As the St Saviour Constable says, it’s a very emotional song.
‘I try not to cry, but it’s difficult because it’s a very moving song. On Liberation Day you always get people who will cry, it gets people so upset, but I’m not too bad now,’ said Sadie, who most recently sang the song at the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the internment camp at Bad Wurzach.
And she will be singing Beautiful Jersey during today’s celebrations in a number of locations, including at the main event following the decision to keep the Liberation ceremony in Liberation Square.
‘From not singing at all, I’m now singing in Liberation Square at 11 o’clock, then going to the Age Concern lunch to sing, then to the People’s Park where I’ll be singing at about half past three,’ said Sadie.
‘At this time of year I get wheeled out to sing Beautiful Jersey, then I get wheeled away again!
‘But people have no idea the honour that I feel to be able to go out there and sing.’
Sadie was also invited by former evacuees to sing for them.
‘They said as they came back from the UK and rounded Noirmont Point that they all burst into song and sang Beautiful Jersey, so they’ve asked me to sing it!
She can trace her first major performance of the song to a Liberation event 20 years ago.
‘I have the late Ian Toole and his family to thank for that,’ she said. ‘We had a fantastic celebration at Fort Regent for the 50th anniversary of Liberation. We had a horse and cart, pigs and cows, and the event showed life through the Occupation. Ian asked if I’d sing Beautiful Jersey.’
Sadie starts to choke up at the memory.
There’s a spot that I love that I ne’er can forget,
Tho’ far I may roam ’twill be dear.
For its beauty will linger in memory yet,
Where’er o’er the world I may steer.
Dear Jersey, fair Isle, of the ocean the queen,
Thy charms are so many and rare;
For love finds a home ‘mid each beauteous scene,
My heart ever longs to be there.
Beautiful Jersey, gem of the sea,
Ever my heart turns in longing to thee;
Bright are the mem’ries you waken for me,
Beautiful Jersey, gem of the sea.
On thy shores I have wandered in glad days of yore,
With one who is dear to my heart.
And the love-links will bind us as one evermore,
Although for a while we must part.
And oft in my dreams do I see the dear place
The dear little Isle of the sea,
And in fancy I gaze on a sweet loving face,
The face that is dearest to me.
Beautiful Jersey, gem of the sea,
Ever my heart turns in longing to thee;
Bright are the mem’ries you waken for me,
Beautiful Jersey, gem of the sea.
‘See, I get upset even now! I had to stand on stage with one of the children in my arms and I started to sing.
‘All the extras who were playing German soldiers came running through Fort Regent and I thought, this is what it must have been like. I found it very moving.
‘When I sang it years later for the opening of the Island Games, we had to record it in the end because I couldn’t get though it without crying!’
Sadie learned the song from her mother, Eileen, and it brings back floods of memories for her.
‘When I’m singing it I think about the different things that have gone on in the past,’ she said. ‘My mum and dad were here during the Occupation and they lost friends. They also helped people – they used to leave food in a hedge for a Russian man.’
Her paternal grandfather, John Le Sueur, lived at Clairval Farm in St Saviour, where his son John (known as Jack) was born. In time, Jack married Eileen (née Le Marquand) and their children, Sadie and Guy, were also born at the farm.
Sadie, who separated from husband Jonathan last summer, still lives at the farm with her Irish setter Jackson and has taken her late parents’ name, calling herself Sadie Le Sueur Rennard.
As well as being the Constable of St Saviour, she is continuing the family tradition of dairy farming and is the only organic dairy farmer left who sends organic milk to the dairy.
It was Jack and Eileen who started the family herd of Jersey cows, having progressed from a smallholding with a few cows, chickens and growing tomatoes.
Sadie’s father spent much of his life accompanying shipments of cattle to the United States, so it was largely left to Eileen to look after the cows, with help from Sadie.
‘I always loved the cows. But none of my children or grandchildren are interested in the farm.
‘They’ll lend a hand, but they’ve all got careers. Nobody wanted to come into farming,’ she said.
She began her own career working for the old Channel Airways as a member of the ground staff, then worked in sales for Christian Dior and Chanel.
She gradually took over the farm when she began helping her father more and more.
The farm currently has 55 cows and two bulls and also has a number of ‘retired’ cows (old ladies, as she calls them), the eldest being 22.
While Sadie has a herdsman to tend to the cows, she is very busy in her other role of politician.
She initially stood for Constable only because of opposition to a possible development of the field opposite St Saviour’s School.
At a packed public meeting, she declared she would stand against standing Constable Peter Hanning if that would save the field.
‘All hell broke loose at the meeting,’ she said. ‘We didn’t want the development to happen.
‘I was so angry that I stood against him. I wasn’t even in the honorary system and hadn’t done anything other than go to parish events, so it was a surprise to a certain degree.’
She was elected in October 2011 and stood unopposed in last year’s elections.
On top of all that, Sadie still finds time for her other major passion, country music, and visits Nashville every year.
‘I’ve been going since I was 18 and I love the place. I was made an honorary citizen of the state in 1974 and was given the keys to the city.
‘Now when I go, it’s like going home. I even sing Beautiful Jersey in Nashville and they love it!’
And she really hopes that Beautiful Jersey will continue to be sung by the generations to come.
‘I love the Island very much and I am disappointed sometimes to see the way it’s going.
‘But Beautiful Jersey is lovely. It must not die.’
