6 th December Ladies Luncheon 2006
BORN FREE by Virginia McKenna OBE
The Probus Club of Ewell had the privilege of a presentation by Virginia McKenna OBE of her acting career and later her work for the “Born Free Trust” at their recent Probus Ladies Christmas lunch at Bourne Hall in Ewell. This event on December 6 th 2006 was also attended in his official capacity as the Mayor of Epsom and Ewell Councillor David Wood and his Consort sister Barbara, David is of course a long time member of the Probus Club of Ewell.
This was a scintillating presentation using the latest computer technology of a Power Point presentation and Virginia covered a mass of events ranging over the last 70 odd years. She started with some of her early childhood memories of seeing captive animals in the London Zoo and her horrified images of caged animals which although latent for many years was the ferment of her later life’s passion to set the animals free.
But to put us into the framework of our own memories she outlined her introduction into the life of acting and showed us pictures of various well known plays and films, these she made live again with comments that relived and indeed enlightened a receptive Probus audience of nearly 100 folk, such snippets of a “Town Like Alice” which in fact was filmed entirely in Pinewood Studios set with outside shots in Frensham Ponds in the cold with make-up staff spraying the actors faces to simulate the hot interior of Australia! Much more detail of her distinguished acting parts are shown in the bio below.
Virginia held the audience spell bound by her beautiful articulation and understanding of her subject and it is easy to see why she became a world figure on the stage. She covered a vast amount of material and this report can hardly give due justice, as she continued to enhance us with her understanding of animals gained first hand and inspired by the true story of George and Joy Adamson with whom they became firm friends.
She highlighted the vast differences between training of animals, in this case tigers, and becoming friends via the sequence of awaiting and letting animals come to you and as George (below) stated looking and understanding them through their eyes.
We moved through many sequences of animals when they were held in barbaric captivity and later in the wild after release due to the good works of the “Born Free Trust” after the treatment for disease, malnutrition etc.
Other examples were Rocky was only a few days old when he was taken from his mother and put on sale in a Spanish pet-shop. Born Free rescued the vulnerable cub and today this full-grown majestic tiger lives in a large jungle enclosure at our special tiger sanctuary, surrounded by the sights and sounds of wild India.
Beautiful Achee was rescued by Born Free from a snowy car-park in Romania. She suffered from skeletal and nerve problems due to her poor early diet, but has grown healthy and strong in her bush enclosure at our big cat sanctuary in Shamwari, South Africa, which she shares with another rescued lioness.
Emily Kate is one of the younger members of the family which lives in Amboseli National Park, Kenya, led by Emily Kate's mother, the wise matriarch Echo. Playful Emily Kate is a happy and independent little elephant, named by Born Free patron Martin Clunes after his own young daughter
Pinkie was only a few weeks old when she fell into a waterhole and became badly injured. Luckily she was rescued and nursed back to health by the Elephant Transit Home in Sri Lanka. Pinkie is too young to survive without her mother and needs 40 pints of milk each day! One day, when ready, she'll be returned to the wild.
In Dudwha National Park, India, Born Free equips and funds anti-poaching patrols who pit their lives against well-armed poachers. In Satpura National Park, Born Free works with LifeForce on community projects: simple 'biodigesters' are provided to burn plentiful cow dung and stop people taking firewood from forests, while horticultural advice decreases the exploitation of forest products for sale in markets. By providing accommodation for families of Forest guards, LifeForce helps stop absenteeism from men living miles from their wives and children. If the community is aware benefits come from people wanting to protect the tiger, this stops co-operation with poachers and timber mafias.
This was a delightful presentation and in his vote of thanks Percy Norden thanked Virginia for a wonderful day and the membership and visitors responded with enthusiastic applause, this rounded a splendid Ladies Christmas Lunch.
