Island Players hold a Dinner Dance

From an article in Jersey Life, from the 1960s. I remember the Island Players, who used to stage their shows at the "Little Theatre", sadly now all demolished. I hope someone rescued the wooden board with all their plays and dates of plays on it. I went to a few performances there in the 1990s and particularly remember one around Liberation Day which had two separate "Playlets", with music from wartime in between from the La Ronde Concert Band, led by Leslie Le Marinel, which also sneaked in (surely they had to!) the Dad's Army theme tune!

Valenda Pelletier

Pogrom

Much of the media have described marches led by far-right activists in the UK which led to out of control riots and looting as 'anti-immigration protests', but Ian Dunt says the term 'anti-immigration' is woefully insufficient. He says what occurred was not a demonstration, not just a riot and more than just violent disorder. What occurred was a pogrom - an attempt to attack and in some cases murder people, targeting those with black and brown skin

Pogrom

She gave her child a brick to throw:
Breaking glass is all they know;
And setting a world on fire afar,
Messages burning here a scar;

Book burning has come again:

Nazis did this, way back then;
Difference hatred there and here,
And with difference comes fear:
Destroy, exterminate, wipe out,
Throw bricks with baying shout;
Hatred rises against the stranger:
Mobs run riot, causing danger;
Behind the scenes, dark voices cry:
Feeding flames with every lie;
Burn not just adults but a child:
Evil words make speech defiled;
Cockroach, vermin, alien race:
But kindness has a human face;
While hate burning like a fire,
And speeches light a funeral pyre,
Hands come to help, not fight:
Against the wrong, the way of right;
They reach out to have and hold:
A community of hope is bold;
And will rebuild from ashes now;
Ways of peace: this is the vow;
This is the country of the kind,
And not all are lost or blind;
Darkest hour before sunrise:
Sunrise where the future lies.

1974 - 50 Years Ago - August 2024 Part 2

1974 - 50 Years Ago - August 2024 Part 2

17.—Lucky winner! A man who walked into B. J. O’Connor’s Hilgrove Street office to claim a £12 prize in last Thursday’s lottery walked out again ten minutes later still hardly believing that he had won the £12000 jackpot. The man, a Portuguese hotel worker from Madeira, is under-stood to be in his late twenties. and married with one son.

19.—A 20-year-old pedestrian, James Joseph Cowie, died in the General Hospital in the earlry hours of this morning after being struck by a van on the Five Mile Road at about 11.30 last night. His 17-year-old girl-friend, also hit by the van,‘ is detained with bruising to her body. This was the second road death of the year.

20.—Two young people lost their lives when the car in which they were driving along St. Catherine’s Road went over the side of the cliff and plunged about 80 ft. into the sea. Centenier J. D. Germain, of St. Martin, assumed charge or the investigations with P.C. H. Hougue.

21.—Passenger arrivals for last month were down by nearly 7,000 on the figure for July last year. In the, Economic Adviser’s office comments on the statistics they point out that there were five Sundays in July, 1973, but only four this year.

22..—The strike at La. Collette land reclamation site was made official, and it is probable that the men will be paid for the time they have been out. A meeting of the two sides has been arranged for tomorrow and Mr. E. G. Allen, the regional secretary of the TGWU. has been invited to attend.

23.—The Constable of St. Brelade, Mr, Max de la Haye has hit out at the detrimental effect camp sites have on the Island, and called for a limit on numbers as they are now. .

24.—The. Post Office in. Broad Street is running a very successful bureau de change. It opened on June 17, since when there have been over 3,000 customers.

27 .—The teenage couple whose bodies were found in a car at the foot of a cliff opposite La Crete Quarry, Archirondel, last Wednesday morning, were drowned after the car was driven at a fast speed. Round the: bend and plunged on to the rocks below, an inquest jury decided.

28.—The go-ahead for a resumption of air services between Shoreham and the Channel Islands has. been given by the Civil Aviation Authority.

29.—-Family chemist Mr. Charles Mark Stone retires at the end of this week after 40 years in the pharmaceutical industry. His business premises is to be sold to a local resident.

30.--It was revealed at a Press conference that the Committee of Agriculture are using emergency powers to cope with the outbreak or! Dutch Elm disease.

Lammas

Lammas

Ancient of days, the tribe travelling:
History nomadic, often unravelling;
Following the prey, to hunt and kill:
The tribal glory, for good and ill;
Fleeing the ice sheets of the North,
Frozen touch of gods brings forth;
Land in icy shroud, the fingers numb,
Southwards still the glaciers come;
Stone axe and flint to make our fire,
The hunt, the feast is our desire;
But those grown old, are left behind:
The nomadic life is never kind;
Until one day, one year, one time,
We settled in a warmer clime,
And the wild wheat began to take,
Grind up and bread began to make;
The wattle huts, the potter’s clay,
A settled life for us, a better way;
The milling stone, the fields white,
The harvest was a lovely sight;
And as many centuries go past,
The miller’s craft will always last;
The reaping in the fields today:
And first fruits of the harvest day;
Not for granted, this bread of life:
Especially in our world of strife;
For our good harvest, let us pray:
Still give thanks on Lammas day.

1974 - 50 Years Ago - August 2024 Part 1

1974 - 50 Years Ago - August 2024 Part 1

1.—Opportunity knocks! The Battle of Flowers took place in beautiful weather and thousands of people enjoyed the colourful spectacular. Hughie Green was the guest celebrity who accompanied Miss Battle (Sue de Gruchy) around the arena. The Prix d’Honneur was won by “Olé”, the float entered by the Parish of St. Clement. “ The Old Woman who lived in a Shoe ”, the float entered by the Parish of Grouville, won the Prix d’Excellence.

2.—The States Industrial Relations Advisory Officer, Mr. Bernard Heptinstall, is retiring at the end of the Year and it is the intention of the Industrial Relations committee that he be replaced by a part-time officer. Mr. Heptinstall said he was retiring for “ personal and domestic reasons ”.

3.—Jersey’s second big event of the week began this morning at 8 a.m. It was the ten-hour bike-a-thon, a, Sponsored cycling event organized by the Variety Club of Jersey to raise money for under-privileged children.

5.—Positive steps are now being taken towards the provision of a colour television service for Jersey. The foundations of the Independent Broadcasting Authority's Frémont mast are being strengthened to allow a 17-foot extension to be erected at the top. If all goes according to plan Jersey will have colour television and BBC 2 in 1976.

6.—The £19,000 top prize in last Friday afternoon’s Battle of Flowers Lottery draw was claimed by a visitor from Kingston-on-Thames, Surrey, from the States Treasury this morning. The winner wanted no publicity.



8.—Jersey is to be represented in the official “ Miss World ” contest in London, in November, for the first time, The invitation from organizers Mecca Entertainments was accepted by the Tourism Committee at their meeting this afternoon.

12,—Daily average sales of the " Jersey Evening Post " for the first six months of this year rose by 374 copies over the same period last year, to give- an official circulation figure for the January/June period of 21,300 - by far the highest figure ever achieved for the first half of a year.

13.—Jersey may lose between two-thirds and three-quarters of its total tree population because of the outbreak of a particularly virulent form of Dutch elm disease. This forecast was made today by Mr. G. Journeaux, superintendent of parks and gardens at the States Public Works Department.

15.——A one-day token strike by members of the TGWU has brought work at the land reclamation site at La Collette to a halt. The strike concerns the alleged victimization of a shop steward by a site supervisor.

