Janet Lynda Cheek (née Biggs; born 1948) is a

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubou ...

politician who served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly for the Stanley constituency from 2009 to

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

. Cheek won re-election in 2013 but stepped down from the assembly at the 2017 election. She was previously a Member of the Legislative Council from 1997 to

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris (dwarf planet), Er ...

. Jan Cheek was born in Stanley and spent much of her childhood in

South Georgia South Georgia ( es, Isla San Pedro) is an island in the South Atlantic Ocean that is part of the British Overseas Territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It lies around east of the Falkland Islands. Stretching in the east ...

. For her A-Levels she was awarded a government scholarship to a study at a

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school, ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of ...

. Cheek worked as a Secondary School English teacher from 1969 until 1989. She then moved to Fortuna Ltd. where she rose to become co-owner and director until her retirement in 2008. Cheek married fellow islander John Cheek (1939–1996) in 1968, with whom she had two children, Miranda and Ros. She then became a grandmother to Hamish(2004), Flora(2005) and Tom(2011). Following John's death in 1996, Cheek became a Trustee of the John Cheek Trust. She was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(MBE) in the 2019 Birthday Honours for services to the Falkland Islands.

References

1948 births Living people Falkland Islands businesspeople Falkland Islands Councillors 1997–2001 Falkland Islands Councillors 2001–2005 Falkland Islands MLAs 2009–2013 Falkland Islands MLAs 2013–2017 Falkland Islands schoolteachers Falkland Islands women in politics 21st-century British women politicians 20th-century British women politicians People from Stanley, Falkland Islands Members of the Order of the British Empire {{Falklands-stub