Friday 22 November 2013

Philippines Typhoon Fundraising and a wander in the Dockyard.

Well hasn’t it been a busy week this week!

Last Friday night a fundraiser was held at the Trough, raising money for the Philippines Typhoon Appeal. On Saturday there was a cake sale, with donation buckets at the West Store and JACS café sold cupcakes of which the profits also went to the appeal.

On Monday we held a Pay to Play Day here at Falklands Radio, taking requests and pledges throughout the day. I myself paid to have five songs played…and yes of course there was a Buddy Holly song in my choices…
 
My song choices....


The FIC Insurance Department went to work in fancy dress and made sweet treats for everybody that turned up and donated money. The Community School took this one step further by holding a ‘Give us a P please’ themed day. Onesies were classed as pyjamas and they seemed to be the favoured outfit to fund raise in. The tuck shop sold food with a ‘P’ theme, pizza, pasta, pies, etc. They also held a teacher vs. student PE session.

 
Students are interviewed by FITV, crowd around the tuckshop,
and hang around waiting for the bell to ring.


The Falkland Islands Government donated £5,000 to the appeal and as of Thursday lunchtime a massive total of £14,654.07 has been raised. This is a very impressive amount of money from a community of this size. So much so that when we tweeted the amount, the UK’s Ambassador to the United Nations congratulated the efforts of Falkland Islanders. That’s right, Mark Lyall Grant replied to our tweet. He offered his congratulations, noting that the figure was 18% of what the Chinese Government had originally offered.
 
Some events so far...

More fundraising is happening tonight at Bittersweet, where five young musicians are holding a live music night. No doubt it will be good event.


Also happening over the last seven days was the now annual Craft Fayre, held at the FIDF Hall, the first Public Meeting of the new Legislative Assembly and a public meeting to discuss the ongoing Port Project.

Today I took another look around the location of the new Museum and National Trust. When the building works are complete the Museum will be moving from Britannica House down to the Dockyard, next to Gilbert House, behind the Penguin News building. I had previously went along to an open day and managed to wangle myself a solo tour of the old buildings and new, and was told all about what the future holds for this project. It sounds like an exciting project. We’ll be broadcasting that information soon.

 
Left - inside the Central Store at present
Centre - The Central Store
Right - Reflection of Dockyard in Central Store window

A (slightly distorted) view of the Dockyard




The old sheds opposite the Central Store

All of that was all going on, along with our usual workload of finding news, writing news…the news will be up soon too…

We also had a good number of interviewees come into the studio this week, including a number of the MLAs to talk about their portfolios, Neil Judd, the new Senior Agricultural Advisor for the Department of Agriculture, and finally, Steve Massam who has been commissioned to produce the memorial bust of Baroness Thatcher that will go on display in Stanley.

So like I said, a busy week here at FIRS HQ.

~Sam~

Friday 8 November 2013

General Elections 2013

Well what a busy few weeks we've been having. On top of our usual workload we've been preparing for the Falkland Island General Elections 2013. We've been holding public meetings, both in Stanley and out at Goose Green. We've been interviewing all the candidates in the election and we've been preparing for our live coverage of the event.

And now it's all over!

Look at what we saw flying ovehead on our way back into Stanley
A week or so ago I went with Hannah from FITV (www.fitv.co.fk) to cover the Goose Green Public Meeting for the Camp Candidates for the Camp Constituency. On our way back to Stanley we were treated to a Typhoon flying overhead. Unfortunately this is the best shot I could get from the car window.

Here is a list of the Election Candidates and the votes cast:



The results of this years General Election
 

The boxes came in from camp, the counters counted and we interviewed - and in my case, I was interviewee for FITV. We had alovely chat about the media coverage of the run up to the election.

The boxes brought in from Camp and from Stanley



Some of the counters busy at work
Our very own News Editor talking to first time candidate Michael Poole

FITV hard at work, waiting to interview HE the Governor Nigel Haywood
Everyone was eagerly awaiting the results. The closer it got to 10pm
the more people turned up.
 

It was about 10 o'clock at night when the results came through. It was Chief Executive and Returning Officer Keith Padgett who announced the results.

Stacy Bragger makes sure Returning Officer Keith Padgett is heard live on air.

So we have six re-elected Members of the Legislative Assembly and two new Members. Michael Poole and Phyl Rendall both had an impressive number of votes and all MLAs were sworn into office at the Governor's House earlier today.

Following our busy few days of watching democracy in motion, we have the Remembrance Day Parade this Sunday. I'm always impressed by the turnout at each of the memorial occasions throughout the year here in the Falklands and I expect there to be just as good a turnout this year.

Until next time...

~Sam~

Friday 1 November 2013

News Direct 28th October to 1st November 2013

This is the news from this week.

 Politics

Argentina Again

This week Argentina has pledged to strengthen its relationship with the Caribbean community.

Argentina’s representative to the CARICOM group, Luis Martino, has said that the Argentine Government intends to have a greater presence in the region. He said this was exemplified by the opening of new embassies in St Lucia and Suriname and the re-establishing of a diplomatic presence in Guyana and Barbados.

He said that the Argentine Government is ready to start working toward the implementation of the agreement with Caricom to establish a Standing Joint Commission on Consultation, Cooperation and Coordination.

In recent years, the Argentine Government has sought support from the Caribbean community on its sovereignty claim to the Falklands.
 

