Robin makes Falklands a safer place
Newmarket Journal - December 2011 ROBIN SWANSON WHO IS DEPLOYING TO THE FALKLANDS TO HELP DE-MINE LAND.
A RETIRED lieutenant colonel from Kennett celebrated the new year by travelling to the Falkland Islands to oversee a land mine clearance project.
Robin Swanson, head of the Falkland Island De-mining Programme Office, set off on New Year’s Eve to start the three-month second phase of the project, which will fence off areas of mined land and release safe land for recreational use.
Speaking to the Journal before he left, Lt Col Swanson, 56, of Station Road, said: “The most important difference about this second phase is that the project aim is to release land which is currently unavailable for social use but is considered to be safe.”
He said large areas of land in the islands were declared suspect after the 1982 Falklands War, which later analysis showed only contained limited areas of laid minefields.
One of the areas the project hopes to release is the Sappers Hill Corral, a stone-walled landmark which has been fenced off for 30 years.
Lt Col Swanson, who was a Royal Engineer in the British Army for 34 years, visited the islands, off the coast of South America in the South Atlantic Ocean, for the first phase of the project in 2009.
He said: “I am hoping the weather will be more on our side as last time it was the worst weather on record. It’s a very hostile environment and the terrain is particularly tough.
“We had a tremendous amount of support from the islanders during the first phase of the pilot de-mining project and I am sure we will receive the same welcome and support again.”
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Friday 25 May 2012
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