TOOTING FOLK AND BLUES FESTIVAL 4th August 2018

Ellen and Gabriel, the founders and organisers of the Tooting Folk and Blues Festival.

The Tooting Folk and Blues festival took place on Saturday the 4^th August between 12pm and 7 pm. It has been held for the last four years on that piece of Tooting Common situated by the corner of Dr Johnson Avenue and Tooting Bec Road opposite the Streatham estate. Saturdays event went some way to relieve the wilting qualities of our never ending heatwave this summer with some great music, numerous food outlets and, three beer tents. The crowd was enlivened.

A definition of anthropology in the Oxford dictionary states that anthropology is “ the study of human societies and cultures and their development.” Anthropology covers subjects such as evolution, behaviour, adapting to environments, communication and socialisation. The Tooting Folk and Blues Festival has it all.

The festival is organized by my friend Gabriel Mesh, his daughter Ellen and his wonderful wife Isobel. I wrote a blog post about the first Tooting Festival held on  Saturday the 8^th August 2015 and looking back at what I wrote then I predicted that the festival was such a special community event for the people of Tooting and South London that it would definitely continue annually. I have felt inspired to write once again about this, the fourth festival.

The crowd gathers and some of the food outlets in the distance.

 I arrived at the south end of the festival site. The municipal toilets  and wash rooms were open and a whole array of blue portable toilets lined the shrubbery on my left. The natural arena lay before me, an open area of grass bordered by trees and bushes creating a large ovoid shaped expanse. The edges of this space were, for the festival, lined by numerous food outlets. “The Parsons Nose,” made delicious burgers in buns and hot dogs. Delicious aromas came from the, “Home Cooked Thai Flavours,” stall. “The Mansfield Farm,” van sold real dairy ice creams. Two young lads, “Made in Chelsea,” types, enticed customers with espresso martinis created magically from a shiny chrome contraption at the back of their pale blue Morris Minor. Sambrooks Brewery sold craft beers from two stalls. I can recommend the ,”Wandle,” beer. I had a few pints of the Wandle, a lovely light tasting beer made with maris otter pale malt, fuggles, goldings and Boadicea hops, so the sign next to the large barrel of “Wandle,” positioned under the cool shade of the Sambrooks awning informed me. The beer takes its name from the local river Wandle. “Field and Flower,” provided food made from natural organic sources. Other outlets included, “ Lovely Bunch of Coconuts,” “Burritos,” “Sticky Beaky,” that provides slow cooked fast foods, “Slush Candy Floss Sweets, “and, a blast from the past, a “Mr Whippy,” ice cream van was situated near the entrance to the festival. From the anthropological point of view there was on this one site a variety of foods from different cultures and parts of the world. A rich cosmopolitan range of incredible flavours and smells assaulting the noses, taste buds and imaginations of us all. If evolution is nothing else, it comes about by the coming together of disparate parts to create new wholes.

Wood fired pizza. Delicious!!!!!!

 This year Gabriel and Ellen had a stall to sell the CDs that many of the bands have made. New this year, they also sold a Tooting Folk and Blues T shirt.

Families and  friends gather in one great mass of people.

From a societal viewpoint this festival had all the elements of a rich, creative and evolving society. Families and friends spread out  square blankets claiming their territory. The demographics of the festival had a diverse number of groups, people in their twenties gathered together and families with mums, dads and children and also individuals such as older men and women.One elderly lady wearing a long blue dress threw down her walking stick and danced to a reggae beat. Many people sought shelter amongst the trees, a primeval response, protecting themselves from the hot rays of the sun. The ,”hunter gatherers,” amongst us queued with hard earned money to buy the delicious offerings at the food stalls. “Carers,” sat with children and the elderly in protective groups on their blankets. Some groups interacted with other groups talking and laughing. The various groupings, each within their demarcated areas, were located within the mass of the festival crowd. A whole society existed here on this piece of grass on Tooting Common. There were those there to protect us, the police. A first aid tent to help those with physical problems. An information tent  provided information about the things we needed to know.  The bands provided art, imagination and creativity combining language, sound, sights and movement.  It seemed to me this large group of people  had enough  talents,  cross cultural experiences and age ranges to populate a new world . What sort of new world?

