JCG Foundation Magazine 2014 - 2015
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Contents
Page
Foreword - Leanda Guy and Jane Delap
4
A message from our Patron - Mrs Sally Le Brocq, OBE
6
A message from our Principal - Mr Carl Howarth A message from our 2014 Editor - Foundation Girl Grace O’Regan A Productive Year
7-8 8 9 - 11
JCG students visit the home of Lillian Grandin The Angel of Zhoutong 12 - 13 Interviews
14 - 39
JCG Foundation Loyalty Card 40 The original College library finally comes home
41 - 44
Notifications 46 Remembering 47 A Tribute to Dame Florence Baron
48 - 49
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Leanda Guy - Foundation Director Jane Delap - Hon. Treasurer
Foreword
Welcome to our latest JCG Old Girls magazine. We have interviewed girls from a selection of decades to give you a cornucopia of news from a wide range of our Old Girls which we hope you enjoy. It has been another very busy year at Foundation HQ and we have enjoyed seeing many of you at our various events. We look forward to kick-starting this year with our Spring Reunion on Saturday 7th March! Thanks to our relationship with the Jersey Development Company our beloved library will finally be returning to us this year. We thank the Jersey Development Company for making this possible and covering the significant cost of the repatriation without which it would not have been possible. We look to host a celebration of the repatriation of our library here at JCG on Saturday 3rd October so pop that date in your diaries now! We are thrilled our Jacksons Pride and Joy event will take place again this year on Sunday 28th June and very much hope you can come (with or without your Pride and Joy) for a picnic and fun event in the wonderful campus of JCG and Victoria College playing field. As the charitable arm of JCG, everything we do is self-funding. We thank those of you who have made donations, pledged a legacy or offered a raffle prize to the Foundation. We also could not do half the things we do if it wasn’t for our ever growing list of wonderful corporate partners. Thank you to those of you who have signed up for a JCG Foundation Loyalty Card. We hope you are enjoying the wide range of discounts the card offers and thank you to our Discount Partners for supporting this innovative fund-raising programme. Historically we would raise approximately £1, 000 a year so we are very proud that in the 3 years the Foundation has been going this has increased to £70,000 last year and if we achieve all we wish to we will be heading to providing £150,000 funding for initiatives that support and inspire the JCG Family and education in Jersey in 2015 but we cannot do it without your help! If you would like to organise your own reunion please do not hesitate to contact us or just pop in for a coffee or tour of this wonderful College. The kettle is always on!
Leanda Guy 4
Jane Delap
AFTER ANOTHER GREAT SUCCESS IN 2014
2015
Is Back Again! Jacksons, in partnership with the JCG Foundation, extend a special invitation to join us at our 2015 Pride & Joy Day From 1pm on Sunday 28 June in the beautiful surroundings of JCG & Victoria College playing field This is a unique opportunity for you to showcase your own ‘Pride & Joy’ – or simply visit as a spectator. You and your family will love viewing all the motoring gems in the relaxing setting of this historic Jersey College. There will be plenty of entertainment too.
Entering your ‘Pride & Joy’ Don’t worry, this is not a concours or parade event! It’s friendly, informal – and open to everyone. Whether you have a pre-war Bentley or a Skoda from the 1980s, you’re welcome to compete for the top slot in the relevant category.
St. Peter, Jersey, JE3 7BF
01534 497777
Log on to Jacksonsci.com NOW to complete your entry form Click onto www.jacksonsci.com and complete the simple registration form, so that we can ensure you’re entered in the correct category. You can pay the £10 entry fee online. Proceeds will be donated to the JCG Foundation. Registration forms are available from the Jacksons showroom in St Peter. Alternatively call Leanda Guy, JCG Foundation Director, on 516 206 or email: l.guy@jcg.sch.je
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A message from our Patron Mrs Sally Le Brocq, OBE Last year, I wrote how proud I was to be the first Patron of the JCG Foundation and this pride has continued to increase since then. Leanda Guy, our Foundation Director, has come up with even more exciting and innovative events which bring JCG into the limelight and give our students the opportunities to broaden their experiences of life before being fully launched into the outside world.
year, the date being Sunday June 28th. So, if you are the proud owners of a vintage car and want to share your ‘Pride and Joy’, as the occasion is now called in the Calendar, do get in touch with Leanda and find out the details. The rest of us can wander around, lost in admiration at these beautifully polished and cherished vehicles and enjoy a picnic lunch as we do so! I look forward to seeing you there.
One of these was Coppafeel. Two attractive young women, who had experienced breast cancer themselves, came over and talked to 1000 local teenager students about the importance of checking their breasts on a regular basis. They stressed the importance of early diagnosis which could then lead to early treatment to deal with this lethal disease. The fact that they were so young made it all seem more relevant to our students - an inspiring and memorable moment in their lives. Some of them took the opportunity to bring their parents to a coffee morning at the Royal Yacht Hotel the next day which led to further discussion and opportunities to have questions answered -
A very important addition to the team of the Foundation is Mrs. Karen Stone who has recently joined us as an Assistant to Leanda. As anyone who knows Leanda realises, she is unstoppable! However, because of the success she has achieved so far there is a lot of work involved and we are all delighted to know that she will have assistance from Mrs. Stone. On a personal level, I have met and seen Mrs. Stone in action as she was the Assistant to my husband, Philip, when he was Foundation Director at Victoria College. She has also had experience as a parent of children at both Schools so can see things from that aspect, too.
Another of Leanda’s great fund-raising ideas was that of inviting people with vintage vehicles to gather and display them on Victoria College Field one Sunday afternoon in June. There was a great response to this which has led to a repeat performance this
Mrs Sally Le Brocq, OBE
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A message from our Principal Mr Carl Howarth Any building without strong foundations is not likely to last long. From those initial discussions and visionary ideas in a back room of St. Helier Methodist Church rose Jersey College for Girls and it is from those founders and our long history of educating remarkable women, you, JCG stands today. We stand on very firm and strong foundations. And we have a strong JCG Foundation to galvanise our former students to bond with and nurture the future generations of this College.
Pippa and Nick Bastiman for their careful and dedicated management of the Foundation’s finances, and to Margaret Stone and Sue Taylor for their diligent love of JCG and seemingly endless knowledge of JCG and its former students. To our Old Girls who have spoken to our students, given mock interviews for university preparation, supported the College through its promotion throughout our community. I am also grateful for those who attend our events, support the Foundation financially and enable us to continue to provide the very best educational experience we can.
JCG is now a place of 750 young, bright, ambitious women not forgetting, over 300 students at JCG Prep. Yet, it is you, our alumni, who give us our identity and strong reputation within Jersey and beyond. I am delighted that through the work led by Leanda Guy, our Foundation is really benefitting today’s students. This magazine is full of how it is doing that and I am equally delighted that Grace, one of our Year 13 students, has edited it.
A key project for the Foundation is to raise funds for the creation of a much needed playing field. On its new site, JCG has no green playing field space. Thus, such a facility is not only essential, it is much overdue. A field, currently planted with potatoes, has been identified. It borders our Prep and looks out east to the St. Clement shoreline – quite a stunning setting. Yet, to achieve this project we will need your help and when the time comes I hope you will think very carefully about giving. Some may ask why this is not a project to be financed by the States of Jersey. We have all read about the current economic position the island finds itself. Such an essential project for our students, while Mr Carl Howarth
It is always a treat to meet former students and talk about their experiences and inform them of what JCG is doing now. It is inspiring to read and listen to the journeys people have taken once they have left us and hear how their time here shaped and formed their ideas, ambition and character. Our students understand that the advantages of being educated in a school on an island such as this leads to a responsibility, an obligation, to use these advantages for the benefit of others. Giving back to your College can take many forms. I am grateful to the Members of the Foundation, Jane Delap, our Honorary Treasurer,
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A message from our Principal Mr Carl Howarth continued:
Finally, I hope to see you many of you at our Jacksons Pride and Joy event on Sunday 28th June and also look forward to our event on Saturday 3rd October when we welcome into our new building the old Library. The Foundation has been the catalyst to ensure the return of our library and we are very grateful to the Jersey Development Company for allowing and funding this and I know it will be a wonderful and very visual connection with the long and successful history of JCG.
supported by the Education department, is not a funding priority. I understand that and that is why we are so fortunate to have our alumni and our Foundation to assist us in achieving this project for our students of today and the many generations of tomorrow.
A message from our 2014 Editor Foundation Girl Grace O’Regan Last July I began chatting to Leanda about the coming year and becoming a Foundation Girl. Before I knew it, I had agreed to be the Editor of the magazine which you are now reading!
this magazine demonstrates the fulfilment of the College motto to Aspire, Inquire, Excel and Belong. As I leave JCG this summer I will belong to a family of women, some of whom I have had the pleasure of meeting through the Foundation and others through the nature of living on a small island. JCG forms fond memories for each of us which we can take no matter where we go, along with friendships which as this magazine shows, are often formed for life.
The Foundation is truly remarkable. Tucked away in an office there is a great deal of work going on behind the scenes which helps JCG to be the College it is, where the students can ultimately excel in their ambitions. Being a part of the Foundation by acting as Editor for the magazine has been a privilege and something I have enjoyed entirely. My interest in journalism is one which I intend to pursue with writing being a focus for my career and involvement in the Foundation has certainly encouraged this.
Being part of the Foundation has certainly made my last year at JCG a memorable one and I hope the magazine reflects the successes and adventures of all involved.
Learning of the achievements of past JCG students through compilation of their stories in
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Grace O’Regan
A Productive Year great technical team at Fort Regent, the Dome was turned Pink to welcome Coppafeel to Jersey and remind everyone how important it is to check your body! The JCG Foundation was thrilled to host Kris Hallenga, founder of www.coppafeel.org and her team to Jersey in September.
