Page 41 - QARANC Vol 16 No 1 2018

THE GAZETTE QARANC 39
Gillian McDonald
In-Pensioner Royal Hospital Chelsea Born 25 November 1940. Died 1 September 2017
Gillian was born in Hull on 25 November 1940. In early 1968, at the age of 27 she enlisted into the Queen Alexandra’s Royal Army Nursing Corps. After basic training at the QA Training Depot she moved to 12 Company RAMC for her technical training. She was then posted to Singapore which she thoroughly enjoyed and where she remained until December 1969.
She was promoted to Lance Corporal in December 1971 and was posted to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital at Woolwich in September 1972. Later she completed
a six month tour at the British Military Hospital Hong Kong. She was discharged from the Army in January 1974 having served for six years and being promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal.
Following her military service she was employed as a Registered Nurse in various private hospitals in South Africa until 1992 when she returned to the UK continuing in this role. From 2006 until 2010 she was employed as the Matron at Leighton Park School in Berkshire.
Gillian joined the Royal Hospital
Chelsea in June 2014 and was posted
to Long Ward 10 in the Light Horse
Court Portakabins as part of Number 1
(Tin City!) Company. From the outset Gillian wanted to be and certainly proved to be very much her own person. The Royal Hospital rules were for the most part tolerated; however, there were times when it suited Gillian to either bend or ignore them. This would inevitably mean that she would appear in front of me and we would then have an interesting and quite often amusing conversation!
Gillian was always very keen to represent the Royal Hospital as a Chelsea Pensioner and soon after her arrival was really proud to have been part of the marching contingent at the Edinburgh Military Tattoo. She was keen on sport and attended a number of sporting events including frequent visits to Stamford Bridge to watch Chelsea as well as various horse racing meetings including Royal Ascot and an afternoon at the All England Tennis championships at Wimbledon in July 2015.
Gillian also took part in the London Taxi Drivers Association trip to Ypres in Belgium in May 2016 and felt very privileged to attend the Last Post Ceremony at the Menin Gate. In March of 2017 she was part of Dame Vera Lynn’s 100th Birthday
Celebration at the London Palladium, and she also took advantage of a week’s break in Lowestoft at the Lord Kitchener Memorial Holiday Centre.
During her visits and indeed frequently here at the Royal Hospital, Gillian took part in many interviews and photo-shoots which she both enjoyed and found very rewarding.
Gillian was a keen gardener and looked after two raised bed allotments. She would often be seen tending to her gardens, one of which still has some
stunning roses in bloom. She got on really well with the other allotment holders and also our Royal Hospital’s grounds team who kindly help the In-Pensioner gardeners. She was always a regular visitor at the annual RHS Chelsea Flower Show and really loved the opportunity to look around the various gardens.
Gillian, in a quiet understated way, was enormously generous and very thoughtful. A friend would make a comment about how nice a certain item was and then be surprised and delighted when presented with it by Gillian at some stage later. This was typical of her character.
For most of her life Gillian had a close connection to Africa and its people. She would visit when she could and in recent years helped local charities in South Africa with money, some of which she raised at the Royal Hospital, and physical work which she
found enormously rewarding.
As many of us know Gillian had not been well
for some time but at no stage did she seek any sympathy for her predicament. In fact a lot of us think that she was very brave and dignified in the way she quietly and resolutely coped with her condition.
Very sadly and unexpectedly, Gillian died in her berth on Long Ward 3 on the 1 September 2017 aged 76. We were all deeply shocked and very surprised by her untimely passing.
Farewell Gillian, you had a heart of gold and we will all miss you: Army Nurse, In-Pensioner and Great Friend.
Rupert Lucas
Captain of Invalids Number One Company Royal Hospital Chelsea