Sark turns out for senior politician funeral

Saturday 01 December 2018

The funeral for former Sark Consieller Stephen Taylor has taken place with a crowd of Sarkees attending to celebrate the life of the popular politician.

Mr Taylor was the chairman of Policy and Performance in Chief Pleas, making him one of the most senior politicians on the island.

He was one of the first politicians in Sark to throw himself into the New Democratic government following the dissolution of the island's old feudal system. 

William Raymond replaced Mr Taylor as the chairperson of the new Policy and Finance Committee, and said his time working with his former colleague was one that created a number of fond memories.

"I sat on the Policy and Performance committee with Stephen for about nine to ten months. He was chairing it and he asked me to join it so." he said yesterday, after the funeral. 

"We worked together and did what one does, some people talk and some people listen. The funeral was nice actually, I thought Matthew was very good [his brother]. He was a lovely chap."

Pictured: Bikes outside the church during the funeral. 

Major Christopher Beaumont, the Seigneur of Sark, was one of Mr Taylor's old friends. He also attended the funeral, and said he was sad at his friend's passing.

"It was very nice to be quoted by his brother when he was speaking at the funeral. I used to play cricket with Steve and it was always a joy to have him on the pitch," he said.

"It takes me way back to when I started off in the army, so I had a great deal of fondness for Steve. I spent about two hours with him on the Monday before he died discussing all of the things that we needed to get on with to make Sark more robust in the future." 

Mr Taylor passed away on the 6 November this year. 

Pictured top: St Peters' Church where the funeral took place on Friday, 30 November.