A summary of Gallivanting in October 2022

Having arrived home five days ago it is time to reflect on the highlights of this trip.

I feel as though it has been a cultural feast.

Being able to go to Tosca at the Metropolitain Opera House in New York City and then La Boheme at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in London on one trip will be remembered.

I would return again to the Metropolitain Museum of Art in New York city on another trip. There are many other Museums in New York City that one can visit. The 9/11 museum is well done and worth a visit. 

The last two days in New York were fine weather and I ascended to the 102nd floor followed by the 360 degree view from the 100th floor of the One World Trade Center. Great views of the Statue of Liberty, New Jersey and New York Harbour.

Leaving New York City on the Queen Mary II afforded spectacular views of lower Manhattan. 

The gentle seven day crossing of the Atlantic on the Queen Mary II was truly a luxury ferry trip. I had never felt so pampered in my life. I did enjoy a Bridge lesson and duplicate Bridge every afternoon. 

I was glad to visit niece Caryn in Winchester, cousin Jo in Oxford and my friend Tom in Cambridge before spending nine days on my sisters farm near Canterbury. 

The Reform Club on Pall Mall is very convenient for any tourist activity in Central London. The center of the club, the dining room and the library are majestic and fun to experience. 

I did have time to travel on the new Elizabeth Line of the London Underground and get off at Whitechapel where I walked around the new Royal London Hospital (where I trained between 1960 and 1964). I even managed to grab a half pint of beer at the Good Samaritan which was our watering hole as students. 

In Cambridge we had dinner one evening with two other contemporaries with whom we had been undergraduates 1958-1960 more than 60 years ago.

The Canterbury Festival highlights for me were two talks - on Everest 1922 and Tom Crean's Antarctica. Then there were two walks. For me the best music was the Carducci string quartet, the MozART group and Bach's Mass in B Minor sung by the Canterbury Choral Society in the nave of Canterbury Cathedral.

Here at home in Victoria one realizes that we often have some amazing music. The day after arrival home I attended a screening of the 1928 silent film "The Passion of Joan of Arc" at Christchurch Cathedral. It was accompanied by "Voices of Light" a libretto brilliantly performed by the Vox Humana Chamber Choir conducted by David Stratkauskas with accompanying instrumentalists. 

Canterbury Festival (Part 2)

There was a Shostakovich concert superbly played by the Carduccci Quartet a group that had been together for 25 years. I heard the String Quartet #13 in B Flat minor, the String Quartet #14 in F sharp major and the String Quartet #15 in Eb minor. Shostakovich music is not for everyone as it sounds quite discordant at times. However this was enjoyable as it was so well played.

At the great hall in Kent College (part of the University of Canterbury) there was  “Classical Therapy by the MozART group who are from Warsaw Poland and have performed all over the world. A fantastically talented group of four (two violins, a viola and a cello) - very entertaining - playing all sorts of variations on well known classical compositions. 

Here is some more detail of the five mile walk along Pilgrim routes guided by a member of the Canterbury Ramblers. The Via Francigena was Canterbury to Rome, the Way of St Augustine from Canterbury to Ramsgate, Pilgrim's way - Winchester to Canterbury and Pilgrims way (Becket Way) - Southwark to Canterbury  - this is where Chaucer's Pilgrims travelled. There is a newer Pilgrims route recently discovered called the Augustine Camino - from Rochester to Ramsgate via Canterbury. 

With my sister and niece we went to a one man play about "Tom Crean - Antarctic explorer". Superbly acted by Irishman Aidan Dooley about Tom Crean who was on the Scott and Shackleton expeditions and survived.  

Mark Deller, who is the same age as me and whom I had been to Scout camp with when we were about 12,  gave a talk of his memories of living in Canterbury during WWII. He became a Cathedral Chorister after the war, missed singing in the 1953 Coronation (as I did), went on to the King’s School and Kings College Cambridge after which he sang in Salisbury Cathedral and St Pauls Cathedral choirs before touring the world with the Deller Consort. He was part of the instigation of the Canterbury Festival more than 25 years ago.

There was a “Literal tour" at the King’s School where we were were treated to a visit to a library set up thanks to Somerset Maugham who donated all his books to the King’s School.

I went to a comedy titled "The noise next door" at the Westgate Hall. I walked out after 20 mins as it was what I might call foul British humour enjoyed by the underclass but I was not in the mood for it. This was one ticket I should have paid more attention when booking it in July to what the show was about.

