On the 1st September 1999 Anna was due to take up a post as Expedition Advisor at the prestigious RGS but she was in hospital, recovering from her most recent close encounter with death in Kyrgyzstan. Lying in bed in hospital, she discovered that she had missed seeing Dave Braeshears, the well-known American climber, writer and Imax film-maker who was giving a public lecture at the RGS on the day she was to have started her new job. She had met Dave on Mt Everest in 1995 when he went across to the Catalonian camp to comfort her and her friends after they'd lost Xavier in an avalanche.
Anna e-mailed Dave to tell him how sorry she was to have missed him. Later, as she was sorting her belongings at home, she discovered a note from him, which he had left in Kathmandu for her four years earlier, asking if she'd meet him for a coffee and a chat.
Lots of famous people pass through the doors of the RGS and I loved being part of Anna's life there and meeting so many of these people. The building itself is old and interesting with a lovely garden and is in a beautiful location in Kensington Gore on the corner of Exhibition Road, opposite Kensington Gardens and the Albert Memorial and next-door to the Royal Albert Hall, possibly one of the choicest areas of London. Anna sometimes presented us with tickets for the final dress rehearsals of lavish performances at the Royal Albert Hall. Thus, sitting in the choicest seats, we enjoyed Madam Butterfly, Aida, and Romeo and Juliet every bit as much as if we'd paid over £40 a ticket. We loved walking in Kensington Gardens and enjoying the camellias and other beautiful plants and flowers over the seasons. London's parks are so well kept and a joy to be in. We often alighted from our coach at Marble Arch instead of travelling on to Victoria Coach Station so that we could walk through Hyde Park.
Anna's immediate boss was Shane Winser whom I liked very much. Shane is such a kind person and so dedicated to her work. Nigel, her husband, is Director and he, too, is a really charming and friendly person. They are both key members of the scene there, the Expedition Advisory Centre being their domain. Whenever there was a special function that we could attend, Anna invited her Dad and myself and Nigel and Shane always welcomed us with open arms. The atmosphere was one of totally gracious living.
The British Schools Exploring Society also have their premises in the building and Mike and I attended their Annual Expedition Reunion Meeting in January 2000. We were actually sitting two places directly behind the Duke of York and could have reached out and touched him on the shoulder had we dared! Anna had the privilege of meeting him at the reception afterwards and she found him interested and affable. He asked her if she'd leave a time capsule on her next expedition and she said she would if he'd pay for it! Anna, unlike her Mum, has never been over-awed by anyone she's met.
We enjoyed many such interesting meetings and lectures and two interviews by Libby Purves, one of Kate Adie and one of Virginia McKenna, three women whom I admire greatly. At the Kate Adie interview I sat in a front row seat and got chatting to an elderly man who was studying an article in the Times about the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race due to take place next day. Anna had a friend in each of the opposing women's teams so this man and I held an interesting conversation. He told me that his son lived in Bristol and produced animated films like Wallace and Gromit. Until then I was quite ignorant about this kind of film and therefore I didn't recognise that his son is rich and famous! Soon afterwards I read about Nick Park and his production of Chicken Run, a film which I thoroughly enjoyed when I saw it during a coach trip to Germany last October. My education is far from complete!
That evening I also met Chris, one of Anna's many admirers, whose sister is an actress. Anna had a small part in a film with Geraldine one weekend, a further exciting experience in her totally adventurous life. Every time she rings me she has some fantastic tale to tell. Geraldine helped in the office on a temporary basis and soon Anna was receiving bouquets of roses and invitations to the theatre and to dinner from her brother. Chris is a really good tennis player, another young man who might be described as every mum's dream of a son-in-law and someone who, like me, worried a lot about Anna and wanted to take care of her.
We always joined Anna at lunch on the days we were to attend an evening function and everyone in the building made us so welcome. It was the kind of place that I would have loved working in when I was younger. You could sense the spirits of past visitors - Scott, Shackleton, Hillary and all the famous explorers and expeditioners who passed through those doors over the years. Moving around the building, you felt you were walking on hallowed ground and you became conscious of the clatter of your feet on wooden floors if you were wearing noisy shoes!
We were invited to the Christmas Carol Service both years Anna was there. The first year was special because we were there to celebrate Anna's engagement to Pete and to meet his parents. Anna read one of the lessons at the service and life and the future seemed bright and promising. We went to the engagement party in a pub in Ennismore Gardens and got to know Pete's parents and friends. On the way we passed some delightful terraced houses on the quiet cobbled streets, away from the busy main thoroughfares around that area, and I found myself wishing that I could afford to buy one of those houses. There's no harm in dreaming!
The wedding was planned for the following summer and was to take place at the end of an expedition to Nepal led by Anna and Pete. The plan was that the young people on the expedition would emerge from their tents into the snow unaware of what was in store for them at the end of the expedition. Then Anna would appear, dressed in a traditional wedding gown, which I would have brought from home, and we would arrive with Pete's parents from our hotel and the ceremony would proceed. How romantic! Anna and I studied wedding gowns in a department store in Wolverhampton and discovered that we could buy a gown from the previous season at a vastly reduced price. Being used to seeing Anna in her outdoor clothes made the beautiful wedding gowns all that more glamorous.
