|
|
Post by ripper on Oct 26, 2019 12:39:12 GMT
In a few days time it will be the 20th anniversary of the celebration of 20 years of Ghosts and Scholars that was held at the Royal Victoria and Bull hotel in Rochester between 29 and 31 October 1999, friday to sunday. My wife and I attended, traveling down by coach to Victoria and changing for the journey to Rochester by train. If I remember correctly, there was a welcome get-together in the hotel bar on the friday evening, before the events started formally the next day. I remember that we were all given a commemorative booklet, one of which contained a slip of paper, Casting the Runes-style, and the person who got the slip won a prize. We were shown the Michael Hordern version of Whistle and I'll come to You, then voted as to which of the Ghost Stories for Christmas episodes to watch--Lost Hearts won. On the saturday evening there was a dinner with the tables being named after characters from MRJ's stories. Can't recall whose table we were on, but we sat with a Scottish guy, a local married couple, and a couple who I thought were Barbara and Christopher Roden, but I was too bashful to ask. The lovely Katherine Haynes, who I believe I had to contact to make the booking, went round the tables and made sure everyone was okay, and my wife and I had a nice conversation with her. Can't remember if it was the saturday or sunday, but there were book stalls set up in the conference room for a couple of hours and I took full advantage of buying as many as I could, obtaining a number of Chico Kidd's chapbooks and tapes of Bill Reed's stories, both authors kindly signing them. There was a reading of The Negro's Head by A.N.L. Mumby by, I think, Steve Duffy. We had to leave early in the afternoon of sunday, so missed the last event or two. I remember that the weather on the sunday was gloriously warm and sunny. All in all, it was a great weekend and everyone was so kind and friendly. Were any other Vaulters there?
|
|
|
|
Post by ropardoe on Oct 26, 2019 15:24:37 GMT
In a few days time it will be the 20th anniversary of the celebration of 20 years of Ghosts and Scholars that was held at the Royal Victoria and Bull hotel in Rochester between 29 and 31 October 1999, friday to sunday. My wife and I attended, traveling down by coach to Victoria and changing for the journey to Rochester by train. If I remember correctly, there was a welcome get-together in the hotel bar on the friday evening, before the events started formally the next day. I remember that we were all given a commemorative booklet, one of which contained a slip of paper, Casting the Runes-style, and the person who got the slip won a prize. We were shown the Michael Hordern version of Whistle and I'll come to You, then voted as to which of the Ghost Stories for Christmas episodes to watch--Lost Hearts won. On the saturday evening there was a dinner with the tables being named after characters from MRJ's stories. Can't recall whose table we were on, but we sat with a Scottish guy, a local married couple, and a couple who I thought were Barbara and Christopher Roden, but I was too bashful to ask. The lovely Katherine Haynes, who I believe I had to contact to make the booking, went round the tables and made sure everyone was okay, and my wife and I had a nice conversation with her. Can't remember if it was the saturday or sunday, but there were book stalls set up in the conference room for a couple of hours and I took full advantage of buying as many as I could, obtaining a number of Chico Kidd's chapbooks and tapes of Bill Reed's stories, both authors kindly signing them. There was a reading of The Negro's Head by A.N.L. Mumby by, I think, Steve Duffy. We had to leave early in the afternoon of sunday, so missed the last event or two. I remember that the weather on the sunday was gloriously warm and sunny. All in all, it was a great weekend and everyone was so kind and friendly. Were any other Vaulters there? It was a lot of fun. As for another event - there is talk... |
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Oct 26, 2019 16:30:16 GMT
That's a lovely report, Rip. Was this the only G&S Conference to date?
|
|
|
|
Post by ripper on Oct 26, 2019 18:07:50 GMT
In a few days time it will be the 20th anniversary of the celebration of 20 years of Ghosts and Scholars that was held at the Royal Victoria and Bull hotel in Rochester between 29 and 31 October 1999, friday to sunday. My wife and I attended, traveling down by coach to Victoria and changing for the journey to Rochester by train. If I remember correctly, there was a welcome get-together in the hotel bar on the friday evening, before the events started formally the next day. I remember that we were all given a commemorative booklet, one of which contained a slip of paper, Casting the Runes-style, and the person who got the slip won a prize. We were shown the Michael Hordern version of Whistle and I'll come to You, then voted as to which of the Ghost Stories for Christmas episodes to watch--Lost Hearts won. On the saturday evening there was a dinner with the tables being named after characters from MRJ's stories. Can't recall whose table we were on, but we sat with a Scottish guy, a local married couple, and a couple who I thought were Barbara and Christopher Roden, but I was too bashful to ask. The lovely Katherine Haynes, who I believe I had to contact to make the booking, went round the tables and made sure everyone was okay, and my wife and I had a nice conversation with her. Can't remember if it was the saturday or sunday, but there were book stalls set up in the conference room for a couple of hours and I took full advantage of buying as many as I could, obtaining a number of Chico Kidd's chapbooks and tapes of Bill Reed's stories, both authors kindly signing them. There was a reading of The Negro's Head by A.N.L. Mumby by, I think, Steve Duffy. We had to leave early in the afternoon of sunday, so missed the last event or two. I remember that the weather on the sunday was gloriously warm and sunny. All in all, it was a great weekend and everyone was so kind and friendly. Were any other Vaulters there? It was a lot of fun. As for another event - there is talk... Please keep us informed about any developing plans for another conference, Rosemary. |
|
|
|
Post by ripper on Oct 26, 2019 18:15:02 GMT
That's a lovely report, Rip. Was this the only G&S Conference to date? I believe the 1999 conference is so far the only one, Dem. |
|
|
|
Post by helrunar on Oct 26, 2019 19:19:37 GMT
I'd have been tempted to have positioned a cadaverous person robed in black with suitably sinister cowl stand next to the reg table and inform each new arrival, "Your time allowed is... two days." (Although that might be from the film, rather than the original tale--rather terrible that I don't actually know that.)
The passing of "the Runes" to a lucky (!) guest is a touch of genius. It sounds like a marvelous weekend.
H.
|
|
|
|
Post by ripper on Oct 27, 2019 18:58:28 GMT
I'd have been tempted to have positioned a cadaverous person robed in black with suitably sinister cowl stand next to the reg table and inform each new arrival, "Your time allowed is... two days." (Although that might be from the film, rather than the original tale--rather terrible that I don't actually know that.) The passing of "the Runes" to a lucky (!) guest is a touch of genius. It sounds like a marvelous weekend. H. It was, indeed, a very enjoyable weekend. I am not sure after so many years, but I think the last event was an auction. Sadly, my wife and I had to miss that as we had to get back to Victoria to catch our coach, and we had the misfortune to find that the train from Rochester to Victoria had been replaced by a bus service due to engineering work on the line, so we were rather on tenterhooks over getting to Victoria on time. |
|
