Our first meeting of 2019 is sure to be a good one, on the 7th March we will be joined by Simon Boas the Director of Jersey Oversea Aid.

For over 50 years, Jersey has operated a taxpayer-funded overseas aid and development programme. A little rock off the coast of Normandy has funded boreholes, schools and clinics in six continents, and sent almost 1,000 volunteers on work trips to developing countries. We even have a Minister for International Development. Why do we bother? Shouldn’t charity begin at home? Can our aid really change anything? For that matter, can anyone’s?

Simon Boas has been Director of Jersey Overseas Aid (JOA) since October 2016. Brought in with a mission to reform and professionalise Jersey’s overseas grant-making, he will lift the lid on Jersey’s humanitarian and development donor ship and provide a candid assessment of what’s worked and what hasn’t. He will explain how funding decisions are made, the changes underway at JOA, and set out how the Island can maximise the impact of its international aid programme over the next five years.

Before arriving in Jersey, Simon spent most of his career designing, implementing and evaluating aid projects in developing countries. He managed UN and NGO offices in the Middle East and South Asia His experiences range from long-term development policy-making to immediate post-disaster relief. He was educated at Winchester and Oxford before, more latterly, receiving a Master’s degree in International Policy Analysis from Bath University.

As usual, there will be a three course meal preceding the talk, and bar facilities open throughout.

More details are available on the booking form here.

Our meetings in 2019 will be held at our usual venue the Vincent Rooms, Vincent Square, London SW1P 4PD on 7 March (AGM), 23 May and 17 October (annual dinner).

Our annual boules match with the Guernsey Society will take place as usual in Cleaver Square, London SE11, on 22 June.

Our speaker in March will be Simon Boas, Director of Jersey Overseas Aid, who will talk about some of the extraordinary things which Jersey accomplishes abroad, transforming the lives of more people each year than live in the Island itself.

Following the recent centenary of the First World War, the historian and author Ian Ronayne will address our May meeting, exploring the impact of the Great War on the Island and how islanders responded to the profound challenges it presented – on the both the home front and battlefield. Among the subjects Ian will cover is the contribution made by the Jersey Society in London during the period.

Following our annual dinner in October we shall hear about the work of the National Trust for Jersey from its president, Georgina Malet de Carteret.

We look forward to seeing you all there.

Since the late eighteenth century, Jersey’s Bailiff has exercised control over entertainment in the Island’s theatres and other public places, mostly without attracting undue attention. But Rod McLoughlin will talk about a notable exception in 1986 when the front pages and letters columns of the Jersey Evening Post were dominated for weeks by a production of William Shakespeare’s Coriolanus. Why did a Roman history play cause such a furore and how did it change forever attitudes to public entertainment in Jersey?

The guest speaker was the journalist and arts correspondent who covered the story for the JEP; he subsequently became Director of the Jersey Arts Centre where the production had been staged; and later, by a further irony, as Chief Officer in the Bailiff’s Chambers his responsibilities included advising the Bailiff on public entertainment.

Rod McLoughlin was born in London but, having visited the Island regularly on holiday since the age of 18 months, became a permanent resident aged six. He was educated at Victoria College and Edinburgh University where he read English Literature and Language. His most recent post was as Jersey’s Cultural Development Officer from which he retired earlier this year.

As usual, there will be a three course meal preceding the talk, and bar facilities open throughout.

More details available here.

Come and join us on the 10th May 2018 from 6.30pm in The Vincent Rooms, Westminster Kingsway College, Vincent Square, London, SW1P 2PD to hear Jenny Lecoat, scriptwriter of the feature film “Another mother’s son” and great niece of Louisa Gould, the real-life inspiration for the protagonist of the film.

The film, lauded as being a “moving tribute to human goodness and compassion” by the Reader’s Digest, follows the life of Louisa Gould, a Jersey woman who sheltered a Russian slave worker during the Occupation. With the loss of her own son earlier in the war this personal tragedy encourages Louisa to take in Feodor Burriy and care for him for almost two years.

After a slip in security she is betrayed, arrested, and deported only days before the D-day landings closed sea traffic to the islands, but her actions saved the life of the young man she had come to see as her own.

The speaker, Jenny Lecoat, will speak not only on her writing process of turning historical facts into a cinema feature film, but also on why she wants to bring this story so personal to her family to public attention.

As usual, there will be a three course meal preceding the talk, and bar facilities open throughout.

More details available here.

Another mother’s son is available to be viewed on Netflix.

Come and join us on the 22nd February 2018 at The Vincent Rooms, Westminster Kingsway College, Vincent Square, London, SW1P 2PD for what promises to be a fascinating evening as Paul Darroch, former Centenary Scholar in Modern History at St Hugh’s College, Oxford, talks to us about his recent book “Jersey: The hidden histories”.

