Hi Trish,
You do seem to have the extremes of weather, we have had seen a lot of coverage on the tv about fires and then floods. Last year for us on the south coast was just rain or dismal overcast cloudy weather, however, over the last few days it has been lovely and sunny.
Like you I do seem to drift sideways on the family tree but I try and keep to first cousins wherever possible. My mother's mum was Rita Fisher.
Don't know why the families went to Jersey, but having been there on holiday I can see why it would have been an attractive place to set up home (excluding WWII). I will try and do a bit more research.
Kind regards, Robert