Stunflower, a mix of reggae, folk rock and punk.

The food stalls were one area where different cultural experiences came together creating synergies that produced new evolving culinary delights. The music and the bands were the other culturally diverse and creative element. The Vooduu People, an electric soul band from Brixton, sang a song called, Dynamite. “ Chemistry, whatever they want to call it, me and you’ve got it.” A great line describing succinctly the cultural symbiosis going on at the Tooting Festival. Stunflower, sang one number that combined reggae, electric blues and  punk sounding elements.

The ,"Sherriff of Tooting," Gabriel Mesh and The Gas. Great guitar playing from all participants.

Gabriel Mesh with The Gas, were our Tooting Sherriff and his deputies. Gabriel was, “keeping his eyes wide open.” Tommy McCardle provided some forceful driving rock numbers that had a gentility and emotional side. His memories of San Francisco and other life experiences showed how the singer songwriters are the diarists and poets of our time. 

Tommy Mccardle, an emotional intensity and  sensitivity.

Robin Bibi provided  nuanced and powerful acoustic guitar playing and encouraged us to,” Let The Good Times Roll.” His voice carried emphasise and meaning as he lived the songs he sang. 

Robin Bibi, performing wonderful nuanced guitar playing.

Jack Harris, with his dry, laconic style of humour entertained us to his different take on life but his honest singing and guitar playing, dredging the depths of his emotions engaged his audience and created a powerful response to a great set. 

Jack Harris, with the hat, giving a performance of depth and meaning.

Other wonderful performances were provide by the ,”Robin Booth band,” and also the great ,”Conrad Vingoe.” “Whom by Fire,” were a mainstay of the Festival once again. They are regulars at the “Breathing Room,” nights at the Antelope in Tooting Broadway. The Nunhead Folk Circle, another "Breathing Room," regular, performed a great set belying the Hawaiian shirts and straw hats. They performed some great folk rock numbers.

Food and drink in abundance.

The festival was an incredibly successful social, emotional, creative and musical experience. Gabriel, Ellen  and Isobel,  put so much hard work , passion and love into producing it for us once again. The festival is going from strength to strength.

A LITERARY PUZZLE (just for fun!!!)

This particular person is one of the most famous writers the world has known.

OK I am not the famous writer but I am standing in a tunnel this writer had dug.It passes under the road situated at the front of the last house this writer lived in, to a small plot of land on the opposite side. There a Swiss Cottage was constructed. The top room of the Swiss Cottage was used for writing in. There were views out towards the sea and an estuary nearby. I think the act of entering the tunnel and emerging the other side was an emotional and psychological act, passing from their domestic home life and coming out into the world in which they wrote.They had a telescope set up on the top floor to view the shipping and life on the estuary.

The Swiss Cottage, not in its original location but now in the garden of a museum in a nearby town.

A cathedral features in this writer's last novel . A dark, sinister, mysterious tale as far as it goes. The writer was writing it on the morning of their death and so the novel remains unfinished. 

This house , which features in one of the writers most famous novels , was the home to an unfortunate female character. When you read the novel, in many ways you want to sympathise and empathise with her but she is somewhat repellent and has become the stuff of nightmares!!!

The letter box has been refurbished but it is the original. It is located in a wall on the left of the entrance to this writers house. It was one of the first of its kind and the writer in question asked for it to be installed. This famous writer and their family all used this letter box to post  letters.

In at least three of this writers novels, characters walk along this high street.

The last house this writer lived in. They died here. The location has Shakespearean connections.

WHO DO YOU THINK THE WRITER WAS? If you can get the names of the novels alluded to and the locations portrayed in the photographs , you are amazing!!!!

Jane Austen Today: JANE AUSTEN'S WORLD CUP TEAM!!!!!!!!!

Mr Darcy (Fitzwilliam). 

Centre forward. 

