Minutes of the Meeting held on Tuesday September 17th 2002 at 5.15pm
Members' Room

        
1.         Members present :
Don & Jean Bell, Mary Billot (Secretary), Mervyn Billot, Bertram Brée, Roy Dobin, Frank Falle (Chairman), Derek Gray, Douglas Hooke, Nicolas Jouault, Suzanne Le Feuvre, Bob Le Sueur, David Levitt, David Le Maistre, Georgia Le Maistre.
Apologies :
Marie-Louise Backhurst, John & Pam Denize, Mary Gibb, Sue Hardy, Douglas Hooke, Tertius Hutt, Frank Le Blancq, Alec Podger, Bill Tower.

2.  

      Minutes of the meeting of August 20th 2002, and amendments
5.8        Thomas Piction = Thomas Pichon (alias Mr Tyrell).
The minutes were then approved as a correct record.

3.         Matters arising from the minutes not covered by the agenda

3.6.1        Bob Le Sueur has prepared his notes on Icho Tower for publication in the SJ Bulletin.

4.2The 'Down Your Way ' walk on September 22nd in St Peter has attracted 150 people, which the Community Centre can accommodate. The next walk is in St Martin on May 25th 2003, the nearest Sunday to Oak Apple Day (May 29th).
4.4.4 Frank Falle will write his paper on querns in the Christmas break. James Hibbs (Leeds) has spoken to Deirdre Shute about the horse's tooth and the querns.

7Nick Jouault said that he could not find the baptism of Francis McNiven, who claimed to be born in Jersey.

Chairman's announcements

The Section sent its congratulations to Mr Tertius Hutt who celebrated his 90th birthday on September 1st.

1Frank Falle proposed and the meeting agreed that if members do not appear at meetings for a year they should be dropped from the circulation list. Certain exceptions will be made (disability, UK members). Minutes up to March 2002 are on the website.

2He is researching vingtaines and got names from the reign of King John. The St Nicolas leper colony moved from the Mont Orgueil Castle area to a less populated area in St John, hence the name of the vingtaine. St Nicolas is the patron saint of lepers.

3Frank asked why are the Minquiers in the parish of Grouville? Nick Jouault said that the La Rocque fishermen used to fish in that area. The islets were once part of the Fief de Noirmont.

4He will publicise the Autumn lunchtime lectures on Jersey Radio on October 16th; the flyer will also be distributed at the St Peter 'Down your way' supper and sent to other bodies.

4.5        Frank listed the topics included in the Section report for the Autumn 2002 Newsletter -
·The 'Down your way' walks
·Autumn lunchtime lectures
·Trip to Pirou (September 28/29th)
·Visit of the Icelandic Ambassador to the SJ (November 19th 2002)
·Mont Orgueil Castle
·La Hougue Boëte tooth dating
·Prof . Goldstein's visit (provisional date January 28th 2003)
·Balfour Le Gresley, a Jerseyman with Viking DNA living in Toronto has sponsorship of £1000 a year from Lloyds TSB for continuing research.
4.6        Frank circulated a printed souvenir of the 1902 Coronation festivities.





Members' contributions
1Georgia Le Maistre said that members of the CIFHS are transcribing the 1901 census, prior to the publication of an index in 2004. She observed -
·The number of older single women (aged 35-45) in St Ouen (L'Etacq, Grève de Lecq) and St Helier, areas she has transcribed. It was suggested that more men than women were emigrating at that time.
·The number of crippled shoemakers in St Ouen. This was a suitable sedentary job near to a ready customer, Grève de Lecq Barracks.
·She came across one sculptor - Jean Besado, born in Italy.
·She has found that many wives were older than their husbands (second marriages?) and that the head of the household was the wife, as the husband was working out of Jersey.

said that she would attend the St Helier Vingtaine de la Ville meeting on September 18th . Topics on the agenda are -
·Improvement of the Allix shipyard site
·Lease of the Francis St pump with the Parish of St Helier
·Deposit of the Vingtaine's records with the Jersey Archive
·Development of a website.

2Bob Le Sueur said that the next local National Art Collections Fund meeting is on November 19th at the Jersey Arts Centre. The lecture is on the history of the Royal Collections and it is open to the public.

3Bertram Brée gave details of the Pirou trip on September 28/29th. 20 people will stay at Bréville-sur-Mer and visit the Château de Pirou, the Tancrède de Hauteville Museum and the Abbaye de Hambye.

4Derek Gray, Constable of St Clement, asked who owns the Parish Church and who is responsible for the insurance. The parish maintains the church and the churchyard. David Le Maistre suggested that he contact Ken Syvret, Greffier of the Ecclesiastical Court.

5Roy Dobin gave his apologies for the August meeting as he was in France. He visited the Martell cognac brandy distillery and gave some details about Jean Martel who was born at La Sergenté, St Brelade, and left Jersey in 1715.

said that the Lieut.-Governor unveiled a new plaque on September 13th at Noirmont to commemorate to RAF personnel shot down on December 7th 1942. Mervyn Billot asked whether the periscope still worked; Roy said that it had suffered some vandalism.

6David Levitt said that his publicity about sundials resulted in 16/17 phonecalls, all of which he will follow up. He has recorded 30, and has another 30 to do. Jean Arthur was the source of the example at Le Coin, St Ouen, which was put up by Frank Le Blancq's great grandfather. He wants information about a sundial commissioned by Lord Cromer, who lived above Paul Mill, St Saviour, in the 1980s. Bob Le Sueur gave him information on its location.

7David Le Maistre circulated a postcard of a horse trough erected by the Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in 1904. He asked where were they sited in Jersey? They were prevalent in English towns and cities.

asked whether St Sampson of Dol was also Archbishop of York. No - they were different people.

Any other business
There was no other business.

Date of next meeting
Tuesday October 15th 2002, 5.15pm, Members Room if available, otherwise Arthur Mourant Room.