Category Archives: Cambridge Society

Derbyshire

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We joined the Berkshire branch Cambridge Society for its 7th and our 5th annual weekend, held this year in Derbyshire.  The event is always a good chance to catch up with people, an inspiration to flagging grey matter and a challenge to stamina.  It was, as usual, brilliantly organized by the dedicated few (Catherine, Peter, Rob and Ann amongst others) and they had laid on the sunshine, too.

We started on Friday in a leisurely manner at Bolsover Castle with our own private “journey to heaven” through the Little Castle.  It culminated in two staggering painted ceilings depicting disparate views of heaven.  Other highlights some 17th century wall paintings which continued the vaulted ceilings of one room, totally defying the idea of how such people did not understand, nor could paint, perspective.  Outside, there was a highly unexpected 17th century indoor riding school and a sadly recently vandalized, slightly risqué fountain.  Spent the afternoon at Cresswell Crags, a limestone gorge full of caves.  We looked behind the scenes in its museum and enjoyed a tour of one cave and a viewing of pre-historic cave paintings in another.  One painting was a very obvious deer, but others needed more imagination/better eye-sight than we had.

Friday evening saw us wined, beered (Catherine, a bioscience consultant, had persuaded the hotel to lay in a barrel of Old Speckled Hen) and dined in our Matlock Bath hotel.  Afterwards we were all suitably briefed on the next day’s activities by Catherine and the local geology by Peter.

Saturday, we were at Ilam Hall where we chose to go on a 12-mile walk following the Manifold river, across the top and back down to Ilam via the lovely Dovedale, where we could admire Early Purple orchids.  We stopped at a cave and at a pub in Wetton en route and also admired a gorgeous Charolait (or was he a Limousine?) bull at a farm.   Surprisingly, both of us could still move the next day and it was good to be walking in such lovely countryside with so few people about.

An inspiring evening talk by landscape archaeologist Mark Edmonds, while we supped on our Old Speckled Hen or G&Ts, made us realize there was masses more to see in the dales and the peak district.

Sunday we had a walking tour, led by the local jailer, of nearby Cromford village, including the jail, and the Arkwright Mill.  Cromford, a lovely village, was very much built to support the mill and the first Mr Arkwright had used various cunning ploys to entice his workers.

A brisk walk back to Matlock Bath for a huge buffet lunch and a tour of a lead mine, which was much smaller and less deep than we expected.  Quick pan for fools gold and then a retreat to car for the drive back home.

On-line pictures to follow soon.

Cambridge Annual Gathering

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Today was the Gonville and Caius college annual gathering for the years 1971 and 1972.  This was my third gathering.  I duly arrived and booked into my room on E staircase of St Mikes Court, changed into my DJ and went for my wine in the Senior Combination Rooms.

Dinner started at 8.00pm, and the hall was by no means full.  Part way through dinner we all swapped around and I was seated on the upper table.

I was seated  by Dave Walker, Chris Finden-Browne, Mike Bell.  Spoke to Chris Davies and congratulated him on his sound bite on the today program. Long chat with Jon Hughes.

We ended the meal singing Carmen Caianum, and then retiring for whisky and brandy in the common room.

Next morning up for breakfast, with a little headache.

The menu was.

Salade de fromage de chevre avec sa vinaigrette sa vinaigrette aux poivrons rotis.

Filet de bar la ciboulette

Tournedos de boeuf a la grand-mere
Pommes de terre chateau
Chou-fleur a la Mornay
Mange-tout

Creme brulee aux fraises

Dessert

Cafe

Those attending in no particular order where:

