WATCH: A Christmas Message from the Bailiff

Thursday 22 December 2022

As I look back over the last 12 months it seems to me that nobody could say that 2022 has not been, for good or ill, an extremely eventful year, both internationally and for Jersey.

We have been reminded, perhaps, that the freedoms that we enjoy and may take for granted, and indeed life itself, are rather more fragile than we might have assumed.

In those months we have seen the invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing struggles of that country to protect freedoms and indeed the very life of a nation.   

Video: "The freedoms that we enjoy and may take for granted... are rather more fragile than we might have assumed."

We have also suffered the international shockwaves that have led to a very challenging period of inflation and rising interest rates which has had a substantial impact on the daily lives of many people both in Jersey and in the wider world.

It is perhaps easy, because of the dramatic events that 2022 has also seen, that we might overlook the significant stress and sometimes strain that financial factors cause within the Island for many of our people.

There have been good things, of course. 

Pictured: "We were able to celebrate the 77th anniversary of our Liberation – the celebration of that time when our own freedoms were restored."

We were able to celebrate the 77th anniversary of our Liberation – the celebration of that time when our own freedoms were restored – and that celebration was enhanced enormously by the Royal visit from the Earl and Countess of Wessex whose warmth and real engagement with the Island was palpable.

They delivered a message from Her Majesty The Queen and we were afforded one last opportunity to pass our own appreciation back to Her Majesty in the Loyal Address that we gave on that day in anticipation of her Platinum Jubilee. The celebration of the Platinum Jubilee in June was a wonderful Island event and showed, once again, how we can come together in joy and celebrate who we are as a community and a people.  

We have had of course, in that period, an Island Election, and a new Government and States Assembly who are seeking to tackle, with enthusiasm and energy, the challenges that we face as a community.

But no sooner had the new government and assembly been established than we faced, with deep sadness, the loss of our Sovereign whose long reign we had celebrated shortly before. Her late Majesty had demonstrated, throughout that reign, a dignity and respect for others and real service from which I hope we may continue to learn and to emulate.   

Pictured: "Her late Majesty had demonstrated, throughout that reign, a dignity and respect for others and real service from which I hope we may continue to learn and to emulate." (Chris George)

In September, while experiencing the impact of the loss that we felt as a community and as individuals on the late Queen’s death, we reflected on a life well lived, as a sovereign, wife, mother and grandmother.  Her funeral, which so many Islanders watched on television, was an impressive ceremony that placed us all within the larger historical picture.

And as we mourned that loss, we also recognised our new monarch, proclaiming Charles III King in the Royal Square and, again, we came together as a community in a formal and fitting ceremony where tradition and individuals met.  We looked forward at that time, as indeed we must, with hope and expectation.  

And as much as we have come together as a community in hope and expectation, so we have come together to mourn and to stand in solidarity with those who have lost loved ones in the two tragedies that struck the community earlier in this month.  We offered what we can in support and will continue to do so.

And once again, although born out of sorrow and sadness, our community has shown what it really is.

Pictured: "I am enormously mindful at this time of year how many unsung heroes continue to provide us with the services, comfort, and protection that we need."

I am enormously mindful at this time of year how many unsung heroes continue to provide us with the services, comfort, and protection that we need whilst many of us are taking a break.

To all of those, you are in my thoughts, and I am grateful to you for looking after us during this time.  Many of the same people, the emergency services, the civil service, the charitable sector, the faith groups have all come together to help and support the community in times of sorrow and challenge as well as in times of joy and celebration.

Both of these things are part of the pattern of our lives as individuals and as a community. The Winter Solstice, the shortest day and time of longest darkness, has just passed and since then the light has increased a little every day. We come now into the Christmas period, a time of light and celebration, when many in the world rejoice in the ending of a different type of darkness and the coming of a different kind of light.

Pictured: "There is a saying that a single candle can both define and defy the darkness".

There is a saying that a single candle can both define and defy the darkness and perhaps this important time of the year can, by the light that it offers, illuminate the time to come with optimism and with hope.

As I look back over the last 12 months at all that has happened, I feel intensely proud of this island and of its people and whether you keep Christmas in the traditional way, honouring the Christmas message and celebrating with family and friends, or whether you take it as an opportunity to be still and renewed and to reflect, I wish all of my fellow islanders a peaceful and joyful Christmas and a happy New Year and a sense of optimism for 2023.

Pictured top: Bailiff of Jersey, Sir Timothy Le Cocq. (Jon Guegan)