Before this fades in my memory, I thought I should write this down.




I went sailing to Alderney with a guy called Nigel Parry and two others. I think it was in 2008. Nigel, was a retired airline pilot and flew with Britannia Airlines. On retirement he took over the responsibility of Commodore of The Britannia Sailing Club. This perhaps was not as grand as it seems as the club had a fleet of just one vessel. She was a 36' Moody sloop called "Seamoon". The members of the sailing club, all Britannia employees, used her by booking a slot in advance this on the proviso that when aboard they did the routine maintenance.

The other crew members on this trip were Rex Sackitt and one other? We sailed from Portsmouth heading east towards Benbridge Ledge. I remember the entrance was a long buoyed channel and that we were fortunate to navigate this in fine weather. We stayed overnight using the Bendridge Club facilities for food and small libations,

It was an early morning start as we set a course for Alderney. It was a pretty incident free trip and as we picked up a mooring in the harbour. Nigel said, "He had a friend on the island and he would contact him by phone". It turns out that Nigel's friend was a vicar ( The Vicar of Bray?) and he was waiting for us with a car. He was good fun and said he would take us for a drive around the island and show us the sights.

Well, Alderney is not very big, The vicars description of it was " 500 drunks clinging to a rock in the English Channel! He showed us The Motorway! 100 yards of dual carriageway, The Railway 1/4 mile of track from the quarry to the harbour. The Fortifications, a mixture of Napoleon forts and second world war gun emplacements.
He told us that he did not officiate as a Vicar on the island but acted as a mediater between the Islanders and The Visitors. This is proving to be a real problem as it seems there has been a reversal of roles. Once the islanders catered for the visitors, who were bringing the money in. Then the visitors started buying houses from The Islanders. This made The Islanders rich and they had equal standing with the wealthy visitors. You might think this is a good thing! But NO! Now The Islanders are taking over the administration roles at the golf club and are now setting the rules. This is going against the grain for the once wealthy visitors, who were use to the giving edicts not responding to them.
The Vicar invited us to dinner that night at his cottage. Beautifully situated over looking the harbour, right next to the golf course.
I was sat next to a rather morose women who did not say very much. The silence was little embarrassing so I asked her if she and her husband were Islanders. She said "No she had only lived there for 35 years and also her husband was not there tonight as he was travelling the world lecturing"
Naturally, I asked what was he lecturing on? She said abruptly" Veneral Diseases" and then never said another word.
Anyway the vicar filled the awkward silence by saying that they were great friends of Dame Judy Dench, who stays with them as often as she can.