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Penguin News Update

Headlines:
School head walks out; £3.8 million loan for patrol vessel; 50,000 cruise visitors forecast.

"Happy Birthday Camp Ed!"

CHILDREN from Camp gathered at St Mary's Hall yesterday afternoon to celebrate 110 years of Camp Education. They attended school in town this week while their parents attended a series of meetings as part of Farmers Week. Pictured above are: (back row) Shaun Evans, Keanu Bagley, Matthew Hansen, Echo Goodwin, Amanda McGhie; (front row) Callum Boyce, Logan Dickson, Jack Alazia and Niall Evans.

School head walks out

THE Headteacher of the Falkland Islands Community School (FICS) Alan Purvis has quit. This week Mr Purvis informed the Director of Education, Mrs. Barbara Booth that he has decided to bring forward his resignation from his post which he had already announced would take effect from the end of the year. As of now, he will no longer be managing the school in his capacity as Headteacher. Following discussions between the school's senior management team and Mrs. Booth, Katherine Nelson, in partnership with senior teachers Shirley Adams-Leach and Louise Taylor, will take over the day-to-day management of the school, initially until the end of the academic year. Mrs. Booth gave no indication of Mr Purvis' reasons for resigning early. The portfolio holder for Education, Councillor Richard Stevens, together with Councillors Janet Robertson and Andrea Clausen will be discussing longer term arrangements with Mrs. Booth, and the school will continue to operate as normal, she said. Mrs. Booth commented, "On behalf of the Falkland Islands Government and of generations of Falkland Islands pupils and parents, we would like to thank Alan Purvis for the dedication and commitment which he has given to education in the Falkland Islands over the last 19 years as a teacher and latterly as Headteacher of FICS." She added, "Mr Purvis also spent a short period as Acting Director of Education early this year. "The community has every reason to be grateful to him, and we wish him every success in his future endeavours."

£3.8 million loan for patrol vessel

"As a last resort" Councillors have set aside funds for financing a loan to purchase a fishery patrol vessel. The guarantee of a £3.85 million loan was requested from the government by the General Manager of the Falkland Islands Development Corporation (FIDC) in the context that commercial lending was being sought and the government facility would only be used in the event of failure to obtain it. An extraordinary meeting of Executive Council (ExCo) referred the matter to Standing Finance Committee (SFC) for consideration and the loan was approved. According to a minute from the SFC meeting, the committee was satisfied that an adequate level of security would be provided and the purchase of the vessel had the potential to benefit the Falkland Islands, "both practically and economically". The Committee agreed that, if the £3.85 million loan was required "as a last resort", the funding should be made available from the Capital Equalization Fund and paid to FIDC who would arrange and manage the loan on the terms and conditions set out in the ExCo paper.

50,000 cruise visitors forecast

A RECORD number of cruise ship visitors are expected in the Islands next season. Approximately 190 ship visits are currently planned Island-wide and the number of people landing ashore is expected to be in excess of 50,000. Last year's total was around 40,000 people. This year, the Golden Princess alone is expected to bring 3,000. Sammy Marsh of Sulivan Shipping Ltd said bookings are still coming in "thick and fast", and the coming season looks like it will be "busier than ever". She added, "Sulivan Shipping have exciting new excursions to offer and are looking forward to a hectic season." Numbers of land-based visitors are harder to predict, however Jenny Luxton of Stanley Services Ltd and Sally Ellis of International Tours and Travel both said the approaching season looks marginally better than the last. On average, around 600 land-based visitors holiday in the Islands each year. Ms Luxton commented, "My North American clients still seem put off by prices, with the dollar rate to sterling. "However my visit to Iceland (with other members of the Falklands tourism industry) was very useful and I will put some of their marketing skills into trying to entice more visitors to the Falklands." Mrs. Ellis said her company is well on target for the 2006/07 season in terms of bookings already received. She commented, "It is interesting to note that last year we received virtually no Americans and this year there is a definite surge of enquiries from North America. "At the moment I can't really hazard a guess at why that is, unless it is to do with more and more fear of travelling across the Atlantic to Europe in terms of the terrorist threat." She said she believes 2007/08 is going to be a "bumper year" because of the 25th anniversary of the Falklands War. "Many battlefield tour operators have already booked dates for mid and end 2007.

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