Royal Warrants

for the older and wiser

June 2012 Jubilee Edition

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CELEBRATE IN STYLE When only the finest things will do...

CHANGING HER TUNE Soprano Lesley Garrett talks botox, bodies and lucky baby boomers

alan titchmarsh The green-fingered favourite reviews his pick of royal reads on Her Majesty

don’t stop me now 101-year-old marathon runner's tips on how to live a long, happy life

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Get up and go · June 2012

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Raise a glass to Her Majesty

What they said

T

“I’m every inch the 57-year-old wife, mum and academic, half-proud of her wrinkles, her crow’s feet, even her hunched shoulders from all those misspent years poring over a library desk” – writing in the Daily Mail, Mary Beard, academic and TV presenter, responds to criticism of her appearance by TV writer AA Gill.

Sixty years at the helm has not only proven the Queen’s commitment to her Our round-up of who public, but gives us a chance to get the bunting out and the fizz on ice. Cheers! said what last month

his bank holiday, millions of us will be icing a Victoria sponge or three, swathing ourselves in bunting and preparing to raise a glass to Her Majesty to celebrate her diamond jubilee.

I know this is what we will be doing as it is what is happening in The Archers, so to me it is truth.

The Queen is 86 and has been in the same job for six decades.

Perhaps we overlook the fact she could opt to retire at any time, put her feet up on a royal footstool at Sandringham and watch horse racing all day.

But Elizabeth II has a humbling commitment to public service. By the end of July, on of top usual business, she will have completed a 27-day tour of the UK from Walthamstow and Merthyr Tydfil to Corby and Cowes to thank the nation for its loyal support. That’s an awful lot of posies received, ribbons cut and hands shaken, even if you do have a cosy palace to return

to at the end of the day (actually it may not be as cosy as all that, if Hunter Davies’ observations are anything to go by, on p16).

She regards it as a duty but staying active is also probably one of the things helping the Queen to extend her lifespan: experts tell us repeatedly that keeping your body moving as you age is vital.

It’s a principle that superfit Fauja Singh, who features on our health page this month (p8), also embodies. Mr Singh is 101 years old and has just run his eighth – yes eighth – London Marathon.

Longevity runs in the family, he says, though he also prizes his fitness and “avoids negative people”.

There, at least, he has the advantage over the Queen . . .

Julie Nightingale Editor

“We will never see on camera faces like Bette Davis’s any more... There was a proper life story there, but none of the young actresses now will ever let themselves look like that” – Frances Barber, 54 (pictured) mourns the disappearance from the screen of mature features. She is, nevertheless, saving up for a facelift, she told Radio Times I am not sure that digging in our past guilts is a useful occupation for the very old, given that one can do so little about them – writer Diana Athill, 94, Twitter, @DianaAthill (mediated by her great-nephew).

With thanks to the following organisations:

Get up and go · June 2012

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Opening thoughts

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I couldn’t live without…

My nail kit

In this issue

Classical guitarist John Williams, 71. By John Holt

Lesley Garrett The opera diva from Doncaster talks to Maureen Paton about humble beginnings, life as a student, and how she feels comfortable with growing old. PAGE 5

Kathy Panama

Good fingernails are absolutely vital in your business, aren’t they?

Yes and I have naturally strong ones which is a blessing. I perform what I call my “calcium cull” and cut them right down every couple of weeks.

The left hand nails are kept short for the fingerboard and the right ones are really important to provide a range of tone colours from the strings.

You can change the angle of playing with a fingernail and the sound changes.

They become part of the instrument. Flesh doesn’t have any variety in it at all.

the orchestra at Glyndebourne in the first performances of Henze’s opera, Elegy for Young Lovers. During the interval, I played table tennis dressed in my black tie and dress shirt. I went for a backhand shot and my thumbnail

You played in the electric supergroup, Sky. Do you sometimes still yearn to plug in and rock out?

Do you constantly have to be careful picking things up or simply shaking hands?

If you pick something up and you scrape a nail, it has to be smooth again before you play so the kit goes everywhere with me. I don’t refuse to shake hands like some guitarists do but I’m always on the look-out for people who look like they may squeeze a bit too hard.

Ever broken a nail before a concert?

Never and if I did, it would mean a cancellation. I’ve cracked a few on occasion and mended them with superglue and polish.

What’s the worst damage you’ve done?

Back in about 1960, I was playing in

We constantly need new repertoire and I’ve commissioned a new piece for a performance during the City of London Festival. I was in the very first festival 50 years ago and am delighted to be playing again. The new piece, The Flower of Cities, is for guitars and chamber ensemble by Stephen Goss and has been inspired by different sites and open spaces around the capital.

got caught in the shirtfront. It was torn backwards and started to pour blood but didn’t actually break off. I had to play the next couple of nights with all fingers and no thumb... and a clean shirt, of course.

Is there a steady supply of new guitar music?

Not really; I think that was a one-off band. It had its faults but was naturally put together by a very disparate group of musicians to play in their very different styles, the opposite of those “fusion” things assembled by record companies. “Fusion” and “crossover” are terms that have been taken prisoner by the marketing boys.

The other one I don’t like is “world” music. Where else is it supposed to come from?

John Williams plays with John Etheridge at the World on the Heath family day on Hampstead Heath on 1 July and at the Fishmongers’ Hall, London Bridge on 10 July as part of the City of London Festival. For more information, visit www.colf.org

Media watch

Our pick of age-related stories in the news Betty Smith, 90, (Betty’s words). and her pal Beryl But spare a Renwick, 86, stole thought for the headlines at the Brian Matthew, Sony Radio Awards 83. In the when they walked same week as off with gold in B&B’s success, the entertainment Beryl, left, and Betty Matthew’s category for their Radio 2 show, spot on Radio Humberside.

