Danny Wakley would like to be able to work on Sundays.(0425956)
CARRIAGES may soon be plying for hire on Sundays if Chief Pleas agrees to a Road Traffic Committee proposal when it meets next week.
The removal of the ban could take effect almost immediately because the restriction was imposed – and can also be removed – by ordinance rather than primary law and therefore Privy Council consent is not needed.
The change came about after a partial removal of the restriction – to allow passengers from cruise liners visiting the island on Sundays, but no one else, to have carriage drives – was proposed earlier in the year.
This led to some Chief Pleas members saying that such a move would create two classes of tourist – those arriving from the liners and others (by far the majority) arriving by scheduled services from Guernsey and Jersey.
When first I wrote about the possibility of owners being allowed to make their own decisions as to whether they work on Sundays, I received a few emails suggesting that I had ignored the animal welfare aspect of such a move.
I don’t really want to start a debate on that – and particularly with people who don’t live here – for two reasons.
Firstly, I doubt that any carriage owner would risk both prosecution and their livelihood by working an animal on seven consecutive days.
Secondly, there are enough busybodies here (no more than in any other small community, but enough) minding everyone else’s business to report such transgressions to the appropriate authorities.
Sark’s Liberation weekend was thoroughly enjoyable, despite the fact that a few refugees from St Peter Port’s alcohol-free zones managed to find their way here on Friday.
One resident, by no means a teetotaller it must be said, told me he was appalled by the drunken state – not to mention the language in front of children – of a group he saw trying to make their way down to the five-o’clock boat.
‘Guernsey charges us for dealing with our (non-combustible) rubbish,’ he told me. ‘Perhaps we should do the same for having to put up with theirs.’
Thankfully, that in no way spoiled the remainder of the holiday weekend and if anything there might have been just a little too much going on – the Earth Fayre, a Music Society event, a tea dance and later a dinner dance with Chelsea Pensioners as guests of honour and Richard Le Tissier signing copies of his latest book, Mined Where You Walk.
It is appropriate to mention Mr Le Tissier and books because he is also the author of Island Destiny, the story of Phyllis and Werner Rang, who met while Werner was serving in the German occupying forces in Sark during the war and who this week celebrated the 60th anniversary of their marriage.
They gave a drinks party at Jardin des Fleurs followed by a lunch attended by family and close friends – some of whom, said Mr Rang, had travelled from Germany, Australia and ‘even Little Sark’.
And there was loud applause when he was handed a message of congratulation from the Queen by his son, Chris – a message which probably gave the couple as much pleasure as did the award to Mr Rang some years ago of the British Empire Medal for services to the community in Sark.
They are a delightful couple and two of many residents who have put back into the community at least as much as has been given them.
They and other members will be taking their customary seats in Chief Pleas next week when, apart from the matter of carriages on Sundays, the legislature will be asked to put the nuts and bolts on the parts of the Reform Law which relate to the historic elections coming up at the end of the year.
There are also matters relating to the ongoing little spat between Sark Shipping and Sark Estate Management (the umbrella name for the Barclay family’s investment programme) which, if track records are anything to go by, promises to be a lively exchange.
Most people here are hoping peace will break out so that the vast majority – those whose views are not polarised one way or the other – can get on with their lives.
There are also verbal reports promised from the General Purposes and Advisory Committee on renewable energy and the Medical Committee on insurance. Given that the agenda was published almost a fortnight before the sitting,
I would have thought that because of the importance of these two matters to ordinary island residents, there was more than enough time for written reports to be produced, but no doubt reasons will be given why this yet again has proved impossible.
The email address for comment is fallesark@sark.net
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