Star striker, goalscorer supreme and team super star. 

Just imagine the crowd chanting. "Darcy ! Darcy ! Darcy!

Jane Austen Today: JANE AUSTEN'S WORLD CUP TEAM!!!!!!!!!: I wrote this eight years ago when England were playing in the The World Cup in South Africa. I put together a Jane Austen Team to beat the USA. I would choose the same team today. It was a bit of fun!!

JANE AUSTEN'S WORLD CUP TEAM!!!!!!!!!

You might have noticed that there is a small football competition happening in South Africa, starting this Friday. England are playing the USA on Saturday.

I was wondering who Jane might put into her football team. She has got some very likely characters to choose from.

Football was played in the 18th century. In fact it goes back long, long before then.

William Fitzstephen writing in 1170 noted that every trade had it’s own football team and often played after dinner in the local fields.These trades were found in the towns and cities. The trades were gathered together under guilds. The guilds trained apprentices, provided tests for people to become craftsmen and finally master craftsmen. and provided quality control. The Guilds covered many skills, stonemasons, armourers, cutlers, dyers, goldsmiths , needlemakers and the list was endless.It was the apprentices that would have played football. According to William Fitzstephen, the elders sat on their horses to the side of the game getting all hot and bothered cheering on their teams. Sounds familiar.

In 1280 in one manor’s record it states that Henry, son of William de Ellington at Ulkham on Trinity Sunday was accidentally stabbed by David le Ken and died during a game

In Edward II time, about 1314, people complained about the tumult and the evils that arose from the game of football.

Edward IV in 1477 was an opponent of football. It was a violent dangerous sport in those days apparently.

By 1581 Richard Mulcaster, the headmaster of The Merchant Tailors School thought it was a healthy and strength providing activity for his pupils.

However by the end of the Civil war in 1649, Oliver Cromwell was opposed to it and even enforced laws against the playing of football along side most other things that were fun, it must be said.

The sort of football that was played in Jane’s time was usually played between the inhabitants of country villages on Shrove Tuesday each year, or on other religious holidays. It often numbered hundreds of people on each side. All the occupants of a village would be invited to take part. The ball used would be a pigs bladder pumped up. The game would cover the countryside between the two villages. It might be arranged that the church door of each village would be the goal.


In 1772 in the village of Hitchin, they had a problem. The ball was lost in the priory pond. They must have got it out though because eventually a goal was scored in the porch of St Mary’s Church.

By the 18th century most of Britain’s public school played football. Winchester College, where Jane’s two nephews, by her brother Edward, Edward junior and George, attended, had taken up football by 1750. Jane must have heard stories from the two boys about playing, “the beautiful game.”

We can imagine a game of football being played between Chawton and Farringdon each Shrove Tuesday across Edward’s fields. That’s about two miles. They might have used the church porches in Chawton and Farringdon for goals.

So, who could Jane have in her World Cup football team?

I think Edmund Bertram would have to be the goalkeeper. Steady, honest, idealistic. A safe pair of hands.

Jonny Lee Miller as Edmund Bertram in Mansfield Park

In defence I think she would have had Captain Harville at right back,

Ciaran Hinds as Captain Wentworth, Persuasion

Captain Wentworth at centre back, no good in goal , tends to drop people, but a reliable defender of Britains shores. Mr Martin would be alongside him, strong, honest, trustworthy. A man to have with you in a tight spot.

Jefferson Hall as Robert Martin, Emma

Then at left back position Captain Benwick another player experienced in defending Britain’s shores.

Captain Harville (l) and Captain Benwick (r), Persuasion

Now for the midfield, the engine room of the team. Jane would need some creative players there. I think two players are needed here. Mr Knightley on the right of the midfield, wise, intelligent, great vision.

Jeremy Northam as Mr. Knightley, Emma

And, a real creative superstar on his left in midfield, the one and only Henry Tilney. He would tease the opposition, but with a sharp intelligence. He would make a great creative midfielder pumping visionary balls forward to the attacking players.

