Evenings Of Ten Pin Bowling In Romford With Z/Yen & The Children’s Society Crowd, 3 December 1998 & 15 February 1999

Photo by Xiaphias, CC BY-SA 3.0

My memories from these particular evenings are fairly impressionistic.

We had good turnout from the Z/Yen crowd, despite the fact that none of us were really into ten-pin bowling. The Children’s Society (TCS) turnout was not as good, although Charles Bartlett and Tony Duggan were into ten-pin bowling.

I think one of these evenings must have been the first time I met Dot Bartlett. Probably the second one when Janie also came along.

Despite Charles’s constant jokes about Romford being a gangsta’s paradise, the Romford bowling alleys we attended seemed remarkably peaceful and friendly. Perhaps Charles made it known to the Romford underworld that he was being visited by people he considered to be family and that, therefore, “this ain’t your night”. Ever “Charley the Gent Malloy”, is Chas.

I say alleys rather than alley, as I think we went to a different place each time. Perhaps the place known 25 years later as Namco Funscape the first time, then a place now known as Rollerball the second time.

I remember Elisabeth Mainelli doing exceptionally well, especially on that first occasion, having said that she had never so much as seen a ten-pin bowling alley before.

Charles insisted on having Teresa Bestard (who worked for Z/Yen but was doing a lot of work with TCS at that time) on his team. I don’t think this was a tactical move in the matter of improving the standard of his team, but it was an attempt to even up the sides, at least numbers-wise.

Naturally TCS prevailed the first time regardless of the intricacies of team selection and numbers.

In kicking off the arrangements for the second event, I wrote:

I promised to come up with some Monday dates for bowling.  Janie is currently keeping Monday 8 February and Monday 15 February evenings free.  If you recall, we plugged for Monday evening to enable Dean Burnell to attend.

The Z/Yen team been training hard for many weeks now.  I’m not sure whether the management skills training will help the bowling – we’ll find out.

Chas replied:

Both dates are good for me although the second date (15 Feb) probably best as I am on leave to whole week prior to the 8th Feb and it would be helpful that I am around.

How many do you anticipate from Z/Yen for the ritual slaughter?

regards

Charles.

It might or might not have been ritual slaughter. I seem to recall Z/Yen doing a bit better second time around. But my main memory of the event was Janie trying to put Chas off while he was bowling, by wandering down the side of the lane, within his peripheral view, staring like an avid fan at Chas preparing his shot.

Chas got really discombobulated by this trick, claiming a complete inability to concentrate, keep a straight face and/or complete his bowl.

I think Chas might be over it by now, 25 years later. I have a feeling it didn’t stop TCS from winning again.

Chas was over it by 12 September 2005, when we saw England regain The Ashes at The Oval

Tony & Sheila Shaw For Dinner At Clanricarde Gardens, 13 February 1999

Dumbo latterly shows off my pad in Clanricrde Gardens

I rented my flat in Clanricarde Gardens between 1988 and 1999. The story of me finding the flat is writ – click here or below:

Flat Hunting In Earnest, 23 to 25 November 1988

I was on very good terms with the owners, Tony & Sheila Shaw. They also very much took to Janie.

By early 1999 I had decided that it was time for me to buy a flat and that I would buy one very much like the flat I was renting from Tony & Sheila…if not, that very one.

We invited Tony & Sheila around for dinner and I told them of my plans.

Tony & Sheila told me that they half expected to be hearing that news and that they wondered whether I might wish to buy that flat from them.

Hence we hatched a plan to get a few independent valuations, average them and transact privately…

…which we did.

Simples.

Steuerman Does Goldberg At The Wigmore Hall, 11 February 1999

Unusual for us to go to a concert on a Thursday evening in those days. I don’t think I’d yet heard The Goldberg Variations live and was keen to do so.

Jean-Louis Steuerman, that boy can sure tinkle the ivories.

Take my word for it.

Actually, no need for you to take my word for it – here’s that very chap playing that very aria:

I told you he can play.

The Day We Went To the Oriental Restaurant In The Dorchester Hotel And Later Ran Out Of Monet, 1 February 1999

Did you see what I did there?

