Hello and welcome to another installment from The Chameleon Theatre Group looking at life behind the scenes. This week, they share with us what some of their most memorable productions have been and why.
The Chameleons start with All My Sons, which they presented in October 2016.
Image Credit: As ever, a big thanks to The Chameleons for the images.
[Read more…] about Part 3 – The Chameleons Say Hello…to their Favourite Performances
Barry is in Chandler’s Ford on August 24th 1966 and that evening he and Gran, “…dashed to Winchester to see Yellow Henbane Hyoscyamus luteus, a rare plant from Czecho-Slovakia, which had appeared on a bank near the new Police Headquarters”. The next day, Gran, very much enjoying Barry’s company, enthuses:
Barry and I went, on bicycles, to Farley Mount this morning, stopping first at Otterbourne Hill for him to see the Hairy Bird’s-foot-trefoil which I found last month and which was new to him.
And:
The post today brought me a first-day cover from Gilbert Whitley in Japan, with stamps issued for the Science Congress at which he is reading a paper. A most interesting cover to have, and of special significance when one has a friend intimately connected with the Congress.
[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 123)
Most writers, certainly the ones I know, love word games. These can range from good old Scrabble to the Times crossword. I fall into the former camp! It is a very good day when I get a cryptic crossword clue right but never mind!
I am also fond of fun, pun games which are the ultimate form of word play as far as I’m concerned. You’re taking the language and “mucking about” with it. What’s not to like about that? It is how so much comedy is generated. It does wonders for your vocabulary too given you have to know the various meanings for any pun to work.
Radio shows such as Just a Minute, The Unbelievable Truth, and I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue are all dependent on word play. I was sorry to hear of the death of Nicholas Parsons and hope that Just a Minute does not die with him. I am convinced he would not have wanted that and it is a marvellous show. Working with words gives endless permutations so I see no reason why it couldn’t go on.
April 9th 1966:
This afternoon, in sunshine, Brother and I went out together, going by quiet ways to the New Forest… We passed the Sounding Arch, across which Florence Nightingale used to pass from her home, Embley Park, to the Church at East Wellow (in which churchyard she is buried) but which was recently struck by a lorry which was too high for it, and it has now had its top removed, so there is no longer a passage from Embley to the Church.
They drive on the Millersford Bottom, where they leave the car and walk:
…joined by a very friendly Golden Retriever, which stayed with us until we returned to the car, sitting down and patiently waiting every time we stopped to watch birds or investigate anything.
April 14th:
A horrible shock on awakening to a white world this morning! Yes, indeed, snow had fallen in the early hours and lay to a depth of about two inches. It was 1950 that I last recorded snow in April and I remember a heavy fall in 1908 when I was living in Bassett.
[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 122)
Reasons to Be Cheerful was the title of a song by Ian Dury and the Blockheads. Strictly speaking, it was Reasons To Be Cheerful Part 3. It was part of the soundtrack to my teenage years.
Naturally the song is upbeat (and there is a poetic feel to this too. Another great one for writing poetic lyrics is Ray Davies of The Kinks. I think Waterloo Sunset is a fabulous, evocative song).
Following on from my Murphy’s Law for Readers last week, I thought it would be good to have a reminder of some reasons we have to be cheerful.
Have you been out taking your daily exercise during the current lockdown? Maybe walking around your local area a touch more than usual?
Have you realised that you have taken just a little bit more of your precious time on these local walks too? No need to rush. After all you have got all day every day for the next few weeks!
The weather has been very conducive too.
Did you think to look that bit closer than usual at some of the things you would normally not even notice? Maybe you were just rushing from A to B. before. Probably driving! [Read more…] about What Do You See Around You?
On September 11th 1965 Gran writes:
This afternoon Dr Dony and his wife called in on their way to Milford-on-Sea, to arrange a day’s botanizing with me. We have fixed for next Thursday. This evening I went to see Mrs Freestone, still in Winchester Hospital. She is still very confused, but she knew me and was glad to see me.
At the end of the next day she writes, having decided against going to Church:
I was going to Church this evening but was put off by the knowledge that the Rector is away and it was to be modern music tonight. I do not like modern music at all and am sure I should find it offensive in Church – it is the peace and serenity that draws me there, and modern music jangles the nerves with its discordant noise. Perhaps I am prejudiced and should have gone with an open mind but I am too old to accept such changes in my place of worship.
