Dr Frank Teunisse holding the picture of La Coupee painted by Rozanne Guille which had been presented by Medical Committee president Roger Olsen. (0588437)

SARK said goodbye to its medical officer last week and at the same time welcomed his successor. Dr Frank Teunisse and his wife, Heleen, were the guests at a surprise party at the Island Hall at which they were presented with a painting of La Coupee by Sark artist Rozanne Guille to remind them of their three-and-a half years in the island.

The presentation was made by medical committee president Deputy Roger Olsen.

The new medical officer is Dr Peter Counsell and he was welcomed to Sark by the Seigneur, Michael Beaumont, who, to the amusement of the large number of residents who attended the reception, presented him with a head torch and a pair of bicycle clips.

Dr Counsell said that he and his family were delighted to be in Sark as they had been looking forward for some time to living in the island. He also thanked Dr and Mrs Teunisse for making them welcome.

Dr Teunisse, who came to Sark from the Isle of Skye and who will soon be taking up an appointment in yet another Scottish island, said that ‘of all the islands in which we have worked, Sark has been a most special place’.

He paid tribute to the island’s emergency services which, he said, worked very hard for little in the way of reward and without which he could not have done his job.

He also paid tribute to the island’s residents, particularly as they did not have the medical entitlements of people in the UK who had the benefit of the National Health Service. The vast majority of residents have to finance their own private health care through insurance, as well as making their own provision for their old age because a pension system does not exist.

‘There is no sick-note culture here because people need to be back at work as soon as possible,’ he said.

At the reception, certificates were presented to no fewer than 23 residents who had successfully completed a first aid course – the presentation being the device by which Dr and Mrs Teunisse had been persuaded to attend.

Meanwhile, Dr Counsell had a real baptism of fire. The word on the street – or in The Avenue to be more precise – has it that within a day or so of taking over he was called out to a patient with a heart condition at one of the island’s hotels and an accident involving a horse being trained.

‘I’m throwing away my running shoes and taking up petanque,’ he told me – no surprise, really, given the source of the correction and the fact that Sark’s only venue for that most delightful of French pastimes is adjacent to the Bel Air Inn.

Sark is now taking its first tentative steps towards reducing its dependency on its oil-powered electricity by investigating the possibility of harvesting the huge tidal movement within its territorial waters.

General Purposes and Advisory was given the remit to investigate by Chief Pleas earlier this year and committee vice-president Roger Olsen told me that it’s now in a position to move the project to the next stage – that of inviting interested parties to offer what I think are usually described as expressions of interest.

The committee has produced an impressive introductory and explanatory document – it can be found on the Chief Pleas website (www.sark.gov.gg) – which sets out what the island has already learned about its tidal power potential as well as the proposed legislative and regulatory environment and a description of how the project might unfold for the successful proposer.

Deputy Olsen said that the committee hopes that those interested will contact General Purposes and Advisory to get a clear picture of what sort of a community Sark is and what the island’s expectations are.

It’s clear from reading the  document that an awful lot of work has been done by the committee since it was given its mandate and, pleasingly, its members seem to be exercising a measure of caution rather than rushing in like a bull at a gate.

If they do reach an agreement which not only reduces our dependency on oil but also – and I accept that it is a long-term exercise – reduces the cost of electricity, then perhaps it will encourage the new assembly to be a little more proactive rather than, as has been the case on occasions, governing by what some describe as crisis management.

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