AUNG SAN SUU KYI: Suu Kyi visit was ‘an unbelievable honour’ (From Witney Gazette)

AUNG SAN SUU KYI: Suu Kyi visit was ‘an unbelievable honour’

10:30am Saturday 23rd June 2012 in News By Tim Hughes, Music Editor. Call me on 01865 425494. Follow me on twitter: @OxMailTimHughes

“AN unbelievable honour.”

That’s how the owner of a West Oxfordshire pottery described the visit yesterday by the Prime Minister and Burmese Opposition Leader.

In a spectacle that can only be described as surreal, David Cameron and democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi called into Aston Pottery, near Witney, to help celebrate its 21st anniversary. And they marked the occasion by joining schoolchildren for afternoon tea.

The visit was the second trip to Oxfordshire by the Nobel Peace Prize winner on a historic tour which earlier this week saw her awarded an honorary doctorate by Oxford University and meeting friends and academics at St Hugh’s College, where she had studied in the 1960s.

Arriving in separate cars, Ms Suu Kyi and Mr Cameron delighted the hundreds-strong crowd by shaking hands with those who had gathered to greet them. They were then shown around the pottery workshop by the founders of the business, Stephen and Jane Baughan, where they saw teapots being made and met the decorators handpainting the pottery.

The visitors then joined pupils from Aston and Cote Primary school for a tea party.

“It is a bit more than an honour,” said Mr Baughan.

Mr Cameron later unveiled a plaque commemorating the pottery’s 21st anniversary. However, the cutting of a ribbon to open a Jubilee walk through the gardens was delayed because no one had brought the scissors.

Mr Cameron said: “I thank you for giving such a warm West Oxfordshire welcome to Aung San Suu Kyi.

“It’s a real honour to have such a heroine here today.”