Foxlease 13
Previous Page Pick a Page Back to Foxlease Next Page
. . . Movement "in honour of the occasion of the marriage of our beloved President".
The Princess, in characteristically generous fashion, gave £6,000 to Foxlease, out of the money subscribed as a wedding present to her from the Marys of the Empire. She then sent a further £4,000 from the proceeds of the exhibition of her presents. This lifted the burden of anxiety from the shoulders of Headquarters and preparations were put in hand at once, as much had to be done to the house. Plumbers, masons, and workmen of all sorts were soon to arrive on the scene.
Furnishing the house was the next problem and the Guide companies in some of the big schools provided the money to furnish a room each, which would bear the name of the school. Countries and counties soon followed suit. South Africa, South-East Lancashire and Denbighshire were among the first to claim their own domains and before long there were not sufficient rooms for those who wanted to furnish them! The resourcefulness and ingenuity of the Guides was, however, shown in the multitude of other gifts showered upon Foxlease. In every corner of the house there was a gift; a grandfather clock from Gloucestershire, the black-wood chairs and table from China, the gong from Egypt and in London room a desk from New Zealand.
The loggia was made into a permanent dining-room sponsored by India 86 Pakistan and Hampshire County furnished the writing-room, once the old dining-room.
It was just the same upstairs which was geographically somewhat surprising, for "Oxfordshire" was between "South Africa" and "West Africa", while a little further along the passage "Cornwall" and "Massachusetts" were next door neighbours.
At the end of May 1922, all was in readiness and the first Training Week took place at Whitsuntide of that year.
H.R.H. the Princess Royal frequently visited the home which she had helped to secure for the Guides and each time, she . . .
