A CLERGYMAN who moved to the Falklands today spoke of how he was helping people deal with the devastating effects of war - 22 years on.

The Rev Paul Sweeting is the rector at Christchurch Cathedral, 8,000-miles away in the Falkland Islands' capital Port Stanley.

Mr Sweeting, 34, left St Gabriel's Church, in Brownhill, Blackburn, after he and wife Maxine saw the job advertised in the church press.

Along with children Jonty, seven, and Adam six, they arrived in the capital, which has a population of 1,800, last March.

Mr Sweeting said the islands were providing his family with an incredible amount of pleasure - especially the wildlife.

But relations between Argentina and the Falkland Islands were still strained, he said.

And Mr Sweeting has found the effects of the 1982 war were still being felt by some of its residents. He said: "A lot of my work is with individuals and behind the scenes. One particular resident was at Goose Green where the residents were locked in the community centre and emerged to find their homes destroyed.

"It was literally a battle field filled with all the horrors of war. The person was a teenager then, and has never really got over it."

Other issues Mr Sweeting has dealt with include high levels of alcohol abuse in the community and also volatile wool prices which can leave farmers with financial problems.

But the serious side of the vicar's work is balanced against the delights of a very diverse community and remote, beautiful countryside.

He said: "We have people here from Chile, Tristan da Cunha, Zimbabwe, Germany and Brazil.

"There is a lot of work here. When I came here the employment rate was two! People come from all over the world to work here.

"People from the UK think there is not much to do here, but in all honesty there are not enough hours in the day or days in the week."

As well as enjoying the wildlife the family are leading a simpler way of life with Maxine learning how to use a spinning wheel.

And Mr Sweeting revealed he misses the real ales of the Three B's brewery sold in the Royal Oak in Pleckgate Road.

But after almost a year he said the family were revelling in their big adventure.

He said: "We are loving it here. Of course I love the UK and I would be very surprised if we never went back, but you never know what's around the corner."