February 2025

Our February meeting saw 18 members attending, a few less than at previous meetings where we have had over 20 members present. The most so far has been 26 and our register now lists 40 members who have been at least once. Consequently, we are managing to pay for our room hire and refreshment and have accumulated a healthy balance which we can use to perhaps buy-in a speaker or have an outing. We are not going to rush into spending the balance because to date we have only had 6 monthly meetings and we need to establish that there is an ongoing interest in the subjects and at the moment, our illustrated presentation.

As it takes me around 50 – 60 hours to research and prepare ‘slides’ for the monthly talks anybody wishing to ‘have a go’ will be welcomed with open arms from me! I have the projector and if anybody wants to ‘have a go’ but is unsure, I will be happy to assist.

At the last meeting our subjects were ‘The Genius that is Gerald Hoffnung’ and for the ‘I Collect’ spot we looked at the subset of Briglin Pottery from our extensive studio pottery collection.

Hoffnung died in 1959, from a brain haemorrhage; he was only 34 years old. Yet, in his short lifetime, he had become a real celebrity, long before the unearned celebrity status created by influencers, reality TV and social media. He had earned his celebrity status illustrating books, writing his own best-selling books, speaking on the radio and creating cartoons for many of the publications of the day including the much read at that time, The Radio Times.

His talk to the Oxford Union when he recounted ‘The Bricklayer’s Lament’ is legendary. I recounted that we had the privilege of working with his widow Annette Hoffnung, in 1992 when we organised the Christchurch Red House Museum Lecture. I was able to present some of her material at our u3a meeting as well as playing Hoffnung film clips and some sound bites from the public domain. Annette died in 2018 having survived her husband for almost 60 years during which time she travelled the world keeping his memory and genius alive in lectures, talks and orchestral performance. I hope she would have approved of our efforts in doing the same.

As many of us at the meeting are in our 70s, or older, several members remembered Hoffnung from their younger days and several said that it brought back good memories of listening to his broadcasts on the radio or his voice and music on vinyl.

After the break we looked at Briglin Pottery and its 42-years history between 1948 when it started out in a cramped basement in Baker Street in London and 1990 when it finally doused the kilns in Crawford Street having moved to much larger premises. During that time, it had produced many pots initially in white clay, and in the later 50s mostly in a form of high fired red terra cotta creating a deep red body. We looked at some examples of both the standard wares and the individual studio pieces with some members realising that they had pieces themselves. Briglin will never be rare nor worth a fortune, at its height it was producing almost 4,000 pieces each week, but it is extremely well made and the story behind it makes it well worth collecting.

Next month we shall be meeting on Friday 21st March when for the main feature we shall look at the Arts and Crafts movement in the early 20thC and in particular the work of ‘Renaissance Man’, Arthur ‘Romney’ Green. ARG, as he is known, was a major part of our life at one time when I provided the majority of research for his biography by Susan Elkin, Life to the Lees; and arranged for a blue plaque to commemorate his life and his workshop. For the supporting feature we are looking at ‘I Collect Glass’ – particularly Scandinavian glass where we shall look at the work of four glass artists/designers – which four we haven’t decided yet but will almost certainly include Oiva Toika and Nanny Still!

We always email a reminder of the following month’s meeting to those members who have attended, provided we have your email address. If you read this and either have attended and haven’t had reminders OR would like to attend then please either email us at deliaallen2@aol.com with your email address and we will include you. Or phone us on our landline 01621 784955 where, if we don’t answer, you can leave us amessage telling us your email address.

Hope to see you in March.

Oh, and just an early reminder, because our April meeting, (usually meetings are the third Friday in the month) will clash with Good Friday, we shall move it back a week to the following week, Friday 25th April.

Delia & Mike Allen

January 2025

Our first meeting of the new year got off to a frosty start with the gas heating in the Lower Gallery of the Museum refusing to initially fire up. However, it did fire eventually and the meeting warmed up with 24 of us, mostly with coats still on, in the Lower Gallery.

This was the fifth meeting of the group which, I suppose, means that it is not now a ‘new group’ and should more correctly be referred to as the most recently formed group. And it seems now that we have arrived at the established format of an hour on a related subject, tea break and then about 30 minutes on ‘I Collect…’. At the moment I am giving both talks but I hope as we progress other members may feel confident enough to take the helm.

