Politics
Sawle’s Busy Week
MLA Dick Sawle and FIG Director of Central Services
Simon Fletcher have had a busy week of meetings in Uruguay
The visit to Uruguay
follows a week of meetings in Brazil
In an interview with the Uruguayan press, MLA Sawle
said that the visit has taken place because they hoped to interest potential
businesses to trade in goods and services with the Falklands, and even have
Uruguayan companies in association with local partners actively participate in
the logistics of the hydrocarbons industry.
MLAs Roger Edwards and
Barry Elsby recently attended a Commonwealth Parliamentary Association
conference in South Africa
One of the plenary sessions
of the Small Branches Conference featured a session on self-determination which
was led by MLA Edwards. Self-governance was the subject of another session.
The CPA during its conference in
In the debate that
followed, the Hon Dr Barry Elsby was invited to speak. Dr Elsby said: “the
Falkland Islands are being constantly bullied by Argentina ,
they are attempting to blockade the Islands, destroy fish stocks and obstruct
the development of the Islands oil industry.”
He also said that he was
aware that many Commonwealth States supported the Falkland
Islands position, but asked if it was unreasonable to ask that all
Commonwealth States supported Falkland Islanders.
Gibraltar’s National Day
Political representatives
from eight UK Overseas Territories, including the Falklands, will be in Gibraltar to celebrate National Day next week.
A full programme of
activities and events has been prepared for them, including working meetings in
advance of the Joint Ministerial Council between the Overseas Territories
Governments and the United Kingdom Government which will take place at the end
of the year.
MLA Ian Hansen will represent theFalklands
and will be accompanied by FIG London Representative Sukey Cameron.
MLA Ian Hansen will represent the
Royal Visit to
The Daily Telegraph reports that the Princess Royal has been threatened by
militant Argentine groups as she begins the first official senior royal
engagement to the South American country for 14 years.
The three-day
visit is being made in Princess Anne's capacity as a member of the
International Olympic Committee.
She will attend the
opening ceremony of the 125th session of the International Olympic Committee in
Buenos Aires
Protest group Quebracho
– which led riots against the British Embassy in Buenos Aires
Local News
On-land Oil Spill Report
The Falkland Islands Government has received the independent
investigation report into the Mary Hill Quarry oil spill that occurred in June.
Members of the Legislative Assembly felt that the incident was of such a nature that an enquiry should be carried out to investigate the circumstances of the spill. The Chief Executive was asked to draft terms of reference on behalf of MLAs for an enquiry.
The report reviews the circumstances of the spill, and makes
recommendations for implementing plans and procedures for dealing with any
future onshore oil spills, and also makes recommendations for improving the
handling and disposal of waste oil generally.
The report will be considered by Executive Council in September,
following which it will be made public.
Sir Rex Hunt Memorial
A memorial to Sir Rex Hunt is
to be unveiled in his home town.
The Governor of the Falklands
in 1982, who was from Redcar
in North Yorkshire , died in November last
year, aged 86. A memorial has been commissioned and it was unveiled this
Friday. Sir Rex's widow, Lady Mavis Hunt attended.
Councillor Josh Mason said that
Sir Rex was born in
Shackleton Scholarship
The
Shackleton Scholarship Fund is offering a flagship scholarship worth £10,000
for research in the natural or social sciences of relevance to the countries of
the South Atlantic, in particular the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the British Antarctic Territories
The
scholarship is being offered due to 2014 marking the centenary of Sir Ernest
Shackleton’s Endurance Expedition setting out for
The
closing date for applications is the 15th September. Applications
from individuals or teams of research workers from any country should be made
to the Funds website www.shackletonfund.com. A decision will be announced in
November.
Baroness Thatcher Bust
The Falkland
Islands Government are in the process of commissioning a sculptor
to create a memorial bust of Baroness Thatcher.
The project follows a
public consultation held as to how best to commemorate the late Margaret
Thatcher.
Following the consultation,
the Legislative Assembly agreed to commission a local sculptor to create a
bronze bust of Baroness Thatcher, to be mounted on local stone with a plaque
containing the quote delivered by Baroness Thatcher on the 3rd April
1982:
“They are few in number,
but they have the right to live in peace, to choose their own way of life and
to determine their own allegiance”
It is intended that the
bust will be situated on the corner of Thatcher Drive
The Legislative Assembly
have written to the Thatcher family informing them of the proposed project and
seeking their approval.
The Legislative Assembly
would like to thank the community for their participation in the consultation
and for their patience as this sensitive matter has been pursued.
Meetings
Antarctic Memorial
At a meeting of the
Planning and Building Committee held this morning, approval was given to an application
from the British Antarctic Trust to site a memorial in Stanley Dockyard to
those who have died in the Antarctic in the pursuit of science.
Public Health Board
Reform
The Government’s public health board is to be reformed.
The group has not met for
some years and Senior Veterinary Officer Steve
Pointing said that at a recent meeting with the Chief Medical
Officer Angela Rowlands it was agreed that that it would be useful for the
board to hold more regular meetings.
