Recorded as part of the Voice-Vouaïe project, by Guernsey Museums with language consultant Yan Marquis.  Photographer Aaron Yeandle took portraits of 105 people who grew up in an environment where Guernesiais was spoken.  Yan recorded interviewed each participant.

(0 – 30 secs) GLC01 says his name, George Le Couteur, the name’s meaning – an ‘écouteur’ in the court; he also says where he lives and was born – Torteval; GLC01 says personal details: GLC01’s father was involved with Le Hanois Light house (30 secs - 1 min) and Trinity House, he had a boat and used take water and keepers to the lighthouse; GLC’s father also worked stone quarries, he had one near Fort Grey (Aldebaran) St. Pierre du Bois, and another (1 min – 1 min 30 secs) at Albecq, he owned it with his father before WWII; GLC01 talks about a copy of National Geographic from 1939 which contained an article about Guernsey, there were pictures of Le Guet, GLC01 wanted to see if he could go back to exactly (1 min 30 secs – 2 mins) the same place, to see if Le Guet had changed, it has changed a lot; GLC01’s parents spoke to each other all of the time in Guernesiais (G), when he wanted to speak it they told him to speak English because it was good for school, and for his education, he mustn’t speak G.

LE COUTEUR, George

Recorded as part of the Voice-Vouaïe project, by Guernsey Museums with language consultant Yan Marquis. Photographer Aaron Yeandle took portraits of 105 people who grew up in an environment where Guernesiais was spoken. Yan recorded interviewed each participant.

(0 – 30) secs: BEM01 says her name Barbara Marquis, née Robilliard, she was born in the hospital in the Câtel; (30 secs - 1 min) she says that she didn’t speak Guernesiais (G) when she was a little girl as she was evacuated to England during WWII with a lot of other children, but she wanted to know what her mother and father were talking about, so she thought to herself, I must learn it, she was eight years old; her grandparents could speak English (E) (1 min – 1 min 30 secs), but they spoke more G than E; at chapel (methodist) the services were in E, but once every two to three weeks they were in French. (1 min 30 secs – 2 mins) The workers in her father’s greenhouses all spoke G, he had three men that worked for him, they looked after the tomatoes; BEM01’s grandfather, who lived next door, used to help a little with packing the tomatoes (for market).

MARQUIS, Barbara

Recorded as part of the Voice-Vouaïe project, by Guernsey Museums with language consultant Yan Marquis. Photographer Aaron Yeandle took portraits of 105 people who grew up in an environment where Guernesiais was spoken. Yan recorded interviewed each participant.

(0 – 30 secs) RD01 says his name: Roland Duquemin, and that he grew up in lower St. Saviour’s at Perelle where all of his neighbours spoke Guernesiais (G); RD01’s family spoke it at home, the only place where he spoke English (E) was at school; RD01 says the year that he was born (30 secs - 1 min) and his age: 86, he says that his personal details; all went well [when he was young] as everyone spoke G and got on well; later when he was a little older the German Occupation happened, they had an officer from Germany that came to (1 min – 1 min 30 secs) stay in the family home, it was a period they had to get through; RD01 married, he used to plant potatoes, his father and the old people had many funny sayings, his father had a saying about one day not being like another as it rains everyday; when RD01 was planting potatoes his neighbour, (1 min 30 secs – 2 mins) Mr. Collenette, would come and ask if he was planting them with the eyes down, RD01 replied, no, but rather with the bottom up in the air, the neighbour used to be there when RD01 was digging the potatoes, he would say all sorts of things like, “Do you find that the small ones are big this year?”, as children they found this amusing.

DUQUEMIN, Roland

Recorded as part of the Voice-Vouaïe project, by Guernsey Museums with language consultant Yan Marquis. Photographer Aaron Yeandle took portraits of 105 people who grew up in an environment where Guernesiais was spoken. Yan recorded interviewed each participant.

(0 – 30 secs) MLT01 says her name: Maureen Le Tocq, and her age, 73 years old; MLT01 has two children, a son and a daughter; she has been well all of her life, and she is still around and about; when she started school; she was born in the family house at the bottom of Donkey Hill, St. Andrew’s, she lived there until she was (30 secs - 1 min) 10 years old when they moved to Torteval; when she started school in St. Andrew’s, she only knew two English (E) words, ‘Yes and No’; when she was younger it was all in French (Guernesiais (G)), her parents spoke it; as she grows older she doesn’t speak it as much as she did so she is forgetting her words; (1 min – 1 min 30 secs) there aren’t many people speaking G, it is not good that they are forgetting it all of the time; MLT01’s children didn’t want to learn it, so she could not pass it on to them; this morning MLT01 woke up at 6 o’clock, had her breakfast, washed and changed to go out; she asks herself what she did yesterday.

