BRIDGET Drakeford, a potter and regular exhibitor in both h.Art week and Hereford Contemporary Craft Fair, who works near Fownhope, has received a Shackleton Scholarship to visit the Falkland Islands this month.

As a long-established potter, who has shown her work in London and internationally, Bridget will spend three weeks in the islands, where she expects to commission a kiln which is already in the museum in the capital, Stanley, and to provide masterclasses for children and adults interested in producing pottery. Her aim is to establish a group of potters to produce work for sale locally and to the large number of tourists who visit Stanley, usually on cruise liners. (On a busy day the number of tourists landing can be twice the entire population of the town).

Talking about her planned visit, Bridget said: “I hope to meet anyone with an interest in pottery while I am in the Falklands and I look forward to setting up some workshops for both adults and children. Although my experience is with wheel-thrown work, I am very happy to work with hand-building techniques, like decorated tiles, which would be easier for beginners.

This will be her first visit to the Islands, but Bridget comes from a family with long-established Falklands links. Her middle name is Lafone and two merchants named Lafone invested heavily in land in the Falklands in the 1840s, forming the basis of the Falkland Islands Company.

Shackleton Scholarships were established in 1995 to commemorate the explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton and his son the statesman Lord Shackleton. The Fund provides about three academic scholarships to visit the Falklands every year and the same number of Quality of Life scholarships, such as Bridget's, for artists, performers, sportsmen and others whose visits will improve the quality of life on the Islands.