Kate Winslet carried Eve Branson

Kate Winslet carried Eve Branson, At around 5am on that fateful morning, I suddenly awoke to hear two loud cracking and banging noises. My first thought was that my grandsons must still be partying in the house and I turned over to go back to sleep.

This proved impossible. The next thing I recall is the boys shouting: ‘Fire, fire! Out everyone — leave everything now!’ Was it a joke?

In the next instant, my grandson Jack was at my  bedroom door. ‘Granny, leave everything! Get out quick!’ he screamed. Behind him, smoke and flames were already racing down the corridor.

As I discovered later, the house that my son Richard had built on Necker, his private island in the Caribbean, had been struck by lightning — and now the winds from Hurricane Irene were fanning the flames.

I grabbed my Mackintosh and then my handbag and workbasket, but Jack said: ‘Leave the basket, just get out!’ So I made a dash for the stairs — where the flames were licking ever closer — while he rushed off to another room.

It was a terrifying moment. I knew I needed to stay calm and that getting hysterical wouldn’t help. But it was dark, and without my contact lenses I couldn’t see a thing. . .

It's now more than 30 years since Richard — or Rick, as only I am permitted to call him — decided to buy the island of Necker. Not that he told me anything about it at first. One morning, his father, Ted, and I were stunned to receive a call from the Governor of Tortola, the capital of the British Virgin Islands in the Caribbean, asking us to send him Rick’s dossier. What dossier? What on earth was our son up to now?

A call to our son’s secretary, Penni Pike, put us in the picture: Richard was trying to buy one of the last uninhabited Virgin Islands — but the Governor wouldn’t give his permission until he was thoroughly satisfied that Richard was an honest British citizen.

So we duly supplied a reference for him, while the Governor continued to check Richard’s credentials with Who’s Who, CBS, EMI Records, Warner Brothers and even banker Coutts & Co. He must have been satisfied because, a few months later, we got a last-minute invitation from our son to inspect his new acquisition: an island populated by a few families of wild goats.

He’d already been to the island himself with Joan Templeman, a young Scottish woman who’d later become his second wife. In fact, as far as anyone knew, they were the only two people who’d set foot on Necker in living memory — apart from a couple of journalists who’d prepared for their visit by  taking a survival course.

Could we be ready to leave in a week’s time? Of course we could!
The only instruction Richard gave us was to take not only the usual swimming costumes but also golf shoes and long trousers, the importance of which we would soon discover.

Excited, we took an eight-hour flight to Antigua, then did a 90-minute hop to Tortola in a 24-seat plane. There, we were greeted by Joe and Jackie, the parents of Richard’s American ex-wife, Kristen, who’d remained great friends of ours.
Together, we arrived at Necker by yacht, steering through the only approach: a narrow opening in the coral reef. And as we looked around, I did wonder if Richard — who planned to join us a few days later — had finally met an insurmountable challenge.

For a start, the trade winds blow incessantly on Necker, which measures 74 acres, and its little black sand flies are annoyingly fond of human flesh. Then we had to face the fact that there was no fresh water, no electricity, no drainage — and certainly nowhere to land a boat.

Clambering into a dinghy, we managed to glide gracefully to shore on a wave and pitched tents by the beach. After taking one look at the prickly undergrowth, we changed into sturdy shoes, long trousers and gloves for a hike to the highest point.

It wasn’t quite sturdy enough  protection, alas; Joe retired wounded after sitting on a cactus, but the rest of us made it to the top, crunching land crabs underfoot and scaring  the odd wild goat. The view was incredible — but our admiration was  tempered by cries of ‘ow’ and ‘oo’ as lethal prickles pierced our shoes.

A few days later, Richard joined us for more exploration. One day, it was so hot we made an extra trip by  dinghy to pick up some more cold drinks from the yacht — big mistake.On the way back to the beach, we ran into some rocks and capsized. Richard was laughing as he reached out to help Joe, who couldn’t swim.

As we paddled about, madly trying to retrieve oars and shoes, I  imagined being marooned forever on this wild island. Oh, the thought of Necker without shoes!Fortunately, we managed to pull the dinghy on to the beach, where we quietly nursed our latest cactus wounds.

So this was Necker. Even the lizards stopped in their tracks with inquisitive expressions, as if to say: ‘What the hell are you doing here?’Of course, Richard’s island dream did eventually become a reality. He built a Balinese-style house, along with some smaller guest houses and a temple, and Ted and I enjoyed many holidays there. Sadly, I became a widow on March 20, 2011, when my 93-year-old husband died in his sleep — a mercifully peaceful ending. But, to me, the death of my confidant of 62 years came as a terrific shock.