Janie and I had a day off.

We went to the Dorcheter Hotel for lunch at the Oriental Restaurant. We had been dying to try the place and had been tipped off that the lunchtime offering was a much better deal than the evening meal.

We both remember it being excellent scoff.

Jay Rayner in The guardian wrote up the notion of going to the place for lunch a few years after we worked that out. I don’t recall our lunchtime meal revolving around dim sum – I think that was a later lunchtime innovation there.

Then on to the Royal Academy to see Monet In The 20th Century, which was an excellent exhibition.

Big thumbs up from Laura Cumming in The Observer:

Monet Cumming ObserverMonet Cumming Observer 24 Jan 1999, Sun The Observer (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Sebastian Faulks in The Standard seemed less sure.

Monet Faulks StandardMonet Faulks Standard 22 Jan 1999, Fri Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

The Forest by Alexander Ostrovsky, Lyttelton Theatre, 30 January 1999

Oh dear! I wrote the following in my log:

It was so bad we walked out at half time.

In those days, that meant REALLY bad.

Here is a link to the Theatricalia entry.

Nicholas de Jongh liked it:

Forest de Jongh StandardForest de Jongh Standard 29 Jan 1999, Fri Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Our friend, Michael Billington in The Guardian, also liked it:

Forest Billington GuardianForest Billington Guardian 30 Jan 1999, Sat The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Susannah Clapp in the Observer was a little more equivocal:

Forest Clapp ObserverForest Clapp Observer 31 Jan 1999, Sun The Observer (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

While Robert Butler in The Sunday Indy didn’t really like it, finding it TV cosy in the way that probably put us right off:

Forest Butler IndependentForest Butler Independent 31 Jan 1999, Sun The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Summer by Edward Bond, Questors Playhouse, 29 January 1999

I logged that this play/production was:

One of the best things I have seen at The Questors.

Praise indeed.

Here is a link to The Questors archive page for this play/production.

We went with The Duchess, as was always the case at The Questors. She was a member and got a certain number of guest passes “thrown in” with her membership. She was determined to take advantage of those.

Janie’s diary informs me that she collected oxtail that earlier day and that we all went to Mama Amalfi for dinner after the show.

Guiding Star by Jonathan Harvey, Cottesloe Theatre, 9 January 1999

The log is unusually silent about this event. Especially unusual, as I was regularly recording my thoughts, even if just solo word, at that time.

I suspect this means that we didn’t think much of the piece/production but didn’t want to rubbish it.

Our diaries are also silent on what we did afterwards, other than a note in Janie’s diary to expect the show to end no earlier than 10pm. I suspect we picked up shawarmas on our way home.

Here is the Theatricalia entry for this play/production.

Nicholas de Jongh in The Standard was quite vocal in not liking the play:

Guiding Star de Jongh StandardGuiding Star de Jongh Standard 12 Nov 1998, Thu Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

John Gross was similarly unimpressed in the Sunday Telegraph.

Guiding Gross Sunday TelegraphGuiding Gross Sunday Telegraph 15 Nov 1998, Sun Sunday Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Kontrabande At The Wigmore Hall, 6 January 1999

25 years ago, Janie and I decided to party like it’s 1999 at the start of 1999. What better to do that than a concert of baroque music at The Wigmore Hall.

These are the pieces we heard/saw:

  • Cantata “Cessate Omai Cessate”, Antonio Lucio Vivaldi
  • Sinfonia to Cantata BWV 49, Johann Sebastian Bach
  • Concerto for Oboe d’Amore BWV 1055 (also transcribed Harpsicord), Johann Sebastian Bach
  • Cantata BWV 82 “Ich Habe Genug”, Johann Sebastian Bach
  • Concerto for Viola da Gamba and Recorder in A Minor, Georg Philipp Telemann
  • Cantata BWV 170 “Vergnugte Ruh”, Johann Sebastian Bach.

The Standard previewed the concert thusly:

Standard Kontrabande 6 Jan 1999Standard Kontrabande 6 Jan 1999 06 Jan 1999, Wed Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Perhaps there was a change of programme or perhaps my notes missed out the Handel by mistake. I’ll check back to the programme when next I can face the thought of an archaeological dig into my programme collection.

