.H. Collins Ltd., 1-2 Vine Street, S.H.
Commercial Systems (CI) Ltd., Queen's Road, S.H.
Curry & Co., 15 La Motte Street, S.H. Tel. 32146.
Filleul's Business Equipment Ltd., 94
Halkett Place, S.H. Tel. 21231.
Hermes Typewriters (A. W. Coutanche), Grande Route de Mont a L'Abbe, S.H.
National Cash Register Co. Ltd., 26 Great Union Road, S.H.
Office Supplies Ltd., 19 Don Street, S.H. Tel. 75759.
Professional Business Systems, Commercial Street, S.H. Tel. 75611/ 33189.
Wood, D. J., Bath Street, S.H. Tel. 41138.

OIL & PETROLEUM DISTRIBUTORS
Alexander Duckham & Co. Ltd., CI Distribution, Cleveland Garages Ltd., Havre des Pas, S.H.
Channel Oil Marketing (Jersey) Ltd., Authorised Distributor for BP Oil Ltd., South Pier, S.H.
Fuel Supplies (CI) Ltd., La Folie, South Pier, S.H.
Le Blanc Smith (1972) Ltd., 47 Esplanade, S.H.
Mobil Oil, 47 Esplanade, S.H.
Petroleum Distributors (Jersey) Ltd., La Folie, S.H.

The population debate - Sir Mark Boleat's Deficient Analysis

His piece in the JEP can be read here

https://news.anyfans.com/the-population-debate-has-changed-we-need-policies-for-the-future-not-the-past/

The Missing Variables in Population Policy

Sir Mark Boleat’s article rightly critiques outdated demographic assumptions, but omits the ecological and infrastructural carrying capacity, just as he did back in 2012 when he argued that Hong Kong showed Jersey could cope with 10,000 more, disregarding the fact that Hong Kong gets its water by large underground pipes from Chinese mainland rivers. He seems to have a blind spot here.

Jersey’s population debate must integrate the following:

Water Supply: Finite and Vulnerable

3-month reserve during drought is a razor-thin margin. Any increase in population—whether permanent or seasonal—directly stresses that buffer.

Jersey’s reliance on surface reservoirs and rainfall with a limited boost from desalination makes it highly sensitive to climate variability. 

Without investment in yet more desalination, greywater reuse, or expanded storage, population growth risks tipping the system into scarcity. Yet this doesn't feature in his analysis.

Sewage Infrastructure: Ageing and Overloaded

The pipe network is legacy-built, often for a smaller, less dense population.

Increased load leads to:

• Higher risk of overflows and environmental contamination
• Pressure on treatment plants already operating near capacity
• Need for costly upgrades, trenching, and possibly new routing through built-up areas

The recent building programme in St Peter has highlighted how fragile the sewer system is. We have a brand new sewage treatment plant - but it has to get there through pipes with limited capacity. 

Leaving the Island

"Anecdotal reports of young people leaving the Island partly because of high housing costs are just anecdotal and even if there are some genuine cases this does not necessarily mean that numbers are large." But he gives no facts to support his argument.

What’s Missing:

• He calls for facts but gives no counter-data: He doesn’t cite migration statistics, housing affordability indices, or age-specific emigration trends to support his dismissal.
• No engagement with lived experience: Young professionals, nurses, and tradespeople have repeatedly raised housing as a barrier to staying in Jersey. Doesn't he get out and about and speak to them? Perhaps he should ask Frank Walker who could put him right on that.
• No comparative analysis: Other small jurisdictions (e.g. Guernsey, Isle of Man) have documented similar youth outflows tied to housing cost and availability.

What Could Strengthen His Case:

If he wanted to challenge the anecdotal narrative credibly, he could have:

• Cited longitudinal population data by age cohort
• Compared housing cost-to-income ratios for under-35s
• Referenced exit interviews or surveys from employers and universities

His argument risks undermining genuine civic concern by dismissing it without evidence. In a policy context, anecdotal reports are often the early warning signals—not noise to be ignored.

