Nine TWILite members travelled up to London to visit the Victora & Albert Museum. Some of us travelled up early to view the Bejewelled exhibition also which show-cased treasures from India. However, the main aim was to view the current shoe exhibition. The shoes were gathered from many sources including fashion designers, celebrities and historical artefacts. Some enthusiasts lent their entire collections and there were many video presentations on making, designing & celebrating famous shoes featured on stage & screen. Another enjoyable Twilite day out we all agreed- our thanks to Ann for the suggestion and organisation.
0 Comments
What a wonderful way to enjoy "live" Ballet at a reasonable ticket price and limited travelling.
Eight members of TWIlite enjoyed a Christmas favourite, The Nutcracker - beautiful Costumes, Scenery & Dancing. Plus we were treated to glimpses backstage and a visit to Royal Ballet school to see the children featured in that evening's performance during the interval. A great way of making the Arts more accessible - we will certainly look to repeat these event opportunities during the coming year. Twelve members enjoyed this wonderful screen version of Alan Bennett's play. The story is based on the true story of his strained friendship with Miss Mary Shepherd, an eccentric house-less woman whom Bennett befriended in the 1970s before allowing her to temporarily park her Bedford van in the driveway of his London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham Chiswick home. She stayed there for 15 years.
With Maggie Smith in the title role you knew you are in for a fun ride and although there were laugh out loud moments at caustic one-liners it was the sensitive juxtaposition of the van lady's needs with those of his own aging mother which elevated this story. I know for some Mr B is a bit like Marmite- love or hate his writing - personally I love both, thickly spread. Gill 18/11/15 PS Dug out my copy of "Untold Stories" by Alan Bennett and found this gem which will be interesting for those of us that saw the film last night. What a well organised trip. HA HA ......Good job Caroline was with us otherwise we would have all ended up in A & E!!! Eight of us meet at Paddock wood station and because the ticket office was closed Christine tries to buy tickets out of the machine. Hopeless, so we give up .Then Sarah realises the ticket office was open again. Perhaps he was hiding from us! So we purchase our tickets then climb up the stairs and over the bridge to wait for the train. With minutes to go Christine gets an anonymous text that requests her to get a ticket as this person was on her way. We are all puzzled as to who this is and try to work out who is missing from our group. Christine texts back and ask who it is? Sarah W is the reply. Tension is running high now as the train is fast approaching the station and Sarah is nowhere in sight. Then suddenly she appears and we shriek RUN! Well never has a midwife run so fast in all her life. Up the stairs, over the bridge, down the stairs knocking commuters flying. We meanwhile are blocking doors so the train can’t move. Sarah makes it on to the train and we congratulate her on her athletic prowess. Julia then realises that the train doesn’t stop at Marden which was a stop offered to some our group. OOPS !!! Cynthia suggests someone leans out the window and hooks them in like a mailbag. Luckily for the Organiser no one was waiting at Marden! Caroline then reads that we are in the wrong carriage for Pluckley as the platform is too short for this long train .Needless to say we had all been so busy chatting we had not spotted this vital piece of information. As we move down the carriage we hoot with laughter at the possibility of us all falling out at Pluckley station like Lemmings going over the cliff. We walk up from the station with Julia wearing a head torch like a Minion and arrive safely at The Dering Arms to meet the 4 sensible ladies who had come by car. The staff of the Dering Arms were very attentive to us and all our food was really well presented and tasty. After much talk and laughter it was sadly time to go. So at half past 9 we walk back to the station and calmly caught the train back to Paddock Wood. What a great evening we all declare! Mind you ....just who was that extra passenger in our carriage dressed in Victorian clothes sitting quietly in a corner of the train watching us ???? Eight of us had tickets to watch a live performance of Hamlet starring Benedict Cumberbatch, filmed at The Barbican but shown at The Odeon on 15th October. What a wonderful performance and production .We were spell bound as well as speechless (which is a bit unusual for us!)And have vowed to get tickets for future performances like this. This was the first of our extra WI outings. Gill, Caroline and I turned up on a most glorious Saturday morning. First stop was of course a cup of coffee and a gossip .Surely not I hear you cry!! Then it was down to business. We leisurely wandered around the beautiful house at Scotney. When we wanted to listen, a National Trust Guide informed us about points of interest or historical facts. There were also really clear information sheets to read. No one hurried you along and we realised we had spent nearly an hour and a half in the house. Flushed by our success, we walked in the sunshine through some of the well maintained gardens and woodland areas to visit the old Scotney Castle. Stunningly beautiful. What a great way to spend 4 hours. FOOTNOTE: Before we went home we decided to have lunch, another gossip and a look around the gift shop. As part of a Film Club/Theatre Outings Crossover kind of affair, we will try and secure some tickets for these events as they arise.
Tickets will be limited and sold on a first come/ first served basis at the closest monthly meeting. Check here or our website news or on our Facebook for events coming soon.... Do let us know if there is anything in particular you would like us to source too..... |
tWIlite CommitteeNotes from Archives
July 2017
Categories
All
|