Written by John Bishop
The Falkland Islands became a British Colony in the 19th Century. The settlement soon grew as a deep-water port, specialising at first in ship repairs. Before the construction of the Panama Canal, Port Stanley was a major stop for ships travelling through the Straits of Magellan. The rough waters and intense storms found at the tip of the continent forced many ships to Stanley Harbour, and the shipping industry helped to drive the island economy. Later it became a base for whaling and sealing in the South Atlantic and Antarctic and was an important coaling station for the Royal Navy. This led to ships based here being involved in the Battle of the Falkland Islands in the First World War, and the Battle of the River Plate in the Second World War. In the early 80’s Argentina was led by a Military Junta. The economy was falling apart and in a bid to reinforce nationalism they invaded and occupied the Island with 11,000 troops in March 1982. British resistance was in the form of 70 Royal marines. Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister at the time and Ronald Reagan President of the USA. Lord Carrington was Foreign Secretary and he resigned. John Nott (educated at Bradfield College) offered his resignation as Defence Secretary which was not accepted. He had reduced the sea defences, generally making it worse for the Islands and it had included the scrapping of HMS Endurance. War was declared on the invading forces and immediately a Task Force was mobilised to head to the South Atlantic. It was given 96 hours to set off, equipped and ready for war. Troops were briefed and trained as they travelled the 8000 miles on two aircraft carriers, the Queen Elizabeth 2 and the Canberra stopping half way at Ascension Islands for refuelling. The main Argentinian forces were around Port Stanley and they had heavily mined approaches. The plan was to do an amphibious attack from Goose Bay, knowing it would be hampered by bad weather and very difficult mountainous terrain with little air cover and poor communications. Some of the shipping was hit badly but in spite of the terrible conditions the campaign was a success, Port Stanley being taken with the surrender of the Argentinian forces. The loss of life was substantial, 255 British servicemen were killed and 777 wounded including Lt Col H Jones who was awarded the VC posthumous. The Argentinian losses were substantially more. The results were that civilian rule was restored in Argentina, Margaret Thatcher converted widespread patriotic support into a landslide victory for the Conservatives in 1983, the forces realised the inadequacies of the current kit for its troops and the Falkland Islands economy has prospered in fishing, tourism, sheep farming and oil for the 3000 plus people who live there.
Martin Parsons then explained in detail how he had been tasked with making three memorials to the Falklands War in stained glass. The process was long and had to be done with extreme attention to the detail for a successful outcome. They used the map of Port Stanley and then accurately put on it the routes the troops took with images of soldiers, their equipment, the supporting helicopters and ships. Three were made, one for the Port Stanley governing offices, one for Liberty Lodge for veterans and rehabilitation and one went to a private collection. Each panel took about 60 hours to make but a small tribute to those who lost their lives in this sad conflict.
