Here at the Hungerford Arcade we had the lovely Sarah and Phil pop in from the Heronsgate Club here in Hungerford. They wanted to tell us about the fun open weekend they are having on the 13th and 14th of October. Lots of freebies and the chance to chat with the staff and check out the great facilities there. Why not pop into Wendy’s Cafe & Juice Bar when you need a top up!

Hungerford Arcade had a lovely fun visit from the Tadley U3A Photo Group.  The U3A (University of the Third Age) is a self-help organisation offering people who are no longer in full-time employment, opportunities to share their life-long knowledge, skills and experiences with like-minded people in a wide range of interest groups. This is a two-way process with all who want to learn having the opportunity to help with the teaching. Learning is carried out in an informal atmosphere, free of the stress of exams, with the emphasis purely on fun and friendship. “If it’s not fun, it’s not U3A”.

(Centre right) Derek Stacey and Arcade co-owner, Adrian Gilmour

Thank you everyone from U3A Photo Group who made our day special.  We are so pleased that you enjoyed your experience here.  Look forward to seeing Derek and U3A Members again soon.

Tadley & District U3A was officially founded in March 2012 we are looking forward to welcoming many more members.  For more information about  U3A, please click here.

User:Neddyseagoon [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC BY 2.5 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5)], from Wikimedia Commons

One of the things I love about the Arcade are the books, you never know what you are going to find either in the book section under the stairs or generally spread around the various stalls.  On most occasions if I see a book then I purchase it, but I have not always kept to this golden rule and have found that when returning, that the book had been sold.  I try not to do this, but I am weak of decision and sometimes I have too much faith in my own judgement.  This happened to me just over five years ago when Caron and I were travelling to Dartmouth in Devon for a short summer break.  As normal, we had given ourselves too much time so I decided to pop into the Arcade to buy a book to love.  I had a ten minute window so I headed upstairs to see if I could find an interesting book.  There were plenty of books and I chose a small book of poems which as its main theme dealt with Clytie and her doomed love for the Sun God.

As most of us know, the God deserted her and she changed into a heliotrope (which has the most delicious smell but is also quite poisonous).  She followed him across the summer sky and wept when the night fell deep.  I thought these poems about the sad ocean nymph would be a good companion on my journey towards gentle Dartmouth.

It was as I was leaving I spotted a copy of Derek Jarman’s Garden, a book that I had been trying to find since its initial publication.  And then I made my fatal mistake and returned the book to the shelf.  My reasoning was wafer thin.  Caron and I were quite loaded up as we normally travelled with the kitchen sink when taking short breaks and although Derek’s book was not that big, it might have inhibited progress.  Tiny Clytie fitted into my shallow pocket.

The Old Lighthouse cc-by-sa/2.0 – © Alison Rawson – geograph.org.uk/p/570942

The obvious happened and when I returned to the Arcade a week or so later, it had been sold.  But why was I so keen on the book?  The reasons are twofold as I am fascinated by Dungeness (which is geographically supposed to be the only desert in the UK).  If you have ever visited Dungeness you will know what I mean.  The whole place is unworldly; you feel that you have arrived in a strange world much divorced from rural Kent.  It is peninsular and the sea is everywhere to be seen and if the conditions are stormy, it gives one the feeling that they are trapped in a shingle saucer that is floating out to sea.  Everything is so austere apart the magnificent lighthouse and the not so magnificent nuclear power station.  The whole landscape is dotted with odd shacks and wooden cottages as well as some ancient converted railway carriages.  This is what must have attracted the late Derek Jarman (1942-1994), a film director whose work I admired greatly.

Derek was not just a film director, but was also a stage designer, an artist and a talented gardener and writer.  Whilst his films may not have been to everybody’s taste, I found them fascinating, he was a breath of fresh air in the world of British cinema.  From Sebastiane in 1976 to Blue in 1993, his films were constantly unusual and challenging, I particularly liked the Anarchistic Jubilee (1977) and Wittgenstein made also in 1993.  If a topless Queen Elizabeth the First or a movie about one of the greatest philosophers of the twentieth century did not float your boat, then I could not see that you would have liked his movies.  You either liked them or hated them.