LE TOCQ, Maureen

Recorded as part of the Voice-Vouaïe project, by Guernsey Museums with language consultant Yan Marquis. Photographer Aaron Yeandle took portraits of 105 people who grew up in an environment where Guernesiais was spoken. Yan recorded interviewed each participant.

(0 – 30 secs) PC01 says her name: Peggy Collenette, and that she is from St. Pierre, she also says when she was born, and that she lives at Rue des Vicheris where there will soon be orchids, they’ll be out in April, at the end of the month there will be orchids everywhere; (30 secs - 1 min) PC01 tells a short amusing tale about her late husband who bought a car in town and it broke down on the way home near Fort George, the car stopped, the pedal/ball had become detached, and he got out to fix it. (1 min – 1 min 30 secs), he got on his hands and knees in the road to take a look, he had put on the brake, but it rolled away with him on his hands and knees going after it, PC01 and their daughter were laughing; PC01 says that when she was first married, she was once with her husband and he (1 min 30 secs – 1 min 53 secs) asked where was the comb (déboutcheu), she asked him what he had said and told him that they didn’t say it like that, and that she would say comb (démêlaeu), he disagreed insisting that the word (déboutcheu) was correct and was what he called it.

COLLENETTE, Peggy

Recorded as part of the Voice-Vouaïe project, by Guernsey Museums with language consultant Yan Marquis. Photographer Aaron Yeandle took portraits of 105 people who grew up in an environment where Guernesiais was spoken. Yan recorded interviewed each participant.

(0 – 30 secs) JLP01 says his name in English (E), John Le Page and Guernesiais (G), Jean Lé Page, his address in St. Saviour’s, he discusses the house name, it was a small field name, it means an entrance, one from before (30 secs - 1 min) his time; JLP01 had two older sisters who spoke E as they went to school, he picked up a bit of E from them, otherwise with his family it was all in G; as JLP01 had learnt from his (1 min – 1 min 30 secs) sisters, he had no trouble with E when he went to school; after school JLP01 was on the farm, helping out or being in the way, he was not interested in growing tomatoes, he was interested in cows; but the time came that farmers had to expand, he has two daughters who were not interested in farming so he gave it up and started growing vegetables; (1 min 30 secs – 1 min 53 secs) JLP01 says he cannot see how the battle to save G will be won, he married a girl from town who did not speak G so his daughters do not speak it, but they can speak French.

LE PAGE, John (Jean)

Recorded as part of the Voice-Vouaïe project, by Guernsey Museums with language consultant Yan Marquis. Photographer Aaron Yeandle took portraits of 105 people who grew up in an environment where Guernesiais was spoken. Yan recorded interviewed each participant.

(0 – 30 secs) LR01 says his name: Lloyd Robilliard, he lives in St. Peter’s; LR01 had always heard Guernesiais (G), but he would answer in English (E) when he was young, he could speak G, but not the ‘quality’ of someone who spoke it every day (30 secs - 1 min), he did not really speak it; when LR01 was with his friend ALR01, they used to speak it sometimes, they would change the words of English songs to G and sing them, after a few pints of beer; when LR01 returned to Guernsey from Australia in 1980 he thought that he would speak it all of the time, he started to speak it, his father spoke it all of the time (1 min – 1 min 30 secs); LR01 has always spoken to people in G if they can speak it; LR01 used to dig up freesia corms (commercially) for growers, if they spoke G, he would speak it with them, he has had more than thirty years of practice; LR01 thinks it is good that people are learning G, but he believes it is more important to capture the ‘information’ [language data], you can always have lessons later; (1 min 30 secs – 2 mins) LR01’s French is not very good, he speaks G with friends who come from just below Cherbourg, they get along; in Brittany the Bretons do not understand him, once he was in Brittany, a man heard him speaking G, (2 mins – 2 mins 10 secs) he told LR01 that he was Canadian, LR01 replied saying that he was from Guernsey, the man said to LR01 that he spoke like his grandfather [laughter].

ROBILLIARD, Lloyd

Recorded as part of the Voice-Vouaïe project, by Guernsey Museums with language consultant Yan Marquis. Photographer Aaron Yeandle took portraits of 105 people who grew up in an environment where Guernesiais was spoken. Yan recorded interviewed each participant.

