Baroness (Sue) Ryder of Warsaw

Speaker 30:00

Hello, I'm Kirstie Young, and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs Archive. For rights reasons we've had to shorten the music. The programme was originally broadcast in nineteen eighty seven, and the presenter was Michael Parkinson.

Presenter0:29

There can be few people with a more remarkable life story than our Castaway. As a young woman she served in the Special Operations Executive, trading secret agents for work in occupied Europe.

Presenter0:39

After the war, appalled by the ruin and tragedy of it all, she started an organization to help the sick and disabled. Today there are eighty homes in thirteen different countries. The organization is a charity requiring £8 million a year to operate. The organization is called the Sue Ryder Foundation. Its founder and inspiration is Lady Ryder of Warsaw.

Presenter1:01

Dear Ryder, welcome. People who come on this programme deliberate for a long, long time. I have a great problem in choosing the eight records and go through all kinds of uh thought processes. You told me that uh all your records had to withstand the truck test.

Presenter1:14

Could you tell me what you mean by that?

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)1:16

I am very fond of music, though unfortunately I know very little about it.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)1:20

I have had a cassette player in the different tracks that I've driven over the years.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)1:27

So I've played and played about sixty or seventy different cassettes.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)1:34

They were given or recorded from tapes which were given to my husband.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)1:39

And I think I can say, therefore, really, which I love to hear over and over again, maybe four or five times,

Presenter1:47

Now these these trucks that you've been driving they're big trucks between three and seven tons you've driven them long distances, haven't you? Where to?

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)1:53

Mainly to Poland, but also Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia.

Presenter1:58

Now, when you talk about that you think of some large man with tattoos on his arms, and here you sit, I mean, you're a small lady in her, what, sixties?

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)2:07

Well, I'm sixty-three, yeah.

Presenter2:08

Sixty-three

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)2:09

Bit longer than tooth, I suppose?

Presenter2:10

Oh, I said long they took for driving a heavy goods vehicle across Europe. Don't you ever get frightened?

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)2:15

Nails talk.

Presenter2:16

Bill? Yeah.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)2:17

No. I mean, I dislike intensely the German autobahns because of the speed that they go. They're absolutely crazy drivers, I think. So I go at weekends crossing

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)2:28

I have to cross through Germany.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)2:29

In order to get into Central Europe,

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)2:31

But they do take the heavy trucks off at midnight on Friday.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)2:35

Until Sunday night, which is a very good custom, and I think one which could be followed here.

Presenter2:41

Let's have a first choice of record.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)2:43

Well, I've chosen with great pleasure the gold and silver waltz because it reminds me of the short pre-war period when I just loved dancing.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)2:55

and waltzing.

Presenter3:49

That was Franz Lehar's Gold and Silver Waltz, played by the Halley Orchestra, conducted by Sir John Barbaroli.

Presenter3:55

Lady Rider, would I be right in thinking that there's a a sense in which you're destined from the very beginning to do the kind of work that you're doing now?

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)4:03

It's hard to say, but um.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)4:06

I was taken by the district nurses when I was a child, I mean seven or eight years of age.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)4:13

round the poverty-stricken areas and the slums of

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)4:17

of Yorkshire.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)4:18

and that made a tremendous impression on my mind.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)4:21

My mother was also a very keen and energetic social worker, and she used to

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)4:28

Go and visit as many people too.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)4:31

and I went with her and we tried to provide things which those people just hadn't got. There was such terrible unemployment. So there was things like um hot food and soup and

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)4:43

fruit and shoes and clothing, bed linen, zayatorf newspapers.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)4:49

And uh l lots of them had tuberculosis because the overcrowding was so appalling, and so was the smog.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)4:56

And I think there

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)4:59

Those were my first impressions, which were very, very vivid.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)5:03

Of the poverty that people coped with, and I was amazed, as I have been all through my life.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)5:09

By their their grace and their

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)5:12

Dignity in their humour.

Presenter5:13

This is leads we're talking about, isn't it?

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)5:15

Mainly, yes. There were of course other big cities as well we went into.

Presenter5:18

But Leeds was a particular problem, and that that was what I'm now talking about, the early 1930s, I suppose, are we? Yes.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)5:23

Yes. Mm-hmm. And also the people c who came back from the First World War who are still suffering.

Presenter5:28

What was your mother a a very great influence on your on your life?

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)5:32

The greatest influence, yes.

Presenter5:33

Tears.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)5:34

Hmm.

Presenter5:34

What?