From materials to hand, can we get any handle on numbers relating to reports of young people leaving the Island? I believe we can, in two ways. Here's the first:

Jersey Migration Data (2023)
Net migration: +470 overall
+860 Registered status (typically new arrivals)
+350 Licensed status (skilled workers)
–760 Entitled status (long-term residents leaving)

That last figure—760 net outward migration of Entitled persons—is the closest proxy we have for people leaving the Island, and it likely includes young adults who’ve grown up locally.

While Sir Mark Boleat dismisses youth departure as anecdotal, the –760 net loss of Entitled residents is significant. If even a third of that figure represents under-35s, that’s 250+ young people leaving in one year—not negligible for a small jurisdiction.

Step-by-Step Method: Estimating Youth Outflow

This is the second method, looking at Jersey’s 20–29 Age Group

Let's look at some figures, while approximate, they do let us get a handle on matters:

Births from 1994–2003 averaged ~900/year → expected cohort size: ~9,000
Actual 20–29 population in 2023: ~7,500
Youth mortality: negligible
In-migration: ~500 (licensed workers, students)
Estimated local youth outflow: 9,000 (expected) – 7,500 (actual) + 500 (in-migration) = ~2,000 missing 

So this suggests about 2,000 young people have left Jersey over the past decade.

This method reframes anecdotal concerns as demographic signal loss. It’s especially powerful in small jurisdictions like Jersey, where even modest outflows have outsized civic and economic impact.

Conclusion

"It is always helpful if discussion on policy issues is based on evidence." says Sir Mark. 

But he doesn't seem to have presented much evidence. If he had looked at figures more precisely, he might have noted some areas of significance which should not be ignored. And as he did before when he last looked at this, he seems blind to infrastructure pressures by population size.

Contextual Meanings, the Language of Race and Racism

Contextual Meanings, the Language of Race and Racism

In transcribing G.R. Balleine’s Christianity in Action, the word “negro” occurs, to refer to a black African. While there is a N- word which is offensive, historically, and therefore in its context, this is not so, and could easily be replaced by the word “black”.

This note explains why I have not redacted it.

It would appear to be archaic rather than offensive.

In America, two black organisations still use it in their name. The UNCF uses "Negro" in their name, and the NAACP uses "Colored People" in their name. These terms are inappropriate in casual speech today, but they attest to the history and longevity of those modern organizations.

As example of historical but not racist use:

Professor Booker T. Washington, being politely interrogated ... as to whether negroes ought to be called 'negroes' or 'members of the colored race' has replied that it has long been his own practice to write and speak of members of his race as negroes, and when using the term 'negro' as a race designation to employ the capital 'N' ["Harper's Weekly," June 2, 1906]

In the Week, it is noted why it may be considered offensive especially in the USA today:

We've abandoned the word "Negro" for a reason: Though a point of historical pride for some, says David A. Love at TheGrio, the term "Negro" can also rekindle memories of Jim Crow segregation, and "conjure up images of slave ships, whips and chains." (1)

A study shows

Both the terms n-r and negro come from the Spanish and Portuguese Negro which denotes "black". But today they have widely different connotations, the former is considered a horrible racial slur, while the latter was the preferred way to refer to a person of black ancestry or appearance until the 1960s–70s, was used by MLK in his "I have a dream" speech and is still used in the full name of the UNCF.(2)

Pamela Walker notes:

The term “Negro” gained acceptance in the late 19th century with the promotion of Black activists like W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington. Harlem Renaissance writer Langston Hughes’s affirmation of the term (and celebration of the race) is evident in this piercing line from a 1926 essay: “Why should I want to be white, I am a negro – and beautiful.” “Colored” and “Negro” were used somewhat interchangeably by Black Americans, but by the 1940s, there were no new organizations that included the term “Colored” in their title, indicating another shift. Instead organizations such as the National Council of Negro Women (1935) and Negro Youth Congress (1937) became commonplace. Black activists preferred “Negro” over “colored,” as the latter lacked specificity given the growing racial diversity of the country.

And indeed as Keith Allan notes:

“there are fifteen occurrences of Negro used as a term of respect in Martin Luther King’s ‘I have a dream’ speech at the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963.”(4)

In conclusion, while alerting readers to the use of archaic language which would not be used today, I have retained the use of the word “negro” in Balleine’s text because of its historical context.

