MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
1914 Falklands Battle Remembrance
The Armed Forces were represented at the annual Falklands Battle Day ceremony in London by Admiral Sir Michael Layard, the senior naval officer who escaped from the transport ship Atlantic Conveyor sunk by an Argentine exocet in the 1982 war. He later became one of the most senior Royal Navy Admirals.
The wreath-laying ceremony and service, organised by the Falkland Islands Association, commemorates the 1914 Battle of the Falklands in which the Royal Navy destroyed the German South Atlantic fleet. It is also in remembrance of those who died in the 1939-1945 War in the Battle of the River Plate, and in the 1982 war. Another wreath-layer this year was Lieutenant Commander Roger Wager who served in 1982 in HMS Protector. His uncle, Able Seaman William Charles Dale, fought in the Battle of the Falklands in 1914 on HMS Invincible and was later killed in the Battle of Jutland.
A Falkland Islands Government wreath was laid by Councillors Jan Cheek and Michael Summers, and by Sir Rex Hunt for the Falkland Islands Association.
Wreaths were also laid by two Falklands students on behalf of the Young People of the Falkland Islands, and other wreaths were laid on behalf of the Falkland Families Association, the South Atlantic Medal Association, and the Association of Men of Kent, the county after which a warship of the 1914 battle was named.
The Royal Navy provided a colour party, escorted by cadets of Pangbourne College, with Air Commodore Peter Johnson as parade marshal. A Royal Marine bugler sounded the Last Post and Reveille for one minute's silence in remembrance of the dead, and the Reverend Peter Millam conducted a brief service.
At the Falkland Islands Association annual meeting afterwards, it was announced that the Bill Hunter-Christie Prize for the outstanding Falkland student studying abroad this year has been awarded to Donna Triggs, studying at Chichester College in West Sussex. She is the daughter of Mr and Mrs M. Triggs of Stanley.
Councillor Jan Cheek, who has responsibility in the Falklands Government for education, helped to vote Donna Triggs as the outstanding overseas student.
She said: "Much of the increasing confidence among Islanders comes from the better education they are enjoying. We are opening up more opportunities. It is very nice to see young people like Donna taking advantage of them and being great ambassadors for the Falkland Islands as well. I am very proud of the many students I taught in my twenty years as a teacher. Nothing gives me greater pleasure than to see them doing good jobs in the Islands, right across the whole range of services and government".
Harold Briley - London
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