Farewell and thank you to the Corders

He and Lady Corder – though perhaps unsurprisingly they dropped the formal titles for the interview with our Emma Anderson – have been well-loved over their six years in the island which they will leave next week. One day, they shall return – but not too soon. As Sir Ian said, his successor would not want to have his predecessor ‘wandering around marking his homework’.

As society moves on, so it seems our prime officials move with it. Lt-Governors, even Bailiffs, have, over the years, been prepared to take a much more relaxed tone in their day-to-day activities with the public they serve.

And in that spirit, we focus today on one issue among many raised by Sir Ian in his farewell interview – as far as he was concerned, one of the best perks of the job of being the Queen’s representative in the island.

He said the Lt-Governor’s role was as much one of acknowledging the efforts of individuals in the community as it was of overseeing constitutional issues. It's something easily underestimated.

‘I think it’s really important that somebody takes on the role of saying thank you to people. We’re so busy with our lives. We spend so much of our time worrying about things that aren’t quite right that we probably don’t take as much time to say thank you to each other. To do so, especially as the Queen’s representative, is a really valuable function,' he said.

‘I find it personally very, very rewarding to try and seek out people who do a good job and probably wouldn’t get recognised otherwise.’

Sir Ian said he had learned a lot about himself and life in general from his six years at Government House.

‘There is a hard edge to a military existence that sometimes requires a degree of executive bite to be able to move things along. However, you do get so much more out of people by being just nice and open and friendly – and it’s very rewarding.’

Kind of sums up the chap, and how islanders have taken to the Corders. And so today, to them both, we also say ‘thank you’ and wish them a long and happy future together in their new home.