‘The Coppafeel assembly was incredibly thought provoking! I had no idea breast cancer can happen to young people. Kris and her team were inspiring in sharing their stories and we all came away much more aware which can only be a good thing!’ Ema Francisco, Hautlieu Student.
Having watched the BBC 3 documentary earlier in the year we were compelled to invite Kris to come and talk to us about this potentially life-saving subject!
‘The way Kris and the team make such a serious subject fun to talk about is really powerful. I am now looking forward to helping Coppafeel share their message to more young people in Jersey at a Summer event the Foundation is organising next year!’ Kelly Gomes, JCG 6th former.
Kris and the team explained their mission and shared her message to get us all, especially younger people, breast cancer savvy! Many young professionals, GPs and other local residents attended an event held at the Royal Yacht on Thursday 25th September. Thanks to new JCG Foundation Corporate Partner Stonehage whose generous sponsorship made this visit possible. We were thrilled to welcome many of our Alumni and other friends of JCG to a Coppafeel coffee morning which was help on Saturday 27th. This event was kindly sponsored by Sure.
For three years, Kris and her team have been visiting schools as part of their www. rethinkcancer.com campaign to raise awareness to students that it’s not just older women who can be affected. The campaign has been very successful in schools in the UK.
On Friday 26th September, winner of a Pride of Britain award, Kris, talked to 500 JCG students in Years 9 - 14 in a special assembly. She also spoke to 100 students from Le Rocquier and 400 Hautlieu students.
We would like to thank Dickinson Gleeson, The Royal Yacht, Adapt Design and After Breast Cancer for all contributing to this inaugural visit. Without their help, it would not be possible to extend this important message to our students and the wider Jersey community.
We were also very proud that thanks to the
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A Productive Year continued:
JCG Foundation Second Hand Uniform Sales
Hawksford Debate Our Debate series continues to grow with 3 debates held in 2014 with students from JCG, Beaulieu, Victoria College, Hautlieu and Grainville. We are thrilled that two students from Grainville whom we met via the Debate Series have joined JCG for 6th form and are prolific Foundation Girls helping with our many different initiatives. Welcome to the JCG Family!
The recent Second Hand Uniform Sales have been very popular and have raised over £700 to support JCG Foundation initiatives. JCG Rolls with it... Limited Edition Print of JCG
There are still a few limited edition Ian Rolls prints of our wonderful JCG Building above. £100 per print and 10% discount available for framing at The Framing Workshop.
Jacksons Pride and Joy
Many of you asked if it was possible to commission an Ian Rolls of our old building. As you will see from our cover, thanks to the generous sponsorship of the Jersey Development Company your wish is our command! Limited edition prints are now available or even packets of notelets of both pictures! Please contact l.guy@jcg.sch.je to secure yours now!
We were delighted to welcome so many of you to Jacksons Pride and Joy 2014. Over £5 million worth of cars registered. Everything from a favourite Fiesta to a Ferrari was brought to support this great day out. Creating a ‘Glorious Goodwood’ feeling on the JCG and Victoria College Campus. This event would not be possible without our corporate partner Jacksons. Jacksons funding also covers the significant costs of running our 10
database and website so we really are truly grateful. Jacksons Pride and Joy 2015 will take place on Sunday 28th June so put the date in your diary now!
An increase in Bursaries Thanks to generous donations the Foundation now offers two new bursaries. Our funding campaign is well and truly in place and we look forward to increasing our ability to fund vital projects both now and in the future. We very much look forward to hosting an Island Wide Philanthropic evening on Thursdsay 23rd April to discuss Philanthropy in Education with like-minded individuals who are keen to support education in the Island.
Rathbones Investment Management International Now in its third year our relationship with Rathbones continues to thrive. This year Rathbones are sponsoring Prepare 2015 a Revision Academy taking place for all Jersey students at JCG in the Easter holidays. Rathbones will also sponsor our library repatriation celebration in October and many other college initiatives which would not happen without their help!
Launching The Dome Society This year sees the launch of the JCG Foundation Dome Society. The JCG Foundation was set up as a charitable trust. The Foundation ensures that any donation (moveable and immovable property) will be used by the Foundation for the benefit of the College. We look forward to sharing with you the objectives of The Dome Society in the near future.
Brewin Dolphin Thanks to Brewin Dolphin for helping us to make our Poppy bank to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the First World War a reality, and we hope many current students and old girls enjoyed this poignant project which will grow every year!
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JCG students visit the home of Lillian Grandin The Angel of Zhoutong Lillian Grandin was Jersey’s first woman doctor and an old girl of JCG. She is known as ‘The Angel of Zhoutong’ and died in southwest China after giving the last of her typhus medicine to a local patient. She is still celebrated in Zhoutong today for her sacrifice and the hospital she established is flourishing. Students and staff from JCG visited the hospital to meet those who work there and build on the relationship between Jersey and the city. Here is their story:
‘Great Leap Forward’ of the 1950s. But in 2007 - with funding from churches in Hong Kong - the local church rebuilt the graves. They have held a service at the graveside every Easter Day since. We then had a brief visit to the hospital that Dr Grandin ran in the 1920’s and saw some of the equipment left over from those days. Today, the hospital has 2000 inpatient beds, a staff of 2000, and cares for 60,000 people a year.
We took the 8 hour soft sleeper train (4 bunks to a compartment with a door) from Lijiang back to Kunming, walked back to the hotel we had stayed in previously and boarded a coach for the 6 hour journey up to Zhoutong. The landscape was extraordinary - endless huge terraced hillsides with enormous pylons being built to support a widened carriageway. We were greeted on the edge of what is now a town of 6 million people by the Party Deputy Secretary of the First People’s Hospital and were escorted to our hotel. After a quick shower and change, a noodle lunch was available before we headed off to a hillside on the edge of town where Dr Lilian Grandin is buried. The original graves of Dr Grandin and her fellow missionaries were dismantled and used as building materials during the
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The original graves of Dr Grandin and her fellow missionaries were dismantled and used as building materials during the ‘Great Leap Forward’ of the 1950s.
Our last stop was the church that Dr Grandin helped to lead. The building has recently been demolished in preparation for a £1 million building project that includes a 6 storey church, a dormitory block and a theology school. We were able to see the original foundation stones, some recovered stones from the missionaries’ original graves, and the church’s original altar table.
hospital. The school the missionaries also ran has since been passed on to the local government. We were made very welcome by members of the congregation, including the Minister, whose mother and grandfather were Ministers before her. We finished the evening in a new restaurant trying to fuse Chinese and Western styles. We were guests of the hospital and exchanged gifts with our hosts, formally cementing the link between JCG and Zhaotong.
Next door is the building the church is currently using, which was the original
Unfortunately, we seem to have picked up a tummy bug that struck almost everyone in the group, making the hours of travelling all the more gruelling. However, the girls showed great strength of character and sense of humour and dealt with it really well, supporting each other. The next day we travelled for some 16 hours and arrived back at Shanghai’s Holiday Inn - where our journey had started two weeks before.
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Interview
Still Prepared! Mary Norman (née Hamon) Class of 1970
What have you done since leaving JCG?
Since 1999 when our eldest son was in year 13, my (and his) interest in the sport of target shooting led me to help coach the Victoria College Shooting Team. Teaching beginners has improved my own shooting immensely and there have been many highlights. For example, as part of the CCF I travelled to Canada for a month as Adjutant for the Great Britain Under 19 Rifle Team in 2012! Whilst canoeing on a Lake in the Algonquin National Park I remember thinking, wow, this is what happens when you volunteer!!
I trained as a Physiotherapist at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, London and qualified in 1973. I worked as a physiotherapist in London, Chichester, New Zealand, Australia and finally back in Jersey. I had been a very keen dinghy sailor at school but St Mary’s Hospital Sailing club was based at Brent Reservoir and it just did not measure up to St Aubin’s Bay! However, St Mary’s also had a Rifle Club and I went along to try with some friends. The range was on the roof of an office block behind Paddington Station (you could do that in those days!) and shared with the Great Western Railway Rifle Club. Target shooting quickly became my main sport and I discovered there were small-bore ranges tucked away in the basements of several London Colleges.
Most of my target shooting has been prone rifle but I started to shoot air and .22 pistols in 1997 whilst recovering from a back problem. At the time, standing up to shoot had been considerably more comfortable than lying down! That has led to so many opportunities that I never imagined at the time. The Delhi Commonwealth Games was a great experience and I have now shot pistol or pistol and .22 rifle in Guernsey, Aland and the Isle of Wight Island Games. Hopefully there are still loads more competitions to come, too.
When I moved to Chichester I joined the local rifle club and found it was a very good way to get to know people and make friends. Members there took me to Bisley and introduced me to full-bore rifle shooting where I learned skills which I was able to take to Australia when I was on my working holiday.
What are your plans for the future? My plans for the future are to continue coaching and competing in target shooting and to visit the family, but also to take more holidays with my husband who has now retired! Do more patchwork and gardening too.
I met my husband, Peter, on my return to Jersey and was fortunate to become a fulltime ‘Mum’ to our three children who all currently live and work in London.
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What are your fondest memories of your time at JCG?
Anything else! Yes! JCG girls, school leavers and even mums, if you get the chance, give target shooting a try. There are a number of different disciplines to suit and it can even be a family affair! You’ll find me at St. Lawrence MRC or the Jersey Pistol Club and also at The Jersey Rifle Association at Crabbé!
