The
British Friends of Vanuatu gather around the tam-tam donated to HM Queen
Elizabeth on the occasion of her visit to the then New Hebrides in 1974.
The inscription at the base of the tam-tam, which now stands in Savill Gardens,
reads "A gift to the Queen, from the people of the New Hebrides on the occasion
of Her Majesty's visit to Port Vila" Thanks to Pamela Crosbie of the RHS
for her kindness in taking the picture. (Click on image to enlarge)
Patricia
Dickinson leads off the dance around Savill Gardens, looking for a suitable
place to place the picnic tables. In the event, on this third year in
succession where temperatures in the UK on the weekend of Vanuatu independence
celebrations broke all records, picnic places were hard to find, but all those
attending were eventually seated. (Click on image to enlarge)
Gordon
Dickinson, Public Prosecutor in Vanuatu 1985-1988, swaps stories with Leslie
Garae, a Vanuatu police officer currently attending a training course at
Bramshill Police Training College in Hampshire as part of the UK development aid
project to police services in Commonwealth countries around the world. (Click on
image to enlarge)
Michael
Longworth (Meteo Director 1985-90) slumps into a welcome picnic chair with
Alivier Wartef (ni-Vanuatu currently working in the UK with the Southwark
Council) after the long walk around Savill Gardens. (Click on image to enlarge)
Norman
Shackley, snapped in flagrante delecto, behind the huge taro leaves that
reminded him so much of those long walks, lost in the bush, in Santo, Vanuatu.
(Click on image to enlarge)
Martin
Sibley, getting a not too sympathetic hearing fro Pat Dickinson, as he related
the difficulties encountered in the course of his 2-hour search for the Vanuatu
tam-tam in the wider reaches of Savill Gardens prior to the arrival of the
guests. (Click on image to enlarge)