Sounds of the 60s, achieved The media promptly fell its highest listening figures over itself in shock that the ever in its 22-year run. At pair’s “joyous, entertaining any other time, it would double act”, broadcast from have made him the media’s Hull, could have eclipsed star pensioner. the likes of comedianpresenter Frank Skinner. It Meanwhile, for those who was also the first time many don’t want to go on and on and on past 65, Hinton in the media had heard of Hull.

St George in Somerset was named the best place We happily join in the in Britain to enjoy a long celebrations for the retirement. Men in the “recycled teenagers” village live to almost 89 and

women to 91, according to research by actuaries Towers Watson. This Shangri-La of the SouthWest boasts a cider sampling tradition and “a stress-free environment”, say locals.

One, presumably, related to the other.

We assume that Hinton does not share the problems of another favourite retiree bolthole, Christchurch in Dorset, where a wave of dodgy driving has prompted

police to set up training sessions for pensioners with mobility scooters. In keeping with incredibly sexist, age-old stereotypes, “people who tend to speed are the men, who traditionally go for bigger scooters,” according to one local shop owner.

Presumably, these are the same men who, in their youth, would compensate for other, er, deficiencies by driving very big cars.

Mine’s bigger than yours

3

THIS LIFE

Property You don’t have to be a royal to live like one – we look at places with a regal association. PAGE 7 Health Nutritionist Vicky Pennington tells us all about the magic mineral, magnesium. PAGE 8 Special royal warrants section With the diamond jubilee making us feel more patriotic than ever, we look at the companies and history behind that legendary mark of royal approval.

PAGE 12 -15 Senior moment Four reigns, two trips to Buckingham Palace and one chocolate cake tip. Hunter Davies gives the low-down on the pleasures and pitfalls of hobnobbing with the royals. PAGE 16

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Get up and go 路 June 2012

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Get up and go · June 2012

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This life

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This life LESLEY GARRETT

“Don’t call me a crossover star. It sounds like a bra” The straight-talking diva from Donny on classical girl power, Botox and why she would still strip off on stage in her sixth decade. By Maureen Paton

L

esley Garrett is one of those women who, when they say they are comfortable in their body, you really believe that they mean it. Chatty, cheerful and busy with a string of projects, the diva from Donny – she was born and raised in Doncaster – is a fabulously well-preserved 57.

Growing older has endowed her with greater patience and “more realistic expectations”, she says. But it hasn’t dimmed her curiosity about life, nor her energy levels: she’s currently promoting her latest album revising our rich British folkmusic heritage and is in the middle of a diamond jubilee tour with an all-female orchestra that she dubs “classical girl power”.

And it hasn’t made her retiring in any sense of the word. Having hit the headlines two decades ago for what she blithely refers to as “a moment of nudity” in Johann Strauss’s Die Fledermaus at English National Opera (ENO), the soprano says she’d happily strip on stage in her sixth decade.

“Well [at ENO], I was singing a song about taking your clothes off,” she points out, “and I had earned a living taking my clothes off as an artist’s model when I was a student at the Royal Academy of Music – so stripping meant nothing to me.”

And she would do it again, for art’s sake.

“Of course, if it was absolutely vital to the characterisation,” says Garret. “Every serious actor or actress would say yes to that, and I am serious about the work I do. If I was playing Poppea, who famously has a bath scene, I would be naked because you can’t

be in a bath with clothes on!”

She keeps fit by walking and cycling with her GP husband Peter at their second home near the Pyrenees, though singing itself is a prime form of exercise.

“The great thing is that singing keeps you fit with the breathing techniques. It’s very athletic,” she explains.

One thing she does admit to on the cosmetic front is a brief encounter with Botox a few years ago – though only to help with headaches. “It helped enormously by stopping tension in the forehead,” she explains, a remedy that’s been borne out recently by scientific research.

Her upbringing in an aspirational working-class home in south Yorkshire was “unprivileged in a material sense, but so rich in other ways. We had a tin bath in front of the fire and recycling is nothing new to me

“I had earned a living taking my clothes off as an artist’s model” because nothing was ever thrown away by my parents. We grew all our own food and had chickens, rabbits, goats and pigs. It was an idyllic childhood”.

And what glued it all together was music. “My dad is a big Pavarotti-style tenor and my mother is a beautiful English lyric soprano who still sings in choirs in Scunthorpe and Doncaster.”

Family aside, this musical multi-tasker’s other inspiration

was the Three Tenors, who first brought opera to the masses in 1990.

“We have to break down the preconceptions about it all being fat people in foreign languages screaming at each other,” says Garrett. “Art is to be shared.”

And like her heroes, she has never been frightened to take risks and crack new markets.

Alongside the extensive recording career (her new album, A North Country Girl, is her 14th), she has presented her own TV series and even become a West End musical star in The Sound of Music and Carousel. Just don’t call her a “crossover” star; she says it reminds her of a bra.

She was also one of the first celebrity guinea-pigs on Strictly Come Dancing’s debut season in 2004, coming third with her dance partner Anton du Beke – and she’s kept up her dancing ever since with Peter.

As a baby boomer who feels her generation was “born with the best luck – the Pill and free education”, she’s comfortable with her age and thinks maturity has brought many benefits.

“I have a tolerance now

that I’ve not always had. And although I have as much curiosity about life as I always did, it’s tempered by wisdom. I have to have a variety of projects on the go, otherwise I’m just restless. So I tended to charge through life, thinking everything was possible, but now my expectations are more realistic,” she says.

As for her advice to young people starting out, she says it’s vital to “make your own luck.

Busk, sing in a pub, anything, to practise and communicate to your audience”.

Sounds classic Lesley Garrett.

If only the average 21-year old can keep up with her powerhouse energy . . .

