The King’s Society
MICHAELMAS TERM 2015
The King’s Society The King’s Society aims to provide opportunities for the enhancement and enrichment of the King’s Community. We hope to enable members of the Society to enjoy social events together and appreciate the educational and cultural facilities that the School, the Cathedral and Precincts have to offer. We organise a variety of events here in Canterbury, London and further afield. We liaise closely with the Visitors’ Department of Canterbury Cathedral and have arranged many tours within the Precincts. There are frequent theatre trips, visits to art galleries and guided walking tours in London. We enjoy our garden visits and have visited Highgrove, Kew Gardens, Sissinghurst and Great Dixter amongst others. We liaise closely with the PSHE department here at King’s and host talks which we open to all King’s parents on matters relating to pupils’ teenage issues. We hold regular lectures, craft and culinary workshops, wine tastings and dining evenings and our Reading Group meets on a termly basis in the Library for what is always a lively discussion on the chosen book. Over the years, we have had guided weekends away together in Seville, Florence, Paris and Berlin. In addition we regularly organise First World War battlefield tours and recently spent a weekend in Ghent visiting the site of the Battle of Waterloo in celebration of the bicentenary of Wellington’s victory. The Society has over 340 members. We are a non-profit making organisation and the Society exists solely for the benefit of its members. There is also a newly formed branch of The King’s Society in Hong Kong and events for the King’s community in Hong Kong are held on a regular basis there. The Society is run by Mrs Ali Huntrods, an ex-parent of two daughters at King’s, together with a committee made up of current parents, OKS and members of staff. We try to cater for a wide range of tastes and interests on all social, cultural and educational fronts and can assure you of a very warm welcome.
Cover images – Main: Houses of Parliament: Public Domain. Right (from top to bottom) White Cliffs of Dover: Photo by Immanuel Giel. Licence: CC-BY-SA 3.0 – http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0; The Bone Clocks: Public Domain; Battle of Britain Memorial: Photo by Detraymond. Licence: CC-BY-SA 3.0 – http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0; Sloane Avenue sign: Public Domain
King’s Society Reception for New Parents Wednesday 2nd September 5pm
Lattergate Garden (Pupils’ Social Centre if it is wet) We are delighted to host a reception for new parents on the first day of term. Following the Headmaster’s welcome in the Shirley Hall, parents will be invited to join the Headmaster and members of the King’s Society Committee (identified by badges) for champagne and canapés in the Lattergate Garden.
Private Tour of Canterbury Cathedral for New Parents Friday 11th September 7pm
Cathedral Welcome Centre A private evening tour of Canterbury Cathedral for new parents to the School, followed by drinks and canapés in the Lattergate Boardroom. The Cathedral guides have a wealth of knowledge about the Cathedral and its remarkable history. We will be guided around this splendid building dating back to the arrival of the first Archbishop, Augustine, from Rome in AD 597. We will learn about the fabric of the building and its architecture ‒ Romanesque, Gothic and later additions from the Middle Ages ‒ and the historical events that have taken place here over the centuries. We will visit the shrine to the murdered Archbishop Thomas Becket and the medieval tombs of King Henry IV and Edward the Black Prince. This event is free but sadly we are restricted to a maximum of 50 places. Website booking not available. If you would like to come on this tour please contact Ali.
Dover Sea Safari Experience
Saturday 12th September 11am
Dover Sea Sports Centre, Esplanade, Dover, CT17 9FS A first for the King’s Society as we board the 10.5m Humber passenger RHIB speedboat, The Dover Explorer, for the exhilarating ‘Dover Sea Safari’ experience. Upon departing Dover Marina, when we will have a close-up view of the White Cliffs of Dover, our Sea Safari starts with the historic and everyday workings of Dover Harbour. Having obtained permission from Dover Port Control we will slip out between the huge cross Channel Ferries, exiting through the enormous granite faced harbour walls onward to Langdon Bay. From there we will continue to pass the beautiful old fishing villages of St Margaret’s Bay, Kingsdown, Walmer and Deal. We will be able to see the Castles and hear the tales of smuggling, the infamous Deal boatmen, Goodwin Sands and learn about the Deal Timeball Tower. All this before passing underneath the award winning Deal Pier and pushing forward the throttles to experience the feeling of blasting home aboard the largest RHIB speedboat on this part of the coast. Places limited to 15. Price per person £30. Website booking available.