Local News

Pagefield for the Falklands

London’s fastest growing communications agency, Pagefield, has been appointed by the Falkland Islands Government. They are to provide strategic and tactical advice in relation to all public relations and media issues in the UK, following a competitive pitch.

The account will be serviced by the Pagefield Diplomat team led by Florence Quirici. Pagefield Diplomat specialises in strategic advice and communications for overseas governments and companies, with projects covering countries in Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East. The contract is for three years.

Chief Executive of the Falkland Islands Government Keith Padgett says that Pagefield's integrated offer, experience across key territories, and unparalleled understanding of the Falkland Islands and the UK media and political landscape means that they are uniquely suited to working for the Falkland Islands Government. Mr Padgett says that their experience and energy will help FIG to tell their story and provide the UK public with a better understanding of the Falkland Islands.

Mark Gallagher, Senior Partner and Founder of Pagefield, says Pagefield Diplomat is delighted to be working for the Falkland Islands Government. Mr Gallagher says that they are looking forward to tackling misconceptions, raising awareness and promoting a better understanding of and support for the Falkland Islands in the eyes of the Government, the media and the wider public in the UK.


Murrel Road Incident

Officers of the Royal Falkland Islands Police assisted a member of the public this week following an accident on the Murrell Road.

At 3pm on Monday 28th October two police officers Daryl Harada and Neil Mitchell were on patrol on the Murrell Road when they came across an upturned vehicle which was sinking into a wide stream. The officers checked the vehicle to find the sole occupant trapped in the vehicle bleeding heavily from a deep head wound. The vehicle was beginning to slip into the stream and was filling with water so Constable Harada freed the driver and gave him first aid whilst Constable Mitchell summoned other emergency services personnel.

It is believed that without the officers prompt actions this may have turned into a fatal accident.

The Director of Emergency Services Barry Marsden says that the incident demonstrates how changes in the police service are having a positive effect.

Executive Council approved for one year a new Station Enquiry Officer post which is enabling police officers to get from behind the control room desk and get out on routine patrol.

The Director of Emergency Services says that the increase in police numbers has allowed them to develop Neighbourhood Management Policing which allocates geographic and thematic areas to dedicated police officers and places a personal objective on them to get to know their area and the people who live there. The Murrell Road area is one of the areas assigned to Constable Mitchell.

Without the additional resources, the Director of Emergency Services says that they would not be able to do routine patrols and the individual involved in the accident may have either bled to death or drowned.

 
Falklink Discuss

Two business consultants are currently visiting the Islands to engage with local businesses and discuss their readiness for any upcoming oil industry requirements.

David Owen and David Stewart will be developing a skills gap analysis of Falkland Islands readiness whilst here.

They will be identifying gaps and the extent they might be solved with local support. A second seminar will take place in Aberdeen and will specifically target oil related businesses in Scotland which will investigate development opportunities that may lead to the creation of partnerships between Falklands businesses and Scottish oil industry service companies.
 

Credit Union Consultation

A period of public consultation is underway on the possibility of introducing a credit union to the Falklands.

FIDC have been leading the project and are now asking the public if it believes that there is a need for alternative financial services in the Falklands and whether they feel a credit union can provide a solution.

Michael Betts, Business Relations Manager for FIDC says that he would encourage the public to give their opinions on the proposal.


Shackleton Scholar Ezequiel

A Shackleton scholar is currently visiting the Islands to carry out research on a project examining the Falklands War.

Ezequiel Mercau, who is Argentine and has studied in Ireland and Copenhagen, has been sponsored by the Shackleton Scholarship Fund to visit the Islands to work on his thesis.

He is in the Islands for two weeks.
 

Local Events


Island Parish

The production team who will be filming a new series of the BBC’s Island Parish programme in the Falklands have arrived to begin their work here.

The team will be here for six months to produce the series which is expected to be broadcast towards the end of 2014.

Film-maker Robin Barnwell says that the series will be an observational documentary on the way of life in the Islands.


Titan Surveys

The Ramform Titan survey ship has arrived in the Islands. It is the largest seismic ship in the world.

It is in the Islands to carry out survey work for Noble Energy Falkland Islands Ltd.



Raising Money

Two hundred and sixty pounds was raised at a car boot sale held last weekend.

The car boot sale was organised to raise money for the Stephen Jaffray Memorial Fund. The day was very successful with 16 vehicles attending. The money was raised by entry costs and sales.

A second car boot will be held on Sunday 1st December following requests. This car boot sale will be held as a family day, with events such as a bouncy castle.

The family and trustees of the Stephen Jaffray Memorial Fund wish to thank everyone who helped make the day a success.


Pink Money

Funds were also raised at the Community School on Friday on Wear It Pink Day.

£75 was raised from cake sales and £77 from general donations.
 

Sports

Motocross Returns

The motocross season returned this week, with the first event taking place at the Ponds Track.

Jay Moffatt was the winner of the Experts section with Scott Henry Roberts and Adrian Sim following him in second and third places.

In first place in the Clubman Class was Joe Clarke, Nathan Lowe in second place and Arthur Turner was in third place. Angeline Joshua was the winner of the ladies class.

In the Juniors Class, Adam Dickson was first, Jack Alazia second and Kia Alazia third. Travis Jaffray took first place in the Pee Wee class with Rebecca Clarke second and Kyra Smith third.