A sad week for Sark

THERE is a sombre air about Sark this week and not only because of the tragic events of Tuesday lunchtime when a Swiss tourist lost her life after a carriage overturned.

Last week island residents were saddened by the news that Ann Rive, the doyenne of Sark carriage drivers until her forced retirement after her horse died last year, had died unexpectedly at her home.

And, to add a further measure of poignancy to an already sad few days, the carriage involved in the accident was one of those driven by Ann and sold on her retirement to Little Sark's Philip Perree.

Not surprisingly in a community as close-knit as this one, news of the accident spread quickly and, without exception, everyone to whom I have spoken – including a group of Canadian tourists in a carriage overtaken by that which overturned – have been fulsome in their praise of Sark's emergency services and other island residents, who were quickly on the scene.

Tour director Bruce MacKenzie-Hoole spoke for many when he told me that the swift and efficient response was what might be expected in a city like London but was amazing in Sark, where the only mode of swift transport is tractor-drawn.

It would be invidious to single out any individual for special mention – suffice to say that in the initial response Sark can be extremely proud of the volunteers who make up the island's emergency services and who, I understand, coped extremely professionally and efficiently in treating casualties and ensuring that they were transported to secondary medical care in Guernsey.

That transportation was aided by the crews of Guernsey's emergency vessels and the two passenger carrying boats from Brecqhou, one of which I understand was used to bring paramedic back-up from Guernsey.

It goes without saying that the sympathy of Sark as a community is extended to the family and friends of tourist Dora Jufer, the 67-year-old woman from Melchnau in Switzerland who sadly died of her injuries in Guernsey's Princess Elizabeth Hospital.

In the light of what for Sark is very much a worst-case scenario – and particularly so when one of those involved has lost her life – it is difficult to concentrate on positives. With that in mind I simply repeat what many others have said, that Sark can be proud of its response.

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As I mentioned earlier, the other very sad news was the death of Ann Rive.

Although not Sark-born – she was born and educated in Jersey and came to Sark with her parents in the early 1960s – Ann was very much a Sark character and known to thousands of tourists she took for drives in a career spanning more than half a century.

She was also 'Auntie Ann' to generations of children, both local and visiting, most of whom, as a special treat and only if their behaviour merited it, were allowed to accompany her as she drove visitors around the island she was very much part of.

When asked, as she frequently was by tourists who used her carriage, to recommend places to eat or indeed to stay, Ann was quite forthright in expressing her views and if certain restaurants didn't meet her 'value for money' standards, she would not hesitate in saying so.

That said, those to whom she expressed her views could rest assured that she had also made those views – good, bad or indifferent – to restaurant proprietors beforehand.

Sark is a sadder and poorer place for her passing.

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