A 99-year-old Jewish actress has promised to chain herself to a tree in protest against a massive renovation of a local park that is estimated to cost hundreds of millions of pounds.
“I’ve been a law-abiding citizen for a century, but over this, I’m willing to change that,” said Thelma Ruby, who will be turning 100 next month.
For more than three decades, Ruby has lived in a flat “overlooking a most extraordinary and beautiful sight".
Much of the 67-acre Wimbledon Park, created in the 18th-century by famed landscaper Capability Brown, could soon see a transformation under a multi-year expansion project proposed by Wimbledon’s All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (AELTC).
Estimated to cost upwards of £200m, the All England Club has argued that it needs to create 38 brand new grass courts in place of the private golf course that currently occupies the land, as well as a third 8,000-seat show court to ensure Wimbledon "remains the world’s pre-eminent tennis tournament”.
Wimbledon All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) and (r) Wimbledon Park Golf Course, on which the club wants to build 38 new courts (Photo: Getty)AFP via Getty Images
In September, planning permission for the scheme was granted by London’s deputy mayor for planning, Jules Pipe, at City Hall, where, according to the Evening Standard, Mr Pipe said the project would help to “secure the future of these Championships in this location” and bring “significant associated economic benefits”.
Since then, campaigners against the project have announced that they would be taking legal action, arguing that the building work would damage the area’s biodiversity and heritage and that City Hall “made errors of law and planning policy” when it granted planning permission.
In an appropriately Tu Bishvat-themed act, and objecting to the “terrible” development plans, Ruby has identified a tree in view of her window to which she plans to attach herself when the weather gets a little warmer.
“My relationship with the trees and my view of them has built up over many years,” Ruby said. “The sight of them is part of me and part of my whole happiness.”
Proudly displayed on Ruby’s website are pictures she has taken of the view over the years, capturing the landscape under stunning sunsets, visible beneath a thick layer of fog, and in the depths of all four seasons.
“I’m home a lot now, and to look out my window at this wonderful view is the source of my spiritual strength, each and every day,” Ruby said.
“The thought of watching, day after day for years, as these tall, healthy trees are cut down, the turf is dug up and flattened, buildings and pathways using concrete are laid, with loud lorries passing my window every minute, it would ruin my life.
“So, I’ll do whatever I can to stop that plan going ahead. I’ll chain myself to one tree to save hundreds more.”
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Thelma Ruby[Missing Credit]
Born Thelma Wigoder on March 23, 1925, in Leeds to an Orthodox Jewish family, the soon-to-be centenarian has enjoyed working alongside the likes of Orson Welles, Topol, Kenneth Williams, Dame Judi Dench, and Peter Sallis.
Ruby began her decades-long career in entertainment by travelling throughout the country to perform for wounded soldiers during the Second World War. Later roles included West End stage performances as Golde in Fiddler on the Roof, a recurring role as Lily Dempsey in Coronation Street in 1996, and an appearance as Great Auntie Renee in the 2024 Amy Winehouse biopic Back to Black.
Actress Thelma Ruby, 1954. (Photo: Getty Images)Getty Images
Beginning in her 70s and up until 2023, Ruby starred in a one woman show about her life.
Though “not actively religious”, Ruby, who has lived in Wimbledon since 1956, is a member of two local shuls, Chabad and Wimbledon Reform Synagogue.
She is not sure where the idea to chain herself to a tree came from. “Perhaps I was thinking of the suffragettes who used to chain themselves to railings to bring about change”, she said. "But when I first proposed the idea into a microphone in a town hall setting, everyone clapped.”
Ruby says she has even had offers from other people to do the “night shift” for her, attached to the tree.
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[Missing Credit]
“I’m not just going to do it for me or my view; it’s for future generations,” she said. “Not only are the trees beautiful, but each one captures carbon and helps to save the planet. Healthy trees should not be cut down. I don’t know how they [AELTC] can sleep at night, digging up turf and desecrating this glorious landscape. Can you imagine doing such a thing?”
For her birthday next month, Ruby will be celebrating on the day and “all week long”, with parties with her family, some of whom are coming from Israel, her shuls, where she will be hosting a kiddush, and with her friends.
“I’m really going to celebrate. You’re only 100 once,” she said.
Thelma Ruby attends The Oldie of the Year Awards (Photo: Getty Images)Getty Images
In December, the AELTC announced that they would be going to court to resolve the dispute over the development plans. “At the GLA’s public hearing in September 2024, the possibility of a statutory trust on the land (meaning that the land must be available for public recreational purposes) was raised in their officers’ report.
“Our position was and remains that there is not, nor has there ever been, a statutory trust affecting the former Wimbledon Park Golf Course land. In the circumstances, we recognise that the correct thing to do, at this stage, is to put the matter before the court to establish that there is no trust over the land.”
They added that it was their wish “to maintain Wimbledon’s position as one of the pre-eminent sporting events in the world, to maintain our position at the pinnacle of tennis and to unlock significant year-round benefits for local people, among them 27 acres of newly accessible green space for everyone to enjoy in perpetuity”.
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