D's articl'yes et des nouvelles entouor lé Jèrriais 2003
Press cuttings about Jèrriais 2003
Jèrriais GCSE heads for our secondary schools
A Jèrriais GCSE could be available in secondary schools in five years' time.
Following a review of Jèrriais provision in Jersey schools, the Department of Education, Sport and Culture are looking into the development of a qualification in the language.
Jèrriais has been part of the curriculum for primary school children since 1999 when classes started in 20 primary schools at year five. In 2002 it was offered to pupils in the year below and became the first experience of another language for many pupils.
Use of the language is now on the rise in the Island and the number of children under 15 years who speak it sometimes has risen from one per cent in 1989 to three per cent in 2001.
The report was compiled by modern languages adviser Ann King who labelled the programme a success.
She said: 'All the teachers are fluent Jèrriais speakers and provide an excellent model of the language for their pupils. Their pupils develop good accents and make good progress in listening and speaking.
'These teachers also have high expectations of what their pq ils an achieve in and through the language and thus expect good pronunciation and accurate and fluent recall of earlier learning. They offer a degree of challenge for the highest attainers and require of them longer answers than a single word.'
She also made a series of suggestions, many of which have now been acted upon by the programme co-ordinator Tony Scott Warren.
He said: 'We took on another member of staff, Colin Ireson, at the beginning of term which frees me up to go and view other classes and observe what is going on there.'
This formal monitoring was requested in the report so that an accurate assessment of strengths and weaknesses could be made and areas for improvement recognised.
The co-ordinators behind the programme now want to encourage secondary school pupils to attend lessons, whether they have studied the language before or not. Currently students have half an hour of lessons per week but they hope to have established the subject as an option within the curriculum culminating in a GCSE within the next four to five years.
The team also want to provide more support for their teachers who have less experience of working with young children. They are then going to develop a written policy for teaching and learning Jèrriais in schools which they hope will give a clear direction for the work of the teachers and a basis for reviewing the programme and highlighting its strengths and weaknesses.
A similar programme has been used in the Isle of Man where over 1,000 children were enrolled in Manx classes and a GCSE equivalent introduced despite the last native speaker having died in the 1970s.
Mr Scott Warren said: 'I am pleased with the report because it is the first time we have had anything done that shows our progression. It sites where we are at the moment and advises for the future which is quite important.'
He added that in order to encourage people to learn the language, a free taster course could be offered next year for beginners.
JEP 5/12/2003
Language teaching impresses council
Jersey's attendance at last week's British Irish Council meeting was a resounding success, according to Policy and Resources president Senator Frank Walker.
He attended the meeting in Wales with P & R chief executive Bill Ogley, Education, Sport and Culture Committee director Tom McKeon and the States IT director Steven Chiang.
The summit was being held in St Fagan's, Wales on the theme of 'Indigenous, minority and lesser-used languages', and was the fifth since the council was established in 1998.
It was also attended by Prime Minister Tony Blair, Irish premier Bertie Aherne and the First Minister of Wales Rhodri Morgan.
Senator Walker said that all the delegates were impressed with the way that Jèrriais has been kept alive in the Island, and particularly by the way that Education have supported lessons on the language in school. But more important and more beneficial, according to Senator Walker, were the contacts and discussions that were made with politicians from other jurisdictions.
'The important things with such conferences are the contacts you make and the discussions you have and in that respect it was extremely valuable,' he said.
'I sat next to Bertie Aherne over lunch and although Ireland has no direct involvement with the affairs of the Channel Islands, it does have a full seat in Europe. Inevitably our affairs these days are more and more tied up with the future of Europe and the European Union and the opportunity to get across the important messages from our point of view was very valuable.'
JEP 5/12/2003
Local knowledge
Tony Scott Warren left a secure job to help ensure the survival of our native language
It is not unusual for teachers to pine for a life in the meedja and a chance to air their talents to a wider audience than 20-some excitable schoolchildren.
Tony Scott Warren, however, has made a career jump that took him from the heady world of local television to teacher and guardian of our native language, Jèrriais.