I had really good teachers in my favourite subjects, Mrs Barnes for biology (I think most of us had A’s!), Miss Buley for geography (I remember taking a flight around Mt Cook in New Zealand and could recognise nearly all the features of glaciation below!), Mr Wankling for Maths (great at explaining and never boring) and Miss Miller for Art (calm and encouraging). The lessons we had on Australia made me determined to work there and was one of the main reasons I chose to do physiotherapy as it gives you opportunities to relocate. Additionally, the opportunity to go dinghy sailing at St Aubin’s Fort introduced me to a new love. I proceeded to qualify as an assistant sailing instructor while still at school. Last but certainly not least, I still try to ‘Be Prepared’ as taught in Girl Guides with Miss Stone and Mrs King! Do you feel that JCG taught you lessons which you still use in your life now after the classroom? Yes! Making an effort to do something you really want to do is never wasted, even if it doesn’t quite work out as you planned. You definitely get out of life what you put into it! How do you feel your experience of JCG affects your life now? As above! Plus there is a definite bond with friends you were in the same class with for so many years. 15
Interview
From JCG to BBC with Laura Voak Assistant Producer What have you done since leaving JCG?
During this time I decided that I wanted to pursue a career in the fun side of Biology - I needed something that would incorporate exciting demonstrations and inventions, keep me up to date with the latest discoveries, and most importantly be a way to share amazing and influential science with others. I first discovered the world of science television whilst working as an extra in a BBC documentary and was hooked. The week after I finished my degree I started work experience at the BBC in London, and I’ve not looked back since!
On waving goodbye to JCG in the summer of 2009, I headed to New College, Oxford to begin a hectic (though brilliantly fun) undergraduate course in Biological Sciences. From bioluminescence to animal personalities, limb regeneration, species conservation and human evolutionary genetics, the three years were filled with field trips, dissections and (sometimes bizarre) tutorials. In true JCG style, I had a go at just about everything (including a jazz band, rowing, football and salsa) and volunteered at the Natural History Museum as a ‘Science Saturdays’ teacher, alongside running stalls at science festivals - what’s not to love about putting kids in giant bubbles? For my final year dissertation I was given the freedom to study anything that caught my interest so I headed off to a tiny Indonesian island for two months of scuba diving to study the economic market behaviour of tropical cleaner fish (proving rules behind queue jumping and inter-species fin massages at cleaning stations). It was amazing being able to discuss topics with world leaders in their subjects throughout the 3 years, and it was topped off by a dinner party with Richard Dawkins on my last day!
What programmes have you worked on and how were you involved? From exploding Christmas trees to herding spiders and writing crocodile training regimes, my experiences over these 2 years in science TV have been quite unusual! From my first role as a Junior Researcher on Dara O’Briain’s Science Club, I’ve worked on 19 programmes across 7 series both with the BBC and Channel 4, as well as America’s PBS, and have loved every minute. My first Series Researcher role was on Easter Eggs Live for Channel 4, where alongside script research, I was appointed in charge of the exotic animal web streams for the series, so my job was to find exotic animals that were due to hatch on Easter Sunday and set up live video links to our studio and website. These included crocodiles in Australia, pythons in the US, turtles in Sri Lanka, bald eagles, barn owls, penguins
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and emus. Needless to say that was a very rewarding task, and I’m not sure I’ll ever have an Easter Sunday quite like it, working through the night to get the Australian croc eggs up and running live on the C4 website, and waking up to the cracking of shells and the squeaking of emerging crocodiles from the computer by my bed a few hours later, alongside thousands of others across the world that had tuned in to watch. The job also had its challenges however; from the Sri Lankan turtle hatchery being struck by lightning the day before we went live, to April the Emu’s struggle to get out of her breach position in her shell on the live show, there was always something to keep us on our toes!
Maneater on the Chobe river, the crocodile attack capital of the world. Working with two top croc scientists who were passionate about stopping the cycle of crocodiles attacking locals, and locals killing crocodiles in retaliation, we trialled a method by which to train crocodiles to stay away from the human areas of the riverbank. Having learnt how clever these animals are, our risk assessment stressed that we should alter our schedules every day to ensure the crocodiles didn’t learn our movements and lie in wait for us: we knew that we had to make sure we didn’t become part of the story. Our days were spent piled into an aluminium boat out on the river, filming with presenters and locals, not to mention the local animals we saw along the way! One evening as the sun was going down, we sailed past elephants, baboons, impala, giraffes, hippos, and crocodiles within a 10 minute stretch! The wildlife didn’t end when we entered the camp for the night either, sharing our huts with giant African millipedes, our dinner times with swarms of insects that fought to get to our food first, and going to sleep to the sound of lions and fighting hippos. The adventure took an unexpected turn however, when our presenter was injured by a 5 ft crocodile, following which I accompanied him on an air ambulance medical evacuation out of Botswana to Johannesburg where he received emergency surgery. Given the great sport that he is, he soldiered on and returned to filming just days afterwards, stitches and
From one extreme to the other, I moved from a silent incubator-filled high-security studio in London, to a barking mad field of dogs in Oxfordshire for my next project BBC’s The Wonder of Dogs. This time, my job description included ‘casting’ dogs for the episodes, drafting sections of the script, setting up shoots in Budapest and Vienna (including scheduling a wolf to arrive at the university an hour before us for filming!), and always having my pockets filled with dog treats when filming on location! My next adventure took me away from dog training and towards training slightly more dangerous subjects - crocodiles. I headed off on my first international shoot to Namibia and Botswana for 2 weeks to film Operation
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Interview continued: From JCG to BBC with Laura Voak, Assistant Producer
all. An adventure and a half to say the least, and if you saw the series on Channel 4 you’ll have got a good flavour of these few weeks of my career!
working on a series that has been so iconic in science television’s history. It’s going to be another exciting year! Do you feel that JCG taught you lessons which you still use in your life now after the classroom?
With my two feet grounded back in the UK, I was introduced to my next - 8 legged subjects. Though I can’t say any more as this programme has not yet been released, it was another wild project with over 1000 spider stars, and late nights in the “Spider House,” and I can confirm that my fondness of them increased dramatically over the course of the filming! In fact, if you gaze closely enough at a jumping spider, you’ll find that their faces are actually rather cute!
When I left JCG I never imagined that my subjects would be used quite in this way, nor the experiences I gained there, though I often realize that lessons I learnt have come from exactly those roots. One of the producers I’ve been working with nicely summed up our team’s work with the line “if someone asked us to send a hamster to the moon next week, we wouldn’t discard it as an impossible task, we’d be up for the challenge!” That’s the approach I always want to maintain, and I think that JCG really fuelled that attitude in me from the start.
In my new role as Assistant Producer, my current venture is in the world of gadgets and hacking on this year’s Royal Institution Christmas Lectures for the BBC. It’s a great privilege for me and I feel very lucky to be
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What are your plans for the future?
day, I remember it all like it was just last year. Most of all I simply remember all the fun we had and the great people - both friends and staff - that made it such a positive place to be.
I’d love to continue making science television programmes and eventually become a Producer, and also think it would be great to create a programme that stems from one of my ideas. Aside from work, I’m very excited to become Mrs Gillies soon! What are your fondest memories of your time at JCG? JCG was such a huge portion of my life that most of my fondest memories are likely linked to my time there! From playing Marco Polo in our (7DE) form room on my first day, to House Music events, the Shakespeare competition, Form 10EW fundraisers, the fantastic Honduras trip in sixth form, the moment my name was read out in assembly as Head Girl, rescuing a seagull from the English corridor, and our circus-themed last
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Interview
A dream comes true Nikki Holmes Class of 1988
What have you done since leaving JCG?
as developing sports tourism. I have been in post since the beginning of June as part of the new Jersey Sports Strategy ‘Fit for the Future’. I have loved all of my jobs for various reasons but I guess the one I’m doing now is my favourite as I get to meet the incredible volunteers who run Jersey’s sports clubs - they really are amazing to give up so much of their time to help others. I will also always have a special place in my heart for Rouge Bouillon School - I loved the time I spent there working with the children and staff. It really was a place which embodied teamwork.
After JCG I gained a BA Honours degree in Modern Languages and Information Systems. However, after a few years working in finance I realised it wasn’t for me. I went on to gain a Post-Graduate Certificate in Education from the University of Wolverhampton. The more interesting or unusual jobs I have had include (in no particular order!): Having spent six months in Paris in the sales department of a company which manufactured weapon guidance systems during the first Iraq war! I was a governess to three children on a cattle station (fourteen times bigger than Jersey with 12 people living there!) on the edge of the Great Sandy Desert in Australia. I also mustered cows on horseback, worked in the yards vaccinating cattle and reared orphan calves during my time there. My experience with animals continued as an Education Officer at Durrell where I handled snakes, lizards, spiders and insects before continuing to teach in Jersey. I am the Secretary of the Jersey Cricket Board and am now a Sports Club Officer for Education Sport and Culture with responsibility for promoting Jersey Clubmark (a scheme which recognises high quality sports clubs with junior sections) as well
After spending almost two years travelling around Malaysia, Borneo, Australia and New Zealand from 2000-2002 I definitely discovered my sense of
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adventure and have had some incredible experiences around the world - being chased by axe-wielding locals on a Malaysian island (in a case of mistaken identity), diving with Great White sharks off the coast of South Africa, seeing wild orang-utans in Borneo and wild gorillas and chimpanzees in Uganda. Nowadays I combine travel with my other love which is cricket and am off to Barbados in April to see England play the West Indies. I have been to 3 Ashes series in Australia and have seen England in Sri Lanka as well as in South Africa and India. I have cycled from Panama to Nicaragua for charity (where I met Professor Lord Robert Winston) and in the last four years have taken up pistol shooting.