J.J. Feild as Henry Tilney, Northanger Abbey

Finally the forward line. The attackers, the prima uomos of the team, those Jane can rely on to score. On the right wing she could have John Willoughby, unreliable at times but with undoubted flashes of smartness, brilliance and he’s guaranteed to score. from any position. A real wow with the female fans.

Dominic Cooper as Mr. Willoughby, Sense and Sensibility

On the left wing Jane could have Frank Churchill. An attractive prospect and a smooth player. An experienced scorer.

Raymond Coulthard as Frank Churchill, Emma

So who is going to be the star of Jane’s team? The centre forward, the superstar. Yes you’ve guessed right it’s Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy himself, goalscorer supreme. He never puts a foot wrong. The crowd will roar his name, “ DARCY! DARCY! DARCY!”

Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy, Pride and Prejudice

And so we have it. Jane’s team, strong, talented, unbeatable? OH YES!!!!

By my next blog England will have beaten the USA by the way.

Posted by Tony Grant, London Calling

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THE SCHOOL SYSTEM WE SHOULD HAVE IN BRITAIN.

 A teacher getting the children to self assess their work against the lesson aims and objectives.

“Two nations between whom there is no intercourse and no sympathy; who are as ignorant of each other's habits, thoughts, and feelings, as if they were dwellers in different zones, or inhabitants of different planets. The rich and the poor.” Benjamin Disraeli(1804- 1881)

On the 14^th June 2017 a fire broke out at The Grenfell Tower in North Kensington. It killed 72 people.

Benjamin Disraeli was acutely aware of the divides in society in the 19^th century. He mentions lack of intercourse, lack of sympathy and what is more, ignorance of each other. The response of the Tory Council of Kensington and Chelsea to the fire at Grenfell was appalling. The councilors did not know their own constituents. The leaders of the wealthiest London Borough had no relationship with the poor people of their borough. The head of housing at Westminster and Chelsea had never set foot in Grenfell Tower.

 The local community around Grenfell responded to the disaster immediately. The borough councilors, on the other hand, had no concept of the disaster. Their response was woefully inadequate. They didn’t know the people they were dealing with. This was a culture they didn’t and couldn’t connect with.We have a divided Britain, rich and poor, the socially advantaged and the socially deprived and as Disraeli was aware of in his day, in the present day case of Grenfell, one group did not understand the other. 

We have people who feel entitled to get top jobs. We have people who are perceived to benefit from an elite educational experience, because of their background. We have people who are destined for the low wage gig economy and who are perceived to have had a poor education all because of their perceived, underprivileged, upbringing. It is even more subtle than that. The great majority who get good educations through the comprehensive system and go to one of the many universities, not under the ,"Oxbridge," remit,  who are able and talented, still do not get the opportunity to rise past a,” glass ceiling.” because of their starting point in life. There is  very little social movement in this country.

A revolution in education is needed. The way education is fractured and divided in this country is the root cause of our societies divisions, our lack of “intercourse and no sympathy,” our feelings of entitlement or lack of entitlement. In this country we have the public schools, Eton, Harrow, Westminster, Winchester, private prep schools, Grammar Schools, Comprehensives run by local councils and  state junior and infant schools. 

The public schools dominate entrance into Oxford and Cambridge universities. If you go to one of those two universities, you are guaranteed life at the top of society. You become leaders of industry, government ministers and the decision makers. The lesser public schools provide entrance into the rest of the top universities in Britain and these people become lawyers, managing directors, accountants, surgeons. Grammar schools  compete on somewhat equal terms with these lesser public schools.Comprehensives provide pupils with entrance into the rest of the  universities, colleges, apprenticeship schemes and vocational courses. The poorest achievers at this level are  lost to society and the low wage economy if they actually get a job. None of these outcomes relate directly to ability and achievement. They relate to being rich and poor and the environment a person lives in. The school system we have just entrenches this.

 Grammar schools are the most damaging. They are a conscious act of dividing society and deciding who gets what in life. With the public schools it is down to birth and the wealth of your family. With Grammar Schools the government purposely, through the blunt instrument of an 11+ style exam, splits one group of children from the rest. 

