FIMA Friends: New Website Launch – 22 September 2026
FIG Representative to the UK and Europe, Richard Hislop, on ‘X’ yesterday (22 September 2026): “Delighted to see that The Friends of the Falklands Museum and the National Archives – the FIMA Friends – has launched a new website. Please do check it out!“
“Our new bright and dynamic online presence will bring us to the attention of many more people around the world, giving them a fascinating insight into the history and heritage of the Falkland Islands. The site will also highlight the importance of our work, supporting the Islands’ history and heritage institutions.”
Graham Bound, Chair, Friends of the Falkland Islands Museum and Jane Cameron National Archives.
FIMA Friends has been a registered charity in the UK since July 2016 and is run entirely by volunteers. All are welcome to join and all members contribute to preserving and presenting the history of the Falkland Islands to residents and visitors alike. Anyone that would like to support FIMA Friends may join here.
Karen Clapp, the FIA Membership Secretary is lending her experience to FIMA Friends as well by becoming their Secretary.
The FIMA website has links on their home page to the Falkland Islands Museum and National Trust (FIMNT) website as well as the Jane Cameron National Archives.
Merco Press released an article about FIMA yesterday (22 September 2026).
The UK charity that acquires and sends Falklands heritage items to the archipelago has launched a new website after securing more than 40 objects, documents and books for Stanley’s historical institutions over the past decade.
The Friends of the Falkland Islands Museum and the Jane Cameron National Archives, known as FIMA Friends, has been a registered charity in the United Kingdom since July 2016 and directs its funds to research into the archipelago’s maritime history and the preservation of artefacts and archives. Its acquisitions, obtained through auctions, direct purchases and donations, go to the Historic Dockyard Museum, the Jane Cameron National Archives and the library in Stanley. The most recent is an original oil painting depicting the action in San Carlos Water during the 1982 war. The website is fimafriends.co.uk
“We have spent over £60,000 in the last 14 years, contributing to historically important collections and helping the institutions share them with the public,” said the charity’s chair, Graham Bound, who founded Penguin News in 1979, the only newspaper produced in the archipelago. “We have ensured that many valuable items are now where they belong: in the Falkland Islands.”
Among the items returned is the first known image of Stanley, a painting of the town shortly after its founding by the Italian artist Edoardo De Martino, whose works are also held in the Royal Collection in London. The charity also located and purchased the memorabilia of Louis Baillon, the only islander to win an Olympic gold medal, as a member of England’s hockey team at the 1908 London Games.
Secretary and Trustee Karen Clapp, who led the website’s development, said it will be the charity’s principal means of recruiting supporters. “It is important to have a digital footprint that allows people to see what we do and, just as importantly, join us with just a few clicks of a button,” she said, adding that trustees will be more easily contactable, particularly by anyone who learns of an item of historical value to the archipelago.
The site also carries details of forthcoming online talks and access to recordings of past lectures on the region’s history. The charity has additionally funded exhibitions, publications, training and specialist equipment for the museum and archives.
Edoardo De Martino’s first know image of Stanley
