Reviews
SUSSEX WILDLIFE (February Talk)
The talk this month was given by Sussex wildlife enthusiast and knowledgeable specialist extraordinaire - Michael Blencowe.
Our talks secretary had pursued this speaker for several years as he is in great demand both locally and further afield, including on some cruise holidays and overseas wildlife tours.
The breadth of his knowledge is amazing and his engaging delivery had us laughing as well as learning as we took a flying tour of the county's superlative wildlife. We discovered that the geological structure of this small corner of the UK is perhaps the main reason that we enjoy such richness of life, from beetles to butterflies, birds, mammals and insects, many of which are resident, but augmented by flyovers from the near continent, most of which are very welcome.
Go to his website, michaelblencowe.com, to sign up for his newsletter, which is sure to be as entertaining and informative as his books and talks.
A TOUCH OF MAGIC (January Talk)
In January we were treated to a magical afternoon with Bertie Pearce, a member of the Inner Magic Circle, with Gold Star. This really was a memorable occasion. As well as giving us a masterclass in jaw dropping magic, he was so funny that we were practically rolling in the aisles. A few brave members sat in the front and were ready for all that Bertie threw at them (literally in some cases), although perhaps potentially having a hand chopped off was a little unexpected. One particular highlight was the fashioning of a very chic hat and bag from some torn up bits of tissue paper!
VIEW FROM THE WINGS (November Talk)
Our November meeting was a huge hit. Given by Brian Freeland, a speaker we have had before and really enjoyed, it was called A View From the Wings.
As suggested by the title, it was a whistle stop journey through his career in theatre. From unexpected beginnings started by a random visit to the Bristol Old Vic as a young man, where he was instantly entranced, to the highs and lows of West End productions, stage managing ballet in China and many other countries, and mixing with the great and good of the British acting profession.
His talk was full of anecdotes, some jokes that had everyone in stitches, and a general sense of being part of theatre history. He was familiar with many household names, and even as he neared his retirement he was still in the thick of things, producing amateur productions of opera and musicals. He has written several pantomimes, and even managed to include some goats in one of them. Thereby hung a tale…
He finished his talk with naming the two people he felt most privileged to have worked with, Sybil Thorndike and Norman Evans, not just because of their great talents, but because of their humanity. He also had a couple of very hairy tales to tell of “dodgy digs and monstrous landladies”. As I often say in these reviews, you had to be there!
There is no talk in December, as like many other groups in the village, we are having a Christmas feast, ours being courtesy of Sue Wright. However we are back in our regular spot at Five Ashes Village Hall from the New Year on the the third Thursday of the month, at 2.00. Everyone is welcome, with a £2.00 charge for non-members, and no charge for our members of the Wadhust and Heathfield U3As.
January 18th is Libby Henshaw on Soldiering On - Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads, and February 15th is Michael Blencowe on Wildlife. Obviously an eclectic and interesting programme is planned for 2024. Many thanks to Sue Sabine, who organises it all for us.
MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES (October talk)
Our monthly talk this October was on the fascinating topic of Medecins sans Frontieres. Given by Dr Claire Mason, it was a real insight into the work of the organisation in general, and in particular in Papua New Guinea and India.
Started originally in Biafra, MSF is perhaps known best for their high profile all over the world in areas where natural disasters or war have devastated the population, but HIV and TB ( with which about a quarter of the world is infected) are areas of huge importance, and they make great efforts to work with governments and health services to improve both medical and practical outcomes with these diseases. They are impartial and always politically neutral, with no weapons allowed in their compounds. There are 40,000 staff in 70 countries, and as well as the medical element of their work there is also an important journalistic one, making people aware of what is going on in the world.
As a specialist in tropical diseases, Claire had been involved in a project focused on TB in PNG, a country whose population is based on subsistence farming, has 800 different languages and also has the logistical problems of anywhere that comprises jungle and mountains. More recently, she spent several months in India, where many people have very complex health needs that cannot be helped by hospitals overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of patients, many of whom had first gone to their traditional healers before seeking more modern treatment.
Wherever they are deployed, MSF uses as many local people as possible as co-workers, and much of their work is to encourage people not only to access the help available but to maintain whatever course of treatment they have been given. Some of their medical teams work full time for MSF, others share their time with various projects abroad and their career in their home country.
Anna Thompson
CHOICE JOYCE (September talk)
Following a speedy AGM, there was a performance by Pat Bryers of Choice Joyce, a tribute to Joyce Grenfell, a well known writer, musician and performer. Joyce was equally well known on the screen and stage, but preferred the stage, as she said her shows were a collaboration between her and the audience, and this was something Pat brought out well, asking the audience to get as close to her stage as possible.
In true actor style, Pat became a series of beautifully crafted characters, all with only a pinafore or a hat to help. She danced and sang, and many of the audience could be seen mouthing the words of joining in quietly. We were treated to a variety of different sketches, but it wasn't until the end, with 'Free Activity Period', that we actually heard perhaps her most famous line - "George, don't do that".
Anna Thompson
OFFENBACH (15th June talk)
We all learnt a lot and heard some lovely music at our regular meeting this month. The subject was Offenbach and His Rivals, and was given by Ian Gledhill.
Offenbach (1819 - 1880) was born into a family of professional musicians, and was himself a cellist of some note. However he had always wanted to write for the musical theatre, and he was an important part of the development of the operetta in France.