In 1986, Derek was sadly diagnosed as HIV Positive which he knew to be a death sentence. It was while he was scouting for locations for his movie, The Last of England (1988) that he found himself in Dungeness and was immediately seduced by the area.  My researches indicate that Derek was driving around the peninsular with Tilda Swinton and another friend when he came across Prospect Cottage which had been built in 1900 for a local fisherman.  He purchased it soon afterwards.  It was timber built in a somewhat vernacular style and was protected from the moods of the weather with a black tar based paint (there are a few to be found on Dungeness).  On the side of the cottage there can be seen the opening stanza and the last five lines of Donne’s poem,The Sun Rising, which adds to the strangeness and the beauty of the residence.  The canary yellow window frames and door frames add to the display.  But although the cottage is a joy to behold, it was Derek’s garden that brought fame to Prospect Cottage.

By Lancevortex [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons

In his declining years, Derek turned the garden into a unique experience using flotsam which had been washed up nearby with local salt loving beach plants.

He used this to great effect against the bright weather-washed shingle.

Debris from the last war was also used in this cultivated but artistic garden.

The result was stunning mixed with the unique light of the area (this has to be experienced to be believed).

By Kim Traynor [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], from Wikimedia Commons

I was in Dungeness just over a month ago during the memorable summer that we have just experienced.  We travelled on the brilliant miniature railway from Hythe and found ourselves facing a tall decommissioned lighthouse.  It was so hot that the shingle was shimmering, almost masking the day visitors who were walking lazily around the area.  We had about two hours to spend at Dungeness as my daughter did not want to get caught up in the rush hour traffic in Dover.  Caron, Jenai and Willa decided that they would seek refreshment before exploring the peninsular.  But I was not in the need of refreshment so after a brief visit to the lighthouse we went our separate ways.

As I was not sure of my Jarman geography, I walked towards the impressive but sinister power station before a kind artist gave me concrete directions.  Prospect Cottage was about half a mile away and soon I was walking along the lonely but scorching road to the left of the small railway station.

The actual journey to Derek’s cottage was just as much of an experience as the actual discovery of Prospect Cottage.  I felt that I was walking along a dusty road in Spain surrounded by an endless desert, but I was not as the sea was always within view.

After about twenty minutes, I found Prospect Cottage and was surprised that it was very much the same as it was when Derek died in 1994.  This said, the famous garden looked to have aged and maybe some of the brightness had faded.  I only viewed it from the road for obvious reasons and took a few photographs.

By Gorup de Besanez [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], from Wikimedia Commons

The woman who ran the gift shop in the lighthouse was local and she told me that for somebody so well known, Derek was a very unassuming person. She said that he was frequently visited by admirers and always took time to make them welcome and feel wanted.  His garden had brought even more attention to Dungeness which lasts to this day.  I thought of his time here in the shadow of the power station in this liberating but strangely claustrophobic landscape.

My wife and daughter (but not my granddaughter) thought me mad when I met them on one of the wooden walkways that led to the sloping beach.  We spent a little more time in Dungeness before we returned to Hythe.  It was as we left the station that I realised how close Prospect Cottage was to the railway and this added to the magic.  It was a memorable visit.

Yesterday, I was twenty-one again and amongst my lovely presents was copy of Derek’s book which was a great surprise.  I had not seen another one in the Arcade since that day, but it is likely that I will find another copy on my next visit.  But I will not purchase it.  I will leave it for you to find and this might prompt you to visit the wilderness of Dungeness which in its way, is at the end of the world.

If you do, please visit Derek’s cottage and think for a while of this unique man and the vision that he shared during his time amongst us.

Happy Hunting

Stuart Miller-Osborne

David with Arcade manager, Rita

Hungerford Arcade staff and staff and stallholders always enjoy hearing customers’ stories about what they do for a living.  David Hattersley and his lovely wife, Joyce came shopping at the Arcade and when they reached the counter, he saw that another customer had a beautiful swan that she was going to purchase.  David looked at the swan and told us what breed of it was modelled on.  Enquiring where he got his knowledge from, he told us that he is one of HM Queen’s Royal Swan Uppers.  Wow, David had our full attention.

