Letters - 24 January 2020
From a baby elephant to a sight for sore eyes
Baby elephant
In response to Colin Cann’s letter (10 January) about Cicely Saunders I have a vivid memory of visiting St Christopher’s Hospice (the very first hospice) in 1976.
Cicely Saunders told our party of visitors that they had the head of a famous circus as a patient. She found him very upset one day and asked him why. One of the circus elephants had had its baby. ‘I’ll never see it,’ he wept. So, she arranged for the baby elephant to be brought to the hospice, up in the lift and onto his ward. He died happy!
One of our party said: ‘But what if it had done a poo on the floor?’ ‘We’re dealing with that all the time,’ she replied, ‘only this time it would be a bit more’!
Diana Lampen
Support refugees
I read with deep dismay on Wednesday 8 January about the decision by parliament to support proposals to water down possibilities for young refugees to be reunited with their families here. However, I understand that all is not lost yet because the bill has yet to go through the House of Lords.
All of us concerned about refugees, and in particular youngsters, will want to keep the pressure on this government to stop sheer callousness taking over. The organisation to follow for updates is Safe Passage, which is in close touch with the redoubtable peer Alf Dubs, who has been so successful in lending his support to its campaigns.
I am writing this in the hope it will be read and followed up by as many readers as possible. I am also happy to be contacted for more information about how to support refugees stranded in Calais.
Anne M Jones
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