Castel Matters, Issue 22 - Winter 2019 / Spring 2020

CASTEL
Memories
of Sheila
Middleton
Chris Bichard &
Nick Guilmette
Sheila Middleton was something of
a pioneer in the Castel Parish in that
she was the first woman Constable
and was very proud to be so. Sheila
was elected and became Procureur
in 1983, going on, as was ‘custom’
then, to serve as Constable in 1985
and 1986.
Chris Bichard served as Procureur in
the time Sheila became Constable
and recalls:
“I first met Sheila in the 80s when, as
Junior Procureur of the Poor for the
Castel Parish, I temporarily stepped
up to the Senior position due to the
illness of the Senior Procureur.
At that time Parish Procureurs
were very busy dealing with many
claimants every week, one tended
to have a routine of a quick basic
interview followed by necessary
form filling and then a payment
made.
When Sheila volunteered to help,
this all changed. Although she was
not allowed to make payments,
she did become a crucial part
of the interview process. No
rushing through ‘minor details’.
Every claimant was listened to
sympathetically - especially where
children were involved, ending
up with us making house calls to
assess the actual needs of the
family. Then Sheila would rush off to
badger various charities that she felt
could help.
In this aspect, she was probably
well ahead of her time in offering
a form of counselling service to
the claimants. I feel that today
she would be at the forefront of
recognising the needs for help with
mental health issues. One thing I
am certain of, whilst Sheila was in
public office, her ‘public’ always
took the top priority and she would
devote all effort possible to helping
them to the best of her ability.”
Nick Guilmette, who was constable
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