Links:
(1) https://theweek.com/articles/497653/negro-conundrum

(2) https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/146597/when-and-why-did-the-n-word-and-negro-go-apart/193803#193803
(3) https://www.mission-us.org/2022/11/08/historical-terms-and-why-they-matter/
(4) https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4954799/

The Sunday Archive: The Pilot, October 1997 - Part 4

The Sunday Archive: The Pilot, October 1997 - Part 4

Parish News

St Brelade
NOEL CARTER Priest-in-Charge

ARRIVING in Jersey has been an exciting adventure! The vagaries of travel to the Island, losing containers of furniture, the fun of settling into a new home and so many new people to meet have all combined to make a memorable experience. It has also been good to discover the life of the Church at St Brelade, St Aubin and Communicare and to hear about the many good things that have gone on in the past.

However, the thing that has given me most pleasure, is to hear of the many hopes and plans for the future ministry of the Church here. It seems to me that there is a great hope and desire for us all to grow in the service of the Lord Jesus.

At a recent PCC we talked about future plans for the church and ended up with a huge list of priorities, hopes and aspirations. It might appear to be something of a "wish list," but we intend to make our plans and decide what our priorities are to be for the next year and three years respectively. Once this has been done we need to ensure that the time and the resources, both in terms of people's God given gifts and material assets are available and fully utilised.

Our discussion was wide ranging. We acknowledged the need to build an effective pastoral care scheme. We know that there are many opportunities for outreach in our Parish to locals and visitors alike. We also realise that we have to fully embrace those opportunities.

Both prayer and worship were seen as central and fundamental to all that we do many and varied. Building up the spirituality of the place was seen as a priority and St Brelade's ancient Christian roots were seen as a wonderful opportunity at the heart of the church's life. It seems that St Brelade has a lot to offer the wider Church.

The nurture of members of the present congregation, as well as new members, is seen as vital. It is important that the church provides varied opportunities for people of all ages to grow in their faith. Fellowship is also seen as being important and opportunities for friendship and fun will be an intrinsic part of church life.

The PCC also acknowledges the important ecumenical dimension of life in this Parish. We need to do more "ordinary" things together. We need to take seriously the first rule of ecumenical co-operation, "That we should not do separately, those things which we can do together.",

All this is very much skating over the surface of the PCC's discussions. In fact the minutes of that meeting run for eight sides of paper.

However, one thing is certain, as we enter a new chapter in the life of the Parish there is a great desire to build on all that is good in the past and to go forward in faith, in a church where people are wanted, welcomed and loved.

CONGRATULATIONS to Denise Waller and Gloria Green who were licensed as Readers by the Bishop of Winchester at St Brelade's Church on Wednesday 24th September. We pray for them and for their new ministry amongst us.

REGISTERS

HOLY BAPTISM. 10th August, Bronte Louise Hollick, Tessa Elaine Cheal, Rupert Christopher Storer Powell; 31st August, Oliver Gear.

HOLY MATRIMONY. 8th August, George Waters and Claire Templer; 16th August, Peter Le Boustouller and Gillian Simpson; 23rd August, David Clarke and Danielle Hall; 30th August, Timothy Sayers and Rachel Ball.

FUNERALS. 1st August, John Pinel, aged 79; 13th August, Caroline Margaret Wilkinson, aged 62; 15th August, Muriel Margaret Leak (née Short), 87; 20th August, Muriel Elise Winifred Lukarift, 89; 29th August, Patrick Norris, aged 78.

THIRD TUESDAY!

THIRD TUESDAY is a new ecumenical venture by the Anglican, Methodist and Roman Catholic churches in St Brelade.

THIRD TUESDAY is a monthly meeting at Communicare - on the third Tuesday of each month - for members of the churches of the St Brelade Ecumenical Partnership, although members of other churches in Jersey will be most welcome. The first meeting will take place on Tuesday 21st October.

Every THIRD TUESDAY will combine the elements of worship, fellowship and learning together about the Christian faith. There will be a variety of different things on offer, so there should be something for everyone.

The programme for the first evening on 21st October is as follows:

7.45 pm People start to arrive. Displays and information about the evening sessions. Bookstall available.

8.00 pm Short act of worship. This will be of a varied nature each month, reflecting

the broad spectrum of Christian worship.