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)5:36

She was always conscious of

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)5:38

other people's needs.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)5:41

never patronizing.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)5:43

and she just loved people and she had a great way with her.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)5:47

of getting on with with really everyone.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)5:50

Um I can remember so often she had to chair meetings and committees which she didn't particularly like.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)5:57

I don't either. I call em teams.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)5:59

but she, as in the chair, could always sort of bring people together.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)6:04

Even though they disagreed with each other.

Presenter6:06

Let's have another choice of record.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)6:09

Well, this time I have chosen.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)6:11

Wish me luck as you wave me goodbye.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)6:14

Because it reminds me very much of the extremely brave and wonderful young boys and girls in SOE who went out on those death missions. And we used to listen to the music sometimes they played it or they whistled it. We always said, Don't please do that when you're dropped. We must all forget the those wartime melodies because they could have been given away.

Speaker 46:42

Wish me luck as you wave me goodbye. Cheery-oh, here I go on my way. Wish me luck as you wave me goodbye. Not a cheer, but a cheer, make it gay.

Speaker 46:58

Give me a smile I can keep all the while in my heart while I'm away. Till we meet once again, you and I. Wish me luck as you wave me goodbye.

Presenter7:14

I was wishing me luck as you waved me a goodbye song by Gracie Fields.

Presenter7:19

Lady Ryder, and how did you come to join the Special Operations Executive?

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)7:24

I was a member of the Fanny, which is the oldest women's corps in the country, it was a volunteer corps.

Presenter7:29

What is Fanny?

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)7:30

Well, it's rather misleading, it's first aid nursing yeomanry. It was started as a result of the Boer War.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)7:37

and it was thought that uh women mounted on horses could go out and rescue the wounded and bring them back to the

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)7:43

Forward dressing stations more quickly.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)7:46

But it actually s had its greatest moment probably in the First World War because it was not recognized by the British Army. It served in the line, in the front.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)7:55

with the Belgians and the French.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)7:58

and it won many decorations and was highly thought of.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)8:02

It continued throughout the time of the two World Wars, and it exists today.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)8:07

We were rather a

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)8:08

I suppose you could say an elite corps, because we were all volunteers. We were known only by our surnames.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)8:15

And uh we weren't conscripted.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)8:18

It was a tremendous esprit de corps and a wonderful spirit amongst very young people.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)8:24

and after the first training session,

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)8:27

Our names were put up on a board if we'd passed our examinations properly.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)8:31

And I I was told that if mine came under a heading called Bingham's unit, which it did, I was to report to Baker Street in London, and there I was grilled by security and made to sign this official secret act.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)8:46

So then from there I went on to the training stations in SOE.

Presenter8:49

What sort of people were you working with? These were agents, were they? Yes.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)8:51

Yes. Yes, they were Norwegians and Dutch and Danes.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)8:55

Belgians. I never served with the French section.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)8:58

And I was pasted to the small check section and then.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)9:04

almost entirely.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)9:06

The whole war was with the Poles. They had the largest resistance movement in Europe.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)9:11

They lost over six million of their citizens, you remember they were carved up between Soviet Russia and Germany.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)9:19

And um their suffering was just indescribable.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)9:23

and their bravery as well, because we did sell them out.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)9:27

And they had many women and children serving in the resistance, and a lot of the women and girls were were couriers, and they went all over Europe carrying reports of Nazi troop movements and invaluable information.

Presenter9:41

'Cause you are, of course, I said at the beginning of promo, you are known as Lady Ryder of Warsaw.

Presenter9:45

which depicts the special relationship you have with the with the pose.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)9:49

It's a great honour to to be one of them, really.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)9:53

Both joined the war and ever since.

Presenter9:55

That's another choice of record.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)9:58

Well, I've chosen Home to Our Mountains.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)10:01

Because when we were, we thought, on our way to Poland, full of great hopes in 1943.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)10:08

We used to hear the Italians up in the hill districts singing and whistling, and then on one

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)10:15

incredible occasion because we weren't allowed to mix with the armies for security reasons. We actually heard them sing this opera, Il Trovatore.

Speaker 410:41

Yeah.

Speaker 410:45

Oh come there.

Speaker 410:48

Oh yeah.

Speaker 410:50

Oh holy

Speaker 410:55

It's all

Presenter11:24

It was Home to Our Mountains from Birdie's Il Travatore, featuring the voices of Firenza Cosoto and Carlo Bergonzi.

