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Falklands promotes its traditions and rural life with farm visits
The Fitzroy tobacconist, from the FLH Group, about forty-five minutes from the capital Stanley
Fitzroy’s stay in the Falkland Islands celebrated its first open house party on a Saturday this month, with more than 200 visitors enjoying everything the establishment has to offer. Suzi Clarke, from the aforementioned stay, said she was “surprised and excited” by the number of people present.
“It would be good to celebrate more of these festivals in the future”, adding “it is extremely important to get people to come to the countryside and discover what it is all about and all the activities that take place in rural areas of the Falklands”.
The event raised around £1,400 which will be donated to the Falklands Shearers to help professionals from the Islands attend and take part in international competitions.
Four Falklands shearers have been selected to compete in the New Zealand shearing championships next March. Adam Dickson and Evan Jones will compete in shearing, while Pilar Castro and Talia Jones will compete as helpers and wool handlers.
The Fitzroy Ranch Open Party began in the shearing shed with the hosts Suzi Clarcke and the farm manager of the FLH Group (a group of farms owned by a private company belonging to the Falklands government) Gilberto Castro who, addressing those present, told what the work in the Field is like, the different procedures they need to know, among other things, how to place caravans on the sheep and mark the lambs.
Gilberto also gave a shearing demonstration before his daughter Pilar showed how the clippers are handled and how the clippers are supported in the process. They then left the shed where Gilberto gave a brief example of how to herd sheep, ably assisted by his dogs and even with the help of a volunteer among the visitors.
Afterwards, people were able to walk around the farm where they found guachos, lambs, cows and ponies. For lunch, a succulent roast was served which, according to Suzi, “was probably one of the highlights of the day”. After lunch, visitors with canine friends were able to take advantage of the agility of these companions in field tasks.
Fitzroy Farm regularly receives visits from nursing schools, schoolchildren and tourists, but this was the first time an open day to the public had been organized. Suzi thanked everyone who helped make the event a success and everyone who took the time to attend. “I think it’s very important to let children experience country life, agriculture and all the tasks that must be carried out on a farm, all with the future in mind.”
“It is very important that children have time outside and in nature”
In turn, Gilberto, the farm manager, who recently collaborated with a journalist to write his autobiography, both in the Falklands and in his home country, Chile, where he grew up in very poor conditions. The autobiography will be a link between the two places and the very different lives they meant for a farmer who became the administrator of one of the Islands’ large farms.
Gilberto comes from a family of twelve people, lives in a reserve with just two rooms, a dirt floor and had to work hard to get an education: the contrast of those years with his life as the administrator of a large farm in the Falklands is truly extreme.
The couple hope to secure funding in the near future to publish the book and hope that tourism will help raise the profile of the Falklands and its rural life.
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