There is certainly a lot of talent amongst our members who have diverse interests in art, design, making and collecting.

We kicked off with an illustrated talk about Arne Jacobsen (1902 – 1971). He is recognised as one of Denmark’s most significant architects and designers. His large and diverse body of work has left profound imprints on Scandinavian and international design and architectural history. Almost all of his buildings survive and are as fresh and modern today as they were when they were first conceived. His designs of chairs, lamps, textiles and other furnishings are still produced even today and were mostly designed to complete the architectural package he was delivering. We learnt what was a new word for most of us, Gesamtkunstwerk. A German word meaning a total work of art – the complete package as delivered by Jacobsen. This is what he strived for in the tradition of William Morris, Charles Rennie Mackintosh and probably his major influence after Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius and the Bauhaus.

We presented several items of Jacobsen’s stainless steel Cylinda Line which we have. This was designed for Stelton, the company started by Peter Holmblad, Jacobsen’s stepson and a range which, over 50 years later, is still going strong. And for a brief exposure, Christine Keeler was on the screen sitting in what was always regarded as a Jacobsen Series 7 chair. The famous or should that be infamous photograph by Lewis Morley. Except it wasn’t a series 7 chair, but a copy.

One of the last things that Jacobsen was quoted saying was: ‘Architecture tends to consume everything else. It has become one’s entire life.’ The talk on Jacobsen ended but his story couldn’t really end because there can be no end to Jacobsen who lives on in his designs and architecture.

After a welcome refreshment break and chat we reconvened with the subject ‘I Collect Ruskins…’, ceramic cabochons produced by William Howson Taylor’s Ruskin Pottery in Smethwick between the late 19th century and 1935. These were used in craft work, all forms of jewellery but particularly brooches. The unique quality of the Ruskin is its colour and glaze, the formulae for which Taylor had destroyed before his death, their uniqueness going to the grave with him. Many examples from our extensive collection were passed around and were generally agreed, I believe, to be things of beauty. We have many collections and are still adding as I explained in the talk with the Ruskins being increased by two only this

last week. But I explained that as Eric Hoffer (1902 – 1983) the American philosopher and social critic wrote:” You can never really have enough of what you don’t really need.”

The subjects of our February meeting will be, first ‘The Genius that is Hoffnung’. Gerard Hoffnung (1925 – 1959) was an artist, a musician, writer and cartoonist best known for his contributions to Punch Magazine and his Music Festivals. This will be followed by, in the second segment, ‘I Collect Briglin’. A small London based pottery operating between 1948 and 1990 and which thrived in the swinging 60s and which Delia and I seem to have enough of to call ‘a collection’.

With this in mind please note our next meeting, and perhaps join us. It will be on Friday 21st February at 10.30am in the Burnham Museum Lower Gallery – it’s worth £2 for the tea, biscuits and company even without the talk!

Mike & Delia Allen

December 2024

Our December meeting was well attended despite the Christmas Holiday being almost upon us and the work that it entailed for those of us who were entertaining rather than being entertained. We had apologies from some previous attendees as well as welcoming some new members sounding out the group. A total of 22 of us paid our £2 sub to cover room hire and refreshments.

Given the Government’s interest in Greyfield Sites, we remained kind of topical for the first hour with our opening talk which was about Brownfield Sites. Well, not really the Government’s definition of a brownfield site, we were looking at the life of Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown and the over 170 sites that are accredited as being his landscape work, either partly of totally – tongue in cheek we can generically call these ‘Brownfield Sites’. We also talked about something that is not always realised, and that is the work that Brown also did as an architect; designing the building that would sit in his constructed landscape. So good was his landscape design that often he is not credited because what has evolved often appears to be God’s own work in creating the natural landscape. The term used to describe his work is ‘Aesthetic Minimalism’. We finished this first hour looking at how Delia and I had embarked on trying to find Brown’s work of 250 years ago at High Cliff on the Hampshire Cliffs (now Dorset) , a mansion that was swallowed by the sea but that had left some clues in the grounds of the ‘replacement’ that is Highcliffe Castle, a castle designed by William Donthorn for Lord Stuart de Rothesay sitting in some of the grounds which survived the demise of Lord Bute’s High Cliff.