Again with my sister and niece went to a talk on the 1922 Everest expedition, based on a recent book. The expedition was aborted after the conditions changed. Mallory was on the 1922 expedition. The 1924 was the one when Mallory and Irvine died. Everest was not climbed until 1953 by Hillary and Tensing - two days before Elizabeth II coronation. Some people believe that Mallory and Irving may have conquered Everest in 1924 and died while descending. 

There was then a concert at Kent College  titled "Tenors Unlimited" - three tenors singing popular tunes. I attended with my sister.

The final concert of the Canterbury Festival was in the nave of Canterbury Cathedral. The Canterbury Choral Society assisted by members of the Epiphoni Consort and accompanied by the London Handel Orchestra. Richard Cooke has been conducting the Canterbury Choral Society for 39 years. The Bach B Minor Mass was a great performance. I have sung it several times. A great finale for all the many events I managed to attend at the 2022 Canterbury Festival!

Hunting

I nearly always are able to go to a hunt meet. This was called cubbing because it is before the opening meet which is usually the first week in November. There is no colorful red coats etc for cubbing. There were forty hounds and about 25 riders on this Saturday. We had to get up early for the meet at 8 am and then went and had breakfast.

Life on the farm

 This was the 56th time I had stayed at Garrington - the farmhouse from where my brother in law developed the farm and my sister raised four children (and now 8 grandchildren). Nowadays my nephew Robert runs the farms - there are seven different farms with about 3300 acres (1300 hectares) under his management. They have four full time staff and huge machinery. It is mostly arable - wheat, barley, beans, soy but also a small herd of cattle. There are also many other farm activities like horses, pheasant rearing, bee keeping, chickens, solar, rental cottages etc. 

This is nephew Robert driving a new JCB.

A new grain storage plus workshop being built.

Travels with my sister

My sister Anne is not allowed to drive after a head injury earlier this year which means she does not get out so much. Her brother therefore acted as driver. One day we went to Whitstable where as a teenage driver I had delivered ice creams and then to Sandwich Beach near the famous golf club where we walked her dog Bandit.

Canterbury Cathedral

The final concert of the Canterbury Festival was in the nave of Canterbury Cathedral with the Canterbury Choral Society performing J.S. Bach’s B Minor Mass. My sister and I also scattered some remaining ashes of my mothers which niece Helen had retained in the Memorial Gardens of the Cathedral.  My mother died 12 years ago at the age of 97 and would have been 110 on November 1st. Most of her ashes were buried in this garden in a small ceremony conducted by a priest about 12 years ago.

The Canterbury Festival (Part One)

 Most years I manage to arrange to stay with my sister Anne on her farm near Canterbury while the Canterbury Festival is on. 

The Festival Chamber Orchestra conducted by Stephen Barlow performed a concert titled The English Soul. “The English Soul endeavors to capture the emotive and spiritual nature of Englishness through classical and popular music. From Purcell to the Moody Blues Vaughan Williams to a World Premier of a new work by composer and arranger Michael McDermott” 

The new work was a tribute to Elizabeth II titled “Heart and Soul of a Nation” and was a world premier. Much enjoyed.

A talk “ The BBC: A People’s History” by David Hendy based on a recently published book was fascinating. “From its maverick beginnings through the war, the creation of television, changing public taste, austerity and massive cultural change, the BBC has constantly evolved” 

Classical Therapy by the MozART Group who are from Warsaw Poland was great fun. “We all agree that laughter is the best medicine. The MosART Group have been dispensing their unique comic brand of Musical therapy around the major concert halls of Europe, Asia and the America’s since 1995. Virtuoso playing of favorite pieces of the classical repertoire meets hilarious physical shenanigans and musical jokes a plenty. Guaranteed to lift the spirits and leave you howling with laughter. A real tonic for the times - sadly not available on prescription - but you don’t need to be in BUPA to access their cure.”

Amazingly there are 41 walks listed in the Canterbury Festival Program. “Canterbury’s Pilgrimage Routes” organized by the Canterbury Ramblers with a very informative guide Cliff Huggett was a “walk of the last mile or two of the routes from Winchester and Southwark, the Augustine Camino and the start of the Via Francigena to Rome” 

St Martin’s Church

This is Canterbury’s Catholic Church