From Piccadilly Circus, London to Catfish Row, Cape Town

On Saturday 14th July a select group of EFOGers assembled beneath Eros, to explore the secret world of “Gentlemen’s Clubs” and their environs. We found that the St. James area, after more than 300 years of building and re-building, is still undergoing change but retains lots of hidden passages, alleyways, courts and mews.

Most of these clubs maintain their anonymity, not by hiding in secret alleyways, but by existing in grand buildings which fit seamlessly into London’s varied architecture yet remain nameless. This makes it easy to pass them by unnoticed unless you are “in the know”.

Pausing - and posing - with Beau Brummell in Jermyn StreetMost began in the first half of the 19th century, but some much earlier. White’s, “the father of all clubs”, was founded in 1693. It moved to Jermyn Street in 1753. Its membership list still reads like Burke’s Peerage.

The clubs were places where ‘gentlemen’ could meet, eat, drink and gamble with “their own sort”. They initially served the aristocracy but developed to include clubs for men of different political persuasions. Charles James Fox claimed that a life of all night eating, drinking and gambling in Brook’s Club (founded in 1764) helped him to make his brilliant speeches in parliament in the 1770s.

The Carlton Club and The Reform Club represented those who were, respectively, either anti or pro the 1832 Reform Act which, when passed, helped reduce aristocratic influence in Parliament and thus increased democracy.

The clubs themselves were usually created by the servants of the men who founded them, or tradesmen who served them. White’s developed from a Chocolate House; William Pratt (Pratt’s Club) was the steward of the Duke of Beaufort; Edward Boodle (Boodle’s Club) was the son of a Shropshire innkeeper.

The Athenium, Waterloo PlaceMy favourite, and I think the grandest, The Atheneum in Waterloo Place, was founded by author and civil servant John William Croker, in 1824. It still has a reputation for elegance and as a meeting place for intellectuals. Anthony Trollope was fond of working there.

The East India Club, founded in 1849, was formed for ‘servants and officers’ of the East India Company. It has survived into the 21st century by amalgamating with other clubs: the Devonshire, Sports and Public Schools Club. Like others it also now serves as a prestigious meeting centre. Now, of course, membership is open to women as well as men.

Pall Mall hosts a number of clubs such as The United Oxford and Cambridge University Club, founded in 1830 and The RAC, formed in 1897, “for the protection, encouragement and development of “automobilism”. It has its own swimming pool and rifle range and a reputation as the most ‘open’ club.

When The Travellers Club was founded in 1819, you needed to have travelled at least 500 miles from London to be a member, now you need to have travelled abroad, and preferably have spent some time living abroad.

There were times on the walk when it was a trifle damp...The shops and services in the area still reflect the status of the clientele, from Berry Brother’s Wine Shop with its vast (and still growing) underground cellars, to Lock’s The Hatters and Lobb’s the Boot and Shoe Makers.  It was definitely only a window shopping area for most of us. Do fellas of a certain class still wear night shirts I wonder – or at £90 each are they simply used as an expensive giggle?

Our walk took us to some other places: St James’ Church (with a quick look at its market); Blue Ball Yard which retains  picturesque mews cottages (built as coach houses in 1741); Spencer House and Bridgewater House, backing on to Green Park; Selwyn House (where Maz once worked – but no plaque yet), St James’ Palace and Clarence House.

We ended up in Trafalgar Square, with most of us having something to eat in St Martin’s Crypt before going on to see a brilliant performance of Porgy and Bess at The London Coliseum. The show was performed by Cape Town Opera who had transferred Catfish Row to Cape Town.

The show was fantastic and the music still playing in some of our heads several days later ……. The weather was relatively kind if a trifle damp in parts ….. Thanks to all for making it such a nice day!

Pam, July 2012

A walk from Hassocks to Brighton led by Lynne. Saturday 30^th June

Most of the walkers undertaking the walk over the South Downs went by train; Julie and I decided to drive down. It was a bit worrying going through a rain storm on the M25/M23, but the skies cleared nearer to our destination and we meet the rest of the group at Hassocks Station in the sunshine.

On the South DownsThe weather held good all day; with lots of clouds skittering by and with quite a stiff breeze it made a good day for walking. We walked steeply uphill past the Jack and Jill windmills, and once up on the South Downs as well as the lovely clear views on both sides the flora was spectacular. There were Orchids, Poppies & Bellflowers in abundance and in the skies above was the sound of Skylarks and Meadow Pipits (thank you Paul for the  bird song lesson).

