The Xtra Diary - Why not let the public celebrate the royal wedding in the Queen’s Garden?
Published: 28 April, 2011
HUNDREDS of thousands of flag-waving well-wishers will gather outside the gates of Buckingham Palace today to cheer on the royal wedding.
But why not let them celebrate in the Queen’s Garden?
The idea of throwing open the historic space to the public was in Michael Foot’s mind, even as he lay in his hospital bed at St Mary’s, Paddington, in 1964, following a serious crash.
A letter to Foot’s wife Jill from the newspaper proprietor Lord Beaverbrook – recently discovered lodged in one of his old books – reveals that the then editor of the Evening Standard, Charles Wintour, was expecting an article along those lines.
But then Beaverbrook’s mind was clearly drifting to more important matters, as he prepared to return home to his palatial Cherkley Court mansion, complete with manicured gardens.
“I am just off to Cherkley in a few minutes,” he wrote, “after I have had lunch with Churchill. And that luncheon party requires some effort, enough for one day!”
Guided tours of the garden at Buckingham Palace were made available to the general public for the first time in 2009.
Dr Ang’s ‘night job’ is Palestine
A DIMINUTIVE Asian woman stepped up to the platform at St Martin-in-the-Fields church in Trafalgar Square on Monday.
Dr Ang Swee Chai spoke softly into the microphone and her voice echoed across the church hall: “I’m going to tell you how I came from being a Zionist, Christian fundamentalist supporting Israel to where I am now – standing before you, talking about Palestine.”
It’s hard to believe the tiny Singaporean became the first female orthopaedic surgical consultant appointed at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in the City in the 1980s – quite a feat in those days as the field was dominated by white, British males.
“My sympathy was 100 per cent for Israel,” she explained. “Until one day in 1982, when I switched on the television and I saw a country being torn apart by Israeli fighter jets.”
Ten days later Dr Ang resigned her post at the hospital and flew to Shatila, a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, as Israeli tanks rolled into Beirut.
Dr Ang worked in extreme conditions, operating in a basement for three days and nights.
In the aftermath, she returned to the UK and started Medical Aid for Palestinians.
From these experiences, the surgeon has written a new book called From Beirut to Jerusalem.
“My day job is orthopaedic surgeon,” she said. “My night job is the Palestinian people.”
Riding for Chernobyl
JAPAN’S ongoing nuclear power station crisis may be fresh in our minds, but on Tuesday the Ukrainian town of Chernobyl marked 25 years since its own deadly explosion.
To commemorate the event, which took place on April 26, 1986, Holborn mother Ruth Sabrosa and her baby daughter Ania this week completed 25 fund-raising laps of Coram’s Fields in Bloomsbury – one lap for every year since the disaster.
Ruth, 29, has personal connections to Chernobyl. Several years ago she volunteered to help at an orphanage in Belarus, which has suffered long-term effects of the radiation leak.
“It was a real shock to the system,” said Ruth. “Babies are still being born with genetic defects and many cancers are prevalent in children and young people. It was like nothing I’d experienced before. Some of the kids are so disabled they can’t leave their cots, and the orphanage is really hidden away.”
The Chernobyl Children’s Project helps children who live in the contaminated zone by taking them somewhere healthier, such as the UK, for holidays.
Ruth added: “I’ve visited Belarus on numerous occasions, but I want to raise some money for these kids from home in London as I can no longer go out there. We made about £300 this time, so we’ve done well.”