'I was first interested in Jersey French at school,' he said. 'I was doing French for A-level and trying to read George de la Forge in the Evening Post, having no other contact with Jersey French at all. I can't remember hearing Jèrriais spoken at that stage of my life.'.......................
At the same time, in 1997, a survey organised by Senator Jean Le Maistre of all primary schools parents to see what interest there might be in classes in Jersey Norman-French provoked a response from 780 parents who all said, yes.
That only 185 attend classes is, says Tony due to the classes not being part of the main curriculum.
'I carried on learning Jèrriais, but Joan Tapley was talking about giving up teaching and at that point something to had be done about teaching or we would be without a teacher at all,' he said.
'I decided that I ought to get on a City and Guilds Further and Adult Education Teachers' certificate. I began with a beginners' evening class while Joan was still teaching, but it became more and more obvious that my job at Channel would go.'
Then the States voted funds to Le Don Balleine for the teaching of Jèrriais.
'We had a meeting at Education and, as we were leaving, Brian Vibert said, if the job comes up as co-ordinator of Jèrriais would you be interested?'
Tony considered it for all of a minute and a half and then realised that it was exactly what he wanted to do. He was interviewed for the post and was, in his words, 'lucky enough to get it'. Geraint Jennings was appointed as assistant co-ordinator.
'I moved into the Education Department to the Professional Development Centre with Doug Gibaut and the first thing we did was to run a bit of a trial, basing much of our work on the Manx textbook.'
The plan was to provide a two-year course in primary schools.
'We started with a group of ten children at Grouville and it seemed quite successful,' said Tony
In 1998, a ten-week optional local language course was begun at Hautlieu on 23 September with 11 sixth-formers and three tutors following lesson plans provided by Geraint Jennings.
That December, Tony Scott Warren was officially appointed as Jèrriais language teaching co-ordinator by Le Don Balleine.
One of the projects he hopes to oversee is a new GCSE in the language, already available in languages such as Manx.
In September 1999, about 180 primary school children in 20 schools started a two-year course in Jèrriais. This year, they have 185 on the books at four or five different levels.
Lessons are given to children in years five and six, before or after school hours, during lunchtime, during the time that school assembly is held, or even in the evening.
As the children moved through the school system, the classes went with them and have now started in some secondary schools.
Tony Scott Warren's enthusiasm for his new career remains undiminished. 'I am unbelievably lucky to be doing something I love, he said.' It is hard work but it is also something he believes is of value to the Island.
But he also says that if the language is to survive then it also needs to be passed down from one generation to another in the home. A first stage to that would be introducing the language into preschool and nursery education..............
JEP 2/12/2003
Jèrriais speech at BIC summit
Senator Frank Walker will give part of a speech in Jèrriais for the first time at the British Irish Council meeting tomorrow.
The Policy and Resources president will be accompanied by P & R chief executive Bill Ogley, Education, Sport and Culture director Tom McKeon and States IT director Steven Chiang. The summit is being held in St Fagans, Wales, on the theme of 'indigenous, minority and lesser used languages'.
The meeting is the fifth since the council was established in 1998, and it is being held at the Museum of Welsh Life.
Senator Walker said that although the subject might not seem a pressing one, the council meeting gave him and senior civil servants the opportunity to meet counterparts from other jurisdictions.
He added that he would have the opportunity to give part of a speech in Jèrriais for the first time at the council meeting because of the theme of the conference. 'There has been a tremendous surge in interest in learning Jèrriais among schools and more mature people, so the conference comes at an opportune time,' said Senator Walker.
'As with all these conferences, potentially the real value is in discussions on the margins over dinner or lunch or whatever. Clearly, if I get the opportunity to reaffirm messages from Pierre Horsfall to Tony Blair at the meeting in Jersey last year then I shall do so.'
JEP 27/11/2003
Jersey girl
....The young woman was Lillie Langtry - "arising", as Oscar Wilde was later to write, "like Venus from the Jersey foam". And this was the fairy-tale beginning of the celebrated career that was to make Lillie a by-word for fin-de-siècle glamour. For the next 50 years, her progress as professional beauty, royal mistress, actress, raconteuse and millionaire racehorse owner (taking in bankruptcy and two disastrous marriages along the way) was to fascinate fans and foes alike.
