Woman in 80th year travels jumbo jet

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32474, 8 December 1970, Page 6

Woman in 80th year travels jumbo jet

"It’s just like being in the lounge of a first-class hotel.” That is how Mrs Ethel Walker, of Christchurch, who is now in her eightieth year, describes her recent Lon-don-to-Los Angeles flight in a jumbo jet. Mr* Walker was returning home from a stay with her son, a former Christchurch painter, Max Walker, who has lived in London since 1946. Because of the big jets’ record of engine trouble, he was not enthusiastic about the trip. But Mrs Walker was keen to experience the very latest in air travel. “And I loved every minute of it,” she said. The aircraft’s huge interior was divided into compartments. In her first-class compartment, there was seating for 50 passengers, arr nged on either side of the aircraft, with tables and chairs placed in the wide centre aisle. “Business men can sit at the tables and do their paper work—reading or writing letters,” said Mrs Walker. There was also a spacious lounge on a mezzanine floor —the upper deck—where passengers could relax and mix together.

Mrs Walker found the service on board excellent, but thought the stewardesses were somewhat over-worked. "They were very busy all the time, serving meals and drink*. In my compartment, there were no stewards, just one male supervisor and the girls,” Mrs Walker said.

Air New Zealand also made Mn Walker's travels all the more enjoyable. Although her family need not have worried, they were somewhat concerned about how she would travel and asked the airline to “keep an eye-on her.” On her way to London, Mrs Walker was entertained by an airline representative during her stop-over in Lo* Angeles. Returning through Honolulu, she was met at the airport and escorted around the city, “a blaze of light at one in the morning.'* Mrs Walker spent three months with her son, who has an apartment in Sussex Gardens, near Hyde Park. Now preparing for a one-man exhibition in the City, he worked for many years with Hugh Skillen, one of London’s leading designers of theatre sets. "When we went to visit him one afternoon, he was working on the sets and costume accessories for the Christmas pantomime, ‘Aladdin’,** Mrs Walker said.

Among the many shows she saw was “Charlie Girl,” with Anna Neagle in the leading role. “She is well over 60. It's just amazing the dancing she does. She played that role continuously for two years, six days a week with two matinees, because there was no holiday break in her contract,” said Mrs Walker. “When they finally wrote a new contract and she went away on holiday, Evelyn Laye took her place. People were most indignant that they missed seeing her,” she said. Mrs Walker was also interested to see Derek Nimmo, of television fame, playing opposite Dame Anna Neagle.

“He ha* a series on television now, interviewing people, and he really is quite charming, and very different from his television roles,” she said. When Mrs Walker went to see “The Great Waltz” at Drury Lane, she felt there was something familiar about the actor playing Strauss senior, although he looked every inch the elderly Austrian gentleman. When she looked up the programme at the interval, Mrs Walker discovered who he was—lnia Te Wiata.

Mr Skillen designed some of the jewellery and set* for both shows. Life in London, Mrs Walker found, was fine, “if you had enough money to live comfortably.” But one saw miles and miles of dark, dingy houses.

The density of traffic was such that few Londoners owned cars. Most travelled by fast trains. The Duke of Edinburgh made regular use of his red helicopter, a common sight coming in to settle on the helipad at Buckingham Palace.

“It was a wonderful trip,” said Mrs Walker, “and old as I am, it has broadened my mind. One is never too old to learn.”

Retired sister 100.—A wellknown retired nursing sister, Miss E. A. Ringwood, of Torbay, near Takapuna, was 100 years old last week. In her career, she was sister in charge of the eye theatre at the Ophthalmic Hospital in Cairo, Egypt, and later became matron-in-charge of a British hospital in Northern India. Miss Ringwood, because of failing health, is now in a private hospital.