Lesley Garrett’s latest album, A North Country Lass, is out now. For concert details of her Queen’s diamond jubilee tour of the UK from 6 June , visit www.lesleygarrett.co.uk

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Property

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Residence of royalty No need to curtsey but towns and counties with royal associations do offer elegant and sophisticated surroundings for older homebuyers, says Graham Norwood

T

he bunting is up, the tables are out and the celebrations are in full swing – and there’s a way you can enjoy a royal life far beyond this summer’s diamond jubilee street parties.

The good news for monarchists is that there are perfect developments for retirees and older residents in Britain’s burgeoning number of towns and boroughs with royal patronage.

Royal Leamington Spa was granted the title in 1838 by Queen Victoria, and Royal Tunbridge Wells in 1909 by Edward VII. Last year, Royal Wootton Bassett won its regal epithet in recognition of its efforts to honour Britain’s war dead.

Meanwhile, Greenwich has this year joined Windsor and Maidenhead, Kensington and Chelsea and Kingston-uponThames in the list of royal boroughs. There’s also the county of Royal Berkshire and in Wales, Caernarfon also includes the word “royal” in its title.

Developers love these locations

because they are steeped in history with listed properties and conservation areas that provide dignified and gentle locations for older buyers.

For example, Banner Homes has new homes for the over-55s in Berkshire at Glebelands, a family estate in Wokingham built in 1897.

The new apartments and cottages are designed to complement a neighbouring listed building.

“The development will provide

Windsor: recent royal status

Developers love these locations because they’re steeped in history with listed properties the best of both worlds with a communal clubhouse complete with kitchen and large TV where residents can come together, but still have privacy and space within their own apartment or cottage,” says Banner’s Shelley West. Prices range from £250,000 to £600,000.

Still in Berkshire, developer Pegasus has a right royal offer at its Calcot Priory scheme in a quiet area close to the bustling town of Reading. There are 64 one- and two-bedroom apartments for sale in seven different designs at prices ranging from £154,950 to £284,950.

As with many retirement schemes this one has an on-site estate manager, a Careline 24-hour emergency call system,

Kingston Upon Thames: plenty of homes to suit over-55s

lifts to all floors, secure parking with electronic gates, landscaped gardens and a fitness suite. But there is a bonus this summer: every visitor viewing a property before 1 July will take away an official diamond jubilee £5 coin.

In Royal Tunbridge Wells, a favourite Kent town for retirees, about 40 per cent of residents are aged 55 or over. Unsurprisingly, the town has many specialist developments for older buyers. For example, there is a one-bedroom apartment available at Chartwell Lodge, a scheme built in an older part of the town: there is a guest

suite for visitors to hire and an owners’ lounge plus communal gardens. All this is £185,950 from Wood & Pilcher.

There are retirement properties for sale at almost every other town and borough with royal patronage.

Websites such as Retirement Homesearch and the Accessible Property Register are good starting points. There are plenty of homes perfect for over-55s in Windsor, Wootton Bassett and Kingstonupon-Thames especially.

So enjoy the street party tea and cake, then crown your celebrations.

Buy a new home in a royal hotspot.

8

Get up and go · June 2012

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Health

Find us online: mygetupandgo.co.uk

SPONSORED FEATURE

See it to believe it Cataracts affect 60 per cent of over-60s. But a pioneering surgery offers a safer, more effective alternative to cataract removal

J

onathan Hatley has struggled with poor eyesight since the onset of cataracts – but a revolutionary approach to eye surgery changed everything.

Hatley is a fit and active 70 year-old. He is a keen skier and golfer, yet was suddenly having to contemplate a life without either because of deteriorating eyesight.

Even driving was becoming difficult, and he feared his days behind the wheel were numbered.

Hatley visited Bobby Qureshi at Harley Street’s London Eye Hospital, the UK’s leading private eye hospital. Qureshi suggested a new cataract removal laser treatment – he is the first surgeon to perform this procedure in the UK and is the most experienced laser cataract surgeon in the country.

The Femtosecond cataract laser machine, with the help of a sophisticated surgeon-guided computer, uses a laser to dissolve a cataract, using perfect precision, within seconds.

This new cataract technology has a much faster healing and recovery time compared with conventional surgery, and is statistically much safer for the 60 per cent of over 60s that suffer from cataracts. “This is the greatest breakthrough in cataract surgery in nearly 30 years,” says Qureshi. “For years, many people have accepted cataracts as an unavoidable part of getting older, but that no longer needs to be the case. With this new surgery, we offer a quick, safe and effective alternative for cataract removal.”

“It was honestly a miracle,” says Hatley. “Although I had become accustomed to living with poor eyesight, I suppose I didn’t realise how much worse my vision had become. The difference took my breath away. The treatment that I received at the London Eye Hospital was top-notch from start to finish,” he said.

“Before going to see Mr Qureshi, my vision was so bad that I was considering giving up driving altogether, but now I don’t need to. Instead, I’m already planning a ski trip and expect to play a lot more golf. The whole experience has been completely life-changing.”

0207 060 2602 www.londoneyehospital.com

After surgery: patients continue to enjoy hobbies

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Positive steps 101-year-old Fauja Singh, who recently ran his eighth London Marathon, believes longevity is in the genes – but keeping fit helps, says Deborah Wain

L

ongevity, says Fauja Singh, runs in his family. His grandfather and other relatives sailed past the 100year mark and Singh himself is, by his own reckoning, 101 (birth certificates were in short supply in his part of the Punjab in 1911, he points out.)

But while genes may play a role, “positivity and staying active” has also helped, he says: the super fit great-grandfather, who lives in Ilford, recently completed the London Marathon for the eighth time, finishing in

“I try to avoid negativity and negative people” – Fauja Singh seven hours and 49 minutes.

He began running after he moved to the UK at age 81 following the death of his wife. Depressed and at a loss for much to do he watched a lot of television and became fascinated by coverage of the London Marathon. Having done some running in his youth he was inspired to start again by what he saw.

