2006 Sumer School and Birthday lunch reports
Report on the twenty-sixth annual Summer School
at Bishop Mascall Centre, Ludlow,Shropshire.
Saturday 24th June 2006
We were welcomed to “Lullingford”- where Prue Sarn recalls “ a different air blew there, and as if there was a brighter sun and a safer daylight” and where Gideon dreamt of buying a grand house when he had made his fortune. (Precious Bane)
This year’s summer school was one day only due to the fact that in recent years, the Sunday has been poorly attended. However, in order to give those who wanted the option of a longer stay ,we linked up with The Mary Webb weekend run by Alan Garner of Secret Hills Walking www.secrethillswalking.co.uk This proved to be a very successful partnership which I hope will be repeated.
Summer School Programme
Morning lectures (Also open to the public)
“Humour in Mary Webb’s life and work” --- Dr Gladys Mary Coles
“Ludlow - probably England’s most beautiful, historical town…John Betjeman”….David Lloyd, a local historian
Lunch
A literary walk around Ludlow led by Gladys Mary Coles and Gordon Dickins
Gladys Mary’s lecture should finally put to rest any notion that Mary Webb’s novels are dour and dreary. Read House in Dormer forest for superb comic minor characters. The lecture also described the humour in Mary’s childhood usually provided by her father George Meredith who, instead of scolding his children, would often leave the offender a poem on his/her plate. A delightful lecture and again a new angle to explore.
David Lloyd captivated the audience with his enthusiastic and knowledgeable account of the history of Ludlow, a town that seems to be constantly re-inventing itself.
Secret Hills Strollers Programme
The weekend ran from Friday 23rd June through to Monday 26th and was based at The Long Mynd Hotel, Church Stretton.
Members were given the option to mix and match between the two events which we hoped would complement and not compete with each other.
Friday Evening
An illustrated talk on the life and works of Mary Webb by Dr Gladys Mary Coles
Saturday
Visits to Meole Brace, Pontesbury, Lords Hill and The Bog visitor centre, Stiperstones
Saturday evening after dinner : Favourite readings by members at The Acorn Café, Church Stretton
Sunday
Walk underneath the Devil’s Chair, Stiperstones, on to Thresholds Farm hosted by Anne Oakes-Jones with readings of the poem “Thresholds” and the short story “Over the Hills and far away” both based at Thresholds. Anne has done some extensive renovation work to the barns and has a wonderful display of local interest including art exhibitions and tourist information. See web site link - www.thresholdscentre.co.uk
Lunch at Pulverbatch then a walk up the knapp, the remains of a motte and bailey castle described by Mary Webb as Castle Polrebec in “Armour wherein he Trusted”
Finally up to Lyth Hill to view the outside of Spring Cottage and to walk in Spring Coppice “The Little Wood”
GMC set the mood with readings from the novels and poetry quotes as we went along.
Walk beneath the Devil’s Chair. Gladys Mary Coles & Anne Oakes-Jones Readings at Thresholds
Ellie Spence at Thresholds
“The forlorn sigh of the grass is drowned by the humming of bees over the glistening carpet “.. The Joy of Fragrance
“The foxglove bells with lolling tongue will not reveal what peals were rung in Faery, in Faery…” Foxgloves
The merry band at The Knapp Pulverbatch
Donald Meredith at Spring Cottage GMC, Little Wood, Spring Coppice
Monday
Visits to Ashes Hollow (The honeymoon location), Ratlinghope (Slepe), Bridges and on to much Wenlock.
During The Stroller’s weekend, the group was entertained in the evenings with the films of Gone to Earth and Precious Bane
Congratulations must go to Alan Garner for such a comprehensive weekend and with his impeccable organisational skills, he was the perfect “flockmaster“. Members and non-members were truly immersed in Mary Webb, her work and her landscape.
It was a great pleasure to be joined by Mary’s nephew, Donald Meredith for the whole weekend, all the way from Italy. It was particularly moving to hear Donald read “The lad out There” a poem written to his father Douglas Meredith at the time of WW1.
We were also joined by Ellie Spence from Colorado, who still manages to walk the Shropshire hills with the best of them.
Ludlow, our venue for the Society’s main event was bustling with the annual festival. The Shakespeare play in the Castle this year is Midsummer Night’s Dream..not to be missed. During our walk around the town, we tried to pinpoint Gideon’s dream house. Dinham house seemed to fit the bill with its stone steps and 24 windows. Do you agree?
Thanks are also due to Gladys Mary for advising on the content of the weekend and her energy and enthusiasm throughout the whole event.
The sun shone, the company was stimulating and the spirit of Mary Webb was truly with us.
Snailbeach Village Hall
25th March 2006
Our first event of the year was extra special for a variety of reasons, first the temperature finally got into double figures for the first time in weeks, the sun shone and there was a real feel of spring in the air, very apt as the theme of the day was spring. We always aim to have the birthday lunch as near to Mary Webb’s birthday as possible, but this year it was held on the actual day, 25th March, Lady Day. Mary was truly a child of spring and loved this season. Snailbeach hall was suitably decked with snowdrops, daffodils and freesias. To mark the occasion of 125 years since Mary’s birth at Leighton in 1881, Babs Edwards our treasurer had baked a beautiful birthday cake for us all to share.
The programme for the day was printed by Babs who also provided our wonderful lunch, with the help of her family The menu was taken from original recipes around 1925. All this attention to detail, how do you do it Babs?
Gladys Mary Coles gave the pre-lunch lecture on the subject of “Spring of Joy revisited”.
The Spring of Joy represents MaryWebb’s first work for publication. They were nature essays written at Stanton-on-The–Hine-Heath and at Meole Brace, when she was recovering from a serious episode of Graves’ disease. She was unable to go out into the countryside at this time so the essays were a therapeutic outpouring of her close observations of nature. She was encouraged to write by her governess Miss Edith Lory. The collection was eventually published after Gone to Earth with the subtitle, “A little book of healing”. Mary would often turn to nature in times of suffering in her life. Spring of Joy is like a journey into the woods with Mary herself, it is indicative of her nature passion, extensive knowledge and literary talent.
Gladys Mary ended her talk by urging everyone to read “Beauty of Colour” and to stress that, in these current times, the book has never been more relevant. In Mary Webb’s own words, “Let us dare to be receptive”
After lunch we were entertained by Sally Tonge and Brian Carrington (known as Day Level) We were treated to story telling around Shropshire legends and some beautifully evocative songs including “Home is where the heart is”. Brian and Sally seemed to tune into the mood of the occasion, Mary Webb “warmship”. For many of us, like Mary Webb, the Shropshire hills feel like home.
Check out their web site linkwww.daylevel.co.uk
As always, the joy of this occasion is meeting up with friends old and new and catching up with news. This year many people seem to have health and other problems which maybe we can forget about for a while, enjoy good company and revel in Mary Webb therapy. She is a source of joy…… it’s been a long winter.
Liz Stamps..............Birthday Lunch pictures