What are your plans for the future? My aims for the future are not careerbased but sport-based - to make the Commonwealth Games team for Gold Coast 2018 and to advance in the rankings in GB. I am fortunate now that I work in sport development that my hours are flexible and the department is very supportive of my various trips away. I have taken a few weeks off shooting since coming back from Glasgow, but I will be back in training (4-5 times a week) after that as I am off to the Welsh Open competition in October and then, of course, it’s the Island Games in June next year. I am also hoping to qualify for the Commonwealth Games Shooting Federation World Championships in India next year.
I have been to two Island Games (the Isle of Wight in 2011 where I won two gold medals in the pairs event with Mary Norman another ex-JCG pupil - and broke a Games record; Bermuda in 2013, where I won two individual gold medals). I have just returned from my first ever Commonwealth Games where my aim was to make the finals in both my events (air pistol and sport pistol). Unfortunately I didn’t quite make it - I was 14th in air pistol, 3 points off the final (the top eight make the final) but I was the second highest home country athlete beating England, Scotland and Guernsey. In sport pistol I was in 4th place after the first part of the competition but my nerves didn’t quite hold for the second part and I finished 15th in the end. I am currently ranked 6th in GB for both air pistol and sport pistol.
What are your fondest memories of your time at JCG? My fondest memories of JCG are the friends that I made there, the sense of camaraderie and the laughter. I am still in touch regularly with many friends from school and a couple of years ago Claire Le Vesconte and I organised a reunion and were delighted that so many of the class of 1986/88 were there - some had even travelled from America and Australia. The sixth form staff used to despair of us because we were a very close-knit year group who preferred to spend time chatting to each other in the Sixth Form Centre rather than studying and as a consequence we didn’t do as well as the staff had hoped in our A-level results 21
Interview continued: A dream comes true, Nikki Holmes, Class of 1988
(I think I was predicted three As and ended up with B/C/D). Having said that, I still went off and did my first choice degree and have no regrets. I remember the Sixth Form Geography field trip to the Lake District with Mr Evans and the Year 10 trip to Bournemouth and London when I saw my first ever mouse in a hotel room, which was good experience for seeing rats in my room when I was travelling in Borneo!
Do you feel that JCG taught you lessons for life beyond the classroom? JCG gave me bags of confidence, the ability to speak in front of large groups of people (I was House Captain of Inglis and a prefect so we used to have to lead House meetings and give assemblies), organisational skills and a sense of responsibility to yourself and others - and a great set of lifelong friends. It sharpened my love of learning too, so I’m always pretty useful on a quiz team! Mr Evans, Miss Buley (Geog) and Miss Le Mière (Geog) definitely helped to give me the travel bug and realise that there’s a whole world out there waiting to be explored. The JCG experience has given me friends for life, a sense of adventure and a definite
I remember we would debate endlessly about whether the teachers ever talked about us the way we talked about them and as a former teacher I can assure your readers that yes, teachers spend A LOT of time talking about students! I have really fond memories of several teachers - in particular, Mrs Barnes (Biology), Mr Evans (Geography) and Mr Wankling (Maths) who used to beat his fists against the blackboard in his tweed jacket when we got another question wrong. Mr Wankling taught me Maths for the whole time I was at JCG and he was brilliant - not least because he used to let Karina Mallett, Andrea Ormsby, Becky North and I go into the basement and sort the maths books out at the end of term whilst he took the rest of the class!
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need to explore the world - as well as a good academic background that took me to university where I also made lifelong friends.
believe that my dream has come true and I definitely don’t want it to end. Through shooting I was also lucky enough to go to 10, Downing Street which was another great experience. Shooting is a sport that you can do from a young age until very late in years. In fact England shooter, Mick Gault, aged 60, won bronze at this year’s air pistol event - his 18th Commonwealth Games medal. If anyone would like to try shooting they are more than welcome to contact me for further information at: n.holmes@gov.je
At school I was pretty rubbish at all sports - I once came very much last in the House Swimming competition, finishing my first length of the pool just as everyone else had got out! Finally after 40 years however, I have found a sport which I really enjoy and am good at! My advice to others would be to give everything a go and never say no to new experiences as you never know where it might take you. As an avid sports fan I used to watch Olympic and Commonwealth Games and it was always an impossible dream of mine to be good enough at a sport to represent my country. I still can’t quite
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Interview
‘Life After JCG’ Rebecca Alcock Class of 2013
Since leaving JCG, I have been studying English at the University of Leicester. Living in Leicester has been one of the highlights of my university experience. It has been really interesting to live in a place that is so different from Jersey since Leicester is such a culturally diverse city with many different things to experience. For instance, Leicester holds one of the biggest Diwali festivals outside of India and it’s fantastic to see the city celebrations.
As part of my degree I was also able to choose an option subject for my first year. I was torn between choosing a subject that I had already studied in sixth form or going for something completely new. In the end I decided to try something completely different and do the Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults (CELTA). What had started off as something that I was trying ‘just to give it a go’ quickly became one of my favourite aspects of the course. I was finding it really satisfying to be teaching a class on a weekly basis; not to mention the diverse range of people I was able to meet. The advantage of being in Leicester meant that I had the opportunity to teach a very diverse group of students. For instance I was able to teach students from Mallorca, Kazakhstan and Iran to name just a few. I had previously considered a career in teaching but English Foreign Language teaching was not a route I had previously considered. However, I’m now really excited about the opportunities it provides.
In terms of the course itself my passion for English has only grown since sixth form. During my first year I’ve built on the skills I learnt at school and also tackled literature that I had previously never studied. The thing I’ve enjoyed most about studying English is how much flexibility there is with essay writing as, even though there are set questions, there is enough scope to write about what interests you. For example, as one of our assignments in the last term we were tasked with conducting a sociolinguistic study in which my group decided to examine the difference in usage of language between the genders in social media. Talking to other students there was such a wide range of study ideas and everyone was investigating something that really appealed to them.
Returning to Jersey for the summer I was really keen to put my teaching qualification into practice. Consequently I applied to be a seasonal teacher with St. Brelade’s College at
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their teenage campus. Whilst initially finding the experience quite intense as instead of teaching for 45minutes each week as with my training, I was now teaching for two one and a half hour lessons each day, I thoroughly enjoyed having the opportunity to teach a different age group as well as getting to know the differences in how adults learn in comparison with how teenagers learn. Working alongside more experienced teachers enabled me to discuss ideas with them and learn about things that have worked well in their classrooms. I was also fascinated to get an insight into how a language school is run, in terms of syllabus and the different levels of students. It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience and I hope to get some similar teaching experience soon.
Rebecca Alcock
I’m really looking forward to starting my second year of university. This year as well as continuing in my English studies, I am doing a course in Spanish in the hopes of this helping to broaden my career prospects in teaching.
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Interview
Adventures Abroad Leila Osman Class of 2014
When you hear the words “gap year” generally, what stereotypes come to mind…?
rocky, but well worth it in the long term. I can honestly say taking a gap year was one of the best decisions I’ve made so far. After working for a few months once my A levels had finished in June, I finally set off on my trail around South East Asia, excited to experience the world outside my little 45 square mile patch of rock.
Do you picture a “rah” 18 year old who sounds as if they have stepped out of the You Tube world of “gap yah”, gallivanting off to find themselves by getting lost in Bangkok? That seems to be the general consensus. Truthfully, I know enough traveller friends to confirm that this image is not always aesthetically unrealistic. But the accusation that these travellers return home with a feeling that something appears different is merely pretention, it seems to me is misinformed.
In Thailand I travelled from the bustling city of Bangkok to the idyllic north and the famous southern islands, during which time I met amazing people from all corners of the globe. I spent the next month with 7 other volunteers riding bicycles through the perilous traffic of Siem Reap (Cambodia) to teach at a school every day. Here, we were each taken into a classroom after a morning of “training” and told to just, “teach now please”. We then made our way to Vietnam, perhaps the most magical country I have visited so far. We travelled north from the lively Ho Chi Minh city on lots of night buses (engineered for Vietnamese sized legs), through lantern- lit riverside towns like Hoian and seaside cities which looked as if they had been plucked out of a fairy tale. We reached the picturesque village of Sapa, which is between two huge hills veiled in a shadowy mist near the Chinese border. It was truly a spectacular experience.
The gap year’s reputation needs a cosmetic makeover. To start from the top, the name “gap” year does not give any favours. To many, it suggests 12 months of nothing; the gap being filled with pointless fun shenanigans involving large amounts of alcohol and sandy beaches in Thailand. Again, the description cannot be denounced as wholly false, but really, it should be given more slack. It’s not really a gap if it is eventful, whatever the events are. Really, it’s more of a bridge year between two places; relevant and useful to get from A to B… Or in bean terms, if Jersey is school and England is university or a job, the gap year is the Condor Vitesse - fast and sometimes very
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At the end of four months, I returned to the little island of Jersey with a sense of perspective that was definitely lacking before I left. Meeting new people and encountering fresh cultures leaves a mark on you which I’m pretty sure you can’t get without flying a few thousand miles away from what’s comfortable and familiar to discover something new. So, I defend the “gap year” to the last stand, and would certainly encourage anyone who has the chance to tread some new ground to do so before continuing on to university and work, to go for it!
After saying a sad goodbye to some incredible places and people, I left South East Asia to join a marine conservation project in Fiji. In true castaway style we spent our days surveying coral reefs and playing with the many children of our landlord-comeMethodist preacher Mala on the tiny island of Beqa. The island is completely isolated from the rest of the world, with the extent of our electricity being a light turned on when we’d saved enough solar power to use it. Meeting the local Fijian people, both on Beqa and on one of the main islands of Vitu Levu, was possibly the best experience of the whole trip. They were some of the most down to earth and genuine people I’ve encountered and followed their favourite saying “Senga ne lenga” - ‘no worries’ in practice. From this tropical paradise my last stop of Hong Kong was a complete shock. Instead of palm trees and relaxation, I was faced with a skyline filled by huge skyscrapers and millions of people hurrying along with the fast pace of the city.