Dr Thaites, J-L Evans (71), A Fishman (71), J Shapiro (71), C Knowles (71), The Master, H Carter (71), B Bretherton (71), P Chambers (71), A Kuyk (71), D Carter (71), Dr Macpherson, A Schubert (71) S Wolfensohn (71). S Brearley (71), R Morgan (71), A Reid (71), A Lee (71), P Lapinskas (71), M Cashin (71), A Underdown (71), J Clark (71), P Boeuf (71), Professor Phillipson, D Jeffrey (71), P Kinns (71), N Peace (71), A Morris (71), P Jacquelin (71), A Thompson (71), S Kelway (71), Dr Robinson, T Squire (71), J Morrell (71), A Charlton (71), R Carter (71), P Dearsley (71), M Le Moignan (71), F Khan (71), S Gibson (71), T Howlett (71), B Jones (71), M Powell (71), G Levine (71), L Hambly (71), C Taylor (71), S Young (71), J Bates (71), N Holliday (71), S Rich (71), M Arthur (71), D Phillips (71), S Perry (71), N Leary (71), P Taylor (72), S Chambers (72), J Dufton (72), R Thomas (72), R Perry (72), R Gluckman (72), C Davies (72), T Swift (72), J Williams (72), J Hughes (72), R Thompson (72), R Ratcliffe (72), S Blasdale (72), M Bell (72), A Evans (72), R Gleed (72), A Arnold (72), The Dean, I Buswell (72), R Goodman (72), A Kitchin (72), D Walker (72), C Finden-Browne (72), Mr Herd, A Ball (72), P Farmer (72), R Handley (72), P Hadley (72), Professor M Arnold, Mr Hedley, A Hunetr Johnston (72), M Armour (72),  Dr Lyon, C Henshall (72), R Hodges (72), Dr Casey, T Merson (72), R Wakling (72), D Nicholls (72), S Bunzi (72), D Mason (72), A Daws (72), A Greenhalgh (72), D Kusin (72), J Davis (72), W Furber (72), C Edwards (72), R Harrad (72), R Page (72), J Bax (72), R Wilson (72) 

Wolves

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This Sunday was a day for walking with Wolves and petting Wolves.  First it was up early and out for brunch with Peter Worsley and Catherine Side.  The brunch was excellent, with cereal, juice, fruit, potatoes and black pudding.

Now it was off the woods where we met up the rest of the Cambridge Society and the Wolves.  The UK Wolf Conservation Trust looks after the wolves.  They are used to educate people and dispel myths about wolves.  Additionally they are used to raise money for wolf conservation in other countries.

We allowed the wolves to identify us first by smelling out hands.  We then had a two plus hour walk in the woods, following the wolves.  At intervals we were allowed to pet the wolves.  We approached cautiously, letting them smell our hands, then went behind them and stroked their underneath. Touching their tops was not recommended, as this is a dominant action.

After the walk we moved on to the actual wolf centre at Beenham.  Here we saw the rest of the wolves.

Cambridge weekend – Sunday

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Sunday started off cloudy.  Drove to the Botanic Garden and had a 90 minute guided tour.  The area around the pond had changed since we had last visited.  During the walk, the weather improved.

After the walk, we walked on down to the Cambridge Arts Picture House to see a 1938 Hitchcock film called the “Lady Vanishes” starring Michael Redgrave.  The file was introduced by his son Corin.  Rosemary and I had not seen the film before and very much enjoyed the humour.

Afterwards she went to Fitzwilliam to see a performance by Corin Redgrave of  “De Profundis by Oscar Wilde“.  I went to the Cavendish Laboratory for a presentation of the proposed changes to the Physics department, and then a tour of the Physics departments. I saw some high vacuum experiments, high energy impact work, low temperature experiments with super conductors, and an explanation of fundamental particles and an experiment where they neutrino is being weighed.

It was then on home, with a stop at St Neots for a quick meal by the River.  On the drive towards Milton Keynes we saw a very spectacular sunset.

Cambridge weekend – Saturday

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We were up and into breakfast by 8.00.  Continental breakfast, so there were croissants, and cheese and dried meats.  Chatted to a teenage girl during breakfast, who had stayed the night in collage.  She had been on an admissions day, and was touring a few universities to select the ones she was going to apply to.  She was from central Edinburgh and was familiar with Whistle Binkies.  A friend of hers had a band that played there on occasions.

Rosemary and I went out separate ways for the first event.  She heard a talk on Portraits and Professions, while I went and saw a talk on “A Wonderful Thing is a Phillips Machine”.