16.—Jersey house prices are dropping but people are still finding that they cannot afford to buy, two Island housing experts said today. Prices have come down considerably in some cases in recent months, said estate agent Mr. E. G. Fame. who gave the main reasons as the virtual ban on rich immigrants to the Island and a shortage of cash on the part of would-be local buyers.

Hunchback

One from the archive from 25th April 2005. As it is the Paris Olympics, I thought I'd take inspiration from Victor Hugo's great novel "The Hunchback of Notre Dame". Shown in the photo is Lon Chaney from the silent version as the hunchback,

Hunchback

Broken, twisted form in pain

Every effort for him a strain

Bent with a crippling illness

Such is not a sight to impress

People turn, avert their gaze

But he keeps faith, does amaze

As he eats the broken bread

This is my body, here is said

Broken for you, and for many

Our eyes are open, and we see

Our Lord in our midst now here

As we too come, and draw near

Where are you Lord? Here today

A broken brother kneels to pray. 

 

The Story of the Shipwrecked Jersey Sailor who became a Monk

The Story of the Shipwrecked Jersey Sailor who became a Monk
By Philip Ahier

Le Comte de Chateaubriand in his Essay on "Les Revolutions Anciennes" (4th Edition, 1826, Vol. II pp. 384-387) told the story of a Jersey sailor who became a monk.

The distinguished French writer visited Gracioza, an island off the Azores on May 6th, 1794. Here he met the Jerseyman: "The chief brother who acted as our guide was a Jersey seaman whose vessel some years previously had struck the coast of Gracioza. He was the only survivor from the shipwreck. Not lacking in intelligence, he had noticed that there was only one occupation in the Island, that of being a monk! He determined to become one and became extremely interested in the lessons given to him by the Fathers; he learnt the Portuguese language and several Latin words. Eventually, because he was an Englishman, this erring sheep was brought back to the fold and made a priest.”

"The Jersey sailor, fed, housed, kept warm and having nothing to do but drink fayal (a kind of wine), found this mode of life much more congenial than unfurling the foresail on the top of a main yard. “

"He often remembered his former avocation. Having been so long without talking his native tongue (de Chateaubriand does not say which?), he was delighted to find someone who could understand it with the result that he laughed, he swore, he told us in truly sailor-like fashion, the scandalous history of Father So-and-So who was likewise present but who hadn't the slightest idea of the conversation which the English monk was regaling us! Then he promenaded us around the Island and took us to the convent.”

(At this point de Chateaubriand gave a description of the Island of Gracioza).

"Evening came, we partook of an excellent repast. Very pretty girls waited upon us with the wines. We gulped, fayal in large quantities. It was easy to see what was going to happen.

By one o'clock in the morning there was not a guest who could be seated in his chair! At 6 a.m. our Jersey monk told us in a stammering hesitant speech, punctuated with an English swear word only too well-known, that he was going to celebrate Mass immediately. We accompanied him to the church, when in less than five minutes the office had been performed ! Several Portuguese assisted very reverentially to the Sacred Office, while on our return we met many persons who bowed most obsequiously to the Monk's habit.

"The impudence with which this sailor, sodden with wine and debauchery, offered his arm to the crowd, amused me, but at the same time, I could not help, from the bottom of my heart, deploring the stupidity of mankind."

Part of the above story was originally reproduced by De La Croix in his "Ville de St. Helier" (p. 132), but unfortunately he gave the incorrect page. This necessitated having to consult the two volumes of de Chateaubriand's work on "Les Revolutions Anciennes" in order to get the complete story as De La Croix did not transcribe it all.

Outage

As Microsoft and Crowd-strike fail with a global outage, time to take stock.

Outage

The world stopped, at least the West
Technology failed after one upgrade
In hubris, we thought we were best
As the screens slowly begin to fade

Cards not cash, but if cards now fail
That which we thought so secure
From Airports and Tills comes a wail
How many hours can we endure?

Chaos comes again, bubbling out
Bad code and failure in one line
Computers fail, this is a route
Dependency by our design

A warning note for us to heed
Or our world may fail indeed

Entries of Burials in St. Martin's Parish Church Register of persons drowned off Jersey, 1665-1816.

Entries of Burials in St. Martin's Parish Church Register of persons drowned off Jersey, 1665-1816.

By Philip Ahier

The Parish Registers of St. Martin contain mournful accounts of lives that, from time to time, have been lost within sight of land with no one to help them.

The following extracts, translated from the French, were reproduced in the Parish Magazine for that Parish between the years 1890-1898 by a former Rector, the Rev. Thomas Le Neveu, the grandfather of the present Rector, the Rev. E. C. Lempriere.

September 1665

"On the last Saturday of September 1665, Clement Journeaux, Jean d'Assigni and Nicolas Baudayns, all three natives of this Parish, and Jean Dolbel of St. Saviour, were drowned at low water ... They were drowned at the rock called La Conchiee in Grouville Bay."

June 26th, 1667

"On June 26th, 1667, George Machon, son of Thomas, son of Helier left his house early in the morning to go trawling by la tour Perin at the north of Trinity Parish. He was drowned, no one knows how; his body was found twelve days after in Rozel Haven at the spot known as La Grasse Fosse."

February 9th, 1676

"On Friday, February 9th, 1676, Edouard Mallet son of Jean, Jean Le Huquet, Abraham Le Huquet, Lorans Le Moigne, his son Jean Le Moigne, Nicollas Noel, Pierre Giffard, Jean Le Huquet, son of Jean, Phil Renouf, and George Germain, ten men in all, were gathering seaweed at a spot called Rousetain in a boat belonging to Jean Le Huquet and his partners when it struck a rock and sank between 4 and 5 p.m. All the ten bodies were found near a rock called Le Repasseur des pierces on the following day."

March 6th, 1682

An account of a catastrophe which occurred in St. Ouen's Bay on March 6th, 1682, found its way into St. Martin's Parish Register although there are two discrepancies in this version as compared with an almost contemporaneous account found among the D'Auvergnes - MS. and reproduced in B.S.J. Vol. VI p. 52.

I have attempted to translate the story of this tragedy in readable English; some words are not to be found in any French. English Dictionary so only the essential details of the narrative are given:

"The following persons left le Havre de l'Etacq in a sloop: Mr. Jean Dauverne, Constable, Captain and Deputy for Monsieur de St. Ouen. Dlle Rachel le Montay, wife of the said Dauverne. Mr. Francoise Ricard, Centenier and Deputy for Monsieur Vinchelez de Bas. Mr. Pierre Le Brocq, Churchwarden. Mr. Philippe Dauverne, Master of the sloop. Jean Hacquoil, Parish Clerk and Constable's Officer. Esther Bellee, wife to the Parish Clerk. Mr. Jean Vautier, son of Jean, son of Edward. Jean Hamon, son of Jean Robele, man-servant of Mr. Jean Dauverne.

"They embarked for Le Havre de L'Etacq in order to catch oysters around the coast, they left an area known as La Demie Retraite from whence blew a fresh north wind. Unfortunately for them, they had hoisted sail and kept to the coast all the day. In the evening they attempted to return but foundered about half an-hour to three-quarters-of-an-hour after sunset. It was high tide between Le Pulec and Le Hurel at the hour stated; they were all drowned without any one being able to come to their rescue." (The rest of the account deals with the burial of the bodies). This was the surmise of the writer of this MS. account of the shipwreck tragedy. It must have made a deep impression upon the whole Island at the time, and hence one reason for its having been recorded in the Register of St. Martin where the scene of the wreck is definitely given as Le Pulle, whereas in the D'Auvergne MS., the rendering is Le Pimar.

