Carol Thatcher was this year’s guest speaker at Queen Elizabeth’s Foundation Autumn Ladies Luncheon held at the Queen’s Stand, Epsom Racecourse on 12 October.

Over 380 ladies packed the Queen’s Stand to hear Carol talk about her memories of No.10 Downing Street and life in the Australian jungle – which she commented had many things in common.

Carol, an acclaimed writer, broadcaster, TV presenter and author provided a very warm and private account of life at No. 10 during the 1980s. She recounted many fond memories of her late father, Denis, about whom she wrote the biography “Below the Parapet”. Amongst his favourite sayings were “Better to keep your mouth shut and be thought of as a fool, than open it and leave no doubt” and the answer to being a perfect consort was that “the role entailed being always present, never there.”

It was perhaps fortunate that Carol’s speech came after luncheon as she recalled the bushtucker trials for the TV series I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here. U ndergoing one of the more infamous bushtucker trials during her stay in the jungle, Carol was asked to eat some very ‘alarming’ local delicacies such as bugs and kangaroos testicles to help sustain her fellow celebrities. Of course, the fact that she can’t smell or taste anything certainly helped. Gaining many new fans for her ‘get up and go’approach to the challenges, Carol was voted 2005 Queen of the Jungle.

And, in addition to being entertained by Carol, there were around 48 stalls to entice the Ladies before and after lunch offering a variety of clothes, shoes, accessories, foods, toys and gifts.

The Ladies Autumn Luncheon was once again kindly sponsored by the Blair Foundation. The event raised in excess of £15,000 with the proceeds going to support the work of the Foundation’s Brain Injury Centre at Banstead.