Leila Osman
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Interview
‘The Kenyan Children’s Project’ Emily Warren Class of 2015
My family and I are really involved with a charity called The Kenyan Children’s Project. My parents are directors and my sister is the administrator and sponsorship coordinator and promotes the charity through photography, art and media. As a family, we first got involved with the charity by sponsoring a child called Edwin. Edwin was one of the first boys to come into the home and we support him by sponsoring his life and education, covering living costs and school costs. The KCP was founded in June 2005 and is a non-profitable organisation. It is situated in western Kenya in a town called Kakamega; where they own a compound called Koinonia (which means ‘Family’ in Greek). The KCP rescue vulnerable children who are orphans, do not have a home or come from families that are living in extreme poverty and cannot afford to look after them.
Many of the children in The KCP family have been orphaned, survived homelessness, severe abuse, extreme poverty, neglect or abandonment, but now they are receiving love and education and are part of a family. The first time I visited the charity at the age of 12 I had a huge culture shock, as the realisation of the way people live in comparison to my lifestyle was dramatically different. This made me appreciate what I have even more. Both times I visited, we did outreaches in local rural villages, where we provided medical treatment and we served children a hot meal, which for most is the only hot meal they will eat all week. The need for these programmes is desperate, this became clear as children and mothers with babies arrived in their numbers.
In 2006 The KCP rescued the first 5 children from the streets of Kakamega; and since then the family has grown, and The KCP has rescued over 80 children. It is a charity that helps the vulnerable, feeds the hungry and attends to the sick. I have had the privilege of visiting and helping The KCP twice now. I first went when I was 12 and again when I was 16 years old.
As well as bringing in vulnerable children, another side of the charity is Give Feet a 28
Fighting Chance. Tungiasis is a flea that lives in the dirt and buries into the flesh. Left untreated, it can cause immobility, loss of limbs or even death due to secondary infections. The infestation of Tungiasis can rapidly affect an entire home, school or community. The flea is highly contagious and is difficult to eradicate. Children that are infected become outcasts because of the shame associated with this disease. They cannot run, play or concentrate in class because of the pain.
to other conditions during the medical programmes. The KCP has also just purchased 15 acres of land in Kabras, Kenya, to start to build a village. Their goal is to begin self-sustainable farming as soon as possible. They are looking forward to teaching the vulnerable how to farm nutritious crops, a skill that will bless them for years to come. Their food costs will also dramatically decrease once we are able to grow crops to sustain the children they rescue. Their dream to establish a community that not only rescues but also sustains and empowers children to live and prosper can now become a reality.
When we were in Kenya, we visited a school in a rural village to examine the children’s feet to see which children were in desperate need of treatment. At a school it is vital that they are able to attend, as having an education is all these children want and with this disease affecting them, the attendance is minimal. Therefore all children at a school suffering with Tungiasis undergo treatment. Shoes are provided to protect their feet and prevent the future contraction of Tungiasis. The KCP are working to preventing the spread of Tungiasis by making concrete floors and giving children a chance to learn in a safe environment. Hygiene and health education is needed to empower children, families and schools to greatly reduce the rate of the spread of Tungiasis as well as other treatable and avoidable diseases.
In the picture below, I am with a little girl who lives in Koinonia. A while ago I donated some of my old clothes to the charity, and here she is wearing one of my old dresses.)
Mundulu Primary School is one of the schools that I visited on this trip. As well as treating Tungiasis, the charity also attend
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Interview
I love JCG! Charlotte Slater (née Hotton) Class of 1994
I love JCG… which is just as well as it has consumed over half my life -24 years to be precise! I spent 14 happy years at JCG Prep and JCG. For me, the best thing about having gone to JCG is the friendships I have made which have lasted into my adulthood. Known for our Doc Martens, big hair and Dads’ jumpers we had a brilliant time at school! It’s been 20 years since I, and the rest of the class of ’94, left the safety of JCG and headed out into the world. For me the first step was Bristol University (chosen for its southern location and excellent academic reputation), where I studied archaeology (chosen because I had no idea what career I wanted and it sounded interesting!). Three years and a lot of fun later, I left Bristol with a 2:1 and a passion for archaeology!
English spoken in Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia and was probably my proudest achievement! I tried my hand at getting an archaeological role in London when I returned, but I soon came back to Jersey as I missed my friends and family so much. After a spell of general office temping I knew that office work was not for me, and I managed to persuade the Historic Buildings team at Planning that they could use an archaeologist! I spent several years looking at the archaeology of buildings and updating the list of sites to be protected as they had special interest. This was such an interesting role which combined my love of heritage and archaeology, that I was sad when the contract ended. With nothing else on the horizon I decided to do another trip and headed to Australia for a year with a working visa. Needless to say this was another spectacular experience with many happy memories of carefree days and a fondness for Adelaide!
I had been involved with Jersey Heritage and the excavations at La Hougue Bie whilst I was still at university. After I graduated, I was extremely lucky to get to work with the Curator of Archaeology and could put my degree to some use! However, after a serious car crash I decided to see some more of the world and headed off to New Zealand and South America for 6 months. This was an amazing opportunity to spread my wings and challenge myself from sky diving to trekking the Inca trail and becoming conversationally fluent in Spanish. I am not a natural linguist, but this was forced upon me by the lack of
When I returned, I had a difficult decision to make: should I stay in Jersey and choose a different career path or should I move to the UK and pursue archaeology? I decided that happiness for me was being with the people I love, so I cast my mind back to Project Trident and rediscovered my earlier career ambitions to teach. The obvious subject choice was History and I headed off to Exeter
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University for the most intense year of my life doing a PGCE. It was hard work, but it was worth it, as shortly after returning to the island Mrs Bleasby retired and I was fortunate to get her job in the school which I have never quite left.
standards and expectations have risen since I was a student but the school still turns out the same positive, bright and pleasant young ladies. Without JCG I doubt I would have ended up having the confidence and ability to achieve so much, and thanks to JCG I have a job I really enjoy, which is why I love JCG!Â
I have been at JCG as a teacher for 10 years now, and I consider myself to be very fortunate to get the opportunity to help and inspire such amazing students.* The
*We are also lucky to have had Miss Hotton as a teacher.
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Interview
Jane Machin (née Pallot) Class of 1951 (The 49ers)
You recently had a reunion for your class tell us about that?
favourite teachers. She was interested in her pupils. She taught Biology which I thoroughly enjoyed but I enjoyed lots of other subjects such as English, Geography and Latin. I took Latin instead of History. I wasn’t very fond of History which is ironic because I married a Historian!
There were about 20 of us this year. We all met up for lunch at the Somerville Hotel on Saturday 27th September. It was great fun to see everyone again.
Who were you friends at JCG?
How old were you when you joined JCG?
Jean Arthur, Joy Norman and Doreen Castle were my main friends. We were good students. I got one order mark the entire time I was at JCG and that was for being spotted on a bus not wearing my beret! I had left it at school the night before as I had been wearing my Girl Guide uniform!
I spent the war years in England and came home in 1945 at 12 years old. I had, along with other boys and girls returning from England, won a scholarship at various English schools. Mine was for Ilfracombe Grammar School. These scholarships were recognised by the States of Jersey; however there was no room at JCG which, at that time was based in what is now Victoria College Prep. We went to The States Intermediate School for a year then to JCG when a space became available, when the school moved to its new home at Rouge Bouillon.
What was your favourite sport? I loved hockey! I was in the school team and played away once against Guernsey Grammar and Guernsey Ladies College!!! You mentioned you were a 49er! What did you have to do to be a 49er?
What are your memories of the old building?
We were the last form to take the old School Certificate which was the original ‘O’ Level!
I remember the library was splendid and we did go up to the Dome on occasion as part of our Geography lesson to see Victoria College!
What did you do on leaving JCG? I went straight to Reading University to study Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Geology! I loved university and was in my element there. I really enjoyed the community spirit, meeting different people, all the subjects. It was fantastic! Reading was a small university with only 1000 students, all residential so it was a fun place.
What is your first memory of JCG? We were made to feel very welcome when we arrived at JCG. Miss Crawford was one of my
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What was your first job after Reading?
special permission from the University to go with Ian and we returned to Jersey and got married in Grouville Parish Church in April.
I went to work at the British Museum (Natural History) as a government scientist. My focus was palaeontology specialising in plant fossils. I dreamed of travelling and working for an oil company but they wouldn’t employ women!
Ian then got a post at the University of St Andrews, (Queens College, Dundee) which shortly afterwards became the University of Dundee. I was not sad to leave Singapore as in those days men and their families were given priority for accommodation so it was very tough being a single girl as you had to live in communal accommodation having to cope with all sorts of people at breakfast!
After approximately two years at the British Museum I got a position in University College London to do a PhD. My work was to be financed by The Iraq Oil Company. To begin with they had no idea I was a woman! They wouldn’t have been able to employ me despite being happy with my work because I was not a man!
We spent 38 happy years in Scotland and had three wonderful children. Jonathan, Anna, Raoul. Anna had a difficult birth and was severely handicapped. We had 14 years with Anna and came to Jersey as a family every summer and have very fond memories of those precious times.
I got a teaching post at South West Essex College of Technology. I taught the London External Degree in Botany and Part One of the London External Degree in Geology. I really enjoyed teaching.
After 38 years in Scotland we retired back to our home on the edge of the sea.
At the time most oil companies would not employ women. However the USA were much more forward thinking and I found myself in negotiations for a Geologist role in America however, during these negotiations a role as a Junior Lecturer came up in Singapore and I jumped at the chance.
How did JCG help shape your amazing life? JCG helped me see that anything is possible and everything is worth doing. I remember to this day, as do many of my school friends! Miss Payne and Miss Crawford’s voices, all of whom made lasting impressions but so many of them did.