Originally Opera Comique, which was opera with dialogue, it segued into plays with music, with often ridiculous plots. This was partly due to the licensing strictures of the time, which limited the cast to three players, although this was relaxed later on.
Offenbach was a prolific composer, although only Tales of Hoffmann and Orpheus in the Underworld are well known, but he was also a great influence on his contemporaries. One of these was Bizet, although he only produced one operetta by himself, Dr Miracle.
With the coming of war with Russia in 1870, Offenbach himself went out of fashion, with Lecoq, who had been joined by two of his rival’s best librettists, taking over his mantle.
In the 20th century operetta took a different direction, influenced by the jazz movement, although some of the original style remained. With casts of actors who could sing as opposed to just professional singers, operetta was always popular, and is still produced all over the world today.
It even had an impact on commercial design. If you want to know why every jar of Marmite has a cooking pot on the label, you need to watch an operetta or two and learn some French.
Anna Thompson
GERTRUDE LOTHIAN BELL (May 18th talk)
Anthony Wood is not only a master of his facts, but a master of
delivery and enthusiasm. His talk on Gertrude Bell was riveting,
especially as she is not as well known as her contemporary,
Lawrence of Arabia, or other influential women of the period.
Not only was she arguably one of the great figures of the 20th
century, but perhaps also of her age. Born into wealth and privilege
in Durham in 1868, she had a first class education, an Oxford
degree and an awareness of the responsibility of her position.
She had a brilliant intellect, and over her life was a mountaineer, a
writer and translator, a political officer, garden designer, map maker
and surveyor, archeologist and linguist, teaching herself many of
these, and often being ‘the first’, and particularly the first woman to
achieve the goals she set herself.
Her six major travels through the Middle East were how she
became involved in the politics of the area, and played a major role
in the establishment of the state of Iraq.
These travels, although usually comprising merely two or three
attendants and a horse, mule or donkey, did also involve the
careful packing of a Wedgwood dinner service.
Surprisingly, Gertrude Bell was not a Suffragette, feeling that most
women had enough to do and didn’t have the resources to get
properly involved, and also that change should be brought about
by less violent means than were being employed at the time.
She never sought fame, and ended her life in slightly strange
circumstances after an illness in Iraq, in 1926.
Anna Thompson
CHURCHILL'S SPECIAL ARMY by Gilly Halcrow
Any of us who had heard Gilly Halcrow speak via Zoom during lockdown had been looking forward to meeting her in person.
The Special Operations Executive was established by Churchill during World War 2 to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in occupied Europe. Gilly’s lecture was designed as an attribute to the brave men and women who parachuted behind enemy lines. With its headquarters in Baker Street and much of the training in Arisaig in Scotland, the SOE employed or controlled over 13,000 people, about a quarter of whom were women. The main qualification for an agent was to have an intimate knowledge of the country in which they would operate, especially its language.
Gilly gave us a vivid account of several successful missions, including the blowing up of a viaduct in Greece, which disrupted the movement of German supplies to Africa and the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, the sadistic Nazi leader, in Prague in June 1942. She highlighted some of the particularly brave and resourceful agents including Nancy Wake. She became a leading figure in the Maquis groups of the French Resistance and was one of the Allies’ most highly decorated servicewomen of the war.
In conclusion Gilly paid tribute to all the agents who undertook highly perilous missions and in doing so helped to shorten the war significantly. She revealed why she had been inspired to research and prepare this talk. Her father, Colonel Ernest van Murik was an SOE veteran. His distinguished career included a period as an instructor in Arisaig, being parachuted into France and and missions in Malta. On one occasion he was taking two Russian agents to London in a car driven by a young woman in FANY. To his irritation the car kept breaking down and the two had a heated argument. This young woman later became his wife and Gilly’s mother. A personal ending to a captivating talk.
Mary Brentnall
EAST SUSSEX WILDLIFE RESCUE AND AMBULANCE SERVICE
TREVOR WEEKS M.B.E. spoke to us in March about the invaluable work of WRAS - East
Sussex Wildlife Rescue & Ambulance Service which is a front line rescue service to help
people who find sick, injured and orphaned wildlife across East Sussex.
Every year WRAS receives between 2-3,000 calls for help. On site WRAS’s rescuers
provide vital first aid to casualties, starting the care right at the beginning at the rescue location.
In 2012 Trevor was named in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List, receiving the MBE, later
that year he received the BBC Sussex & Surrey Community Heroes Award for Animal
Welfare, and in 2013 the charity won the Local Animal Charity of the Year.
In December 2021 WRAS staff and volunteers were given a Wealden Heroes Award by
local MP Nus Ghani for all their hard work throughout the Covid pandemic which saw
WRAS deal with over 5100 casualties in 2020.
MINI-SKIRTS, THE PILL, BAN THE BOMB and FLOWER POWER.
At the time the 1960s seemed as though the old order was being overturned in a
way that had never happened before.
However, our February speaker Sarah Slater, who is a guide at Hampton Court,
gave us a talk on the mores of the 1660s that proved otherwise.
It was called Secrets, Scandal and Salacious Gossip of the Royal Court, and
described the reaction of Society to the fall of the Puritans.
As ever, it was the top levels of society that had the fun, but even for them the
licence to behave very badly was curbed to an extent by the threat of The Pox,
and unwanted pregnancies.
Sarah arrived in 17th century dress, and her talk was beautifully illustrated.
She even passed round a 17th century condom, but made sure it was returned to her.
Apparently at one talk she gave, it was stolen!