David Wood our Mayor then took the opportunity to say a few words, he said that although as Mayor he represented Epsom and Ewell, in his heart he was a Ewell man born and bred in Ewell and proud of this, he also stated as a long time member of the Club he savoured the strong fellowship and in his time has served the Club in many capacities including the Presidency for which he had been most grateful. His present post the highest in the Borough of Epsom and Ewell as Mayor is indeed an honour.
Well done David the Club are honoured to have you as a fellow member and more so as our Mayor, this after serving our community for many years as a Councillor, thank you.
Our President Richard Whittington thanked those who had help organise the day, especially Eric Hussey who in his quiet efficient way had masterminded the occasion resulting in an excellent and enjoyable function, thanks Eric.
Jill Whittington on behalf of all the ladies present thanked the membership for their kind invitation to the Christmas Lunch; they had all enjoyed another festive day with a perfect presentation from Virginia. Richard then closed the meeting and wished everybody a Happy Christmas and a Prosperous New Year.
A few photographs of the Ladies Christmas Lunch December 2006.....click here
Find out more about the Born Free Foundation go to www.bornfree.org.uk
Biography
Virginia McKenna was born in London in 1931, and after spending five years of her childhood in South Africa to escape the Blitz she returned to England . She enrolled at the Central School of Drama but left after two years when offered six months in Repertory at Dundee. Her career quickly took off and, in 1952, she appearing both in the West End in plays including in Charles Morgan’s The River Line at the Strand Theatre and in two films, the first being The Second Mrs. Tanqueray. For the next couple of years, she successfully combined theatre, film and television work. In 1954, with short-cropped hair, she starred at the Aldwych as Cassandra in Dodie Smith’s I Capture the Castle. Her performance was highly praised but the production survived for only four weeks. During the 1954/5 season, she was part of the Old Vic Company, playing parts including Rosaline in Love’s Labours Lost.
Classics such as the Cruel Sea , Carve Her Name with Pride and A Town Like Alice for which she won a British Academy Award for Best Actress, have been highlights in a long and successful career.
However her most remembered and best loved roles have been in Born Free and Ring of Bright Water starring opposite her actor husband the late Bill Travers. For Born Free she won the Variety Club Best Actress Award .
Making Born Free in 1964 which told the true story of George and Joy Adamson, as they returned Elsa the lioness to the wild, profoundly affected Bill and Virginia and it was a key influence in their lives. They realised that wild animals belong in the wild and should be protected there, not imprisoned in captivity.
This wildlife classic was based on the true-life story of Joy Adamson and her husband, Kenya game warden George Adamson, who raise Elsa, a lion cub that is released into the wild. It changed their lives. Afterwards, she and her husband became actively campaigners to protect both wild animals and their habitat. They went on to appear in the other similar stories, An Elephant Called Slowly (1969) and Ring of Bright Water (1969).
But it took the premature death in London Zoo of Pole Pole a young elephant who had featured in their film An Elephant Called Slowly which led to the founding of Zoo Check in 1984. In that year with their son Will formed The Trust dedicated to preventing the abuse of captive wild animals and strove to protect and conserve them in the wild. Zoo Check grew to become a major force in the animal welfare movement and was renamed The Born Free Foundation in 1991.
She has continued to appear in TV dramas and films. Although her stage performances have been infrequent, they have still been significant, and includ playing Desiree Armfeldt in A Little Night Music at the Adelphi (1976); winning the Olivier Award for Best Actress in a musical for her performance in The King and I (1979) with Yul Brynner; and, with the RSC, playing Queen Gertrude to Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet (1984 & 1985).
In 2004, she was awarded an OBE in the New Year Honours List for services to the arts and animal conservation.
George Adamson with his good friend Bill Travers at George's bush camp in Kenya.
Bill, Actor & Conservationist portrayed George in the classic movie BORN FREE. Bill's wife Virginia McKenna played George's wife Joy Adamson.
Images above mainly with thanks to the Born Free Foundation
Find out more about the Born Free Foundation go to www.bornfree.org.uk