Good Friday boat sailing in Sark

SARK children’s traditional Good Friday excuse for getting soaking wet – otherwise known as the model boat outing at the duck pond – attracted the customary large crowd of youngsters.

I’d hazard a guess that many spectators in the older age group wished for a return to the halcyon days of their youth as they saw their offspring venturing further and further into the pond, until wellies and waterproofs became very much surplus to requirements.

As I said, it’s always a great excuse for children to get wet, although there were some who actually concentrated on the task they were there for and sailed their model boats – many of which appeared to me to have been carefully handed down through the generations.

Getting to the duck pond – it’s next to Petit Beauregard on the road to the Pilcher Monument on Sark’s west coast – is always a pleasant walk and this year’s weather (after 2008’s biting cold wind) made it that much more pleasurable.

Of course, that was just one day in the Easter weekend and, from what I can gather, those in business appear to be quietly pleased with the number of people from both Guernsey and Jersey who visited Sark during the four-day break.

But, as the saying goes, one swallow doesn’t make a summer and nor does an encouraging start to a tourism season on which so many livelihoods depend. However, those in the industry appear reasonably optimistic about the prospects for this year.

That optimism is certainly evident in and around Stocks Hotel, from where detailed plans about the business’s future were made public recently. As I reported some time ago, plans have already been approved for purpose-built staff accommodation – something which Paul Armorgie of Stocks said is vital in order to attract top quality chefs and other key staff.

The new investors with the Armorgie family – which has run the hotel for the last 30 years – are the neighbouring Woolford and Magell families and the ambitious plans mean that Stocks will close at the end of this season for 16 months.

All those concerned in the hotel’s redevelopment appear to be adamant that the work will be sympathetic with Sark’s unique eco-environment. New family suites will be created in the former hayloft over the stables and there will be a solar heated pool with adjacent spa facilities.

Of more immediate interest to visitors is the fact that those staying there on what’s described as a Sark lobster and Champagne short break this year will be offered a complimentary voucher for use when the hotel reopens in 2011.
My outline last week of forthcoming events prompted a nice response from John Le Pelley in Guernsey, who gave me another date which may be of interest to readers – the visit of the choristers of Southwell Minster.

They are including Sark in their four-day visit to Guernsey over the early summer bank holiday weekend (the one we used to call Whitsun when I was a lot younger) and on Monday 25 May at 3pm they’ll be singing in St Peter’s Church.

Apparently their visit to Sark is at the suggestion of the Dean of Southwell, who usually spends part of his holidays here.

It just goes to prove that there’s no better advertisement than word of mouth.

Finally, a word to an online critic who asked how a radio mast could spoil a view.

Please read again what I wrote because my concerns centred on no planning application being necessary for these structures and the fact that the jury is still very much out on their safety. There was nothing at all about a view being spoiled.

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