MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Book Review: “A Falkland Islander Till I die”

WHEN Terry Betts first told me that he was writing a book, I asked him what it would be about. “My life, of course,” he said, adding for good measure, “cheeky beggar”.

By TS Betts, published by The Book Guild at £20.00 Review by Graham Bound WHEN Terry Betts first told me that he was writing a book, I asked him what it would be about. "My life, of course," he said, adding for good measure, "cheeky beggar".

Perhaps I was cheeky, but I take it all back now. TSB (the initials have been his popular alias since they were first chalked on the scoreboard at a Town Hall darts tournament) has done something quite remarkable in putting together a readable book of some 500 pages. That, by the way, is a lot of reading. He has also successfully addressed aspects of the modern Falkland story that until now have not been deemed worthy of record and analysis.

Like Terry, I was born in the 50s (late 50s, mind), and I was delighted that he dedicated early chapters to a Stanley childhood and youth that was carefree and more than a little Huck Finn-like. Days were spent playing innocently around town, going to the pictures at the Town Hall or Parish Hall, or collecting bottles in lavishly constructed hand carts.

These would be cashed in at either Hardy's or the FIC "fizz factories". (He rightly remembers that children fought turf wars over the homes occupied by heavy consumers of the valuable Patricia beer bottles). They are precious memories.

Terry had it much tougher than most of us, though. He was a sickly child, suffering from asthma and ? in the final years of that illness's reign of terror ? what may have been TB. He spent years in hospital or at home in bed, and his body nearly gave in. As a result he only benefited from a few years at school before leaving at the statutory age of 14.

It is this social history that means a lot to me, as it will, I believe, to others of our generation. It is given added pathos by descriptions of the seriously stratified society of those days, in which his family did not figure highly. Islands society was poisoned by a British class system in miniature, in which the people of the Betts family's background (decent labouring folk) had nothing to do with the colonial administrators, the farm owners and their like.

To those on the top of the social heap, the organisation of labour to form an effective union must have been frightening. Until now (to my knowledge) no one has recorded the history of this important movement. It is, however, part of the TSB story. He became an important figure in the union and his account of his time as an official is interspersed with respectful reflection on union pioneers who had gone before.

1982 and the war was the cusp of Falklands history. After that everything changed ? even, thank God, the structure that had kept good local families in their subservient place.

The war forced the British government to change its derisory attitude to islanders. The government went to work rectifying the injustices of the Falklands; injustices that could become embarrassing now that the media spotlight was on the place. Locally-born people were quietly given the right to live and work in Britain. An exclusive economic zone was declared in the seas around the islands, giving fishing industry wealth that could be invested in schools, medical facilities, roads and houses. Development money and advisers poured in, and (above all) democracy was introduced.

Whether by British design or accident (and one suspects the latter) Islanders were empowered. The likes of Terry Betts seized the opportunity and began energetically taking their islands ahead.

There is much more to this big book. Some readers will value the detailed record and analysis of the business culture that developed with lightening speed around the fishing industry. It's important, if only because the contrast with the Falklands and Falkland Islanders of the early days is so remarkable.

Like other writers on the subject, the author points out that the Falklands dispute has never been resolved. He believes that, for the sake of future generations, the three parties ? Argentina, Britain and the Falkland Islanders ? need to sit down and hammer out a lasting and fair solution. He has some interesting ideas about how a solution might be achieved, and an implied warning that if it is not, then history may not have heard the last of the Falklands.

Whether his political punditry is sound or not remains to be seen. But there is little doubt about one thing: within the context of the Falklands this record of five decades is important.

Who is Terry Betts to write his biography and sell it at £20 a copy? Well, he's an ordinary Islander who lived through the tough times and the easy times. And that, to my mind, is good enough.

(Graham Bound is the author of Falkland Islanders at War, published by Pen and Sword Books)