(0 – 30 secs) HG01 says her name, Heather Gale, where she has lived for fifteen years, Bulwer Avenue, she has great views of the sea and the cruise ships in the summer, she is happy and comfortable there (30 secs - 1 min); HG01 works in charity shops twice a week, she enjoys it, there are some characters there, they have a great time together; HG01 has been retired for ten years, she likes to keep busy that is why she works for charity; her maiden name (1 min – 1 min 30 secs) was Heather Le Page; she used to speak a lot in Guernesiais (G) before she married, but her husband could not speak it, she had forgotten a lot of G, she spoke it when she was a child, when she went to school she could not speak English (E), she learnt E at School (1 min 30 secs – 2 mins), she went to St. Saviour’s School; she likes G a lot, she has spoken a lot of G over the past three years, she meets with three other people on a Friday to have a cup of tea, and they speak all in G, she has forgotten a lot of words.

GALE, Heather

Recorded as part of the Voice-Vouaïe project, by Guernsey Museums with language consultant Yan Marquis. Photographer Aaron Yeandle took portraits of 105 people who grew up in an environment where Guernesiais was spoken. Yan recorded interviewed each participant.

(0 – 30 secs) IG01 says his name: Ivan Gallienne, he lives at: Au Vent, Rue de Laitte, St. Peter’s; IG01 believes that Guernesiais (G) is Guernsey’s language, he would like it to always be so, and it must not be lost; young people at school (30 secs - 1 min) should learn it so that we can keep it, there should be a class where they have to speak it; there are probably half a dozen G speakers nearby; sometimes when he saw people at the garage [now closed] IG01 used to speak to them in G; (1 min – 1 min 30 secs)G from the Câtel was a little different from G in Torteval/St. Peter’s, IG01 gives the example of the pronunciation of the word for ‘water’; IG01 talks about the word Warro/Ouâroh, about which much was said about a year ago, he says that people who question its use do not really know G, he says that he has always used it, (1 min 30 secs – 1 min 45 secs) if someone came to the door they would say it, IG01 has always said it.

GALLIENNE, Ivan

Recorded as part of the Voice-Vouaïe project, by Guernsey Museums with language consultant Yan Marquis. Photographer Aaron Yeandle took portraits of 105 people who grew up in an environment where Guernesiais was spoken. Yan recorded interviewed each participant.

(0 – 30 secs) LLT01 says his name: Lloyd Le Tocq, and that he was born next door (in La Hougue Anthan) in 1953; when LLT01 was young everyone who lived along the road was Guernsey, they all spoke Guernesiais (G), they had family names such as Brehaut, Gallienne Duquemin, Norman; when LLT01 (30 secs - 1 min) started going to Torteval School they had old Mrs Martel, and Mrs Le Poidevin from Les Tielles; the teachers could not understand the pupils, they had no patience, they were always telling the pupils what to say, and that they were wrong; LLT01 and others had not heard much English (E); it seems to LLT01 that many of the teachers who went away in the Occupation did not want to teach when they came back to Guernsey, (1 min – 1 min 8 secs) many of the teachers at Torteval School were too old, retired; LLT01 does not believe he learnt anything at Torteval School.

LE TOCQ, Lloyd

Recorded as part of the Voice-Vouaïe project, by Guernsey Museums with language consultant Yan Marquis. Photographer Aaron Yeandle took portraits of 105 people who grew up in an environment where Guernesiais was spoken. Yan recorded interviewed each participant.

(0 – 30 secs) RD03 says his name: Rodney Dyke; he left school when he was fourteen years old as he did not like it, he went to work for his father with the cows and horses; when he was young there was a lot of Guernesiais (G) spoken around where he lives, there was not much/weren’t many English (E); (30 secs - 1 min) RD03’s grandfather and father spoke G, but not his mother; RD03’s grandfather and grandmother spoke G, his grandfather could swear a lot; the old people drank like 'ducks', a lot of beer; there are not many young people who can speak G, one or two; RD03 believes that the WWII evacuation is the reason that not many people can speak G, a lot of people were evacuated (1 min – 1 min 5 secs) when they came back they spoke in E.

DYKE, Rodney

Recorded as part of the Voice-Vouaïe project, by Guernsey Museums with language consultant Yan Marquis. Photographer Aaron Yeandle took portraits of 105 people who grew up in an environment where Guernesiais was spoken. Yan recorded interviewed each participant.

(0 – 30 secs) RLP03 says his name: Roy Le Prevost, he is going to be ninety five years old in two months time; RLP03’s mother and father spoke Guernesiais (G) at home when he was young, they spoke half and half, English (E) too; (30 secs - 1 min) RLP03 was born in St. Saviour’s, at La Marette, near Fort Richmond; RLP03 went to the little St. Saviour’s School, they moved to St. Peter’s School, he was happy there, (1 min – 1 min 30 secs) it was great there, they had a football team, he played football, that year they won the cup; RLP03 says that there was a difference between the G in St. Peter’s and St. Saviours, he gives an example: (1 min 30 secs – 2 mins), haout/haut (high), they changed the words a little; when the Germans landed (WWII) and moved into the area where RLP03 lived, they forced the inhabitants to move out and demolished their houses as they were in the way, in the line of sight.

