290 x 265 mm
A few steps along the white Saint James beach from our hotel was the beautiful house designed for Ronald Tree where I had once, in 1975, been a-calling for his daughter Penelope, only to find her not at home. Long story, although it’s recorded in my memoir, APPOINTMENTS WITH THE DREAM FAIRY. Twenty years later, I was back in Barbados again, this time with Nigel and the talk at the Coral Reef Club was that Joan Collins was staying at Heron Bay as the guest of its current owners, Mr and Mrs Bamford, he of JCB fame. The ultimate ‘Bob the Builder’.
As fascinated as we were by all this celeb-gossip was an adorable family staying in the apartment above ours in the midst of the lush tropical gardens which were the grounds of the Coral Reef Club. We knew them as David and Susie and their two teenage daughters. David returned from a walk one night flushed with glory and success, announcing that he had secured an invitation for his family to go for drinks at the fabled Heron Bay. He had apparently accosted Joan herself and on discovering that she knew his brother rather well, was afforded the ‘mi casa es su casa’ treatment.
How envious was my dear Ni? THIS MUCH!!! He went swimming everyday in a huge elliptical arc which ultimately brought him to a spot only a few yards from where the goddess of DYNASTY was known to disport herself in giant straw sunhat and huge dark sunglasses on the public beach. But Ni had no success in meeting up with Joan, even though it was to transpire that he also knew our new friend David’s illustrious and obviously powerfully connected brother.
But, hey ho … It was only on our penultimate night when we were traditionally exchanging names and addresses that we found out that our delightful family bore the surname Sainsbury. The human face of a brand even more powerful than dear Joan’s.