The prehistoric fossils (pollen grains) I had been studying as part of my PhD were found in the Isle of Wight. I thought it would be fun to head to Singapore and see how close the vegetation types of that time were to the prehistoric ones I had been studying! There was a great similarity and it was fascinating work.
I also remember attending the JCG London reunions with much fondness. Travelling down overnight on the Caledonian sleeper Dundee to London for a Saturday lunch in London! I am thrilled to hear Leanda is looking to organise another one soon! I am also delighted to hear the library is coming back and look forward to celebrating its return in October!
I didn’t just find a link to the prehistoric fossils in Singapore, I also found my husband the Historian! Ian was lecturing History at the University of Singapore where we met. We courted while we were both lecturing. Ian was heading back to England on leave. I was given 33
Interview
Jane Le Sueur (nĂŠe Le Breton) Class of 1983
Calling all former students of JCG in O Level class of 1981 and A Level of 1983
the use of the new Jersey College for Girls on Mont Millais as a venue on Saturday 13th June 2015.
I am on a mission to find as many former JCG students as possible, the majority of whom will have already or will be due to celebrate their 50th birthdays in this school year September 2014 - August 2015 (who would have undertaken O or A level exams in 1981 or 1983 respectively)
It is proposed (for a small charge purely to cover costs of circa ÂŁ15.00) to welcome the ladies late morning say 11am, to enjoy drinks on arrival and a buffet lunch but primarily to provide time for a whole load of chat, laughter and catch up - there will be nothing too formal - probably just a quick welcome and thank you for coming and thank you to those who have helped organise the event and those who may have travelled from overseas to get there - and hopefully a tour of the school buildings and grounds for those who would like to.
Given this huge milestone in our lives, and the fact that it will have been in excess of 30 years since we all left the then Jersey College for Girls based in its former location in Rouge Bouillon, I thought it would be a fabulous idea if a reunion could be organised for any ladies who at any time between the years of September 1976 and July 1983 were ever part of our year group. The idea is to locate as many of our former student friends and colleagues, wherever they may be now in the world and in whatever circumstances and bring them back together, and through the wonders of modern social media and/or electronic communication, that in those days was not available to us, put them back in touch with their old (in more ways than one!!) friends.
Additionally I would like to invite anyone who has photos/ stories or memorabilia from their JCG days that they would like to share with us all to send these to me so I can prepare a static stand /display - also if anyone has any business cards that they would like displayed please send these to me also.
To this end, and having sought ideas from a number of such friends living locally and Leanda from the Foundation, I decided to try to organise this reunion and have negotiated
They say school days are the best days or our lives and I certainly was lucky enough to enjoy my time at JCG - My memories of JCG include the following (and maybe this will jog other ladies’ memories as well) :
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Mr Graham and the Stationery cupboard and battling to get a new ‘rough’ book The huts in 4th year Mrs Thomson and the Careers office Mrs Snowdon and the Library The bell which we weren’t allowed to touch on the shelf by the entrance Being the first year group to experience Computer Science lessons with Mr Davidson before Microsoft and Windows were invented - in the days of Binary digits and COBOL & BASIC
Our two headmistresses -Mrs Pullin and Miss Stevenson and Deputy Miss Buley Our year group Head Girl - Catherine Lake
The Geography field trip to Dorset in the 6th year
Our year group Deputy Head Girls - Julie Le Cornu & Helen Ness
The Jersey Youth Orchestra Trips to France and Switzerland
The ‘out of bounds’ teachers’ stairs The one way system past Miss Hughes’ office
Reading the meteorological station instruments on the lawn outside the Geography room
BAYs discos in the New Block
The Shakespeare competition
The 6th Form Centre
Sewing our names into our Science green or blue overalls and our cooking apron
The Greek Theatre
Sewing wrap around skirts and stuffed toys in 1st year
The basement we lived in during 5th year The Dome - and all etching our names in the wall when we left
Some of us participated in posing for a photo in 7th year on the steps on the front lawn
Traipsing up to La Pouquelaye for games and taking a short cut through the cemetery
Hoping that any eligible ladies make contact and that we will have an enjoyable Reunion can’t wait for Saturday 13th June 2015. Please get in touch Jane at jane_lesueur@hotmail.com
4 houses becoming 6 with the addition of Fry and Curie
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Interview
‘What a Drama!’ Sue May Class of 1978
I have many fond memories of school, firstly, however, I need to confirm I was in Nightingale House! Miss Morgan used to teach Maths standing on a chair, Mel Davison came as Head of Music and put on a concert where we all played music with a scaffolding pole (this did not go down well with some fee paying parents!). Sixth Form was where you could make your own toast in the Sixth Form Centre, use the phone and wear your own clothes. Passing my driving test and parking in the school playground alongside the teachers.
with Yootha Joyce and Brian Murphy. Of the 20 week season I only got the taxi horn and the loo flush muddled up once! In 1980 I went to Drama College in London (ALRA), where I trained in theatre and to be a Speech and Drama Teacher. In my first year production I played the part of an ant but as I told my Mum “you have to start small!” After 3 years and some rather more challenging and larger parts, I qualified. I then ventured into the big wide world of work to gain my equity card and I started my career:
Some of you may remember me from “The Demon of Adachigahara”, “Noah’s Flood” and “Dido and Aeneas” where we all giggled and went pink because a girl had to play the boy part and say “I love you” and kiss another girl! You may on the other hand remember me from my trombone playing days in the Band and Orchestra and the acute embarrassment I used to feel when my Mum appeared during a lesson at the classroom door, not with my packed lunch but my trombone as she had driven off with it in the boot of the car!
My first paid role as Algie Pug in the Rupert Bear Show at Fort Regent was followed by a variety of Summer Seasons at the Jersey Opera House. Once I achieved my full equity card I then toured UK schools with a children’s pantomime show where the dressing room was often a broom cupboard! I then started to be offered seasons in regional theatres, productions included Inspector Calls, Gypsy, Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat and The Wizard of Oz where I played Dorothy. I then toured the UK for a year in a play called Local Murder. I also worked in theatre in Trinidad and appeared on TV in Tuckers ‘Luck and Bergerac’.
It was probably not surprising therefore that my career route was to work in the “theatre,” it was my dream. I spent a gap year in Jersey working for Dick Ray for which I am most appreciative, ran the Stuart Gillies Fan Club and then in the evenings operated the sound for the Summer Season play which was “George and Mildred”
However, as much as I enjoyed doing something that I loved the income wasn’t secure or regular. In between theatre roles I worked for a recruitment agency in London and eventually things changed and this became my “proper 36
job!” I did this for a number of years working my way up to becoming a Director. We worked with some big clients like Chanel, Harrods, L’Oreal and Yves Saint Laurent. I got married in 1989 and 5 years later decided the time was right to return home to Jersey and start a family. James is now 17, and Emma is 14- how time flies!
I have made a great recovery but these experiences certainly make you re-evaluate your life and so today my role and time is focussed on the Charity Sector. I now work as Chairman of the Jersey Brain Tumour Charity which I founded in 2011, recognising during my own recovery that there was no specific support available.
My link with the school was then re-ignited when I was approached by Miss Stone (my History teacher!) and invited to join the Old Girls Committee, however I always found it hard to call her “Margaret!” In 1996 I organised a JCOGA Variety show at the Arts Centre, took part in a school Fashion Show and helped out at Reunion Suppers. In 1999 I was invited to speak at the last School Prizegiving at La Pouquelaye about life in my day. It appeared from other speakers that we all experienced the rule that skirts needed to be 2 inches above the knee. However once measured we all rolled them up to expose more thigh. I understand that even today this is still a common practice!
The Jersey Brain Tumour Charity is a bespoke and niche charity which offers support and help in a compassionate and practical way to those people living in Jersey, whether they are a patient, family, friend or work colleagues affected by a brain tumour diagnosis in both the short and long term. In addition we have the ability to signpost people to professional Health Care services and much larger charities where appropriate. The work encompasses a wide number of skills gained in my previous roles and is very varied, fulfilling and rewarding. The fundraising aspect is always important and I recently climbed Snowdon as a fundraiser and which I said on the way up was never on my “to do list”! I am passionate about promoting employee engagement and the benefits gained by good people management. I also represent Jersey on The Southern Chartered Management Institute Board (CMI)
My career then took a second turn. On returning from London I worked at Mourant as a Senior HR Manager for thirteen years. I studied further and took my professional qualifications becoming MCIPD and FCMI qualified. I then moved to Ogier as HR Group Head of Operations.
Life can be a rollercoaster of events and as is often the case when you experience an unexpected life-changing event, it causes you to reflect and re-order your life. Using a theatrical term you realise that:
Suddenly on August 9th 2009 I had a massive seizure on my way to work and my life turned upside down. I was diagnosed with a brain tumour the size of a cooking apple which we now fondly refer to as “Annie Apple”! I was extremely lucky that it was benign and I was able to have surgery. I had it removed the following month and a titanium plate was fitted in my head.
“Life is not a dress rehearsal, to smile and keep going tomorrow is promised to no one”.
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Interview
Fond memories of JCG Georgina Rose (née Vinrace) Class of 1954
I joined JCG in 1947 when my parents moved to Jersey from Warwickshire. In my first term we had inter- house sports day, I was in Garrett Anderson, we won the cup and from that day on my love for sport has never ceased.
Day, I was invited by the Jersey Swimming Club to be Britannia on their float “Britannia & Old Father Time”. We were pulled along by JSC members, who were mostly from JCG & Victoria College. I was perched on a high rock had donned a helmet and was carrying a shield. We went through St Helier stopping from time to time quite abruptly, which nearly threw me off my rather slippery rock!