8.15 pm We split into four groups, according to preference.

1) Bible Study - insight into Isaiah.

2) Prayer - nuts and bolts, a practical workshop on prayer.

3) An Australian perspective - the Rev Robert Emery, who has exchanged places with Colin Hough, will be talking about the Church in Australia and giving us his first impressions of the Church in Jersey.

4) Prayer Pizzas - a bit of 'Holy Cooking'! 9.30 pm A light supper.

10.00 pm Close.

Come along and join in this exciting new venture!

St Helier
From
JOHN SEAFORD Rector

AUGUST 9th was a scorcher and the hottest place of all was Church House veranda with Jersey Wonders being deep fat fried and a chicken with a hundred legs, along with sausages and hamburgers, being barbecued. It had been not a lot cooler the day before when the team of tough hombres with muscles rippling, but with an average age probably somewhere near 60, had erected the stalls. On the day itself a small army of pressed volunteers (if that is not a contradiction in terms!) was up at first light and personfully laboured through the day selling this, that, and the other — and all for charity. "Thank you!" each and everyone that helped raise more than £2,000 for our mission and charity account. It was a great day.

The month passed with more sunny days, and many happy visitors enjoying their holiday, visiting the church, coming to the Sunday services. The Battle of Flowers passed by in sunlight and moonlight — and night was momentarily turned into day with the record-breaking simultaneous launch of nearly 40,000 rockets. It was a great summer.

And then September started with that queue of sad people wanting to add their name to the millions of others who were shocked and con-fused by the tragedy in Paris that somehow brought the summer to a sudden end. The good was that the sun continued to shine — and that perhaps is the message: darkness does fall, but the Son is risen.

This month we look forward to a visit by the Venerable Alec Knight, Archdeacon of Basingstoke, who will be the preacher at Choral Eucharist on 5th October. We are accustomed to his proud aunt being one of the congregation, and have missed her since her car accident (sadly, RTAs are horribly common), and we hope that she will be back in church to hear her nephew that day.

On 18th October, there is the customary Trafalgar Day Service at 11 am attended by representatives of the Royal Navy and Sea Cadets.

BLESSING OF CIVIL MARRIAGE. 6th September, Bob and Ro Thomas.

FUNERALS. 5th September, Ethel May Lihou (née Moisan); James Frederick Reeves.

Holy Trinity
TONY KEOGH Rector

Dear Friends,

Last Monday, Martin Inman called at the Rectory to drop off his pager so I am able to look after the Hospital Chaplaincy for a week while Martin is taking his son to Bristol to start his training as a veterinary surgeon, probably the most difficult profession to get into.

Dr Leslie Weatherhead's book, "Why do men suffer?" includes this lovely prayer for all the animals:

"Hear our humble prayer, 0 God, for our friends the animals. In Your hands are the souls of all living creatures, and we bless You that You care for the dumb creatures of the world. We bless and praise You for Your joy in their beauty and grace, and we desire to share Your love for all of them. Accept our prayer, especially for animals who are suffering or all that are overworked and underfed and cruelly treated; for all wistful creatures in captivity that beat against their bars; for any that are hunted or lost or deserted or frightened or hungry; for all that are in pain or dying and for all veterinary surgeons who deal with them, that they may have hearts of compassion and gentle hands, and kindly words. Make us ourselves to be true friends to animals and so to share the blessing of a merciful Lord. For the sake of Thy Son the tender-hearted Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."

That is a prayer which we might, once in a while, pray in our churches and in our homes. God will not think it strange that we pray for the animals, for the prophet Hosea heard God speak to him about the last days when the golden age would come and he heard God say: "And I will make for you a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air, and the creeping things of the ground." (Hosea 2:18 RSV)

In the vision of the perfect time, there was perfect friendship between man and beast. In Isaiah's vision, there will also be perfect friendship between the animals on God's holy mountain and a little child will lead them.

Cruelty is always an ugly thing and cruelty to animals in their dumb helplessness is especially an ugly thing. The love of God is the love which stretches out and envelops both man and beast.