Besides his tough training regime – he gets up at six every day for an eight-mile walk and run – he is teetotal.

“I have never smoked and follow a simple, vegetarian diet. I drink lots of water and take tea with ginger. I also try to avoid negativity and negative people,” he says.

His trainer, Harmander Singh, who also trains other runners in their 80s, says that what sets Fauja apart is his enthusiasm and desire to run. “If I suggested he run 10k he would say ‘why not 20?’” says Harmander.

Centenarians as fit as Fauja Singh are rare but it’s a fact that more people are living longer. Average life expectancy in the UK now tops 80 – eight years more than during the 1970s – though Monaco has the world’s highest life expectancy at 89.73 years, as measured by the CIA World Factbook.

Lifespan increase has been put down to factors such as improved drug treatments and lifestyle changes such as better diet and falling smoking rates.

Peter Mace, assistant medical director for Bupa Health and Wellbeing, says keeping your body moving as you get older is

Fauja Singh is ending his marathon days, aged 101

important – “I’d say it’s the best single thing you can do for yourself.” But he adds that longevity is thought to be about a third determined by genetic background.

“Choose your parents with care,” he says, wryly.

Meanwhile, research at Glasgow University has shed more light on life expectancy and whether we might be able to predict how long we will live.

A team led by Professor Pat Monaghan examined the link between the length of telomeres – which lie at the end of chromosomes – and lifespan. Tests on zebra

finches over nine years showed that the longestlived had longer telomeres and the best predictor of lifespan was the length of the telomeres early in life.

Monaghan says: “Difficulties arise in sampling people due to the length of time they live but human studies do suggest a relationship between telomere length and life expectancy.”

In Ilford, Fauja Singh has decided this year’s marathon was his last one: he plans to concentrate on what he refers to as shorter runs. Just the “5k and 10k from now on...”

Go nuts for magnesium In the first of a new feature on nutrition for older people, Vicky Pennington looks at the role of magnesium in our diets

M

agnesium is a hidden gem of a mineral. It is key to helping energy levels and bone health, especially as we age when our bones naturally begin to weaken.

It also helps us process carbohydrates and may play a role in the control of blood sugar levels – possibly helpful for people with type 2 diabetes.

Up to two thirds (66 per cent) of women aged 50 to 64 years may not get sufficient magnesium from their diet, according to research. To make sure you’re getting enough, try introducing more magnesium-rich

foods such as nuts, whole grains and leafy green vegetables.

If you need extra help, you may want to consider taking a supplement to support your levels of magnesium. The recommended daily amount for adults is 375mg.

Vicky Pennington is a nutritionist with Boots. Always speak to your pharmacist or GP if you are considering taking a supplement.

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Books

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Taking a leaf out of my book Alan Titchmarsh has gone into print about his growing admiration for the Queen – and how she really does know her onions… by Kerry Fowler

A

lan Titchmarsh, gardener, broadcaster and author of Elizabeth: Her Life, Our Times (BBC Books, £18.99), explains why he will be celebrating the Queen’s 60 years (he’ll be joining the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant, along with his family and a very full hamper).

“I first met the Queen in 1985 at the Chelsea Flower Show. We chatted about my garden and she knew her stuff… she knew holly was ilex and made a remark about how small the onions were, which I was a bit upset about but she said she preferred them like that, because when they are big they taste of nothing at all…

“There can be an assumption that if you revere the Queen and the royal family that you somehow put aside all kind of evaluation of them. It is not that – they have their foibles like all of us, but their intentions are incredibly noble and they are immensely hard-working.

“It is very easy to be cynical and say they are of no value: go to an event where they are present, and see them interact with people and then watch people come away – it has lifted their day. The royal family are, as one commentator said, in the happiness business.

“I think the Queen gives us a sense of continuity, and in a way she is our ancestry. If we can’t always trace our own family, we can trace the royal family.”

Alan’s pick of the paperbacks

formative years, was “a hard child to spoil, always striving to achieve goals of her own making”.

Rich with princess anecdotes – an early indication of Margaret’s fashion sense, despite the identical dress their father insisted on in an attempt at sibling equanimity; Elizabeth’s habit of “driving her horses” in bed before she slept – Williams’s book weaves the Second World War, vast social change and the royal upheaval of abdication and celebration of coronation into energised, nostalgic storytelling.

The Diamond Queen: Elizabeth II and Her People, Andrew Marr (Pan, £7.99) “Suburban the Queen is not. She may spoon her breakfast cereal out of a Tupperware container but her court retains the velvety sheen and scale of Victoria’s.”

Smart, engagingly phrased prose is the signature style of political journalist Marr in his book on the monarch and head of state. Once a confident republican, Marr has over the years become a fully-fledged admirer of the Queen and the pure hard graft she puts into her working life.

Against the backdrop of royal family history, his focus is sharpest on her relationship with her prime ministers, the media and managing the business of being a 21st-century monarch.

Throughout it all, Marr says, she has been kind, shrewd and wise.

Tea at Fortnum & Mason, Recipes: Emma Marsden (Ebury Press, £10) The bunting is up, the trestles are looking sturdy, but what to do about the brew? If you are agonising over what blends to serve with your smart jubilee fancies, this little helpmate and afternoon-tea cake recipe book will set you straight.

Lapsang souchong should be infused just before the water boils (controversial but true); a hefty two teaspoons of gunpowder tea per person for the required blast; pick spiced and scented blends for tea-breads, rose pouchong with lavender and honey cake, and make sure it is white tea for éclairs and superior Ceylon served black for your egg and cress sarnies.

Stirring stuff.