LE PREVOST, Roy

Recorded as part of the Voice-Vouaïe project, by Guernsey Museums with language consultant Yan Marquis. Photographer Aaron Yeandle took portraits of 105 people who grew up in an environment where Guernesiais was spoken. Yan recorded interviewed each participant.

(0 – 30 secs) PL01  says his name: Philip Langlois; when PL01 was young his father George was a grower [tomatoes and flowers], he cultivated in his greenhouses at Les Brûliaux, PL01 describes the growing process, it was hard work, they had to prepare the ground; (30 secs - 1 min) sometimes working all night, after planting they still had a lot of work, they had to water, open the lights [vents] etc., then came picking the crop, three times a week (1 min – 1 min 30 secs), sometimes they began picking before six o’clock; the tomatoes were collected in a lorry by the Guernsey Tomato Marketing Board (GTMB) who sorted and graded them; after a few days PL01 ‘s father would receive a letter to say what price he had had for his tomatoes (1 min 30 secs – 2 mins), the grades were in ‘strange’ colours, PL01 quips that the colours given to the grades were odd! as when they had picked the crop, they were all red, PL01 wonders what the GTMB used to get up to!

LANGLOIS. Philip

Recorded as part of the Voice-Vouaïe project, by Guernsey Museums with language consultant Yan Marquis. Photographer Aaron Yeandle took portraits of 105 people who grew up in an environment where Guernesiais was spoken. Yan recorded interviewed each participant.

(0 – 30 secs) RHA01 says his name: Ruben Henry Ashplant; RHA01 passed to go to Elizabeth College, but did not want to go there, he went to the Grammar School instead, he left with 9 O’Levels, the only one he didn’t have was French, he didn’t like it, he spoke mainly English (E) but he knew ‘patois’ RHA01 talks about the old fishermen, one of them was Emile Girard, (30 secs - 1 min); they would be ‘punching’ limpets at Perelle, on La Tabllaette, RHA01 mentions what a Fisherman said, “Have you got a cigarette Emile?” “No, buy some!”; when they [the old fishermen] told a joke in Guernesiais (G) it was very funny, people would ask for it in (E), it was not so funny; RHA01’s father was from a big family, he was one of 12  or 11, RHA01’s father started the building firm, RHA01 took over, (1 min – 1 min 30 secs) workers worked hard, 65 hours a week; RHA01 had a boat, he took people out; he talks about ormering (shore gathering haliotis tuberculata), now people gather about 14, they used to work in deep water, RHA01 says that he would feel the cold now, they used to gather 25 dozen regularly, he says the most he ever gathered was 42 dozen.

ASHPLANT, Reuben

Recorded as part of the Voice-Vouaïe project, by Guernsey Museums with language consultant Yan Marquis. Photographer Aaron Yeandle took portraits of 105 people who grew up in an environment where Guernesiais was spoken. Yan recorded interviewed each participant.

(0 – 30 secs) PLT02 says her name, Phylis Le Tocq, she spoke Guernesiais (G) before she knew English (E), when she went to school everyone there spoke (E) so she spoke it too; PLT02 understands G, but cannot speak it; as the old people die it is spoken less and less (30 secs - 1 min); PLT02 understands everything; PLT02 and her husband BLT01 speak it most when they are on holiday if they do not want to be understood, that is when it is handy; PLT02 says that her mother was from The Forest, and she used to say a children’s rhyme (1 min – 1 min 30 secs); PLT02 remembers it, she has said it to her children, and grandchildren; PLT02 says the rhyme ‘Sus les paomes et sus les peires’, she says that they used to bounce the children on their knees then let them drop down, the children have grown up knowing the rhyme.

LE TOCQ, Phylis

Recorded as part of the Voice-Vouaïe project, by Guernsey Museums with language consultant Yan Marquis. Photographer Aaron Yeandle took portraits of 105 people who grew up in an environment where Guernesiais was spoken. Yan recorded interviewed each participant.

