As Ignorant As Sheep – Velma Malcolm

Photo: Velma Malcolm (Subjects – probably Fids, but uknown so far)

As Ignorant As Sheep – Velma Malcolm

Forward – Steve Wormald

The title is because this was my feeling of the way the Colonial Office, now the Foreign & Commnweath Office, tended to view us along with hundreds of journalists and many, many visiting diplomats and others who voiced their opinion in one way or another with no knowledge of the Falklands whatsoever.

Tony and Janet Westlake, non-Fid friends of mine stopped in at Stanley on a Santiago to Buenos Aires cruise. I think I had suggested they call in at the Rose Hotel and meet to Velma Malcom with whom I had developed quite a rapport on several tours via Stanley. “Rapport” may not be quite the right word, but most Fids will know what I mean…

Velma gave Tony a copy of her autobiography for me, aptly titled “As Ignorant as Sheep”, together with some color photos of herself, the Rose, and Stanley. Here are some Fid-related extracts and some of the grips.

Velma Malcolm – Born: 1930 Died: 2004 (in Santiago, Chile)

In September, 1942 my father bought the Rose Hotel from Albert Hardy and we moved there on 1 st September 1942. Now a lot of the Royal Engineers were living in what I’ve described as Fritz Lellman’s shop in the Co-op grounds but the building’s no longer there. They went to the Rose on Sunday, then went home and had a fight and somebody drew a knife so they were banned from going to the Rose for quite some time. But one of them, a fellow called Frank Johnson, was quite a good artist so he drew a very nice picture of a rose which during the rest of our stay there hung above the fireplace in the bar. It wasn’t framed and so it got very smoky. We didn’t want to lose it so we ended up spending hours when the bar was painted, painting round the Rose design but not actually touching the Rose. Whether it’s still there I don’t know, I very much doubt it. (Note from Ailsa Heathman, Velma’s daughter: “Unfortunately the rose is not still on the wall in the bar but the present owner is doing much to restore the old place after many years of neglect.  I think we sold it in 1987”)

Operation Tabarin was set up in 1943. This was the beginning of the present day British Antarctic Survey. They recruited people from Britain and a few navvies and cooks from Stanley and they went to the Antarctic and built the bases which until recently were permanently manned. Some of the men who came out to go south lived at the Rose with us and thus began our long association with BAS. It’s getting a bit thin on the ground now as we all get older and they have to retire whenever they are 60.

Before I move on I think perhaps I should give you an idea of the social life at the Rose from 1950 until we left. I am sure I have already said somewhere that the Falkland Islands Dependencies Surveys personnel adopted the Rose as their pub. But this didn’t develop until after the 1960’s. They came in the door about 7pm demanding food. In those days food was not served anywhere but maybe Stanley Cottage tearooms if they were stil operational, everybody went home for their meals. After some gentle and more forceful persuasion Mrs Carty Browning started supplying sausage rolls whenever the Dependencies Survey boats came through the Narrows and this well and truly got up the noses of the locals, never mind they wouldn’t buy food, they only had it if you gave it to them. Sometimes I would make egg and bacon pies too and these were also very popular. ,Eventually as the same people were coming out every year to go south their demands became more pressing.

  • Velma in her Garden after retiring from The Rose
  • The Original Rose
  • Velma, BEM, with Prince Charles during his 1999 visit, with Kevin Clapp, Ted’s son, to her right.
Velma was awarded the British Empire Medal in 1978 “For Services to the Community”. With Thanks to Ailsa Heathman, Velma’s daughter

By roughly 1970-75 they decided they wanted a snack so despite difficulties preparing it we did sausages, eggs and chips. The lads were very good because if we were too busy in the bar to go to the kitchen and peel spuds or do things they would go out and peel the potatoes and so we were in business. This maddened the locals even more, although they never ordered having usually had their supper at home before coming out. Eventually the boys would come before lunch too and want bangers, chips and eggs. Again they would go and get the spuds peeled or do it at the bar counter. A great helper was big Al Smith, who was in fact Harvey Smith’s brother. Harvey was a famous show jumper but Al did not flaunt this. He had been coming to our house for several years before we discovered this fact.

  • Fids Corner
  • Wet & Windy Stanley Jetty
  • The Rose Hotel
With Thanks to Ailsa Heathman, Velma’s daughter

Here is Velma’s Obituary

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