Back in the salon, as a tidal wave of attention began to swell among the many artists present, the pre-Raphaelite painter John Everett Millais was first off the mark. Although born in Southampton, he had spent most of his boyhood in Jersey's capital, St Helier, and was quick to seize his advantage. Within minutes he had claimed the privilege of escorting Lillie down to supper as a fellow countrywoman, throwing in a little Jerriais (Jersey Norman-French) to press his suit. By the end of the evening he had persuaded her to allow him to paint her portrait. And by the time the resulting painting was first exhibited, Lillie was already so famous that the picture had to be roped off to protect it from the gallery crowds.
Millais titled his painting The Jersey Lily - although the crimson flower Lillie held for the sitting (which her mother sent specially from Jersey) is actually of the Guernsey variety.....
Independent 11/10/2003
Rhymes of the Times
Today is the tenth anniversary of National Poetry Day, in celebration of which the Poetry Society have launched a search to find Britain's poetry landmarks, ranging from places that have inspired poems to websites, festivals and even contemporary poets themselves. And if you thought Jersey wouldn't have many to offer, Jane Delmer suggests you might want to think again
.....
Wace memorial plaque
The plaque in the Royal Square commemorates Jersey's first known writer, the 12th century Norman poet Wace, author of the Roman de Rou, a history of the Norman people. Other than the fact that he was born in the Island, nothing is known about his life here, not even his birth date, but his influence on both French and British literature has been profound.
'It's from Wace that the literature of France springs. He was the first chronicler of the Battle of Hastings and it is possible that there was an eye-witness account in his family,' explains Société Jersiaise historian Geraint Jennings. 'He's also known for setting down the King Arthur legends and was the first to mention the Round Table.'
Jersey website
For the past four years Geraint has been collecting Jersey-related poems in English, French, Dgèrnésiais and Norman at members.societe-jersiaise.org/geraint/poesie/ as a by-product of his Jèrriais pages for the Société's website. Poets range from the distinguished 19th century Bailiff Sir Robert Pipon Marett - to the colourful Jean Sullivan, Jersey's answer to William McGonagall. - who have been inspired by places as diverse as Mont Ubé and the Cenotaph.
'People donate things to us,' says Geraint. 'We know that people have got piles of papers in the attic, things read at the Eisteddfod 50 years ago, that sort of thing. People say that Jèrriais was never a written language, but we've got 250 years of published poetry that we know about.'....
JEP 9/10/2003
Jèrriais in the 21st century
THE June edition of Les Nouvelles Chroniques du Don Balleine, the quarterly magazine in Jèrriais - is out and has been given a whole new lease of life after 50 years of almost unbroken publication.
The new issue includes articles, news items, recipes, poems, puzzles and word searches.
'We've aimed at bringing the magazine up to date and making it snappier,' said Geraint Jennings, of the Office du Jèrrais at Highlands College, who has taken over as editor of the magazine. 'It is important that the magazine appeals more to the younger generation.'
The Nouvelles Chroniques is not only popular here, it is also read in Normandy, elsewhere in France, in Belgium, Switzerland and the UK, and a sporting theme is promised for the next issue.
Les Nouvelles Chroniques du Don Balleine is available now, price £2.99, at La Société Jersiaise, in Pier Road, from the Société online bookshop and subscriptions are available from the Office du Jèrriais.
JEP 19/7/2003
Ancient stones and sea-drowned forests
Les Mielles makes up the western coast of Jersey, an area of mainly sand dunes and marram grass between the seashore of St Ouen's Bay and the top of the escarpment; from L'Etacq, with its ancient farms and fields of potatoes, to La Pulente, bordering the Five-Mile (8 km) Beach, after which the much shorter road is named.
The name Les Mielles comes from the Old Norse 'mjelr', a sand dune....
