Over breakfast in the Hotel we met up with other DGs and
Consorts as they arrived, including Peter and Di King, who arrived very late in
the evening, and went straight to bed. The General Council session at RIBI
headquarters wasn’t due to begin until lunch time so there were a couple of
hours to kill beforehand. I had thought I might go for a stroll around the
area, having noticed a National Trust property, Coughton Court, a short
distance from the Hotel when we arrived yesterday. The Hotel is actually
situated in the village of Kings Coughton (pronounced, I believe Coffton),
which is just outside Alcester.
Coughton Court
In the event, some of us adjourned to the lounge area for a
coffee after breakfast, and spent the next couple of hours catching up, and
greeting new arrivals, including Alistair and Jo Bains, Stan and Sheila Keller,
Lyn and Ron Marshall, Steve and Jan Lawes, Tim and Janet Cowling, to name a
few. So I never really got round to my walk down to Coughton Court, which was
just as well, as I heard later that the house and gardens were closed for
winter, although there was a Winter Festival on this weekend. John and Joyce Waddell confirmed they were
happy for me to drive a group to Stratford upon Avon in their car, a 7-seater
Renault Scenic. The car has automatic transmission, and I have had experience
driving automatic cars in the USA, so I didn’t foresee any problems, provided I
kept my left foot off the pedals. Also The DG has a Renault Scenic, admittedly
an older car, and with manual gears. Actually, I refer to it as Daisy’s car, as
it is mostly used to transport the dog to the park for walks.
RIBI Headquarters Alcester
The time came for us to go, and the DG went off in our car
to RIBI headquarters in Kinwarton Road, whilst my party climbed into the
Renault. It was obviously quite a new car, and didn’t have an ignition key as
such, you just put the key fob into a slot, press the Start button, and away
you go. Joyce sat in the passenger seat
and gave me some instruction about the controls before we set off. Also in the
car were Pat Wilson, Mary Hopkins, Jill Harwood, Margaret Marquis and Jan
Lawes. We drove firstly to Kinwarton Road, as one of the afore-mentioned
passengers (I can’t remember which) was taken there by taxi from the airport,
so we picked her up en route. It was my first view of RIBI Headquarters, and I
took the opportunity of nipping in for a quick look round. The council chamber
looked quite impressive, although it was empty at the time.
Council chamber at RIBI headquarters (picture from Internet)
So, all aboard, we set off to Stratford upon Avon, which was
only about 15 minutes away. Incidentally, I learnt recently why some towns are
‘on’ a river and others are ‘upon’. When a town is on just one side of a river
it is ‘on’ the river, such as Newark on Trent or Sunbury on Thames. However,
when a town is on both sides of a river, it is ‘upon’ the river e.g. Kingston
upon Thames and Berwick upon Tweed. A couple of years ago, the town I was
brought up in, Staines, had its name
changed to Staines upon Thames, apparently to make it appear more attractive.
Personally I didn’t agree with it. Staines has been around for centuries, and
was even mentioned in the Magna Carta, and locals will probably continue to
call it Staines regardless. In my view if it was good enough for King John, it
should be good enough for the local Council.
A bevy of beauties - Pat, Margaret, Joyce, Mary, Jill and Jan
I quite enjoyed driving the Renault, I don’t think I did
anything to frighten Joyce, back-seat driving was kept to a minimum, and it
wasn’t long before we were parked up in a central car park in Stratford upon
Avon (which I will call Stratford from now on). I have been to Stratford once
before, about 30 years ago, and it seems better now than it did then. The main
shopping street is pedestrianised, which makes it a more pleasant environment,
but the biggest thing that struck me was how well preserved the Tudor buildings
are. There are superb buildings everywhere, some being used as shops, including
the most attractive Costa Coffee shop I have seen.
I think the building was here before Costa
Having arrived in town at lunch time my beautiful companions
and I decided to have lunch, and descended upon the nearest café, where we met
up with Linda Cowling and someone else whose name escapes me, who had travelled in a separate car. Most
of us opted for soup, with a couple choosing paninis. It was a pleasant lunch
in pleasant company, after which we decided to hit the shops. To be fair we
weren’t all here for the shops, I wanted to see what else Stratford has to
offer. We all agreed to meet up at 4.15 for a coffee before heading back to the
hotel, and we separated to do our own thing. I had only gone a couple of hundred
yards up the road when I caught up with Pat, who had unfortunately lost her
mobile phone. She had had it in the café, and I was impressed that in such a
short time she had noticed it was missing. If the same misfortune had happened
to me it could well be days before I realised it was gone. As the self-appointed minder for my ladies, I
resolved to locate the missing phone without delay. The most likely thing was
that it had been left in the café so I went back there and learnt it had indeed
been left on the table, and had been handed
to Linda. I didn’t know where Linda was, but it was obviously a relief to Pat
to know her phone was no longer lost.
