News
RICHARD III SOCIETY, SYDNEY, NSW
AFFINITY NEWSLETTER
MAY 2008

Dear Fellow Members and Friends,

Most of you will have had reports and rumours of the success of our mini conference in the Southern Highlands last month. But to make sure you know all about it, here is a description of the weekend by our correspondent at large, Llieda Wild.

RICHARD III AT BUNDANOON :
Our mini conference held on the weekend of April 11 - 13 in the Southern Highlands was an outstanding success, thanks to all the hard work and organisation by Julia Redlich, ably aided and abetted by Kevin Herbert and Dorothea Preis.

A good crowd of Ricardians, some Members and Friends, others Interested Parties, travelled from all points of the NSW compass. It was lovely to meet Robyn and Sarah Goldfinch who had travelled down from Singleton after researching our website. Sarah is specialising in Richard III for her HSC this year and I am sure that she now has plenty of material to complete her studies, Kevin saw to that!

We all gathered in the comfortable Olde Worlde lounge of the Bundanoon Hotel and, after the welcome delivered by Nancy Sparrowhawk, we were treated to a viewing of a marvellously produced DVD of Middleham Castle*, as it is today and how it might have looked when Richard and Anne lived there.

The break for morning tea (yummy scones with jam and cream!) gave us the chance to buy raffle tickets and find bargains at the Bring and Buy table. Then we heard some great talks given by Dorothea Preis on Medieval Gardens, Kevin Herbert on The Rise and Rise of the Nifty Nevilles and Carol Gerrard on Medieval Soldiery. Excellent speakers with interesting subjects as always, with well-chosen illustrations.

After lunch there was a lively discussion on recommended Ricardian reading, with several book reviews from Gillian Laughton, Babs Creamer (who sent her best wishes from the UK), Dorothea Preis, Denise Rawlings and Johanna Visser. Then we heard a talk on Royal Bastards delivered by Julia Redlich, always an entertaining topic as there are so many of them – including the portrait of the final one using the strictly Australian meaning of the word!

Afternoon tea followed, then the raffle draw. There were some lovely prizes including the cover of special Ricardian stamps from a limited edition. Several members had their eyes on it, and Lynn Foley was the lucky winner there. Johanna walked away with some Battle of Bosworth wine, and the bottle of port, donated by Julia after she won the Heraldry Australia raffle in January, landed in Carol’s care.

A Meet the Press session followed, moderated by Carol Gerrard with Ann Chandler as Princess Elizabeth of York in the "hot seat" facing a gruelling inquiry from the panel of Margaret Beaufort (Judith Hughes) The Duke of Norfolk (Kevin Herbert) Princess Cecily (Christena Dawson), Elizabeth Woodville (Margaret Shaw), Bishop Stillington (David Chandler) and Prince Richard, Duke of York (Dorothea Preis).

Finally we had the results of the quiz that had been handed out at the beginning of the day (those who have been trumped by Kevin in days of yore will be relieved to know that as a contributor to the questions he wasn’t allowed to enter!) And the winner, with an almost perfect score was David Chandler. Gillian and Carol were runners up, and Johanna and Judith won achievement awards.

The conference ended around 5pm with the Conclusion delivered by Nancy and a heartfelt thank you to Julia, followed by much applause.

Sadly, a few members had to journey home that evening due to prior commitments, but those who stayed on (some dressed in their Medieval finery which caused plenty of comment from other diners and barflies) had dinner at the hotel, followed by a game of pool or catching up with their favourite TV programs in the TV room.

On the Sunday morning more members departed for home, but a few hearty souls took advantage of the offered bus trip to lovely Fitzroy Falls (sadly rather shrouded in mist at the time) and shopping at Berrima, followed by a barbecue at Helen and Allan Byrne's tranquil property (and B&B) "Meriba" at Bundanoon. Highly recommended for a weekend far from the madding crowd!
We were treated to an excellent lunch on the lovely wrap-around veranda, then it was back to the Bundanoon Hotel to pack our bags for home.

What a magnificent weekend!

*The Branch is hoping to buy a copy of this DVD kindly loaned to us for the conference by Gillian Laughton. For information on how to obtain a copy for yourself log on to www.loyaltybindsme.com

The Bosworth Service

We are still trying to find a venue for the service in August when we remember the death of Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth – or as the good burghers of York wrote in their records the day when “our good King Richard was most grievously slain and murdered to the great heaviness of this city”. A working party is investigating, and will advise you as soon as the final decision is made.

WANTED: ONE WEBMASTER

The committee has regretfully accepted the resignation of Rex Williams who had recently taken on the major task of keeping our website in order. Rex’s other commitments are taking up much of his time and our needs sadly have to come second. We shall miss his good sense, good company and valuable assistance in liaising with St Philip’s – to say nothing of the purchase of our Overhead Projector. Thank you Rex, especially for your appreciation of our work, our enthusiasm and the camaraderie we enjoy.
If anyone is interested in helping with our Website, don’t hesitate to contact any member of the committee. We’d love to hear from you especially as we have plans for enlarging and emending the material that is already in place. We really need your expertise so please – pretty please – get in touch.

WHAT LIES AHEAD?

Our June meeting promises to be something very special. Our speaker is Isolde Martyn who will talk to us about Jane Shore – the subject of her latest book. And if you are fans of her earlier novels, you won’t want to miss out.
And of course our June meeting always celebrates the birthday of Queen Anne (June 11), so a scrumptious cake will be provided!
There are more interesting talks ahead at our meetings (see the programme) and we are already planning for 2009 – which includes the Ricardian Convention hosted by our colleagues in Western Australian in October 2009. If you haven’t already done so, start saving for the trip across the continent!

Some Sad Farewells

Many of us were shocked to learn of the death at the age of 54 of Peter Ryan. He had been a member since the early days of the Branch and at once time was the Chairman. He was an enthusiastic member of the Genesians Theatre too, and would produce scenes from Shakespeare’s play for us, as well as those from other dramas that were more kindly in their outlook. He was blessed with a beautiful voice and his warmth was always welcomed. No wonder he always made such a great Santa Claus at the Opera House Christmas events! Although he hadn’t been able to attend meetings for some time, he was always interested and we shall miss him.
We also mourn the loss of Evelyn Burke, better known to us as Evelyn O’Sullivan. Like Peter Ryan, she was an early member of the Branch and was for some time the Treasurer. Her meticulous keeping of our accounts is remembered with admiration, as is her contribution to all the meetings, social and otherwise of the Branch.
We would also like to offer our condolences to Llieda Wild on the sudden death of her sister, and to Christena Dawson, whose brother passed away in mid May.

A RICARDIAN LEGACY
We were touched when Peter Ryan’s nieces contacted us and said that in clearing up his flat, they had found many of his Ricardian papers and would we like them. Naturally, we were happy to say “yes, please”, and a task force of Kevin Herbert and the Preis Family made the expedition in a van kindly loaned and driven for the occasion by Philip Preis. And was that van needed! Twelve packing containers were waiting and these were transferred to larger boxes that are now waiting in the Preis’s garage in Terrey Hills for a working party to start sorting. We have reports that all kinds of interesting papers were noted in the great move.
It will not surprise anyone that the workers on this occasion needed much refreshment after the transfer! At La Galletta of course, so conveniently close to the collection point!
We’ll keep you informed once the treasures have been sorted and catalogued.

I look forward to seeing you at some or all of these meetings. - Julia