The book, which has been described as “imaginative and vibrant” tracks the lesser known lives of many well known characters, with histories reaching from Jersey to London, and for many on into America where New Jersey was to be founded.

Paul Darroch will open his talk with the story of Charlie Chaplin, whose journey took him from the brutal poverty of south London to the stage of the Jersey Opera House. This was the day before Chaplin joined the Jersey Battle of Flowers parade, when the course of his life would change forever.

Surely an unmissable night!

As usual, there will be a three course meal preceding the talk, and bar facilities open throughout.

More details available here.

The Society is offering up to five free places to young people from Jersey (aged up to 25) attending their first meeting. Please spread the word around. If you want to claim one of the places, please contact Chris GuilleMarett:(candjgm@gmail.com)

Thursday 13 November 2014 Vincent Rooms, Vincent Square, London SWIP 2PD at 12.30pm

This is a new venture for the Society – an informal lunch at the Vincent Rooms which it is hoped will particularly appeal to those members who find it difficult to come into central London in the evenings. At the end of the meal, the cost will be shared equally between those present.

Click here to download the attendance slip.

Saturday 14 June 2014 Cleaver Square, London SEI I 4EA from 12.00 noon

The Boules Muratti will be held in the idyllic setting of Cleaver Square – one of London’s finest Georgian Squares. An added attraction of the Square is that it has a pub, The Prince of Wales, where traditional pub food is available until 3.00pm.

Boules is suitable for people of all ages and abilities. If you have a set of Boules, please bring it along.

The nearest underground station to Cleaver Square is Kennington (Northern Line). Vauxhall (Victoria Line) and Elephant & Castle (Bakerloo Line) are about 15 mins. walk away. Buses passing near to Cleaver Square are 3, 59, 133, 155, 159, 196, 333, 360 & 415.

Have you ever wondered what life in Jersey – and more particularly in St Helier – was like a hundred years ago, let alone in the mid-nineteenth century? According to our distinguished guest speaker, it was a very different place from today. There were thousands of rough-and-ready seamen, many of whom roamed the teeming and chaotic streets drinking, chasing loose women and gambling. It was the honorary police’s job -including the respected and feared Centenier George Le Cronier – to keep order. Within weeks of each other two murders occurred and then Le Cronier himself fell victim. This is the context of the talk.

ANTHONY DANIELS, who generally uses the pen name Theodore Dalrymple, is an accomplished English writer and retired prison doctor and psychiatrist. He worked in a number of Sub-Saharan African countries as well as in the East End of London.

Mr Daniels is a prolific author, essayist and blogger. A keen observer of human nature, he writes perceptively from a wealth of experience, having lived or visited dangerous environments in Africa, North Korea, Albania, Afghanistan and Indonesia. He has travelled extensively, both as a doctor and journalist. When visiting Jersey with time on his hands he decided to research the subject of his talk, and as a result produced the book, “The Policeman and The Brothel: A Victorian Murder”.

Click here for further details including directions, attendance slip and menu

 

Although he has lived in St Clement for a number of years David Le Maistre is, at heart, a St Ouennais. David was born in 1937 and met Jim Le Couteur at Victoria College. As schoolboys they spent many hours together on the rocks in St Clement’s Bay and later with family members low water fishing in St Ouen’s Bay. Jim has drawn the illustrations to be used in the talk.

After working in a lawyer’s office for a few years, David moved into banking and later into the finance industry. An Associate of the Chartered Institute of Bankers, he retired in 1995 to spend some quality time with his wife, Ann, who has been confined to a wheelchair since 1971.

An active supporter of the Societe Jersiaise, he has at various times served on the Executive committee of the Societe and been chairman of both the History and Bibliography sections. David takes an active interest in the history and culture of his native island.

This is the second time that David has visited the JSL and some members may recall his 2001 presentation Bv Gone Jersey: A selection of old postcards.

Click to download attendance slip, AGM agenda and further details

 

Saturday 22 June 2013, Cleaver Square, London SE11 4EA from 12.00 noon

The third Boules Muratti will be held this year on a Saturday afternoon in the idyllic setting of Cleaver Square – one of London’s finest Georgian Squares. An added attraction of the Square is that it has a pub, The Prince of Wales, selling Shepherd Neame beers from Faversham, Kent.

Traditional pub food is available at The Prince of Wales until 3.00pm.

Boules is suitable for people of all ages and abilities.

If you have a set of Boules, please bring them along.

The nearest underground station to Cleaver Square is Kennington (Northern Line). Vauxhall (Victoria Line) and Elephant & Castle (Bakerloo Line) are about 15 mins. walk away. Buses passing near to Cleaver Square are 3, 59, 133, 155, 159, 196, 333, 360 & 415.