July 31st, 1704

"On July 31st, 1704, Jean du Fresne son of Jean, Jean Germain son of Noe, Hugh Noel, Elie Starcq son of Jean, natives of this parish were interred. They were drowned on Sunday July 30th, with Jean Le Sueur of La Godellerie who was then one of the Churchwardens of the Parish of Trinity. There were also drowned, Thomas Le Riche du Catel son of Jean; Philippe Le Riche, nigh to Bouley; Hugh Whiller, son of Richard who was Prevost of that Parish and a son of Philippe Le Maistre, miller. The five from Trinity were buried in that churchyard the same day." "There was also a woman from St. Lawrence named Elizabhet (sic) Le Gros, the widow of Rouge Remon who had gone to see her son who was serving in one of the frigates."

"All the above persons had gone together to see the frigates which were anchored in Bouley Bay and were drowned by the overturning of the boat."

This entry is important as it indicates an instance of the English fleet cruising along the north coast of the Island in 1704. The War of the Spanish Succession had broken out in that year, and Louis XIV King of France was supporting the claims of his grandson as King of Spain and had declared War on England. A squadron of the English fleet had distinguished itself in the capture of Gibraltar on July 24th, 1704, while this squadron at Bouley Bay was ready to attack any French warship lurking in the vicinity.

March 1816

The last entry of burials of shipwrecked persons is the account of the interment of some of the French people drowned as the result of the sinking of the Balance in March 1816.

"On March 27th, 1816, Josephine Doucet, Sophie Bonnevie, Pelagie Poirrier, Edmond Briard, Louise Doubet, Jules Vigneau and Marguerite Bourgeoise, wife of Jacques Poirrier were buried in the cemetery of this Parish. They were drowned, with many others, on the Dirouilles on the night of the 23rd inst."

Jigsaw

A poem about dementia.

Jigsaw

On one day I saw the picture whole
Complete in every glorious scene
But strangers came and pieces stole
And no longer the whole I glean

Piece by piece the picture breaks
Maybe worn or lost, I cannot tell
Gaps where once were lovely lakes
And bluebells growing in the dell

I so try to fill the blanks in places
Even if the past is in the present
Come long dead, forgotten faces
Take and place in missing segment

Now jigsaw sometimes seems so strange
But I am not aware of the change.

1974 - 50 Years Ago - July 2024 Part 2

1974 - 50 Years Ago - July 2024 Part 2

16.—-The cost of living in Jersey has officially gone up by 5.3 per cent in the last three months and by no less than 20.9 per cent in the year since last June. The rise in the cost of food over the 12-month period was 22 per cent, and in the cost of fuel (including lighting), the increase was a. massive 68 per cent.

18.—Ten or the Island’s 12 parishes are almost certain to enter the inter-parish “ It’s a Knockout " competition next month, and there is a. possibility that the other two parishes. Grouville and St. John, will enter if anyone can be found to organize a team.

19.—A record total of 157,495 people travelled to the Island last month. The total arrivals for the January-June period of 464,738 persons was also a record.

20,—The Committee of Agriculture are to pursue a tougher line against landowners and occupiers who allow “injurious weeds ” to grow on their property. Under a little-known law. the Weeds (Jersey) Law, 1961, offenders are liable to a £50 fine for the first ofience.

22.—Following a tough adventure weekend, 18 year-old Richard Le Boutillier, or Woodlands, Mont a l'Abbé, St. Helier. has been selected to join Major John Blashford-Snell and the Scientific Exploration Society expedition down the Zaire River.

23.—The sale of seats for the Battle of Flowers on Thursday next week is going well, and a complete sell-out is again expected.

24.—Over 300 chance holidaymakers are arriving in the Island daily and putting pressure on the staff of the Tourism Centre at the Weighbridge who have appealed for information or accommodation available, even its only for one night.

25.—The West Vancouver Band Association gave their first public performance in Jersey when they marched through parts of the town to the King Street pedestrian precinct where they played for 30 minutes.

26.—The States Police Force is in good spirit and there is now a better understanding between them and the Honorary Police. This is the opinion of Mr. R G. Fenwick. QPM. HM Inspector of Constabulary, at the end of his five day routine inspection or the fence.

27.—The first of the continental banks recommended in the Policy Advisory Committee’s five-year plan as potential additions to the Island’s finance scene is on the verge of being granted a licence to operate in Jersey. Discussions with the leading Dutch bank. Algemene Bank, Nederland, have reached the stage of the formal granting of a licence, states Economic Adviser Mr. Colin Powell revealed, and talks are also going on with a View to attracting a bank with strong Middle East interests

30.—Over 30 clubs, societies. schools and other organizations have already accepted the “ JEP’s” invitation to register as collectors in the paper salvage scheme which has been devised in conjunction with the States Sewerage Board. However, there is still time for more to do so.

31.—The Queen has approved the appointments or Mr. Peter Crill as Deputy Bailiff and Mr. Vernon Tomes as HM Attorney-General with effect from January 1, 1975.

A Glance at Local Politics: Income Support and the Minimum Wage

Minimum wage and Income support

At the last Chamber Talk, Chief Minister Lyndon Farnham declared that he was committed to raising the minimum wage towards a living wage over the next two years. He said support would be given to businesses which had difficulty because of the nature of their industry.

The notion of helping the most vulnerable in society, of addressing poverty, is currently largely done by the mitigating factor of income support, which is means tested to ensure it gets to where it is needed most. If the thresholds are too low, people suffer deprivation, but if too high, it becomes a disincentive to work.

As the minimum wage stands, because it is below the living wage, employers are effectively having their business subsidised by income support to bridge the gap. This was something discussed a few years ago when I was chatting to two Constables at a meeting. One in particular did not see why the more profitable sectors should benefit in this way.

Some businesses - such as agriculture and hospitality - have historically struggled to make ends meet as the minimum wage increases. But a lot of other businesses - including the major industry in Jersey - the finance industry - really suffers little hardship. And the question which must surely be asked: why should the States subsidise them when they can well afford an increase in the minimum wage?

By increasing the minimum wage, but targeting selectively with some sort of subsidy, the kinds of industry that because of their structure and the nature of their industry have problems with remaining a going concern, those businesses which can well afford the increase will have less effective subsidy of their staff by income support. Quite what measures could be put in place to mitigate need discussion, but one way already in place is the level of offsets.

Where accommodation or accommodation and food are provided to employees as part of their employment package, maximum values are attributed to those benefits which can be taken into account when calculating whether an employee has been paid the Minimum Wage. Those are known as offsets.

Other measures may include tax incentives, subsidies, or training programs to help businesses adapt to higher labour costs.

Encounters

Encounters

I think, therefore I am. Not so!
Apart from others I am no one
Encounters both of joy and woe
Make life’s tapestry so spun

Encounters coming at the dawn
The pan-pipes playing on the hill
Joy to which I’m strangely drawn
Old music to inspire and thrill

Encounters on the winding road
The stranger met as if by chance
Words of wisdom from him flowed
Showing patterns in the dance

Encounters come and go each day
Bring to life our mortal clay

1974 - 50 Years Ago - July 2024 Part 1

1974 - 50 Years Ago - July 2024 Part 1

1,—Over 100 destitutes have so far been sent back to the mainland at Island expense—more than twice as many as in the first six months of last year. British Airways operated their first scheduled Jet passenger service from the Island this morning using an 86-seater BAC-11, series 400.

