By Rob Harris
London: In their famous scarlet coats they sang along as the Welsh Guards played Waltzing Matilda. The men and women of the Chelsea Pensioners toasted with VB stubbies and offered three cheers for a time-honoured fruit cake.
This rather eccentric tradition – the annual Christmas cake and ale ceremony – has survived in one of the most exclusive areas of London for 75 years. For many in the room it’s a reminder of an indelible link between Australia and Britain.
The fruit cake has been an annual gift from the Australian states for 75 years. Credit: Jenny Magee
The Royal Hospital Chelsea was commissioned in 1682 by King Charles II, to provide a home for soldiers broken by age and war. Today it is a nursing home to about 300 men and women, known as the Chelsea Pensioners, who come from across the UK and have served in conflicts from World War II to the Falklands.
And since 1949, each Christmas a different Australian state donates a bespoke fruit cake to be cut by a resident using a ceremonial sword.
“[It] began when food rationing was still in force in the UK,” says Tim Dillon, Victoria’s agent general to the UK, who’s organised the cake this year with help from sponsors.
The Royal Hospital Chelsea was established over 300 years ago, during the reign of King Charles II, to provide a home for soldiers broken by age and war. Credit: Jenny Magee
“In 1949 the Australian Dried Fruits Commission was displaying its wares at a food exhibition in Olympia. One of its exhibits was a large cake made in the shape of Australia. After the exhibition had finished, the commission decided to give the cake to the pensioners of the Royal Hospital.”
The Returned and Services League (RSL) of Australia repeated the gesture the following year and so the tradition was born. The dried fruit used in the first cake was from Mildura, along the Murray River on the Victoria-NSW border. Now, for various reasons, the cake is made in the UK with ingredients sourced from all over.
This week it was Ivor Williams, a so-called in-pensioner who calls the hospital home, who was given the honour of slicing and dicing.
Williams joined the British Army in 1949 and badged to the Welsh Guards. He saw service in Egypt, Germany and the UK. He migrated to Australia and joined the Commonwealth Police, the forerunner of the Australian Federal Police in which he served at Maralinga in 1963, later retiring as a station sergeant in 1988.
This year Ivor Williams, who served with the British Army and the Australian police, was given the honour of cutting the cake.Credit: Jenny Magee
In the great hall, designed by Sir Christopher Wren as a dining room, the chaplain blesses the cake in rhyme: “So let us now bless these Australian nuts – in the cake I mean – to feed our Chelsea guts. We now implore your blessing upon this Australia fayre, and keep our friendship with a joyful air.”
“This cake and ale ceremony has come to symbolise for us the warmth and camaraderie that you cherish between us,” governor of the Royal Hospital, Sir Adrian Bradshaw, told the Australian contingent.
The cake is divided up and shared among the pensioners to enjoy over the festive period. The VBs were for drinking straight away.
The ceremony survived the pandemic, albeit it was socially distance and held in the courtyard.
Chelsea Pensioner Arthur “Skippy” Teasdale, who served in Korea, spent 44 years living in Australia. Credit: Jenny Magee
One in-pensioner who wouldn’t have missed this day was Arthur “Skippy” Teasdale. The 94-year-old completed his national service with the Royal Air Force in Germany before a nine-month deployment with the Durham Light Infantry in the Korean War.
He and his wife later migrated to Adelaide as “10-pound Poms”, where he worked on powerlines, including at the Woomera Rocket Range. After the death of his wife and 44 years in Australia, he returned to the UK and found himself at Chelsea.
“They look after us so well here,” he says. “We’re all mates and look out for each other. My sons are in Australia, but I wanted to come home. I brought my nickname back with me!”
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