The Queen owns and cares for all the Mute Swans on the River Thames and employs Swan Uppers to look after them.  A census of the Swans is carried out once a year when young cygnets are examined and tagged with a lightweight ring which is linked to a database.

The adult Swans are checked for injuries and any health problems.  Swans that need treatment are taken to the Windsor Queen’s Hospital.  Those left with a disability are taken to a new home at Blenheim Palace.  Her Majesty will never have a Swan destroyed because it may have lost an eye or is disabled in any way.  They all live long, happy, healthy lives.

Colin Smith / Swan Uppers in Sunbury Lock.

Bfore David retired and became a Royal Swan Upper, he worked for the Royal Mail and delivered The Queen’s personal mail to her at Buckingham Palace.

This short poem was found in a late Victorian copy of Evelina by Frances Burney which was purchased at the Hungerford Arcade on the 18th of August 2018  

May’s Poem

To Mistress Punctuality

I offer most shamefacedly

A present which will come so late

I dare not write the intended date

Nor will I add the givers name

It matters not from who it came

If only it shall win her praise

And forever read here that

This is May’s

Happy Hunting

Stuart Miller-Osborne 

Hungerford Arcade co-owners, Adrian and Hazel, Managers, Staff and Stallholders wish Manager, Alex, partner Tania and daughter, Polly all our best wishes and many congratulations on their marriage which took place on this glorious day, (Saturday) in the beautiful Town Hall at Hungerford.

Tania & Alex signing the Register and witnessed by daughter, Polly

As you will see from our amateur photographs, (taken by stallholder, Ian Spuffard) it was a beautiful wedding and the evening reception was just fantastic.  With Arcade stallholder,  Adam Thompson as the DJ, the dance floor was packed all night!  The music was brilliant.

Handsome Alex awaiting his gorgeous Bride

Tania looking stunning as she arrives for her Wedding with her brother

Tania & Alex now Husband and Wife

Alex’s family L-R Adrian, Colin, Liz and Mum, Louise holding Polly

Some of the many guests at the Wedding

Ann’s Beautiful Spencer all dressed up and wearing his bow tie. He had his own personal invitation to attend the Wedding.

Mr. & Mrs. Rogers drive off in their beautiful chauffeur (John) driven 1950’s VW Beetle

All the love and happiness in the world to Alex, Tania & Polly from us all.

Hungerford Arcade love meeting our visitors from overseas and finding out where they live in their country.  Well, Charlotte Savage accompanied by two wonderful Japanese ladies, Hideko and Yuka came shopping and when they told us about the beautiful place where they lived, we were amazed. 

Hideko, Arcade co-owner, Adrian, Yuka and Charlotte

This is where Hideko and Yuka live.  Beneath Mount Fuji.  The building on the left is the Fuji Lake Hotel.  Kawaguchiko, Yamanashi, Japan.  What a stunning sight to wake up to each morning!

We enjoyed meeting you, Hideko, Yuka and Charlotte very much.  Thank you for your visit.  Rita

Hungerford Arcade is full of very interesting people like stallholder Liz Browne (Unit 26E) and her partner Colin.  Colin and Liz have an amazing microlite aeroplane.  They have been to France for lunch and holidayed in Mediterranean.  They take all their camping gear and luggage on this wonderful plane and are able to take off and go anywhere the mood takes them.

Colin doing final flight checks

I was very lucky because on Tuesday evening I got a call from Liz asking if I would like to go for a flight with Colin on Wednesday afternoon.  I jumped at the idea and was thrilled to be asked.  When I thought about it, butterflies ran circles around my tummy.  I am terrified of heights and suddenly, I was very scared.  Nonetheless, it was an opportunity not to be missed so I psyched myself up and the next day, my husband Jeff and I travelled to Marlborough to meet Liz at her house.  Colin was already at the airfield preparing the microlite for the flight.

Here we go. Liz in the background trying to stop her hair blowing away!

When we got to the Airfield, Colin was almost ready.  There are many pre-flight checks that have to been done which in itself is fascinating.  When I saw the microlite, it was so beautiful and I did not feel any fear at all, which surprised me.  Colin told me all about it.  It has a 1300 engine and can do 120 mph although Colin prefers to cruise at 100mph for comfort and the chance to see everything.  Colin knew that I was afraid of heights and was very re-assuring.  He said that there are many people who are afraid of heights but it doesn’t affect them when flying.  I felt great after hearing that.

