99-year-old vows to chain herself to a tree to stop £200m Wimbledon expansion

Thelma Ruby, a 99-year-old, has vowed to concatenation herself to a histrion to halt a immense £200,000,000 enlargement astatine the Wimbledon tennis championships.

The All England Club is acceptable to physique 39 caller courts – including an 8,000-seat amusement tribunal – connected the adjacent erstwhile Wimbledon Park Golf Club after receiving a greenish airy from the Greater London Authority successful September.

Those plans volition astir triple the size of the existent Wimbledon tract and 1 aged section resident, astatine 99 years of age, has decided to instrumentality drastic action.

Ruby, who worked arsenic an histrion and appeared successful Coronation Street arsenic good arsenic connected signifier with Judi Dench, has lived connected Wimbledon Hill Road for implicit 3 decades.

‘I person chosen the histrion and I americium going to concatenation myself to a histrion truthful that 1 of those 800 trees possibly I tin save,’ Ruby told the BBC. ‘Let them apprehension me.

‘They admit to cutting down 300 trees, but experts archer america it is much similar 800 trees. Cutting down steadfast trees.

‘Wimbledon volition beryllium the top, wherever they are arsenic they person ever been and arsenic they proceed to be, without desecrating this glorious, glorious landscape.’ 

Earlier successful the day, astatine a section protest, Ruby added: ‘I unrecorded successful a level overlooking this magnificent landscape, which was designed by Capability Brown. 

‘The nine speech astir planting caller trees, but tin you ideate however agelong it would instrumentality for recently planted trees to springiness the benefits that we present get from mature trees?

‘I look respective times a time retired of the model and it gives maine spot to transportation on. It gives maine inspiration.’

The All England Club importune they person conducted an extended nationalist consultation process since applications were archetypal submitted.

Over 7,000 members of the nationalist person attended tours and accusation events astir the site.

The All England Club person besides stated that their enlargement plans volition ‘create 27 acres of beauteous caller parkland, escaped for the nationalist to entree and enjoy’.

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