RSC ‘Behind the Scenes tour

On a beautiful sunny day, 14 of us enjoyed a hearty lunch at the Dirty Duck in Stratford-upon-Avon. Inspired by the pub’s link with the world of theatre we then made our way to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre for a ‘Behind the Scenes’ tour of the main theatre and the Swan Theatre. We were joined by two more old codgers and then split into two groups for the tour.

What a fascinating visit! We had two excellent guides who took us all round the two theatres and other parts of the building. We learned so many interesting things.

For example

  • That the RSC is the second largest employer in Stratford with about 800 employees. Plus more freelancers and contract workers for various productions.
  • That the multi-award winning “Matilda the Musical” started in Stratford, is still touring in the UK and other countries, and is still the RSC’s main money earner.
  • That in 1928 there was an open competition for designs for the new theatre. It attracted worldwide interest and was judged anonymously. When the winner was revealed to be (shock! horror!) a woman 😳, called Elisabeth Scott, it was too much for many of the misogynous commentators of the day (so not much has changed then, we said).
  • That the RSC make all the wigs they require in-house. The wigs all use real human hair. We learnt that grey hair is very valuable for wig making as it is the hardest and most expensive to obtain! Some members perked up at the prospect of earning a bit of money on the side – till they learned that it had to be grown very long before it was marketable.

After the hour-long tour, we spent some time looking at the excellent exhibition. We left the RSC with all our (grey) hair (those of us who have any, that is), keen to encourage friends and family to sign up for the tour themselves.

A walk through Leamington

Ten MIRTH stalwarts braved the cold to set off on the monthly MIRTH walk on 9th January. They were not put off by the sub-zero temperature. Nor were they afraid of a ‘feels like’ temperature of minus six (yes! -6 C). Rather they revelled in the beautiful sunshine and the warm company. They strolled from Newbold Common through Jephson Gardens and the Pump Room Gardens along the river to Victoria Park. There they diverted briefly to see the plaque which marks the high water level of the floods of April 1998. Then back in to the park to enjoy the exercise machines which have obviously made them all such models of good health with such fine bodies (editor’s note: if you believe this, you’ll believe anything! Note they are all wearing so much clothing that you can’t tell anything about their bodies …).

On their way back through Leamington, some of them dropped into The Fold – the newly opened, flexible, creative working space recently opened in the old United Reform Church on Spencer Street. What an impressive space it now is – though perhaps a little pricey for us to use as a MIRTH command centre,

Once back at the Newbold Comyn Leisure Centre, they declined the opportunity to hone their bodies even more and settled for a fine good value Seniors Lunch at the Rugby Tavern.

A Walk through Cubbington and Lillington

Despite the weather forecast, a group of 9 men turned up for a walk around Cubbington and Lillington villages. Richard had arranged this walk on paths as the recent wet weather had made the ground very wet.

We set off from St Mary’s Church, Cubbington passing through the cricket ground to Windmill Hill. (Richard told us something about the history of this place.)

Soon the weather turned. As you can see in the photos the group got very wet. We continued with the walk as by now we had no option.

Many of the members had lived in the area for many years but there are always things you notice when walking.

As we returned through Cubbington we came across Ledbrook Hall. A large opening had been bricked up in the building and a heated debate took place among the Mirth members. Had it been a door or a window? (See photo below). To find the answer you can see a photo on this website. https://www.ourwarwickshire.org.uk/content/catalogue_wow/cubbington-ledbrook-hall.

By the time we reached our cars we had dried off we all headed to the Rugby Tavern for lunch.

MIRTH Christmas Dinner

The Windmill Inn was the select venue for our annual Christmas Dinner, on 5th December this year. Thirteen MIRTHers and seven spouses had made their choices from a very appetising menu, (and 19 of the 20 managed to arrive at the Inn on time!).

The spirit of the season was evident in the Christmas jumpers and the pulling of Christmas crackers – which produced the usual groans at the corny jokes.
There was animated conversation along the two tables – but about what topics you may wonder.

The more raucous table was apparently discussing the merits and demerits of different toilet paper products (!!??).
The other table meanwhile was demonstrating how bang up to date our old codgers are (editor’s note: how up to date one of them is …) by comparing their understanding of the Oxford Word of the Year “rizz”* with equivalent terminology from their own youth. Yes – they wallowed in nostalgia for a while ;).

So what will be the word of the year next time we gather?

