TV star reveals Ross-shire roots
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THE star of the hit TV comedy Two Doors Down has revealed she was named after the village of Arabella in Easter Ross.
Arabella Weir, the actor and author, told the North Star of her close family links with Ross-shire and happy memories of holidays in the area.
Arabella’s late mum, Alison Walker, was born in Easter Ross, and she still has a cousin there.
Said Arabella: "I was named after the village of Arabella.
"Mum was pregnant with me. She and my dad had been visiting her cousins who were farmers in Rarichie, Easter Ross.
"They drove through Arabella and decided that if I was a girl they’d call me that.
"My mother’s cousins were called Bill and Doug Budge. Their mother Helen, nee Walker, was my mother’s father’s sister.
"We used to holiday up there all the time but I haven’t been there for a good few years sadly. Liz Budge, the widow of Doug, is still there. I also have fond memories of family holidays in Plockton."
Arabella’s mum grew up in Melrose in the Scottish Borders and went on to marry Sir Michael Weir, a former British Ambassador to Egypt, who was from Dunfermline.
Arabella (59), who now lives in London, has just completed a second series of Two Doors Down. But off camera, Arabella, who recently launched World Cancer Day in Scotland, has been through a tough few years.
She chose to team up with Cancer Research UK in memory of her mum, dad, best friend and step mum, who all died from the disease.
Arabella said: "I’ve lost so many of the people I love to cancer. At times it has felt like being stuck on a train track while the trains keep coming up and hitting me. "
It was a shock when Arabella, who has starred in TV’s The Fast Show, Skins and Doctor Who, was told her dad Michael (81) only had weeks to live.
He had lived with prostate cancer for more than a decade but kept the illness a secret from his children.
Arabella said: "I must have told him I loved him about ten times per visit in those last few weeks of his life and I’m glad I did. I was very, very proud of dad. It was a big leap for dad, a lower middle class boy from Dunfermline to become an Ambassador. He did so well."
It was the first of a series of cancer blows for Arabella.
After her dad’s death in June 2006, Arabella’s step mum, Hilary Reid, was also diagnosed with cancer and died from myeloma in 2008 aged 63.
Months later in May 2009, Arabella’s mum Alison died from breast cancer at the age of 83. Then, in 2012, her best friend and mum-of-three Helen Scott-Lidgett died from ovarian cancer, at 63.
Arabella, who is mum to Isabella (19) and Archie (17), said: "I’ve got a few best friends but Helen was my absolute soul mate. We were so close that I honestly feel part of me went with her."
World Cancer Day, which was on February 4, encouraged people to wear a Unity Band to help raise awareness and vital funds to fight cancer. But it’s not too late to get involved. Go to www.cruk.org.uk/worldcancerday to find out more and to buy a Unity Band.
