IN SPORT the Channel Islands punch above their weight, although personally I have done my best to bring that level down. Sark can boast good runners and shooters, but Carl Hester’s achievement at the World Equestrian Games in Kentucky eclipsed all as he led the Great Britain team to a silver medal in the dressage.

Although he now lives in the UK, his triumph is one in which all Sark residents should take pride – he learned to ride in Sark, was schooled in Sark, has family are in Sark and he continues to act as an unofficial ambassador for the island wherever he might be. Let’s hope that he makes the next world championships in 2014, because it’s being held in Normandy.

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Filling a church full of children on Christmas Eve and then letting each set fire to a candle is risky, but packing one with children and animals really is playing with fire. At the St Peter’s service for animals and pets, a menagerie of dogs, chinchillas and Shetland ponies was followed in by Rosie the cow, closely attended by farmer Chris Nightingale.

Conscious of her lack of house-training, the bucket he carried was specifically for Rosie’s offerings and not for the collection. Mutley the dog joined Angela Dedman in the choir – and to great effect, if the reaction of dogs gathered outside the church was anything to go by.

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Land reform is the topic of a public meeting being held at 7pm on Tuesday in the Island Hall. Organised on behalf of HM Comptroller Richard McMahon, it is a response to requests by Sark residents for more information following the closed meeting held with members of Chief Pleas.

The media, having greeted the democratisation of Sark as the demise of the last feudal state in Europe, were probably being somewhat hyperbolic in their enthusiasm – feudalism is a system very much based around land tenure and that system continues. The subject has had very little recognition and debate and that has allowed rumour and myth to thrive.

It will be an interesting one, not least because if there is public support for the dismantling of the tenement system, the repercussions could be extensive. This is not a quick fix, but one that would have to take into account a range of other issues such as development control, inheritance laws, land registry and the availability of affordable housing for indigenous islanders.

I am already hearing strong and persuasive arguments from both sides, but let’s hope that this subject can be managed without acrimony and that whatever is finally agreed is in the best interests of Sark.

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The Michaelmas Chief Pleas meeting has passed, but too late for this column. More often than not the most exciting prospect for this sitting is the unveiling of the new vingtenier’s identity, probably because it is about the only secret that ever seems to be kept.

The constable’s statistical report makes interesting reading – of 286 incidents involving the constable it was animal welfare issues that came top, with domestic and family welfare matters in second place. There were 14 incidents of people acting suspiciously and 14 incidents of hostile behaviour – presumably against the ones who had been acting suspiciously.

Di Digard

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IN SPORT the Channel Islands punch above their weight, although personally I have done my best to bring that level down. Sark can boast good runners and shooters, but Carl Hester s achievement at the World Equestrian Games in Kentucky eclipsed all as he

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