MEETING POINTING LONG
SP: Last
Thursday Angela Rowlands and I had a meeting to discuss issues of public health
concern in the Falkland Islands with the idea that we would reconstitute the
old Board of Health. There is such a thing as the Board of Health in the Falkland Islands . It used to consist of Chief Medical
Officer, the Senior Veterinary Officer and the Director of Public Works; and I
think the last time we met was when Roger Diggle was here and it was when there
was that concern that there would be a, there could be a pandemic of avian flu
that could possibly get into the human population and what would we do if it
got down to the Falkland Islands and how would we try and stop it from coming
in? and I can’t remember how long ago that was - two, three years ago –
certainly when Roger was here, and we’ve not had any meetings since, on any
other subject. So we had a meeting last week just to discuss something to do
salmonella and to get a list of ideas together of other issues in the Falkland
Islands that could be a public health concern that we feel ought to be
addressed in some way; so rather then being reactive to something when it
happens, we’ve been proactive and thought about what might happen before it
actually happens, so that was juts our starting meeting last week, and we
bantered ideas of each other and so we will now, in the coming month –
certainly before the end of this year – have another meeting, we will invite
the Director of Public Works to come to the next one, because he should be on,
it should be useful to him because he’s responsible for the water supply to
Stanley and sewage and all that sort of stuff that has the discharged tip at
Eliza Cove, you know, which gives a lot of people, you know, concern and things
like that, so it’s quite a good idea to have somebody from Public Works there
as well to say what’s practical, what can be done, why certain things haven’t
been done in the past, you know, because it’s too expensive or this other, that
other.
HMSC
At a meeting of the Health
and Medical Services Committee held this week, the Director of Health and
Social Services Hilary Rowland reported on current issues for the department.
On staffing matters, it was
reported that Janette Vincent continues as Acting Hospital Manager. The post
will be advertised in September. It was stated that a good response was
received for the recruitment of nurses. Nine nurses were interviewed with
offers being made to four nurses who initially will be based on the ward. The
new team leader for Social Services arrives later this month. The position of
Laboratory Manager has been advertised locally and will be advertised overseas
this month.
The Director of Health and
Social Services also reported that a visit by mammography specialists was being
planned. The visit will take place either in December or next March.
Local Events
Walking Millers
Islanders Jan and Tim Miller last weekend took part in the Walk on Wales Iraq and Afghanistan
School News
Annie Arrives
The new Director of
Education has arrived in the Islands to take
up the position.
Annie Tempest’s appointment
to the role was announced in May and she will be the first permanent Director
of Education since the department was separated from the health service.
She says that she is
pleased to have arrived in the Islands .
EDUCATION ANNIE
AT: Well I’m loving it. I’ve had a great start
to my first few days here. The weather’s been gorgeous so that was a lovely,
coming from the airport was great and the Islands
incredibly beautiful; and people have been really warm and welcoming so very,
very lucky.
SB: So what was it about this position here in
the Falklands that interested you?
AT: I think an Island community, and I know
there’s been lots of changes in the Islands and so I was really inquisitive and
I thought it would be a lovely place to work so when the opportunity came up, I
was lucky enough to get the job so that’s great.
SB: Have you worked in far flung places before?
What’s your background?
AT: I have. I have worked in far flung places
before. Worked in Papa New Guinea for a while and I worked in Lagos
Sports
Planning has begun for the arrival of the Queen’s Baton in the
The Queen’s Baton Relay is
held before every Commonwealth Games.
Chairman of the Falkland
Islands Overseas Games Association Mike Summers says it is hoped that the
community will be involved in the Falklands
visit of the baton.
RELAY SUMMERS 1
MS: The
Queen’s Baton will arrive here on the 27th of February next year and
it’ll leave on the LAN flight on the 1st March so that gives us a
day and two halves with the Baton here. And we’ve, we’ve started quite a lot of
work on how we’re going to run those two days. We want to get as many people as
we can, we want the schools to be involved, we want the sports clubs to get
involved. We want the population generally to be involved.
Darts Scores
In darts news, Ottos
Outlaws have won the league this season after the final round of games was
played this week. They finished four points ahead of Sharpshooters.
Colin Smith won the most
legs during the season. He also had the highest on the back of the card. Roy
Shepherd scored the most tons and Alan Bonner scored the most ton pluses.
For the ladies, Jackie
Thomas won the most legs and she also had the joint highest on the back of the
card with Lizzy Bonner. Lizzy also scored the most tons and Teresa Clifton
scored the most ton pluses.
Local Reports
August Weather
Both the mean maximum and
minimum temperatures were slightly below the long-term average for August,
according to the MPA Met Office.
The highest temperature
recorded in August was 10.1 degrees Celsius on the 17th. The lowest minimum was
–5.2 degrees Celsius recorded on the 24th.
The monthly sunshine total
was 107.3 hours, with the highest daily total of 8.2 hours recorded on the 24th
August.
It was the third windiest
August on record. The highest gust of wind reached 52 knots recorded on the 1st
and 14th. There were 21 days with gusts in excess of 33 knots.
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