Tributes paid to St Ouen farming legend

Lambert Carré Picture: DAVID FERGUSON

A FARMER who became one of the biggest independent growers in the Island died recently, leaving a lasting impact on the industry and in his home parish of St Ouen.

Lambert Carré passed away peacefully aged 84 at the Beaumont Villa care home.

Perhaps surprisingly, Mr Carré was not born on a farm nor was it his first profession. He was a plasterer by trade and only began farming in the 1970s, when his wife Betty was left a field near Plémont.

But he had a natural flair for growing and his farming endeavours grew and grew, especially from the late 1980s when he bought Fosse au Bois Farm, close to St Ouen’s Parish Hall.

There, he built a large packing shed, which further fuelled the expansion of the business to more than 2,000 vergées.

A fiercely independent grower, Mr Carré resisted the consolidation of the sector in Jersey in the early noughties, and sold his produce directly into the UK wholesale market.

It was his conviction and professionalism that attracted the interest of potato exporter Albert Bartlett to the Island, and Mr Carré was the Scottish firm’s first supplier in Jersey from 2007.

Fosse au Bois Farm remains in the family, and with Albert Bartlett Ltd, in the hands of Mr Carré’s two sons Paul and Peter, and grandson Matthew.

Outside of farming, Mr Carré was a stalwart of St Ouen’s Football Club. A committed player, he was later a committee member, vice-president and honorary life vice-president.

One of 13 siblings, Mr Carré was part of a large and well-known St Ouen family. He was a familiar face around the parish, particularly down at Grève de Lecq, inspecting his many fields and occasionally at the Farmers Inn.

The public house was packed to capacity with family and friends celebrating his life after the funeral.

Mr Carré is survived by Betty, Peter, Paul and his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, to whom the JEP extends its sympathy.

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