  • editor’s note: “rizz” denotes style, charm, or attractiveness, particularly in attracting a romantic or sexual partner. It’s the language of Gen Z and TikTok …” but not yet of MIRTH, it seems 😉

The “Cross of Nails”

Eighteen of us gathered for lunch in St Paul’s, then settled in the lounge to listen to Canon Graeme Pringle talk about the “Cross of Nails”. He began by detailing the waves of the “Moonlight Sonata” air raid on Coventry during the awful night of 14-15 November 1940, and showed us what the city looked like the following day. He also showed us a picture of what the Provost of the Cathedral scrawled on the broken wall behind the altar: “Father forgive” (now more impressive in gold lettering) – and explained how powerful these words became, not just in Coventry and around the UK, but also in Germany and many other countries. He had more photos of the original ‘cross of nails’ which the Provost made out of three long nails from the destroyed building, and set up on the altar. This symbol is now integrated into the logo of the Diocese of Coventry. We learned of the development of the Community of Cross of Nails, which has become a network of 260 organisations in 45 countries on five continents. Most of the partners are in Germany, the UK, Ireland and the USA. The Coventry Diocese has on its staff a Canon for Reconciliation Ministry – a full time post, which was filled by Justin Welby, our current Archbishop of Canterbury, when he was based at Coventry Cathedral. He still wears a cross of nails – as you can see in the photo of him with Desmond Tutu. Graeme shared with us the ‘Litany of reconciliation’, prayed regularly by the Community. And emphasised how a focus on reconciliation is a key priority for people and churches in Coventry today. What a very moving and informative talk.

The Lawfords and The Old Smithy

Imagine our disgust!

We were walking peacefully along Ling Lane, near Lawford Heath, when we saw beside the road … ugly evidence of fly tipping! Our members were of course outraged – as you can see from the photo. But we continued on our way and came to a field with a fine crop of plants which we could not immediately identify with confidence. Undeterred, two of our members took out their mobile phones and with their apps were able to specify two different varieties of mustard plus a white flowered radish.

This meant that when we returned to Church Lawford for lunch in The Old Smithy, we were free to ruminate on the meaning of life and other profound philosophical fancies … such as why one member seems irresistibly drawn to order the Moby Dick each time!

MIRTH Xtra – Curry night

Gian came to Leamington from the Punjab as a boy and was soon learning how to cook and clean for his dad and seven housemates who were working shifts at local foundries. Ever since then he’s been cooking for family, friends and colleagues. He spent 40 years working in the Warwickshire County Council finance department.

Gian kindly agreed to cook for some 60 people who turned up on Friday 10th of November for the MIRTH special event (that stands for: Men In Retirement Together Having … in this case: Curry!).

Organiser and MC Terry Salter asked Gian to explain his cooking technique for the culinary benefit of the assembled gathering. And he also got Gian to talk about his life in Leamington: how he integrated into local life; how he became a Christian, and how his family accepted that. His audience were fascinated by Gian’s tales of his life in India and Leamington. And they thoroughly enjoyed his beef curry!

Your good health – Dr Peter Davis

On 17th October, 22 of us gathered in St Paul’s to hear excellent advice from our own Dr Peter Davis, talking about how to stay healthy. He reminded us of some general tips, like getting plenty of exercise (and gentle exercise is fine if we are no longer at peak performance levels 😉) plus ensuring we eat sensibly. He picked up that theme by showing us how colourfully we should eat – meaning we should aim to have lots of different fruits and vegetables – up to 30 per week say some experts.

He then focused on arthritis and pointed out that 60% of people over 60 suffer from some form or other, going up to 80% of folk over 80 years of age. He talked of how common osteoarthritis is these days – that’s the “wear and tear’ version – while rheumatoid arthritis (usually genetic) is more rare and can be more challenging.

There was lots of interaction and we felt that Peter had led a really helpful and informative session in a way which was extremely accessible to us all. We’re now looking forward to part 3 next year …

Kingston Estate, Chesterton

On Tuesday 11th October, nine of us set off on a misty morning to walk around the Kingston Estate, Chesterton.
We appreciated the gentle paths, the beautiful views, the fish ponds and the meticulously kept farm buildings (we were certainly never going to risk trespassing!).
We were nearly attacked by literally hundreds of ducks who walked noisily right up to us. This of course got us thinking about lunch … and though there was no Peking duck on the menu, 10 of us enjoyed the ‘senior citizens’ options at one of our favourite pubs – The Fox & Hen, at Bascote Heath.

Stratford Armouries

On 19th September, 16 of us met up at The Boar’’s Head in Hampton Lucy for a very enjoyable lunch – filled with tasty food and stimulating company.
We then proceeded to Stratford Armouries where Terry had arranged for David Baulk to give us a special tour of the ‘Pegasus’ exhibition – about one of the most famous elements of the Normandy landings in 1944. We were then free to to look around the rest of the exhibits – and discuss which of our MIRTH members were most like Churchill (answers on a postcard please to …😉)