After our refreshment break with seasonal mince pies our last 40 minutes followed the now regular theme ‘I Collect…’. At this meeting it was: ‘I Collect Christmas – Sort of!’ A look at how Christmas themed items can sneak into regular art and design collections such as glass, paintings and Scandinavian and Russian folk art. We concluded with a continuation of this collecting theme with a brief presentation titled: ‘More than One Way to Crack a Nut!’

In this we looked at how nutcrackers work (pump compression, screw compression, pressure fracture and hammer fracture) and how this engineering is translated into design. From Scandinavian teak embellishment, through animals such as dogs, crocodiles and squirrels and then the representation of characters such as Harold Lloyd and robots. One member brought along to ‘show and tell’ a cast iron dog shaped nutcracker that had been in her family for generations. It was an 1896 patent but was probably made in the 1920s/30s. Despite my keenness to add it to my collection it went home with the member!!

I hope that those attending are still enjoying the meetings and will join us again next time, Friday 17th January when, for the first hour, I will give an illustrated talk on Arne Jacobsen (1902 – 1971), a Danish Architect, Designer and Artist who for over five decades dominated Danish design through innovation and what is termed ‘Aesthetic Functionalism’. Jacobsen is probably somebody not always recognised by name, but almost certainly recognised through his designs, many of which are still produced years after their initial conception. ‘I collect…’ will be a look at what are generically called ‘Ruskins’ – a craft made pewter brooch which usually has a pottery cabochon made by the Ruskin factory at their centre. The

Ruskin kilns ceased operation in 1933. In addition, we will look at the derivatives spawned by these items. And yes, these are something else that we collect!

We hope to see you again on Friday 17th January at 10.30 in the Lower Gallery at the Museum. In any case we wish you each and every one, a happy new year.

Mike & Delia Allen

Friday 15th November: A Potter – but neither Beatrix nor Harry!

Friday 15th November saw the third meeting of our Art, Architecture and Design Group which, once again, was well attended with some new faces amongst our audience. We have seen over 20 members at each meeting which, apart from being encouraging, means that to date we are self-financing and building a small reserve which may enable us to buy-in a speaker or possibly subsidise a trip out next year.

After three meetings we seem to be developing an acceptable format of around an hour for our main topic which at the moment takes the form of a talk by myself with slides; the talk is aimed to be interactive with any questions asked during the talk as well as a ‘question and answer’ session afterwards. This is followed by a 20 minute or so refreshment break before a more informal, shorter session.

Our main subject in November was the potter Bernard Leach, the father of British Studio Pottery. We looked at his life, how he changed studio pottery and brought Japanese and Eastern craft to England, whilst taking English ideas and style to the East. One of our group, John Cassels, brought along a beautiful Studio Pottery plate made by one of his late friends and shared its story. This type of involvement by our members is what we are aiming to develop.

Our shorter session following refreshments is going to be a regular: ‘I Collect…’ slot. This is also currently being led by me but I am hoping that, as we develop the group, other

members may feel confident enough to share the story of their collections so that we can all learn. I am hoping for the same with the main topic and other members eventually giving a talk. In November I talked about some of our paintings or more correctly wall art and showed examples of discoveries of various kinds including an interesting coincidence. We have a painting by the artist Leonard Renton who I gave a retrospective exhibition back in Dorset where we lived prior to moving to Burnham. The coincidence is that he was a friend of the sculptor Geoffrey Wickham, when they were both members of the Islington Art Circle and of course, Geoffrey Wickham lived here in Burnham.

Our next meeting is planned to be, for the main session, a look at the life and work of Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown, Landscape Designer and Architect. Back in 2014-2016 I was involved in The Capability Brown Tercentenary Celebrations and went in search of Brown in the gardens and grounds of Highcliffe Castle. Grounds that he had designed in the 18th Century for Lord Bute but that with development and ‘Councilification’ everybody thought had vanished. As the meeting is our December meeting, we shall spend some of our small reserve funds on mince pies for the break before we look at some ’Christmas Collectables’ and discover that there is ‘more than one way to crack a nut.’

That next meeting is Friday 20th December at 10.30am at the lower Gallery, Burnham Museum. It can be a bit chilly in there so, if you are coming, please wear something warm but, in any case if you come along, you will receive a warm welcome.

