Stock's head chef Dean Miles (right) and second chef Tom Roskell preparing the last Sunday lunch at the hotel until the Spring of 2011.

TWO pages in the history of Sark’s commercial life were turned this week with the closure – albeit temporarily – of Stock’s Hotel and the retirement of Werner and Phyllis Rang from the jewellery shop they have run for four decades.

The retirement decision for Werner and Phyllis was made some months ago, but their ‘everything must go’ closing-down sale led inevitably to a significant increase in business as canny Sarkees – and others – looked ahead to forthcoming birthday and Christmas presents.

They had intended to finally close the door to their shop in The Avenue at close of business on the last day of September but at the beginning of this week their resolve appeared to have weakened a fraction and it now looks likely that the final ‘closed’ sign will be put up tomorrow.

A full interview with this remarkable couple will appear in the Guernsey Press shortly.

For the Armorgie family, the closure of Stock’s until spring 2011 for an extensive refurbishment programme came on Monday – just two days short of 30 years after they moved into the hotel on 30 September 1979.

Two ‘end of an era and the start of another’ events were held to mark the closure – a traditional Sunday lunch and then an evening buffet the following day.

Reflecting on the last three decades to guests at both functions, Paul Armorgie recalled how the hotel had become home and business to him, his parents Muriel and the late Frank, and his own young family since they inherited 27 small bedrooms, only one of which was en suite, and seven public bathrooms and toilets.

He said that in the same buildings today they had just 18 bedrooms, all en suite and with satellite TV, digital telephones and Wi-Fi – a ‘microcosm of progress and social history all rolled into one’.

Paul also recalled that his late father frequently said: ‘All our visitors bring happiness, some by coming and others by going.’

He remembered also the more famous guests – William Toplis, Louis McNeice, Dennis Price, Derek Jacobi, Patricia Hayes and, more recently, Martin Clunes and Victoria Wood – and the occasion when Dennis Price invited Sarkees to throw darts at an apple on his head.

He referred to the ‘long line’ of people who had arrived at the hotel as seasonal staff and never left the island – names that are now very much part and parcel of Sark life.

Looking to the future, Paul said that the investment programme about to start includes a new restaurant and commercial kitchen, a function suite, a new poolside dining facility, additional guest facilities such as a children’s rainy day art and craft room, a new spa room and small gym, a private demonstration kitchen and some retail space – all that in addition to five new guest suites in what used to be a barn/hayloft.

This week also saw the annual tourism industry forum – a chance for everyone involved in the industry to meet Conseiller Sandra Williams and her Tourism Committee and to reflect on this year’s season and look forward to 2010.

It’s the first such forum I have attended and I have to say that it was an impressively positive occasion at which a warts and all approach was encouraged by the committee and its staff.

A quick glance at some of the information given out suggests that Sark Shipping intends freezing fares for next year – good news for everyone, just as it was good to see directors Julie Mann and Colin Smith in attendance.

No one will ever know how much it has cost them – along with Robert Taylour – to work on our behalf for nothing but it will be a pretty penny, that’s for sure, and they deserve the island’s thanks.

There were thanks also from Conseiller Williams to Jennifer Cochrane who, for many years – at least half without payment – until just a few months ago, wrote a weekly news summary for the Sark Tourism website.

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