Harborough MP, Edward Garnier, was at Little Lebanon, 70 Leicester Road, Kibworth Harcourt, now the home of Dougal and Alison Powrie, on Saturday 18 February where he made a short speech to mark the unveiling of a blue plaque commemorating the birthplace of Sir Harold Ridley FRS (1906-2001), the world famous eye surgeon who invented the replacement lens for cataract sufferers and pioneered intraocular lens surgery during the Second World War. The plaque on the wall by the entrance gates to the property on the Leicester Road was unveiled by Sir Harold’s son, Nicholas Ridley, accompanied by his wife Lauretta, at a ceremony attended by a great many residents of the village including County Councillor Dr Kevin Feltham, eye surgeons from the Leicester Royal Infirmary, medical students, village historians and members of the Kibworth Improvement Team and Historical Society, and especially Bob Haggarty of Main Street, Kibworth Harcourt, the driving spirit behind the idea of commemorating Sir Harold and a beneficiary last year of cataract surgery.
Before the unveiling Dougal Powrie gave a brief history of the house and the part played by Kibworth Harcourt in getting the plaque produced and mounted on his wall. He was followed by Nicholas Ridley who spoke of his father and how he had devoted his life to medical science and the saving of sight, particularly in the developing world, and how he had discovered whilst caring for fighter pilots during the Battle of Britain that the Perspex used in aircraft canopies did not react adversely to the delicate tissues in their eyes, unlike glass or metal, when propelled into pilots’ faces on being shot at by enemy fire. Mr Geoff Woodruff, senior consultant eye surgeon at the LRI, then placed Sir Harold Ridley’s work in context and mentioned that up to 60 million people world-wide had had their sight saved thanks to Harold Ridley’s invention of cataract surgery and the replacement lens before one of Sir Harold’s nursing staff from Moorfields in the early 1950’s, Mrs Storey, who has recently moved to Stuart Court in Kibworth Beauchamp with her husband, retired CofE clergyman, the Reverend Brian Story, told the assembled company of her experiences as one of Sir Harold’s operating team and of his kindness and consideration to those who worked with him.
Finally Edward Garnier thanked everyone for making the unveiling of the plaque possible, in particular his long term friends, the Ridleys, for making this an even more special occasion, and spoke about the Ridley Eye Foundation (ridleyeyefoundation.org.uk) begun in 1987 by Sir Harold and now chaired by Nicholas Ridley which works in the Middle East providing care for those in need of eye surgery.