The walk was excellently prepared and led by Lynne, although most of us did feel that it must have been a bit more than the suggested 12 miles. In fact it turned out to be just over 14 when measured afterwards.Photographing the Poppies It certainly felt like it when we finally came off the downs and past the racecourse to Brighton Marina!  The group split up then, with some of us heading straight back to the station and some heading off for fish & chips, I believe!!.  For those of us heading to the station the sight of Clive getting off the bus and crossing the road to Brighton Station gave us such a laugh. Sorry not to give you more sympathy Clive, but it was a sight to see, and I hope that you recovered well  after a nice hot bath when you got home!

Thank you Lynne for an excellent walk - it was a brilliant day.

Sue S., 1st July 2012

A crazy day out at the Thames Pageant

An EFOG day out in London to see the Queen's Jubilee flotilla on the Thames - with over a million others!  It's the sort of thing us EFOGgers take in our stride!!  Well, we are an Outdoor Group, and it was all outdoors - in the rain!  We met at Stratford Station - 10 brave souls!  We were originally going to Hammersmith to see the boats lining up for the procession, but the royal party was not joining it until Battersea, so we would not have seen them.  Ten Group members brave the rain and crowds for the Thames PageantChange of plan - we thought we would try the Embankment to see how crowded it was, so we could see the flotilla actually going past, complete with the Queen!  When we arrived, it wasn't too bad.  Seven of us decided to wait it out - after all, it was only light drizzle, and we only had 4 or 5 hours to wait!  Three others decided to go to the National Art Gallery.  I sat on some steps, and made friends with a couple of families with children over the course of the wait (and an 87 year-old lady).  One boy was playing games on some gadget or other!  They are so realistic now, but I hadn't a clue what he was doing!  There were big screens up, and if I stood up and peered round a tree and a lamp-post, I could see bits of film of the Royal Family in their younger days.  Then the flotilla started off, and the screens went to film of the procession.  That's when a large man in a huge blue cape decided to stand in front of me to watch it!!  I managed to see bits round him!  No sign of Gill (Light), Ken or Julie returning - apparently they were stopping people going through by the time they tried to get back to us!
 
Then the flotilla came into view.  I was standing on the steps, so I could see most of it.  Somehow, Fozi had managed to get to the front!  Boats, boats, and more boats!!  A thousand of them.  The sea-cadets flying Commonwealth flagsThe small rowing boats were first.  The rain had thankfully eased off for a while.  The royal barge appeared - the "Spirit of Chartwell" - beautifully decorated in red, gold and thousands of flowers.  There was the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh, with the rest of the royal family standing behind them.  Flags were being waved everywhere.  More boats followed, but unfortunately the rain started to fall quite heavily by then.  We went into the road to see the royal barge go through the open Tower Bridge on the large screen, and decided to leave as we were all soaked by that time.  Jill V. left us at that point, and as everywhere was so crowded with people, we decided to walk to Tottenham Court Road Station (after all, we are a walking group!).  There were only 6 of us by then, but with all the people, it was difficult keeping an eye to make sure no-one lost us.  I was just grateful there weren't 20 of us!!  I made sure we didn't lose Sharon - a new member who had only been to the Group once.  It doesn't look good if you lose a new member on their first outing with us!!  The new royal barge "Gloriana"En route we found a small cafe which was not full!!  Tea, coffee and cakes - lovely (and in the warm and dry!).  However, we couldn't stay there forever!  Gill (Light) was supposed to be taking us to West India Docks when the procession had finished, to see the boat she helps with.  Where was Gill?  We hadn't seen her since the 3 of them disappeared in the morning, and we had missed 'phone calls to each other.  Eventually we made contact, and arranged to meet her at South Quay station (she was in Piccadilly by that time).  When she arrived, she didn't know where the boat was being moored, so she rang someone to find out.  They were stuck in a boat-jam!!  It was going to be 2 hours before they got there!  We abandoned that idea, went to Canary Wharf, and had a meal in "All Bar One", which made a nice finish to the day.
 
It was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I am so glad we went - despite the weather!
 

Maz, 4th June 2012

A more comfortable view of proceedings from another EFOG member

The thought of braving public transport into and out of London on such a day was enough to deter me from joining the other members of the Group hoping to experience the Thames pageant. I had an idea: my sister has an apartment overlooking the Thames at Battersea, and maybe she wouldn't be using it.

Phillip pointing out that we are trying to take a pictureI quickly found that she would be, and indeed friends from the far east (Lowestoft) would be staying overnight from the day before - so that precluded any chance of me sleeping there. Nevertheless, she duly invited me to come on the day. She had to, really, because she'd also invited every other member of the immediate family - my niece, nephew and assorted great nieces and nephews and their respective mum and dad.

The journey - which involved complex public transport avoidant and bridge-closure planning - necessitated getting up at 5am and driving through some unsavoury parts of south London. Anyway - I arrived as planned at 8am, and as the others arrived we began the anticipation for all that was going on. Wearing appropriate face-masks, the children and I (whose mask had particularly prominent ears) managed to get a wave from the BBC cameraman on his platform above Battersea Church. I aimed my camera at him, but he didn't reciprocate. Later, though, the camera on the Chelsea bank had a TV shot of our apartment, so we got on TV. Our waves didn't show up well, though.