Young Elizabeth, The Making of Our Queen, Kate Williams (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, £12.99) The young Elizabeth Alexandra Mary, according to this gentle account of her SPONSORED FEATURE

Create a legacy that grows Investing in forestry is becoming increasingly popular, providing a regular income for your family and environmental benefits for now and for future generations

I

nvesting for your children and grandchildren is often regarded as one of the most important decisions you can make in life.

As the cost of living continues to spiral out of control, it no doubt leaves most parents and grandparents wondering how their family will be able to cope with the seemingly relentless financial pressure.

If you consider the life path of a child from birth to a middle aged, financially secure person, there are considerable and inevitable financial hurdles to be overcome.

School fees, family holidays, driving lessons, first car purchases, university fees, house deposits and starting a family all represent

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Their most popular investment of £18,000 over 12 years projects a total return of £104,189, with payments made to the investor in years 4,8 10 and 12.

Mark Finn of Ethical Forestry says: “If

you are looking for a longer-term investment, we offer a 24-year investment called the income and wealth generator.

“The investment provides regular payments to the beneficiary in years 4, 8, 10, 12, 16, 18, 20, 22 and 24. It was created as a direct result of working with parents and grandparents who required regular income during the school years and regular, larger payments during adulthood.

“A typical investment of £36,000 invested over 24 years projects a total return of more than £1m.”

0800 075 30 10 www.ethicalforestry.com

A sustainable investment

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SPONSORED FEATURE

Enjoy a pain-free life Revolutionary shockwave therapy is proven to relieve chronic pain caused by injuries commonly experienced by over-50s

How does it work?

During the ESWT treatment process, lowenergy shockwaves are passed through the skin to initiate an inflammation-like response in the injured tissue.

This prompts the body to respond naturally by increasing blood circulation, the number of blood vessels and therefore metabolism in the injured tissue. This accelerates the body’s healing process by increasing cell generation and dissolving calcium deposits.

M

en and women that are suffering with excruciating pain in their heels, feet, hips, elbows and shoulders are being given a new lease of life, thanks to a revolutionary new medical treatment.

Extracorporeal shockwave therapy (ESWT) is being used by clinicians across the UK to successfully treat chronic soft tissue injuries, such as tendonopathies, that are commonly found in the over-50s and are notoriously debilitating to live with.

ESWT is an effective non-invasive procedure and may prevent the requirement for surgery. Typical treatment programmes take minutes and most patients are pain-free after three treatment sessions and able to return to full mobility.

An increasing number of over-50s are turning to ESWT because they want to be able to enjoy the simple things in life, whether it’s going for a stroll in the countryside, doing a spot of gardening or

Jean Dickie gets treatment to ease the pain in her heel being able to play with their grandchildren.

Jean Dickie, a 70-year-old retired school teacher, turned to Spectrum Technology’s Swiss DolorClast treatment device after failing to find a lasting cure for her Plantar Fasciitis (pain in the underside of the foot).

She said: “I endured three years of terrible pain with my heel – it was absolutely awful. I tried various treatments such as painkillers, physiotherapy, using special insoles in my shoes and even a couple of steroid injections but nothing helped. The pain was so bad that I was often in tears.”

But after undergoing three ESWT treatment sessions, Dickie is now enjoying a

pain-free life and says she “feels years younger”. She added: “The pain has gone completely and I have been able to return to normal activities and enjoy my retirement.

“Mobility is so important when you get older because if you have pain and discomfort it can knock your confidence and general appetite for life. But this shockwave therapy treatment has had a really positive impact on me and I’m so thankful.”

A growing number of NHS and private treatment centres across the UK are offering an ESWT service to patients that have failed to find a lasting cure for their injuries with conventional treatment methods.

The benefits of ESWT · Impressive clinical success rate · Reviewed by NICE and FDA-approved · Treatment sessions take minutes · Non-invasive treatment · Fewer complications than surgery · No need for anaesthetic · No lengthy rehabilitation · Recognised by most private health insurers

Call Spectrum Technology on 01202 761198 To locate your nearest treatment centre, visit www.spectrumtechnologyuk.com and enter your postcode

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Money

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Margaret Stone

Getting their affairs in order

Time to take control

T

he Queen, thank goodness, has her health and, with one or two scares apart, so too has Prince Philip. But other families with elderly relatives in their 80s and 90s aren’t so fortunate.

For them, there is the anguish of seeing parents or other family members suffer badly in their old age – poor health, approaching dementia, and an overall weariness when it comes to taking decisions.

That’s where a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) comes in. It’s the legal permission given to someone you trust implicitly who will be able to act

property and financial affairs LPA gives your attorney power to manage all your financial affairs, such as running your bank accounts, dealing with tax and managing your investments.

With a health and welfare LPA in place, your attorney is empowered to make decisions about moving into a care home, what medical treatment you receive, including whether you would wish to be resuscitated or not.

Although you can draw up an LPA for free, it must be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian at a cost of £130 per LPA (fees are waived for those on benefits and anyone whose income is under £12,000 gets a 50 per cent

reduction). If you use a solicitor to handle arrangements, you will have their fees on top.

In England and Wales, you can download the LPA forms, plus detailed and clear guidelines, from the Office of the Public Guardian website, then it can take up to 11 weeks to register a LPA. If you have a pre-October 1970 Enduring Power of Attorney, it is still valid but will have to be registered, too.

In Scotland and Northern Ireland, the terminology and procedures are slightly different, but the principles are fundamentally the same.

I am about to take my own advice – I will let you know how I get on!

Creating an LPA is a big step which you ought to discuss with the family, and you might want to consult your solicitor, too and take decisions on your behalf. As a safeguard, you must also ask an independent third party, known as the certificate provider, to certify that you are doing this of your own free will.

By all means nominate your spouse, but it would also make sense to nominate a person from a younger generation to act on your behalf as well. You can insist that they always act in concert, or you can specify that each can make individual decisions on your behalf.