It was the isolation of the St Ouennais that created their own variation of the Island language, Jèrriais, and they also wore different fishing sweaters knitted in grey wool, not navy, leading to their nickname Gris-Ventres, or grey-bellies...
JEP 15/7/2003
Play time in the Island's schools
The commissioning of a new dramatic work aimed at children is part of next year's celebrations of the history of Jersey's constitution...
“...I've also met deputy education director David Greenwood and Tony Scott Warren, as there's going to be some Jèrriais in the piece.”...
JEP 5/7/2003
New Jèrriais phrasebook 'designed for everyone'
Le Don Balleine trust aims to make it easier to get to grips with Jèrriais
A new book published this week asks, 'Voul'-ous pâler l'Jèrriais?' (Do you want to speak Jèrriais?).
The latest publication from the Jersey publishing and educational charitable trust Le Don Balleine aims to make it easier to get to grips with the Island's language, which originated in old Norman-French, the language of William the Conqueror, and still survives today.
The new 68-page phrasebook contains thousands of words and phrases in English with their Jèrriais counterparts, arranged in topic sections covering everyday situations such as the weather, food and drink, the office and computers, politics and shopping.
'It has been designed for everyone - young and old, tourists and local residents - and also as a resource for the Jèrriais teaching programme in schools, but even dyed-in-the-wool Jèrriais speakers may find the computer vocabulary useful,' said Geraint Jennings of the Office du Jèrriais at Highlands College, which co-ordinated the production of the book.
It was launched at the annual Fête Nouormande, which brings together speakers of the Norman languages of Jersey, Guernsey and mainland Normandy. The festival of poetry prose, drama, song and music was held on Saturday at Blancheland College in Guernsey.
Tony Scott Warren, honorary secretary of Le Don Balleine, said: 'By launching our new Jèrriais book at the Fête Nouormande, Jersey is once again leading the way in the revival of the Norman language. We hope to show the way forward for Guernsey and mainland Normandy.'
The phrasebook, Un Livret d'Phrases en Jèrriais, Jèrriais phrasebook, costs £4 and is available at the Société Jersiaise bookshop.
JEP 14/5/2003
Wonders
Wonders - or mèrvelles as they are known in Jèrriais - have been made by generations of Islanders.
According to tradition they were cooked as the tide went out, for it was believed that if they were cooked on an incoming tide the fat would overflow in the pan.
If you fancy making your own, the following recipe makes about 40.
Sieve 1 lb of flour with 8 oz of caster sugar. and then rub in 4 oz of butter. chopped into small segments. Add six whisked eggs and make the mixture into a light dough.
Using floured hands, turn this into golf ball-size shapes. Place them on a lightly floured tray and cover them with a damp cloth for around two hours. Roll out each ball into oblongs.
With a sharp knife, slit the centre of each oblong and twist the top and bottom through the slit.
Then drop four to six wonders into a large pan of hot oil and cook for two minutes on each side until golden brown. Drain on kitchen paper.
JEP 7/5/2003
Reaffirming fidelity
Much of the latest edition of Les Nouvelles Chroniques du Don Balleine is devoted to the late Dr Frank Le Maistre, best known for his magnum opus, the Jèrriais-French dictionary he compiled which was published by the Don Balleine.
The publication also includes news of the doings of the Jersey Norman-French section of the Société Jersiaise and an account of the re-enactment of the Battle of Hastings, held every four years when the actual day falls on a Saturday.
After the battle, William rode among his troops shouting 'J'sommes les contchérants, ch'est lé quatorze d'Octobre, mille souaixante-six; n'oubliez pas chutte journée et chutte date - tout s'en va changi en Angliétèrre à l'av'nîn.' (We are the conquerors, it is the 14 Octobre, 1066; do not forget this day and this date - everything is going to change in England in the future.)
The authors of the story, Ralph and Jayne Nichols, plead that Jersey should not celebrate the loss of Normandy by John Lackland in 1204 but reaffirm our fidelity to the Queen, our Duke of Normandy, on the day that William conquered England and took the English crown.
JEP 20/3/2003
Plenty of pipots in the valley
The recent daffodils exhibition at the Jersey Museum has set a few memory bells ringing, I hear.
