Our 22nd Summer School was held on 22nd and 23rd June at Minsterley Village Hall. The themes for the weekend were; The House in Dormer Forest and Mary Webb's poetry.
The Summer School was well attended on both days as you can see by the photographs of the merry band. Gladys Mary Coles set the scene on Saturday morning with a lecture entitled "Setting, Structure and Character in The House in Dormer Forest". As always with GMC, this lecture was well-researched and presented in her awe-inspiring style. Gordon Dickins followed on with an illustrated talk "From Dormer to Dysgwylfas" to put us all in the mood for the excellent coach tour after lunch. The tour of the Hope Valley and surrounding area was choreographed by Wynford Wyke. Wynford is a native of the area, knows it intimately...and it shows. We visited Leigh Manor, home of David and Annabelle Stacey and their family who made us all most welcome and allowed us to tramp all over their lovely garden with its spectacular views of the Stiperstones. We were told of the Mary Webb connection with the house, apart from it being a strong contender for Dormer Old House. Lord Bridgeman, David’s uncle was a friend of the former prime minister Stanley Baldwin and asked him to lunch to meet J.M Barrie. During the conversation, Barrie spoke of Mary Webb being one of "the six best novelists of the day". Lord Bridgeman then sent Stanley Baldwin a copy of "Precious Bane" This was the beginning of his interest in Mary Webb. He famously praised her posthumously at a literary dinner in 1928. Stanley Baldwin also stayed at Leigh Manor and was able to experience the wonderful views for himself.
Saturday evening was rounded off nicely with a concert at Minsterley church by Halfway House Male Voice Choir, "Lower the Tone" and "The Rev's Jazz Band".
On Sunday we reassembled at the village hall to browse Colin Neville's excellent book stall and to purchase hand-made greetings cards, bookmarks etc made by Sue Higginbotham and Barbara Edwards.
The morning started with Gladys Mary's second lecture of the weekend, "The poetry of Mary Webb - Her very self's" (Walter de la Mare) This lecture was enthralling...hard to see why Mary Webb is not primarily recognised as a poet.
Our guest speaker slot was most ably filled by Linda Hart, former founder chairman of The Friends of The Dymock Poets. Linda's lecture on "The Dymock Poets and their Countryside" dovetailed so well with Gladys Mary's. The Dymock Poets, including Rupert Brooke, Robert Frost, Lascelles Abercrombie, Wilfred Gibson, John Drinkwater and Edward Thomas were truly contemporaries of Mary Webb. Linda transported us to their world in Gloucestershire where we could appreciate the parallels with their love of nature and how they too drew their inspiration from this source.( They were all incredibly good-looking too!)
Linda has written an anthology of The Dymock Poets called "Once They Lived in Gloucestershire" This is available from Linda Hart. It's a lovely book and is highly recommended.
After a super lunch we reluctantly dispersed with that happy glow that Summer School always leaves.
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