2.—Because of a steady fail of rain in the last nine days of June, the average for the month was up on past years.

3.—Property developer Mr. Gerald Symonds’s multimillion pound plan to build a “ new town ” of 2,400 homes on Land reclaimed between the Esplanade and Elizabeth Castle has been turned down.

4. —The man who last month escaped from Newgate Street prison and spent four days hiding from an Island-wide search was sentenced by the Royal Court today to four years in jail for attempted rape.

5.—-A young Londoner who pushed a 65-year-old taxi driver to the ground because he refused him as a. fare was fined a total of £50 by the Assistant Magistrate.

7.-—-Every seat was taken for the gala performance of music and ballet led by prima ballerina Dame Margot Fonteyn, and the applause which brought a concert by top artistes to an end went on for more than five minutes.

8.—-Thieves who broke into Le Douet Farm, Léoville St. Ouen, the home of Mr. Graham Webb, sometime today, stole the safe which contained cash, jewellery, stamps and coins valued at more than £5,000.

9.-—The anti-submarine frigate HMS Dundnas anchored in St. Aubin’s Bay this morning at the start of a six day visit to the Island.

10.—Ralph Shanahan. the man who hit a 91-year-old woman with a milk bottle after breaking into her home, had his nine year jail sentence cut to six on a point of principle by the Channel Islands’Court of Appeal today

11.——A Channel Islands’ team is to visit London next Friday for talks on the Kilbrandon Report. Representatives from Jersey, Guernsey and Alderney will meet officials from the Home Oflfice and the Foreign and Commonwealth Officer to discuss the implication of the report with regard to the Channel Islands.

12.—-Jersey growers who, after an indifferent potato season, were looking forward to another million pound plus cauliflower bonanza this winter, could well be facing a crisis. The recent lack of rainfall has seriously hampered germination in the seed beds with the result that there is likely to be a severe shortage of plants.

13.—Housing has been found for all the 38 new schoolteachers coming to the Island to start work in September. A Housing Department spokesman said that their advertisements in the “ JEP ” had produced nearby 50 replies, as a. result or which accommodation was now available for all new teachers.

15.—The CID are investigating the theft early today of £1,600 in cash and cheques from the safe in the office at L’Auberge du Nord, St. John.

The Celestial Sisters

One from the back catalogue today. This is a celebration of the sun and moon, unlike other cultures, both feminine to the Celts, in contrast to the Roman and Greek depictions of male sun and female moon. Written 8th June 2005.


The Celestial Sisters

The sisters dancing in the sky
Sun and moon, so graceful fly
The moon follows sister bright
The sun, so golden in her sight
And if they come to talk in day
Watch and wonder at their play
If earth should mask the moon
Glowing ember, good fortune
If moon should hide the sun
Darkness shadows everyone
Moon by night, sun by day
Sisters dance in harmony
Such is ancient Celtic lore
Celestial sisters so adore.

John Terry Limited - Gleanings from Unseen Jersey

I saw this, and asked for more information on Unseen Jersey, as it looked as if it might have an interesting history. I also came across this online from part of a letter on the States website by Mick Millar:

John Terry Limited, one of Jersey's oldest family companies (John Terry was my great-great grandfather) traded as Agricultural merchants in the island for 100 years until 1975 when the demise of the "bridge" system in the 1960s finally rendered its activities obsolete. Since then, the company has rented out its remaining property at 8, 9 Esplanade - 8, 10, 12 Commercial Street.

Here are some of the gleanings from Unseen Jersey.

John Terry Limited, one of Jersey's oldest family companies traded as Agricultural merchants in the island for 100 years until 1975...

They used to deliver supplies to farmers - well-known merchants on The Esplanade, and handled export crops.

The largest export merchants, Mick Millar is the grandson ran his office furniture upstairs, now Dandara, they John Terry had other stores.

This company was an agent/distributor buying produce from farmers, which was then shipped to places like Covent Garden market in London.

My uncle Dennis Blackmore worked there years ago.

My father worked there with Roy Horsefall, as the clerk, his office had a window facing the street. At one time his assistant was going out with Englebert Humperdinck.....as my father was fluent in Jersey French he was very important in the firm.

At that time dealing with Jersey farmers in Jersey French was no doubt an asset. Still in the nineties I remember speaking French to farmers and traffic wardens. The accent was very close to their Norman cousins 15 miles away to the East. On se comprenaient très bien. Il est grand temps de revenir au bilinguisme. C'est l'âme de Jersey. (We understood each other very well. It's high time to return to bilingualism. It's the soul of Jersey.)

It’s a listed building, so hopefully it will be refurbished when the rest of the site is developed

Midsummer War

We have recently passed the longest day of the year (June 20), but another day this year also commemorates a different kind of "the longest day", as the title of the film about D-Day, 80 years ago. By midsummer that year, the Normandy beaches were taken but there was fierce fighting to take and liberate Cherbourg by the Americans. This poem combines both stories, and also a myth that mid-summer, young women would gather rose petals as a means of seeking love. The saying goes as follows:

Rose leaves, rose leaves, rose leaves I strew;
He that will love me, come after me now.

Alas, in 1944, many flowers would end on gravestones.

Midsummer War

The longest day, and yet also the name
Given to war time memory’s early claim,
When in June the landing craft arrived,
And German soldiers were surprised;
Stormy weather made invasion poor:
But break in the weather opened door,
And the landings came, freedom began:
Liberty to captives said the newsman
By mid-June Cherbourg was the prize,
The battleground where the cries,
Of the wounded, the dying, heard;
Nature fell silent, no song of bird,
As fighting began upon the street,
As German and Americans meet;
And fierce fighting goes on all day:
This also the longest day, they say,
Midsummer and sun shines bright:
Good against evil: endless fight;
While the sun shines long above,
Myths tell of rose petals of love,
Reflecting saying I love you:
Midsummer legends sad and true;
Soldier’s sweethearts left behind,
Remember legends so enshrined:
Where have all the flowers gone,
Gone to soldiers who passed on:
All to graveyards, everyone one,
Under shining Midsummer sun.

Jersey Zoo 25 Years - Timeline

Historical highlights


1958 November 7, Les Augres lease signed.


1959 March 14, Jersey Zoological Park Ltd. formed.
March 26, Jersey Zoo opens (adult admission 10p).
Gorilla female N'Pongo arrives.
Tapir Claudius arrives.
Common marmosets arrive and breed.

1960 Second female gorilla, Nandi, arrives.
Second female tapir, Claudette, arrives.

1962 Female cheetah Paula arrives to join Peter.
Servals arrive.

1963 July 6, Inauguration of the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust.
Bornean orangutans Oscar and Bali arrive.

1964 Construction of great ape cages complete.
Ring-tailed lemurs arrive.

1965 First South American tapir and chimpanzee bred.
Ursine colobus and two leopards arrive.
Baboon and monkey cages rebuilt

1956 Leopard cage complete.
Two pairs of white—eared pheasants arrive.
First serval kittens bred.

1967 Scientific Advisory Committee formed.
First two ursine colobus born.
First cereopsis geese bred.

1968 First pair of Parma wallabies arrives.
First colobus cage completed.

1969 Lemur range completed.
First 13 white-eared pheasants reared.
Second colobus cage completed.
Zoo garden committee formed.
White-eared pheasant aviaries completed.