Pete's parents saw it all differently. Their daughter had been married the previous May in a traditional religious ceremony in a fashionable church and her engagement had been announced beforehand in the Times. As the Millennium was approaching, the Times was inviting readers to insert special Millennium greetings so I entered one for Anna and Pete and I ordered two special Millennium souvenir packs for them. I felt this was a lot more special than a normal announcement of their engagement. Anna had thought of holding the reception in the RGS and that would have been a popular choice all round but I know, too, that she has always favoured an unconventional type of wedding and I was happy enough with that. Partly, I think she was aware of our limited means and didn't want to embarrass us by deciding on an expensive ceremony. Looking back on my own wedding, I felt a little sad, as my parents had taken no part in the arrangements and they very nearly didn't turn up as guests. I would want to be part of Anna's big day whatever she decided and I would do all in my power to support her.
As for Pete's parents they expressed disapproval of the plans and voiced their concerns that the engagement was so sudden with this young woman appearing from nowhere as it seemed to them. I must admit, I was surprised that Anna had said 'yes' to Pete. She is so unconventional and adventurous while he, although steady and kind, is far too quiet and settled for her. Like most of her suitors and admirers, it seemed as if he wouldn't be able to keep up with her! Somehow I didn't think it would work out. Pete had been so correct and had come to see Mike and me on his own and had asked Mike for the hand of his daughter in marriage, not in any sense like previous admirers. Possibly, I am in many ways just as unconventional as Anna and most of the young men who have appeared on the scene over the years have remarked on the closeness and similarity between us. Indeed, the relationship isn't always easy as we are both headstrong and independent and intolerant of male chauvinism but we often clash head-on! Our relationship never fails to draw comment from Anna's admirers! Only too well am I aware that her choice of partner is hers and hers alone. All I ask is that she will be happy and fulfilled and loved.
The engagement was already under strain at Christmas when Anna insisted on going to Chamonix, as planned, to join Ferran and Joel and other old friends on the ski slopes and Pete, at the last moment, insisted on going, too. He and Anna had arrived at our house late on Christmas Eve and Anna was leaving for Chamonix on Boxing Day while Pete was returning to Glasgow to study, as he was approaching the finals for his PhD. Ferran kept phoning all through Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and I sensed that he was upset by the engagement. Late on Christmas Day Pete rang the airline and booked a ticket on Anna's flight and then drove to Glasgow to fetch his passport and back again through the night. Mike was in bed suffering from a bad dose of flu so it was one of the most unsettling Christmases I've ever experienced.
I was never told that the engagement was off but by February I accepted that it was. The expedition was cancelled that summer because of Marxist terrorist activity in Nepal although Anna and Pete went together to Ladakh to recce an alternative for 2001. They worked well as a partnership, planning a challenging expedition for 70 young people on the high desert plateau in Ladakh. Anna later withdrew from this expedition and Pete had to find other leaders. I was sad that it didn't work out but I knew it wasn't what Anna would be looking for in a permanent relationship. I saw Pete three times since that Christmas but he remained aloof so I guessed then that he was no longer part of Anna's life.
My biggest treat while Anna was with the RGS was helping at Explore 2000, a three-day Expedition Planning Seminar, put on by the Expedition Advisory Centre, which Anna played a key part in organising.
I went up two days prior to the event and joined Anna's impressive group of volunteer helpers, one grey head among so many brilliant young folk. We photo-copied thousands of papers and notices, while I learned to use all the amazing new equipment, so advanced on the old machines I was used to in my teaching days. I learned how to laminate and how to load paper in different colours and how to run off vast quantities in a short time. I picked it all up so quickly. I think it was my admiration of such brilliant new technology acquired during those heady days that inspired me shortly afterwards to start learning about computers.
We assembled 500 identity badges for various categories of people attending the event, media, exhibitors, delegates, helpers, staff, speakers, important guests and so on. There was an impressive list of speakers and experts like Rebecca Stephens, willing to share their experiences. We made up 500 delegate packs containing information leaflets, programmes, donated literature and much else. We shopped for various necessities and worked really hard from early morning to late at night. Each helper wore a red Patagonia fleecy jacket and I helped unpack and check and distribute the jackets. I was allowed to keep my jacket as a reward for helping, and I wear it with pride.
The seminar was a tremendous success, and I thoroughly enjoyed being useful and meeting so many wonderful people, like Colonel Singh, the colourful Gurkha from India who had been one of the chief leaders on the Indian 1988 BSES expedition. He was enthusiastic in his praise of Anna and he gave me a warm invitation to visit him in India. I found myself wishing I could be young again and able to play a more active part in all the excitement surrounding Anna. For the first time I was beginning to sense the disadvantages of being an older Mum.
