ST MARY-Q3-2020 R 2.qxp_Layout 1 14/09/2020 12:43 Page 1 EDITION 8 AUTUMNDBDB OUR COMMUNITY PAST PRESENT FUTURE Walking tall ST MARY-Q3-2020 R 2.qxp_Layout 1 14/09/2020 12:43 Page 2 IN THIS ISSUE Welcome IN , ‘’, , . , , , B Right: The festival provides Right: The festival provides the opportunity for car the opportunity for car and motorcycle and motorcycle enthusiasts to show off enthusiasts to show off their their AUTUMN 2020 CAPITAL p9 ST MARY-Q3-2020 R 2.qxp_Layout 1 14/09/2020 12:43 Page 3 ST MARY AUTUMN 2020 p3 Contents pF Bramble Farm IN THIS ISSUE pK Sark Swim This is my first chance to welcome readers from the Some of you will remember La Pepinière editor’s chair. Sit back Farm on La Rue de Crabbé. In its hey-day it pCB The St Mary’s was home to the largest herd of Jersey pub walk and enjoy the ride. cattle on the Island. However today it’s being transformed into what they call a ‘social’ or ‘care’ farm. The idea is to give a Some of you will be feeling cross-section of people with support needs a mild sense of déjà vu – or a sense of well-being through contact with more correctly déjà lu – at farm animals. We preview of a first for Jersey seeing my name because for Amongst our regulars Robin Pittman four years previously I gives us a tour of Jersey’s coastal fortifications but even those enduring p looked after the granite-clad towers and castles can be CD From the Constable predecessor to St Mary given a new lease of life as we discover at Matters called “The Grève de Lecq. While Beachcomber has set p The coastal towers, ” his sights on the proposed new Waterfront CH Communiqué . It was the development and is calling for military Forts and Castles brainchild of the former intervention. St Mary’s School has been there since Constable, Ken Le Brun, 1901 but the renovation works continue and, had it continued, apace – and are actually ahead of schedule would be publishing its now that the main building has been given the all-clear as far as potential residents in CBBth issue about now. That the roof space are concerned. represents about DG years of The severe lockdown in Guernsey p No bats in the belfry! means we’re pretty well barred from CJ reporting on the affairs of visiting the Bailiwick’s islands. However, we the Parish of St Mary, a hear about two St Mary residents who got pDBBeachcomber time-span that has seen a as close as you can get to Sark these days. without triggering an alarm! Silly Season lot of changes, but And finally. a reminder that this is curiously, at the same time, your parish magazine, not just to read, but life goes on in a very similar also to which you’d be welcome to contribute. If you have a story to tell that fashion to the way it has might be worthy of a wider audience feel always done. free to get in touch and we can discuss. Publisher www.mediamasters.je St Mary Matters is published by MediaMasters PO Box 133, St Helier, Jersey, JE4 9QX GENERAL ENQUIRIES: Martyn Farley T (01534)866956 E [email protected] pDF From the Deputy Advertising contact: Isabelle LagadecT (01534)887066 E [email protected] FINANCE AND ADMIN: George Farley T (01534)866957 E [email protected] pDHThe Rector ST MARY-Q3-2020 R 2.qxp_Layout 1 14/09/2020 12:43 Page 4 p4 ST MARY AUTUMN 2020 Island’s once thriving dairy industry. Today however it’s been renamed Bramble Farm and it’s being transformed into Harvesting something quite different. Farming is still very much at its heart but the dairy herd is gone. The cows the have been replaced by happinesshorses, goats and pigs and a few sheep but more Should you find yourself walking the than that it’s becoming a place where the harvest is far more about fostering a sense of well-being amongst a wide variety of people with a lanes of in the north of St Mary you range of support needs. may come across the unusual sight of The concept is called social or care farming and basically it’s the therapeutic use of farming practices to provide health, social or a group of tiny horses being taken for educational care services to a range of individuals such as people living a stroll. They’re no more than a with dementia, children with learning difficulties and people suffering metre tall, come in a variety of from depression. The farm can be seen as an oasis of calm amidst the hustle and bustle of busy, troubled contemporary life. There are 250 such colours and patterns and are known farms in the UK and it’s been estimated that 8,000 people with mild or by enthusiasts as “Minis”. While they moderate needs were visiting them every week, prior to the pandemic. may be small in stature they’ve been Bramble Farm has eight Minis or American Miniatures in total. “They’ve all got very different personalities. We try to match them with selected for their big hearts and have the youngsters who come to see them. Edward is the most been brought to Jersey to spread a amenable. He’ll make friends with anyone,” said Michaela. However initially she was looking to bring little happiness, especially among the llamas and alpacas to Jersey, but found that disadvantaged. to be impossible because of the stringent regulations surrounding Bovine TB. So, she “We chose them because we wanted something people decided instead to go for American Miniature horses. could really get close to and be able to pet and groom They weren’t easy to bring to Jersey but Michaela did get a lot them. They’re an absolute joy,” said the Michaela Yates, the of help. “They were flown over from Texas free of charge. All I had driving force behind the project. They live at what used to to do was arrange their flight from Charles De Gaulle Airport to be La Pepinière Farm on La Rue de Crabbé. It was once Jersey. Some of them are rescue animals and we were given home to the largest milking herd in Jersey. By the time it a couple of them. They’ve had to adapt to a completely was sold nearly six years ago it was a sad testimony to the different environment. They’d never had to wear ST MARY-Q3-2020 R 2.qxp_Layout 1 14/09/2020 12:43 Page 5 ST MARY AUTUMN 2020 p5 If you’re helping out at a farm it can be very beneficial, there’s a sense of doing “something really worthwhile,” said Michaela. “Just being around animals is life-affirming. They’re non-judgemental. Other social farms report that people who struggle to “ communicate feel good about being around animals and begin to open up. The farm is a very peaceful and safe place. coats before and they’d never come across the plastic sheeting Below : Michaela Yates with on the potatoes. one-year-old Kelly “The farm is ideally situated, surrounded by quiet lanes where the speed limit is only 15mph. It was derelict when we took over and there was no land with it. We started work on one of the sheds to make it suitable for housing animals. At the same time Jersey Royals took over another shed and helped us to acquire some of the surrounding land and we are also indebted to local owners and tenants who’ve also helped us with nearby fields which we’ve either leased or bought.” Michaela had no background in agriculture. She was looking for a career change and had been considering fostering, but then she heard about care farming and instead of children her foster charges these days are, for the most part, four-legged. She started with just three sheep and straightaway had to learn how to look after animals. Now there are more than a hundred residents at the farm. They include a large herd of very cute pygmy goats and the bigger Boer goats from South Africa, as well as Kune pigs from New Zealand, plus a few hens. Bringing them to the island has been very difficult, partly because Jersey sets very high health standards on imported animals, but the rewards are plain to see. “If you’re helping out at a farm it can be very beneficial, there’s a sense of doing something really worthwhile,” said Michaela. “Just being around animals is life-affirming. They’re non-judgemental. Other social farms report that people who struggle to communicate feel good about being around animals and begin to open up. The farm is a very peaceful and safe place.” Work is still going on at the farm to prepare it to receive visitors and it won’t open properly until next year. The intervention of the Covid virus caused delays and a need to adapt to very different circumstances prior to March this year. However, contacts are being established with care organisations like Les Amis and Jersey Youth Service with a view to organised visits in the near future. 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