Battle of Britain Memorial – The National Memorial to the Few at Capel-le-Ferne Saturday 12th September 2.30pm
Capel-le-Ferne, Folkestone, CT18 7JJ Our afternoon at this Memorial to the Few will begin with a private Memorial tour. Our guide will explain and detail the bravery and sacrifice of those 3,000 airmen who flew, fought and died in the skies overhead nearly 75 years ago. We will be given an opportunity to look at the names of those who took part in the Battle of Britain carved on the black granite panels of the Christopher Foxley-Norris Memorial Wall and reflect upon the Memorial itself in the shape of a lone pilot looking out to sea. He sits on a sandstone base upon which are carved the badges of the squadrons that took part in the Battle. After our tour we will visit The Wing, the newly opened visitor centre designed in the shape of a Spitfire wing. The Wing houses The Scramble Experience, a unique hands-on attraction that uses audio-visual effects, a video wall and other special techniques to show something of what it was like for The Few in the summer and autumn of 1940. It also houses a high-tech exhibition and learning centre which was designed to keep the memory of the veterans alive for many years to come. Places limited to 15. Cost per person £5. Website booking available. (If you would like to join us for both events on this day Ali will find somewhere for us all to have lunch together between the morning and afternoon tours.)
Drinks Reception for the King’s Community in Hong Kong Saturday 19th September 7pm
Hong Kong Maritime Museum, Central Ferry Pier No 8, Mon Kwong Street, Central, Hong Kong All members of the Hong Kong King’s community are very warmly invited to this drinks party hosted by Mr Graham Sinclair, the School’s Registrar, and Mr Will Bersey, Director of Music. Website booking not available.
Princes, Painters, Punks and Pensioners - Viv Haxby’s Chelsea walking tour Thursday 1st October 10.45am
Sloane Square Tube Station, SW1 Join Blue Badge Guide, Viv Haxby, for a wander through the streets of Chelsea considering former residents ranging from Henry VIII and Thomas More to Turner and Rossetti, Quant and Westwood. We will hear about the area’s origins as a riverside Bohemian backwater, and how it became the epicentre of the Swinging Sixties. In the past, the only British Prime Minister not to have English as his mother-tongue lived here, as did the woman who created Mary Poppins. Today, some of London’s most sought after houses are to be found in Chelsea. We will finish near Old Church Street on the King’s Road. Places limited to 20. Price per person £10. Website booking available.
Private tour of the Houses of Parliament Tuesday 6th October 2pm
Cromwell Green (Visitor) Entrance (on St Margaret Street) to the Palace of Westminster, SW1 0AA We have arranged a private tour for The King’s Society of the Houses of Parliament. Our Blue Badge guide will take us through the Norman Porch, the Royal Apartments, the Queen’s Robing Room and The Royal Gallery. We will visit the House of Lords and see the Prince’s Chamber, The Lords' Chamber, the Peers’ Lobby, Central Lobby and also the House of Commons where will we be guided through the Members’ Lobby, the No Lobby, the Commons Chamber, St Stephen’s Hall and Westminster Hall. Following our tour we have tea booked in the Terrace Pavilion overlooking the River Thames. This will include a selection of savoury and sweet options including sandwiches, scones and tea. Places limited to 25. Cost per person (including both the tour and tea) £46.50. Website booking available.