Emile Collins phoned to let me know that when he was a lad, daffodils were in plentiful supply in St Peter's Valley.
'No one had money for flowers m those days, so people just used to pick them,' he said, recalling that there were so many daffodils in St Peter's Valley that you couldn't see past them. 'My mum used to call them "pipots".'
Pipots is the Jersey-French name for wild daffodils, yet if there is only one pipot, that is a buttercup.
Mr Collins remembers walking to St Peter from St John with his friends. 'We used shanks's pony, and we got there when we got there,' he said.
JEP 12/2/2003
Jurat with a love of Jersey
He was a former editor of the JEP and a leading authority on Jersey Norman-French. Above all, though, Max Lucas was a fervent St Ouennais and a man of quiet dignity
The death of Max Lucas, Jurat of the Royal Court, former editor of the Jersey Evening Post and a leading authority on Jersey Norman-French, has further eroded the small group of Islanders who have worked for so many years to ensure that Jersey's native language would not be lost.
Jurat Lucas, who died on 19 January aged 84, could typically he found, until the last weeks of his life, surrounded by reference books seeking the exact meaning of a particular word in Jèrriais, or a description of some ancient tradition.
He read and wrote Jèrriais. but did not actually converse in it - even with his cousin, Dr Frank Le Maistre, whose first language it was.
Huguenot
A man who brought a quiet dignity to all aspects of a long and varied life, Maxwell Gordon Lucas was first and foremost a St Ouennais, fiercely proud of his ancestry and his Huguenot heritage. His forebears came to the Island from Normandy after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 removed any rights previously granted to Protestants and imposed harsh penalties on them, forcing those who adhered to the reformed religion, Protestantism, to leave the country and find asylum elsewhere.
Born in the year that the First World War came to an end, he spent his early life in the Ville Bagot area of the parish with his family, including his two older brothers Ralph and Claude. When he was six, the family moved to Berkshire, and it was there that he spent his school years. He excelled academically and was a skilful footballer and hockey player. However, even at that age, his roots went deep, and he made every effort to spend holidays 'at home'. He couldn't wait to get back - not just to Jersey but to St Ouen and specifically Ville Bagot, where he would stay with his Aunt Ada and Uncle Frank Le Maistre and his cousins Frank and Henri.
His eagerness to return to the Island was such that he even gave up his opportunity to go to university when he left school, a decision on which he would sometimes reflect with a twinge of regret.
His first job was at the Jersey Savings Bank, but he hated it and eventually acted on his father's suggestion that he should return to England and join the police force. He joined the Hampshire Constabulary and was posted to Gosport division, earning three 3 guineas (£3.15p) for a 60-hour week. He once had 30 shillings (£1.50) stopped from his pay for 'idle conversation' with a French onion-seller - presumably in French - while on duty.
With fellow police constable Johnnie Mundy, who became a lifelong friend, he listened to Neville Chamberlain's declaration of war on 3 September 1939, after which the two immediately decided to resign. However, the two friends were refused permission to do that. Despite their numerous efforts to encourage 'dismissal', it was another 12 months before they were finally able to leave the police force and join up.
Guinea-pig
Max Lucas joined the RAF in Oxfordshire and began training as a pilot, only to discover that he was horribly airsick to the extent that he was used as a guinea-pig for airsickness treatments - and he eventually had to be grounded.
So he joined the Army. He was in the front line in Normandy for only a short while before he was wounded in bitter and deadly fighting, serving then with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment as they forced a bridgehead across the River Orne, and he had to return to hospital in the UK.
Once relatively fit again he was posted to the Royal Army Pay Corps, where he remained until 1946. It was then that he returned to Jersey and, still in uniform, immediately applied to join the staff of the Evening Post as a proof-reader by queuing on the pavement in Charles Street with 30 or 40 other applicants to be interviewed and subjected to a proof-reading test. Not surprisingly, given his predilection for meticulous detail, he passed with a score of 99 per cent - failing only, and to his embarrassment, to spot the misspelling of the name of Francis Le Boutillier, then Constable of St Ouen!
