MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

New Falklands Association chairman pays tribute to David Tatham and anticipates “a very busy 2012”

Former governor Alan Huckle loves the Falklands

As previously reported by Mercopress, Mr David Tatham, a former Governor of the Falkland Islands, stood down as chair of the Falkland Islands Association at the recent Annual General Meeting of the Association held on 10th December after the Battle Day Ceremony of Remembrance at the Cenotaph in London.

Mr David Tatham is replaced by Mr Alan Huckle another former Governor of the Falkland Islands. In paying tribute to the dedication and efforts of David Tatham during his 7 years leading the Association, Alan Huckle also pointed out that next year will be a very busy time for the Association.

Alan Huckle commented: “I’m very privileged to be elected as the new Chair. It is certainly going to be very difficult to even try to fill David Tatham’s shoes. He’s been a very well respected and able chairman and there’s absolutely no way that I’ll be able to match his historical skills, his Dictionary of the Falklands Biography, as you know, has been an excellent initiative. However, there is a very good body of people on the executive committee so there will be a lot of continuity and I will of course be very well supported”.

Huckle went on to say that one of the main aims of the Falkland Islands Association [FIA] is to help to protect the interests of the Falkland Islanders from the UK perspective and particularly by raising awareness of the position of the Islanders, certainly to a UK audience and also internationally.

“Both the Falkland Island Government and the UK Government are doing as much as they can to spread the word and it’s not for the FIA to cut across that effort, but certainly we can assist, and I think, you know it will be a very busy year next year. It’s the 30th Anniversary of the Falklands Conflict. Argentina is continuing to up the ante, if I can call it that, and so there will be a lot to do. Personally, I’m very pleased to be doing this. I’ve always had the Falklands best interest in mind, I love the place. So, even though I’m not an Islander and the best people to speak on behalf of the Islanders, are of course the Islanders themselves, if I can help in any way then I will do so. I think a key importance of the Association is to make sure there is a sufficient body of influential and respected personalities within the UK who understand the Falklands and will argue on its behalf. Obviously we are going to try to expand the base of our membership, but the key will be to get opinion-formers involved and to have a really good understanding of the Falkland Islands, because without that, the basic problem will not be properly understood.”

Member of Legislative Assembly Dick Sawle, who attended the AGM and Battle Day Ceremony on behalf of all elected members and the Falkland Islands Government, also paid tribute to David Tatham’s, “hard work and support he has given the Islands”. Quoted in Penguin News, MLA Dick Sawle, described Mr Tatham as “a huge asset to the Falklands in what have been, as always, stormy times. Argentina continues to attempt to impose its rule on us”, but he added, “the UK government is 100% supportive of our fundamental right to self-determination, as have all past and present Governors such as David”.

David Tatham has been an active and passionate supporter of the Falkland Islands for many years. He was a popular Governor between 1992 and 1995 and prior to that was head of the Foreign Office Falkland Islands Department in London, responsible for international components of the Falklands’ affairs. He has been a trustee and Executive Committee member of the Falkland Islands Trust, Chairman of the Shackleton Scholarship Fund which he assisted in establishing, a founder member of the South Georgia Association, and editor of a the published Dictionary of Falklands Biography.

The Falkland Islands Association brings together those who support the continuing freedom of the people of the Falkland Islands to support and promote the rights of the Islanders to decide their own future in accordance with their own wishes, without being subjected to pressure direct or indirect from any quarter. It is open to everyone who supports the right of the Falkland Islanders to self-determination. The Association is independent, but maintains close links with many other Falklands organisations, and by monitoring political and press activity and publishing its own newsletter seeks to rebut hostile, inaccurate or misleading press reports and to reach a wide range of people who are able to influence government policy and public opinion.

Every December, on the nearest Saturday to Battle Day (8th December), the Association lays wreaths at the Cenotaph in London to commemorate those who lost their lives in and around the Falkland Islands from the naval Battle of the Falklands in 1914 to the Battle for the Falklands in 1982. The ceremony is followed by the Annual General Meeting.