Rural Jersey Winter 2021

Page 16

by Jersey’s celebrated explorer Colonel John Blashford Snell CBE

B

The chaplain with his son, John Blashford Snell (aged 9).

orn in St. Helier, my father, The Reverend Prebendary Leland Blashford Snell, enjoyed his time at Victoria College where he was a keen cricketer. Thereafter, he decided to take Holy Orders and after marrying my mother at the Town Church, sailed for New Zealand.

Ordained at Dunedin Cathedral, he also became a chaplain in the New Zealand Territorial Army. On return to Jersey in 1930, he became curate at the Town Church and my mother ran the Blue Cross Animal Shelter. They both loved animals, especially dogs and had a favourite Alsatian, Peggy, a strongly built sablecoated bitch, whose party trick was to pick me up by my nappies when, as a baby, I tipped myself out of the pram. She would then carry me, bawling my head off, into the house. In the Territorial Army, Father was nicknamed ‘Bish’ and in 1944, was senior chaplain with the 53rd Welsh Division in France. As the Allies pressed forward from the beaches of Normandy, a large part of the German Army became trapped in a ‘pocket’ at Falaise.

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With their backs to a river and orders from Hitler to hold on regardless, they were surrounded on three sides and systematically destroyed as the pocket closed in. The fighting was bitter and confused, opposing units became inextricably intermingled and casualties were heavy on both sides. One infantry company, having attacked the German defences, was itself pinned down between two minefields and unable to move. The men dug in and fought for their lives. By late afternoon on the second day of their struggle they had suffered many dead and wounded. As a chaplain, Bish decided to try to get through to them with an armoured ambulance carrier and some stretcher bearers to bring the wounded out. Mortar bombs were still falling as the carrier wound its way towards the isolated soldiers. However, they got through and the stretcher bearers collected the wounded, while Bish gave the last rites to those who would not make the hazardous journey back. Suddenly, there was a metallic bang and a plume of black smoke drifted up from the carrier. ‘He’s hit a mine,’ yelled the medic and, indeed, that was what had happened as the driver reversed to make the return trip.

British troops attacking a German occupied farm at Falaise.

The Chaplain’s dog


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Articles inside

Carers, caring and christmas

3min
pages 76-77

Home is where the heart is

9min
pages 78-81

Stepping back in time

3min
pages 74-75

Community junk

4min
pages 62-63

Hospitality and the rural sector

8min
pages 70-73

Meet the Constable

4min
pages 68-69

Art, inspired by nature

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pages 60-61

Just haven't met you yet

4min
pages 58-59

Memoirs of a Jersey Girl

3min
page 57

Secret gardens of Jersey

3min
pages 54-56

Regenerative construction

8min
pages 46-49

Winners, losers and misguided invites

3min
pages 44-45

How to rewild your patch

4min
pages 50-53

Of bats and biodiversity

4min
pages 42-43

Laying the table

5min
pages 35-39

In the kitchen

6min
pages 32-34

Wildwines and

3min
pages 30-31

A rare breed

5min
pages 12-15

Everything for horses and their riders

5min
pages 20-21

Changing lives in Africa

4min
pages 22-23

Sharp cider making

4min
pages 24-25

Cider country

3min
pages 26-27

Root and branch

2min
pages 28-29

Over the wall

3min
page 7

The Chaplain's dog

5min
pages 16-19
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