(0 – 30 secs) IR01 says his name, Ivan George Robert; IR01 was two years old when WWII broke out, seven when it ended, they all spoke Guernesiais (G) (with parents), but not all of the time, it was not written down, just spoken; IR01 went to school with his brother at Le Vallon, many teachers had been evacuated, (30 secs - 1 min) his teacher spoke in English as a result they didn’t understand what she was talking about; IR01’s mother was from St. Peter’s and his father from Torteval, and grandparents, aunties and uncles lived in the sticks; IR01 spoke G to his grandfather; he understands it now, but cannot hold a conversation; (1 min – 1 min 30 secs) he recalls things his father used to say about the weather being fine, and playing football, IR01 also recalls his mother saying that the weather is fine, so the lights in the greenhouse need opening; he speaks G as they spoke it, he recalls his mother saying that the weather is fine, and let’s go to the beach; (1 min 30 secs – 2 mins) IR01 thinks that the G they spoke isn’t the same as what people are taught today, IR01’s dad would call a greenhouse ‘aen spànne’, and a football ‘énne plotte’; IR01 would like the States to teach G in the schools like  languages are taught in Wales, the Isle of Man and in parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland.

ROBERT, Ivan

Recorded as part of the Voice-Vouaïe project, by Guernsey Museums with language consultant Yan Marquis. Photographer Aaron Yeandle took portraits of 105 people who grew up in an environment where Guernesiais was spoken. Yan recorded interviewed each participant.

(0 – 30 secs) JM03 says her name: Jean Martel; she was brought up in St. Saviour’s, now she lives in a small place in Rue Sauvage, she likes it a lot there; JM03 spoke Guernesiais (G) at home when she was young, and she spoke it with her friends, but at school they had to speak English (E) (30 secs - 1 min); people from town did not speak G much, JM03 feels that they were perhaps a little ‘affected’; JM03 talks about variety in G, different pronunciations, Torteval/St. Peter’s vs. St. Saviour’s (1 min – 1 min 30 secs); JM03 likes speaking G, but she does not speak it much, only if she goes to meetings [speed patois] during the day, or evening, she prefers the day as when you grow older, you do not like going out at night, especially when it is dark; JM03 believes that we must try to keep G; it seems that young people do not want to learn G (1 min 30 secs – 2 mins), they say that they cannot learn it, but they could do so as other languages like German are taught in the schools; they would be able to learn it, but there would need to be people who could speak it with them; JM03 believes that G is a little bit ‘French’, but otherwise it is, Guernesiais.

MARTEL, Jean

Recorded as part of the Voice-Vouaïe project, by Guernsey Museums with language consultant Yan Marquis. Photographer Aaron Yeandle took portraits of 105 people who grew up in an environment where Guernesiais was spoken. Yan recorded interviewed each participant.

(0 – 30 secs) RB02 says his name: Roy Burton, he is a mix of the Burtons from La Fontaine Farm, Vale Road, and The Girards from La Maison de Haut in the Câtel, he was born at Roc-au-Boeuf in the Câtel; he was spoken to in Guernesiais (G) as a child, until his paternal grandmother came to live with them, then G was ‘cut off’, all of his mother’s family spoke G, RB02 did not speak French (F) G, but he understood it; (30 secs - 1 min) RB02 recalls an G expression, he talks about a time when he used the expression, Percy Bourgaize used to repair horse vehicles, once he repaired a vehicle for RB02, but did not know where a part went back on the vehicle, RB02 went out  to see him to show him how it went back saying, “Coum chenna.” (Like that), Percy then understood what he was meant.

BURTON, Roy

Recorded as part of the Voice-Vouaïe project, by Guernsey Museums with language consultant Yan Marquis. Photographer Aaron Yeandle took portraits of 105 people who grew up in an environment where Guernesiais was spoken. Yan recorded interviewed each participant.

(0 – 30 secs) RLP04 says her name: Ruth Margaret Le Prevost, née Guilbert; when she started school she had to learn English, it was a struggle, she started school at the beginning of WWII, the schools were (30 secs - 1 min) taken over by the German during WWII,  the Câtel School was taken over, RLP04 went to a small school at Le Trépied in St. Saviour’s for a short time; RLP04’s daughter understands Guernesiais (G), but does not speak it; when the Germans arrived in the island, (1 min – 1 min 30 secs) they were dropped off in lorry loads all over the island, the house in which RLP04 was living had a barn underneath it, a lorry load of Germans was dropped of there, when RLP04 ‘s mother came home from work they were sitting in the kitchen eating, (1 min 30 secs – 1 min 38 secs) one of them managed to make himself understood and apologised.

LE PREVOST, Ruth

Recorded as part of the Voice-Vouaïe project, by Guernsey Museums with language consultant Yan Marquis. Photographer Aaron Yeandle took portraits of 105 people who grew up in an environment where Guernesiais was spoken. Yan recorded interviewed each participant.