The Phillips Machine is an analogue computer, which runs on the flow of water.  It was build by an engineer after the 2nd world war to model the economy.  You could see the effect of changing the interest rates, government borrowing, savings, imports.  They were built in the 1950s.  Of fourteen build this and one in New Zealand are the only ones, which work.  Allan McRobie, a specialist in bridge design and dynamics gave the lecture and demonstrated the machine.  He had spent considerable energy in rebuilding the machine.

Next we had a tour of the Computer Laboratory on the West side.  We were shown some of the work, which is in progress at the university to do with new methods of interacting with a computer.

The first event of the afternoon was Question Time, chaired by BBC Edward Stourton.  The question was, “Where is it all going to end”.

Afterwards we saw a presentation by Sir Christopher Frayling about the image of Scientists in Movies.  Most of the examples were from older films, with very little from recent films.  Rosemary spoke to Christopher and was a bit dismayed that he had never seen the TV series CSI, where scientists are shown in a good light.

Tonight we managed an evening meal at the Galleria restaurant. First though a pint of beer, I had a very reasonable pint of Woodfords from Norfolk. We then went to the Galleria; we had eaten there two years ago on the balcony overlooking the river.  This year it was too cold to do that.  Reasonable meal, we started with a Tiger Prawn Salad and a Pastrami Salad.  Main course for Rosemary was Roasted Mushrooms, while I had Poached Monkfish.

Then it was back to college and bed.

Cambridge weekend – Friday

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Friday was the first day of the Cambridge University Alumni weekend.  We set off early (6.30), to beat the traffic and to book into Churchill College.  Arrived at Churchill with what we thought was plenty of time, but, the booking we had made seemed to have been lost, despite Rosemary sending a confirmation email a few days ago.  Luckily they still had some empty rooms, and we were eventually able to dump our stuff before going off to the Sidgwick site to register.

First visit was to the institute of Manufacturing on Mill Lane.  They are part of the Engineering department. We were welcomed by Mike Gregory, head of IfM, and then heard a talk from Finbarr Livesey.  The crux of the talk was, the country did not invest enough in R&D. Manufacturers who send their manufacture to low cost areas like China, should still manufacture some items in the home market.  If they did not, then their R&D would lose the skills required to design for cheap manufacture.  Oh and moving up the value chain, what was stopping the Chinese from doing the same.

We then had a demonstration of some robots, which are programmed by the students to perform tasks.

Afterwards we had a long lunch break wandering around Cambridge, before a tour of the Haddon Library in the faculty of Archaeology and Anthropology.  Here we were treated to a simple demonstration of reconstructing written words from shredded documents.

On the same Downing Street site we had a tour of the Archaeology and Anthropology museum.  The highlight for Rosemary and I was touching and feeling hand axes from a million years ago.  We also touched many artefacts from the Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age and from Roman times.  They also had the bow and arrow made on the BBC program by Ray Mears.

Before the opening reception we had a quick punt along the backs.  Rosemary wanted a student to punt us, but instead she ended up with me.  I thought I did very well, keeping a straight line and only losing the punt once in the mud.  Unfortunately a couple at the reception saw me, and said I had been spotted by them losing the punt.  The other complaint was from Rosemary, who thought I knew little of the colleges we passed.

We went to the Reception in the Fitzwilliam Museum, where the new wing has been opened.  It was very smart.  There was an exhibition of impressionists, with several pictures from Monet, Degas, Bourdin, and Pissaro.  We met Peter Worsley and Catherine Side from the Berkshire Branch.  We also met John Moore from the Buckinghamshire Branch.

There were some lovely canapés, and oodles of wine to be drunk.

Couldn’t hang around after the end, as we had to rush over to Robinson College to listen to a stand-up comic called Neil Mullarkey.  Neil was educated at Robinson College, was president of Cambridge Footlights.  He has acted in a number of films (Austin Powers), several TV programs.  For his show he plays L.Vaughan Spencer, Life Coach, Self-Help Guru and Gangsta Motivator.  Kind of based on an Ali G type character.  He was rather amusing and did not descend into swearing.

A websites about Neil
http://www.thesucceeder.com

I think the glass of wine at the interval was very large, so after the show it was straight back to the college and bed without supper.  Thank goodness for the canapés.

