Meet the constable Alasdair Crosby met the Constable of St Mary, John Le Bailly
T
here cannot be too many States Members who have had to visit the Falkland Islands as part of their official duties. Nevertheless, both the past and the present Constable of St Mary have done so. Constable John Le Bailly, then a member of the States Public Accounts Committee, was chosen in 2019 to travel to the Falklands to set up a similar committee there. The visit was organised by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. It turned out he was the only politician in the group, which otherwise comprised UK civil servants.
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Constable John Le Bailly, then a member of the States Public Accounts Committee, was chosen in 2019 to travel to the Falklands to set up a similar committee there
As Jersey’s representative, he had to do the honours with Falkands’ dignitaries, and make a speech at the Falklands’ annual Liberation Dinner. The trouble was, nobody had told him that he should prepare a speech, so, unexpectedly called to his feet and ad libbing furiously, he was able to compare and contrast the experience of Jersey and the Falklands during wartime Occupation and Liberation.
The trip went well, a Public Accounts Committee was set up and John returned to St Mary - a slightly warmer place in June than the sub-Antarctic Falkland Islands in their mid-winter. The Constable was being interviewed at his home - a secluded property down a quiet country lane. He started adult life in 1964 as a carpenter’s apprentice and joiner. Throughout his career he was always self-employed in the building trade until retirement from business ten years ago. He is a keen shot; in St Ouen he was a member of the Leoville Rifle Club and then formed the Leoville Pistol Club. He spent so much time on the indoor range that he got lead poisoning because of the dust generated. So, he turned to clay shooting, which he still enjoys occasionally. It has been 40 years since he became a St Mary parishioner. What drew him to the parish’s political life?