Then there was Margaret Percy, who had also been on the 1988 expedition as a free-lance journalist and who now was telling me how proud she was to have had a hand in making Anna what she was. Margaret has long been trying to coax Anna to work for her in her expedition company.
I was also introduced to the Kyrgyz official who had made the arrangements to fly Anna from the hospital in Karakol in Kyrgyzstan to the capital, Bishkek, where the Swiss Air Ambulance was waiting to take her home to Birmingham. He told me, through an interpreter, that the woman surgeon who had saved Anna's life had asked him if he knew how Anna had fared since returning to Britain. He also spoke of how close to death Anna had been when she arrived at the hospital, and of the brilliance of the surgeon. It was good to make his acquaintance, one of those who had a hand in restoring our beautiful daughter to us. A few days before I went to London Fareeda, the interpreter who had accompanied Anna to the hospital, had come with some other young women from Kyrgyzstan to stay with me on their way to London. Thus, I learned more about Anna's trauma in the hospital and on the glacier.
It was like the fulfilment of my young dreams to be part of that rarefied atmosphere for five long days. I had various duties like fetching reports from the archives in the basement or doing door duty to free the porter for some other task, and serving drinks in the bar or in the coffee area. I was available to fit in wherever I was needed and that included cloakroom duty. After 12 years of retirement it was pure bliss to be part of a workforce again.
The audiences and speakers at the RGS are very impressive. Once you step through the front door you are aware of this and I found myself wondering if Anna appreciates fully the advantages and privileges which have been opened up to her. I believe she does and she certainly knows what it means to me and she has always been quick to draw me into her life and share everything with me, a true reversal of roles.
She introduces me to people as; 'This is my Mum. She ...', so now everyone knows me as Anna's Mum. During the closing ceremony of Explore 2000 the Chairman, Professor Allison, came to me and asked, 'Have you any name other than Anna's Mum?' Later, as he was thanking everyone, he asked if Anna's mum would stand up and there I stood at the back of the lecture theatre while I received applause for the help I had given. Nigel sent me a lovely card afterwards, saluting Anna's Mum and acknowledging Anna's and my contribution to the success of the event. At the age of 72 that gave me a tremendous boost.
On another occasion I attended an evening devoted to present day explorers and adventurers. The speakers were Sir Ranulph Fiennes and Dr Mike Stroud who accompanied Ran on his Polar expedition and Steven Seaton, editor of Runner's World, and Sarah Odell, the model and adventure racer, who appeared in the first edition of Survivor. When Anna introduced me to Sir Ranulph, he exclaimed, 'How ever did you produce such a magnificent creature?' I was growing used to hearing Anna described in superlative terms by superlative people, but I know only too well that she has many failings, too.
One evening she rang me to say 'Guess who I've just met'.
She had been working late and she knew that the President, Lord Selborne, was having a party downstairs to celebrate his 60th birthday. She peeped in to have a look and was immediately greeted by a young man, exclaiming, 'Anna! What are you doing here?' to which she replied, 'William! What are you doing?'
'I'm attending my Dad's birthday party. What about you?'
'I work here. Lord Selborne is our President!'William had been in Indonesia with Project Trust the same time as Anna. She had told me about him at the time, mentioning that he was a Viscount but she hadn't known that his father was Lord Selborne. William introduced her to his dad who invited her to join the family for lunch next day. There is a marked contrast between Anna's life and mine, although hers is the kind of life I dreamed about when I was young. She takes it all for granted.
When Anna's contract at the RGS ended, she decided it was time to move on, so she accepted a two-year posting as Country Director in Namibia with Raleigh International. She left the RGS on the 20th September 2001, having firstly used up the holidays due to her to take part in filming for the BBC programme, 'SAS. Are You Tough Enough?'
On the day of her departure from The RGS Mike and I went to London to join her at the farewell parties. Nigel had organised a drinks party in his office and both he and Shane welcomed us warmly. I had got over the weeping stage in the hall when I'd met Shane earlier and the realisation that this beautiful stage of our life was coming to an end really hit me. Later we all trooped off to the Wok Wok in Kensington High Street where we enjoyed a delicious meal and congenial company. Clare Jackson, who had telephoned me from Kyrgyzstan in 1999 to break the news of Anna's illness, was there and it was great to chat to her again.
As we travelled back to Anna's flat, I knew that another stage in our life had passed and I felt a great sadness and emptiness descend on me and a longing for all that might have been, but that is how it goes.
Anna would be in London for a while to give her time to be briefed at Raleigh's headquarters and to pack up and store her belongings. I was determined to enjoy her company while I could. Three times she had moved house over the two years, her final room being in a house rented by a member of Richmond Canoe Club. This was called 'The Hovel', an apt name indeed. Anna was the first woman in 10 years to have a room in the house. She was by then an active member of the Canoe Club. She had to clear her belongings from the Hovel and I gained most of what she needed storing. I can hardly move in my home now, because the whole place is full of her things, but it doesn't worry me too much, as a tidy house was never one of my top priorities. So another era came to an end and a new order was about to take over from the old.