Friends Re-United – Terry Waite

Nigel Hedges, Regional Secretary of Home Counties South and Area Secretary of Bournemouth and Poole MGOC, had an inspired idea for a fund raising charity lunch. One of his members, Chris Piercy is the proud owner of an MGB that had once belonged to Terry Waite. As special envoy of the Archbishop of Canterbury Terry Waite had travelled to Beirut in January 1987 to negotiate the release of several hostages, but ended up being taken prisoner himself and was held captive for 1,760 days before being released in 1991. After his ordeal Terry wrote a best selling account of his imprisonment, Taken on Trust, and he is now a full time author and lecturer.

MGs and guests assemble in the gardens at Athelhampton House

Nigel came up with the novel concept of re-uniting the MGB with its very distinguished original owner and he knew exactly the right venue for such an occasion. Athelhampton House in Dorset provides the perfect setting for the famous 1020 picnic every year. Athelhampton’s owner Patrick Cooke also has a celebrity MGB of his own, the car that was driven by Michael Caine in ‘Sleuth’ a film made on location at the House and released in 1972. By bringing together Terry Waite, his old MGB and its present owner in such an attractive setting Nigel was able to assemble all the right ingredients for a very special occasion.

Serious traffic problems delayed the arrival of the guest of honour but Athelhampton’s gardens were so pleasant in the sunshine that no one seemed to mind. When Terry Waite arrived he was greeted with great enthusiasm as he made his way into the grounds and inspected the MGs assembled on the drive. We then made our way into lunch but before the meal began Nigel showed Terry through into an adjoining room where his old MGB was on display. Terry’s delight at seeing the car once again was obvious and he quickly settled behind the wheel and posed for photos with the present owner Chris Piercy who has spent a lot of time and money in putting the B back into first class condition. Terry immediately offered to buy the MGB back. Chris declined but offered to take Terry for a blast round the lanes after lunch and the book signing.

Chris Piercy the present owner chats to Terry seated in the MGB with Andrea Cooke while Nigel Hedges stands behind the car

Terry was available to sign copies of his book. Here he is signing a copy for Lyn, Chris Piercy’s partner

At the end of an excellent lunch Terry made a speech about his pleasure at being reunited with his MGB once again and his time spent in captivity. He recalled that he was thinner when he owned the B although he has always been a big chap. He told us how his captors would decide to move him from time to time, usually bundled into the boot of a car. On one occasion he was hooded and bound with gaffer tape and forced into the boot of large saloon car, after a few moments he realised he was not alone and said aloud. “There’s not much room in here”, which brought the reply. “Well, there was until you got in.” This was Terry’s first meeting with his fellow hostage John McCarthy.

Terry then spoke about his charity work and his concern for young children in poverty throughout the world, in particular the many street children. Terry is the Founder Chairman of Y CARE International which exists to bring hope to these young people and help them make a fresh start in life and the sales from his books support this charity.

Nigel reported that from among the small gathering of MG enthusiasts at Athelhampton nearly £500 worth of books were sold and overall the event raised nearly £1,000 for Y CARE with profits from the ticket sales. My thanks to Nigel Hedges for organising such an inspiring afternoon in the company of a remarkable man and a great MG enthusiast, Terry Waite was an inspiration to all of us who had the pleasure of meeting him at Athelhampton.

Richard Ladds