Shakespeare's birthplace 1564
Well-preserved - 16th century Harvard House, now owned by Harvard University
With the crisis averted, I headed on towards the river. The only time
that I had previously been to Stratford was about 1980 when the DG and I arrived on a boat we had hired in Upton upon Severn (it must be on both sides
of the river). In our one week trip, we cruised down the Severn as far as
Tewkesbury, where the Avon joins it. We then followed the Avon all the way to
Stratford, but didn’t have time to get on to the Stratford upon Avon canal. On
our way back to Upton I had a slight mishap, when I was admiring some scenery,
and allowed the boat to run straight into an overhanging willow tree. The
result was a severely buckled front fender (I’m not sure if that’s the right
word for it, but it’s a kind of railing that goes round the bow of the boat).
As well as buckling it, the whole thing was ripped away from the deck. In an
attempt to save my deposit I tried to fix it with superglue. This was
unsuccessful.
Clopton Bridge spans the Avon
A pleasure cruiser enters the canal lock from the Avon River
Back to the present day, I had a pleasant time by the lock
which joins the canal to the river. There is a grassy area where I noticed the
local Rotary Club had planted crocuses as part of the End Polio Now campaign.
I’m sure it will look a picture in Spring. A little way from the lock is the
Royal Shakespeare Theatre, home to the Royal Shakespeare Company. Towards the
rear of the building I came across the smaller Swan theatre, which by chance was
having its mid-matinee intermission. The doors were open so I had a look
inside. The stage seemed to be in the centre of the audience, so you could sit
around on all sides to watch the performance. The girl on the door told me I
could get a ticket from the box office to watch the rest of the play, billed as
a Jacobean revenge tragedy called The White Devil, by John Webster (So it’s not
just Shakespeare’s plays performed here). I was tempted, but realised that I
would miss the rendezvous with my harem, so gave it a miss. I did, however, get
to see some of the performance as it was being shown on a big screen in the
foyer.
Crocus plantation
Royal Shakespeare Theatre as seen from the riverbank
Opportunity for members of the public to dress up as Shakespearean characters
At the allotted time I headed back to meet up
with my ladies. Incidentally, I passed on my way back a 1940’s café, where the
décor and the staff looked very authentically 1940’s (everything, in fact,
except the prices). If my companions had been with me at that point I would
have suggested that we have our coffee here. I continued to the agreed venue (Costas)
only to find there wasn't enough
room for 10 of us to sit together, so we went to a café a couple of doors down.
I couldn’t help noticing that staff from this café were selling some beautiful
looking cakes and gateaux from an outside table at just £1 each. Obviously they
were trying to get rid of stock before the end of the day. I always feel drawn
to things which cost £1, which perhaps explains my occasional excursions into
Poundland, but I resisted the temptation in the knowledge that we would be
having dinner in less than 3 hours time. Eight of us ordered hot chocolate, 4
of which were with ‘extras’ of marshmallow and flake and there were two teas.
As we sat around chatting, I started wondering what the collective word is for
a group of Consorts. In a flash it came to me – a Consortium! Although this was
ostensibly a shopping trip, I didn’t
detect much shopping having been done, apart from a scarf bought by Pat.
Hot Chocolate with extras
At around 5 o’clock, the Consortium piled back into Joyce’s
Renault, driven by me, and we found our way back to the hotel without mishap.
Stratford was a much finer town than I remembered, and I was glad to have visited
it again. There had been very impressive Christmas lights erected all over the
town but slightly disappointingly, they did not come on when it got dark. I
imagine the official switching on ceremony is yet to come. Of course I
shouldn’t have been disappointed, as I
don’t like to think about Christmas until December. However as we were there,
and wouldn’t be coming back, it was a shame to have missed the splendour of the
lights.
Did Shakespeare drink in this pub?
Dinner that evening in the hotel was the first (and only)
time that weekend that all the DGs and all the Consorts would get together, and
it was a convivial occasion. Over dinner of soup, roast duck and cheesecake the
day’s activities were discussed, digested and dissected. I found myself sitting
with Roger Mason, DG of Cumbria, Nick Cork and Mike Jackson and opposite me
were RI Director Mike Webb and his successor from next July, Peter Offer. They
are both past presidents of RIBI, so I was clearly in exalted company. I haven’t really spoken very much to Roger
Mason before, but he was very good company, and we are in agreement on many
Rotary subjects. When I told Mike Webb I was a member of Shepperton Aurora
Rotary Club, he surprised me by saying that he knows one of our founder
members, Denis Fuller, very well. Apparently they both took their accountancy
exams together, and were Best Man at each other’s wedding. Denis has since
moved to Farnborough Rotary club, following retirement from his Accountancy
practice.
The Hotel bar
As usual, the evening ended in the bar, and it wasn’t too
long before the DG indicated that it was time for bed. However I have known her
long enough to understand that this doesn’t
really that it’s time for bed just yet, but rather time for her to go
round saying farewell to everyone, so I stayed put. Half an hour later, and
after several more repeats of ‘Right, it’s time for bed’ we actually went up.
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