Theresa May, in 2016, announced her radical ideas for education. She wanted Grammar Schools to expand.  She wanted more working class children to go to them. She also thought public schools should sponsor and develop new comprehensive secondary schools in their area. Universities should also provide support by  annexing or creating new schools local to them . This was her (Conservative) approach to expanding opportunites and creating a meritocartic society. If you look at what she proposes it is more of the same, in larger doses, creating more divisions rather than bridging and removing the divides in our society.  

An example of why her proposals cannot work is an experiment carried out In 1965, The Marlborough experiment. The Witlshire Local Education authority along with Marlborough School set up the experiment. Twenty one boys from Swindon schools were chosen, after they had completed their o'levels, to go to Marlborough to do their A levels. By the end of their time at Marlborough, eight boys had succeeded but the rest had  not achieved well. The eight boys who did well appeared to have rejected their background and adapted to the new culture of Marlborough. The rest had been unable to adapt to what they saw as an alien world with traditions, rules and attitudes they did not understand.

We need a truly comprehensive system in this country. This patchwork of systems, public, private, grammar, academy chains and a dwindling number of education authority schools needs to be got rid of and we need a comprehensive system for everybody. A comprehensive school should be part of the local community. It can be a place where everybody from whatever background and ability should be educated together. We would see ourselves then as one people. The lack of social cohesion and the gulf in our society would be given a chance to fade and heal.Schools should be grouped under a similar system to the dieing system of education authorites because that worked. The old style Education Authorities  provided in-service training for the individual needs of teachers and the particular needs of schools.Schools were allowed a certain autonomy which made each school unique. Education authorities had an amazing team of subject inspectors who got to know teachers and schools personally.

 After the Plowden report in 1964, education began to focus on the individual child building creativity and problem solving skills and teachers were generally allowed to develop as skilled practitioners and learned to really teach children. We have got away from that concept and governments nowadays use the  OFSTED system of inspection that promotes the ideals of the government. Teacher assessment based on government guidelines , pay linked to those assessments and a national curriculum that is imposed and requires given methods of teaching  supported by continuous  child testing and the application of levels at all ages is draconian and destructive. The idea of learning based on the needs and interests of the child has gone.

A meaningful educational environment for all.

Child centered education is achievable.A system that was wrongly derided for letting children just get on with their learning without support was not the child centerd approach I recognised. Child centerd education is about discovering the needs of children and  providing them with rich learning experiences.

If every child in the country went to a comprehensive the whole education system could focus on all our children together as equals and value their individuality and personal needs and provide a high standard of education for the whole population and not be distracted and demeaned and damaged by other systems competing. Schools should be grounded in their community and create their own ethos and traditions. Being community based, members of the community should have a say in a schools education policies.  A school should provide a broad education for everybody and what is more, provide lifelong learning.That would take a giant leap in imagination and require an understanding of education for everybody.

Confidence and a sense of self are so important to our development as human beings. If that sense is destroyed  the moment we are born the consequences are dire. Thinking that others are better or less than us destroys us as an individual and destroys society as a whole. I was on a bus recently travelling from Wimbledon to Raynes Park. Some boys from Kings College Wimbledon, an expensive private day school, got on and sat near me. One of them looked out of the window and saw some Raynes Park High School boys. I heard him say. “I am so glad I never had to go to Raynes Park.” The others agreed with him. How destructive is that?

 

 A classroom display with children's work, information and some open and closed questions displayed.

JANE AUSTEN FOUNDATION WALK TO ALTON Sunday 17th June 2018

The face of Jane Austen on the new statue in St Nicholas churchyard, Chawton.

To Cassandra Austen Thursday 6^th June 1811.

“I had just left off writing and put on my things for walking to Alton, when Anna  and her friend Harriot called in their way thither, so we went together. Their business was to provide mourning, against the King’s death, and my mother has had a bombasin bought for her.-I am not sorry to be back again , for the young ladies had a great deal to do- and without much method in doing it.-“

To Cassandra Austen Sunday 24^th January 1813

“ When my parcel is finished I shall walk with it to Alton. I believe Miss Benn will go with me.”

