How we’re marking Remembrance Day in the Falklands

Last Saturday was pure sunbathing weather. I mention this because a) I’m writing from the Falkland Islands, where such occurrences are not exactly regular, and b) I spent the whole beautiful day, with two or three dozen other volunteers, drilling through rock to stake out a couple of hundred 6ft metal figures. I even had to wear a hat.

This wasn’t the first time I’d attempted such a challenge. I lent a hand twice last year – first when we put up 100 Tommy silhouettes commemorating the centenary of the Royal British Legion. In the main these were set out on the sloping banks around the Stanley Cemetery and its first and second world war Cross of Sacrifice.

As with all inaugural events, lessons were learned – namely that the cemetery was founded on a hill made out of concrete. The lightweight 2D cut-outs – modified specifically for near-gale South Atlantic-type conditions, with guy ropes, rebar stake and 18in spikes descending from their feet – could not simply be stabbed into the ground by hand.