Stocks counts blessings

SARK'S stand-in Anglican minister, the Rev. Richard Bellinger, had a conducted tour of the newly-refurbished Stocks Hotel on Sunday afternoon - and blessed all sections of the complex as he did so.

The ceremony started in part of the hotel's garden, where sprigs of rosemary were cut. It then moved to the hotel's old well, where water used in the blessing was drawn and the minister explained the significance of both the water and the rosemary.

His 'assistants' were the four sons of Alex and Helen Magell - Robbie, 15, Jake, 13, George, 11, and Ben, 9 - and they had the responsibility of drawing the water and then dipping the rosemary sprigs in it before flicking it at everything (and everyone) in sight on the minister's command.

The small party, its numbers swelled on occasions by hotel guests, toured virtually all of the hotel and its grounds, even the wine cellar - an underground extension of a tunnel started by the German occupying forces in 1943.

The ceremony was an interesting experience, made all the more so by Richard Bellinger's contribution, and I have spent many a less-pleasant hour on a Sunday afternoon.

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Sark residents have been reminded to sort their rubbish properly and the warning about a 'huge decline' in standards of sorting at source over the past year applies equally to domestic and commercial rubbish.

In a letter to all households, Public Works foreman Dave Melling disclosed that the island was fined £1,600 for having gas bottles in a load shipped to Guernsey and he warned that in future, refuse not properly sorted will not be collected.

In the letter he said that all sorts of rubbish is mixed with tin cans, non-burnables are placed with combustibles and food waste - which should be bagged separately - is mixed in with everything else.

He added that the letter was intended to make the disposal job safer and he sought public cooperation in ensuring that workloads do not increase because staff have to sort what should have been sorted.

Most people have sympathy with Mr Melling and the problems caused by a selfish, lazy minority who seem to think they are exempt from the commonsense rules by which the majority abide. Sorting rubbish is not rocket science and while it causes inconvenience and, as a consequence, additional costs, the fact that there is at least one person who is criminally stupid enough to include gas bottles in rubbish just beggars belief.

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While online comments about articles in this newspaper about Sark might be amusing to readers, I do wish some of those who write would check their information (I didn't say facts, because by definition facts are always correct) before sounding off.

It must have been distressing for the extended Baker family to read the accusation that two grandchildren (of Edric and Diane Baker) are being educated at Guernsey taxpayers' expense.

The children's parents moved from Sark to Guernsey as a direct consequence of a promotion within the organisation for which the father worked - fully reported in this column at the time - and I cannot imagine that they would live in Guernsey and not pay their way, just as other residents do. I also believe that they will be an asset to that community, just as they were an asset to this one.

While on the subject of online comment, can I make it clear - following an accusation levelled at me this week - that I do not contribute. Everything written by me for the Guernsey Press appears under my own name and, to deal with the second part of the accusation, neither am I in the pay - directly or otherwise - of the Barclay family.

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