MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Stanley: Hot News.

Queen Mother Birthday Message.

The following message from the people of the Falkland Islands was sent from Government House to the Royal Households Secretariat of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on the occasion of the 100th birthday of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. It read "The People and Government of the Falkland Islands would be grateful if you could pass to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, our sincere best wishes on the occasion of Her 100th birthday."

Letter from Former Governor.

The following letter from Sir Cosmo Haskard appeared in the July 26 edition of the Times Newspaper. "In your anniversaries column you record that it is thirty years since Brunel's Great Britain was brought back from the Falkland Islands. I happened to be Governor of the Falkland Islands when the Great Britain was brought back to Bristol. Falkland Islanders rightly regarded the ship as part of their heritage and it required an act of faith to agree to her repatriation across 8000 miles of sea. Generous donors have been maintaining the fabric of the ship over the past 30 years. Unfortunately, however a new form of accelerated corrosion has recently been identified in the wrought iron plates of the hull. A plan exists to tackle the problem but further funding will be needed." Sir Cosmo was Governor of the Islands in 1970 when the Great Britain was brought into Stanley from Sparrow Cove before being taken back to Bristol on a Pontoon, towed by a tug.

Tornado Escapes ? Mast Not So Lucky

A Tornado F3 Aircraft and her crew had a lucky escape on Monday morning after colliding with the FIBS Medium Wave Mast. The incident occurred at 11.20am while the aircraft was returning to Mount Pleasant Airport from a routine training sortie. One of the aircraft's wings sustained damage when it clipped the mast and a search team from Mount Pleasant; yesterday recovered all debris from the area. This debris is now part of an investigation, which began on Tuesday. Both crewmembers were uninjured and a safe landing was made at MPA. The FIBS mast however, was not so lucky. It sustained serious damage resulting in the transmitter having to be switched off. This means that FIB