Put your trust in someone to make decisions for you, before it’s too late There are two types of LPA. The

London’s oldest tailor and robe maker www.edeandravenscroft.com London • Oxford • Cambridge • Edinburgh

11

Mike and Linda Cassell, now in their mid-60s, had a meeting with their financial adviser last December to discuss their income arrangements.

Almost as a throwaway line, the subject of power of attorney came up.

Like most of us, Mike and Linda hadn’t given the matter of managing their affairs as they got older too much thought, but the conversation spurred them into action.

By the end of March, two Lasting Powers of Attorney had been set up and registered, bringing what Mike describes as “peace of mind”. “The forms were incredibly complicated,” he says. “I don’t think anyone should attempt to do it on their own.”

But, of course, solicitors’ fees add to the cost. Although Linda’s low income meant that she qualified for reduced fees, the Cassells’ overall bill for setting up two LPAs, plus their wills, came to £1,000.

Going it alone Alison Maddocks took out two Lasting Power of Attorney on behalf of her elderly uncle four years ago. She downloaded the forms and didn’t use a solicitor. “The guidance notes were very good, and first I filled everything in by pencil and double-checked and double-checked,” she says.

Even so, a mistake did creep in. Her uncle’s doctor, his certificate provider, dated his document a day after her signature requesting registration.

“Fortunately, I picked this up and was able to print out a replacement page for me to sign – otherwise it would have cost another £130.”

When her uncle was hospitalised recently, she was asked about his attitude to resuscitation which was “Don’t”. Fortunately, he made a recovery and she was able to rescind that answer.

12

Get up and go · June 2012

AN INDEPENDENT REPORT FROM LYONSDOWN, DISTRIBUTED WITH THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Royal warrants

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SPONSORED FEATURE

Tailored by tradition World famous tailor has hand-crafted bespoke suits for royalty, politicians and businessmen for more than 200 years

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stablished in 1806, Henry Poole & Co is the founder of Savile Row, the modest Mayfair street recognised worldwide with more than 200 years of bespoke tailoring tradition. It was the eponymous Poole who first opened a Savile Row entrance to his palatial tailor’s shop in 1846 where he would serve claret and cigars to friends such as the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII), Baron Meyer de Rothschild and Prince Louis

Napoleon (the future Emperor Napoleon III).

Customers of Henry Poole walk in the footsteps of kings, prime ministers, presidents and gentlemen of note from the worlds of politics, property, finance and publishing.

What do Benjamin Disraeli, Charles Dickens, Winston Churchill, J. Pierpont Morgan, General de Gaulle, William Randolph Hearst and Emperor Hirohito have in common other than their appearance in the historic ledgers preserved in the Henry Poole & Co archive?

Today, Henry Poole & Co is one of few tailors on Savile Row dedicated only to the craft of hand-making bespoke suits. Each customer is measured by hand, his pattern is cut by hand and his suit is constructed by many hands with a minimum of 54-hours’ work and an average three months to perfect, all on the premises at 15 Savile Row. Though Poole’s is always pleased to welcome new

Fit for a king

customers to Savile Row, the cutters visit countries such as Japan, USA, France and Germany, to name a few, up to four times a year.

In addition to City suits and formal dress such as the dinner jacket that Poole’s cut first for Prince of Wales in 1865 before his accession to the throne, Henry Poole & Co is the only Savile Row tailor to have a Livery Department and has held the British monarch’s royal warrant successively since Queen Victoria first granted it in 1869.

Poole also tailored the velvet court dress, designed by Henry Poole’s father James in 1837, on the accession of Queen Victoria.

In April 2012 Henry Poole & Co was proud to be awarded The Queen’s Award

for Enterprise: an honour conferred on Her Majesty’s birthday and in the diamond jubilee year. This award is Britain’s highest accolade for business and is granted by the Queen, on the advice of the prime minister, for excellence in international trade. +44 (0) 20 7734 5985 www.henrypoole.com

SPONSORED FEATURE

Personal service has tailored to the individual needs of many, including King George VI, making it an enduring choice through the decades

W

hen you are looking for a suit fit for a king, visit a king’s tailor. Benson & Clegg, in Piccadilly Arcade on London’s Jermyn Street was granted the royal warrant as official tailor to King George VI in 1944.

The firm created the king’s suits, morning dress, military uniform, and the doublebreasted overcoat he wears in many historical photographs.

The tradition continues today. Benson & Clegg holds the royal warrant to the Prince of Wales as the supplier of buttons, badges and military neckwear.

with the client from the outset.”

So what is it that makes Austin uses this knowledge Benson & Clegg such an enduring when overseeing the choice of the monarchy? creation of each suit.

“We provide an “I have a picture of the individual service to customer in my mind, the customer from so I can check with beginning to end,” our in-house tailors says Kenneth Austin, that the construction Benson & Clegg’s is exactly right. As a master tailor. master tailor I do some “The cutter helps you of the making myself to choose the fabric, rather King ensure the perfect fit.” than a salesman, as in many George VI Unlike many firms, which other tailoring firms. He use self-employed outworkers, then measures you, oversees the Benson & Clegg employs its own tailoring and carries out the fittings. jacket tailors on fixed salaries. “It It creates an individual relationship

means they can afford to take the extra time and trouble to get the details exactly right,” says Austin.

The company also provides hand-crafted blazer buttons, hand-embroidered blazer badges and regimental silk ties, some of which are individually woven for the Prince of Wales.

“Holding a royal warrant is an honour that means we must always provide the highest level of individual servicethat extends to every customer,” says Austin.

020 7409 2053 www.bensonandclegg.com

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Royal warrants

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Wear it like a Windsor Classics rule when it comes to royal fashion. From shoes that last a lifetime to the best in bespoke blazers and handbags, clothing for monarchs has always been a cut above, writes Stephanie Sparrow

A

s the royal carriage procession travels from Westminster Hall to Buckingham Palace this Tuesday, the scarlet and gold livery of coachmen, walking grooms and postillions will catch the eye.