1970 First Parma wallabies bred.
Tapir and cheetah complex completed.
Spectacled bear enclosure completed.

1971 Les Augres Manor purchased.
Owl aviaries complete.
Congo peacock house complete.
Eight Rothschild’s mynahs arrive.
First Bornean orang-utan bred.
Swinford aviaries complete. ~

1972 August 21, Princess Anne accepts patronage.
Brian Park gorilla complex opened by David Niven.
First Jamaican hutias arrive.
Jambo, male lowland gorilla arrives.
Gir lions arrive. ,
Petrona, female spectacled bear arrives to join Pedro.
Mayotte brown lemurs arrive. '
First Sumatran orang-utan bred.
First conference on breeding endangered species in Jersey.

1973 Howard aviaries completed.
First two gorillas, Assumbo and Mamfe bred.
SAFE International launched, later renamed
Wildlife Preservation Trust International.

1974 Marmoset House opened.
Third gorilla, Zaire bred.
First Mayotte brown lemur bred.
Nutritional research laboratory opened.
Nocturnal Hutia house opened by James Stewart.
Waldrapp ibis cage completed.
Fourth and fifth gorillas bred.
St Lucia and St Vincent parrots arrive.
Three pairs of Goeldi’s monkey arrive and breed.
First two spectacled bear cubs bred.
First seven Waldrapp ibis hatched.

1976 October 27, Gaherty Reptile Breeding Centre opened by HRH Princess Anne.
Cafe Dodo opened.
‘ Keller Aviaries complete.
Eric Young marmoset building opened.
Rodrigues fruit bats arrive and breed.
Jamaican boas arrive.
Radiated tortoises arrive.
Round Island reptiles arrive—first 11 skinks bred.

1977 Five pink pigeons arrive.
Two pairs of Meller’s ducks arrive.
First 58 Jamaican boas bred.
Appeal for new gorilla accommodation launched.
Education officer appointed.

1978 June 4, Veterinary centre opened by US Ambassador to London.
Pink pigeon aviaries completed.
Rodrigues fruit bat accommodation completed.
First training scholarship awarded to a Mauritian.
First four pink pigeons bred.
First 12 Meller’s ducks bred.
Four golden lion tamarins arrive.
Rodrigues fodies arrive.

1979 Student training scheme launched.
SAFE (Save Animals From Extinction) relaunched as a fund-raising campaign.
Les Noyers purchased as training centre.
Volcano rabbits arrive.
Research assistant appointed.

1980 First two golden lion tamarins bred.
Gorilla complex completed.
Rodrigues fody range opened.
First summer school run.

1981 First annual vote for field studies.
Opening of gorilla centre.
Launch of the Dodo Club.

1982 First captive breeding of St Lucia parrot.
Volunteer guides introduced.
Corporate membership launched.

1983 Zoo visitors top 250,000.

Cyclists and Motor Cars - the Good and the Bad.

A recent Bailiwick Express article highlighted the issue of social media critics of bicycles, and they have a point, but it is not the complete picture. Look online and there are plenty of examples of bicycle riders who appear to be so ignorant of the Highway Code that they probably think it is a book by Dan Brown. I myself have seen:

• Cyclists going down towards St Aubin in the 20 mph zone at around 30 mph
• Cyclists swerving from road to zebra crossing
• Cyclists going the wrong way down a one way street
• Cyclists going through red lights at First Tower (sometimes on road / pavement / road)
• Cyclists swerving across road to turn without hand signals
• Cyclists with one hand on handlebars and one on smart phone (looking at while cycling)
• Cyclists with headphones on while cycling (and can't hear any vehicles)

So there is a case - a rational case - for some negativity.

But there are also some cyclists who have seen cars behind and pulled in briefly to let me and other drivers through, cyclists who are polite when asking pedestrians on the railway walk to let them through (I'm very deaf so can't easily hear bells behind me), cyclists who signal in plenty of time before turning. And the vast majority of cyclists belong here.

So what is happening here. Stanford linguistics professor Arnold Zwicky has studied what he called “the frequency illusion:

"The Frequency Illusion is a result of two well-known psychological processes, selective attention (noticing things that are salient to us, disregarding the rest) and confirmation bias (looking for things that support our hypotheses, disregarding potential counterevidence), which also contribute to the two group illusions, through the mediation of various social divisions between Us and Them (which make certain features salient to us)."

When it comes to bad behaviour on the road (cyclists / car drivers) or in shared spaces (pedestrians / cyclists), we are primed to remember the worst cases, and not the many cases which do not draw themselves to our attention.

So cyclists are pouncing on the cases of bad car driving close to them, ignoring the many good drivers out there. Pedestrians - as a recent forum on the Railway walk showed - remember cyclists coming at speed, perhaps ringing bells, but not slowing down and whizzing close by them.

It's the worst behaviour which gets highlighted, much as the Jersey Evening Post puts a headline on the drunk driver without a licence, or the driver going at 50 mph in a 30 mph zone. It doesn't run stories on all the good drivers on the road, and given the number of cars on the road, it is extraordinary how statistically few accidents happen. 

Sometimes the bad behaviour of car drivers when overtaking cyclists seems to be highlighted so much that it seems there is almost a vendetta against car users. And the language there can be quite forceful and discriminatory social media too. There's a pro-cycling lobby which sometimes forgets that not everyone is close to a bus stop, some people because of health and/or age can't walk long distances to catch a bus - and some people (like myself and several friends) have balance issues and can't cycle. 

Of course if a car collides with a cyclist, the cyclist will often come off worst (as has happened), and if a cyclist collides with a pedestrian (as has happened), the pedestrian will often come off worse. While the recent statistics show cyclist / car accidents have risen over the years, it is salutory to note that More pedestrians were injured by cyclists in the UK last year than ever before, according to new figures. It happens here too, but luckily not as badly - but unlike car drivers, cyclists are not insured. 

As a States of Jersey police missive noticed, some of these risks are due to poor behaviour:

"Cycling in the pedestrian areas of town (and other parishes) is a persistent issue that potentially puts pedestrians in danger. Over the coming days officers will be focusing on this problem. Please respect the rules and WALK YOUR WHEELS."

We shouldn't stop calling out bad driving of cars close to cyclists, but bad cycling also is not good as an example to others, especially younger people. To use a cliché, we need a "grown up" dialogue, where the aim is to educate and improve. Perhaps car drivers learning to drive need more instruction about passing cyclists, and perhaps cyclists need some kind of simplified Highway code test to ensure they do know it. It is to the benefit of everyone to improve standards on roads and shared spaces.

Deputy Lyndon Farnham's Chamber of Commerce Speech

Good afternoon.

It is a pleasure to be here, and to give my first Chamber Lunch speech as Chief Minister.

At Christmas, I had no idea that I would be speaking to you today.

That is the random nature of politics – my aim is to make it slightly less random because we need stability.

Can I start by saying that it is both an honour and a privilege to do this job.

I know it’s only been five months but I am thoroughly enjoying it!

I work with a group of very able and engaged Ministers and am supported by dedicated, hard-working public servants.

We now have a government that is more representative of the States Assembly and provides a much-improved political balance which I believe will help to deliver in areas that benefit the whole community.