LINCOLN PHILIP DE GRUCHY, RIP. The number of people in church for Lincoln's funeral was an indication of the respect in which he was held in the parish. He served in the Municipality as a Roads' Inspector and was associated with Trinity Football Club. We send to Kathleen our sympathy at this sad time and pray that she may be comforted in her deep sorrow.

SUNDAY SCHOOL/CHILDREN'S SOCI-ETY COFFEE MORNING. This annual event will be held on Saturday 18th October, from 10.30 am until 12 noon, in the Parish Hall. Please give the Coffee Morning your usual support.

FLOWERS. High Altar: 5th, Mrs R Misson; 12th, Mrs M Dunford; 19th, Mrs J Brocklesby; 26th, Mrs C Barr. Lady Chapel: 5th, Mrs J Keogh; 12th & 19th, Mrs L Le Chevalier; 26th, Mrs A Chanter. War Memorial: 5th, Mrs J de la Haye; 12th, Mrs J Norman; 19th, Miss A Keogh; 26th, Mrs B Le Brun.

HOLY BAPTISM. 24th August, Toby William Vautier; 7th September, Guy William Huelin.

HOLY MATRIMONY. 6th September, Charles Edward Gallichan to Fay Lavinia Bennett.

FUNERALS. 13th August, Emma Krebs; 21st, Lincoln Philip de Gruchy.

 

The Rich Man and Lazarus Revisited

The Rich Man and Lazarus Revisited

The rich man, pomp, ceremony at the feast
Proud, haughty, likes to be given his due
Enjoys adulation, his profile ever increased
And cross him and in anger he will sue

The poor, scrabbling for food, mere scraps
No banquet for them, no sumptuous spread
Starvation and hunger, and then collapse
And in sickness, malnutrition, will be dead

The rich man, powerful over all his empire
Eats, drinks and makes merry at the feast
But lacks all those graces that could inspire
Compassion for the poor has long ceased

But one day, not so far, death will come to him
Nothing to save him, and judgement will be grim

Liberation 80: Some notable individuals during the German Occupation

Alexander Coutanche

Born in 1892, Jersey's future wartime Bailiff was educated locally before studying law in France.

A heart condition kept him from active military service between 1914 and 1918. Instead Coutanche worked in the munitions industry and took an administrative role supporting the armed forces.

A period in legal practice followed and time as an elected States Deputy. After appointment as Solicitor General in 1925, he rose to become Bailiff in 1935.

From late June 1940, Coutanche led Jersey's occupation government, gaining plaudits for his conduct from all sides during these most challenging times. He received a knighthood in 1946 and later life peerage before passing away in 1973

Louisa Gould

Liberation came too late for Jersey resident Louisa Gould, who tragically died in the gas chamber of Ravensbruck concentration camp.

Born in 1891, Mrs Gould raised two sons while running La Fontaine Stores at Millais, St Ouen. One, Ralph, lost his life in 1941 while serving in the Royal Navy. When asked to harbour an escaped slave worker, she agreed, commenting that he must have been 'another mother's son'.

Her generous act eventually came to German attention in 1944, Arrested and imprisoned, she was sent to Germany and her eventual death in 1945.

Vice Admiral Huffmeier

 
The Channel Island's final German commander was born in 1898. A career naval officer, he rose to captain Germany's powerful battlecruiser Scharnhorst in 1942.

Receiving command of German naval forces in the Channel Islands from July 1944, he impressed Hitler, who appointed Huffmeier as overall commander in late February 1945.

Despite threats to fight on, Huffmeier surrendered his command on 9 May 1945. He remained a POW in the UK until 1948, passing away in 1972.

Claude Cahun


Born Lucy Schwob in 1894, Claude Cahun had come to Jersey in 1937, settling with partner and fellow artist Marcel Moore in St Brelade's Bay. Already strongly against fascism, the pair produced anti-Nazi flyers, going as far as slipping them into pockets of unsuspecting Germans.

After arrest in 1944, both women received death sentences for attempting to incite rebellion. Commuted to imprisonment, they were among those only released upon liberation. Sadly, Claude Cahun's broken health led to her early death in 1954.

Brigadier Alfred Snow

Force 135's commander was born in Bristol in 1898. Commissioned as an officer during the First World War, Snow remained in the army after 1918.

