Douzenier with longest record of service steps down after 45 years

Martin Ozanne entered parish politics in 1977 when elected a procureur for the poor in St Peter’s. He was constable in 1979 and 1980.

He has been a douzenier since 1983, and dean since replacing Raymond Tostevin in 2003.

‘For a while, I’ll imagine myself standing outside the constables’ office with a stethoscope to the window when they’re meeting, trying to listen to what’s being said,’ he said.

He felt the time was right to go and said he had many memories.

In days gone by everyone would wear collar and tie at douzaine meetings, which were always held in smoke-filled rooms.

‘I’ve lost count of the number of Robilliards, Langlois, Lenfesteys, de Garis’s, Brehauts and Tostevins I’ve sat with over the years, some of whom have had family in the parish for generations,’ he said.

The role often required a thick skin, he said, and Mr Ozanne said he had often been shouted out by people telling him to get off their land when carrying out stream inspections.

On one occasion he recalled having to cut his way through a stream with a sickle in order to find out what was on the other side. Another time when he knocked on someone’s door to ask them to get their hedge cut, he was chased by a dog.

He became involved with the parish through former parish deputy Jim Robilliard.

One of his first tasks was with Mr Robilliard when they went to Ronez quarry to choose the stone that was placed on Les Buttes to commemorate the Queen’s visit there in 1978.

‘I was standing on my hedge when she came. The place was packed and many people were waving flags. I think the community was possibly closer to the Royal family then than it is now.’

In bygone days it was not unusual for douzaine meetings to go beyond 11pm when the States Billets were discussed, so the representative of the douzaine, who was a fully-fledged States member, knew the parish’s position when it came to vote in the chamber.

Mr Ozanne thinks the abolition of the douzaine representative in the States in 2004 was a retrograde step.

‘I think they brought stability to the States. They spoke on behalf of the community and there’d probably be less infighting among members today if the douzaine reps were still there.’

Mr Ozanne said he will be leaving St Peter’s in a good position and said the parish was moving forward with the likes of its community plan which would be submitted to Planning.

‘I think you know when the time is right to step down and I felt I might be stopping younger people from joining the douzaine. When I heard that Jill Bray [a new douzenier] was prepared to put her name forward, I think it influenced my decision to go.’

His father, Bert, and brother, Richard, were both States members so he saw entering public service as following the family line. Bert Ozanne ran L’Eree Hotel up to 1969, when Martin and his late wife Josephine took it over for 10 years. Both his father and brother were presidents of the then Tourist Board.

Mr Ozanne was a States member for either St Peter’s or the district of the Western parishes between 1994 and 2008 – and for 11 of those years he was president of the Education Committee.

He is a former National Trust of Guernsey president and currently a Guernsey Rotary Council member. He was also church warden in St Peter’s from 1988 to 1999.

New dean of the St Peter’s douzaine, Deputy Al Brouard, said it had been a real privilege to have worked with Mr Ozanne over the past 20 years.

‘His service to the community has been second-to-none and stretches back more than four decades,’ he said.

‘He is a gentleman and a friend and I’m sure he will continue to help whenever he can.’