[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 121)
While queuing outside Tesco, I thought that the tape marking the 2-metre social distancing spaces should be replaced with brass (a bit like the brass studs that mark the boundary of properties in shopping streets). They can then remain as a legacy after the COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.
Why? So that in 20 years’ time when our grandchildren ask what they are there for we can tell them about the great lockdown of 2020.
So, what other legacies might the crisis give us? [Read more…] about What could the Covid-19 legacies be?
I thought a lighthearted piece would probably be timely. Last year, I wrote a piece about Murphy’s Law for Writers so I thought I would take the topic again and look at it from a reader’s viewpoint.
So how could Murphy’s Law apply to readers then? As follows, I think, but send in your suggestions via the comments box. Some of what follows will be for when we resume normal life again but the general principles apply.
My [silver] discs for Andrew and Geoffrey arrived from Canada this morning, so, after a hurried lunch, I took my Grandmother’s bracelet to Parkhouses to have them put on, and to have a safety chain added.
On the same day, January 28th 1965, Gran delivers a very expensive arrangement of flowers to Lady Sopwith, aboard the Windsor Castle. It is made up entirely of pale pink Cymbidiums, Lilies-of-the Valley and Freesias, and Gran is pleased with the Lady’s positive response to their arrival, different, she says, from the often blasé acceptance from many passengers. Lady Sopwith was very keen on field sports and a skilled user of the shotgun. Gran would not have approved!
“I did only the most necessary chores this morning”, she writes on January 30th:
…and then watched on Television, the State Funeral of Sir Winston Churchill which was most beautifully and reverently presented. The Queen herself honoured the great man by heading the Royal Family representatives in the Abbey and it was a very notable gathering of Kings, Queens, Princes, Presidents and Prime Ministers ever seen at the funeral of a Commoner. It was all very moving. This afternoon I did some knitting and then fell asleep!
Banksy has recently created another graffiti; the press goes wild about a competent painting on an ugly blank wall. It is graffiti and not graffito, the singular form is not in use. Banksy’s graffiti is hailed as Art. Why? Why, in a country with at least ten universities giving degrees in art and design, with independent art schools and with flourishing art groups throughout the land; why is a single piece of graffiti something of an event? [Read more…] about Graffiti
It is always a great pleasure to welcome The Chameleon Theatre Group back to Chandler’s Ford Today. We are sorry their Spring Quartet production had to be cancelled and we hope it is not long before we see them again on the stage at Ritchie Hall. Janet and I very much look forward to our “CFT works outings” again in the future!
Meanwhile, for a fascinating look behind the scenes at sound, lighting, set design, and props, read on… and as ever many thanks to The Chameleons for the interviews and the photos. (Many thanks also to Janet Williams as there was a useful picture for this post in the CFT archives taken by her).
[Read more…] about Part 2 – The Chameleons Say Hello… to the Technical Side
How are we all doing with social distancing and self-isolation? It’s something that cats have been doing for years.
Here are a few tips about what’s changed in daily life. Apologies if it is reiterating what you know already, but hopefully there are a couple of new pieces of information. And there’s a quiz (nothing to do with lockdown, COVID-19 or shopping) at the end [Read more…] about Life under Lockdown
I’m sure you’ve heard of the phrase “May you live in interesting times”. This has been linked to the Chinese but there is evidence to suggest it has nothing to do with them at all and it is in fact an English saying.
Hmm…so maybe it’s a case of good old Chinese whispers going on there I think. (Never a game I’ve liked. I’ve never got the point. Misinformation is misinformation and all that. It always struck me as a silly game.).
Whatever the origins of the phrase, it is a great example of irony in action. It sounds like a blessing but it is anything but. The speaker is really wishing you should live in troublesome times and I think it is safe to say we are doing exactly that right now.
October 4th 1964: “A quiet afternoon writing more letters”, Gran tells us, and she continues:
…this evening I went to Church, primarily to give thanks for Geoffrey’s safe arrival and Jane Elizabeth’s well-being, but it proved to be a most uplifting and inspiring service, conducted by a visiting clergyman, a Welshman, whose name I unfortunately do not know. His sermon was based on our interdependence one upon the other and our Brotherhood in God the Father, and he spoke with the utmost sincerity and forthrightness. I shall long remember this evening.
