Club News
August: Vice Chairman, Andrew Carver, welcomed 18 members, guest David Carpenter and speaker Andrew Warde. Chaiman’s Charity raised £38 and Raffle £21.
Update on Members: Chairman, Tony Farrell, has damaged some nerves making it extremely painful to sit – slightly better yesterday but still too painful to attend. Norman Williams is recovering from a knee operation and Bill Ainsworth still has problems with his arms.
Secretary (Ian Payne ): Anyone who did not receive their new Members Handbook (September 2024) last month, please ask for one today.
Outings/Events: Terry Ribbens reported on the success of the Skittles match (arranged by Sanderstead & Riddlesdown). S&R have organised a Guided tour of Croydon Airport 11pm, Saturday 19th October. Terry is working on a trip to Battersea Power Station (redevelopment) – combined with a River Trip.
Lunch changes by 10.30am the prior Tuesday to chris@moniz.co.uk T: 020 8660 6063. Please also report any Member News to Chris.
Please email vincent@fosdike.com with articles/news for the Newsletter.
Speaker: Neil Sadler: ‘Bisons and Custer’
7th November: Jon Fox: ‘Gilbert and Sullivan’
September Speaker: Andrew Warde
‘The lost Whitehall Palace
Andrew is a holder of the distinguished London Blue Badge award and is an expert on historic London. He previously spoke to us in November 2019 on ‘The London Roman Wall’. The Whitehall Palace was the largest in Europe – 23 acres, 1500 rooms – but all that’s left today is the Banquetting Hall on Whitehall.
The Palace of Whitehall was the main residence of the English monarchs from 1530 until 1698, when most of its structures were destroyed by fire. At its most,
the palace extended from Northumberland Avenue to Downing Street and from Horse Guards Parade to the River Thames.
Originally York Place, it was expanded by Cardinal Wolsey then taken over by Henry VIII (dissolution) and renamed Whitehall. Henry redesigned it to include bowling green, indoor real tennis court, a pit for cock fighting and a tiltyard (site of Horse Guards) for jousting. The famous Hans Holbein 1536 portrait of Henry III (known by its sketch) was lost in the fire of 1698. Elizabeth I built the first banqueting house, but the current building (1622, James VI and I) was designed by Inigo Jones. Charles I was executed outside the Banqueting Hall. Charles II (a popular king) died at the Palace in 1685.
William and Mary lived at the Palace in 1689 but then moved to a new house. William had plans to rebuild after the fire of 1698 but nothing came of it. Andrew took us through all the modern Government buildings on the old site including the original Henry VIII wine cellar now in the MoD building having been raised one floor. We also learned about the various traditions including marking the King’s birthday by Trooping the Colour on Horseguards dating back to 1660.
Andrew’s talk was beautifully illustrated by many original sketches.
Aching for the open road – by Vincent Fosdike
Well, the title has an intergenerational application. In youth it spells adventure unlimited, possible in an open sports car, or a VW camper van with the world as your oyster.
For many of us the title has metamorphosed into “will my back take the strain or shall we leave it to the train?”
For myself not having driven any distance since Covid the choice was significant and not entirely clear cut as we planned to join two generations of our family 250 miles away on holiday roads where everyone goes.
By the time we had packed the car well gorged with petrol, the road seemed long and we had not switched on.
I think both of us had forgotten the battering to the ears given by the jointed sections on the M25 near Heathrow, a rhythmical tramping beat from not only our car but those on either side as we head for the M4 west bound and the ever reliable gantry lights slowing us by degrees to 20 mph when the traffic was already stationary
Eventually we could stop counting the planes skimming past eagerly lifting their passengers to exotic climbs at hundreds of miles per hour whilst we thought Bristol would be an achievement if aching limbs and buzzing ears would endure our chosen travel environment. By the way, does your speedometer match the yellow triffid like average speed cameras? There could be a letter in the post if not. It is interesting to see how many cars go right on the 50 mph then exceed it to overtake the more cautious drivers probably doing 48 mph – do they then slow down to stay in the average bracket? I think they just go back to 50 – risky! Equally my sat nav normally reads about 3 mph below the speedo reading and I have heard (rumour only, no liability accepted, that car speedos deliberately overstate the speed by a small amount). So what do you put your licence points on, your speedo, sat nav reading or exactitude of the triffid cameras? Holidays are so relaxing.
Bristol would be our point of no return as pilots call it. In this case meaning the concentration and physical grit needed to turn back would be more that to press on.
We stopped at the service station exiting the car in the classic shape of the two banana figures used in road signs to warn of elderly persons crossing the road. I think it took about ten minutes to achieve a verticalstance and lose the tinnitus induced by driving for a mere two hours. Excusing myself on grounds of stretching my legs and back, I sneaked round to ask if a Travel Lodge had a vacancy and also if the next one fifty miles further on had one. Yes to both questions! We had warned our family that we might break the journey.
Forty minutes later we pressed the pedal to the metal on the joining lane and launched over the Bristol bridge, managing to avoid getting shoved into the Welsh lane. The sat nav had been clear. We had used a hard shoulder as instructed by signage but only a few vehicles were also on it and there is always a nagging doubt that they were no longer applicable (is there a letter already in the post?).
Gradually the miles passed and just when we were feeling the worst was over and we joined an easy road for a simple twenty mile stretch of green countryside, there was a set of 30 mph signs (normally 60 would do). It seemed the clock was about to go in reverse. Certainly the estimated time of arrival was receding remorselessly and limbs were protesting forcefully. My wife took a call from the family asking when we would arrive. The journey for them was a mere hop ski and a jump, having only two days before completed the length of Germany with barely a pause. They were patient and said they would wait lunch at a very nice pub! Crack on Grandad! Twenty miles finally passed at 30 mph and we were allowed 40 mph which seemed like reaching escape velocity with 7th gear finally showing on the dashboard (do we still call them dash boards? – well Grandad does anyway).
Finally the bright blue sea sun and a pub with a loo hove into view. We felt like Captain Cook reaching the antipodes. Once again we did the banana exit, greeted the family and ran for the little house at the back. So our holiday began. A week at the Cornish seaside, largely sunny, was to follow!
We were even clever enough to order a delivery from a branch of our regular supermarket online! Yes we managed to change the normal delivery address to our rental cottage and it worked.
Of course there is always the risk that we shall forget to alter it back as we have not yet done one since coming home and will not need it for another week. It would be most entertaining for you to hear we forgot and donated a whole week’s order to a group of strangers in Cornwall. I am not sure I would tell you. After all I really don’t feel quite generous enough to grant you that much Schadenfreude.