(0 – 30 secs) SC01 says her name: Sheila Carre; SC01 lives in St. Saviour’s at Le Frie Baton, she has lived there for fifty nine years; she has grandchildren and great grandchildren; when SC01 was young she spoke Guernesiais (G), when she started school she could not speak English (E), she went to St Saviour’s School (30 secs - 1 min) and to the Sarel School; SC01 says her DOB; (1 min – 1 min 30 secs) SC01 says a rhyme for chidren that her mother used to say, it is about the names of the fingers, her mother used to take the child’s hands; SC01 talks about a time they were was on a plane (1 min 30 secs – 2 mins) and people heard them speaking in G, the people nearby asked what they were speaking, they were pleased to hear G being spoken.

CARRÉ, Sheila

Recorded as part of the Voice-Vouaïe project, by Guernsey Museums with language consultant Yan Marquis. Photographer Aaron Yeandle took portraits of 105 people who grew up in an environment where Guernesiais was spoken. Yan recorded interviewed each participant.

(0 – 30 secs) BG03 says his name: Brian Guille and his house name, La Ruette des Courtillets in the island of Guernsey; at ten weeks old he was evacuated with his mother, his father stayed behind like a lot of other men, BG03 and his mother went to Weymouth, they had no idea; they went to north of (30 secs - 1 min) England for five years, he has little memory of this time, maybe he can recall some things from when he was three or four; when the island was liberated they returned to Guernsey, BG03’s father was there waiting for them, BG03 had never seen him; he went to St. Peter’s School; when they first came back his parents spoke Guernesiais (G), it was their language, (1 min – 1 min 30 secs)  they spoke English (E) too, but they spoke more in G, BG03 has no idea how he learnt G, his parents spoke in G and perhaps he wanted to know what they were saying; G just came to him, when he went to school he had no trouble with E either; he has no idea how he learnt E, there were some children at school who had difficulty with E, those born in Guernsey during WWII, (1 min 30 secs – 2 mins) BG03 recalls that those children from lower St. Saviour’s had difficulty with E; BG03 speaks some G with others, sometimes, one or two, there are not many G speakers, some people understand it, but they cannot speak it; BG03 has never had any trouble speaking G; he speaks with some members of his family; since then [WWII] chidren did not learn to speak G, BG03 believes that a lot of parents spoke to their children in E.

GUILLE, Brian

Recorded as part of the Voice-Vouaïe project, by Guernsey Museums with language consultant Yan Marquis. Photographer Aaron Yeandle took portraits of 105 people who grew up in an environment where Guernesiais was spoken. Yan recorded interviewed each participant.

(0 – 30 secs) NLM01 says his name, Nicholas Le Messurier, he was raised in St. Peter’s with his three brothers, his father’s name was also Nicholas, his mother’s name was Jessica, née Langlois; he was raised at La Mare, his brother Peter (PLM01) still lives there now, his other two brothers, Paul and Jim, (30 secs - 1 min)live in England; they went to St. Peter’s School; NLM01 read English (E) in Northern Ireland, and has a degree; he worked as a journalist at the Guernsey Press for sixteen years; since then NLM01 was a teacher at Les Beaucamps and then for two years at Blanchelande; NLM01 is married to Sheena, (1 min – 1 min 30 secs) they had two children, Robert who works in France, and Elie who is in Australia; NLM01’s parents both spoke Guernesiais (G) to each other, but not to them [the boys], NLM01 believes that at that time there were a lot of families like this; NLM01 could understand things in G, but couldn’t speak it; (1 min 30 secs – 2 mins) aged 63 NLM01 began learning G with his brother Peter and his friend Alan (AM01), NLM01 is very pleased that he began learning it there are not many people who can speak it; it is important to use our language, G; NLM01 is retired, but now he is busy working for the Guernsey Literary Festival.

LE MESSURIER, Nick

Recorded as part of the Voice-Vouaïe project, by Guernsey Museums with language consultant Yan Marquis. Photographer Aaron Yeandle took portraits of 105 people who grew up in an environment where Guernesiais was spoken. Yan recorded interviewed each participant.

