An entertaining version of Le Moulin Rouge, performed on Saturday evening in the Island Hall by the Sark Theatre Group. A cafe and bar were part of the set which was decked out lavishly in red, white and blue. (0594155)

CHIEF Pleas will meet on 2 July for what, after the appropriate part of the new Reform Law is implemented, will in future be termed the Midsummer Meeting and will become the fourth – after Christmas, Easter and Michaelmas – annual statutory meeting of the legislature.

Lest anyone believe that four meetings is all Chief Pleas members attend during the year, from memory I think the average for several years now has been closer to double that – an indication, in addition to all the committee meetings, of the time consuming responsibilities of those who do try to play as full a part as possible in the government of Sark.

With a debate on helicopters on the agenda, no doubt the public gallery will be full to overflowing once again. I have to say that the interest shown by Sark residents in the island’s legislative assembly is far greater – simply in straightforward numerical terms – than that shown in the States of Jersey, whose deliberations I reported on for more than three decades.

Despite the fact that Jersey’s population is 1,500 times that of Sark, many more people attend Chief Pleas on a regular basis than is the case over there and it would not surprise me that the same applies to sittings of the States of Guernsey.

The General Purposes and Advisory Committee proposition on helicopters seeks – to all intents and purposes – to scupper the application currently before the Development Control Committee to construct a medical evacuation landing pad on land on La Moinerie tenement, which is owned by the Barclay family.

Current legislation apparently prohibits helicopter landings in the island without the consent of Chief Pleas, although where this edict leaves medical emergencies is certainly not clear from the GP&A report.

I have no doubt that there will be those in Chief Pleas who will argue that the planning application should have been allowed to run its course and that, in effect, this debate will allow the DCC to avoid making a decision. With the amount of lobbying that has gone on since this application was first mooted, I somehow doubt that supporters of the Barclay family’s offer will get their way.

The first relates to their ongoing differences over the fact that a pub, off-licence and cafe/restaurant operate from the premises which house both Sark School and a community centre.

It calls on the Seigneur, Seneschal, Prevot and Greffier – as trustees of island property – to ensure that no part of the Island Hall is used as a pub, off-licence or alcohol-licensed premises.

I have to say that under rules which apply elsewhere, because this matter is currently before the Seneschal’s Court – the Island Hall trustees are being actioned by Sir David, Sir Frederick and the charitable trust in their names – it is sub judice and that prevents me from commenting on it.

In view of that, to say that I am surprised to see it on a Chief Pleas order paper is an understatement.

As far as I am concerned, it is either before the court or before Chief Pleas. I cannot see how it can be determined by both.

Their second proposition relates to the recording and broadcasting of Chief Pleas meetings – a common feature of most other assemblies in the free world, they suggest. Just as interesting is another minor amendment they suggest to the rules of procedure – the lifting of the current quite ludicrous bar on members speaking to the public during adjournments.

It is a silly, unenforceable and totally unnecessary rule which actually denies members of the public their right of access to their government representatives and as far as I can establish does not apply anywhere else.

The children of the original ‘children of Chernobyl’ – the young people who survived the nuclear disaster of 26 April 1986, comprised 14 nine-year-olds.

They started their visit to Sark at Danny Wakley’s museum. Roger Peters, who has organised all 16 annual visits of the Chernobyl children, told me that as usual, an entertaining day had been planned for the young visitors.

From the museum they went to the Aval du Creux Hotel for lunch and then on to the visitor centre adjacent to the island’s two-cell prison.

A visit to St Peter’s Church was followed by a stop at the Fire Station where, if Sark’s firemen were operating true to form, there was an abundance of water – some of which may well have landed on the youngsters. Their last stop was at Sark School for the now traditional game of rounders against the island’s pupils.

Mr Peters said that, as always, he wanted to thank the individuals and businesses whose generosity made the annual visit possible.

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