It’s all change at the Governor’s house. Next week, 53 year-old Howard Pearce (HP) is due to arrive in the Falklands to take up his post as the new Governor. Mr. Pearce has just completed three years as High Commissioner in Malta. During his lengthy Diplomatic career, he’s done stints in Hungary, and Kenya and in Argentina, where he was posted during the 1970s. He told Jenny Hargreaves (JH) he’s looking forward to his new job.

HP: I think it’s an extremely exciting job. One of the things which impressed me during my period of briefing has been the extraordinary wide range of the job. So, I am looking forward to that. It’s clearly an important aim of the Falkland Islands Government to diversify the economy as much as possible. There are a lot of very interesting projects under discussion at the moment and I hope to be involved with that. There are also a number of challenges, which Government faces and I look forward to getting my teeth into those as well. I am looking enormously to arriving in the Falkland Islands next Monday, the second of December, and to taking up the job and taking up residence. And, I look forward to meeting everybody down there soon.

JH: I gather you might have a hobby you might be pursuing when you are down there.

HP: Well, several hobbies, actually. I am very interested in wildlife and I look forward to getting to know the bird population down in the Falkland Islands. It's also been suggested that I take up fly-fishing. I’m looking forward to having a go at that as well.

(100X Transcription Service)