by Dr. Iain
Corness
The
charity officer for the UK Club in Pattaya is a self-effacing British
lady, Christina Boden. In her younger days she admitted that she used to
be painfully shy, but these days she is one of the very few people in the
world to have made contact with such diverse people as the late Queen
Mother in the UK and Lennox Lewis the boxer! And not just a hello and how
are you, but a request for items that could be used for the charities she
and her club support.
Christina was born in Derby in the UK, the 6th and
youngest daughter to a Rolls-Royce worker and his theatre orderly wife.
The medical and caring side of her was already making itself evident, and
when she left school at 16 years of age she wanted to try to be a nurse.
However, her first job was caring for dogs in a greyhound kennel. This
lasted 12 months but she gave it up as the dogs kept on biting her, so she
transferred to the City Hospital to be a cadet nurse, as generally the
patients don’t bite the nurses! After three years she graduated as Nurse
Christina, but a problem arose to stop her advancement through the nursing
ranks. This problem was a soldier called Malcolm Boden, the man who was to
become her husband, and incidentally, they are just about to celebrate
their 25-year anniversary. Getting married was not so easy either, with
Malcolm not liking the idea of a big church wedding, so they eloped.
Not only did they elope, but they immediately went to
Germany, where Malcolm had been posted. They spent nine years in Germany,
not the best nine years in Christina’s life. “I didn’t really get
along with the army wives - a hard bunch of women.” She also did not
have a job, and her German language skills were minimal. “I could order
my food and get a drink and that was about it.”
After the nine years, they returned to the UK where
Christina began work in the local hospital, spending one year in the
Physiotherapy Department and then another two years in Occupational
Therapy. She also became involved in fund raising for the hospital. This
entailed walking through the streets at lunchtimes with a bucket,
collecting money. I said to Christina that this was not what I expected a
painfully shy woman would do. She replied, “Oh yes. We used to have a
right laugh. We’d go round the pubs, see. A couple of glasses of wine
always helped!”
However, after three years this was enough, and she and
a friend started a small business looking after elderly folks in their own
homes. This took up her energies for the next three years, with the little
business growing to the stage that they had to take on three more people
to cover the workload. “We didn’t make much money. We just enjoyed
doing what we were doing.”
The next chapter in her life began with Malcolm being
transferred to Vienna. Christina did not want to go, so they decided that
Malcolm would go for six months and see what it was like, and Christina
would join him after that. However, after two months she missed her
husband too much and she moved out to Vienna. Again, she was not happy in
another European country, and they only lasted 12 months there.
At this time, they had already been to Thailand on
holidays and Christina related the tale of the two of them sitting on the
balcony at the Royal Cliff Beach Resort discussing their future. “Why
are we freezing in Vienna, when we could be here?” she said. They
returned to the UK, sold up and arrived here two months later. That was
three years ago.
The UK Club of Pattaya had just formed around that time
and Christina joined, and was asked to be the charity officer, a post she
initially refused as she did not know anyone, and she was afraid she might
let them down. Six months later she relented, and has been involved in
raising around 150,000 baht a year since then from the small (60 member)
club.
I asked her what did she personally get out of
fundraising, and she replied, “I just like to do me bit, that’s all,
and keep the man upstairs happy.” This prompted my question as to
whether she was devout in her personal religion. “No. I used to be a
Mormon, but that was a mistake. Now I’m nothing. I leave religion alone.
It doesn’t seem to get along with me!” You certainly get direct
replies from Christina Boden!
So what hobbies does this well travelled English woman
have? “Hobbies? I haven’t got enough time for hobbies - I’m always
on the computer begging for things! Any hotel with a website isn’t safe
from me. I wrote to the GM of a hotel in Hong Kong I saw on the news on
the telly and got two free nights accommodation as a prize,” she said
with delight.
She has no unfulfilled ambitions. “If I popped me
clogs tomorrow, I’d be quite happy. We’ve done what we want.” The
‘royal plural’ of course refers to both she and husband Malcolm. What
is her secret of success in such a durable marriage? “Keeping him
chained up really,” she said with a laugh. “We have no kids (by
choice). We just like each other’s company. We like going away together
and we don’t need other people with us.”
Christina Boden is a straightforward and fun person,
and I can see why their marriage has lasted. My heartiest congratulations!
The UK Club has a fund raising gala dinner coming up
next month, in support of the Camillian Centre, so if you would like to do
your bit “to keep the man upstairs happy” too, Christina would love to
hear from you (09 545 4185) and you could even win some Lennox Lewis
memorabilia!