The Chameleon Theatre Group have been posting a series of small interviews. They and I thought it a good idea to compile these in some articles for CFT. Hope you enjoy! These will hopefully be spread out over a few weeks between each one. Many thanks as ever to The Chameleons for the photos.
Oh and don’t forget that when you go to one of their excellent productions and take part in things like the raffle, proceeds go to a nominated charity. So have a great night out and support a good cause at the same time. Now that’s the kind of multitasking I’ve always got time for!
And now over to The Chameleons for Part 1 in what we hope will be an enjoyable series.
Gran does love a wedding, and on June 20th 1964 she attends that of the eldest son of her great friend, Mary Harding. She describes the event in detail, as is her wont, including the flowers decorating the church, and also the clothes worn by the bride and her attendants thus:
This afternoon I went to Timothy Harding’s Wedding to Daphne Beare. It was at Chandler’s Ford St Boniface Church, and the reception at Otterbourne Hall. The bride wore a long lace gown, full-length veil and carried a small bouquet of pink rosebuds and Stephanotis. She was attended by five charming child bridesmaids, the four older ones in two shades of blue, long dresses of spotted nylon, and the little one in white with blue piping at the waist.
Jill Harding [Timothy’s sister] sang a solo, “Guide us, Lord”, as the bride arrived. The service was choral… Mary looked delightful in a black and pink figured dress and coat, and a black hat with shaded crimson and red roses across the front. The sun shone, happily, but it really was cold.
Two days later Gran, with Peg Eagle and her recently ill son, “pay their respects” to the Wild Gladioli growing in the New Forest. She writes:
This afternoon I went out with Peg – the first time since John came out of hospital. I met her at Bassett and we took John with us, though when we arrived at Beaulieu Road, he remained in the car and did not walk with us.
They are successful with the Gladiolus, and Gran writes later, early in July after another visit there with John Guningham (now spelled without a double “n”), that:
…it really is a most flourishing colony. We saw dozens without disturbing the protective bracken, and there must have been literally hundreds under this cover in the wide area so colonised.
[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 118)
What are your favourite landmarks and why have you chosen them?
Being a Grandmother is a great joy to Joan Goater. On March 13th 1964 she receives some welcome mail from overseas, and reports:
Today’s post brought my Grandmother’s bracelet from Jill Brewster in Canada, silver discs bearing the name and date of birth of my grandchildren, Julian, Rhoderick (Ricky) and Katherine. I shall, D.V., have another one to add in September and I am proud and delighted to have it. It is a Canadian idea.
“A wonderful day though it was not in the least what I expected”, she begins her entry for the 15th. “I met Peg at the top of Hiltingbury Road at ten minutes to ten and we set out for the Punchbowl at Hindhead, in Surrey.” Snow is falling. It is already two inches deep and she is not optimistic about the outing, which is with members of the Mid-Southern Branch of the British Naturalists’ Association. Nevertheless, she describes an interesting day:
The object of the expedition was mosses, and the leader, the Honourable Laura Ponsonby, whom we have not met before… we realised that hunting for mosses in such conditions was impossible so she suggested that we should try lower ground and led the way. Three cars followed her through quiet lanes… to Lynchmere, where Miss Ponsonby turned into what was obviously the drive into a private estate. When we got out, I asked her if it was all right for all our cars to park there and she said, “Oh yes. I live here!”
“Here” was the old and beautiful Shulbrede Priory, which was built in 1190, and we were taken round the grounds on our moss hunt.
Paula Readman and I have publishers in common. We’ve both been published by Bridge House Publishing and Cafelit. We’ve shared the great joy recently of both of us having two stories in The Best of Cafelit 8 and also a story each in Nativity, the most recent books published by Bridge House. Naturally we are both keen on the independent small presses!
Paula is going from strength to strength and is starting 2020 off in great style with a recently released novella and a short story collection to come later in the year but more on that in a moment.
I learned a long time ago if someone makes something look easy, that same someone will have worked very hard for years to get to that point. This is true for Paula and she’ll share more about this too.
[Read more…] about Introducing Paula Readman: What Books Mean to Her