We came into office amidst a period of local economic upheaval and political unsteadiness.

And it quickly became clear that we needed a period of calm and stability and perhaps even some political unity.

We needed to get back to basics.

To re-focus on the essential services and tackle the most immediate challenges facing Islanders.

That means addressing the cost-of-living crisis, providing more affordable new homes, re focusing on the health service and getting on with delivering the new hospital.

We also needed to get things moving again in relation to States business and have addressed a number of outstanding items.

In the first five months this Council of Ministers have resolved the long-running pay dispute with teachers and agreed a three year pay deal with the rest of the public sector ensuring continuity and stability in the provision of public services.

We have purchased Grève De Lecq and passed it on to the National Trust, who will ensure it is utilised in the best interests of the area and of the Island.

Provided a million pounds to charities from the dormant bank accounts fund – with more to follow, and we have leased part of St Ewold’s from the Parish of St Helier as a rehabilitation centre – replacing Samares Ward with an even better facility.

We have had a robust, and respectful, debate on Assisted Dying, allowing us to bring formal legislation to the States Assembly.

We have reduced GP fees by a further £10.

We have provided 13 weeks of financial support for domestic abuse violence victims, introduced electronic prescriptions across Health Care Services, and had the Nursery Education Fund approved for the next four years.

We also launched the £10m “First Step” assisted home ownership scheme, where we are giving Islanders a lending hand to get their first step on the property ladder.

In May our Common Strategic Policy – our plan for the next two years – was approved by the States Assembly.

We are suffering from overreach. It has become clear that sometimes we try to do too much and end up achieving very little. The new government will be looking closely at where we are spending money and reprioritising to make sure we are delivering the best outcomes for Islanders.

We will curb the growth in the public sector and will redirect monies saved to those areas to where it is needed most.

To that end we have identified 13 key priorities where we can deliver measurable progress over the next two years. 

1. Extend free nursery and childcare provision
2. Provide a nutritious school meal for every child in all States primary schools
3. Increase the provision of lifelong learning and skills development
4. Start building a new hospital at Overdale
5. Reduce GP fees
6. Implement the recommendations from the Violence Against Women and Girls Taskforce report
7. Carefully manage the transition to a living wage or new minimum wage
8. Provide more affordable homes for Islanders to buy and rent
9. Keep Government fees, duties, and charges as low as possible to help Islanders with the cost of living in 2025 and beyond
10. Reform the planning service
11. Reduce red tape, unnecessary regulation, enhance opportunities for business and strengthen Jersey’s international reputation
12. Deliver a plan to revitalise Town
13. And playing our part to reduce the impacts of climate change

But today I wanted to focus on the measures that will impact you specifically as business and community leaders; initiatives to reduce red tape, increase productivity, provide more skilled workers, and to transition to a living wage.

The Minister for Social Security lodged a Proposition last week that sets out the process and timeline for that final piece of work.

This will allow us to set specific rates over the coming two years, raising the minimum wage to about two-thirds of average median earnings – as agreed by the States Assembly – by the end of our term in office in 2026.

I know this will not be an easy transition for everyone, but it is a change which will give help to those in our community who are struggling the most.

And where it is needed, support will be provided to employers and employees during the transition period.

Up to £20 million in support will be made available across 2025 and 2026 and beyond if necessary.

Rather than a direct subsidy this will be in the form of support schemes to promote productivity and skills development, with targeted support across sectors, including for retail, agriculture, and the visitor economy.

We have also committed to keep government fees, duties, and charges as low as possible and we’ll provide full details on that in the Government Plan later this summer.

I’m certain that local businesses will also welcome the removal of unnecessary bureaucracy and improvements in the ways they are required to deal with Government.

Last month the Minister for Sustainable Economic Development, Deputy Morel, published his response to Barriers to Business Report.

That work answers the 38 recommendations made by Jersey Business to streamline processes and break down the obstacles that have been created.

I’m encouraged that over 80% of the recommendations are either completed, underway, or part of ongoing collaboration between Government and industry but there is still a lot to do if we are going win back your confidence.

The CSP will also see us prioritise the delivery of skills development in Jersey.

This will include promoting apprenticeships, a series of targeted skills development schemes, and implementing sustainable Higher Education Student Finance – helping to provide the future workforce for businesses.

Outside of the CSP, we will continue to prioritise support for our Island economy in the day-to-day work of government.

Only by improving productivity and developing a strong, diverse economy can we ensure the tax revenues necessary to support the quality public services that Islanders need.

Our financial services industry remains critical to our economic wellbeing.

In May, after years of significant effort, the work to assess Jersey’s ability to combat financial crime came to its conclusion.

A delegation from Jersey travelled to Strasbourg for the MONEYVAL Plenary for the adoption of the Mutual Evaluation Report of Jersey.

The publication of that Report is still to come in July, with an event soon to be announced to fully outline the findings and next steps.

I would like to extend thanks to the brilliant efforts to the government and industry teams who have worked together on this.

Our hospitality industry has already benefitted from a relaxation in spatial standards in the Tourism Law, allowing new types of accommodation to be introduced for the first time.

We will be publishing our Retail Strategy later this year, which will support enhancing the sector with a focus on the future of the Town Centre and how we can manage our shopping areas to better engage Islanders.

Last week we announced that the Government CEO, Andrew McLaughlin will continue in his role from 1 July.

Since starting with the Government last September, Andrew has provided clear leadership, ensuring good governance, sound financial control and a collaborative approach to management.

Retaining Andrew as our Chief Executive Officer will provide much-needed stability and continuity across the Government.

Both Andrew and I are attuned to the need to have a right sized public sector, that focuses on service delivery without the need for continued growth in staff numbers and costs.

Shaping the future of the central functions of government has already begun, and we are on schedule to deliver savings in 2024 through vacancy management, reducing the use of consultants and decreasing non-staff spending.

An employee consultation on resizing has already begun, and that work will continue throughout the coming weeks.

Equally, in line with our CSP commitment, expenditure on consultancy is being curbed across Government departments.

Measures have been taken to ensure that the Council of Ministers have full transparency of spending under consultancy headings and where and how monies are currently being spent.

Don’t get me wrong, specialist consultancy can be essential as it is impossible to carry all of the skills and expertise we need on the payroll but we have become a little too reliant on it!

Where additional expertise is needed, I would like us to focus on developing our own, local, talent across the civil service and public sector.

We are also turning our focus to issues that have been without resolution for far too long.

We are absolutely committed to starting construction of the Hospital at Overdale as soon as possible, delivering the health facilities we need most urgently by 2028.

The New Healthcare Facilities team have just completed a full public consultation on concept designs of the Hospital, to an overwhelmingly positive response from residents, campaign groups and Islanders.

The clearing of the Overdale site continues at pace, and demolition will reach its final stages in September.

The next step is the development of the detailed design of the hospital, in consultation with clinicians, ahead of submitting a planning application later this summer.

The most frequent message has been ‘Just get on with it’. That is exactly what we are doing.

Another significant piece of work underway is to improve how we manage our important social and cultural infrastructure.

I know Islanders have long been frustrated by continued decline of our sporting and leisure facilities, and in some of our public spaces.

Fort Regent cannot be allowed to continue in its managed decline, and work is advanced on a plan to fund and rejuvenate the Fort alongside many other public amenities – more details on this project will follow soon.

As a government, and as an Island, we also have some significant challenges to face, not only over the coming two years but into the next political cycle and beyond.

