MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Over 40 items and £60,000: the Friends of the Falklands Museum launch their website

FIMA Friends has been a registered charity in the UK since July 2016 and directs its funds to research into the archipelago's maritime history and the preservation of artefacts and archives

The UK charity that acquires and sends Falklands heritage items to the archipelago has launched a new website after securing more than 40 objects, documents and books for Stanley's historical institutions over the past decade.

The Friends of the Falkland Islands Museum and the Jane Cameron National Archives, known as FIMA Friends, has been a registered charity in the United Kingdom since July 2016 and directs its funds to research into the archipelago's maritime history and the preservation of artefacts and archives. Its acquisitions, obtained through auctions, direct purchases and donations, go to the Historic Dockyard Museum, the Jane Cameron National Archives and the library in Stanley. The most recent is an original oil painting depicting the action in San Carlos Water during the 1982 war. The website is fimafriends.co.uk

“We have spent over £60,000 in the last 14 years, contributing to historically important collections and helping the institutions share them with the public,” said the charity's chair, Graham Bound, who founded Penguin News in 1979, the only newspaper produced in the archipelago. “We have ensured that many valuable items are now where they belong: in the Falkland Islands.”

Among the items returned is the first known image of Stanley, a painting of the town shortly after its founding by the Italian artist Edoardo De Martino, whose works are also held in the Royal Collection in London. The charity also located and purchased the memorabilia of Louis Baillon, the only islander to win an Olympic gold medal, as a member of England's hockey team at the 1908 London Games.

Secretary and trustee Karen Clapp, who led the website's development, said it will be the charity's principal means of recruiting supporters. “It is important to have a digital footprint that allows people to see what we do and, just as importantly, join us with just a few clicks of a button,” she said, adding that trustees will be more easily contactable, particularly by anyone who learns of an item of historical value to the archipelago.

The site also carries details of forthcoming online talks and access to recordings of past lectures on the region's history. The charity has additionally funded exhibitions, publications, training and specialist equipment for the museum and archives.