The History Section

Minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday December 16th 2003 at 5.15pm
Members' Room


1. Members present :
Frank Falle (Chairman), Jean Arthur, Marie-Louise Backhurst, Don & Jean Bell, Mary Billot (Secretary), Mervyn Billot, Gavin Booth, Bertram Brée, Elizabeth Clapshaw, Francis & Anne Corbet, Roy Dobin, Caroline Easterbrook, Mary Gibb, Andy Harris (new member), Nick Jouault, Sally Knight, George Langlois, Suzanne Le Feuvre, David Le Maistre, Georgia Le Maistre, Bob Le Sueur, Kenneth & Elinor McFadden, Rosemary Mesch, Richard & Gwyneth Syvret, Bill Tower.
Apologies :
Guy Dixon, Gerry France, Sue Groves, Sue Hardy, Tertius Hutt, Sarah Jordan, Frank Le Blancq, David Levitt, Ian Machin.


2. Minutes of the meeting of November 18th 2003 and amendments
Rosemary Mesch was omitted from those members present; Frank Le Blancq had given his apologies but had also been recorded as present.
The minutes were then accepted as a correct record.


3. Matters arising from the minutes not covered by the agenda
4.2 Frank Falle said that the father-in-law of M. Danguy des Deserts was a student at the French Naval College (Highlands) and later became an Admiral. After the secularization of French education, the presence of the Jesuits here enabled French children to have a Catholic education, which was not available in France.
8 (October minutes) Bob Le Sueur clarified his comments to Mary Gibb about German currency during the German Occupation. The original pre-war Reichmarks were backed by gold deposits. The Deutschmark was the new currency, which the German Federal Republic introduced in 1948. Other 'Reichmarks' were for use in the occupied territories.

Chairman's communications
1 Frank thanked Mary Billot for preparing and producing the minutes throughout 2003.
2 He circulated the minutes of the Chairmen & Secretaries meeting held on November 6^th 2003. He reminded everyone that the term of office of five members of the Executive Committee ends in April 2004 – President, two Vice-Presidents and two general members.
3 Frank has replied to a letter from Colin Powell about a possible companion volume to A people of the sea. Colin said that latest progress was recorded in 1999; he will convene a meeting of all those interested in the publishing project, and will include the History Section. Jean Arthur said that she has a file on the subject, which should include agriculturalists.
4 Frank reminded members that the January meeting is the Section's AGM. He asked Francis Corbet about the proposed February 2004 meeting in the Town Church. It was decided to hold the meeting in April at the Church rather than have a PowerPoint presentation.
5 He said that leaflets were available for the Variety Club Three Bells Walk on Christmas Eve (6.8 miles); it costs £16.00 including lunch with proceeds to the Variety Club/Great Ormond Street Hospital appeal.

Members' contributions
1 Section's trip to Avranches, September 2004
Bertram Brée gave background information on this trip, which will commemorate 800 years of history and the shifts in Jersey's allegiance to the English and French kings, which stabilized under Henry III. Balleine's History of Jersey records the events. Bertram emphasised the French religious influence on Jersey's lawmaking.
The provisional date is September 11/12th 2004, which might clash with the SJ Wace conference scheduled for 10/13th September. Bertram was asked to enquire about shifting the date one week later to 18/19th September.
He plans to book 18 rooms for a group of not more than thirty; section members have first priority.
First day (Saturday) to St Malo then on to Hotel Treize Assiettes in Avranches where we stay for one night; visit to Avranches Museum and Archives.
Second day (Sunday) – visit to Mont St Michel (our guide will be M. St James, a friend of Bob Le Sueur) then back to Avranches Church. Return to Jersey.

Please give your names to Bertram at the January 2004 meeting.

2 Marie-Louise Backhurst has noted an advert about 1204-2004 in the magazine Living history.