Five months later, in August, I returned to Necker for a few relaxing weeks with some of the family and several of Richard’s friends — including the actresses Camilla Spence and Kate Winslet, who brought her two children, ten-year-old Mia and Joe, aged eight.

All went well on the first day of our holiday, though Camilla’s wayward suitcase hadn’t arrived, so a few of us ladies lent her various clothes to get through the day. After dinner, I fed the resident tortoise, ET, who was notorious for tickling our toes under the table at breakfast, hoping for a crumb or two.

Then it was off for a good night’s sleep in my lovely bedroom in the main building, which was known as the Great House. But nature, of course, had other plans.The fire was crackling, roaring and fast approaching as I groped my way to the top of the stairs, which were on the outside of the building.

Meanwhile, rain was lashing down and making the steps slippery.  Suddenly, I became aware that Kate Winslet and her two children were right behind me. Kate swept me into her arms to help me down the steps. I remember protesting: ‘Come on, Kate. I’m far too heavy for you. Let me go on my own.’

But she replied: ‘No, you’re not too heavy,’ and started carrying me swiftly down the steps, with her children following close behind.The wind had now reached near-hurricane speed. It was pitch dark — apart from the fire all around us — and the palm trees were lashing to and fro. Once we were on the ground, there was no time to talk; the flames were actually lapping at our heels. It felt as if we were being chased by the devil’s henchman.

As I looked back over my shoulder, I saw beam after beam collapsing into the raging fire. Desperate to get away from the burning  structure, we struggled through the undergrowth. Kate’s children stayed close as we ran, exclaiming as their bare feet connected with pebbles and scratchy vines.

But my mind was racing so fast that I wasn’t even aware that I, too, was running through the rain with no shoes.
Finally, we reached the Elders Temple — a building that Richard had had constructed in the centre of the island. At that point, we did a quick head count — yes, all 24 of us were here, though wet and shivering.

As soon as we realised everybody was safe, we all started speaking  at once, unable to control the adrenaline that was still pumping through our veins. Richard, who’d been sleeping in a separate guest house with his wife, Joan, had been awakened by their son, Sam.

He’d immediately leapt out of bed and run naked up the hill toward the Great House — only to crash into an unforgiving Necker cactus bush on the way.

Silently, we huddled together at the windows of the temple to watch the skeleton of the Great House collapse as the fire continued to devour everything in its path. It was hard to believe we’d all escaped with our lives, but even harder to imagine the alternative.

The heavy smell of smoke hung in the air. I felt elated and depressed all at once as it slowly dawned on me that, though I’d narrowly cheated death, all my papers had gone up in smoke — including many things I’d written — as well as all my jewellery. Even the special  earrings that Ted had given me for my birthday had been consumed in the fire. In fact, every single thing I’d brought with me to the island had gone for ever.

Sadly, Richard had lost more than any of us. His treasured hand- written notebooks and many of his prized photographs were destroyed.  The next day brought a few  happy surprises. Sam Cox, one of Richard’s assistants, found ET, the tortoise, who’d managed to escape the blaze, though with somewhat sooty feet.

And then there was a sudden shriek from Camilla Spence: ‘Look, everyone. They’ve found my suitcase up in the temple!’

At least one of us would have proper clothes to wear, it seemed. In fact, both Camilla and Joan provided clothes for the rest of the ladies and the day turned into a glorious fancy-dress party.

We ended it with laughter and much talk of rebuilding the Great House to be even more magnificent than before. A few of the guests were worried about me, but I assured them I didn’t need to see a doctor. Instead, I took a scuba-diving lesson, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

So ended that perilous visit to Necker. But although 2011 was a very emotional year, at least it had a perfect ending.

On December 20 — the same day that Joan and Richard had married 22 years before — we were back on the island for their daughter Holly’s marriage to boyfriend Freddie Andrews.

Many guests slept on the beach, as the Great House was not yet rebuilt, but Richard had had the house site cleared so the ceremony could take place there.

I was moved by how joyous everyone felt. After the wedding, when I stepped away from the crowd to look out at the magnificent ocean, I seemed to hear Ted’s deep voice.

‘Yes, darling, life is wonderful,’  he said.

Kate Winslet carried Eve Branson 2013-05-12T08:39:00-07:00 Rating: 4.5 Diposkan Oleh: My Videos Tube