All change as Seneschal becomes Chief Pleas president

CURRENT Seneschal Reg Guille will be elected as president of Chief Pleas on Wednesday.

Nominations closed a week ago and he was the only candidate – hardly a surprise to anyone in Sark, as it had been clear from the time the Reform Law was amended to split the dual role of the seneschal that he would apply for one or other of the positions.

Former deputy seneschal Jeremy La Trobe-Bateman has already taken the oath of office as seneschal in Guernsey's Royal Court and one of his first official functions will be to preside over Chief Pleas on Wednesday when the legislature's first president will be formally elected.

Once that has been done, the Assembly Room will become the Seneschal's Court, convened for the purpose of swearing in the president. At some stage or other the court will also swear in a new deputy seneschal, Ewen de Carteret having been the only candidate for the position.

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Meanwhile, work on fitting out the new Assembly Room/Seneschal's Court continues and although the formal opening doesn't take place until next week, I understand that a court sitting took place earlier this week.

When I called in to take a look, Matt Rang was busy drilling holes in the top table – the bench would be a better expression, but that's what the conseillers are going to have to sit on – in preparation for installing the sound recording and amplification system.

I have no doubt that the finished article will be a huge improvement on what went before and that, surely, has been the object of the exercise.