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It was a year marked by the dramatic and near-miraculous rescue of crew from a plane that crash-landed.
But it was also sadly noteworthy for the number of high-profile islanders who passed away.
Today, Express is throwing back to 2013 in the next instalment of its review of the decade series...
Probably the most talked about story of 2013 was the near miraculous survival of five crew members of a search and rescue plane which crash-landed in St. Mary during a stormy night in November.
The Channel Islands Air Search plane, Lions’ Pride, had been scrambled to help look for two fishermen reportedly in trouble off the Ecréhous, when it was forced to ditch after having apparently run out of fuel.
It was later revealed the pilot had been using empty reserve tanks rather than the main tanks. The two fishermen at the centre of the rescue were safely brought ashore by the RNLI.
Pictured: A military helicopter landed in Millbrook Park to pick up a one-day old baby.
Later in the month it was a military helicopter making the news. With the airport fog-bound, it landed in Millbrook Park to pick up a one-day old baby that needed urgent medical attention. He was successfully flown to the UK, treated and returned to the island a few days later.
In what was to be a reoccurring theme throughout the decade, political reform was back on the agenda. And, as was to be equally recurring, whilst there was much talk there was little action.
In April, 26% of the population went to the polls to choose from three options, A, B, and C, which would have restructured the States in various different ways.
B – which would have seen the number of members cut to 42, the constables kept, the senators scrapped, and 30 deputies elected in six super-constituencies – came out top. But, in July, the States ignored the will of the people and rejected the reforms.
Pictured: Islanders voted to cut the number of States Members to 42 but the Assembly ignored it.
Still with politics, this time a former politician who was in and out of the news regularly during the decade, Stuart Syvret. In November, he was back in court charged with refusing to take down material on his blog that broke data protection laws. His inaction saw him sent to La Moye for three months.
Also back in the news infamous drug dealer Curtis Warren. Having been sentenced to 13 years’ imprisonment in December 2009 for attempting to smuggle cannabis into the island, one of Interpol’s ‘most wanted’, was now being ordered to pay £198 million which it was claimed he’d made from his ‘business’ or face another ten years in jail. He told the court he didn’t have the money.
There was an unholy row in March when the Bishop of Winchester, the Right Reverend Tim Dakin, suspended the Dean, the Very Reverend Bob Key. It was claimed he’d mishandled a complaint of sexual abuse by a churchwarden on a vulnerable woman.
The Dean’s supporters not only claimed the allegation wasn’t true, but were critical he wasn’t being given a fair hearing. He was later reinstated but, by year’s end the church’s investigation into the case still hadn’t been made public.
Pictured: The Very Reverend Bob Key.
Guernsey civil servant, Dr Andrew Sloan, was far from civil in November. The economist, who’d been in the island to attend the British Irish Council summit, found himself in the dock after having punched a police officer who’d been called to settle a disturbance following an argument over a drinks bill at the Hotel L’Horizon.
Dr Sloan was given community service.
2013 seemed to see more than its fair share of ‘goodbyes’ to notable islanders.
The first was in January. Dick Shenton was 86 and was probably the island’s most successful post-war politician. He went straight in to the States as a senator in 1969, and went on to top the poll on four successive occasions, on most of those topping the poll in every parish, although in 1993 he finished sixth.
He retired in 1999, but couldn’t resist successfully staging a coming back in 2004 winning a senatorial by-election and polling more votes than the other five candidates combined. In a political career that spanned more than 35 years he headed up almost every major committee.
One of his sons, Ben, followed in his footsteps and was a senator from 2005 to 2011, and his daughter Karen Shenton Stone is the current constable of St Martin.
Pictured: Teddy Noel (left) was the subject of the 2006 portrait commission by artist Andrew Logan. (Jersey Heritage)
February saw the death of 94-year-old Teddy Noel. He was known to hundreds of islanders for his years of involvement with amateur dramatics. His most famed role was that of pantomime dame which he performed on 16 occasions in the annual Green Room production. His image was captured for posterity when islanders selected him as the subject of Jersey Heritage’s annual portrait competition.
There was more sad news in April with the passing of 81-year-old Anne Perchard. Known the world over for her tireless devotion to promoting the Jersey cow, she was affectionately known as the ‘Jersey Queen’. Rather aptly she was awarded an MBE in 2001. She was president of the world Jersey Cattle Bureau for more than a decade.
And in June, former police inspector, and long-serving member of St John Ambulance, Nigel Truscott, died after developing a rare blood cancer. He was 57.
Finally, in July, globe-trotting, Jersey resident Alan Whicker died aged 91, although there was some dispute as to how old he actually was. The entry he approved for Who’s Who had him aged 87. The Trinity-resident, who moved to the island in the 1970s, described Jersey as an ‘island paradise’. In a television career spanning more than 30 years he visited almost every country in the world.
Pictured: Jersey celebrity, Oscar Gronez Corbière Claud Puffin. (ITV Channel)
In October, TV viewers also ‘winked goodbye’ to Oscar Gronez Corbière Claud Puffin. After a 50-year television career on Channel Television reading children’s birthday cards, the company’s mascot was taken off screen, and given a slot on the internet.
And at Jersey Zoo – rebranded as Durrell – keepers had to put down 28-year-old Wolfgang. The Andean bear, who’d lived in Trinity since coming to the island as a two-year-old cub had been suffering from a number of medical conditions including arthritis.
Hollywood came to the Waterfront in June. Thousands of movie fans lined the red carpet outside Cineworld as local actor ‘Superman’ Henry Cavill, and co-stars Russell Crowe, and Amy Adams, attended a gala premier of their latest film ‘Man of Steel’.
And, keen to see Jersey bask in the limelight the States gave production company Canbedone Ltd £200,000 to shoot a film, Knights of the Impossingworth, in the island. It was claimed the film industry might one day rival finance and tourism.
Still with the stars – this time of the small screen – and rumours began circulating the highly popular BBC Jersey-based 1980s detective series Bergerac was going to be re-shot in the island. Star of the show – John Nettles – said ‘it would be fun’ to do it all over again, but that he didn’t see himself as having a major role.
Pictured: Rumours of a Bergerac re-shoot started swirling in 2013. (YoutubeTitusBramble555)
One of the biggest triumphs over adversity during the year was recorded in August when Wendy Tréhiou became the first Channel Islander, and only the 26thperson in the world, to complete a two-way non-stop English Channel swim – that’s from England to France and then back. The mega-undertaking, which took her 39 hours 9 minutes, was all the more impressive given she was recovering from breast cancer. Her achievement saw the States present her with the rarely presented Churchill Award for Courage.
Another prominent islander, politician Deputy Kristina Moore, also announced she had breast cancer. The 38-year-old mother of two said she was going public to highlight the importance of regular check-ups and early intervention.
Finally, in early December, with Christmas looming, one collector decided to treat himself to an early present, and splashed out £71,000 for a memorable number plate - JSY1.
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