Janet Lynda Cheek MBE (née Biggs; born February 1948)[1] is a Falkland Islands politician who served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly for the Stanley constituency from 2009 to 2017. 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.[2]
Jan Cheek was born in Stanley, the oldest child of Basil Biggs and Betty Rowlands.[3] She spent much of her childhood in South Georgia after her father was appointed policeman and handyman for the island.[3] For her A-Levels she was awarded a government scholarship to a study at a grammar school in Dorset. 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.[4]
Cheek married fellow islander John Cheek (1939–1996) in 1968, with whom she had two children, Miranda and Rosalind.[1] 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.[5]
She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2019 Birthday Honours for services to the Falkland Islands.[6]