Jennifer Cochrane, pictured on the stern of the Bon Marin as she leaves Sark after more than 30 years. (0971304)

MY PREDECESSOR as the Guernsey Press correspondent in Sark, Jennifer Cochrane, left the island earlier this month after living here for more than 30 years.

Jennifer moved to Sark in the 1970s and – although she probably will not thank me for the description – soon became established as almost part of the furniture in her new island home.

She took a more than active part in the Sark community as a regular Guernsey Press columnist and Jersey Evening Post correspondent and the author of a number of publications about the island.

Jennifer was also a prominent member of the Sark Theatre Group and a founder and very active member of La Societe Sercquaise – the body founded 35 years ago with the declared objective of studying, preserving and enhancing the island’s natural environment and cultural heritage.

More recently she was the editor, reporter, photographer and publisher of La Vouair – a monthly publication for which no detail of the life of Sark and its residents was ever too insignificant.

From my own perspective, as someone writing about a place I knew very little about when I took over from her in January 2002, she was an unmatched source of knowledge, particularly about Chief Pleas and its machinations. I remain grateful that she shared that knowledge both willingly and graciously.

She has gone to live in Greenwich in London and her contribution to putting and keeping Sark on the insular, national and international maps through her writing and interviews with visiting journalists will be missed. I wish her a long and happy retirement and hope she enjoys her new home as much as she enjoyed Sark.

Members of the editorial board of the Jersey and Guernsey Law Review were in Sark last weekend – meeting on what might be described as neutral territory, so to speak.

The publication’s editor is retired Jersey Bailiff Sir Philip Bailhache and he told me that although the board usually meet in France, they had decided to come to Sark this year.

Their visit gives me a long-awaited opportunity to plug Sark as a meeting/conference venue which, I would argue, takes an awful lot of beating when it comes to the first prerequisite of such gatherings – peace and quiet and precious little in the way of the sort of distractions which I’m told blight what are now called ‘away days’.

He certainly seemed to have enjoyed the visit and at least one member of the editorial board decided to make a long weekend of it by staying an additional day or so. It would be nice if more organisations realised that virtually everything in the way of facilities that is available for such gatherings in the larger Channel Islands is also available here.

There is something very different on Sark’s entertainment menu this weekend with a couple of shows at the Island Hall entitled ‘It’s Mental!’ and presented by an organisation called Sark Magic – a body I had never heard of until this week.

Featuring eight world-class magicians performing at shows at 7pm tomorrow and 3pm on Sunday, it certainly promises to be something completely different.

According to the website (sarkmagic.org) the shows feature a mixture of laughter, mystery, fun and magic and are suitable for all ages.

Audiences are warned to be prepared to be dazzled, intrigued, mystified and entertained – something which makes the entertainment a lot different to the quarterly offerings at Chief Pleas, although I confess that I am often intrigued and mystified by some of the things I see and hear there.

I have been asked by Carnival Committee chairman Puffin Taylour to remind Sark residents that the closing date for Scarecrow Competition entries is a week today – 28 May.

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