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Friday, March 17th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

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Headlines:
Games team: giving it their best shot; Illex squid catch of ?over 100 tonnes' this week; Fine follows fatal road accident; Norwegian Crown on her own.

Games team: giving it their best shot

THE small Falklands team of six shooters and four officials received an enthusiastic welcome from the 90,000-strong crowd who packed the Melbourne Cricket ground (MCG) on Wednesday evening for the Opening Ceremony of the 18th Commonwealth Games. In recognition of his military service in the Falklands Islands, which included being part of the 1982 Task Force, former Royal Marine Gary Clement was chosen to be flag bearer in the ceremony which was watched by an estimated 1.5 billion television viewers world-wide. The full-bore rifle team of Ken Aldridge and Chris McCallum, under the watchful eye of manager Ron Betts, have been acclimatising to the Bendigo ranges, some 90 kilometres from Melbourne, the Falklands' team manager, Patrick Watts, reported. "In the traditional warm-up Badge event, Ken scored 47, 49 and 50 at 300, 500 and 600 yards, and followed up with 70 and 69 at 900 and 1,000 yards for a total of 285 which placed him 24th of the 38 competitors. Chris scored 47, 48, 49 and 71 and 62 at the long ranges for a total of 277 and 31st place. "In further practice prior to Sunday's opening Pairs event, the two full-bore rifle shooters had contrasting fortunes on Thursday. Chris rediscovered his form and scored an excellent 146 from a possible of 150 with range scores of 49.4, 48.1, and 49.2. Ken struggled at 300 yards with 43.1, and never really recovered with further scores of 47.1 at 500 yards and 45.4 at 600 yards to return an aggregate of 135." The first competition for the two shooters takes place on Sunday. With Saul Pitaluga arriving in Melbourne on Wednesday morning, just in time for the Opening Ceremony, the Clay Target team is now complete. Patrick reported, "Gary Clement opened his first practise session with a creditable 22 from a possible of 25. However in the Badge warm-up he inexplicably lost form and in the four rounds of shooting, where the possible in each round is 25 clays, scored 8, 11, 9, 13." However, after working with coach John Elfes, Patrick said, Gary managed to iron out some of his gun problems in further practise and was much happier with a score of 18 from a possible of 25. Patrick was pleased to report that Steve Dent had had his best shoot for some time and with scores of 19, 17, 17 and 19 was understandably delighted with his consistency. Patrick commented, "Steve will be hoping to take his form with him into the main medal competitions when they start on Monday." The team has been kept busy away from the ranges too. At the Team Welcome Ceremony in the Games village, which involves the raising of the Falklands flag, and the playing of the games anthem (Song of the Falklands)the team was joined by several Islanders living in the state of Victoria. Patrick reported, "Included in the group was 87 year old Vivienne de Heer (nee Gleadell), the sister of Don Bonner, accompanied by her daughter Patricia. Vivienne left the Falklands in 1945. "Councillor Brian Stahl, the Mayor of the Mornington Peninsular, the shire which has adopted the Falklands as their second team, also attended the ceremony." On Wednesday Henry McLeod and Steve Dent were invited to a lunch hosted by the Australian Prime Minister, John Howard, and attended by the Queen, and on Thursday Saul Pitaluga and Gary Clement attended a lunch with the Queen, held in the Games Village dining hall. Picture: The Falklands' Commonwealth Games team in Melbourne. Back row (l-r): Chris McCallum, Full-bore manager Ron Betts, Gary Clement, Henry McLeod, Steve Dent, and team assistant Adrian Mitchell; Front row: Team manager Patrick Watts, Saul Pitaluga, Australian shooting coaches Stacey Roiall and John Elfes, and Ken Aldridge. Picture: J Blackman.

Illex squid catch of ?over 100 tonnes' this week

CATCHES of illex squid in the Falklands zone reached encouraging levels this week. The Director of Fisheries yesterday reported that average catches of illex have reached around 30 tonnes per night, "...with the highest catch in excess of 100 tonnes." John Barton said a number of vessels have been catching 40-50 tonnes per night. Around 40 licences have so far been sold this season; at present, Mr Barton said, revenue might be a little better than the poor illex years of 2004 and 2005, which saw significant refunds. Licence revenue last financial year after refunds was around £10 million. "This year we have a target revenue figure of £16 million, whereas in the good years, revenue was in the range £22 - 25 million," he said. Mr Barton reported that there has been some further interest in licences during the last few days, "...and we have received some late applications for licences in respect of Taiwanese vessels and others."

Fine follows fatal road accident

THE driver of a vehicle that crashed in October, resulting in the death of a passenger, has been fined £750. Neil Craig Drake (26) of the Royal Navy was driving a military Land Rover that crashed on the Mare Harbour road on October 29, 2005. One of the six passengers died in the accident while others suffered injuries of varying degrees. When the hearing began on Wednesday, Mr Drake initially faced a number of charges involving causing death and injury through reckless driving. However, he was eventually charged with a lesser offence of careless driving. Crown counsel Philip de Berry told the court Mr Drake was an experienced driver and had received a driving brief from his superiors. The accident occurred approximately four minutes into the journey, on a downhill, straight section of the road. A forensic expert had defined the speed the vehicle must have been travelling at as 46miles per hour (the limit on the Mare Harbour road is 40mph). He said it was the Crown's contention that Mr Drake must not have been paying proper attention to the road, adding that there was no alternate explanation and none had been offered. Two passengers, Mr Burton and Mr Kennington, were thrown from the vehicle which was on the wrong side of the carriageway, swerved left then sharply right before rolling and coming to a standstill in the ditch, Mr de Berry explained. Mr Burton died as a result of his injuries while Mr Kennington who spent a number of months in hospital, could recall little of what happened. Two other passengers were trapped inside the vehicle and suffered various injuries while one passenger was not injured at all. Defence counsel Keith Watson thanked the prosecution for a "balanced and distinct" account of the incident; he said Mr Drake had returned to the Islands 14 days ago having had, "the inner sorrow and guilt over what had happened to his friends," hanging over him for five months. Continued on page 3.

Norwegian Crown on her own

ONLY one cruise ship is due to visit the Falklands this week. Norwegian Crownwill call in to Stanley on Tuesday carrying approximately 1,052 passengers.

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Categories: Falkland Islands.

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