I joined the school choir and Scottish dancing group as well as playing in all team games. I was also voted the House Sports Captain. At House prayers I sat with the prefects and having Miss Robinson, our house Mistress, in front of the pupils speaking about forthcoming events made me very nervous! During the following years I played netball and hockey in the winter, while swimming and playing tennis in the summer. We had many inter-school matches with Guernsey, to which we travelled on the mail boat. This was always tremendous fun, as while we won some matches and lost others, the team spirits were always very competitive.
The other great events in the summer holidays were the Battle of Flowers, firstly as Drum Majorettes with many girls from JCG; the next year selling programmes and finally as “Buoys & Belles” with JSC. They were most enjoyable days, including the battle at the end of the parade. In my last year, with limited lessons, I spent free afternoons at the sports fields assisting Miss Davis as an umpire; it was a good experience but I must admit I preferred to be playing! At the end of my final term we had a gymnastic display on the lawn in front of school and our parents. We also had a Scottish Dancing display on the Greek Theatre, all wearing National Costume. The last memorable event of course was going up to the Dome!
In 1953 we joined forces with Victoria College to perform ‘The Pirates of Penzance’. As this was the first time the two Colleges had appeared together in their history, it was quite an event! The queue to join was very long, but the choir took priority so there was no queuing for us! Also that year on Coronation
After leaving school, I went to Domestic Science College in Bristol before working at a Bristol University Hall of Residence as Junior Bursar. This enabled me to continue playing sport in the netball and hockey teams while also being in the choir and a production of The Mikado, until I got married and later had two daughters. When
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they went to senior schools I started to work and became a Business Manager with a large cosmetic company, covering a large portion of the West Country. Sports became quite limited at this time, mainly swimming at weekends until I retired and now swim most days in the Bristol Channel. We don’t have the beautiful blue waters like Jersey has, but the quality is fine. Many of us enjoy the daily challenge of these waters which seem to alter each day. Every year we fundraise through social events which are mainly for local charities. I also volunteer at a Children’s Hospice and more recently at a National Trust House. As I look back at years gone by, I remember my days at JCG with great affection. They were happy days and I am delighted to still be in touch with many of my school friends how blessed I am! Thank you JCG!
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JCG Foundation The JCG Loyalty Card Scheme for JCG Parents, Alumni and Staff As a thank you, any member of the JCG family who kindly donates a minimum sum of ÂŁ5 a month, for one year, to help run the JCG Foundation, will receive a JCG Foundation Loyalty Card.
There is a list included of the retailers currently supporting the scheme. Details of any changes to participating and new retailers can be found at www.jcgfoundation.com
The JCG Foundation Loyalty Card will give Parents and Alumni access to a myriad of potential discounts from participating retailers on certain goods and services.
How do I sign up? To sign up please contact
This scheme has been developed to help fund the running costs of the Foundation so any money we raise, both now and in the future, will be available to go directly to help support our Students and Alumni.
Leanda Guy at l.guy@jcg.sch.je to receive your JCG Loyalty Card information and registration form.
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A new chapter. The original College library finally comes home to JCG The College's original oak-panelled library is being given a new lease of life after the Jersey Development Company stepped in to fund and organise the relocation of the library to JCG's new home at Mont Millais. Former JCG students share their memories of what the library meant to them: ‘I remember being filled with awe on entering the library for the first time. It was the most special and historic part of the school. As Patron of the Foundation we are very grateful to the Jersey Development Company for working with us to ensure its safety for generations to come to enjoy.’ Sally Le Brocq, OBE class of 1955
‘I am delighted that the library is coming home. It was always such a calm and tranquil area with a feeling of calm, but also a feeling of past generations.’ Simone Goddard class of 1953 ‘The wood panelling was beautifully done and in itself it created a place of dignity and warmth because of its rich, warm colours. The fact that so many ex-pupils have been so concerned about restoring the library shows the affection they have for it.’ Margaret Stone class of 1955, taught History and Latin from 1962 to 1997
‘For many years our Old Girls have been very frustrated that their wonderful library was left abandoned in the old building. The Foundation is thrilled to have been able to work with the Jersey Development Company to make the dream of getting our library back a reality.’ Leanda Jane Guy, Foundation Director
‘Just sitting at the tables surrounded by the panelling gave you a sense of the history of the building.’ Jane Delap class of 1987 ‘The library was where we chose our first books, and discovered authors we were going to love. For me, it began a lifelong love of books and awoke my aspirations to be a writer. I can remember walking into the library, going over to the left hand side bookcase and placing my hand onto a book which turned out to be written by the author Georgette Heyer, a writer who I absolutely loved. I can truly say it started me off in my literary career.’ Tessa Coleman class of 1969 ‘I have many happy memories, including hours spent covering books with the dreaded sticky back plastic!’ Pippa Bastiman class of 1985
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The beginning of a new chapter Welcome to College Gardens. A collection of elegant and contemporary homes, built with character and integrity to breathe new life into one of the island's most iconic locations. To learn more about this inspiring new development, brought to you by the Jersey Development Company, and to receive updates and details of opportunities, register your interest at: www.collegegardens.je or call Lisa Walton: +44(0) 1534 721097 / +44(0)7797 756382
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Artist's impression of the College Gardens development.
History and heritage lives on at College Gardens.
The JCG library restoration project is the first phase in the redevelopment of the old Jersey College for Girls, set to be transformed into a new residential quarter by the Jersey Development Company. Work will begin on the site this year, restoring the original Victorian façade and gardens and creating College Gardens, a development of contemporary residences. College alumni had a chance to play a founding role in shaping the identity of the new College Gardens development, with a competition to select the names for the six residences. There was an overwhelming response with hundreds of entries and a clear winning option of JCG’s current Houses. The College’s unique identity and character will live on in the residence name choices; Austen-Bartlett House, Cavell House, CurieFry House, Garrett-Anderson House, Inglis House and Nightingale House. One entrant was chosen at random to receive a first edition signed copy of an Ian Rolls’ painting of the former Jersey College for Girls commissioned by the Jersey Development Company. Our congratulations go to Jennifer Goddard who was the lucky winner. She will be presented with her print at a special prize-giving presentation this autumn. Ian Rolls’ original painting
has been gifted to the JCG Foundation by the Jersey Development Company and now hangs in JCG's reception. Limited edition prints are available to purchase for £100, with all proceeds going to the JCG Foundation. To secure your limited edition print, please email Karen Stone at the JCG Foundation, k.stone@jcg.sch.je.
Share your memories Do you have a photograph of your College time that means something special to you? The Jersey Development Company are launching an appeal for photographs taken by pupils and teachers while they were at the College or attending landmark College events to feature within a History section within the new development’s website. If you’d like to take part, email your photographs, along with a few details about where and when they were taken, to lisa.walton@jerseydevelopment.je.
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Blue Sky Learning Fly to the destination of your choice with a JCG Education
www.jcg.je www.jcgfoundation.com
STEPHEN COHU ANTIQUES & Seb astia n M a nti wrist w a t c h e s For Jersey’s most comprehensive selection of antiques, fine jewellery and works of art visit our large St Lawrence showrooms. Also featuring Sebastian Manti with the island’s most extensive selection of quality pre-owned wristwatches including Rolex, Patek Philippe and Omega. Our services include valuations for probate and insurance and total house clearance. La Grande Route de St Laurent, St Lawrence, Jersey JE3 1NJ LOCATED NEAR ST LAWRENCE PARISH CHURCH Tel: 01534 485 177 Web: stephencohuantiques.com Wednesday to Saturday 10am to 5pm
Stephen Cohu.indd 1
24/10/2014 13:30
Notifications Dates for your diary
Marriages
Spring Reunion - Saturday 7th March
Zara Blake married Ian Raymond on 24.08.13
JCG Poppy Bank planting - March
Julie Baudains married Stuart Chandelen in September 2012
JCG Foundation Philanthropy Event Thursday 23rd April
Births
Reunion Class of 1983 - Saturday 13th June
Burns - to Claire (née O’Flaherty) and Nick, a daughter, Lucy, on 11.04.14
Pride and Joy - Sunday 28th June
Head - to Julia (née Picot, JCG 1996 - 2003) and Andrew, a son, George on 28.06.14
Coffee Morning - August Victor Hugo Loyalty Card Evening - November News of our Old Girls
Clarke - to Rebecca (née Maletroit) and Chris, a daughter, Freya Rose Rebecca on 06.08.14
Georgina Sutton has graduated from The Royal College of Music with a BMus 1st Class in piano.
Dauny - to Jo (née Le Feuvre) and Jonathan, a daughter, Isabella on 25.09.14
Stephane Forster has graduated from the University of Cardiff with a First Class BSc in Geology, now working for Geomarine in Jersey.
Slater - to Charlotte (née Hotton, JCG 1981 1994 and Staff) and Stafford, a son, Alfred Smith - Ohlsson - to Emma (née Smith, JCG 1980 - 1993) and Alex, a daughter, Isabella
Many congratulations to Miss Valerie Guy on her retirement after decades of teaching Jersey children how to dance.
Chandlen - Julie (née Baudains) and Stuart, a baby boy, Jack on January 2014
Silver Wedding
Deaths
Heidi Lewis (née Wilding) married Mark Lewis on 9th June 1989
Jane Davenport (née Labey) on 16.02.15
Engagements
Sara Durnford - Lloyd (nee Hooper - Smith) on 18.01.15
Laura Voak to Callum Gillies 01.03.14
Rosemary Medder (née Satchwell) on 02.12.14 Jane Nance (née Scriven) on 25.01.15 Pamela Phipps, (nee d’Esterre) on 18.09.14 46
Remembering Miss Enid Davis We were very sad to hear that Miss Enid Davis had passed away and thank Simone Goddard for sharing these photos of Enid at our 2012 Spring Reunion. We were contacted by another friend of Miss Davis who has donated some beautiful pictures and Enid’s rather marvellous hand written book on Folk Dances not to mention a complete collection of Old Girl Magazines to our archive which we very much appreciate. Donations for Enid to Save the Children’s Fund c/o JCG Foundation Office and we will pass on for you.