To Cassandra Austen Tuesday 9^th February 1813

“ My cold has been an off and on cold almost ever since you went away , but never very bad; I increase it by walking out and cure it by staying within. On Saturday I went to Alton, and the high wind made it worse- but by keeping house ever since, it is almost gone.”

To Cassandra Austen Monday 9^th September 1816

“Our day at Alton was very pleasant.”

I would like to reiterate that last sentiment. Yesterday, Sunday 17^th June 2018, “our walk, to Alton was very pleasant.”

Caroline Jane Knight, the fifth great niece of Jane Austen and myself. I think I said, "lets make a face." But, we smiled instead.

Caroline Jane Knight is Jane Austen’s fifth great niece, descending from Jane’s brother Edward who took the name of Knight. Caroline launched the Jane Austen Foundation on April 16^th 2014 in the Holywell Room of Oxford University. Her initial idea was to ask fans, writers, actors, producers and anybody who has profited from Jane Austen to donate money to support literacy programs in the country of donation and in the developing world. I first knew about this particular fund raising walk when Caroline posted  information about it on ,”Jane Austen and Her Regency World Facebook,” site. I have been writing about various aspects of Jane Austen for many years on my blog and other blogs. Having been a school teacher for over forty years, I know that good resources are necessary for teachers and pupils to develop  learning. My interest in Austen and my interest in education combined in this charity walk. Caroline set me up with a donation page and I advertised the page on my Facebook and on other sites. I had a great response from family and friends. Perhaps I was a little proactive in trawling through my e-mail list and firing off begging e-mails to all and sundry, but hey! what are e-mail addresses for? I hope everyone will still talk to me.

Some of the cards I was kindly given on the day.

The money donated will be used, in conjunction with an organisation called, Worldreader, to supply e-readers and a digital library for, Suhum MA Experimantal C School in Ghana. The project manager and class 3 teacher in the school is Michael Sem, and he will be seeing the implementation of this new technology.

 Ruth Sorby, from Worldreader, the organisation that Caroline has allied The Jane Austen Foundation to,  took part in the walk. We discussed the profound impact the readers will have on the children and teachers at the  Suhum school. Technology such as e-readers and digital libraries are some resources teachers can use from a whole range of teaching strategies. Where there are no books and there is not the teacher experience to use this technology, what is being provided will create an enormous leap in learning for these teachers and children. It is a very good cause to get involved in.

Ruth Sorby, from Worldreader and myself.

On the Sunday morning of the walk I arrived early because I had heard  a new statue  has been placed  in the graveyard of St Nicholas Church in Chawton. I wanted to see it and get a photograph. The rain had stopped and the cool clean air felt refreshing as I strode along the road from ,”The Greyfriar,” car park, next to Jane's cottage. It is a leafy walk along the old Gosport Road with some beautiful thatched and clay tiled cottages on the right, many with climbing roses and gardens brimming with hollihocks and geraniums. Beautiful examples of  English country gardens. Cars were pulling up in this stretch of road as I strode along and white flannelled individuals emerged to make their way to the cricket pitch nearby for a cricket match that day. I passed the flint walled primary school. Caroline was to later tell me that she herself had attended Chawton Primary School as a child. I admitted to her that I had always liked the thought of being a teacher there. Alas too late in life for me now. I arrived at St Nicholas close to the great house in Chawton where Caroline’s ancestors had lived. The statue of Jane stood on a pristine white stone plinth. It is dark bronze and shows Jane as a young woman. She is in motion with a twisting movement and a certain vitality in her body. A lady of action.  I took some pictures and hurried back down the Gosport Road  to see who else had arrived ready for the walk. Caroline and her father, Jeremy, were just pulling up in a car. They emerged both dressed in 18^th century attire. Jeremy looking very smart in top hat and tails and Caroline in an elegant light blue silk gown, She wore an ostrich feather in her hair. I smiled and made myself known to them. Within minutes other people arrived, some in 18^th century attire and some in their everyday attire. I was not the only one therefore. I wore  a polo shirt, trainers and walking trousers. Many knew each other already from contacts in the Jane Austen World but everybody was so welcoming and I think , during the morning, I had conversations with almost all the people on the walk. I was greeted warmly and in a very friendly fashion. Who was I this strange interloper?