The biggest long-term challenge relates to the forecasted reduction in working age population. And potential changes to our workforce through the acceleration of advanced technology and AI.

These are important issues that require the serious attention of politicians, policy officers and Jersey’s business and community leaders.

We need to begin working on this now to provide practical solutions and not allow ourselves to be overtaken by events.

We are not going to allow population changes to be unmanaged or unplanned.

We will need more workers.

For example – potentially as many as 4,000 additional care workers by the 2040s.

This will need careful planning to ensure we provide a balanced workforce for the whole economy.

The forthcoming annual Population Report will include a roadmap for how the Government will coordinate activity to prepare for these challenges.

In closing I want to talk briefly about the importance of confidence.

Confidence in ourselves, in each other and in our Island.

I am very aware that if we are to succeed in our endeavours as a government we will need to rebuild public confidence in our political processes.

We also realise that building, and maintaining, confidence will be an ongoing effort that will require the participation of just about everyone.

For our part we will be open and transparent, work harder to engage, discuss and consult. Be more responsive and consistent in our endeavours to address the evolving needs and aspirations of Islanders.

The new government, and States Assembly, is beginning to work more collegiately with more courtesy, respect and professionalism.

We are alive to the fact that it is OK to disagree with unnecessary disruption because without disagreement there is no debate and without debate we do not drive out the best solutions.

I would ask you all not to look back but to look forward.

The challenges we face are great but if we can work together, help each other, and have confidence in the future of our island then our potential is even greater!

Thank you.​

Comments:

Gerard Voisin quizzed him over improving economy and increases in minimum wage. The idea is to increase the minimum wage but have targeted support to businesses (e.g. hospitality based) who are most effected by it.

This makes sense to me, as at present, a large number of people on minimum wage rely on income support (across all businesses) to help them, which means, in effect, the government is helping businesses with a subsidy. 

Increases in minimum wage towards living wage would take more of those out of that net, reducing funding from government via income support to make up the shortfall, and then appropriate targeting of businesses most affected (on a case by case basis) with extra funding will help balance the books on those businesses, while those who can easily take up the shortfall will help reduce public income support funding.

Reform Act

One from the back catalogue today, written on 04 April 2005, this looks at the idea of politics and reform, of political xenophobia, and Disraeli's ideal of  a "One Nation Tory". 

We have travelled far from this time - but labelling the "other" (and antisemitism) is still rife today, along with xenophobic attitudes to outsiders, and the UK political system seems broken, with party leaders elected by a diminishing number of members, many of which with the Conservative party, are over 65s and occupy rural Nimby enclaves. 

Meanwhile Nigel Farage's "Reform party" aims not at reform, but societal division, just as it did horrendously when it was the Brexit party. 

I think this poem is still very relevant today, just over 9 years after it was written.

Reform Act

In 1832, the first greatest of reforms
Took place to avert the greater storms
Of revolution, and all was quite at last
For a while, Palmerstone sounded blast
At all foreigners, so nothing new there
And then Gladstone came, all sincere
While subtly rousing kinds of prejudice
His opposer, making some horrendous
Comments, underlying these he knew
That Disraeli, was after all, just a Jew
And not properly British, in the club
Like the moneylenders who did grub
But Disraeli won through, all despite
The slurs, and reached the very height
Of Prime Minister, seeing One Nation
A clear vision of unity, not division
Is there a moral there today, I wonder
Perhaps the reader may well ponder.

1974 - 50 Years Ago - June Part 2

1974 - 50 Years Ago - June Part 2

16.——Violence, hooliganism and vandalism again erupted in Jersey over the weekend Between Friday night and last night, 42 people were detained in the cells at Police Headquarters, mainly for drunkenness, brawling and fighting in St. Helier.

17.—A woman in her seventies, Mrs. Edith Rachel Le Liévre, died in a fire in her bedroom at 5 Newgate Street opposite the prison, at about 11.45 am. The facts have been reported at the Bailiff’s Chambers and an inquest will be held. The Elfin Hotel, Gorey Pier. one of the most popular bars in Jersey, had its liquor Licence taken away until the end of the year, The hotel’s licence—a First Category (Taverners) was revoked- after the Bench had considered complaints about noise from the bar and disorderly behaviour outside by customers.

18.—Farmers in St. Clement are getting annoyed at the damage being done to their crops and their property by young vandals from they say the nearby housing estates.

19.-—.Jersey’s new Medical Ofiioer of Health, who will be taking up his duties from September 30 is Dr. Anthony John Essex-Cater. LRCEP, MROS, DPH, at present MOH with the Monmouthshire County Council.

20. An oil slick 80 ft. wide by 100 ft. long was reported to Jersey Harbour Radio at 8.30 this morning by the departing mailboat, Sarnia. It was sighted some 200 yards west of the end of Elizabeth Castle breakwater. The States fast launch, Duchess of Normandy, investigated the report and found the slick to be made of a very thin medium oil almost like petrol, and already dispersing by itself.

21.——Two policemen were injured in brawls which occurred in the town this evening, and one of them, PC Terrence Underwood, was detained in the General Hospital. A 19-year-old youth will appear at the Police Court on Monday charged with assaulting the police officer and causing him grievous bodily harm. Another man was charged with causing a breach of the peace by fighting.

22.——The police are investigating the death of a young man which occurred in the early hours of this morning at the Quennevais camp site, St. Brelade. It is understood that the man, in his early 20s, had been out with some friends staying at the camp. Returning there he was apparently violently ill. When seen by a doctor, he was dead. It is likely that a post mortem will be ordered and that this will be followed by an inquest.

24.——X-Ray staff at Jersey’s General Hospital are almost certain to take some sort of disruptive action in support of a wage claim unless an acceptable offer is made to them before July 4. After the Thursday week deadline, radiographers will refuse to handle anything but emergency cases. More petty thieving is reported from St. Brelade, and the police again request house-holders and shopkeepers to ensure that their homes and establishments are secure with all the Windows closed and doors locked, particularly at night.

26.-—Four men are in prison to appear in Court tomorrow charged with assaults on taxi-drivers—two in connection with the Rozel incident reported yesterday and the other two following a disturbance at the Broad Street cab rank shortly after closing time last night.

27.—-Holidaymakers Mr. and Mrs. John Scholze. from Hilversum, Holland, won the £6,000 top prize in the States of Jersey Lottery.

28.—A 15 per cent surcharge on all telephone charges is to be imposed by the Telecommunications Board from Monday, July 1, to the end of the year. It will apply to everything—rentals, call charges, including trunk calls, connection fees and all other installation costs.

29.—Hughie Green, star of the top TV programme “ Opportunity Knocks”, will be the visiting personality at the Battle of Flowers on Thursday, August 1.

Landings

Obviously, this week, the poem takes up the theme of D-Day, 80 years after the momentous landings.

Landings

The weather: wind, waves, raging sea
Then calmer, a lull, weather broke
A decision made, an order to agree
A momentous day as dawn awoke

The beaches: blood, terror and fire
And golden sands are running red
Victory for some, but some expire
Now to fight, not mourn the dead

The graves: stretching out in lines
Time to mourn, to weep salt tears
Quiet reflections, freedom’s signs
An end to the Nazi terror years

Landings and endings: their day
The Last Post on the trumpet play

1974 - 50 Years Ago - June Part 1

1974 - 50 Years Ago - June Part 1

1. An associated company of Slater, Walker (Jersey) Ltd., Saiga Holdings Ltd., who last year acquired the former Frederick Baker and G. D. Laurens properties in Queen Street, have now purchased an Smam adjoining property in Hilgrove Street, formerly known as Librairie Francais, which has been vacant since January of this year. The property has been acquired to facilitate the work to be carried out on the adjoining properties.

