Royal visit was a relaxed affair
WELL, the flurry of excitement of a royal visit and the annual Sheep Race meeting all in the space of a few hectic days has now abated somewhat, but Sark remains busy trying to make the most of what – with the exception of the last week or so – has been some pretty miserable weather.
WELL, the flurry of excitement of a royal visit and the annual Sheep Race meeting all in the space of a few hectic days has now abated somewhat, but Sark remains busy trying to make the most of what – with the exception of the last week or so – has been some pretty miserable weather.
Most people I spoke to who were at the Millennium Field last Friday have remarked upon how nice it was to see Diana Beaumont able to meet the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall.
All in all, it must have been quite a stressful day for Seigneur Michael Beaumont, but what I saw of the event suggested that he showed little sign of doing anything but enjoying the occasion.
There was a nice touch after their royal highnesses had unveiled the plaque commemorating their visit, when they went inside the Island Hall for a few minutes to be presented by Rosanne Guille with a copy of Art for The Love of Sark.
Hopefully, that will find its way to either Highgrove House in Gloucestershire or perhaps even their London home at Clarence House, where they and possibly other members of the royal family might view it. With a bit of luck it may well induce them to pay a promised return visit sooner rather than later – hopefully for more than the 75 minutes Sark was allotted last week.
The general opinion of the visit – other than it was a mite too short – was that it was successful, not least because of the relaxed atmosphere encouraged by both royal visitors, with Prince Charles even posing on occasions so that others could be pictured with him. That's probably the price which is paid these days for virtually everyone having a mobile phone which doubles as a camera.
Although no one will know exactly how successful the Sheep Race meeting was in terms of money raised for the Professor Charles Saint Medical Trust until the presentation night – which is some months away – I am told that on the Saturday they ran out of race cards, having printed and sold a thousand, and were trying to persuade local residents to give theirs up so that they could be resold.
There was also a run on food and drink, to the extent that supplies of both – so I'm told – were running quite low by Sunday afternoon. All that seems to indicate that the weekend event, which started with a party night on Friday with live music from City Limits, provided a fair reward for Puffin Taylour and her indefatigable committee, as well as all those who helped in some way or other.
I spoke to a number of visitors who were at the event for the first time and the unanimous view was that it was a splendid few days, with one couple from Yorkshire even saying that they were going to try to organise a similar meeting in their neck of the woods. There'll certainly be no shortage of sheep up there.
A brief visit I made to Pam Cocksedge's tombola tent – she does this to me every year – elicited from me the promise that I would thank, on her behalf, all those who contributed either by donating items or paying to win them. Pam and her team raised £634.42 and no doubt she'll be after the same promise from me next year.
By the time this is published, Sark might know a little more about what's going to happen with Belinda Crowe's recommendations for administrative support for Chief Pleas, following Wednesday's long-awaited public meeting. We live in interesting times.
The email address for comment is fallesark@sark.net.
