April Insert

or twin bedded – so members must book in pairs. If you are funds, until we have ascertained that there is sufficient inter- a single but would like to join us, then please indicate this on est amongst the members. Please feel free to invite non- the expression of interest form and we shall try to find a suit- Members to join you as your guest or guests. able person with whom you may share the accommodation. We expect that every member will wish to stay in the The cost for the weekend will be £451 per person, inclu- Noël Coward Suite and so that treat will be decided by ballot sive of VAT, based on two people sharing a suite or room. to ensure fairness. All your expression of interest forms will This amount covers secure parking at Bigbury-on-Sea, Sea be placed in a hat (silk topper, of course) and the winner of tractor or Land Rover journeys to and fro, accommodation as the weekend in The Noël Coward Suite, will be announced. outlined above, for two nights, full English breakfast on Sat- We should like to extend a warm welcome to our mem- urday and Sunday mornings, a la carte dinners on Friday and bers from outside of the UK. Saturday evenings and all activities. Finally, realising that many of our members are very tal- EVENTS It does not include any lunches or any drinks. As the ented, we should like to arrange a little “in house” entertain- hotel brochure states:- ment during the weekend. Please indicate on the expression “Our guests have always come to escape noise, publicity, of interest form whether you would like to contribute some weekday lives, pollution, crowds and the pressure to be any- sketch/extract/song or dance and, if so, the kind of thing you one other than themselves”. have in mind. Please be aware that this event will only happen if 48 of For further information, please see Home Chat, February our members (and guests), or 24 couples, return the expres- 2002, page 9 and Home Chat October 2004, pages 2 and 3 sion of interest form enclosed with this copy of Home Chat. and also the Burgh Island Hotel website at www.burghis- To secure the entire hotel for our exclusive use, thereby turn- land.com PLEASE express your interest by returning the ing it into our own Coward House Party, we shall need to pay form enclosed with this copy of Home Chat and do join us a deposit and we are unable to commit the Society’s limited for a ‘Marvellous Party’. Barbara Longford (e-mails to [email protected]) Burgh Island, off the south Devon coast, is one of the most romantic and surprising places you can visit. Linked to the mainland by a tidal beach, in summer the sands are clean and golden warm, in winter they become silvery and misty under the low sun. When the tide is high you are carried to the island over the waves in the unique Sea Tractor – a contraption worthy of Bateman and resembling a giant humidor on wheels. In 2004, “Sea Tractor III” was relaunched, after complete overhaul of its not-so-subtle hydraulic system and a rebuild of its box-like passenger carriage, based on photographs from the ‘60s. Burgh Island is most closely linked with the roaring twenties and the sophisticated thirties: staff would never gossip about contemporary guests but are happy to rattle off the historic guest list, which includes royalty, showbiz and industrial types: Edward VIII, Wallis Simpson, Agatha Christie, Noel Coward, Gertie Lawrence, Amy Johnson, Nancy Cunard, Jessie Matthews, George Formby, R J Mitchell, Churchill and Eisenhower. You can absorb all of this history and more as you sit in the Palm Court at its new Peacock Bar, where Gary “McBar” dispenses gossip with the cocktails. Most of the rooms and suites are named after our pre-war visitors and with portraits in the relevant room, you can put faces to the names. Guests from the ‘30s have been researched and, where a local connection could be made, they lent their names to the new suites: Amy Johnson was the first, having passed through en route to opening Plymouth Airport in 1932. She was followed, over the next two years by: Malcolm Campbell, who reputedly raced cars on the beach; W O Bentley, who came to retreat; Gertie Lawrence, who stayed with her best friend Noel Coward and inspired some of his most beautiful songs; Jessie Matthews, who later retired locally and was well known for her pink gins and taste in purple clothing; R J Mitchell, who sought inspiration for his Spitfire in the flight of the seagulls here; “Fruity” Metcalfe, who went anywhere that Ed- ward and Wallis would go and Oscar Deutsche (the brains behind the ODEON cinema chain) who made long and loud calls from the only ‘phone in the hotel, at reception. Indeed, Christie wrote two of her most well-known books: “Evil Under The