Presenter11:32

Lady Ryder, at the end of the of the war, it would seem I suppose to the majority of people involved in it that that was a solution, that things from that point on were going to be wonderful, that after all was what the war was about good against evil, good triumphing. It wasn't quite the same for you, though, was it?

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)11:48

No, and not for the Poles either, or the Czechs.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)11:53

A lot of them were arrested in the Stalin era. A huge number disappeared and were executed, and others were never heard of again. But they were determined to rebuild their countries I mean Poland from the ruins, and that's one of the great miracles, I think, of this of this century, that they did just that without any equipment or outside help. They've rebuilt the old cities exactly as they used to be, and uh all the churches and factories and schools, many hospitals. And today, despite the shortage of building materials, they're continuing to rebuild another two thousand churches because their masses are so full.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)12:35

Not only on Sundays, they have eight or ten on Sundays, but they can't get the congregations in.

Presenter12:40

But what did you say immediately after the war, when it came to an end, what did you see your task as being?

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)12:46

Well, I saw my task as being a member of the relief teams, trying to s stop the the spread of diseases as typhus and tuberculosis and cholera and well over twenty others.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)12:59

and to bring what comfort one possibly could to those who were sick and dying.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)13:03

in the most indescribable circumstances.

Presenter13:06

But but when those relief teams went back, you stayed, didn't you?

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)13:09

Yes, yes, I I felt very strongly that I was single, I was free.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)13:15

I didn't have any money, but but somehow I thought God meant me to stay there.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)13:19

And so I did.

Presenter13:22

And this is the this is where the idea of your of the Sioux Ryder Foundation, as we know it now, came from, I suppose.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)13:27

Yes, that was a thought that we had with the BODS, as we called them, the agent in SOE, that, you know, if any of us came through afterwards, that we should go out and do things in a compassionate way for people who were less

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)13:41

Well off and who had needs and were suffering in many different ways in many different countries, wherever they

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)13:48

That that the gaps exist.

Presenter13:51

When you came back to this country, how then did you did you get the money together to start the idea?

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)13:56

The national press took it up, and um without me asking them to, and I was one of the first four or five victims on This Is Your Life, and as I'd never heard or well, I'd heard of television, but I'd never seen it.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)14:09

Um I thought it was quite extraordinary, I mean, a bit dotty really.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)14:14

But it did help a great deal.

Presenter14:15

I'm sure it did. Let's have another choice of record.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)14:19

I have chosen Arva Maria because it reminds me of a of a most remarkable and absolutely super soprano, Maria Belitzka, who herself was arrested in Warsaw.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)14:33

Very early in the war, she was in the resistance and she was terribly tortured by the Nazis.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)14:40

and in the cattle trucks which were open.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)14:44

In the freezing cold.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)14:46

She sung Avamaria.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)14:49

by Schubert, to the sick and the dying, and she continued through those ghastly years in three extermination camps, in Majdanich and then Auswich, where four million people died, and lastly in Ravensbruck. She sang at night secretly.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)15:06

Ava Maria.

Speaker 415:44

Oh, spiritual.

Speaker 415:47

I finished them all.

Presenter16:10

Schubert's Arbe Maria Sungweh by Leontin Price.

Presenter16:14

Lady Ryder, let's go back now to your work in England after the war and the setting up of the Sioux Ryder Foundation. What sort of people did you start taking into your uh organization?

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)16:23

Those who were blocking acute hospital beds, the disabled.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)16:28

and handicapped.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)16:30

for instance those with Huntingdon's career, which is an unknown.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)16:34

disease largely and rather frightens people. It's hereditary and it's um usually diagnosed after adolescence. It affects a person in mind and body.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)16:47

And there are six thousand people in Britain with that disease, and I believe the foundation is the only one that can offer any residential accommodation.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)16:56

We have no age limit at all in the Foundation, and so we endeavour, and I say endeavour really, because of such enormous needs.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)17:07

to take in those most in need with Parkinson's and M S and cancer, really quite a mixture. And in some homes there are domicili care teams going out to visit

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)17:23

people to give them injections and to comfort them.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)17:27

And

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)17:28

They prefer sometimes naturally to have their independents remain at home.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)17:33

In the countries overseas there's also mobile medical teams.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)17:37

domiciliary care teams as well, physicians who work voluntarily for the Foundation and assess people for wheelchairs and hoists and things that they otherwise can't get.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)17:48

I can think of literally hundreds of people just waiting for one bed.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)17:53

And I think it's a tremendous privilege to be amongst them.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)17:57

And to see their humility and courage.