Gonville and Caius May Week Party

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This Saturday was the Gonville & Cauis College May Week Party for Benefactors.  We set off at around 9.45, arriving at Harvey Court at 11.00 where we could not park, so back to the Park and Ride. Selina and Graham went off to peruse the shops, and we walked to the college.  On the way stopped off at a craft fare to purchase a gift for Barbara and Tony’s new baby Thomas.

At the party met up with Chris Finden-Browne and his wife.  We had met Chris and their son Fergus at the previous party.  There was a mass of excellent food on offer.

After he lunch and the speech from the master, we went on to see a presentation on The Box of Delights. This was a box of papers and pictures from David Bach being presented to the college by Dr. Philip Marriott.  David Bach was the second of five children and graduated from the University of Vienna with Doctorates in Philosophy and Philology.   He devoted himself to Journalism and moved to England after the First World War.  David had a great love of music. Philip had inherited these papers.

During the presentation we heard a number of recitals from Joseph Mills, with Francesca Massey and James Davies on piano.

Next was a presentation from the Bursar, he went into the cost of running the college, their plans for the new building on West Road, the cost of the library and the money he needed.

After this we had a tea in the masters garden, and then back on home. 

The weather could have been better.  There were lots of showers during the meal and the tea.  We were able to step into the Masters Lodge.

The 150th boat race

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Rosemary and I visited the London Wetland Centre run by the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust.  This is a 40-hectare area converted to wetlands on the South Side of the Thames by Hammersmith Bridge.  It is remarkable because of its location in the middle of London.  The trip had been organised by the Berkshire branch of the Cambridge Society to coincide with the 150th boat race.

We had a guide tour round the centre and saw many birds.  I think Rosemary was pleased to see a couple of Avocets.  There was supposed to be a Bittern in the read beds, not spotted.

Afterwards we watched Cambridge win the boat race from the South Bank at St Pauls School.  A nice supper had been laid on after the race.

Spitalfields Walk

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We joined up with 21 other members of the Buckinghamshire branch of the Cambridge Society outside the Aldgate tube station at 11:15 for a walking tour of Spitalfields. The tour was led by Stan Pretty. Stan is the playwright/actor/theatre director who led previous tours of Southwark and Stratford upon Avon. He is a clear, confident and literate speaker, a lively but urbane raconteur of London history and literary heritage, and a professional guide.

The area has a rich history, having seen many waves of immigration: French Huguenot Silk Weavers, the Irish, Jews fleeing C19th pogroms, Socialist Intellectuals, Bangladeshis fleeing poverty, civil war and inundation. It has Hawksmoor’s Christchurch and Art Deco architectural gems. It is also the birthplace of some of the most well established charities and similar organisations of today.

Stan related a few stories about Jack the Ripper as we walked around. Only a few because he was unhappy with some of the Jack the Ripper tours, and this was not a Jack the Ripper tour.

Lunch, which should have been taken at the Pride of Spitalfields pub was taken at the White Hart. A couple of pints of Spitfire, and lots of good unhealthy sausages, port pies, chicken wings etc.

It was an interesting walk in a place I would not normally go to. I now know where to go for a Curry in Bangali. We see how a building turned from a Methodist church, to a Synagogue and know to a Mosque. We see how the one poor falling down buildings and streets are now expensive homes for City workers.

A few of the places visited were:

Toynbee Hall Opened in 1884 to educate and politicise poor local immigrants. Toynbee Hall continues to offer community advice, alongside performance spaces and the Arts Café.

Whitechapel Bell Foundry Established in 1570 and the oldest manufacturing company in the UK, this is where Big Ben and Philadelphia’s Liberty Bell were cast.

Christ Church Built 1714-1729 by Nicholas Hawksmoor, this church’s beauty and lofty spire was designed to impress the locals and show them that Anglicanism was the most heavenly of denominations

St Botolph’s Church A haven of peace dedicated to the patron saint of travellers – Botolph is sometimes called ‘the English St Christopher’. A church has stood at this spot for over a thousand years, the present building dating from 1744. Author Daniel Defoe got married at this church. There are four St Botolph’s Churchs in London. One on each main exit out of London. St Botolph is the patron Saint of Travellers.

I will have a few pictures of the area in the next few weeks.