The St Peter Port lifeboat and the Flying Christine, a reassuring sight for all islanders. (0630081)

SARK’S traditional sea service was held on Sunday morning and – I think for the first time, although someone will no doubt correct me if I’m wrong – there was the welcome sight of both the St Peter Port lifeboat and the marine ambulance, Flying Christine, moored alongside each other in Creux Harbour.

The service gives residents and their guests an annual opportunity to thank the crews of both vessels – not to mention those who man the three Sark Shipping boats and those who run the Manche Iles services – for what they continue to provide in the way of links with the two principal Channel Islands.

There were familiar faces present among the sizeable congregation, not least Guernsey’s Lt-Governor, Sir Fabian Malbon, and the Bailiff, Geoffrey Rowland, but I was saddened by the absence of Sark fisherman Dick Adams.

Dick and his brother, Baz, have always ‘taken the hat round’ so to speak, although in the case of the sea service the collection is made in buckets and this is the first year he has missed.

He has not been in the best of health recently but will be having surgery next week. The reference in this column to the sea service gives me the welcome opportunity of hoping that all goes well and that he will be back to his old self as soon as possible.

Incidentally, the collection this year raised a few pence under £760 – yet another commendable display of the generosity of those who visit or live in this small community.

The service also gives me the opportunity to record the departure from the island of Roger Browning, the Methodist Church’s lay pastor in Sark for the last few years. He and his wife returned to Guernsey after his participation in the service and, if I may say so, having spoken to many residents whose contact with him has been more frequent than mine, he went in the knowledge of a job well done.

I will not embarrass him by detailing the many instances of why he will be missed but I know that his ministry has brought kindness and comfort to a good many people.

As always, musical accompaniment for the six hymns included in the service was provided by the band of the Salvation Army. Unusually, they arrived by motor cruiser and returned to Guernsey on the same vessel. The fact that they did not come on the scheduled Sark Shipping boat was a matter of some discussion both before and after the service. In common with many Sark residents, I was delighted to learn that three pupils at Sark School – David Brehaut, Claire Fleming and Rosie Williams – have given that particular establishment a flying start to its GCSE programme by all obtaining passes.

Distance learning formed part of these students’ work and it cannot have been easy to study and learn in isolation, linked to teachers and ‘classmates’ by nothing more than a computer screen and video. I think it’s a great achievement and one which brings credit to everyone involved, including some who, against considerable odds, fought to include this facility when the school was being planned.

Sark’s Fire and Rescue Service held an extremely successful open day on bank holiday Monday when more than 200 people attended. It gave the personnel the opportunity to show some of the kit that had helped save the life of a cliff-fall victim the previous week.

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