(0 – 30) secs) KLC01 gives his personal details; when he was young he had a motorbike, one day he was behind the school buses and he couldn’t overtake; after the bend in the road at Perelle he had a chance to overtake, he went full throttle along the coas,; when he had almost arrived at Le Catioroc he looked in his mirror and there (30 secs - 1 min) was a policeman with his blue light, KLC01 thought I am not going to stop here as the bus is going to pass soon and my school mates on, they would see him and tease him, so he decided to pull into an old woman’s yard to hide; the policeman followed him in, and said that he had seen KLC01 riding his motorbike, and he had thought that KLC01 was doing very well, a well-behaved young lad who isn’t trying to overtake the bus, and that he was riding well; but (1 min – 1 min 30 secs) then when he passed the bend at Richmond, he went full throttle, he asked why KLC01 was going at more than 50 Mph, KLC01 replied saying that he didn’t know; the bus passed by and no one on board saw KLC01 with the policeman; KLC01 thought that he had got away without being seen; the policeman gave him a caution, and told him to not to go too fast when he is on his motorbike; KLC01 rode off in the direction of L’Érée; (1 min 30 secs – 2 mins) the policeman wondered why he had ridden off; at the same time the old woman came out of the house and told off the policeman for having cautioned someone on her property, the property was nothing to do with KLC01, the policeman had no right to do so; KLC01 knew this to be true because when he was in the car park at L’Érée, the policeman turned up and told KLC01 that he had been left with that flipping old woman, at that moment the bus full of KLC01’s school mates passed by.

LE CHEMINANT, Keith

Recorded as part of the Voice-Vouaïe project, by Guernsey Museums with language consultant Yan Marquis. Photographer Aaron Yeandle took portraits of 105 people who grew up in an environment where Guernesiais was spoken. Yan recorded interviewed each participant.

(0 – 30) secs: GG01 tells us his name and address in Torteval, he says that he has not always lived in Torteval because he was evacuated to England before the German Occupation 1940 – 45; he did not speak Guernesiais (G) while in England but speaks it now; he picked up G again after his return to Guernsey by working amongst locals (30 secs - 1 min); GG01 was born in 1930, he is 89 years old. As an evacuee, at first he lived in Alderley Edge, subsequently he won a scholarship and went to Oldham to attend grammar school; in Oldham he lived in a big house, the home of a wealthy lady, (1 min – 1 min 30 secs) he and a fellow evacuee from Guernsey, both aged 10, (1 min 40 secs – 2 mins) rather cheekily asked for a Hornsby train set for Christmas, and to their surprise she gave them one.

GALLIENNE, George

Recorded as part of the Voice-Vouaïe project, by Guernsey Museums with language consultant Yan Marquis. Photographer Aaron Yeandle took portraits of 105 people who grew up in an environment where Guernesiais was spoken. Yan recorded interviewed each participant.

(0 – 30 secs) SF01 says his name: Stephen Francis, he was born in Guernsey, his parents did not speak Guernesiais (G), but he heard it spoken everywhere; SF01 has played the piano since he was six years old, and the organ since he was twelve years old; he plays the piano every day and at chapel too, and at church for funerals; (30 secs - 1 min) SF01 is a Christian and believes his life to be preordained by God, he reads from Ecclesiastes 3:1-12 (1 min – 1 mins 57 secs).

FRANCIS, Stephen

Recorded as part of the Voice-Vouaïe project, by Guernsey Museums with language consultant Yan Marquis. Photographer Aaron Yeandle took portraits of 105 people who grew up in an environment where Guernesiais was spoken. Yan recorded interviewed each participant.

(0 – 30 secs) GJ02 says his name: Geoff Jehan, and his age: 73 years old, he lives at Port Soif, Vale; GJ02 spoke Guernesiais (G) before he went to school, he lived with his parents and grandmother, they all spoke G, they spoke to him in it, they lived at Vazon, before he went to school he could speak it, but when he went to school everyone else spoke English (E), so he says that you lose it, though you still remember it; GJ02 went to the Câtel school, then on to Les Beaucamps; (30 secs - 1 min) DOB: 14/12/1945, he quips that he waited for the Germans to go; GJ02 was a carpenter, he worked for Nick Tostevin; at Vazon all of the neighbours were growers, they spoke G, GJ02 knew exactly what they were saying; he remembers once that his grandmother was having trouble with her water, the Water Board (authority)came round, (1 min – 1 min 30 secs) and she said that, “It’s fresh from my ‘pisse’ this morning.”, ‘pisse’ is ‘well’ in G; GJ02 explains how he got back into speaking G with his brother GJ01 when visiting their mother in the care home at Saumarez Park, they say (1 min 30 secs – 1 min 59 secs) general things, he provides examples of things that they say; GJ02 is teaching G phrases to someone he swims with at La Valette Pools, he provides examples of some rudimentary phrases.

JEHAN, Geoff

Recorded as part of the Voice-Vouaïe project, by Guernsey Museums with language consultant Yan Marquis. Photographer Aaron Yeandle took portraits of 105 people who grew up in an environment where Guernesiais was spoken. Yan recorded interviewed each participant.