He was now settled in the job which was to be the beginning of a long career and association with the Evening Post, as it was then called.
Matters also began to move on in his private life. It was at a parish bazaar in St Ouen that Max Lucas and the young woman who was to become his wife first met, As he had been coming to visit his aunt and uncle in St Ouen every summer since he was a child, it was surprising that, with only four years between them, he and Phyllis Le Brun had never met before. There was an immediate attraction between the two - the young woman of similar St Ouen heritage and the quiet, rather shy and serious-minded young man. Simple pleasures included going for walks together and playing tennis, but, although Phyllis enjoyed dancing, Max and dancing did not, as she put it, 'get on together', even though he did, for her sake, take lessons for a time.
They were married in 1949 and had two sons, Raöul and Hélier, and family outings to the beach were enjoyed for many years.
Max thought that relaxing on the beach and swimming were wonderful, and his brothers and their families, on summer visits from England, loved it too, right into their retirement years - as long as the beach was Grève de Lecq, just below Ville Bagot where they were all born, and which allowed a view of Sark, another island very dear to him.
Max Lucas made his mark at the Evening Post, which changed its name to Jersey Evening Post in the 1970s, and became a sub-editor, then editor, until his retirement from that position in 1975. He was appointed a member of the board of W E Guiton and Co in October 1963, became chairman of the board in February 1984, and held the post until his full retirement in 1990 after a career spanning 44 years.
Accuracy
In these roles, as in other areas of his life, Max was conscientious and thorough, a stickler for accuracy and truth. He had an excellent rapport with the staff, and there are still some here today who look back on one who was their steadfast and reliable friend.
In addition to his demanding and responsible job at the Evening Post, Max Lucas was from 1952 until 1973 the parish secretary of St Ouen, a post which in those days was a part-time one for one person. This meant some very late nights.
After a long day at the Evening Post he would have his meal and be off to the parish hall. He dealt with all the administrative work under four Constables and recorded all the Acts of Parish Assemblies in French, the last St. Ouen secretary to do so. From 1954 to 1977 he was also parish registrar.
In 1977 mhe was invited to stand for the vacancy on the Bench as Jurat of the Royal court. On the day he was sworn in, 6 May 1977, Jurat Lucas said that when he had asked, after his nomination, what he should do before election, he was told (in the vernacular) to 'do nothing and say nothing'.
Very proud
He could write a good speech, but Max Lucas was never a confident public speaker, so addressing the Royal Court was something of an ordeal - but one he typically did not shirk. He was, in fact, the second newspaper editor to hold the office, for in 1839 the founder and editor of Les Chroniques had been elected.
Max was very proud to have been invited to stand, and he enjoyed his 13 years as a Jurat until his mandatory retirement at 72.
He found the work intensely interesting, even though there were difficult times and difficult cases put before the Jurats. He made full use of his considerable knowledge and wisdom for the benefit of the court.
In between, as if he were replete with idle moments to dispense, he involved himself in the work of the National Trust and served for two sessions as vice-president. He was also a member of the Société Jersiaise and interested in the many different aims and achievements of that society, and he was active until the time of his death as a member of the committee for the Homes for the Elderly in St Ouen.
Max was a committed member of the executive committee of Le Don Balleine, where his love of Jèrriais and his determination to preserve and promote the language was exceptional. His editing expertise was invaluable, and his contribution to the publications of Le Don Balleine has been vast.
This labour of love had begun in 1955 when he somehow found time to be assistant editor of Les Bulletins de L'Assembliée d'Jèrriais, continuing until 1977 when publication ceased. Then he was assistant editor of Les Chroniques du Don Balleine from 1979 to 1987 and continued from 1989 to 1994 as co-editor, with Laurie Huelin, of Les Nouvelles Chroniques du Don Balleine. His devotion, with his first cousins, Frank Le Maistre and Laurie Huelin, to retaining the last remnants of Jersey's language and to making them accessible to others has been a significant legacy to the Island. He had a library of reference books to which he turned on matters concerning St Ouen and the Island, culture and history, roads and field names. More often than not he already knew the answer but would always want to check, for he could not bear to mislead anyone with a reply that was not exactly correct.
