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Quintin Beer (conductor), Julia Stutfield (Cantata Dramatica), Dan Rootham (grandson of the composer) with David Lister (chairman) at the site of the  CK200 festival where the production of Andromeda will take place.

 

9th July,  Graham, Peter and I attended the decision day of the Cultural, Community and Activity Grants of Hampshire County Council – Peter had applied for funding in March this year. We were supported by Councillor David Simpson who also spoke on our behalf. The banners were used (photo attached) and helped us in our mission to get some funding from HCC. The decision on our application has been deferred and we have been invited to meet HCC and discuss further. However, the general view was that they are minded to help as much as funds permit.

The Committee  has  registered The Charles Kingsley Society as the formal name of the body that will run the  Charles Kingsley 200 Festival in 2019; and in addition other activities beyond the festival, so that there may be an enduring legacy, centred in Eversley, to celebrate his life and work.

From Anthony Bateman

Many thanks for the update.  We have added a link to your website and some basic introductory content on Visit Hampshire website in our Famous People section  https://www.visit-hampshire.co.uk/ideas-and-inspiration/famous-people

We’ll look to develop more content as your programme develops.  This can include specific events in our What’s On https://www.visit-hampshire.co.uk/whats-on  when you have dates pinned down and more content on a specific page.

Andrew Bateman
Tourism Manager
Economy, Transport and Environment
Hampshire County Council

Dr Jonathan Conlin BA Oxon MA PhD Cantab FRHistS FHA  has joined the committee to curate our planned series of Talks to be held during the festival.

Jon’s interest in Charles Kingsley led to his Hawarden workshop last July, where he gathered a   multinational group  academics  committed  to researching  the life of CK.

Jon is currently  a senior lecturer at Southampton University and a more detailed biography and list of published works can be found here.

Dr Conlin brings great insight and plenty of exciting ideas to our team and we are delighted that he has agreed to join the Charles Kingsley 200 project.

Peter Ormrod

(from David Lister)

Dear All,

For your information, below is a copy of the relevant part of an email I have received from Caroline Jones, who is the archivist at Wellington College. It increases my respect and admiration for CK’s breadth of knowledge. I hope the Rootham family are getting on with typing out the musical score  for Andromeda by Cyril Rootham. I have emailed her back and said we would indeed be interested in seeing printed documents from the Wellingtonian, and if it is opportune, and if she has the time, we could get Caroline personally involved

Caroline writes:

I regret that I am almost certain that we do not have a copy of the choral setting for ‘Andromeda’. I cannot be categorical as the archives are not fully catalogued, but I am fairly familiar with them and am not aware of any such item, nor any part of the collection where it is likely to be. There is, however, a reference to the poem in an article on verse forms published in the Wellingtonian magazine of July 1886, as follows:

You are correct that Charles Kingsley was a friend of the first headmaster of Wellington, Edward White Benson, and frequently visited him. His signature appears in the first Visitor’s Book, and indeed it was he who introduced the sport of cross-country running at Wellington, and our leading race has been known as ‘The Kingsley’ ever since. He was also a supporter of the College’s Natural Science Society, and the Wellingtonian contains several reports of his presence at meetings or his giving talks to the Society. Moreover, Kingsley supported the school by sending his son Maurice here as a pupil.

If you would like printed copies of some of these documents which mention Kingsley for your festival, do let me know and I will make copies for you.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Caroline Jones

 

This delightful drawing was sent to Fanny Kingsley on June 1875  several months after CK’s death. Its author was Prince George, second son  of Edward VII and who later became George V in 1910.  He wrote this card on his tenth birthday.

The card shows  the close relationship CK had with the Royal family which was possibly the reason why Alexandra,  the Queen Mother,  was at the top of the list of patrons of the 1919 Eversley pageant.

One of the events planned for the festival is a performance of Andromeda, a choral work of 1300 bars composed in 1903 by Cyril Rootham ( 1875 -1938)   and based on CK’s poem, Andromeda.

This is a substantial choral work and local schools and choral societies will be invited to take part. It will be the first time the work has been performed in over 100 years.
One idea we have is to involve schools in following the process of bringing this  historical manuscript to life. From typesetting the score, interpretation, rehearsals, through to the final performance.

Read more about Cyril Rootham here

We are also delighted to announce  the Duke of Wellington has agreed to be  a supporter of the Charles Kingsley 200 project. The 4th Duke was a patron  of the 1919 Festival Pageant  echoing the  present Duke’s interest in local heritage.

2/11/17 The Committee: David Lister, Robin Felix, Sharon Elliott, Peter Ormrod and newly appointed Treasurer Graham Fortune, met with Andrew Bateman, Tourism Manager, at the county council offices in Winchester.

Andrew expressed his enthusiasm for the Charles Kingsley 200 project with a promise of support in several areas including marketing and media promotion.

This was a very positive meeting with Hampshire CC clearly behind the project and seeing many positives in it. This is on the tail of the successful media strategy they applied to the Jane Austen 200 celebrations.