Sir Jackie Stewart attends gala reception at York’s Theatre Royal (From York Press)

Sir Jackie Stewart attends gala reception at York’s Theatre Royal

8:41am Tuesday 16th October 2012 in News

A MOTOR racing legend visited York to attend a gala reception for a new play about the beginnings of plastic surgery.

Sir Jackie Stewart was welcomed to York’s Theatre Royal on Saturday for a reception with the cast of The Guinea Pig Club.

The play was written by his friend, Susan Watkins, who is the widow of Formula One chief medical officer Professor Sid Watkins, and author of Sir Jackie’s biography.

While at the reception, Sir Jackie also met 20 military nurses before they flew out for duty in Afghanistan at 243 Field Hospital, a 200-bed hospital staffed by the Army and the NHS.

Lt Col Judith Madill said: “Everyone enjoyed the show, because it reinforces why we are here, to do what we do for the injured and we can see how things have progressed in terms of medicine and equipment.”

Sir Jackie Stewart said: “Motor racing, when I was racing, was a hugely dangerous sport, totally different than it is today. There was a two-in-three chance you were going to die if you raced for five years, and the accidents involved led to horrific burns.

“It was nice for me to meet them all, because it’s no holiday, going over there and they are skilled in the areas that are of most need in the kind of injuries that can be inflicted in war.”

The new production tells the story of a group of Second World War fighter pilots and aircrew and the pioneering plastic surgeon, Sir Archibald McIndoe.

It runs until Saturday, October 27.