Everybody gathering outside Jane's cottage in Chawton.

As we walked along I had a chat with Caroline and asked her how the Jane Austen Foundation came about. She told me about her youth and how she and  her family having to move out of Chawton Great House was a shock to her. She rejected her background and spent a few years trying to discover herself. She told me that for a while she lived in a flat over a jewelers shop in Wimbledon Village High Street. I know the jewelers. I live near Raynes Park at the bottom of the hill from Wimbledon Village.  Some time in the past we may have passed each other in the street. During this time she kept her illustrious ancestry a secret not telling anybody of her background. Caroline moved to Australia and became a successful business woman. Having met her, she has not only a great sense of humour and a warm effusive personality but she has a certain steeliness and determination about her. She has an aim for the Jane Austen Foundation and I can sense she will achieve it. 

The Foundation came about when her father, Jeremy, suggested she attend an Austen celebration for the 200^th anniversary of the publication of Pride and Prejudice in 2013. Caroline saw the power for good Jane’s legacy could achieve and she formulated an idea for the Foundation.

We are ready to start walking.

Walking to Alton along the Old Gosport Road from the cottage in Chawton was a relaxed affair. The distance to Alton is a mere two miles and we followed the route Jane and her family, neighbours and friends would have walked. Just the thought of walking in Jane’s footsteps has a certain frisson, a certain excitement about it. I spoke to a gentleman who introduced himself as ,”Lord Cheltenham,” but he was very sociable and amiable not withstanding. Sophie Andrews, the creator and editor of ,”Laughing With Lizzie,” and her friend, both elegantly dressed in Georgian attire, were understanding at my requests to pose for pictures.

This elegant young lady could almost be Jane herself visiting friends.

 Joana Starnes, author and editor of, “All Roads Lead To Pemberley,” put up with me imparting my meager Austen knowledge until I discovered her identity and realized that Joana is, by far, more knowledgeable about Austen than myself. 

A very nice American lady and her friend,part of our walking group,were discussing terms we use here in England, the use of ,"sorry," "mate,"" bloody hell," and so forth when a van drove past with the name,"Pratt," emblazoned on it and I blurted out, 
"there's another one." Yes, I did explain the meaning of, prat.

And on we walked.

Onwards we walked, and the rain stayed off. Jeremy Knight was active as we walked along approaching people who were walking past and suggesting they put money into his collection tin ,”for a very good cause.” He was so keen to empty the pockets of passersby, one gentleman, top hatted and wearing white breeches and tails, who I was walking along with at the time complained to me that Jeremy was too alert, too proactive and wasn’t giving him a chance. I started pointing out possible targets in the hope he would get to them before Jeremy. It was all a very pleasant and light hearted of course.

In top hat and tails.

Caroline had coerced a friend to film the walk. At one time during our march I spotted this gentleman, squatting next to a gate post, his gaze looking down between his legs at his camera resting on the ground. I presumed some terrible accident had occurred and intent on capturing every nuance of the day I approached to take a photograph of him in this twisted and bent position. Thoughts of getting an ambulance could come after, then suddenly I realized what he was doing was filming me photographing him from a low angle.

I will get the picture first.

Our destination in Alton was The Swan Inn. The Swan is an 18^th century coaching inn and it was the place that coaches carrying mail around the country stopped at in Alton to deliver the mail to the local people. It was also where mail was collected from local people to be distributed around the country. Walking to The Swan was one of many reasons Jane Austen walked to Alton. She collected her mail and posted her own letters here.  Alton was also where she would shop and buy dress material and visit friends. When the Austens decided to leave Southampton, living in Alton was the first place they considered moving to before the cottage, provided by Jane’s brother Edward, was decided upon. Jane ‘s mother was tempted by an acceptable rent for a property in Alton.

