A MODEL railway club in Essex is hoping to raise funds for its local hospice with a display of Jersey locations after the wife of one of their members died, with the couple having been long-time visitors to the Island.
John Ramsay’s wife Jill died in June this year after a battle with cancer.
John, from Corrington in Essex, has been a regular visitor to Jersey for 59 years and brought Jill to the Island for the first time in 1978, just before they got married.
They camped in St Brelade on their first visit but over the years stayed in a number of different place with their most recent holiday being at the Golden Sands Hotel – Jill’s favourite.
“It’s just beautiful,” John said. “You’ve got everything you need – you’ve got beaches, you’ve got shopping, you’ve got history.
“It’s basically Northumberland and Cornwall combined.”
Jill was diagnosed with breast cancer two years ago and went through an initial round of successful treatment. But, while walking along St Brelade’s Bay – one of the pair’s favourite places – Jill missed a step and hurt her back.
When they returned to the UK, they discovered the cancer had spread to her spine.
She died supported by St Luke’s Hospice in Basildon, and John praised the staff there for communicating clearly and supporting the couple through Jill’s last few months.
“She was well until April,” John said. “We were going to come to Jersey to celebrate my 70th in July.”
John described “struggling” after Jill’s death. After a counsellor suggested fundraising, John described coming up with the idea of “Jill’s Jersey” – a 22-foot-long model railway incorporating their three favourite places, Gorey Harbour, St Brelade’s Bay, and Corbière.
Thurrock Model Railway Club, based in Stanley-le-Hope, are helping to bring the concept to fruition.
John said the model will have some “poetic licence” by bringing back the Gorey and Corbière railway lines, and adding a diversion via St Brelade’s Bay.
“This project gives me a strong connection to Jill and [I’m] doing something I enjoy,” John said.
“The club members have been absolutely incredible. They said: ‘Whatever you need, whatever you want, we’ll get it’.
“It’s going to be a club layout, which means everybody is going to build a part of it.”
Fellow club member Phillip Osbourne has been using 3D printing to make detailed replicas of places like the radio tower at Corbière.
They already have plans to exhibit the finished layout at other clubs, and hope to eventually bring it to Jersey. Their first exhibition is in eight-and-a-half months, John said.
Donations to St Luke’s Hospice can be made at justgiving.com/page/jerseyjill.