For sure we saw the small chamber ensemble, Kontrabande, with Charles Humphries doing the counter-tenor bit and Clare Salaman on the baroque violin. Sadly, I learn that Clare, who was an expert on strange and ancient instruments, didn’t make it to the 25th anniversary of this Kontrabande concert.

Here’s a video of Clare playing a strange and ancient instrument – the nyckelharpa – I don’t believe I have ever seen this instrument played live:

Here is an audio YouTube of Charles Humphries singing one of the Bach arias we heard, vergnugte Ruh, accompanied by Kontrabande:

While here is the Bremer Baroque Orchestra (similar scale to Kontrabande if I remember correctly) playing the very Telemann concerto we heard back then:

The Weir by Conor McPherson, Duke of York’s Theatre, 2 January 1999

With the Royal Court in exile, we missed the original “Upstairs” version of this at the Ambassadors. With all the stuff we had been dealing with in 1998, this one almost passed us by completely when it transferred “downstairs” to The Duke of York’s. So when the Duke of York’s production returned to that Royal Court “home in exile”, at the start of 1999, to kick off a major tour, we booked early and were there at the outset.

Excellent play and production

I wrote.

That was to say the least. It was truly memorable and awe-inspiring drama. No wonder many critics had fawned over it when it first came out in 1997.

Here’s John Gross in The Sunday Telegraph:

Weir Gross Sunday TelegraphWeir Gross Sunday Telegraph 13 Jul 1997, Sun Sunday Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Nicholas de Jongh thought that the Royal Court overdid Irish drama, but still liked this one:

Weir de Jongh StandardWeir de Jongh Standard 11 Jul 1997, Fri Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Charles Spencer thought it superb:

Weir Telegraph SpencerWeir Telegraph Spencer 14 Jul 1997, Mon The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

We saw a great cast and crew – most if not all the originals – Kieran Ahern, Brendan Coyle, Dermot Crowley, Michelle Fairley and Jim Norton acting, Ian Rickson directing. Here is a link to the Theatricalia entry for the production we saw. It was a privilege to have seen that production.

A Wild Time In Late December 1998: Three Events

Photo by Richard Bartz, Munich Makro Freak, CC BY-SA 2.5

Michael Mainelli’s Birthday Party Aboard Lady Daphne In St Katherine’s Dock, 19 December 1998

Fret not, we were below for this party

Quite a big do. This was Michael’s 40th. Live music if I remember correctly. All the usual suspects were there. And us.

In those days you didn’t take a gazillion pictures at parties. Perhaps someone did take pictures, but I don’t recall seeing any from this party. If Michael and Elisabeth have some and want to provide digital versions thereof, I’ll gladly put a few of them into this article.

We ate, we drank, we danced, we made merry. it was a party.

Christmas Lunch At My Parent’s Place, 25 December 1998

There’s little in the diary about this, other than a tell-tale note that the taxi would cost £32, which was almost certainly an Ealing to Streatham price in those days.

I suspect that Jacqueline, Len and Hils were there that year. I also suspect that this was one of the last times, if not the last time, that my mum did Christmas day at Woodfield Avenue.

It will have been turkey for main, I’m pretty sure.

A Wild Boar Dinner At Sandall Close, Sunday 27 December 1998

The tell-tale note in Janie’s diary is an order for a rack of wild boar from Harvey Nicholls “for next Sunday”. This was one of Janie’s specialities at that time and boy was it good. We have never since found a source of excellent wild boar rack since Harvey Nicks stopped doing it.

The cast for that evening (again made clear from Janie’s diary) was Kim & Micky, Anthea [Simms] & Mitchell [Sams], plus Rupert [Stubbs] & Ana. Janie rather impressively remembered that Ana was Ana Limbrick, who (as well as dating Rupert at that time) was, indeed still is, a physiotherapist to whom Janie occasionally refers clients.

It will have been a jolly evening, despite the fact that several of the guests no doubt said “what a boar” when praising the meal.