Tall Ship Matthew
The Japanese Garden
Newsletter of AOUG in the South West (03)
Welcome | Newsletter | Diary Dates | Memory Lane
Bristol Group
Our September visit to the M Shed in Bristol started with an exhibition of photographs. We decided to go out onto the balcony and were rewarded by a wonderful view of the Tall Ship Matthew, below on the Waterfront. Putting the cameras away, we explored the galleries: Bristol People, Bristol Life and Bristol Places. We will be going back again – there’s a lot to see.
In May, the Bristol Group visited Clevedon Court, an exceptional example of a 14th century manor house. It is still lived in by the Elton family who purchased it in 1709. The family wealth came from the slave trade and other commerce, and property (including mining in the Mendip Hills). William Makepeace Thackeray often came there to sketch and write, and Alfred Tennyson stayed there in 1850.
During the Industrial Revolution, nearby Nailsea had one of the biggest glass making facilities in the country and there is a fine collection of Nailsea Glass, which includes multi-coloured walking sticks and rolling pins. Engineering prints and engravings decorate the staircase. The sketches include the Clifton Suspension Bridge and the Iron Bridge at Coalbrookdale. Sir Edmund Elton developed a unique metallic-glazed style of pottery in the 1880s, known as Eltonware, which is displayed in the old kitchens. After walking around the house, we admired the view from the 18th century terraced garden and then adjourned to a nearby Garden Centre for tea and cake.
Executive Representative - Pam Pearce
Exeter Group
Nineteen members attended the Exeter group lunch on 30th September at the Countess Wear Restaurant in Exeter, where they have been meeting every two months for four years. Members caught up with news of families and travels to distant climes, during the disappointing weather experienced by many. As usual, local and world affairs led to interesting discussions and everything was 'sorted' before we bid adieu until the next time!
Elizabeth Mount (standing in for Ann Reed)
Sharing/Discussing some favourite pieces of Poetry, Prose or Drama The Exeter Group shared some poems and pieces of prose at their May meeting.
After each piece had been spoken, a short time was spent in discussing it: speaker’s reasons for selecting the particular piece, its genre and style, any thoughts and feelings arising from hearing it etc.
We started with an extract from the speaker’s own husband’s journal account of his travels through the Pyrenees in 2000 (Richard Bell) which she followed with an extract from R L Stevenson’s ‘Travels with a Donkey’ covering very similar terrain in similarly trying circumstances, but in a different part of France. This was followed by the hostess’s speaking of a modern poem which features a personal interest of hers - drama: John Cassidy’s ‘A Student Group Performs at an Old People’s Home’. Next came a West Country writer’s poem ‘People’ by David Prowse (he writes a column regularly in the Western Morning News, which also often publishes his poems) and this brought into the room with us, in highly amusing fashion, all the different people depicted in it.
The two pieces spoken after this were both in an anthology by Costa Award winner Jo Shapcott – the first was a poem ‘Of Mutability’ (also the title of the collection) and a short piece of highly poetic prose ‘Scorpion’ – was this about the insect or something far deeper and more significant to us now? Four short, but very varied pieces of the next speaker’s own poetry were delivered: two sonnets, a partoum and a sestina (each genre of which is in a tightly organised style). Our previous ‘leader’ was the last speaker of the afternoon and she read a poem which ‘rang a lot of bells’ as it spelled out how difficult many of our countrymen find it to travel abroad and participate in the life of ‘foreign parts’: Gwen Crampyn’s ‘the English Abroad’!
Tea, Cakes and Biscuits drew the afternoon to a close; and everyone travelled home with much to think about!
Ann Reed
Cornwall Group
Members found the Japanese Garden and Bonsai Nursery, St Mawgan Village, to be beautifully tranquil when they visited it in October. There was not as much autumn colour as had been hoped, perhaps because of the unseasonal warm weather. There were little areas and a Zen garden, all in typical Japanese style, with a wide range of bamboo species as well as maples. The bonsai nursery is amazing, with lots of specimens in a range of sizes, from the relatively young trees to some older and truly spectacular specimens.
Liz Ashcroft
Executive Representative – Pam Pearce