King’s Society talk The World of Goya Wednesday 7th October 7.30pm
Schoolroom In anticipation of the forthcoming exhibition at the National Gallery Goya: The Portraits, David Felton, Head of History of Art here at School, has very kindly agreed to give us an introduction to Goya. Goya’s career spans a period of galvanic intellectual and historical change. What makes his art fascinating is his unique response to the society around him, to the individuals who dominated or criticised Enlightenment Spain, and to the effects on the country of the Napoleonic adventure. From modest surroundings, the hugely ambitious Goya rapidly rose to a pre-eminent position in Bourbon Madrid in the 1780s. Under three generations of rulers he enjoyed the prestige of official artist. In the early 1790s Goya experienced a crippling mental episode which left him deaf and radically altered his outlook on life. When Bourbon rule was restored after 1814, Goya took semi-retirement in the urban Quinta del Sordo, which he decorated with his harrowing Black Paintings. Disillusioned by the betrayal of liberalism, he sought a few years of solace in Bordeaux where he died in 1828. David’s talk will explore the world of Goya, a painter whose power and significance have never been greater. There is no charge for this event but places should still be reserved. Drinks and nibbles will be served. Website booking available.
A walk in and about St Augustine’s Peter Henderson’s walking tour of St Augustine’s Saturday 10th October 10.45am
The Gilbert Room, St Augustine’s Peter Henderson, the School Archivist, will give a guided tour of the St Augustine’s site. This is a chance to see the buildings occupied by the School since 1976. (We will not be looking at the Abbey which is separate and run by English Heritage.) The tour will focus on the post-Reformation buildings: the Tudor Royal Palace and garden, the Victorian Missionary College and the new boarding houses. If it is a sunny day we will also visit the Tradescant Garden. We will meet in the Gilbert Room (in St Augustine’s) for coffee before we set off. Places limited to 20. There is no charge for this event but places should still be reserved. Website booking available.
Goya: The Portraits at the National Gallery with Art History UK Wednesday 14th October 1.30pm
National Café at the National Gallery, WC2N 5DN This tour surrounds the National Gallery’s Goya exhibition. This exhibition, the first ever to focus solely on Goya’s portraits, will include more than 50 outstanding examples from around the world as well as drawings and miniatures. Art History UK guide Catherine will contextualise the exhibition by guiding us around the permanent collection to look at portraits by the 17th century Spanish artists Velasquez and Zurbaran and also leading British 18th century painters. She will introduce Goya and the themes of the exhibition and discuss the background to some of his enigmatic, psychological paintings. Once in the exhibition Catherine will not be able to guide formally, but will be around to answer any questions. Places limited to 14. Cost per person £38. Website booking available.
King’s Society Reading Group Friday 16th October 10.45am
Library In anticipation of this term’s meeting we will be reading David Mitchell’s novel The Bone Clocks. David Mitchell’s sixth novel was long-listed for the Booker Prize this year and is “recklessly ambitious” (William Skidelsky in The Guardian). It is a novel of six parts, each one having a different narrator, all dealing with a different segment of teenage runaway Holly Sykes’ life. The Bone Clocks follows the twists and turns of Holly’s life, from a scarred adolescence in Gravesend to old age on Ireland’s Atlantic coast as Europe’s oil supply dries up – a life not so far out of the ordinary, yet punctuated by flashes of precognition, visits from people who emerge from thin air and brief lapses in the laws of reality. For Holly Sykes – daughter, sister, mother, guardian – is also an unwitting player in a murderous feud played out in the shadows and margins of our world, and may prove to be its decisive weapon. We will discuss our varied responses to The Bone Clocks over coffee and cake. There is no charge for this event but places should still be reserved. Places limited to 15. Website booking available.