Sun” and “And Then There Were None” in The Beach House. In 2007, Burgh Island unveils The Beach House as surely the sexiest hotel room in Britain: a sophisticated, decked, apartment overhanging the sea on the Eastern tip of the Island. You cannot get closer to the sea, its romance and its rhythms. From a 14-room hotel, Burgh Island grew to its present full compliment of 24 rooms, many of them suites and all with sea views. There is an older, more vernacular history to the island. It was used by ancient Celts to party with the Byzantine Marvellous Party traders who brought wine and oil to the island, in exchange for tin. There is suggestion that Burgh Island is the elusive site of King Arthur’s summer court and current archeological excavations confirm a dark ages settlement on the island. Burgh Island Hotel 12 to 14 September 2008 The monks who lived on the island during the last millennium left behind The Pilchard Inn – an idyllic and tiny pub, which serves good beer and honest food. They also left tales of smugglers and wreckers, and a few ghosts, notably our Pilchard Poltergeist, Tom Crocker. Best of all, Burgh Island is beyond the reach of most mobile ‘phone reception, and there is certainly nothing as vulgar The Noël Trail and Samuel French as a TV in the rooms (although there is a thoroughly modern wide-screen TV in The Library). It is truly a great contemporary escape from the pressures of the 21st century and therefore perfect for special weekend or anniversary celebrations. Sunday 23rd June 2007 Burgh Island boasts more proposals of marriage per square inch than any other place in Britain. After a restoration program of over 5 years and more than £2,000,000 later, the renaissance of the hotel is complete. All of the bedrooms now boast the beautiful marble bathrooms that characterize Burgh Island; all of the public rooms have been fully renovated and properly capture the atmosphere of the ‘30s. Outside, the lawns have been landscaped to provide discrete areas where guests can sunbathe, sip Pimms, sit in solitary contemplation or read in peace. The more active swim in the famous mermaid Rock Pool, play tennis or take long costal walks followed by a session in the gym or spa. The works have ensured that the story of Burgh Island will continue well into the 21st century…. The Noël Trail ‘Marvellous Party’ and Samuel French a Noël Coward House Party at the Burgh Island Hotel lease join us on Saturday 23rd June, 2007 at the THE DUKE OF YORK’S o join us next Autumn for a Society weekend at For this special Noël Coward Weekend, The Society has next Society event which will be a guided Lon- ‘London Calling’, Noël Coward and Gertrude Lawrence, The Burgh Island Hotel, Bigbury-on-Sea, South provisionally reserved the entire hotel and all its facilities, don West End Theatre walk beginning with an ex- 1923 Devon, which will be available exclusively to members clusive ‘behind the scenes’ look at Samuel French ‘Easy Virtue’, Joyce Carey and Adrienne Allen, 1926 England, and their guests. The accommodation consists of P London and French’s Theatre Books. Samuel D on Friday ‘Home Chat’, Marda Vanne, 1927 24 double or twin suites or rooms, all of which French, London have been publishing, selling and leasing ‘Waiting in the Wings’, Sybil Thorndike, Graham Payn, 12th, Saturday 13th have sea views and many of which have balconies. plays for performances since 1830. Today they have over Marie Lohr, 1960 and Sunday 14th, Sep- These include: The Noël Coward Suite, The Beach 2,000 playscripts available covering all elements of perform- ‘Private Lives’, Edward de Sousa, Rosemary Martin, 1963. tember 2008 in the House, Malcolm Campbell, Amy Johnson, ing theatre: from comedies to tragedies, sketches to full-scale ‘Hay Fever’, Celia Johnson, Michael Hordern, 1965 presence of our Spe- Josephine Baker, Jessie Matthews, “Fruity” Met- musicals. In addition, the bookshop stocks a comprehensive ‘Noël & Gertie’, Susan Hampshire, Edward Petherbridge, cial Guest of Honour calf, Chirgwin, Cunard, Mountbatten, Gertie range of playscripts and technical books on all aspects of the- and Vice President, 1991 Lawrence, Formby, Hope and Shrimp. atre. Miss Moira Lister. All rooms are of different size, fittings and fur- The event begins at 9.30 a.m. at Samuel French, 52 THE COMEDY Noël Coward nishings and each retains the proportions and pre- Fitzroy Street, London W1. (nearest tube stations: Warren ‘The Vortex’, Noël Coward and Lilian Braithwaite, 1924 booked into the hotel serves the integrity of this rare example of British Street and Great Portland Street) where our host will be NCS ‘Noël and Gertie, Patricia Hodge and Simon Cadell, 1989 for three days, but re- Art Deco style.

Load more