Guernsey Press

Sea Service was so stirring

SARK residents and their guests had their annual opportunity to give thanks for those who maintain our lifeline links with the outside world at the Sea Service last Sunday.

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SARK residents and their guests had their annual opportunity to give thanks for those who maintain our lifeline links with the outside world at the Sea Service last Sunday.

The service, well attended as usual despite the threat of a repeat of the previous day's much-needed rain, was also the last to be taken by Methodist lay pastor David Hollingsworth before he left on the afternoon boat to prepare for ordination in Birmingham.

It is always a moving occasion, for it reminds residents of the island's total dependency on the skill of those who man the vessels upon which Sark's very existence depends.

They include not only the Sark Shipping and Manche Iles crews who bring the passengers and cargo which are essential to the tourism industry - Sark's principal source of revenue - but also the volunteers who man the RNLI's St Peter Port lifeboat and the St John Ambulance's marine ambulance Flying Christine.

David Hollingsworth gave the address and Guernsey Bailiff Sir Geoffrey Rowland read one of the lessons, with Kathleen Dewe, representing the Roman Catholic Church in the island, reading the second. A collection taken as the service was ending raised over £490.

For the first time since I arrived in Sark I did not go down to Creux for the service because I wanted to get a photograph from the footpath leading from Les Laches, a few hundred feet above the harbour.

It was an interesting experience, because although I didn't pick up on every word of David's address - excellent, by all accounts - the sound of the stirring hymns and the music provided by the Salvation Army band really was something else.

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This coming Sunday it's the annual Horse, Dog and Pet Show - an event which has in previous years given people the opportunity to meet creatures as diverse as Ann Rive's tortoise, Peter Cunneen's cockerel and the Magell boys' ferrets.

The show's location is, as always, the field just before La Seigneurie and food and drink will be on sale. If things haven't changed much from previous years, there will also be dog agility classes and the horsey bits will start at about 1pm.

While the days of the show being dominated by horses - with and without carriages - are sadly long over, the event still provides a nice and peaceful day out for those who attend. It's just a pity that the sight most closely associated with what Sark means to many of its visitors - a horse and carriage - is for the most part absent from the show.

However, in fairness to the carriage operators it has to be said that since the ban on carriages plying for hire on Sundays was lifted a couple or so years ago, preparing animals and vehicles for a show at the same time as providing drives for visitors are not really compatible.

Hopefully, there's still a fair amount of summer weather still to be had, which gives me an opportunity to publicise something which some friends of ours - visiting Sark for the first time - thoroughly enjoyed.

It was a walk led by visitor officer Karen Adams which related to the acclaimed artist William Toplis - he of The Book of Sark fame - which visited some of the places where he lived and painted. Our friends described it as a most enjoyable couple of hours, particularly as Karen was joined during the walk by the artist's great-granddaughter, Fiona Kelly.

There are three more such walks planned - on the 3rd, 10th and 17th of September - and further information is available at the Visitor Centre.

l The email address for comment is fallesark@sark.net.

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