Harlequinade by Terence Rattigan Wednesday 11th November 7.30pm
Garrick Theatre, Charing Cross Road, WC2H 0HH This production forms part of the first season of the Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company at the Garrick Theatre. This is a rarely performed comic gem as a classical theatre company attempts to produce The Winter’s Tale and Romeo and Juliet while the intrigues and dalliances of the company members are accidentally revealed with increasingly chaotic and hysterical consequences. The behind-the-scenes world takes centre stage in Terence Rattigan’s affectionate celebration of the lunatic art of putting on a play, Kenneth Branagh performs in and co-directs this production. Places limited to 15. Price per person £56. Website booking available.
The King’s Society Annual General Meeting Monday 16th November 7.30pm
Gateway Chamber, St Augustine’s Please let Ali know if you would like to attend.
King’s Society talk on Graphology by Margaret White MBIG (dip) Wednesday 18th November 7.30pm
Schoolroom A professional graphologist for the past 30 years, Margaret White was a pupil of the late Francis Hilliger, founder of the British Institute of Graphologists, of which Margaret was also a founding member. Graphology, or the study of handwriting, can assist in all manner of ways and in a wide range of industry sectors. Margaret’s talents are much sought after by the legal sector, police departments and the recruitment sector. In addition, Margaret helps families seeking assistance with children’s behavioural problems or offers her services to relatives who wish to know more about their ancestors. Authors researching and writing about historical figures ask for her help and she is often called in to verify an artist’s signature by private art owners. For her talk to The King’s Society, Margaret will be focusing on the importance of handwriting in the computer age and how poor hand-writing can have a direct impact on the way in which exam scripts are marked and job applications vetted. There is no charge for this event but places should still be reserved. Drinks and nibbles will be served. Website booking available.
Christmas Wreath Making
Thursday 3rd December 10am
Jolly Lovely at Little Boy Court, Boy Court Lane, Headcorn TN27 9LA Join Amanda Taggart from Jolly Lovely at this fun workshop where we will have the opportunity to create our own fabulous Christmas Wreath. Everything we need will be provided including ribbons, stunning foliage and festive decorations. Our day will start with coffee and cake and after a busy creative morning we will break for a glass of fizz and a light lunch of homemade soup and bread followed by mince pies and coffee. This will be a great way to ensure we all get into the festive mood. Places limited to 10. Price per person £54. Website booking available.
Renaissance Christmas at the National Gallery with Art History UK Monday 7th December 10.30am
National Café at the National Gallery, WC2N 5DN The light and church-like Sainsbury Wing in the National Gallery holds some of the finest Renaissance altarpieces in the world. To help get ourselves into the Christmas spirit, Rose Balston, director of Art History UK, will be guiding us round a selection of the wonderful collection of Annunciations, Nativities and Adorations in the National Gallery by some of the most delightful Renaissance artists, including works by Masaccio, Lippi, Botticelli, Crivelli and Leonardo. Places available 15. Price per person £27.50. Website booking available.
King’s Society events are open to all members. Most events can be booked using the school’s online booking facility at www.kings-school.co.uk which is the easiest and most efficient way of booking tickets. If you are paying by cheque, it should be made payable to The King’s Society and sent to Ali at The King’s School, Canterbury, CT1 2ES. Please note, payment is required prior to an event and places cannot be guaranteed until payment has been received. If an event is full, it is always worth your name being put on Ali’s waiting list as spaces often occur at the last minute.
Committee Members Manager: Treasurer: Parents: Staff:
Mrs Ali Huntrods Mr Andrew Bruce Mrs Caroline Bagshawe, Mrs Claire Burns, Mrs Jan Carr, Mrs Eloise Coulson, Mrs Frances Gerth, Mr Martin Pengelley, Mrs Alison Streeter Mrs Lisa Cousins, Mr Richard Ninham, Mrs Liz Worthington
Hong Kong Committee Members Parents: Mrs Rosanna Chan, Mrs Amanda Snow OKS: Mr Hamish Backhouse, Mr Darrin Woo
For any King’s Society Enquiries re Membership and Events Please contact the King’s Society Manager Mrs Ali Huntrods Tel: 01227-595774 Email: ah@kings-school.co.uk Mobile: 07825 016282