“Pretty well all of the livery will have been made by us at some time,” says Angus Cundey. He is chairman of Henry Poole, The Queen still reigns supreme

the founder of Savile Row, whose tailors and livery specialists still work on the same street. “Some of our livery that day will have been worn for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897.”

Such longevity and tradition is typical of royal warrant holders. But the timeless nature of royal style should not mask the innovation behind it. For example, in 1865 Henry Poole worked with the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) to create the dinner jacket or tuxedo. The king also introduced turn-ups and the front crease to trousers.

Traditional tailoring can still leave scope for individuality, says Mark Gordon, director of Benson and Clegg. In addition to military neckwear, buttons and badges, the company is known for its classic suits and blazers.

“Traditionally a gentleman’s blazer has few options, but personalisation can come from the buttons,” he says.

Younger members of the royal family are the pin-ups for a relaxed approach to classic dressing, but the Queen still reigns supreme.

“The Queen’s sense of fashion is timeless,” says royal watcher and former BBC correspondent Jennie Bond. “She knows she needs to be seen in the crowds so chooses bright colours on public engagements.”

The simplicity behind the her clothes

belies their ingenuity. “Her designers have to make her clothes crease-proof and wind-proof. To ensure there are no Marilyn Monroe moments, tiny weights are sewn into the hems of her dresses,” Bond says.

The Queen’s accessories, such as her white

“To ensure there are no Marilyn Monroe moments, tiny weights are sewn into the hems of the Queen’s dresses” – Bond cotton gloves from Cornelia James, are part of her signature style. The handbags are bespoke versions with lightweight linings of the Diva (£920) and Traviata (£1,020) styles from manufacturer Launer London.

“The bag has to be extremely carriable, and not too heavy, as Her Majesty is often walking around for hours at a time,” says managing director Gerald Bodmer.

Bespoke royal handbags have longer handles than other Launer models, too.

“The Queen is often greeting people by hand and she worries the bags will get in the way,” says Bodmer.

13

Better by design British interior design is even bigger news than before in this jubilee year. Stephanie Sparrow gives us the inside story

British style is big news, and nowhere more so than in interior design.

“There is plenty of interest in British style from overseas,” says Melanie Adams, wallpaper specialist at decorators’ merchant Brewers.

“When we introduced our London Life wallpaper (£28 a roll) – a contemporary toile showing landmarks such as the Houses of Parliament – our first online order was from New Zealand.”

Colour schemes are similarly patriotic.

“We recently analysed customers’ colour choices,” says Adams. “Red has become really popular, partly because they are matching it with white and blue.”

Britain is still seen as a world leader in wallpaper manufacture. “Output from our factories is in demand around the world,” says Adams. “Places such as China trust us with quality. And they are also excited about the royal celebrations.”

Houses of Parliament for your wall

14

Get up and go · June 2012

AN INDEPENDENT REPORT FROM LYONSDOWN, DISTRIBUTED WITH THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Royal warrants

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SPONSORED FEATURE

Hunt with highest calibre For over 30 years, top-quality bespoke guns have been crafted for customers, from keen shots to Prince William

W

hen an accomplished shot wishes to buy a gun, they naturally look for the highest level of craftsmanship. That often means the name of Michael Lingard comes into the frame.

Michael Lingard holds the royal warrant as gunmaker to the Prince of Wales.

He was commissioned by the prince to make a .234 rifle as a gift for his son, Prince William, for his 18th birthday.

Lingard has been making bespoke guns in Friockheim, near Brechin in Angus, for 32 years. His workshop is based in an elegant former bank building, which bears the royal warrant.

“Each gun is made to the individual

customer’s specifications,” says Lingard.

“They usually want a beautifully figured piece of walnut for the stock, so I travel throughout Europe looking for the highest quality walnut stock blanks available.”

Lingard is particularly renowned for his stockmaking, having learnt the skills during a five year apprenticeship to Ted Slater, a stocker and actioner at London gunmakers Stephen Grant & Joseph Lang.

Each stock is individually crafted to the customer’s measurements. “Usually there is a gold oval or shield mounted on the underside of the stock, that bears the client’s initials or coat of arms,” says Lingard.

The action body may be engraved or

carved in a pattern selected by the client.

Lingard says: “I usually produce about six guns a year. An individual gun may take two years to make.”

Personal recommendations often bring customers from all over the world to Lingard’s workshop.

Once purchased (and a shotgun, excluding engraving, starts at around £38,000), customers can return the gun for servicing, knowing they will be in the hands of a gunmaker whose craftsmanship is recognised by the royal warrant.

01241 828649­ office@michael-lingard.com

SPONSORED FEATURE

Style, service and traditional values With a century of experience in fine furnishings, one family firm really is fit for a Queen

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stablished in 1904, Brewers is one of the oldest suppliers of decorating materials in the UK. With over 100 years experience in all things paint and wallpaper, it is no wonder the firm is called upon to make royal residences look their very best.

Brewers is still family run and since the opening of the first

branch in Eastbourne 108 years ago, the company has always aimed to be the “local paint shop” everywhere it has a presence.

Although today there are 140 branches across the UK, Brewers has maintained the family atmosphere. Six direct descendants of founder Clement Brewer are now involved in the business and some 60 per cent of the 970 staff have worked for the company for six years or more.

Brewers has been supplying decorating materials to royal households, including Buckingham Palace, for some decades and was awarded a prestigious royal warrant in 2010. The accolade is testament to the vast array of products

on offer, including the widest range of paints, wallpapers and decorating sundries in the market.

