Our last branch meeting of the year was held on 10 December 2011. The Sydney Mechanics’ Institute meeting room was once again filled with members and guests, as well as friends like Jenny Savage visiting from overseas, but sadly with a number of regulars missing, as well, who had given their apologies. They were missed!

Introductory remarks were made by our branch president Judith Hughes, who welcomed us to this celebratory gathering. Her words were followed by the treasurer’s, secretary’s and webmaster’s reports. Our finances are healthy, and the website has many visitors. However, the branch library holdings pose a problem, especially as they are not being utilised by members; a discussion was held about the future of the library. A number of ideas were mooted such as donating books to the Medieval Studies Department of one of the local universities, or to the Mitchell Library. People were happy to have the fiction sold at the upcoming conference in Mittagong, or elsewhere, to add to the branch’s coffers.

We also welcomed Rosemary Burgess’ personal impressions of the Society AGM in the UK, which she had attended.  Judith Hughes and Jacqui Turner told us about the Old Vic production of Shakespeare’s Richard III with Kevin Spacey, which is currently showing in Sydney.

Our full program for the day was delightful and varied, and had obviously required much imagination, work, and rehearsal by our committee, as well as the hard work of several participants from the audience.

First there was a presentation by Julia Redlich about the importance of astrology in Ricardian times, surprisingly joined and assisted in a theatrical vignette by Isolde Martyn as Henry Tudor sharing his intended policies if he were ever king. One example was equality for women, so that they too could lose their heads if they crossed him.

After which there was a Star Signs Quiz, requiring players to match the astrological character description with the right Ricardian personage offered as a multiple choice. With infamously strong characters like Henry VII, Elizabeth Woodville, and Margaret Beaufort, it was a fascinating challenge to try to match them up with the hints. It was actually quite hard but pleasurable work, with most members managing to answer at least some of them correctly, even if by sheer luck, and receiving prizes of chocolates. At the end, it appeared that everyone was munching happily, whether or not they had guessed correctly.

Isolde Martyn (in full medieval male garb), Jenny Savage, and Julia Redlich then presented several Christmas standards rewritten as Ricardian themed parodies, being Henry Tudor’s Christmas List (sung to the tune of the Twelve Days of Christmas) and We Three Kings, with the audience invited to join in on the choruses.

Raffles were drawn then, with many people going home happy with their lovely winnings, along with purchases from the Bring and Buy table which had been laden with the usual appealing fare. Afternoon tea was then provided by the Committee, who always takes such good care of us. It was a lovely ending to another excellent year of programs!

The first meeting of the New Year will be on a different time-table than usual, so please take note: the first Saturday of the month, being 4 February 2012, with an invited guest speaker discussing Medieval Architecture.

Tags: Henry Tudor, NSW Branch, Richard III

A big box with the December 2011 Ricardian Bulletins arrived on Monday, just in time to be distributed at our branch Christmas meeting.

Unfortunately I found that with the majority of them some pages were duplicated while others were missing.  I have been in contact with Stephen, the Distribution Manager in the UK, and he is arranging for replacement.

We would like to thank Stephen for his excellent support.  And we would like to ask our members for a bit of patience – the Bulletins will come!

Tags: NSW Branch, Richard III Society

This coming Saturday, 10 December 2011, we’ll have our last General Meeting for this year.

Julia will tell us everything about ‘Richard III – and the stars’, ie. astrological connections.  Another treat is promised by Isolde’s “Choir”, who will entertain us with seasonal songs with Plantagenet – and Tudor – connections.  And of course there will also be our traditional Christmas celebration.

Make sure you join us at 14h00 at the Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts.  As always, visitors are most welcome.

Tags: NSW Branch

Book Review:  Satin Cinnabar

Barbara Gaskell Denvil, Satin Cinnabar. ISBN 978-1-61842-424-2.  It is available online for all formats, Amazon Kindle, ipad Barnes & Noble etc.

I just finished this novel by our new branch member Barbara Gaskell Denvil and was absolutely delighted.

Satin Cinnabar starts with the protagonist, Alex, regaining consciousness at the end of the Battle of Bosworth, where he and his family and household fought for their King Richard against “the Tudor bastard”, and follow him through the first months of the reign of Henry Tudor.

With him we experience the upheaval the regime change brought to the upper classes, but the novel’s best feature is its description of the lives of ordinary people.  The lives of the servants in the great houses and the working class Londoners are so often missing in historical fiction, but not here.  Barbara’s description is excellent and through it the reader can feel and smell what life would have been like.  Her characterisation is equally strong and we emphasise with her characters.

Thrown in is a murder mystery (yes, the reader gets all the important clues) and a love story.  Love stories in historical fiction can sometimes be a bit cloying, but this one is refreshingly different.

It is a gripping and engrossing story, a real page turner, while maintaining a high level of historical accuracy.  I thought I was a bit over historical fiction, but then this novel came along and I can’t wait to read more by this writer.  A thoroughly enjoyable read, highly recommended!

Read here more about Barbara and the background behind this wonderful story.

Tags: Books, NSW Branch, Richard III

In the ‘Spectrum’ supplement to today’s Sydney Morning Herald and The Age in Melbourne there is an article by Elissa Blake about the Old Vic production of Shakespeare’s Richard III, which is coming to Sydney the coming week.  Should you have a print copy of either paper, you can have a look, otherwise there are links below.

