The Barclay brothers want the Sark Community Centre to be used solely for charitable purposes. (0582328)

SIR DAVID and Sir Frederick Barclay are suing the original trustees of Sark’s School and Community Centre because a pub, off licence and restaurant are operating from the premises.

In an action due to open in the island’s Seneschal’s Court this afternoon, Sir David and Sir Frederick, along with a charitable trust in their names, are seeking an order against the five original trustees – Jeremy La Trobe-Bateman, John Barrows, John Carre, Bertha Cole and Dave Melling.

The Brecqhou owners want the court to order the five defendants ‘to take such steps as are necessary’ to ensure that the premises are used solely for charitable purposes and that any commercial activity not connected with the building’s use as a school and/or community centre desist. If that does not happen then the plaintiffs want the court to order the five trustees to pay them £200,000, together with costs and interest.

That amount is what Sir David and Sir Frederick – and presumably the charitable trust which appears on the court documents as a co-plaintiff – gave to the project in response to a public appeal for funds when the building was in its infancy.

This particular action follows hard on the heels of news that Sark Shipping has signified its intention of bringing a court action against the organisation for the Barclay family’s investment programme in Sark for using its vessel, the Brecqhou Warrior, to bring freight into the island from Guernsey.

The news of both these legal actions has dismayed a number of Sark residents, principally, but not solely, because they fear that it is the ordinary people of the island who will be the almost inevitable losers.

Many who speak to me about these matters describe it as a ‘tit for tat’ situation, with one side provoking the other either into action or reaction.

It is a view that I have difficulty in arguing with, simply because it is so utterly futile to have needless provocation from one side and the constant threat of litigation – a perpetual sword of Damocles over this community’s head – on the other.

Neither I nor most island residents are ‘in the loop’ insofar as relations between what might best be described as officialdom on the one hand and the Barclay family on the other are concerned, but the impression I get is that a relationship – other than perhaps a mutually antagonistic one – probably does not exist.

That’s a pity, because there must be common ground if only the will existed to find it. One example is the mutually shared fear of outside interference in Sark’s internal affairs – the perception being that Guernsey increasingly seeks to include this island in Bailiwick legislation on the promise of little more than consultation with a Chief Pleas committee, rather than allowing Sark to opt into the legislation it decides is applicable to the island’s obligations and/or requirements.

However, there is also what might be described by some as an olive branch extended by Kevin Delaney of Sark Estate Management in the direction of Sark Shipping.

The fact that it might also be described by others as a cynical publicity ploy probably indicates just how entrenched such polarised views have become.

All that said, after referring to the impending threat of legal action against Brecqhou Developments and him personally, Mr Delaney says that it would be all too easy to focus on such matters and lose sight of the sterling work that the crews of both the Brecqhou Warrior and Sark Shipping’s vessels undertake on behalf of the Sark public.

‘Without the efforts of the Brecqhou Development crews, there would be no materials for the long-term programme of building works and without the services of the crews of the Isle of Sark Shipping Company, we would have no safe, reliable service for the carriage of islanders, visitors, food and fuel between Guernsey and Sark,’ he wrote.

‘I am assured that between both sets of crews, relationships are extremely cordial, with some crew members enjoying friendships that have lasted over 30 years.

‘Perhaps those of us tasked with managing these operations should endeavour to follow their example.’

Perhaps if there was more of that – give and take in old-fashioned parlance – along with the removal of a win-at-all-costs perception (true or not, perceptions are what influence people’s opinions) and less tit-for-tat provocation and retaliation then peace might well suddenly break out.

It’s the 27th such event and I am told that a goodly number of runners and supporters are expected. A welcome boost to tourism, I’d have thought, and one that is now part of Sark history.

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