Mrs Fayette Jackson Having such wonderful memories of Fayette coming to talk to students with Miss Valerie Guy a few years ago we were very touched to receive a call from a friend of Fayette’s who wished that her very sweet JGC Form Reunion 10th June 1992 bonbon dish and JLC - JCG little china pot be gifted to the Foundation Archive. A sweet gesture from a sweet lady.
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A Tribute to Dame Florence Baron By kind permission of the Jersey Evening Post
where her first love was ballet, which led to her taking part in television advertisements. The family moved to Jersey when she was eight years old and she was educated at the Collegiate and the Jersey College for Girls. In 1971 she gained a place at St Hugh’s College in Oxford to read politics, philosophy and economics. After a year, she changed to read law, in which she obtained her degree in 1975. She never forgot the generosity of the States of Jersey, who gave her a grant for her four years at Oxford and for the following year when she took her Bar exams.
DAME Florence Baron, an Islander who advised Prince Charles about his divorce settlement with Princess Diana, died at the age of 61 in December in Boston, Massachusetts.
Whilst at Oxford she returned to the Island regularly and took part in the Samarès Players’ productions.
During her distinguished career on the Bench she was at the forefront of bringing about financial equality for women in divorce settlements.
After university she joined Middle Temple, completed her professional examinations and was called to the Bar in 1976. For more than 25 years she worked as a barrister in Queen Elizabeth Buildings in London, where she rose from junior barrister to become head of chambers.
She was born in October 1952 in London to José and Elizabeth Baron. Her Father, an electrical engineer was a member of the team who designed the electrics for the D-Day landing craft, and a pioneer in the early commercial use of bakelite, particularly in radios.
Her specialty in advising clients how to settle their financial affairs following a marriage break-up meant that she dealt with people when they were at their most vulnerable. As an exceptional advocate and tactician, she became known in the legal profession in London for her sensitivity, discretion, expertise and sense of fairness.
Dame Florence went to live in Rhodesia with her parents, where her father worked in the meteorological service, they remained there until 1960. On their return to London she attended a stage school, the Arts Educational,
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As well as representing the Prince of Wales in his divorce settlement with Princess Diana, she also had as her clients members of other royal families living abroad. She was in the forefront of developing the law of England and Wales governing a women’s entitlement following divorce or separation, which has progressed enormously.
After her father died her mother moved from St Saviour to a property overlooking the beach at Gorey. Even during her busiest time at the Bar, Dame Florence came back to the Island every weekend, to visit her ailing mother.
She again led the way by successfully handling some of the earliest cases in which the overall contribution a woman had made to the partnership by caring for the family was taken into account when it came to the settlement. It is now acknowledged that a woman’s contribution to the partnership is just as valuable and, as such should be rewarded just as fairly. In 1995, Dame Florence Baron was appointed as a Queen’s Counsel.
In 2008 she bought a house in Barbados, where she discovered the art of relaxation, the joy of making new friends and the delight in creating a new garden. Outside the law, her interests remained with the arts, particularly ballet and opera. She was diagnosed with terminal cancer in December 2012 and faced her illness with her trademark determination, dignity and privacy.
In the late 1990s she was gaining her early experience on the Bench as a recorder in the Civil County Court. She was appointed a Deputy High Court Judge of the Family Division, in which cases are held in court but without the public or media present.
Dame Florence spent her last three months in the United States at the Dana Farber Institute in Boston, Massachusetts, and died in hospital there in December 2013.
The post of High Court Judge for which she put her name forward attracted hundreds of applicants. Her selection for the role led to her being made a Dame, and she received the honour from the Queen in February 2004 at a private audience.
She is survived by her partner of almost four decades and latterly her husband, John Tonna. The Jersey Evening Post sends sympathy to him and her friends.
She was sad that her new role led to her leaving the chambers where had worked for more than 25 years. One of the main aspects of her leadership was a determination that women should have the same opportunity to be considered on their merits as men. As a High Court Judge, she regularly travelled around the country on circuit.
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COMMUNITY JERSEY EVENING
POST Thursday
13 February
Dame Florence Baron was served well by her natural common sense, decisive intellect , her striving to do justice to her role and her firm adherence to the principles of fairness
D
AME Floren Baron, an ce Islander vised Prince who adCharles about his divorce settlement with Diana, died Princess at the age of 61 in Decem Boston, Massac ber in husetts. During
her guished career distinon the Bench she was at the forefront of about financi bringing al equality for women in divorce settlements. She was born in October 1952 in London to José and Elizabeth Baron. Her father had been an electric al engineer who was of the team a member who designed the electrics for the D-Day landing craft, and a pioneer in the early comme rcial bakelite, particu use of larly in radios. She went Rhodesia withto live in her parents, where obtained a her father post in the meteorologica l service, and they remain ed there until 1960. On turn to London their reshe was enrolled in a stage school, the Arts Educat ional, where her first love was ballet, and led to her which taking part in television advertisement s for Wall’s and other produc sausages ts. The family she was eight moved to Jersey when how to settle their financi She was sad al affairs educated at years old and she was following a marria cases in which to her leaving that her new role led the ge break-u Jersey College Collegiate and the meant that she dealt p tion a woman the overall contrib the chambe had worked u- early experie had made to for more than rs where gained a place for Girls. In 1971 she when they were at their with people nership the partnce on the and the clerk by caring for 25 years, at St Hugh’s most vulnerable. As an recorder dealing Bench Oxford to in exceptional the taken into read politics College in tacticia with crimina as a ing briefs said charge of distributaccount when family was with a jury n in this field, advocate and the , philosophy and econom she had been it came to and small claims l cases head of settlement. ics. After the best she became Civil County chambers changed to a year, she known in the legal in the he The policy Court. She read law, in profession used to be was appoint One of the main aspects had known. ed a Deputy which she ob- London for her sensitiv tained her in fact that High Court degree of her leada man tended based on the Family tion, experti ity, discreJudge of the ership in that respect She never forgotin 1975. se and sense to Division, in had been a termination of fairness. earner and was therefo be the wage held in which cases As well as the generos dethat the States of women represe court re are more ity of of entitled to but withou nting the Prince of the wealth Wales in his or media present t the public the same opportunity should have grant for herJersey, who gave her at the end of is now acknow divorce settlem to be ered on their a with Princes . it. It four years ledged The merits as men. consident contrib and for the following year at Oxford her clients s Diana, she also had As a High ution to the that a woman’s which post of High Court Judge Court Judge, took her Bar she put partner when she Victoria, Viscoun as just as valuabl for exams. she reguSpencer, in e and, as such ship is tracted hundre her name forward at- larly travelled around tess be reward When, much South Africa, on circuit. the country should ds of bers ed later applica and just selectio of memin as fairly. other royal nts. Her she gave a n for the role In 1995, speech at St her career, abroad. Her mother led to her being made a She was in the families living appoint Dame Florence Baron said that but Hugh’s, she her father frommoved on the death of forefront of for the generos ed as a Queen’ was honour Dame, and she receive veloping the States, she deSt d the ity of the from the s Counse law of Englan Saviour to the late 1990s a propshe was gaining l. In 2004 at a private Queen in February erty overlooking the d and would have doubted whether she Wales governing a women beach at Gorey Even during been able to audience which her ed half ’s entitle. complete her ment following divorce her busiest education. an hour. last- Bar, time at the or separation, which has progres Dame Florenc e came back sed enormo Island every The size of to the usly. weekend, as became less her mother Acting formerly dependthe settlement there ed on who had able to do her independent and less the greates made shopping for t financial While at Oxford After her mother the week. contribution, but the she returne the Island died in 2006 d to approa law moved away from turned to whenever she she rech. In the past, the that took part could and enjoy her simple Island regularly to in a productions, the Samarès Players only entitled to a third woman was pleasur along the beach. e of walkin ’ ple’s capital including playing of g tia in the and possibl the couPorMerchant of y some inJuliet in Romeo Venice and come, whereas now, settlem to assets being ent leads Principles After univers and Juliet. shared on a 50/50 Temple, compleity she joined Middle basis. On the Bench, She again led examinations ted her professional the way by sense, decisiv her natural commo success n Bar in 1976. and was called to the fully handling some to do justice e intellect, her striving of the earliestFor more than to her role she worked 25 years and her firm adherence as a barrist to Elizabeth er in Queen ness and that her principles of fairBuildings in London Among other where she rose which she right and wrong perceived as , high-profile responsibilities, to become head from junior barrister served her In 2008 she well. Baron represe Dame Florence Her special of chambers. nted the Prince bados, where bought a house in Barty in advisin Wales in his g clients divorce settlem of of relaxation, she discovered the art ent with Princess friends and the joy of making new Diana the delight in new garden . Outside the creating a terests remain law, her inticularly ballet ed with the arts, parand She was diagnos opera. ed with cancer in Decemb terminal er 2012 her illness with her trademand faced mination, ark deterdignity and privacy. She spent her last United States three months in the at the Dana stitute in Farber InBoston, Massac and died in hospital there husetts, ber 2013. in DecemShe is survive d by her partner almost four of decades and husband, John latterly her Tonna. The Evening Post Jersey sends sympat and her friends hy to him .
Respected ju d the focus on ge with fairness Obituary: Dam e Florence Baron
‘She had a de should have termination that wo be consider the same opportun men ity ed on their merits as m to en’
2014
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