Speaker Anita Mosey

Anita blames their itchy feet for impelling Stuart to apply for the position of CEO of the Falkland Islands Company in 1989.  Anglo United had bought Coalite and found that by virtue of the takeover they had acquired the Falkland Islands Company which had been run from a base in England.  Anglo was advertising for a CEO to be based in the Falklands.

Hence it was that Stuart set out to the Falklands alone and Anita was left in the hands of Anglo to choose a wooden house which would be exported to the Falklands. She chose a 5 bedroom 2 storey house, which was dismantled and shipped out to Stanley in due course. She told us it was a lovely house and she was sad to leave it behind when she left, but they weren’t offering to bring it back!

The Falkland Islands Company was a huge organisation that controlled all the imports and exports for the Falkland Islands, supplying and running the stores with clothing, food, and equipment. It was a massive logistical exercise with procurement, shipping and air freight to organise for numerous islands spread out over a large area. There were also 4 farms with thousands of sheep! Anita tells us that the late night store (which supplied the visiting cruise ships) in fact had the highest turnover of any store in Britain at the time.

It was a challenging environment in which to live. Fresh vegetables and fruit were scarce at first due to the distance travelled, and there was little grown locally at the time.  Later, the Governor of the Falklands invested in a hydroponic farm supplying wonderful fresh fruit and vegetables, much to Anita’s joy.  It was not a severe climate as one might think – it is no further south than the UK is north.  The temperature rarely dips below 2 degrees, but the wind chill factor keeps the maximum to around 19. 

Anita and Stuart greatly enjoyed life in the Falklands. Stuart told me he loved every moment and Anita remembers with fondness many days spent sitting on beaches with penguins and albatrosses nudging her to share her picnic, fur seals basking below and dolphins playing in the bay. Her younger son stayed for a while and life was pretty good. Anita was a supply teacher in the local school and they had plenty of entertainment in the form of visitors such as Margaret Thatcher, the Archbishop of Canterbury and Terry Waite just after his release from captivity.  There were also the visits to cruise ships with their on board shows.

Stuart Mosey has been a member of Rotary since 1980 when he joined the Rotary Club of Lagos in Nigeria. He was working at the time as MD of Guthrie, supplier of batteries and machinery in Nigeria. Later he was MD of John Holt, a company in the Lonrho group, one of the largest companies in Nigeria.  He was a member of Chesham Rotary Club in the UK from 1996 – 2002 and served as President during this time.  In 2002 – 2018 Stuart was a member of Rotary Souillac-en-Quercy in France, serving as President there too.  Anita has now joined the Rotary Club of Twickenham to continue the connection and they attend the club together.

Thank you Anita and Stuart for your wonderful talk and pictures of the Falklands.  And for your continued contribution to the family of Rotary. 

(Photos and information have been provided and approved with express permission of Anita Mosey)