MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Falklands Schoolboy Initiates Valuable Publicity.

Thanks to the initiative of a Stanley schoolboy, the Falklands Islands have enjoyed positive publicity in one of the United Kingdom's best-selling celebrity magazines. Ten-year- old John Didlick wrote to a television personality who featured in last year's documentary “Castaway 200”, Ben Fogle.

He received many letters from all over the world about the television documentary. But, he says, John Didlick's letter struck a chord and aroused his interest by John's description of himself as a "real castaway". It prompted him to visit the Falklands to find out what life is really like, for his first assignment as a roving reporter for Hello Magazine (circulation over 500,000).

What he found he describes in a lavishly illustrated six-page article, with 14 photographs, depicting the Islands as a very attractive place to live and work. The article features a picture of the reporter with John Didlick, looking at his letter.

The article describes how he travelled around on the Falkland Islands Government Air Service, which, to his amazement, broadcasts the names and destination of its passengers on the radio. "Everyone", he says, tunes in, even if they do not have an airstrip, to keep tabs on who's going where.... In a small community everyone thrives on gossip".

He describes long walks without seeing a soul, discovering "amazing white sand beaches... stunning views of hills, mountains and miles of turquoise ocean ..... and incredible animals". He came face to face with giant elephant seals, petrels and their chicks, and penguins. "My encounter with these adorable birds", he says, "was one of the highlights of my trip".

He advises keen bird watchers to visit Carcass Island "which has never suffered depredation from cats, mice or rats, and consequently teems with bird life". He stayed there with Rob McGill and on Weddell Island with Karen Taylor (from South Shields on Tyneside), who , he says, " does everything -- runs the bar, called Weddell In, Waddle Out!, milks the cows, farms 450 sheep on 63,000 acres, cuts peat and doubles up as the firewoman and postmistress.... and bakes all the bread ".

He was also taken fishing with Hattie Lee at Port Howard, "with excellent fishing right on her doorstep". On Long Island, he is pictured on horseback, helping Neil Watson and Conservation Officer, Becky Ingham, to round up horses, "against a backdrop of such beautiful countryside, like something out of a movie".

"Stunning Islands...Lovely, Hospitable People"

He enjoyed his visit so much be