The Queen at Wimbledon

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 255, 24 July 1937, Page 4 (Supplement)

The Queen at Wimbledon

London Letter Contains News of the Royal Family

■’Dominion” Special Service.—By Air Mail London, July 2, QUEEN MARY lias paid lifr first visit to the All-England tennis championships at Wimbledon since the dentil of King George V. Looking very cool in pale grey. Her Maiesty watched with keen interest the women’s doubles match between Alice Marble and Katherine Winthrop, of America, and Mme. Mathieu and Billy Yorke. She wore dark glasses, and I noticed that her shoes, as usual, perfectly matched her gown. They were of pearl-grey kid. Her gloves were grey, too, and the crown of her toque glistened with mother-of-pearl. Her Majesty was televised as she sat in the Royal Box. “Viewers” could see her quite clearly. And radio listeners this week heard her voice for the fourth time on the air. Queen Mary was laying the foundation-stone , of the New Church House in Dean's Yard, Westminster, and though the rattling chains which put the stone in position somewhat drowned the first part of her speech, she afterward raised her voice, and it could be heard, clear and firm, as she pronounced the stone “well and truly laid.” The Duchess of Kent also visited Wimbledon during the first week of the championships. She came alone, and sat beside the Brazilian Ambassador, with whom I saw her share a large box of chocolates. The Duchess looked charming in yellow with a perky little brown sailor hat. She, too, wore dark glasses, and seemed to be enjoying herself very much. Two Royal Princesses who scarcely ever miss a day’s play at Wimbledon, will be the guests of honour at a tell-

tils party given by Sir Arthur and Lady Crosfield at their Highgate home. They are the veteran Princesses Marie Louise and Helena Victoria, and at Lady Crosfleld’s party they will see well-known actresses and debutantes playing in an American tournament, and the Wightman and Davis Cup teams giving exhibition matches. This tennis party is an annual event, and Lady Crosfield is one of a band of London hostesses who have players from abroad staying with her for Wimbledon. She is very careful to study their diet fads. Helen Jacobs, for instance, eats nothing but mutton cutlets and grilled tomatoes while playing championship tennis. Lady Baldwin’s ‘‘Handiwork.” Earl Baldwin paid a charming tribute* to bis wife in a speech to it meet-

ing of the Conservative associations of England, at which Mr. Chamberlain presented him with a volume containing 558 expressions of appreciations of his services to the country. Tn his speech to Lord Baldwin, rhe Prime Minister had said: “I should not be adequately completing my task if I did not add just a word of tribute to the lady who f<>r all these years has stood by your side and who has, as we know, so strenuously supported you with her encouragement and her affection. We are grateful to her, too, for the work she has done in the line site herself has chosen—in helping the mothers of the country. We rejoice that you and she have still both your health and your strength to enjoy your leisure.” Lord Baldwin, in replying to this speech, and thanking for the presentation. said: “I am glad that you said what you did about my wife. When I bad been in Parliament seven years, I said to her. ‘i am no use in London to God or man, and I arm going to throw this game up and live in the country, where I can be of some use.’ “She reminded me, ‘You said you would stick it for ten years. Stick it for ten years, and if you still think it no good, then I will agree to your going.’ Ido hope that for the happiness of her old age she is satisfied with her handiwork.” “Big Sister Marta” Dies. Miss Marta Cunningham, founder and honorary organiser, of the “Not Forgotten” Association, has died in London. She was the friend of thousands of war-wounded British soldiers, and to many of them she was, in her own words, “Big Sister Marta.”

Jovial and friendly, Miss Cunningham was awarded the C.B.E. for her work among the wounded, and she was always it welcome visitor at the Star and Garter Home at Richmond. Her interest in her “soldier boys in blue” was shared by the Royal Family, who made possible the series of “Not Forgotten” garden parties held annually at Buckingham Palace, and attended by thousands of wounded exservicemen. The idea of the "Not Forgotten” Association came to her after the war, when she had been engaged in canteen and other welfare work for the troops. After the armistice she gained the support of Naval and Array leaders in an effort to show wounded ex-soldiers that their sacrifices had not been forgotten. She had been seriously ill at her London home for time before her death.