An Afternoon at Old Thatch...

[pete9012S]

Thanks for finding this thread Courtenay, I was thinking about it quite recently, and couldn't think where it might be. Saves me having to ask Pete where it was - just got to work out a way of saving it somehow - unless of course Pete has it copyrighted?

Thanks Katharine!

You should be able to read and download it here.It needs a lot of tidying up and editing too!


http://pdfsr.com/pdf/an-afternoon-at-old-thatch-pdf.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Ps.No copywrite needed for any of my guff.
I know my place.
I'll never be able to come up with anything comparable to 'The Anecdotage'

[Courtenay]

I'll never be able to come up with anything comparable to 'The Anecdotage'

... thank heaven.

[John Pickup]

I really enjoyed reading that, Pete. A very moving, ghostly tale. Well done.

[Francis]

We could always combine funds and make an offer! Just imagine the Society owning 'Old Thatch' - all Society members would be allowed in free but we could charge members of the public. I wonder which of us would live there as the custodian?

[Courtenay]

Ooh, I will if I can be paid a decent wage (and if the EBS will kindly sponsor the corresponding UK work visa)!!

Actually - and I suspect this is more likely - I wish the National Trust could acquire Old Thatch. They do a lovely job with old buildings and homes of famous people, including writers; apart from Beatrix Potter's estate in the Lake District (which is where they started!), they also have Rudyard Kipling's home in East Sussex, for example.

[Katharine]

I'm just wondering if the current owners are reading this thread? Part of me hopes they are as they may take pity on us and we could arrange an EBS meeting at Old Thatch. The other part of me hopes they aren't, as they would probably be horrified at the thought of us trying to oust them from their home!!!!

[Courtenay]

Well, if the National Trust did buy it, the current owners could stay on and live there as the custodians; quite a few NT homes have that kind of arrangement. But you're right, I wouldn't want to upset the owners - and I know many of you know them personally - with this kind of talk, if they are reading.

[Katharine]

If I remember correctly, the poor people didn't have a clue about the Enid Blyton connection when they bought the house, so the interest must have been a bit overwhelming at times.

[Francis]

Mind you after the destruction of Clandon House it might not be a good idea to let the National Trust run it!
We loved the way it was run and were very grateful at how the gardens were maintained and developed - the trouble is we miss it dreadfully.

[Courtenay]

I don't know if they've yet determined what caused the fire at Clandon Park - too early to say whether it's the National Trust's fault. I was very saddened by that news, though, as it was a place I hadn't visited yet but was on my list. Now, obviously, it's not.

[Francis]

I wouldn't blame the National Trust for the fire starting but for the woeful fire precautions system - no sprinkler system, low water pressure and for them not looking at all their properties in the light of what happened to Clandon Park to evaluate risks and how to tackle possible fires. This is the second of their properties to burn down and our heritage deserves proper protection for future generations. Nearly all of the Surrey Regiment precious items (including the football kicked over the top during the First World War, the medals earned by gallant men over the last 150 years and many unique relics and papers) were destroyed.

[Katharine]

If that's the case, I can't understand how they were allowed to open to the public. With today's health and safety rules and regulations, I would have thought precautions such as sprinklers would have been essential. Obviously the loss of so many treasures is a great blow to the nation, but it could so easily have been people that were lost as well.

[Courtenay]

I know how easy it is to point the finger at the National Trust after the event - and I'm deeply upset, too, by what happened and how much was lost at Clandon. But realistically speaking, retro-fitting over 300 historic buildings (many of them centuries old) with full-scale sprinkler equipment would be very difficult and extremely expensive. And the National Trust is a charity - they don't receive government funding - so they're not exactly made of money. I wish they would install proper fire-fighting equipment in every property they own; I wish to goodness they already had, before the Clandon fire broke out. Hopefully they will now allocate funding for better fire-fighting equipment in at least their most significant buildings. But I honestly don't blame them for not having managed to do so already.

[Anita Bensoussane]

I doubt sprinklers would be suitable as water would also do a lot of damage to fragile old paintings, documents, fabrics, etc. - and there's a possibility that sprinklers could go off by accident even if there wasn't a fire.

[Courtenay]

True, Anita - I was thinking of that as well.