His life was not all reference books and study. Among his leisure interests were reading and listening to music classical pieces like Widor's Toccata from Symphony No 5 which was his favourite and was played at his funeral.
He enjoyed gardening and took great pride in growing vegetables and bringing in freshly picked produce for the table. He loved animals, and a succession of stray cats have seemed to sense this, arriving at the house as if knowing that he would feed and spoil them. He would spend more than half an hour, both morning and evening, feeding them and warming milk in a bowl for them because they didn't like it cold.
Language
Although Jurat Lucas was involved in many different aspects of Island life, it was mainly with its history and language. He remained always busy, even in the last weeks of his life while people still kept coming for his wisdom, advice and knowledge, especially of things en Jèrriais. Even in recent months he checked and rechecked proofs of a book, due to be published this spring, written by Annette Torode of Leeds University, on George Le Feuvre, who wrote from Canada as George d'La Forge with tales in Jèrriais of his Jersey childhood published in the EP.
Following his interests in the history of the Island, Max braved his travel sickness to attend the tercentenary celebrations in New Jersey in 1964 and the quatercentenary celebrations in Sark, in 1965, of that island's links with St Ouen, both of which he reported in the EP.
Ambiance
He would have loved to travel more widely, but his travel sickness remained with him and limited holidays to trips to France with Phyllis taking the car on the boat to St Malo while Max flew over - he was just able to cope with the short flight - and met them there. But once there, the couple felt instantly at home, loving the people and the ambiance and courtesies of life in France and their friends in Normandy.
Although a studious man by inclination, Max Lucas had a good sense of humour. When he, Laurie Huelin and Brian Vibert worked together over many afternoons on 'Mille Ditons en Jèrriais et lus êtchivalents en Français et Angliais' ('Sayings in Jersey Norman-French and their equivalents in French and English'), Mrs Lucas would hear gales of laughter from the room they were working in.
In latter years Max had a heart bypass, but, more seriously affecting his life, he increasingly suffered bouts of the excruciating pain of trigeminal neuralgia.
Altruistic
Jurat Lucas was a member of St Ouen's Church, and it was only last Christmas that for the first time in many years he did not organise the festive bell-ringing, a tradition which he had long maintained and which recalls the liberation of the Island from French occupation in 1468.
Max Lucas was a remarkably altruistic man who quietly, thoroughly and without fanfare has made a difference to his beloved Island home which may only be properly appreciated in future years by those who will cherish Jersey's roots, language and traditions in a way that many in previous generations have not.
Jurat Max Lucas is survived by his wife, Phyllis, and sons Raöul and Hélier, to whom their many friends at the Jersey Evening Post extend their sympathy.
JEP 13/2/2003
Jurat and former JEP editor dies
Jurat Max Lucas, a former editor of the Jersey Evening Post and a leading authority on Jersey Norman-French, died yesterday at the age of 84.
A man with a great knowledge and love of his parish, his Island and its native language, Jurat Lucas was also parish secretary for St Ouen for over 20 years, serving four Constables.
Jurat Lucas of La Caroline, Ville de l'Eglise, joined the Evening Post, as it was then called, in 1946, beginning an association spanning 44 years.
Appointed a member of the board of W E Guiton and Company in October 1963, he retired as editor in 1975, became chairman in February 1984 and held the post until his full retirement in 1990.
Married to Phyllis, with two sons, Raoul and Helier, he was elected a Jurat of the Royal Court in May 1977 and stepped down on reaching the Bench's statutory retirement age of 72.
Along with his cousins, Dr Frank Le Maistre and Laurie Huelin, he was one of the leading authorities on Jersey Norman-French.
Deeply committed to his parish - he attended every parish assembly whenever possible - he was also a staunch supporter of St Ouen's Parish Church and, because of ill-health, last Christmas was the first for many years when he had not organised the festive bellringing.
Full obituary to follow.
JEP 20/1/2003
(JEP = Jersey Evening Post)
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