For her article Elissa wanted to get a variety of views of the role.  She talked to John Bell, the artistic director of Bell Shakespeare, who had played the role three times;  to Ewen Leslie, who played Shakespeare’s baddie in last year’s production of the Melbourne Theatre Company; and Pamela Rabe, who played Richard III in the Sydney Theatre Company production of The War of the Roses  in 2009.

However, last but not least, she talked to one of the “enthusiasts in the worldwide Richard III Society”.  Elissa interviewed me by phone about 10 days ago.  It was just a short conversation, but obviously I tried to cram as much information as possible into it – needless to say that only a small part made it into her article.   We welcome Elissa’s interest and appreciate that she was prepared to look past the theatrical Richard to the real Richard.  And we feel  honoured that she left us with the last word in such an illustrious group of interviewees.

You can find the article here:
Sydney Morning Herald
The Age

Tags: NSW Branch, Richard III, Shakespeare

At our AGM on 8 October, the NSW Branch unanimously decided to support the Middleham Church Appeal with a donation of $300.  Of course individual members are also encouraged to think about making a private donation – and I know that some members have done so since we first published the Appeal on our website in September.  However, the branch committee felt it was also important to do something as a branch and to give everyone the opportunity to feel involved.

I’m sure our members will be pleased to know that our contribution, though it might be small in the scope of the repairs needed, did not go unnoticed.  Phil Stone, Chairman of the Richard III Society, send us a ‘thank you’ on behalf of the Appeal and the Executive Committee of the Society saying that it will be appreciated by the folks in Middleham, who would probably not be able to raise the necessary funds on their own.  The Society also thanked us on their Facebook page.

The Church of  St Mary and St Alkelda has such strong Ricardian connections that we would not expect the community of Middleham to shoulder the costs on their own and feel it only right to express our support for Richard III in this way.

Tags: Church, NSW Branch, Richard III Society

The good news this year was that the October 2nd actually fell on a Sunday, our preferred day for our Branch social events.  However what wasn’t such good news was the definitely non-celebratory weather.  The heavens opened and the rain, that would be generally welcomed in our wide brown land, meant that the planned barbecue was not to be.

However this did not deter the small group of New South Wales members who braved early starts to catch the train and a damp misty drive to the Southern Highlands, then enjoyed morning tea with the Ann and David before they gathered at Helen and Allan’s lovely home at Bundanoon.  Aided and abetted by Denise who, with Tony, had journeyed from Canberra, Helen had prepared a delicious lunch to spread before us.

As usual, the conversation was non-stop and entertaining, ranging from great books with accurate sources on the Middle Ages to discovering that some of us had loved the same titles in our childhood.  Helen and Denise had formed their own Richard III Society while still at school, being unaware of another one in the UK, Josephine Tey’s book being their inspiration.

Later in the afternoon there was another viewing of Helen and Denise’s wonderful presentation of “Richard III: the posthumous hunchback” before farewells were made.

Tags: NSW Branch

This was an all-important meeting, time to review the year gone by and to highlight plans for the year ahead. Judith, our Chairperson, welcomed us all, and regretted the absence of those who couldn’t make the meeting. She then gave a summary of our Ricardian year of 2010 – 2011: the many interesting talks that had been given, such Dorothea’s account of the “Blood and Roses” weekend at Oxford, Dr Penny Bishop’s talk on plagues and pestilences in the Middle Ages , Isolde Martyn on life in Medieval London and the always interesting and innovative Scrabble talks.

Several branch members had attended the biennial Australasian Convention in Melbourne, and Kevin, Julia, Helen and Denise had contributed presentations.

Judith thanked all the committee members for their hard work and contribution during the year, especially welcoming Judy who had joined us mid-year as Treasurer, easing Dorothea’s workload. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Church, NSW Branch

We are delighted to welcome a new member to our branch, Barbara Gaskell Denvil.

As I’ve just joined the Richard III Society, NSW Branch, I thought I should introduce myself.

I actually live in Victoria, but having received a strong recommendation from a friend to seek out the inestimable Dorothea Preis, I decided to do just that.

I’m an author, and I’ve recently published my first novel FAIR WEATHER (by BARBARA GASKELL DENVIL $2.99 Amazon Kindle and soon on smashwords.com for all other e.book devices) which is a fantasy set in medieval England around the early 1200s. There’s a fair chunk of historical content, but the basic plot is pure fantasy. It seems quite popular so far and has received some good reviews.

However, my main passion is later medieval history and the life and times of Richard III in particular, which I’ve been researching for years.  My next book which is due out within the month, starts on 22nd August 1485, and covers the first months of Henry VII’s reign. This is called SATIN CINNABAR and several members of the RIIISoc in the UK have been kind enough to give it a firm thumbs up.

I was born in England (near Gloucester, which seems apt) and I hold joint citizenship but have been living here in semi rural isolation for the past 15 years.  I spent the middle years of my life living on a yacht and sailing the Mediterranean, so probably it’s high time I settled down – though itchy feet still keep me restless and dreaming.

Now retired, I’m delighted to take up the love of my youth and once again start writing. When much younger I worked for Books and Bookmen as a critic and reviewer, and published numerous short stories and articles but all that seems centuries ago.  Now the flocks of parrots and the odd wallaby in the garden seems to add piquancy to the medieval intrigues which so inspire me.

I’m delighted to have finally joined the Society, and look forward to many further years of learning – and writing – about Good King Richard.

With the best of luck to all of you.

Cheers, Barbara

Please feel free to visit Barbara’s blog!

Tags: Books, NSW Branch, Ricardian Authors