We got up at about 8am, having not slept well, had showers, and were out the door before 9. We walked to Princes St, as Christian had forgotten to bring cufflinks. We tried a few shops, and were ultimately successful in Jenners (Edinburgh's main department store). We kept on to the station, and got tea/coffee while waiting for our train at 10.35. The platform was eventually called, and we made our way to the train. The signalling was broken, and so reservations had disappeared, and the station list on the screen was nothing like what what was passing the window, but the journey was nice - over the Forth bridge, and through increasingly hilly country.
We disembarked at Perth and made the short walk to the Queen's Hotel. In the foyer, we met Noel and Trina (Trina came to speak to me immediately), and Catherine and Brian, and Peter and Perry, and others. We were called upstairs, and had a pre-lunch glass of wine, and spoke to yet more old blues including Ian and John Cugley. They were all lovely, and interesting. It was a pleasure to finally meet John Shippen - he was very sweet.
We selected our meals (I chose smoked trout, chicken chasseur, and sticky toffee pudding), and settled down to chat. I was sat between Catherine and Christian (John had tried to engineer Christian being next to him, but someone else had taken the place). The most recent old blues (Rachel and Jacob) gave the toasts, and we ate. Catherine swapped places with Noel, and so I got to hear some extraordinary stories from him, including during the war when a German pilot had landed his plane in the grounds of the school, and the home guard (the older teachers and the older students) surrounded the plane not knowing what to do, and being at CH at the same time as Colin Davis, and hearing him play the clarinet and declaring that he'd be a conductor when he was older. Amazing. So interesting to talk to Noel.
After we'd had lunch, we had the address from Perry Kitchen, which was interesting and entertaining. Most notable was him giving the context for the foundation of the school by Edward VI in 1553. It was right before he died (aged 15), and after he had introduced compulsory church services in English as part of the Reformation, and the significant migration from the ecclesiastical musical world of Tavener and Fayrfax to that of Tallis, Shepherd and White. Much was also made of music and theatre at CH, which was nice. He gave the Housie toast. John Shippen gave news of those who couldn't make it, added to the music and theatre dialogue, and gave a toast to the guests. The group sang the Votum energetically, and then the party broke up. Christian and I decided to walk around a little of Perth, seeing a nice church, and an awesome playground. Back at the station, we had about 40 minutes to wait, and so we sat talking to Rachael until it came. Then we spoke to Heather (?) on the train. She'd been at CH in Hertford 1943-49. Christian asked about her life, and she told us a fascinating story about her journey through publishing. She encouraged me to contact Heinemann to try and get a job with them.
We got off the train at Waverley, and walked back to Georgia's (my feet were killing me). She had booked a table for us at the Roamin' Nose. We met John at the flat, got ready, and went out again. The restaurant wasn't far away. We sat down, and Georgia negotiated a tapas-style taster of starters and all the mains. We ordered a bottle of prosecco, and settled down to a fun and very tasty meal. I was most keen to try the seafood, and it was very good, though I got prawn juice all over my upper arm (John did too). Christian couldn't finish his dinner, which was unusual, but he and I paid as a thank you to John and Georgia - it was a very reasonable meal, at £15/head for the food. We wandered back to the flat, sat for a while in the living room, and went to bed.
We disembarked at Perth and made the short walk to the Queen's Hotel. In the foyer, we met Noel and Trina (Trina came to speak to me immediately), and Catherine and Brian, and Peter and Perry, and others. We were called upstairs, and had a pre-lunch glass of wine, and spoke to yet more old blues including Ian and John Cugley. They were all lovely, and interesting. It was a pleasure to finally meet John Shippen - he was very sweet.
We selected our meals (I chose smoked trout, chicken chasseur, and sticky toffee pudding), and settled down to chat. I was sat between Catherine and Christian (John had tried to engineer Christian being next to him, but someone else had taken the place). The most recent old blues (Rachel and Jacob) gave the toasts, and we ate. Catherine swapped places with Noel, and so I got to hear some extraordinary stories from him, including during the war when a German pilot had landed his plane in the grounds of the school, and the home guard (the older teachers and the older students) surrounded the plane not knowing what to do, and being at CH at the same time as Colin Davis, and hearing him play the clarinet and declaring that he'd be a conductor when he was older. Amazing. So interesting to talk to Noel.
After we'd had lunch, we had the address from Perry Kitchen, which was interesting and entertaining. Most notable was him giving the context for the foundation of the school by Edward VI in 1553. It was right before he died (aged 15), and after he had introduced compulsory church services in English as part of the Reformation, and the significant migration from the ecclesiastical musical world of Tavener and Fayrfax to that of Tallis, Shepherd and White. Much was also made of music and theatre at CH, which was nice. He gave the Housie toast. John Shippen gave news of those who couldn't make it, added to the music and theatre dialogue, and gave a toast to the guests. The group sang the Votum energetically, and then the party broke up. Christian and I decided to walk around a little of Perth, seeing a nice church, and an awesome playground. Back at the station, we had about 40 minutes to wait, and so we sat talking to Rachael until it came. Then we spoke to Heather (?) on the train. She'd been at CH in Hertford 1943-49. Christian asked about her life, and she told us a fascinating story about her journey through publishing. She encouraged me to contact Heinemann to try and get a job with them.
We got off the train at Waverley, and walked back to Georgia's (my feet were killing me). She had booked a table for us at the Roamin' Nose. We met John at the flat, got ready, and went out again. The restaurant wasn't far away. We sat down, and Georgia negotiated a tapas-style taster of starters and all the mains. We ordered a bottle of prosecco, and settled down to a fun and very tasty meal. I was most keen to try the seafood, and it was very good, though I got prawn juice all over my upper arm (John did too). Christian couldn't finish his dinner, which was unusual, but he and I paid as a thank you to John and Georgia - it was a very reasonable meal, at £15/head for the food. We wandered back to the flat, sat for a while in the living room, and went to bed.
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