Members Reviews

AIN'T NOTHIN’ BUT THE BLUES

It was another one of those Triptych Sundays. A visit to the National Portrait Gallery – a meal at Gaby’s and then – the blues bar in Soho.

It is a wonderfully shabby old bar which although very cramped has a very friendly relaxed and atmosphere.

On this occasion the “jammers” were of a very high standard.

One notable song started with the words – “Got me a shot gun – gonna put two shells through my head!” Really authentic blues.

BILL GIBB – A MOMENT IN TIME

After an enjoyable lunch at the Café Rouge, Hays Galleria, ten of us made our way to The Fashion and Textile Museum to see an exhibition of Bill Gibb’s work. The Museum, founded by Zandra Rhodes, is a cutting edge centre for contemporary fashion, textiles and jewellery and provides an excellent space to showcase the work of the designer. We were all very impressed by the vintage clothes, which were displayed to their best advantage, many of which had been lent by their owners. It was a lovely way to spend Saturday afternoon.

Christina would like to thank all those who helped celebrate her birthday at Volupte and at the Fashion and Textile Museum.

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CLIQUE, BURELESQUE – Hippodrome Theatre

For those brave enough to try this, we had an enjoyable night out.

A sleek young man hauled himself dripping water, out of a bath in order to perform an elevated act on straps.

The famous strip tease star Ursula Martinez did a trick with a hankie.

We also saw flamenco singing as never before!.

CHINESE NEW YEAR

John H was our host as we celebrated the year of the Ox.

At the end of the day, one of the high spots of the day was the final firework display in Leicester Square.

We are used these days to “health and safety” displays that take place at a safe distance and it is all a bit “Oooh Aaah!”

This was in your face with the smell of gunpowder and a positively frenzied crackle of Chinese Firecrackers. There were also some brisk rapid fire from the mortars and some manic Catherine Wheels. We cannot miss this next year.

CHRISTMAS CAROL PARTY

Fantastic party this, wonderful food and a fancy dress competition

Many of us dressed up as various characters from the Dickens story.

Prizes were justly offered to those that really exceeded themselves.

The food was great as usual and the drink and conversation flowed.

Bless us every one!

ELVIS NIGHT AT WINCHMORE HILL

The evening also had a St Patrick’s theme so some of us wore green shamrock hats. The main star was our Elvis impersonator Jon Burrows who in addition to well-known Elvis hits threw in a few of the lesser known ones such as “Monkey Business” and some Beatles tunes.

And we were able to dance! The guy is seriously good looking so here, after all those belly dancers, is something for the ladies!

ENGLISH LAKES TRIP

Those members who went on the 4 day English Lakes trip at Easter enjoyed good weather and had an interesting time visiting Bakewell, Holmfirth – home to Last of the Summer Wine and the appropriately named Wrinkled Stockings Café. On Saturday they visited Southport with its extensive sandy bay, pier, tram and famous tree-lined Lord Street with its variety of shops. The hotel provided a glass of Buck’s Fizz to celebrate Easter Sunday morning. They then set off for the Lakes and were suitably impressed by the scale of the National Park. They saw Dove Cottage where Wordsworth used to live and followed this up with a boat trip around the lake from Grasmere. The trip then drew to a close with a look around Chester, its Cathedral, a walk on the Roman Wall and then back to London.

HARD ROCK CAFÉ

New one this, we had a free guided tour of the vaults beneath the Hard Rock Cafe shop. A personable and fact filled young man, (probably not too astonishingly a rock star in waiting himself) showed us around a mind boggling array of rock memorabilia. There was Little Richard’s dressing gown, Sting’s bass guitar, a rather alarming pink garment belonging to Madonna and a “flying V” guitar once played by Jimi Hendrix! There was also a guitar belonging to Robert Zimmerman, the body of the instrument, cut into the shape of a map of North America. What WAS his stage name again?

HIDDEN TREASURES OF THE MARY ROSE

This is a special exhibition indeed held within the wonderful setting of Whitgift School. We stopped to admire the pretty clock tower topped with the weather vane in the form of, appropriately enough, a square rigged ship, and stopped again to enjoy the shocking pink flamingos. We then stopped yet again to photograph the tamest peacock we have ever met – he turned and offered us his tail for digital imagery. We finally reached the school gym which housed the exhibition. There were some of the wooden pulley blocks from the Mary Rose, so well preserved you could have spun the wheels. There was also as promised the re-assemble skeleton of “Hatch” the ship’s dog a “healthy bitch” and even a jerkin from one of the sailors, still bright red!

This was truly an amazing experience.

We then enjoyed a leisurely lunch in the exotic decor of the Little Bay restaurant in South Croydon.

MYSTERIES – Stoke Newington

We wondered to the magic of the ancient mystery plays as Adam and Eve fell from grace. They do say that you should eat seven portions of fruit per day to stay healthy. For this pair there was one portion of fruit that really dropped them in it.

We also saw the story Cain and Abel and the Nativity.

A truly wonderful production.

NUNHEAD CEMETARY

NunheadCemetery is one of the famous Victorian cemeteries of London and always worth a visit. Once a year, they have an open day run by the Friends of Nunhead Cemetery and on the open day in May, a group of us explored its many attractions. As well as a bird of prey show, there were stalls to raise some money. Plants, books and all kinds of bric a brac were on sale, also refreshment stalls were provided. We met at the main entrance of this imposing place and decided to participate in the guided tour. Our guide had a comprehensive knowledge of the occupants of the cemetery and clearly spent a great deal of researching the subject. After our visit, we repaired to a local pub for further refreshment. Many thanks to Pam for arranging this visit.

PAULA AND BILL'S 100TH MEAL

Well, it was supposed to be our special evening, but it was not to be: Paula went down with a nasty dose of flu and we could not be there.
We hope that the evening was enjoyable all the same, and thank Judith, Jeff and John (sounds like a pop-group, doesn't it) for kindly hosting it for us.
Thanks also to all of you who have supported us over the years; we hope to see you again soon. Here's to the next 100!

PARTY IN RUISLIP

Dan’s hospitality was appreciated as we partied for his and other Aquarian’s birthdays. The cake was delight to behold! We danced to tunes we remembered from yesteryear in the conservatory!

PEDALO ON THE SERPENTINE

The weather was good so sail off in pedalos we did...

We needed several vessels although you can get five adventurers into one machine, but one has to sit on the paddle wheel housing and experience the full throbbing power of four Kaleidoscope feet in full action! Most enjoyable,

We were also able to get up close and personable with some coots in their own environment.

Then a quick visit to the Serpentine Gallery for butchers at some rather minimalist clay sculptures and a nice lunch in a tastefully decorated hotel dining room.

POLISH CENTRE

Very good turn out for this event, everybody had a great time. We danced to the Fantasy Trio Band and enjoyed a mouth-watering menu, plus alcoholic refreshment of course.

If you have not been to this venue before you really must try it!!!

ZIPPO’S CIRCUS

A nice group of us enjoyed the latest show at Zippo’s Circus at Blackheath.

The traditional ensemble clowning was inspired and we were then fed and watered in the ring with the staff and performers.

There were other variety acts including the usual beautiful performing horses.