A nice close-up of some family peopleWell, we watched some Royal people get out of their taxis and make their way to a launch moored at Chelsea Pier. This was just opposite us, so we saw Charles and Camilla and then Elizabeth and Phillip board and then wave to us as they went past. Shortly afterwards the for-rowers of the flotilla appeared and shortly after that the rain started and was followed by nearly two hours-worth of various craft. It was quite nice to be able to watch on the television what was about to pass us and then to go outside to watch from our 6th-floor patio, or alternatively, to watch from the patio and then view on the television what we had just seen. Much of this was accompanied by food and drink, so that was alright.

The Cornish lugger 'Barnabas'My thoughts did turn to the other members of the Group, wherever they may have been (I envisaged them upstream, but they were in fact a bit downstream so experienced everything a bit later that we did), and I did feel a bit sorry for them and all the others in the rain. I managed to pick out the boat Gill works on (Red Watch), but for me the little steam tug Barking, the St. Ives lugger Barnabas - proudly flying an outsize Cornish Flag - and the Shree Muktajeevan Pipe Band & Dhol Ensemble playing as they went past were particularly memorable. The barge carrying the London Philharmonic Orchestra - which was the last in the procession - had been moored just below us for much of the time, so we were treated to some excellent live music even before the procession came.

It would have been nice to have been with other EFOG members, and I'm sure that as usual they had a grand time, but I feel that I may have had a slightly more comfortable day. What a grand day everyone had!

Paul Ferris, 5th June 2012

A desperate attempt to keep my feet dry in the Peak District.

It was 7th April, 2012. Following a 5 mile walk around the Chatsworth Estate the day before, my walking boots were rubbing my ankle badly. For Saturday's walk in the Peak District I decided to wear my only other pair of shoes – my beloved Nike trainers.

It had snowed the day before in the mountains, but that was no problem 'cos I had just sprayed my trainers with a good waterproof spray and covered my socks with plastic bags. I was going to have lovely dry feet during our Peak District walk.

The walk - led by Duncan - was to be 10 miles long, via Snake Inn, Seal Stones, Seal Edge, Fairbrook Naze, Black Ashop Edge, Ashop Head and back via Snake Path to Snake Inn. We met everyone in the Birchin Clough Car Park on the A57, just past Snake Inn.

Crossing the road from the car park, we walked into the woods. I ran enthusiastically down my first hill, but the hill was steeper than I thought and my feet left the ground. I practised my superwoman dive - which must have looked impressive from behind - and landed face down on the grass at the bottom of the hill. From behind I heard smothered giggles, and a courteous, “Are you all right Gill?” My feet were still dry.

A few minutes later, we reached a raging river. Duncan walked straight across as if he was Jesus parting the waves, and beckoned for us to follow. Jill and I looked at each other, took off our shoes and socks, threw them across the river to the other side, and waded in barefooted. However carefully I placed my feet on the rocks I still slipped, but reached the safe arm of Duncan. With a sigh of relief, I wiped my feet, put my socks and trainers back on, and continued up the mountain. My feet were still dry.

The Group on the PeakWorryingly, the soles of my trainers gave me little grip in the snow and mud, and I knew that I would have a 10 mile struggle. Carefully trying to avoid the rocks and sludge, I soldiered on up my first mountain. The fact that I had the wrong shoes on plus no experience of mountain walking was the least of my worries. My feet were still dry.

I reached the summit at 2000ft and felt quite pleased with myself. Okay - I was last the one to reach the top - but my feet were still dry.

The recent snow had partly melted and was deceiving. Suddenly, I trod on a layer of snow, my right leg disappeared into the sludge and I was stuck standing on one leg. The mud sucked my shoe and sock downwards and when I pulled my foot out of the mud there was no trainer and no sock attached to it. To stop myself from falling I put my left foot into the next bit of snow. Standing there like a stork on one foot, I forgot which hole my trainer had disappeared into. Lynne came to my rescue: using a grass stick, she dug deep into several snow and mud holes and after several attempts she found my trainer. Walking ten miles on one leg was not my idea of a good time.

But the worse of it was that my right foot was now soaking wet; only my left foot was still dry.

On the way down the ridge we encountered streaming water. In my desperate attempt to keep my left foot dry, I balanced on my right foot and supported myself by placing my left hand on the nearest rock. My hand landed on something very nasty! From the sheer shock of it, I lost balance and fell with both feet into a huge puddle of water!

MY ATTEMPT TO KEEP MY FEET DRY UNTIL THE END WAS A FAILURE!

Gill Light, April 2012