Right royal welcome

ONE long-term Bahrain resident recieved a regal welcome when she journeyed back to the UK recently with a presentation from the Duke of Edinburgh and an invite to a palace garden party.

Yvonne Trueman MBE, from Adliya, who is well known on the island both as a pilot and for her charity work, travelled to Britain to attend the Royal Geographical Society's auditorium at Kensington where she was made a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigators 'in recognition of her lifetime devoted to general aviation as a cartographer, author and pilot and her active promotion of private flying in the Middle East'.

While there she was surprised and delighted to receive an invitation to the Not Forgotten Association Garden Party which was held at Buckingham Palace.

The Not Forgotten Association was established in 1919, a year after the end of the First World War, when famous singer Marta Cunningham was visiting her local hospital and asked the matron if, by chance, she still had any wounded servicemen under treatment.

She was horrified to be told there were 600 in that hospital alone and up and down the country the figure ran into thousands of wounded soldiers lying in hospitals bored, lonely and in pain.

She established the Not Forgotten Association with the aim of providing entertainment and recreation for the war wounded.

Over the years the organisation has adapted to meet the changing needs of those wounded in more recent conflicts and last year it provided entertainment to over 9,000 ex-service men and women.

Mrs Trueman's invitation was sponsored by the Army Air Corps with which her son Julian was serving when he was killed in Belize.

Since then she has visited the South American country several times to carry on work he had started with a local orphanage.

She said: "It was a great honour to be invited, I was knocked off my perch.

"Fortunately the weather was fine, we were all praying for good weather because it had been raining in the days before.

"There were lots of wonderful hats and some very well-known people there.

"It was a great day out for the veterans many of them were in wheelchairs and there were others with no legs who were using prosthetics but everyone was enjoying themselves.

"There were 2000 people there and the band of the Irish Guards played for us.

"I was very impressed with the organisation and the hospitality that Her Majesty extends to the public.

"And most impressive on the day were the Not Forgotten heroes who supported our country during the war.

"The day is also a big 'thankyou' to the people who work behind the scenes and don't necessarily get recognised but just get the job done."

The party was hosted by their Royal Highnesses the Earl and Countess of Wessex and the Duke of Kent.

As well as the Beefeaters and former Spitfire pilot Michael Hyett, Mrs Trueman also got the chance to meet several Chelsea Pensioners, residents of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, some of whom will be coming to Bahrain in November for the annual trip organised by the Bahrain British Business Forum. Several of these decorated veterans are hosted for a trip to the island when they attend the Remembrance Day service and visit Bahrain's many British institutions.