There are signs of Christmas in Sark as the lights go up. (0673747)

THE Sark Sheep Race meeting and other fund-raising events have boosted the Professor Saint Medical Fund by more than £20,000.

I know that I should stop being surprised at the incredible amounts of money Sark residents and their guests manage to raise annually for charity – principally the fund, which subsidises the cost of prescribed medication – but I doubt I ever will.

Additionally, and as has been reported annually – probably since Noah was a boy – they even raise enormous amounts by holding a cheque presentation event, as happened last week when Carnival Committee chairman Puffin Taylour and her seemingly tireless band of aides put on yet another fabulous evening.

No details have been released about how much that raised, simply because the amount is used to kick-start next year’s programme of events and will no doubt form part of the traditional cheque handover in 12 months or so.

In the absence of a daily Sark newspaper, this small community relies more than most on unofficial forms of communication – the noticeboards in island shops – and they make interesting reading indeed.

Each time I enter the post office, for example, I see jars of all sorts of things offered for sale under a ‘Rosemary’s Preserves’ label. Reading a note on the nearby board the other day I realised just how much of a difference these seemingly inconsequential things can make to a community.

You see, Rosemary Aldridge makes these preserves and the money she makes all goes to various island good causes. The list I saw included £1,000 to the medical fund and the remaining £739 divided between the fire and ambulance services, the Red Cross, the school, Floral Sark and the music society.

Nearby I saw a poster put up by Lawrence and Wendy Roberts who on 11 July want to light up Creux Harbour for charity.

The idea is that people ‘buy’ a candle for a fiver in memory of a loved one and after a torchlight procession from the Collenette at the top of Harbour Hill, each candle on Creux Harbour will be lit at dusk.

They are hoping to sell 2,500 candles and the money raised will be split between various good causes, all close to the hearts of Sark residents. Of the total, 40% will go to the medical fund and 15% each to the RNLI, St John Ambulance for the Flying Christine marine ambulance, Channel Islands Air Search and the Fire and Rescue Service.

I think it’s a great way to spend a warm summer evening and given that 11 July is a Saturday it would be nice if some of our day trippers decided to make a weekend of it.

While on about fund-raising, just a note to praise staff and regulars at the Bel Air who, in a variety of ways, on Saturday, raised over £200 for Children in Need, thus demonstrating that caring is not restricted to these islands.

Our election is now less than three weeks away and I was surprised to read the other day that someone from Plymouth University was quoted as saying that the process needed scrutinising to ensure that it was ‘fair’.

I would suggest that it’s our business rather than his and I doubt that anyone in Sark will complain about the process. Residents here stopped living in caves and writing on the walls many centuries ago and are well aware of how elections should be run.

On a lighter note, practically the only signs of Christmas coming are the electricity company’s staff putting up the lights.

No doubt things will start moving in 10 days or so.

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