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Tilling
Get-Together '06 |
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On
September 2nd 2006, the Friends of Tilling organised a day of special events
in the town of Rye, East Sussex, which was the home of
E.F.Benson
for the later part of his life and of which he was three times elected
Mayor.
The events
consisted of a visit to Fred's grave, followed by lunch at The Mermaid,
(with the reading of a specially written Mapp & Lucia story by Tom
Holt)
and a Gala
Dinner in the evening.
Alas, I
was unable to attend the Dinner, and Tom Holt was unable to attend the
lunch to give the reading, but a last minute replacement was found in the
form of actor Anthony Edridge (who did an exceptional job in reading the
story!)
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What follows
are (in no particular order) pictures taken on the day by me in, it has
to be said, somewhat dismal weather (some attendees were actively looking
for kitchen tables!)
Thanks go
to Jonathan and Darren of the Friends of Tilling for organising the event
(and for graciously inviting me to sit in at the end of the lunch to hear
the story!), to Tom Holt for writing the story, and to Anthony Edridge
for reading it! |
(Photgraphs
taken on Olympus C-700 UZ and Fuji Finepix 4700 digital cameras using auto
settings; subsequent pictures were adjusted and resized in Photoshop) |
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| Quaint1 on the Hastings train |
The Rye Landgate - from outside
of the 'Old Town' |
The Ypres Tower |
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| The Ypres Tower from below |
The Ypres Inn, just below the
tower and where I had a most enjoyable light lunch and a pint of local
bitter - I can heartily recommend the home cured ham... |
The Gun Garden, with dark clouds
looming... |
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| Vew if the river from the Gun
Garden - if you look closely, you may be able to spot a Certain
piece of kitchen furniture... |
Another shot of The Ypres Tower... |
...and of the Gun Garden (TV
Series fans might vaguely recognise the arch - it's the one Mapp &
Lucia are seen coming through after they arrive back off the Italian trawler!) |
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| More from the Gun Garden - this
time an anchor |
A secluded door in the side of
the tower |
A BBC Outside Broadcast van?
Is Georgie making an 'on location' cookery broadcasy for the Home Service?
(A reference to Tom Holt's "Lucia in Wartime" there! - in fact, the BBC
were in Rye for the Rye Festifal - the BBC Choir were giving a performance
in St Mary's church in the evening.) |
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| Inside The Mermaid - after lunch
but before the story; (L from front) Bibelot2, Himself, Miss Leg, unknown
(sorry!), (R from front) Bert, (Mary, alas, just out of shot on the left!),
Anne Cowan, Bill Thompson (aka Mr Leg!) |
Anthony Edridge (who has appeared
in quite a few TV sows in the UK as well as a number of movies - details
on IMDB) reading Tom
Holt's excellent new M&L story "Great Minds" - just out of shot behind
him is President of the Friends of Tilling, Gyles Brandreth. |
Protestors, aghast at the closure
of Diva's! (actually, the Usual Suspects standing outside of what
used to be the traditional haunt when seeking a light refreshment in the
form of tea, coffee, hot chocolate and either a toasted teacake or a toasted
Bacon and Cheese sandwich - the former Mermaid Street Coffee Shop - now
a private residence - TV series fans will recognise Twistevant's!)
L-R: Miss Leg, Anne Cowan, Mr
Leg, Bert and Mary. Not in picture, the ghost of a sardine tartlet. |
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| Lamb House from the garden (the
weather really started to turn nasty when out here, sadly!) - The Garden
Room would have been to the right of this picture |
Proof, if proof were needed,
that Miss Mapp could not have seen Lucia (in the Mallards garden) from
the balcony on the church tower; this is the weather vane on top of the
tower, with a roof obscuring the balcony! |
Miss Leg doing her Gene Kelly
impersonation in the garden of Lamb House! |
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| The small memorial to the various
Lamb House pets, in a dark and secluded corner of the garden. |
Memorial to Fred's favourite
dog, Taffy |
The Secret Garden? |
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| Anne Cowan |
Mary, Bert and Miss Leg |
St Mary's Church |
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| Close-up of the clock |
The Town Hall |
The 'Crooked Chimney' from the
churchyard |
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| The Chinese Paperback
Maple tree (and plaque) donated in memory of E.F.Benson in 1990 by The
Tilling Society - hasn't it grown! |
Lamb House |
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| Period Fire Insurance
Plaques on Lamb House |
The E.F.Benson and A.C.Benson
plaque on the Garden Room wall. |
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| The site of the Lamb House Garden
Room |
Mermaid Street (aka 'Porpoise
Street' in Tilling!) |
Yours Truly in front of Lamb
House - and looking the worse for the weather! |
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| Another one for the TV series
fans - this is 'Mallards'! (actually a property in Watchbell Street, which
runs parallel to Marmaid Street) |
Fred in the window he donated
to the church; from the inside, you can actually see Fred in his (red)
mayoral robes - sadly, although I have a much better zoom lens than in
previous years, I couldn't take any pictures inside the church as the BBC
were setting up for the concert that evening! If you look closely,
though, you should be able to make out the features of Fred's face, and
the mayoral chain. |
A final view of the church -
from an unusual angle! |
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