He returned to France in 1939, as a major in the Somerset Light Infantry. Rising to brigadier, Snow received command of Force 135 in 1944 with responsibility for liberating the Channel Islands, a task he performed admirably between May and August 1945.

Brigadier Alfred Snow died in Somerset in 1983

Christianity in Action: 52 Lessons in Christian Ethics - Introduction

The local historian G.R. Balleine was also a clergyman, and in the 1920s and 1930s, he penned number of books to help Sunday School Teachers. He’s a master of the pithy anecdote or illustration to bring something to life, and can be seen as an indirect precursor in some ways to later writers such as William Barclay.

I hope on successive Thursdays to transcribe and post chapters of this book.

These lessons also open a window into a clergyman writing in the 1920s and 1930s - what they believed, how they saw the world, sometimes through the lens of Empire, and showing the cultural assumptions of the day.

Some of those we have rightly set aside, but others can challenge us today.

Christianity in Action: 52 Lessons in Christian Ethics
By G.R. Balleine

Let us learn to live according to Christianity.
St. Ignatius.

The soul of religion is the practick part.
Christian in the Pilgrim's Progress.

A handful of good life is worth a bushel of learning.
George Herbert.

Faith without works is dead.
St. James.

Ye shall know them by their fruits.
Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Introduction.

Note:

THE Lessons in this course are arranged for a year with three Sundays after Epiphany and twenty-six Sundays after Trinity. It can easily be adapted to other years, if it is remembered that, when there are fewer Sundays after Epiphany, there will be more after Trinity, and when there are more after Epiphany, there will be fewer after Trinity. Thus, if there are six Sundays after Epiphany, three of the Trinity Lessons (e.g., L., LI., and LII.) must be used after Lesson VIII. ; If there are twenty-seven Sundays after Trinity, Lesson VIII must be kept till the last half of the year. But Lessons assigned to a definite Sunday should always be used on that Sunday.

How to use This Book

THERE are three subjects which must be taught in every Sunday School: (1) Christian History, for our. Religion is one that is based on historical facts, the life of Our Lord upon earth, the work of the Apostles; (2) Christian Doctrine, for our Religion exists to teach the great truths enshrined in the Creed, the Catechism and the Prayer Book, and (3) Christian Ethics, for our Religion professes to be able to teach us the art of right living, what we ought to do and be, the kind of character and the kind of conduct that our Master requires from us. In actual teaching these three are generally intermingled.

We show how Creed must express itself in Conduct, and how Conduct must be based on Creed, and we illustrate both by stories from Christian History ; or else we begin with a story from Christian History, and draw from it doctrinal and ethical lessons.

But we must start somewhere. In previous volumes in this series we have started either with the History (e.g. Boys and Girls of the Bible, Lessons on the Acts of the Apostles, Lessons on the Church Calendar) or with the Doctrine (e.g. Lessons on the Catechism, Lessons on the Prayer Book).

This year we will start with the Ethics, with the child's simple thought “I must be good." We will try to expand and enrich this idea, and to show what the Christian ideal of goodness involves. And surely this is the primary task of Sunday Schools, not to train learned theologians or even profound Bible students, but boys and girls who are learning to live as good Christians should.

It ought hardly to be necessary to say that no one who is not mentally deficient will attempt to give these lessons exactly as they are printed. Yet it is scandalously reported that teachers have been discovered reading the book aloud to their classes.

Rumour even dares to assert that one ingenious person managed to escape this slight effort by passing the book round the class, and making the children read it aloud to one another. No one has any right to undertake the tremendously responsible task of training the Church's children, unless he is willing to spend at least two hours in preparing the lesson beforehand. During those two hours he will ask himself the following questions:—

(1) What is the subject for next Sunday? He will look first at the Title, then at the Aim: then he will let the message of the Text soak thoroughly into his mind. He will say to himself, “My immediate objective is to teach the children to be truthful (or honest, or unselfish, as the case may be)."

(2) What is the Bible story? He will turn up the passage, and read it slowly and thoughtfully. If he has a Commentary or Bible Dictionary, he will glean all the information that he can about the story that will help to make it interesting to the children. He will lean back, and create in his own mind a vivid picture of the scene, so that he can tell the story exactly as if he had seen it happen. Probably he will tell other stories also in the course of his lesson, but he will try to make the one from the Bible the most fascinating of them all.