Friday 18th October was murder…

The second meeting of our new group that I am facilitating was attended by 26 u3a members, up by four on the inaugural meeting. I gave an illustrated talk about Francis Mawson Rattenbury, a Yorkshire born Architect who left England in 1892, aged just 25. After touring Europe, he settled in Victoria, Canada where his winning design for the Legislative Buildings there beat 66 other architects and earned him a fortune as well as an assured career as Canada’s ‘Foremost Architect’. His wealth, fame and career, for various reasons, faltered after WW1. His personal life was a tragedy and after a scandalous affair with a twice previously married 26 years old woman, 30 years younger than himself whom he married, he returned to England in much reduced financial circumstances. His wife’s sexual involvement with their 18-years old handyman chauffer, eventually led to his murder and her suicide leaving the 18 years old handyman facing the death sentence.

The story was turned into a play by Terrance Rattigan, the last that he wrote before his death, titled ‘Cause Célèbre’ which by an extremely strange coincidence was broadcast on the evening of Saturday 19th, the day after our meeting.

Following the welcomed refreshment break we discussed design and functionality of can and bottle openers in a discussion instigated and led by Terry Cassels, one of our group. The conclusion was probably if the initial idea is functional why alter it? I said this reflected what artist and sculptor, Eric Gill and arts and craft worker, Arthur Romney Green had battled over in a series of letters between them. Gill believed that the design was more important than the functionality whereas Green argued that functionally must come first. I think we probably all agreed that functionality is king, but I was remiss, as I was unsure of how to bring the meeting to a consensus - something I will work on for the next meeting.

The structure of these meetings is still a work in progress. The talk will remain the anchor at the next meeting which is on November 15th and will be ‘Bernard Leach, the Father of British Studio Pottery and his influence on Other British Potters.’ The question I will ask, drawing on the content of the talk, will be if the pot is wonky and flawed is it a failure?

It was decided by the group that after the refreshment break, Delia and I should perhaps share and talk about one of our many collections in a trial spot called ‘I COLLECT…’ If this works out, then this is part of the meeting that can be led by other members. The collection to be discussed will be… well no, I shan’t tell you; come along and find out for yourself! If you do then I hope you will enjoy this new group as much as I do.

…the next meeting will be murder…

Friday 20th  September saw the launch of a new u3a group - Art, Architecture and Design - in the Lower Gallery at Burnham Museum. The 19 members who came along went away with the full knowledge of what a ‘Clack’ is. The item, designed by Helmut Dolph, mystified all those present, with the exception of myself and my wife Delia – we facilitated the group and don’t count because we had inside information!

The new group almost got off to a bad start though when, after standing outside for what seemed like an age waiting for somebody to open up and after a few frantic ‘phone calls the gallery where the meeting was to be held remained locked. It was extremely fortuitous that one of the members happened, purely by chance, to have a key. Although I’d kept calm on the surface, in my mind I was rehearsing various scenarios to explain the cancellation of our very first meeting!

Once unlocked though and inside, and after introductions and expressions of expectations from those present, it fell to me to give an illustrated presentation on the A to Z of Architecture – but expanding on each letter to include not only the architectural style, but how art and design relate. I was, of course, merely the facilitator and there was a good deal of welcome interaction from those present. As I explained, although I’m interested in the arts I’m by no means an expert and it was clear that some in the room had deeper knowledge, which they generously shared.

On this occasion, there were no takers in response to my asking whether anyone wished to do the presentation at the next meeting.  I offered a selection of possible talks from my own repertoire: surprisingly, rather than pottery, art or pure architecture the subject chosen was ‘The Rattenbury Murder’.

Francis Mawson Rattenbury was an architect, and a man so out of balance with himself, it ultimately destroyed him. Credited with the skyline of British Columbia, on his return to England, he was murdered by his wife’s lover – or was he? You may find out if you come to our next meeting.

Initially at each meeting, unless developments alter the format, there will be a presentation and then a ‘show and tell’ session where members bring along an item and share what it means to them, and with others examine the design and/ or function. As well as that invitation to bring along random items to the October meeting, one member asked if everybody could also bring along can and jar opening devices to examine and then a discussion can follow on the best and worst designs.

The meeting seemed successful, with some encouraging comments from many of those present. The next meeting will be on Friday October 18th 10.30 at the Burnham Museum Lower Gallery. To cover refreshments and the £25 hall hire fee, £2 each will be collected from all present.

Oh, and one last thing, in case you are wondering what a Clack is, it’s a device designed in 1999 that took the world by storm and the top off boiled eggs!

-Mike Allen