With more than 37,000 paint colours, Brewers has the widest selection of paint in the UK - it supplies all the market leading brands such as Dulux, Crown and Albany, and also carries a full range of designer paints including Farrow and Ball, Little Greene and Zoffany. For a bespoke offering, all branches offer colour matching, allowing for a unique formulation to be created to match any wallpaper, fabric or other sample.

Brewers is also the largest stockist of wallpaper in the country, with thousands of patterns to choose from. There is also a

Celebrating and honouring Her Majesty The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee www.theritzlondon.com

wide variety of fabrics, including Sanderson, Romo and Harlequin, as well as made-tomeasure curtains and a blind service.

Whether supplying materials for Buckingham Palace, a building site, a hospital refurbishment or a private home, the Brewers family is committed to providing the right product for the job in hand with a friendly smile. Just ask the Queen!

01323 411080 www.brewers.co.uk

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15

Gunning for greatness Alfresco made easy Bespoke gunmaking is a craft appreciated by royals and the rest for centuries.

We look at what the top gunsmiths have to offer

Royal warrant holders advise on using the best of British produce to celebrate the jubilee outdoors and in style, writes Stephanie Sparrow

By Stephanie Sparrow

R

oyal warrants recognise British tradition and craftsmanship – and nowhere is this more evident than in the production of fine sporting shotguns and rifles.

The main centre of the trade is London, where James Purdey & Sons, is based.

“London has been a centre of excellence for gunmaking for well over 200 years,” says Richard Purdey, director and former chairman of the firm founded in 1814. It has held a royal warrant since 1868.

Guns are built in its Hammersmith factory in west London, using British components such as barrel forgings from Sheffield.

The craftsmen are trained in a five-year apprenticeship and specialise in one of the individual skills required such as the making of barrels, actions or furniture (the lock and trigger). After their apprenticeship, they earn the right to stamp their initials on the part of the gun they created.

A bespoke gun such as a classic Purdey game gun will take 18 months to build and could cost in the region of £75,000. “A

Right on target

Purdey is an investment to be handed down through the generations,” says Purdey.

Hundreds of miles away in eastern Scotland, Michael Lingard lives and works in the small village of Friockheim in Angus, supplying guns to the Prince of Wales.

“Thanks to the high level of craftsmanship, there is a strong interest in British- built guns in this country and worldwide, particularly from America,” he says.

For Lingard, who began as an apprentice in 1973 before setting up his own business in 1980, this craft is a vocation. “It is not only an occupation but a way of life,” he says.

Prices for a single shotgun start at around £38,000, with a delivery time of 18-30 months.

T

he ultimate alfresco meal will be held tomorrow, 4 June, when 10,000 people, chosen by public ballot, will gather in the gardens of Buckingham Palace.

Those who miss out still have plenty of opportunities to celebrate the summer of 2012 with the best of British produce, and in a suitably regal style.

Fortnum & Mason offers

a range of freshly made picnics, from £40-£200, all of which can be collected from the Piccadilly store or delivered by taxi.

Those on a limited budget needn’t miss out. One of the simplest picnics, a hunk of bread and quality cheese has been enjoyed outdoors for hundreds of years.

Fine foods supplier Paxton & Whitfield’s Diamond Jubilee

products are suitable for picnics or parties. The Fit for a Queen “cheesecake”t of cheeses with a royal association, for example, includes Auld Lochnagar, made in the shadow of Balmoral. It can cater for as many as 120 people (£265) or be presented in a gift pack for £33.

The Fit for a Queen cheesecake, and a Fortnum & Mason picnic, right

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Get up and go · June 2012

Senior moment

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hunter daviEs

Remembering a right royal childhood

W

e go back a long way, me and the royal family.

Can you believe I have lived through four reigns? I tell my grandchildren this and they think it’s a fib, for of course our blessed Queen has reigned forever and anyway she is much older than you, Humper.

I was born on 7 January 1936 – just in time to see the last two weeks of the reign and life of George V. I remember

I have no memory of the king having a stutter. He was just an old posh English bloke speaking very slowly it not at all well. Nor the next fella, Edward VIII, who then took over but did a runner before the year was out.

But then I did witness the whole reign of George VI, starting from a lying position somewhere in the back of my pram. I have no memory of the king having a stutter. I did hear him on

the radio, and he was just an old posh English bloke speaking very slowly.

By 1953, we had moved to Carlisle, and I can remember clearly the excitement of the Queen’s coronation in June 1953. I can still hear those joyous cries ringing round our council

estate: “MRS PORTER’S GORRA TELLY!” I was a paper boy by then and delivered papers in her street. I didn’t know her personally – but everyone knew about her. The first person in the human race, our little section of it, who had a telly. All over the country, there were people who had somehow managed to get together enough money to buy their first ever television, much to the jealousy of their neighbours. Had Mrs Porter won some money on the Treble Chance?

Come into an inheritance?

Her chosen friends were invited into her parlour to crowd round the funny little box and watch the coronation. The next level of friends, which included my mother and my twin sisters, were allowed to stand in the front garden and peer through the front window.

I wasn’t bothered, really. It was for the women. Instead I was playing football in the street, 55-a-side, the pitch about half a mile long. With no cars in the streets, you could play uninterrupted.

The first royal I ever met, in the flesh, was Lady Di. We got invited to

a royal garden party at Buckingham Palace, never knew why. It was on 16 July 1981, two weeks before her marriage to Charles.

The royals each stand in their own little circle. A select few, chosen beforehand, get personally introduced, while the rest of the guests mill around, looking at the queues, wondering which to join, then get their elbows out and push, trying of course not to show it.

I picked the queue for Lady Di. With both elbows going, I managed to obtain my own intimate, one-toone with her. Hmm, not sure of the protocol. Am I, even now, allowed to reveal the details? OK then, but don’t pass it on.

“There’s some jolly good choccy cake over there,” said Lady Di. To me. Personally. Exclusively. With a knowing, lop-sided, ever-so-seductive smile.

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