We are looking forward to welcoming Dr Penny Bishop to our General Meeting on Saturday, 12 February 2011, at 14h00.  Penny will talk on “Plagues and Pestilences in the Middle Ages”, which promises to be a fascinating and informative talk.

Don’t forget, our meetings are not just for members, but visitors are always more than welcome.

Although it wasn’t a special date on the Ricardian calendar for us, it was decided it would be a good idea to replace our old January Picnic in the Park with another informal social event. Because we all enjoyed our Ricardian Birthday Lunch last October at the Sutton Forest Inn, a small group of members headed back there, meeting up with a welcome Canberra contingent as well as members and friends from the Southern Highlands.

After meeting the train at Bowral for the Sydney members, David Chandler took us on the scenic route to Sutton Forest via Berrima, stopping at a lookout over Bowral, old Berrima Gaol and the lovely church where his and Ann’s daughter will be married in mid February.

We loved our special table in the sunny bistro and as usual it was conversation, frequently about Richard and his life and times of course. Other catch-up stories and laughter were interspersed with appreciative murmurs of the delightful menu choices, and pauses for agonising decisions whether to give in to the temptations of home-made desserts. Some yielded and voted the penance they would have to pay was well worthwhile.

Naturally we didn’t forget the reason why the gathering was taking place was because of our interest and loyalty to the Richard III Society. The toast to King Richard was strong affirmation.

Our members and friends in the Canberra area are unfortunately too far away to often attend our regular meetings in Sydney.  However, nothing stops Ricardians and so they meet informally among themselves.  They put the recent free day, Australia Day on 26 January, to good use for a Ricardian get-together.  Here is their report.

Canberra based Ricardians gathered on Australia Day at Gillian’s home to watch the defense portion of the 1985 Trial of Richard III.

We had watched the Prosecution section in late September.

An enjoyable way to spend a hot Australia Day afternoon, celebrated with some appropriate Australian food for afternoon tea.

If you live in Canberra or the surrounding area you are most welcome to get in touch with your local Ricardians at canberra@richardiii-nsw.org.au.

It is a couple of years since we abandoned our customary January Picnic in the Park (ie. the Botanic gardens), mainly because of appalling wet weather on occasions and the increasing problem of parking in the city.

However, because some people have suggested a similar informal event would be fun, we are planning another visit to enjoy the wonderful menu at the Sutton Forest Inn in the Southern Highlands.  The date will be Saturday, 29 January,  when everyone should be home from the holidays;  the time:  12 noon.  As before food and drinks will be paid for individually to avoid all the paperwork at the end of a great gathering.

If you would like to be there, please advise our Social Secretary Jane by email on social@richardiii-new.org.au .  We shall need to know numbers by Saturday, 22 January, so please let her know as soon as possible.  Also tell her if you will be driving there (plenty of parking) or would like to go by train and be picked up at Bowral station.  Our master of public transport timetables, Kevin, will advise on times when we know who is coming.

The last meeting of the year was held on 11 December 2010. The Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts meeting room was filled to capacity with old members and new, and friends visiting from other branches.

Introductory remarks were made by the chairperson Judith who welcomed new members Rosemary and Peter Ingle as well as Jenny Savage, who was visiting from the UK, followed by the treasurer’s, librarian’s and webmaster’s reports – all being from our dedicated Dorothea who assured us that everything is in good shape. The social secretaries, Xavier and Jane, reported that they are busy planning the March luncheon and will have details for us at the next meeting in February. Julia Redlich reminded everyone that the deadline to register for the Melbourne Richard III conference to be held next August is late January.

Our program for the day was an excellent in-depth study of medieval pottery entitled Water, Earth and Fire: Medieval Pottery in Europe presented by Dorothea whose grasp of the subject was impressive.

Just before breaking for afternoon tea, Julia Redlich treated us to a delightful theatrical offering about a school play gone wrong which had everyone laughing and remembering similar disasters from their own thespian efforts during long-ago school days.

After the break we had a very challenging contest of identification of Ricardian landmarks, emblems, flags and statues offered by Judith, and the raffles were drawn with many people going home happy with their winnings, and purchases from the Bring and Buy table which had been laden with  goodies. The next meeting will be on 12 February 2011, with invited guest speaker Penny Bishop presenting her work on the Plagues and Pestilences in the Middle Ages.

This is just to remind you about our last meeting for 2010 on Saturday, 11 December; at the usual time of 14h00 at the Sydney Mechanics School of Arts, 280 Pitt Street, Sydney.

Dorothea Preis will be talking about Medieval Pottery, Judith Hughes has something very interesting to test your skills, and there will be something light-hearted from myself.  And, of course, we shall enjoy our usual Christmas celebration tea.  Judith has suggested that those of you bringing a plate of something delicious to enjoy might like to keep plates to a modest size rather than present a plethora of platters!

Another Christmas item will be a Bring and Buy Stall with our usual suggestion of “bring two and buy two” – which of course doesn’t prevent you bringing more and buying more! This is a great opportunity to find small, useful gifts for guests – invited and unexpected – who visit you at Christmas time.

The next Affinity Newsletter will be sent out in the New Year when we will have more information for our activities in 2011.

The committee hopes to see many of you on 11 December.

On Saturday 9 October 2010, 21 Members and Friends of the NSW Branch of the Richard III Society gathered for our AGM. The interest was high as there was to be a two-part talk given by long-time member Win Tonkin after the business of the day had been concluded. We were pleased to welcome Rosemary back to the group, as well as our Friend from the Dorset, UK, Richard III Society Group, Babs Creamer, who was in Australia to attend her grandson’s 18th birthday party. Read the rest of this entry »

Just a short reminder that this Saturday, 9 October 2010, our AGM will be held at the usual time of 14h00 at The Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts, 280 Pitt Street, Sydney.  All members and friends are invited and visitors are – as always – most welcome.

After the official part is over, Win will speak on The Honours of Scotland and the Stone of Destiny.  We are looking forward to her talk on this fascinating subject.

Hope to see you on Saturday!

Sunday, October 3, saw a good crowd of members and friends of the New South Wales Branch head to the Southern Highlands for a celebration lunch to remember the anniversary of Richard III’s birthday on October 2, 1452.  Joining them there were those from Mittagong, Bowral and Bundanoon, as well as a contingent from Canberra, and a special overseas friend:  Babs Creamer, Secretary of the Dorset Group of the Richard III Society in the UK.

The weather was truly dreadful, but the continuous downpour did nothing to dampen our spirits from the moment we arrived at the Sutton Forest Inn and entered the bar lounge where a boar’s head on the wall made us feel quite at home.  (Memo to management: it should have been a white boar to be perfect!).

When we were all assembled we headed into the delightful bistro dining room – large, and light-filled, overlooking the paddocks beyond, with warm timber tables and chairs – and a glorious log fire.  Outside the covered stage for the jazz festival was assembled and a local winery had its wares ready for tasting.

Ricardians however concentrated on the magnificent menu, agonising over which delicious sounding dish to select- and all our choices were pronounced wonderful, beautifully cooked and presented.  Little wonder that only a few brave souls went on to sample those delicious desserts.  Chocolate sherry mousse anyone?

With a huge amount of guests for the afternoon, the wait staff did their cheerful best to deliver our choices and most of us wondered how the unseen geniuses in the kitchen were coping with the demand.

We all had a great time, with the usual good conversation and laughter throughout.  The general consensus: we’ll be back!