(0 – 30 secs) DJ01 says his name, David Jehan; he his from Windy Ridge, Le Frie Bâton, St. Saviour’s where he lived with his parents and his three sisters; DJ01 says that his father had the same name as him, he says it in Guernesiais (G)  DJ01 says that he was called by a nick name (a play on words as Jehan = hundred in G) about a hundred weight of potatoes with which he was teased; (30 secs -1 min), when DJ01 lived at his parents’ home they used to speak G most of the time, but as he is the youngest, he did not get enough practice so he lost it; DJ01 went to St. Saviour’s School, it was all in English (E), his mates were from the area, but they spoke E, they tried to teach G, which (1 min – 1 min 30 secs) worked up to a point; DJ01 left school when he was thirteen years old and he worked with his father in the greenhouses, they were the only workers there, but in the evening sometimes men from the area came to help trimming and picking tomatoes, they came after their day’s work, they spoke in E.

JEHAN, David

Recorded as part of the Voice-Vouaïe project, by Guernsey Museums with language consultant Yan Marquis. Photographer Aaron Yeandle took portraits of 105 people who grew up in an environment where Guernesiais was spoken. Yan recorded interviewed each participant.

(0 – 30 secs) HT01 says her name, Hazel Tomlinson, but her birth name was Torode from Torteval; she has spoken Guernesiais(G)all of her life; she was born at the start of WWII in October 1940, she was about four and a half years old when WWII ended; she recalls the Liberation well, going to town with all of her family and friends, (30 secs - 1 min) they were in front of Woolworth’s shop by the slip; HT01 would like G to carry on, but more needs to be done, she doesn’t know what can be done, but we must try; she speaks G when she is on holiday with her husband, (1 min – 1 min 30 secs) people give them strange looks; when she was a little girl, when the farm workers made hay in the field behind the house, the field belonged to HT01’s great auntie (Robilliard) from Les Jehans, HT01 used to play/hide in the rows of cut hay, (1 min 30 secs – 2 mins) when the workers came back to pick up the hay to take it to the farm, the rows were messed up, there was still more work to be done; HT01 says she thinks that they were a damned nuissance for the farm workers, but they had fun, it is not like this now, children don't know about the fun that they had, it is a shame that children nowadays don’t have the fun that they had playing in this way.

TOMLINSON, Hazel

Recorded as part of the Voice-Vouaïe project, by Guernsey Museums with language consultant Yan Marquis. Photographer Aaron Yeandle took portraits of 105 people who grew up in an environment where Guernesiais was spoken. Yan recorded interviewed each participant.

(0 – 30 secs) PLT01 says his name: Patrick Le Tocq, he had four brothers and three sisters, they lost one last year, he had cancer; when he started school at 5 years old they lived at Donkey Hill in St. Andrew’s, they went to school there, after two months they moved to (30 secs - 1 min) his uncle’s place, next door to the Chapel in Torteval, it was like ‘Buckingham Palace’, in St. Andrew’s they had two bedrooms and a room downstairs, in Torteval they had a bathroom, even an inside toilet, in St. Andrew’s the toilet was up the garden, it wasn’t fun when it rained in (1 min – 1 min 30 secs) the middle of the night and you needed to go; when PLT01 was a young lad, during the summer holidays he was in the way, under his mother’s feet, she told him to ask Mr Norman (a neighbour) if he had any work for him, it happened  that he was digging freesia corms, so PLT01 worked for him picking them up, at the end of the week on Friday (1 min 30 secs – 2 mins) Mr Norman told PLT01 to ask his mother how much he should pay him, PLT01 thought he would be clever and not ask his mother, but rather come up with a figure himself, Mr Norman asked how his mother had said to pay him, it turned out that Mr Norman would have paid PLT01 more, PLT01 learned his lesson.

LE TOCQ, Patrick

Recorded as part of the Voice-Vouaïe project, by Guernsey Museums with language consultant Yan Marquis. Photographer Aaron Yeandle took portraits of 105 people who grew up in an environment where Guernesiais was spoken. Yan recorded interviewed each participant.

(0 – 30 secs) BP02 says his name and that he has lived in the Câtel for 27 years; he can speak a lot of Guernesiais (G), but sometimes says things in French (F), this is different from G; BP02 says a rhyme in G and then in English (E), it is about a boy with a wooden gun which is loaded with big green peas, he shoots a brace of geese in Mr. Langlois’ field, (30 secs - 1 min) he meets Mr. Langlois who asks about the geese, BP02 says where he had shot them (1 min – 1 min 30 secs), this meant that they were Mr. Langlois’ geese; BP02 spoke G before starting school; he compares some G fishing vocabulary with its F equivalents.

Voice-Vouaïe

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