(3) What suggestions does this Book make for tackling this subject? He will first glance at the headings of the sections. Then he will read the notes through in a critical spirit, treating them not as an official syllabus to be reproduced at all hazards, but as mere suggestions made by one teacher to another, which may or may not be adaptable.

(4) How can I adapt this lesson to the needs of my own class? Classes differ immensely. A class of boys and a class of girls, a class of eleven-year-olds and a class of fourteen-year-olds, a class of village children and a class of slum children and a class of keen scholarship children from a secondary school, need entirely different types of lesson. The writer of Notes like these can only try to put in something for all, leaving individual teachers to sort out what is suitable, to simplify or amplify at discretion.

(5) How shall I illustrate this lesson? All over the world simple people love the story-teller. Of our Lord's method we are told: " Without a parable spake He not unto them." A dull lesson never did any good to any child. But the art of illustration is a real difficulty to many Sunday School teachers. Their own reading is not wide enough nor their memories retentive enough to be able to produce on demand suitable stories illustrating any given subject. Hence the number of illustrations given in the following pages. The writer is not so crazy as to imagine that every story is suitable for every class. An illustration from a nursery rhyme might be greeted with derision by a class of big boys, while an illustration from Dickens would be sheer lunacy in a class that had never heard of him. But it is hoped that teachers will find some of these stories helpful, and that they will be ableto supplement them with others from their own experience and reading. Topical illustrations are the most effective of all, something that happened last week, or something connected with your particular church or parish. The stories in the notes will need considerable expansion before they are effective. In their printed form they are boiled down to their bare bones in order to save space. Imagination must reclothe them with flesh and colour, before they can become attractive.

(6) Have I anything that I can take to show my class? Children love looking at things, and learn far more quickly through the eye than through the ear. The teacher who can produce about half-way through the lesson an appropriate Bible picture, a post card of some famous painting, a map, a diagram, a model or a curio, will at once recover the attention of the most inattentive. The keen teacher keeps a large brown paper envelope into which he slips every picture that he comes across in paper or magazine which may possibly be useful some day, and, like the wise householder in the Gospel, is always bringing out of his treasure things new and old.

By the time he has answered these six questions the lesson has begun to shape itself in his mind, probably quite a different lesson from the one in the book, but' an infinitely better one, because it has all the force of the teacher's personality behind it, and is addressed to the real needs of the real Billy Brown and Bobby Binks whom he knows so well. He then takes a small slip of paper—nothing larger than a quarter of a sheet of notepaper is ever permissible—and jots down the headings of the lesson as he has decided to give it, with just a keyword to suggest each illustration. This he will slip inside the Bible that he takes to school with him. The lesson book will of course always be left at home, for a competent Superintendent inexorably confiscates all lesson books that appear on the school premises.

One thing remains to be done. The text for the Sunday after next must be copied out on little slips of paper, one for each child. These will be given out next Sunday for the children to take home with them. Make sure that every child learns his text each week. If everything else should prove a failure, your work will not have been wholly in vain, if by the end of the year you have fixed fifty-two texts from Scripture firmly in your children's minds. But listen carefully as the texts are repeated. Do not pass “Let him seek pieces of suet" as a satisfactory rendering of 1 Peter iii, 11

A final caution. Important as it is to prepare our lessons, it is even more important to prepare ourselves. The living example of the teacher is far more impressive than the lesson. Words and exhortations are worthless unless they are backed by the life. You yourself stand before the child as the embodied illustration of the truth you speak. Seeing is believing. If your pupils see you possessed by an idea, and struggling to put it into action, they will not be unmoved. But children's eyes are very quick to detect an inconsistency. Two well-known sayings are worth repeating again and again: “Teaching is really a matter of contagion rather than of instruction”; “Religion is caught not taught." The old name for teaching was pedagogy, and that means child-leading. We cannot lead anyone, unless we first ourselves tread the path.

Live Thou within us, Lord,
Thy mind and will be ours. Be Thou beloved, adored,
And served with all our powers; That so our lives may teach
Thy children what Thou art, And plead by more than speech
For Thee with every heart.