Outside The Swan Inn in Alton. 

Jane writing from Southampton to Cassandra, on the 2nd October 1808, referred to her mother’s preferences. 
“ In general however she thinks much more of Alton,and; really expects to move there. Mrs Lyell’s 130 Guineas rent have made a great impression……….I depended upon Henry’s liking the Alton plan and; expect to hear of something perfectly unexceptionable there, through him.”

The cottage in Chawton must have been free of rent, as it was owned by Edward.That was the deciding factor I am sure.

While walking to Alton I  asked  Caroline what she thought about all the things that go on in the name of Jane Austen. I told her that I think Jane Austen is a great author and I  love reading her books. However, to me she is one author among many that I enjoy reading. For instance I think Virginia Woolf, who was so inventive and groundbreaking in her novels, is just as good a novelist.  Caroline thought I was making the mistake of thinking there was one Jane Austen. She said there are two, the author and family member and then there is the Jane Austen that has been created by film and TV. I think I agree with her. 

We entered the Swan Inn. The manager was very accommodating with so many people all of a sudden descending on his establishment. The ladies dressed in their wonderful costumes stood at the bar. Pump handles advertising, Old Speckled Hen, and ,Shepherd Neame, India Pale Ale, suggested  occupations as barmaids. Caroline insisted on buying us all a drink, mineral waters, tea or coffee, before we set off back to Chawton. 

Then, we were on our way back, retracing our steps. The weather remained kind to us and the journey back was just as amicable with much amiable company. One young lady dressed in a white gown emblazoned with lemons and golden tendrils of hair draping her lovely face like coiled springs related to me about her occupation as a ,”re-enactor,” and although today she was dressed as a Georgian lady her main occupation was as a Greek Goddess. Yes, I could see that, without a doubt. We talked museum education . Working with children in museums and galleries has always been an interest of mine.

Sophie Andrews, "Laughing With Lizzie," on the staircase in The Swan Inn.

With another finely dressed lady I discussed pensions and life after work.  This was something that is important in both our lives. She had a handsome dog with her that was dressed in the coat of an admiral of the Royal Navy with epaulettes and gold braid. On the way back from Alton the dog had changed its attire to that of a hussar.

Wearing his hussar outfit.

I spoke to Alison Larkin on the way to the Great House. She told me who she was and about her audio books, “The Complete Novels of Jane Austen .” One of the things that Alison personified and I noticed throughout the day was the enthusiasm and passion there is for Jane Austen among all these Janeites.  There is a love for her that is tangible


Alison Larkin, keen to advertise her audio readers.
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Once back at Chawton we walked on to the Great House for the  final photo shoots, first at the Statue of Jane in St Nicholas’s churchyard. 

At the statue of Jane in the churchyard.

Also at the graves of Cassandra Austen, Jane’s mother and Cassandra Elizabeth Austen, Jane’s sister. 

Contemplating the graves of Cassandra Austen, mother and Cassandra Elizabeth Austen, sister.

 A final photo shoot in the hall.

As we exited the Great House onto the front steps Caroline announced that ,”today we have made, £2000.” A few whoops and hand clapping went on and smiles all round. Caroline’s parting shot to me as I drove past her and Alison Larkin on my way home was ,“Wear a top hat next year!” I replied, “I’ll think about it.”

  

 Jeremy and Caroline Knight

References: 

The Jane Austen Literary Foundation:   

https://janeaustenlf.org/current-appeals/

" Jane and Me: My Austen Heritage," by Caroline Jane Knight
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jane-Me-My-Austen-Heritage/dp/0648080501

Alison Larkin

www.alisonlarkinpresents.com

Sophie Andrews

http://LaughingWithLizzie.blogspot.co.uk

Joana Starnes

www.joanastarnes.co.uk

Worldreader (Ruth Sorby)
www.worldreader.org