Presenter18:00

Another choice of record, please.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)18:03

Panius and Angelicus.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)18:06

Because it's so peaceful and

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)18:08

I think we need to have days off when in the foundation when we just go into retreat.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)18:15

And also I work a lot with religious orders.

Speaker 418:21

Is she

Speaker 418:29

I swear.

Presenter19:19

Cesar Frank's Panes Angelicus sung by Elizabeth Schwarzkop.

Presenter19:24

Lady Ryder, can I just go back briefly to this this image I have of you driving this huge truck across Europe? It's one that that that fascinates me. What do the border guards make of you?

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)19:34

In the old days one got to know most of them because they were on regular shifts. But of course they've changed over the years, so.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)19:42

occasionally they no long no longer welcome one exactly. I mean

Presenter19:46

What's been the worst thing that's happened to you? Have you been arrested?

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)19:48

No, I think they've half suggested I should be in the East Germans, which was quite funny. They've also made me offload at times. I mean, that really means just literally taking everything out and dumping it. And then

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)20:03

Rather hard because it's all listed. Each carton and every sack and everything in in those days in the trucks were marked and listed according to the numbers. It was wholly unnecessary. And they ripped open the stuff.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)20:17

So it was a it was a struggle, worse to get it back in again.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)20:22

Anyway, one had to see the funny side of it.

Presenter20:24

You didn't lose your temper.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)20:25

Well, there's no sense in that, is there? I mean, one could see only the funny side. And being able to talk to them in in their own language a bit. You know, I tried to sort of say, Oh, come on, but um wasn't much reaction. The polls were absolutely livid with them.

Presenter20:40

Really?

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)20:41

Mm. But they couldn't do anything.

Presenter20:43

You are accompanied on some of these trips, I believe, by your daughter as well.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)20:46

Yes, once I was, yes.

Presenter20:47

Is she going to to take over from you?

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)20:50

No, no, she's she's Red Law.

Presenter20:51

Strangeness.

Presenter20:53

What about your husband? Because of course you're married to Blanchard Cheshire and when you met him he was doing a similar kind of work and of course still is. Is there any any way in which your your two uh organizations cross over?

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)21:03

Well, yes, we we have, since our marriage and we neither of us ever thought we were going to get married we've founded the Ryder Cheshire Mission, under which certain projects come.

Presenter21:14

Another choice of record.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)21:16

I've chosen from Beethoven's pastoral symphony, The Shepherd's Rejoicing, because I think it's so beautiful.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)21:23

and when you hear it on the roads, as I do so often.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)21:27

It gives you a feeling of great happiness.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)21:31

Wonderful.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)21:32

Especially in the mountains.

Presenter22:32

As part of the final movement from Beethoven's pastoral symphony, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Karl Bohm.

Presenter22:39

Lady Ryder, observing you and talking to you and meeting for the first time as I as I have, it's it's very discernible that you find it difficult actually to to talk about yourself.

Presenter22:47

And it makes me wonder in fundraising and fronting up an organization like this, there has to be a degree of putting a personality forward. Do you find that very difficult?

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)22:56

Well, I certainly don't like personal publicity.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)22:59

I mean

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)23:00

when I go out and give talks at schools or

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)23:03

And acid scores and

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)23:05

Universities. I just love being amongst the children and the young people because I think that they've got.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)23:11

A tremendous amount to give, and they're deeply concerned, a lot of them.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)23:15

And

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)23:16

Well, I I f I find that despite whatever anybody says, and there are lots and lots of good people around and they really

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)23:25

should be, I think, given more publicity.

Presenter23:28

You've not really answered my question, but I'm not sure.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)23:30

Sorry. So yes, um I mean if I go out and give a talk or I'm not sure.

Presenter23:33

But you are a shy person, aren't you?

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)23:35

Yes, I am a bit, yes.

Presenter23:36

I wonder therefore you you've written this autobiography called Child of My Love. Was that a very difficult thing to do for you, to to look back and to to write down all those personal details that you say you don't like revealing?

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)23:49

Well, it was difficult because I'm not a writer, and secondly, I hadn't put so many hours aside a day.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)23:56

like presumably most writers can and do.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)24:00

And um my personal assistant, June Backler, who if it had not been for her, I don't think he would ever have seen the light of day.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)24:08

But we just plotted on. We we tried to slot in from six o'clock in the morning, say an hour, an hour and a half, and then other days we said we'll take two days out of the seven and concentrate on the book.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)24:21

And it's rather relief and I have it to imprint.

