I was over the moon when I was invited to give a talk on MY islands, the Maldives, at the famous health spa, Champneys at Tring. In my time there were no health spas in London. For me to be able to talk to their guests on a Saturday night after supper was a sheer delight. Their guests were much-travelled but no one knew anything about MY MALDIVES.
I was a Speaker with FOYLES and my Maldives talks up until this point had been mainly to public schools all over the UK. I never had notes, I just spoke from my heart. My slides were amazing and included pictures of my children, Lucinda and Ashley, then aged 15 and 12, visiting the Shark Circus, 20 meters down under the sea, where the famous diver, Herwarth Voitman, would feed sharks by hand and mouth. This story is already here (Shark Circus).
The school children just loved my talks, especially the Shark jaw and Barracuda jaw that I brought along that I had caught on my travels in the islands. But Champneys was adult time. Prince Charles once gave Lady Diana a birthday gift of a stay here with a couple of her girlfriends. Guests would also arrive from abroad. Just everything on offer at Champneys was amazing.
I was the New Girl on the block. At meal times many guests would ask me to sit with them to hear more about the islands and of course their PEOPLE. I would be booked every month. The Champneys’ talks I loved doing best were “their specials”. These were the talks I gave from Christmas to the middle of the New Year. They were packed with a large number of 'lonely ladies’, my talk would always cheer them up!
I would always end my talks by teaching my audience a few words of Dhivehi, the Maldives’ language. The words I taught them were ‘KIKU RANI’. What do they mean? Simply 'WHAT A PITY'. All of us can get stressed out and out knickers in a twist in life. I would say to the guests: "Stand up, stretch out your arms, put your head to one side, SMILE, and say ‘Kiku Rani”. They all did this and laughed and laughed!
The school children just loved my talks, especially the Shark jaw and Barracuda jaw that I brought along that I had caught on my travels in the islands. But Champneys was adult time. Prince Charles once gave Lady Diana a birthday gift of a stay here with a couple of her girlfriends. Guests would also arrive from abroad. Just everything on offer at Champneys was amazing.
I was the New Girl on the block. At meal times many guests would ask me to sit with them to hear more about the islands and of course their PEOPLE. I would be booked every month. The Champneys’ talks I loved doing best were “their specials”. These were the talks I gave from Christmas to the middle of the New Year. They were packed with a large number of 'lonely ladies’, my talk would always cheer them up!
I would always end my talks by teaching my audience a few words of Dhivehi, the Maldives’ language. The words I taught them were ‘KIKU RANI’. What do they mean? Simply 'WHAT A PITY'. All of us can get stressed out and out knickers in a twist in life. I would say to the guests: "Stand up, stretch out your arms, put your head to one side, SMILE, and say ‘Kiku Rani”. They all did this and laughed and laughed!
Through my talks I started a flow of visitors to the Maldives islands.
These were amazing times for me AND for the Maldives as well.
These were amazing times for me AND for the Maldives as well.
