SARK’S fledgling democracy took a small step towards more open government earlier this week with an informal ‘meet the conseillers’ session ahead of Wednesday’s Chief Pleas sitting.

The four-hour ‘surgery’ on Monday afternoon and early evening was intended to give the public an opportunity to talk to their elected representatives about matters being debated on the 31-item agenda two days later.

I attended quite early in the session, when the conseillers present probably outnumbered members of the public, but given that most people were still at work at that time, the politicians I spoke to were confident that numbers would pick up.

That was confirmed by the dozen or so residents I met as I walked home, all of whom were heading towards the Island Hall. It was interesting that while some were going more out of curiosity than anything else, others told me that they had a specific issue to raise with either committees or individual conseillers.

While some might not agree with the format – I know that several would prefer a general meeting at which everyone could hear what everyone else who spoke had to say – at least it’s a start.

The problem is that whatever is done, just like almost everything else in life, not everyone will agree it’s the best way of going about things. The phrase ‘damned if you do and damned if you don’t’ is the one that springs to mind.

A bit like writing about a small community, if you ask me.

Talking of small communities, this one saw its fifth funeral in not much more than as many months last Saturday with the service at St Peter’s Church for Dave Toms, who died in the Princess Elizabeth Hospital earlier that week.

He had been there a week after being taken from Sark by the marine ambulance Flying Christine.

Dave (pictured left) collapsed with a heart attack near the Collenette while on his way in his electric invalid carriage to a regular check-up at the Medical Centre.

I am told that thanks to the first aid training programme that all members of the volunteer emergency services go through, along with the very prompt arrival of Dr Peter Counsell, Dave was made well enough to be taken by ambulance to the Flying Christine and then to Guernsey.

Unfortunately, he had a couple more serious attacks that same morning and sadly died a week later.

His wife, Margaret, has asked me to pass on her grateful thanks to those in the emergency services in both Sark and Guernsey who tried so hard to save him and her thanks also to the many friends in both islands who have sympathised with and supported her.

On a personal note, Dave was one of the first people to welcome me to Sark almost 10 years ago. As he said then – and it held true ever since: ‘I know you’re a Jerseyman but that shouldn’t stop us being friends.’

I responded by saying that he didn’t seem a bad sort of bloke, for a Guernseyman, and we shook hands.

Since then we’ve both had cancer – and frequently managed to find things about illness that made us laugh – and we’ve spent many an hour putting Sark and the rest of the world to rights, with only his garden hedge ever coming between us.

Dave possessed a fine singing voice and I regret never having heard him sing, but the tales of him and Werner Rang on the accordion providing the post-Sunday lunch entertainment at Hotel Petit Champ are now part of Sark folklore.

As I said, he was a nice bloke, for a Guernseyman, and he would not have wanted me to say anything else.

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