Me waving goodbye as I go on my great adventure!

I put on a warm jumper which Liz kindly gave me to wear as she said it can be very cold up there although its very hot down on the ground.  Next, I was helped into a flying suit which was very cosy and got settled in the plane.  I put on my helmet which was brilliant because I could hear Colin and also speak to him.  I was so well strapped in, very comfortably and I felt totally relaxed.

Colin got clearance to taxi down the runway.  As we waited to depart, the engine was roaring away.  Then came take off.  The speed was phenomenal!  I thought I would be sucked out of my flying suit (not literally)  as we climbed higher and higher.  I held onto the back of Colin’s seat with my knuckles pressing into his back.

© Copyright Peter Wasp and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

When we straightened and out slowed down, what I saw around me was out of this world,  I felt only excitement and pleasure.  We could see the Isle of Wight and then the mountains in Wales and everything in between.  We saw where the ancient settlements had once been and I learned that Silbury Hill was once all white chalk.  It was an important landmark for the stoneage people who used it to navigate their way to Avebury and Stonehenge.

By T Young [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], from Wikimedia Commons

We then flew on to Avebury and saw the magnificent stones.  They look even more beautiful from the air.  I didn’t know, but the stones at Avebury were all locally sourced and as we flew around the area, you could see many, many stones lying on top of the ground  A lot of these stones were also used to build Stonehenge.

© Copyright Dave Price and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

Everyone knows the White Horses of Wiltshire.  Well seeing them from the air is totally different.  They are magnificent and filled me with excitement.  I could not have been happier.

Towards the end of the flight, Colin flew us over the Hungerford Arcade owners’ house.  To my surprise, Adrian and Hazel (Liz is Hazel’s daughter) were in their garden waving at us.  We went around twice it was so brilliant.  We were so low, I was waving like crazy and calling out.  I must have deafened Colin (sorry Colin).

I couldn’t believe it when we next went to Hungerford and flew around Hungerford Arcade.  It looks stunning from the air.  My goodness, I was on such a high, I didn’t want it to end.  

Then it was back down to earth.  When we approached the airfield, Colin slowed the engine right down and waited for clearance to land.  The runway looked very small from up in the air, but I knew it was very big.  

Colin got clearance to land, lined up with the runway and down we came.  I think Colin said that we landed at 60mph.  It was fantastic.

When I got out, Colin said, “I don’t think you realised that when we went over Adrian and Hazel’s house you were sitting horizontal to the ground”.  Wow!  I was so excited I didn’t even notice.  That’s how great it was.

Colin is a first rate pilot and navigator.  Not to mention a fantastic guide.  He seem’s to know every inch of land.  

I would recommend this way of flying to everyone.  It’s much better than being in a closed in plane because you can see and feel everything.  The plane can slow right down to almost hovering over the sites then in a flash, you’re back up high again.

I didn’t get to take any photographs of my flight as I know that I would have dropped my phone and lost it forever!  However, I hope these photos taken by Jeff stir your imagination!

Thank you very much Colin for giving me the trip of a lifetime and thank you Liz for thinking of me.  Rita x 

One thing that I often notice is how many paintings are to be found within the Arcade.  They come in all shapes and sizes and most are very interesting to study.  Yesterday when I was in the Arcade, I noticed a work by the now almost forgotten Lady Victoria Manners.  To be truthful, although I am very interested in art history, I cannot say that I had really heard of Lady Victoria.  The work was a careful study of the garden and her house Plas Newydd  which is situated on the north bank of the Menai Strait in Llanddaniel Fab in Anglesey.  I had heard of the house when swotting up on National Trust properties but until yesterday, I had not realised that Lady Victoria had lived there.  Plas Newydd also had connections with Rex Whistler (1905-1944), an artist that I greatly admire who as with Eric Ravilious (1903- 1942),  died tragically during the Second World War.

