Pauline grew up loving the history of costumes and after a dress designing course in the late 60’s got her first job at Covent Garden making costumes for the Ballet. She had to watch the rehearsals for the performances and was lucky enough to watch Nureyev and Fonteyn rehearsing for a performance. Her next job was in television, when it was still black and white, in Dixon of Dock Green, this was followed by Pride & Prejudice. After having a break to bring up a family she then went freelance. The first call came for her to work on The Lost Secret, all fifteen episodes. Each costume had to meet with the Director’s approval which sometimes proved difficult as each had their own idea of what the costumes should look like! More films followed with the dressing of a chimp in one. Lots of calls came from the Theatre. She enjoyed working with Peter Bowles, Anna Massey, Michael Gambon and a host of others. One aspect of the job she particularly enjoyed was breaking outfits down, and stressing the costumes to age etc. She had many memories of close shaves with outfits in Harold Pinter plays. She loved her three months on the Isle of Lewis for one production. She was also thrilled to be asked to design and dress puppets and had a lot of fun choosing all the bits and pieces to work with from a stall at Kingston market. Her last job in television was with The Bill, which was very hectic with three episodes a week and design done on a very strict budget. It was great to design all the robes used in the court scenes and ever changing uniforms. Another great evening and a lovely lady to boot.
Our next get together is on 22nd October when David Vroobel is going to tell us about “The Magic & Beauty of Diamonds and other stones.” Visitors are welcome at the cost of £3.50.
Details of all our meetings and speakers can be found on the diary on the home page of the Winstred 100 website. If you would like any further information about P.A.W.S. please ring any of the following committee members: Alice Holmes 01206 735510, Jane Banks 01206 735004 or Jane Anderson 01206 735505.
Our July themed social this year was “Back to the 60’s” which was well attended by 44 members and 15 visitors, 11 of these being the Layer Ladies.
In June our speaker was Henry Brickwood and he told us all about “Beautiful Gardens to visit”. Henry began his talk by telling us he is a fanatical gardener and was a previous Gold Medal winner at Chelsea a few years ago. He currently belongs to 2 gardening groups and appeared with Monty Don last year. He then continued with a slide presentation of various gardens mainly in and around a 70 mile radius of Chelmsford. These included Tudor Roost at Fingringhoe, with its very colourful private garden, Beth Chatto’s Garden at Elmstead Market with its famous “Dry Garden” and Marks Hall Gardens at Coggeshall which is known for its enclosed wall garden of snowdrops, summer borders and autumn colour to name but a few. As well as having a fantastic knowledge of various gardens he also appeared to be very knowledgeable about the restaurants and refreshments available. He finished his slide show with a preview of his own gardens at Rayleigh where he specialises in Lilies (he has over 2,500) and suggested we might visit as a group next year and promised us excellent tea and cake.
Tom & Tilly Turnip’s Wacky World of Tomfoolery
Main show schedules from:
In May our speaker was Stephen Lester, an auctioneer, and 42 members enjoyed his talk on his “Experiences of a Provincial Auctioneer”. Firstly he dispelled a few myths about going to a public auction. Contrary to popular belief, pulling your ear or rubbing your nose will not end up with you having purchased a rare antique! Some bidders do use signs like that, but only when it has been previously arranged with the auctioneer; most people just raise their catalogue to indicate their interest in a particular lot. He has had some spectacular ‘finds’ when going to inspect sale items at a private house. One lady was clearing her house as she was moving to somewhere smaller; after getting an idea of the value of her goods and chattels she mentioned that she had a little bottle that had been in her family for a while. It turned out to be a Fabergé glue pot worth £10,000! At another house he found a very old and tatty writing desk in the attic, which turned out to be one of only 7 items made from an elm tree on the site of the battle of Waterloo; this was worth £36,000 once it had been restored. So the moral is, check before you throw things away!
At last month’s meeting 42 members and 3 visitors came along to hear a talk by Bob Harding-Jones “Can I help you? I’m a Paramedic”. Bob gave us a very amusing talk about his time as a Paramedic with the Hertfordshire Ambulance Service.
We have been advised by Essex County Council’s Highways team that the following roads will be closed from Monday 15th April for a period of 5 days:
Our January meeting on the 8th saw a large turn out when 41 members and 4 visitors came along to hear Simon Gallup tell us about the Histories of Lavenham and Dedham. Simon is one of 8 guides for Lavenham and he explained with the use of slides that due to the cloth trade the Stour Valley had been one of the wealthiest places in the United Kingdom 500 years ago. During 1480-1530 there was a large building spree of houses, churches and coaching inns but also there was a rapid decline in its wealth due to trade decreases, the 100 year war, huge taxes on the cloth trade etc. Today there are approximately 300 listed buildings in Lavenham which have lasted through the centuries. Simon finished the evening with a question and answer session.