MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Falklands Governor Howard Pearce final parade
Today Mr. Howard Pearce CVO donned his ceremonial uniform and plumed helmet and left Government House in Stanley for the last time as Governor of the Falkland Islands, a post he has held for nearly three years.
On a chilly, but fortunately still morning, close by Stanley's Public Jetty, which last year saw some 40,000 tourists come ashore to visit this little piece of Britain in the South Atlantic, Mr. Pearce inspected an honour guard made up of members of the Falkland Islands Defence Force, while children from the Infant and Junior School enthusiastically waved small Falkland Islands flags.
After inspecting the guard of honour it was time to entrust the Governor's official sword, symbol of his authority, to the Speaker of the Islands' Legislative Assembly, Mr. Lewis Clifton, to be handed over in a few weeks time to Mr. Pearce's successor as Governor, Mr. Alan Huckle, when the latter arrives in the Falklands.
This task safely accomplished, there was time for the Governor to chat to members of the Falklands youth organizations: Rainbows, Brownies, Beavers, Cubs and Sea Cadets, accompanied by his wife Caroline, whom he met and married during his tour of duty - as it turns out the last in his diplomatic career ? and their baby Suzanna, born like her mother, in Holland.
Finally, after farewells to Councillors, heads of government departments and some of the many friends the Governor and his wife have made during their time in the Falklands, they and their daughter boarded the launch which was to take them to the Fisheries Protection Vessel, Dorada and on to Mare Harbour, close to the Mount Pleasant air base, from which the Pearce's will finally depart the Islands on tomorrow's LAN Chile flight.
As the Dorada steamed slowly out of Stanley Harbour, the sound of a seventeen gun salute echoing from the surrounding hills was answered by several blasts of the ship's siren and a peal of bells from Stanley's Cathedral.
John Fowler (Mercopress) Stanley
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