By Fiona Walker
I DON’T know about you, but I was still finding 2024 quite fresh and shiny when suddenly the calendar ticked over into December and a brand-spanking-new year was lurking on the horizon. Honestly, you only have to blink nowadays and another 12 months are over.
It seems incredible that it’s now five years since we were anticipating 2020, that year when everything was going to come right, because, after all, that’s what 20:20 signified. People made exciting plans for such an auspicious year, couples booked weddings, and we all waited in eager anticipation. Didn’t we learn a harsh lesson that time around?
So, as we cautiously dip our toes into 2025, I thought this an appropriate time to award some New Year’s Honours and also propose some New Year’s Resolutions.
Honours first then, and after visiting numerous charity shops over the past 12 months and meeting so many amazing people, I’d like to present awards to everyone who volunteers to help others in Jersey, in any capacity whatsoever. Our brilliant charity shops are just one aspect of the time and effort that is given for free to support Islanders in any and every kind of need, and without the many people who make our charities tick, we would be a poorer place indeed. If you’re one of those volunteers, give yourself a pat on the back and know that you are appreciated.
The next award goes to the crew who carry the national newspapers between the islands on a daily basis. In just about every weather, a small boat can be seen ploughing along the coast and out past Corbière, and little mention is made of those souls who do a job that would test the most reliable sea legs, so thanks to them for their dedication and determination.
We’ve had some pretty vicious weather this winter, but regardless of wind, rain or hail, once a week without fail, our dustmen (sorry…silly me…refuse logisticians or something similar nowadays) are out there before dawn clearing away the debris of our lives – a thankless but necessary task. So thank you one and all, you rock!
Of course, our emergency service personnel, honoraries, medical staff and posties are also deserving of praise and recognition.
And those who work to make Jersey a beautiful place, who grow the flowers for our Britain in Bloom entries, who tend the parks, sweep the roads or trim the verges, you too deserve a mention in this roll of honour.
Onto a few resolutions now, and where to start? Well, I guess the main one is for the States to stop tinkering round the edges, stop messing with the small stuff and be prepared to firmly grasp the nettle when it comes to making those big decisions. The financial implications of shilly-shallying around over the hospital were eye-watering, while the decision-making process regarding the ferries was laborious, not to mention potentially costly.
And yet when it comes to unwanted railings at La Haule, we apparently don’t even need a decision; a politician with scant regard for public opinion can simply override the outcome of three planning applications to get his own way. Unbelievable.
I’m unashamedly jumping on the bandwagon with my next resolution, because it’s aimed at dog owners and the message is – you’ve guessed it – pick up your poop. Well, not your own poop obviously, but if you have responsibility for a pooch, then you also have responsibility for its defecations. I’ve always been a dog lover (Jersey Dog Club Junior Handler of the year nineteen seventy-something, no less), and as I’m a responsible dog owner, also a regular poop picker-upper.
I don’t particularly like doing it – nobody does – but it goes with the territory, so suck it up. But not literally, please.
Now I know that we’re part way there with a resolution to get more people back into St Helier, but I’m slightly bemused by the methods proposed. It’s very easy to sit at home and shop online, so taking a bus or car into town needs to be a straightforward, welcoming experience, without the prospect of expensive parking spaces or gridlock on the streets. Let’s facilitate traffic flow instead of closing yet more roads, support rather than penalise the retail sector and do more to encourage affordable high-street stores to open in Jersey. Because wonderful signage and freshly cleaned storefronts will be superfluous unless we have real incentives for shoppers to head into St Helier.
And that’s it really. Happy 2025!
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Fiona Walker was born and educated in Jersey and worked in finance before having children. She moved into media, presenting her own programme on BBC Radio Jersey, then as a senior broadcast journalist for local BBC television news. She was editor of The Jersey Life and wrote eight series for the national publication Motor Boat & Yachting magazine. She now promotes Jersey charity shops on social media under the name Upstylejersey.
