The Falkland Islanders Resistance Memorial – Est’d 2023.

15th December 2011

John Worle and I had a chance meeting at the Bell Inn at Tillington, Herefordshire which led to John Worle donating 8 trees to our project and these were planted in December 2011.

August 2023 Twelve years on…….

The Falkland Islanders Resistance Memorial

The Falkland Islanders formed the very first British Resistance Force since the Second World War.

The Falkland Islanders Resistance Memorial Interpretation plaque

• Memorial Text
• Memorial Interpretation
• This memorial depicts three Upland/Magellan geese (Chloephaga picta) in flight heading south. These geese rarely leave the Falkland Islands as they choose to roam free as did the British citizens of the Islands during the invasion in 1982.
• However during the occupation the Islanders basic freedom was interrupted with restrictions, curfews and the incarceration of whole communities in cramped dirty conditions. Many were placed under house arrest and were not allowed to carry out their professional assistance to the population and they virtually became prisoners in their own lands.
• Undaunted by the massive enemy force trying to control them, many set about covert means of resistance at the risk of their own lives prior to the task force arriving and then went onto help British troops after their successful landings as the conflict raged. Some fought alongside our troops and others acted as guides and provided vital intelligence.
• No conflict is without civilian casualties. Three women lost their lives as the battles intensified around Port Stanley in the closing days of the conflict, before the enemy surrendered on the 14th June 1982.
• The artist/blacksmith Bromley O’Hare felt that the 3 flying geese would be a fitting tribute to ensure that Doreen Bonner, Mary Goodwin and Susan Whitley as well as the 255 members of the armed forces and those civilians employed on our Naval Vessels who lost their lives would not be forgotten.
• The three geese in flight represent Lightness, Movement and Freedom.
• Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher April 3rd 1982. “They are few in number, but they have the right to live in peace, To choose their own way of life and to determine their own allegiance”

• The Falkland Islanders Resistance Memorial consists of seven elements.

• The Falklands Memorial Way plaque was unveiled by the Lord Lieutenant of Staffordshire Mr Ian Dudson CBE on the 14th June 2014.
• The Falkland Islanders Resistance memorial plaque was unveiled on the 14th June 2014 by the Hon. Michael Poole MLA.
• The memorial plaques honouring Doreen Bonner, Mary Goodwin and Susan Whitley were established in 2013 beside trees facing south and were dedicated in 2014.
• The eight trees set on the ordinal and cardinal points of the compass consist of 5 Cider Apple and 3 Perry trees.
• The Falkland Islanders Resistance Memorial consists of 3 steel geese designed to represent the native Magellan (Chloephaga picta) goose in flight.
• The Maquette/Model consisting of one of the geese in flight is destined to be flown to the Falkland Islands.
• The 11 small garden areas are planted extensively with grasses to represent the Islands natural habitat. Each goose or CHLOE’s as they are known have been established on a mound of different grasses.

• Memorial Text.
• This orchard of five Cider and three Perry Apple trees is dedicated to the men, women and children of the Falkland Islands who refused to be subjected to the rule of an enemy force after their Islands were invaded on the 2nd April 1982.
• The Islanders were liberated by British Forces on the 14th June 1982 but not before the loss of over 250 men and women.
• What is not well-known is the “Spirit of Resistance” that the Falkland Islanders adopted, marking the first British Resistance Movement since the second world war. This is something that they and future Islanders should be very proud of.
• These brave Islanders spied on, sabotaged, and disrupted enemy activities before the British Task Force landed. Islanders then helped our troops by fighting with and alongside them, supplying vehicles, food and clothing, gathering vital intelligence and offering comfort to injured troops, all often under fire.

• Memorial Text
• This Horse Chestnut tree was planted in honour of the military and civilian personnel who helped liberate the Falkland Islands between April 2nd and the 14th June 1982.
• This memorial way was opened by the Lord Lieutenant for Staffordshire Mr. Ian Dudson MBE on the 14th June 2014.

Extract from Penguin News Falkland Islands – 30th June 1982