Issue 1
Here I am at the risk of my life!
SavoyNet Dinner
Memorabilia Fair
Here I am at the risk of my life!
Emirate Airlines logo kept appearing on TV while the victorious Aussie world cup winning cricketers were feted around the country, which seemed a good enough reason to hop on board one of their jets to bring me across the world to Buxton. And very well they conveyed me too - Qantas will have to look to its laurels!
The D'Oyly Carte opened in London the day before the Festival opened allowing me to take an even longer busman's holiday. Their H.M.S. Pinafore at the Royal Festival Hall was a bright little craft which had advanced the period of the opera to around the first world war. It had a full orchestra (which was a relief and began with a basso profundo note of a ship's siren leading into the orchestra. While the opera went off with a flourish and was well received by the large audience, there was a certain lack of depth of characterisation from several of the male principals.
Upwards and on-wards! Rising early the next morning and humming "at last I go Buxtonwards" (which didn't scan but I don't sing in tune anyway so it really didn't matter) I set off beyond the known land of London's civilisation, in time to arrive for the Symposium which opened the festival. This was a chatfest to savour. Great erudition flowed and amiable men kept coming up and shaking everyone's hand and saying "welcome to Buxton, my name's Smith" obviously a local greeting ceremony.
The town itself is compact with everything seeming to happen within meters of the Opera House, or is it just a marvellous illusion that the only things that seem to matter are G&S Festival related.
The entire world seems to be here and everyone knows everyone else or soon will! What appeared to be family reunions were happening all over the place. Each newcomer is absorbed into the family unit on arrival.
So the land of warm beer and bad cricket isn't so bad for an itinerant Aussie after all! Someone even produced some vegemite at breakfast!
Memorabilia Fair
"You wouldn't like to put down a deposit, perhaps?
Chris Webster relaxes after two days of plying his wares at the memorabilia fair.
As always, the abundance of G&S goodies on offer resulted in everybody exceeding their budgets. A distinguished member of
the Sir Arthur Sullivan Society was seen excitedly clutching a letter written by his hero. If you were lucky and
had bought books by Ian Bradley, Cynthia Morey or Terrence Rees you would have been able to get them autographed by the authors.
Cynthia Morey - "Inclined to Dance and Sing" (and sell her autobiography)
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SavoyNet Dinner!
Hungry SavoyNetters assemble outside the Opera House
What may well have been the largest gathering of SavoyNetters in one
physical location happened on the evening of 30th July 1999 at the Kwei Lin Chinese Restaurant - a stone's
throw from the Opera House in Buxton. Over beer and tea, chicken and
cashews, beef and green peppers, spring rolls, spare ribs and crispy
seaweed, 63 certified (and certifiable ?) SavoyNetters gathered for dinner
and to have a high old time. We took over the entire ground floor of the
restaurant, forcing them to serve their more normal customers in what Mr.
Bouncer would, no doubt, call The HAttics. If not the largest gathering,
it was certainly the gathering from the most distant regions, as those in
attendance came from several parts of the United Kingdom, from the US and
Canada, and from Australia, and perhaps elsewhere.
After a sumptuous dinner which far exceeded the possibilities offered by a
plate of macaroni and a rusk, David Duffy moderated an elimination game in
which he would call on a table at random and each in turn would have to
sing a song from G&S which began with the next letter of the alphabet, or
be eliminated from play. As, for example, the first table needed a song
beginning with "A", such as "Away, away, My heart's on Fire." The second
table needed a song that began with "B",and so forth. Eliminating the
letters "Q", "X", and "Z" as being somehow inappropriate for this effort
(imagine "Z" being inappropriate for anything!), we made it completely
through the alphabet with only one, or perhaps two eliminations, depending
on whose rules you applied at any given moment.
Following a rousing Hail Poetry, David spoke briefly, acknowledging in
particular, the efforts of Ralph MacPhail as central to the current
vitality of SavoyNet. Marc Shephard spoke, observing that this is a
Gilbertian style of topsyturvy reunion. Most reunons are gatherings where
you see old friends you have not seen in years. But SavoyNet gathers to
see people we have never met, but know well and expect to see in the
future. Marc also acknowledged the contribution of Bill Venman, the one
who actually did what was needed to begin SavoyNetet, and of Ralph and
Bridgewater College, who obtained/provided the technical resources that
allowed it to survive and grow. Sam Silver rose to acknowledge the efforts
of Bob and Jackie Richards, who organized the dinner, arranged for the
Ruddigore t-shirts, and generally kept things moving smoothly.
About this time, Bob Richards announced that the proprietor's daughter,
Wing, would have her birthday tomorrow. This resulted in a SavoyNet round
of "Happy Birthday." Someone who shall remain nameless then pointed out
that another member of our party was in the same condition. I suggested
that this called for singing the first number in Pirates, given the fact
that he has been recently released from his indentures as SavoyNet
Listmaster. This suggestion was completely drowned in an communal urge to
honor him with "Eagle High," conducted by Larry Garvin. A speech was then
demanded. Ralph obliged, noting his regret at not being able to be present
for or participate in the SavoyNet Ruddigore. He must leave Buxton on
Saturday, but will stop long enough to see the New D'Oyly Carte perform
Pinafore on Sunday. He noted that Saturday is the anniversary of the
Pinafore Scene Riots during the original run of the work, when minions of
the backers of the Comedy Opera Company tried to capture the sets while a
performance was still in progress, the night before the performance rights
transfered to D'Oyly Carte's Opera Company.
As Jackie collected the money to pay the restaurant (If she is not around
look for her in Barbados), we began to leave the restaurant, some
for bed and some for the Cabaret. A 'Netter's work is never done, I
suppose.
List of Attendees:
Adrian Bridgman | | Andrew Crowther |
Angie Arnell and John Penn | | Anne Allwright |
Bob and Jackie Richards | | Carole Round |
Celia Perry | | Chris Wain |
Clive Woods | | Dave Kirby |
David and Celia Craig | | David and Jill Duffey |
Denise Wicken | | Derek and Phyllis Owen |
Diana Burleigh | | Don Smith |
Gordon Pascoe | | Ian Hollamby & Anne Perryman |
Irv Hodgkin | | James and Gail Lockwood |
Jeremy and Rosemary Stevenson | | Julie Bjerregaard |
Karen Ann Loxley | | Kelsey Thornton |
Larry and Robin Garvin | | Larry, Ann and Kay Byler |
Lisa Berglund | | Marc Shepherd |
Mike Nash | | Mike Storie |
Paul Cohen & Bobbie Herman | | Peter Parker |
Peter Withey | | Peter Zavon |
Ralph McPhail | | Richard Stockton & Sue Prior |
Samuel Silvers | | Shani D'Cruze & Jeff St Clair |
Sharon Bridle | | Stephen Hill |
Sylvia & Fleur Greinig | | Sandra & Sarah Vamplew (and Mum) |
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