Beaulieu student 1967 - 1980

 Many people in Jersey today will recognise Collette Labey from her involvement in amateur dramatics and the Battle of Flowers.  She has played many roles on the stage of the Opera House, is a former Miss Battle and has also been the Chaperone to a number of Miss Battles.

 Therefore, you may be surprised by her earliest memory of Beaulieu: that first day in September 1967 when she was "dragged unwillingly" up the drive by her mother to meet her teacher, Miss Bastin.  Collette found the following weeks difficult.  She was very shy and would be very reluctant to join in activities in class.  "Even at playtime," she says, "I would just stand and watch the others." As she had not settled by half-term, her teacher visited the family home in Trinity to discuss the situation with her mother.  Collette says that her greatest fear then was that she might do something wrongly, so she preferred not to do anything.  However, after some persuasion from Mum, she returned to class and managed to draw a little square - and things just got better from that moment.

 First School memories include sitting in rows and reciting times tables with Sister Joseph and the occasion when one girl walked out of class and was later found in the woods.  And at age 11, she secured the role of the Cowardly Lion in a production of ‘The Wizard of Oz'.

 In the Senior School, Collette represented the Island at Netball and on Sports Day enjoyed High Jump.  Another theatrical memory concerns the day she and a group of friends went up to De La Salle to begin rehearsals on what was to be the first of many successful joint DLS/Beaulieu productions, ‘Jack and the Beanstalk'.  "I thought I was just a chorus member," says Collette, "but Mr McCarthy asked who could play the Principal Girl, Nicolette, and all my friends volunteered me!"

 Another even more scary De La Salle experience almost resulted in a drowning!  At a swimming gala, Collette found herself sinking during a race.  "No-one tried to pull me out, they just threw things at me.  A lifebelt hit me on the head!"  After catastrophe had been averted, Mrs Ilton encouraged Collette to go back in the pool and swim a width.  She accomplished this and was given 3 house points!

 Collette went on two ski-ing trips and a French exchange.  She recalls eating lunch outside and getting to know the French students.  Another fond memory is for a pastime no longer possible - rolling down the grassy slope where the Jubilee Building now stands.  And today, if Sad Café comes on the radio, Collette is transported back to the Summerhouse.  After her first ‘O' Level, Cookery Theory, she said to herself, "I'll be fine if all my exams go as well as that one."  Unfortunately, she got a ‘U'!  "But I did all right in the others and I did win the Courtesy Cup," she adds proudly.

 After leaving school, Collette worked at Hambros bank.  Her Year group had a very strong bond which still survives.  At the end of Fifth Form (Year 11) her teacher, Miss Callec, commented that she had never known a class get on so well with each other. She remains in contact with many school friends, some of whom are now living on the other side of the world.  When time seems fit, she organizes re-unions for her class, which are always well-attended and a great night.  Collette and Mark's elder daughter, Rachael, left school last year and is doing a gap year at the moment.  But with Katie, their younger daughter still in Year 9, Collette maintains her connections with Beaulieu as apparent as well as a past student.

 Collette (right) with her younger sister Michelle