Presenter24:24

Another choice of record, please.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)24:27

Well, this is from Chopin, and I I really didn't know which of his works to choose from, because I love them all.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)24:36

And so I've chosen the sonata number two, opus thirty-five, from the funeral march.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)24:42

Because to me it symbolises the Poles and their country.

Presenter25:47

There was a funeral march from Chopin's sonata number two, played by Vladimir Ashkenazi.

Presenter25:52

Lady Rider

Presenter25:53

There's obviously a lot of work left to be done. I mean, in a sense, your work is is never ending. That which you've started, there's no end to it. Are you optimistic that the young people of today are going to be as enthusiastic about supporting it as you have been?

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)26:06

Yes, I am. Yes, I I think that if they're given the leadership

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)26:10

and that the facts are made known to them in a very sincere way.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)26:14

and that they're not tugged too much.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)26:17

towards materialism.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)26:19

and not too depressed by the v

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)26:21

Terrible numbers of unemployed people.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)26:24

and all the other evils of the world, which unfortunately we hear too much of. We don't hear about all the positive things that are going on and all the many schemes are put into action.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)26:35

So

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)26:36

Yes, I'm I'm optimistic and I'm full of hope about them. And I think that that

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)26:42

was proved absolutely and completely by Geldorf when he mobilized the world, didn't he, in an incredible way.

Presenter26:49

Yeah.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)26:51

And it was just absolutely super when he organized the Band Aid concert and the Sport Aid.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)27:00

And when I was working for a short time in Ethiopia and the famine areas.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)27:05

And we played the record to them in the shelters and

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)27:10

to the sick and the dying who were lying on the sand.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)27:14

you know, and trying to find water again. It reminded me of forty years before in Poland in the ruins. It seemed quite obscene that we should have that same

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)27:24

Ghastly situation.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)27:26

But at least the world this time was remembering.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)27:29

And I would beg people to go on remembering always and praying above all because it's through prayer that we can.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)27:37

really make progress in every possible way and in all aspects of our life, and never to be put off by numbers, because it's what one person does that makes all the difference the other person's life.

Presenter27:50

When you look back on your life, what do you think has been your reward?

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)27:54

Oh, the people and the children that I've been with, and their courage, and their tremendous spirit, and sense of fun and optimism

Presenter28:05

Final choice of Reco, please, ladywriter.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)28:08

Do they know it's Christmas?

Presenter28:10

It had to be that, didn't it?

Speaker 428:12

Roll your hands around the world.

Speaker 428:16

Breathless time, but say a prayer.

Speaker 428:23

Praying for the other ones at Christmastime It's hot, but when you're having fun There's a world outside your window And it's a world of dread and fear

Presenter28:42

And that was Feed the World, performed by the two men who wrote it about Bob Geldof and Midge Yeo.

Presenter28:48

Lady Ryder, you're now on your desert island. Do you think you're going to enjoy the experience?

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)28:54

Yes, I think I I will, because I rather like being alone, and it'll give me an opportunity of saying my prayers properly and meditating.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)29:02

and thinking about people and

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)29:05

hopefully planning for what I can

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)29:07

Do in a better way.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)29:09

But I do find that the choice of books to take incredibly difficult because

Presenter29:14

I was like.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)29:15

Well, because I love poetry.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)29:17

and prayers

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)29:19

You know, I I'm I'm like the records, I'm in a sort of dilemma.

Presenter29:23

We have to assume that you've got the complete works of Shakespeare and the Bible.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)29:27

Yes, I'm sorry, but I I really don't like Shakespeare, which it s sounds terrible.

Presenter29:32

So have you decided which book it shall be, then?

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)29:34

As a Catholic I would like to take the Missal in bravery.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)29:39

And could I not have had one biography,

Presenter29:42

Yes, indeed, we'll we'll allow you that.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)29:44

Thank you, it's Wilfrid Owens, the famous First World War poet, who wrote such beautiful prose and poetry.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)29:52

Thank you.

Presenter29:53

And what about the record? You assume that seven have been washed away, you're left with one.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)29:58

Oh, The Ava Maria by Schubert.

Presenter29:58

Yeah.

Presenter30:01

And then the luxury object.

Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)30:03

Perhaps I could have a little tiny pillow,'cause if I lie down with that I can sleep anywhere.

Presenter30:10

Lady Ryder, thank you very much indeed.

Speaker 330:19

You've been listening to a podcast from the Desert Islandists archive. For more podcasts please visit bbc.co.uk slash radio four.