Portrait of EH-A by Kay Vaughan
Portrait of EH-A by Kay Vaughan

News and Events 2007


February

The original door to Edward Heron-Allen's library at Large Acres in Selsey has been presented to the Society by the Pledger family. The door has been taken to the Natural History Museum, London and it is hoped that it will be re-erected as the door to the Heron-Allen Library in the Palaeontology Department.

Pam Thompson, Chief Librarian of the Royal College of Music in London, gave a talk in the Royal College of Music, Music & Ideas series on the the Heron-Allen Collection in the RCM Library, in the Donaldson Room at the Royal College of Music.

March

The Grave at Church Norton in Selsey, West Sussex, where Edward Heron-Allen, his wife Edith and their daughter Armorel are buried was restored by Messrs F.A. Holland of Selsey at the direction of the Society. The stonework was cleaned and the lettering repaired.

The Heron-Allen Lecture was held at Lady Margaret Hall on Friday 2 March 2007. The speaker was Professor Georgina Mace FRS, the Director of Science at the Institute of Zoology in London. Professor Mace is renowned for her work in conservation biology, in particular for identifying criteria to rank species according to their risk of extinction. In a talk entitled 'Biodiversity, ecosystems and human well-being' she discussed the evidence that we are rapidly losing biodiversity on a global scale, the implications that this has for people, and some possible solutions. The Lecture was held in Talbot Hall, Lady Margaret Hall, at 5.15pm.

On the 5th of March J V Arnoso posted an article: 'Edward and Edith Heron-Allen' on his blog - Ex Libris/Bookplates.

The Newsletter no.10 was published. As well as the draft programme of the seventh annual Heron-Allen symposium held at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford on 7 July, and details of the Heron-Allen Lecture at LMH, the Newsletter contains four main articles, and some short notes. The articles are: Timothy J. McCann, 'Edward Heron-Allen, Joan Maude and the Gods of the Fourth World'; Garry Garrard, 'A Fortunate Find'; John E. Whittaker, 'Heron-Allen, A Cow and the Selsey Tram', and Venetia Jones, 'Reflections of Venice & Extracts from EH-A's Holiday Journals (1898 & 1901). The short notes include an obituary of Bryan Burrough, MBE, JP, 1941-2006 by Joan Navarre and a discussion of the EH-A quote: 'A Filthy Mind is a continual Feast' by Timothy J. McCann.

May

On 18 May 2007 Elgar, Vicat Cole and the Ghosts of Brinkwells by Society members Carol Fitzgerald and Brian Hardy was published. The book tells the story of Elgar's holidays at Brinkwells, a cottage in West Sussex, which he rented from the artist Vicat Cole, during which he wrote his mature chamber music and much of his cello concerto. The book is illustrated by unpublished photographs and reproductions of Vicat Cole's paintings and makes use of Heron-Allen's war diaries. The book is available from bookshops or from Phillimore & Co., Ltd, at Shopwhyke Manor Barn, Chichester, West Sussex, PO20 2BG for £25 plus £3.50 p&p.

On 9 May 2007, Pam Thompson, Chief Librarian at the Royal College of Music in London, gave a talk to the Annual Meeting of Academic Music Librarians, Birmingham Conservatoire on the the Heron -Allen Collection at the Royal College of Music.

June

The Society's Opusculum IX - 'Edward Heron-Allen and Music': Proceedings of the 6th. Heron-Allen Symposium, 2006, edited by Peter Horton of the Royal College of Music, was distributed. It contained the following article: 'Edward Heron-Allen - Violin Historian and Maker Extraordinary' by Brian Harvey; 'The Edward Heron-Allen Collection in the Royal College of Music Library' by Pamela Thompson; 'Edward Heron-Allen and the Royal College of Music' by Peter Horton; ''An Afternoon with Chanot': Remembering George Chanot, Edward Heron-Allen and 157 Wardour Street' by Joan Navarre; and 'Edward Heron-Allen and the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam' by Garry Garrard.

July

During the month, 'A Book of Verse: The Biography of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam', by Heron-Allen Society member Garry Garrard will be published. The book tells the story of how a book of poetry has provided delight and fascination for centuries and brings to life the evocative world of early Islamic Persia and the literary and artistic scene in England in the second half of the nineteenth century. The book is available from Sutton Publishing Sales Dept., The Mill, Brimscombe Port, Stroud, Gloucestershire. GL5 2QG for £20 post free (in the UK).

The Society's 7th. Annual Symposium was held in The Old Library at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, on Saturday 7 July. The theme of the symposium was 'Armorel Heron-Allen and Oxford'. Papers delivered at the Symposium included: 'Armorel Daphne Heron-Allen: The early Years' by Ivor Jones' , 'Off the Shelf: Armorel Heron-Allen and Umar Khayyam' by Brian Hulan, ''Woman of the World': Armorel Heron-Allen and Lady Longford' by Joan Navarre and ''Men of Pre-vision': Edward Heron-Allen, John Johnson, and the John Johnson Collection of Printed Ephemera at the Bodleian Library, Oxford' by Timothy J. McCann. At the AGM provisional agreement was given to holding the 2008 Symposium at Mulranny in Ireland.

October

The October issue of Sussex Life, No.110, contains an article by Tom Creedy entitled, 'Yesterdays', which details the acquisition of Large Acres in Selsey by Edward Heron-Allen and the building of the family home there. The illustrated article includes a number of quotations from the Large Acres Visitors Books.

November

The Society's Newsletter No.11 was published. It includes the following articles: 'Seventh Annual Symposium: An Australian Impression' by Peter William Edward (Bill) Coleby; 'Helene Elizabeth Bargman - "The Last Lady"', by John E. Whittaker; 'Hélène Héroys (alias H. Du Coudray alias M.W. Waring), 1906-1971' by Claude Héroys; 'Dr. Strode, Veronica Gotch and Heron-Allen's Guarnerius Violin' by Phillipa Boston; and 'Reflections of Venice, & Extracts from EH-A's Holiday Journals (1898 & 1901): Part II' by Venetia Jones.

In an article in the News Review section of The Sunday Times (26 November 2007), Steve Farrar, with the help of stories from Ivor Jones and John Whittaker, tells the story of the 'Purple Sapphire'. The stone, which Edward Heron-Allen presented to the Natural History Museum, is the subject of the opening story in The Collected Strange Papers of Christopher Blayre, and forms part of the new Mineralogy exhibition "The Vault" at the Natural History Museum opening on Wednesday 28 November.