2.—-A pedestrian, thought. to be M. Norbert Souliman, a 41-year-old farm worker from France, was knocked down. by a car on the Faldouet Main Road shortly after 11.15 pm. and died soon afterwards. .

3.——Publicans in the west of the Island. facing a, resurgence of violence and vandalism by weekend- gangs of young people, have met the Island’s Constables and called for harsher Police Court penalties for offenders including the deportation of non-residents.

4.-—A small syndicate from a St. Helier pub won the top prize of £4,000 in the Guernsey Lottery. They did not wish their names, or that of the pub, to be disclosed.

5.-—The Island’s already critical water shortage is being aggravated by wastage by irresponsible consumers. This is the view of Mr. Rodney Clarke, engineer/manager of the New Waterworks Company, who called on the people of Jersey to cut down on their demands on the Island’s dwindling resources.

6.—The organizers or the Battle of Flowers are loo-king for volunteers to work for nothing on the afternoon of the Battle on August 1. They are allso still looking for suitable places to build floats. Some Jersey housewives this morning received their milk in a. new type of Tetrapak.

7.—St. Heller’s new Centenier is Mr. John Philip de Carteret formerly a Constables Officer. He was elected unopposed to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Centenier Bob Eaton.

8.—Withn 48 hours of a small classified advertisement appearing in the “ Jersey Evening Post ” Property Guide, 143 people wrote to the advertiser through a box number. A further batch of letters 
arrived in this morning’s mail. The advertised item?—A bungalow on the outskirt or St. Helier—The price—£12,000, States loan available.

10.--An Islandwide search has been going on since early yesterday for Michael Patrick Murphy, a 24-4year old prisoner on remand who escaped from HM Prison in Newgate Street by digging a. hole in the outside wall of his cell. He then got away from the jail by dropping about 18 ft. from a wall; He was being held awaiting trial at the Assizes on a charge of attempted rape.

11.——The 24 year old prisoner who dug his way out of his cell in HM Prison in Newgate Street and escaped from there in the early hours of Sunday morning, is still at large, and the assistance of the general public is urgently needed for his recapture, police say. Shortly after 9 p.m. Murphy made an emergency “999” call to Police HQ from a telephone kiosk in the Parade. A police car was sent from HQ and Murphy was sitting on a bench near the phone box.

12.-—Members of the Committee of Agriculture and senior officials of the Department of Agriculture are at present making a three-day visit to United Kingdom potato markerts. The six-man delegation is accompanied by Mr. Roy Mourant, chairman of the Jersey Agricultural Marketing Federation.

13—Jersey's Hospital Administrator Mr. Oscar Mourant, retires on November 30 and is to be succeeded by Mr. Peter Lambert, a senior administrative assistant with the States Education Department since 1970.

14.—The Public Works announced that New Street between Union Street and King Street will become one-way from Monday. This follows the establishment of the King Street precinct on a 24 hour basis, and the consequent virtual absence of any north-bound traffic along this section of New Street

15.--Several people from Jersey are included in the List of the Queen’s Birthday Honours published this morning. Mr. Charles M. Le Quesne, CMG, British High Commissioner in Nigeria, whose home is at Beau Desert, St. Saviour, is promoted to Knight; of the Order of St. Michael and St. George (KJGMG); Mr. J. H, (Jack) Herbert, Bronson Villa. Rue des Landes, St. Peter, is made an MBE; Miss Joyce E. Luce a Superintending Sister in Queen Alexandria’s Royal Naval Nursing Service, is made an Associate (2nd Class) of the Royal Red Gross; Mr. F. D. Hughes, of La Villaize, St. Ouen. becomes CBE and Capt. John Tessler-Yandell, son of Mr. F. C. Yandll, OBE.

The Burden

Jersey has just passed approval to draw up assisted dying legislation for the terminally ill at end of life, rejecting the second part of the proposal for unbearable suffering as a cause. Yet there were a fair number of States members in favour of that option. 19 for it, 27 against.

I was much struck by Matthew Parris recent article in the Times, where he argues that assisted dying being legalised is a good thing, that it is something that society needs, and many people are crying out for. He also argues that this will normalise the idea of assisted death, which again he thinks is a good thing. It will be beneficial, in the long run to society, and as he says: “Life itself has its price. As costs rise, there will be a point at which our culture (and any culture) will begin to call for a restraining hand. I believe that when it comes to the cost of keeping very enfeebled people alive when life has become wretched for them, we’re close to that point.”

Isaac Asimov’s “Pebble in the Sky” looks at a future society, where the means to deal with overpopulation, and the burden of the old or infirm, is a scheme of legalised euthanasia. In this story Earth in the future is a backwater, where citizens must die on their sixtieth birthday. This is referred to euphemistically only as "The Sixty". Anyone who is unable to work is also euthanized. People who try to cheat the system are almost universally reviled. To be a good citizen is to take "The Sixty", and Asimov shows people enjoying a sunset holiday, the trip of a lifetime, before taking that step, going out on a high!

Asimov was writing in the 1950s and set old age as sixty years old – “The Sixty”. Given the change in demographics, and that people are fitter longer, I have assumed in this poem “the Eighty” rather than sixty years old.

This poem, then, is a reflection on the idea of Matthew Parris that assisted dying will become a normalised form of society, and also a look back as Asimov’s picture of such a future society. This is a society in which assisted dying is welcomed, not feared. Avoidance is the exception, not the rule.

I offer no moral judgement in the poem, just a glimpse of what a future might look like - and also feel like to those who live and die there. It is for the reader to decide if they like that vision.

The Burden

It’s time, the eighty, as they call it:
Time to lay aside life, to commit;
Not or be a burden to self or others:
To follow your fathers and mothers,
In choosing the path enshrined in law;
A fastidious peoples came to draw
A line in the sand, but we saw the light:
Growing infirmity of age is a blight,
And the old suffer so, once such pain,
Had to be endured, a prison chain;
And where was compassion there:
Old age became a time of fear?
Grow old along with me, it was said,
But such a burden on society ahead:
Not to be selfish, to think of the rest,
The younger generation, full of zest;
Unencumbered by cost and expense
Of such taboos, we now dispense
Of shallow values with better rules,
And even teach it in our schools;
Old age is fading into the limelight:
Better to go into that good night;
So where there is despair, hope,
When one can no longer cope;
Where there is sadness, joy:
And unbearable suffering alloy;
This is now the kindest way to go
From this life, this we surely know,
Full of compassion, love and care,
Bringing hope where was despair;
Make me an instrument of peace:
That my choice is now to cease;
So to crown a noble end of life,
And not end in misery and strife;
We have moved passed lament:
Death is now a great moment,
Time of solemn commitment,
With all passion finally spent:
Time for good wishes, a feast,
To celebrate a joy released;
A weary thanks, I nod my head,
As the doctor comes to my bed;
I will do my duty, burden to none,
And soon will all ending be done;
Time now to make a good death,
Into darkness, take a final breath:
We make heaven here on earth:
Make a life now so much worth;
Deliver us from evil pain, again
This is our kingdom now. Amen.