By Violet Manners, Duchess of Rutland (1856-1937) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Lady Victoria was born on the 20^th December 1883 and was the eldest daughter of Henry Manners the 8^th Duke of Rutland (1852-1925) and his wife Violet Manners the Duchess of Rutland (1856-1937) who was a noted artist and sculptor.  One of Lady Victoria’s sisters was the much remembered Lady Diana Cooper (1892-1986) whose life has been the subject of a couple of recent books.  As with her mother (who was painted by Watts and other artists) and her sister Diana, she was a noted beauty and moved easily within her aristocratic circles.

Portrait of Violet Manners by Herbert Rose Barraud

Looking at the painting of Plas Newydd, Lady Victoria certainly inherited some of her mother’s artistic talent (her mother had exhibited at the RA and at the famous New Gallery in Regent Street which existed there between 1888 and 1910).  If you are interested, the building that once housed The New Gallery is now the large Burberry store in Regent Street.

But let’s get back to Lady Victoria who although a gifted artist, is better known for her writings on art and her work as an illustrator.  In the 1920s, she co-wrote with G.C.Williamson (the noted art historian), studies of both Johan Zoffany (1733-1810) and Angelica Kauffman (1741-1807).

The fine study of Zoffany was seen as the first in-depth study of the German born artist whilst her work on Angelica Kauffman, was set in motion when manuscripts written by the artist were discovered in the RA archives.  This discovery and the study in general helped to identify what was Kauffman’s work and what was not.

She also wrote a study of William Peters (1742-1814) an almost forgotten English artist who later became an Anglican clergyman and chaplain to King George the Fourth.  Peters had been quite well known for some of his early erotic works, a fact that he later regretted during his time in the church.  He was an interesting artist who I first came across when I was at college and is well worth looking up.

Lady Victoria also wrote articles for The Connoisseur, a fine arts magazine which only ceased publication twenty-five years ago (I remember this magazine well).  She was also involved in illustrating Alicia Amherst’s London Parks and Gardens during the first decade of the century.  A fact that did surprise me during my researches is that both the studies on Kauffman and Zoffany are easily available on line should you want to read them.

Victoria_Marjorie_Harriet_Paget_(née_Manners),_Marchioness_of_Anglesey_by_George_Charles_Beresford_(1900s) George Charles Beresford [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The connection with Anglesey and from that, the subject of the painting that I am about to discuss, came through her marriage in 1912 to Charles Paget the 6^th Marquess of Anglesey (1885-1947).  Initially they lived in Staffordshire, but in 1920 moved to Plas Newydd and later the 6^th Marquess commissioned Rex Whistler to undertake the now famous murals in the house.  Whistler also completed a number of Trompe l’oeil paintings as well as portraits and a life study of Lady Victoria’s daughter, Lady Caroline Paget (1913-1973).  It appears that Rex fell in love with Lady Caroline during his time at Plas Newydd although she later married someone else much to the artists

dismay.

I am led to believe that some of these paintings are part of a permanent exhibition of Rex Whistler’s work and ephemera at Plas Newydd.  If this is the case, I will try to visit the house when I am again in North Wales.  The panting which was recently for sale at

Rex Whistler [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

the Arcade is a watercolour which was painted between 1920 and 1946 and shows part of the fine gardens and the house at Plas Newydd.  It appears to have been painted in the late afternoon of a summer’s day as the shadows are long on the grass and the roses are in full bloom.  It is a luxurious study of high summer and of Lady Victoria’s much loved house and in my view is one of the more interesting paintings to have arrived in the Arcade recently.  As with a great number of the paintings, etchings and drawings, I found it in the organised chaos of the Junk Shop.  This unit can be found in the right hand passage and is the only unit with a basement (do visit it as there is so much to see).   If Lady Victoria’s work is no longer there when you next visit then there are a host of fine framed works to look at and maybe buy.

On occasions. I have seen works which I have thought might have been completed by an artist of note, but by the time I have researched the artist the work has usually been sold.

Common sense denotes that you are not going to find a painting that you are going to retire with, but there are so many artists whose work will occasionally show up in places such as the Arcade.  This is the fun of looking at paintings and the like, you are never sure what you are likely to find.  And one must remember that not all the works by Richard Dadd are accounted for.

Happy Hunting

Stuart Miller-Osborne