Lady Emma Kitchener, LVO

At the Lord Kitchener Memorial Holiday Centre we were delighted to learn that Lady Emma Kitchener, aka Lady Fellowes of West Stafford, has agreed to be our new Patron following the death of her uncle, and our previous Patron, Lord Kitchener.

Sadly she was not able to be with us at our Annual General Meeting this year as her husband, the Baron Fellowes of West Stafford, possibly better known as the writer of Downton Abbey, Julian Fellowes, had commitments in Los Angeles at the Emmy Awards.

We look forward to perhaps seeing both of them at our next Annual General Meeting!

Graeme Roberts (only a death seems to prompt a post)

It's a sad fact of life that you older you get, the less time you seem to have to cover all the tasks you set yourself. As a result this blog has been sadly neglected. This year I have allowed such uplifting events as attending the memorial service for Lord Kitchener in Westminster and talking to the visitors from our twin town of Plaisir about the Royal Naval Patrol Service pass by without comment. Some events, however, are so hard hitting that time must be found.

I lost a friend yesterday. Graeme Roberts was a bookseller, a unique one in my experience with a divi's eye for any sort of collectable book and a vast experience of sci-fi. When I first knew him he was trading as Magpie Books at 53 Brushfield Street, Spitalfields and then at The Clerk's House at 118½ Shoreditch High Street. Based in the wilds of Suffolk I had known him only remotely since the early 1990's as a fellow bookseller but I got to know him properly with the coming of the world wide web. The internet gave us much better opportunities for contact, for the exchange of views on books, on bookselling and on the world in general, which had not been possible when buying and selling from each other by post.

In the late 1990's, concerned with the increasing avarice of some of the major bookselling websites, a small group of us, led by Graeme, explored the possibilities of a cooperative of independent booksellers. That group came into being and briefly flourished but the nature of cooperation was always going to be a difficulty with such independent and somewhat eccentric people as booksellers and it gradually declined.

During this time Graeme had left his roots in the east end of London for West Yorkshire and after a spell near Todmorden ended up at Hebden Bridge. Graeme had some relationship and financial difficulties and I lost touch with him for a while but I am pleased to say that we picked up the pieces again last year and were in infrequent but regular touch. He was due to visit his mother's grave in Essex and had promised to bend his route to come and stay and be introduced to our local micro-brewery.

Graeme was outspoken, a trait which sometimes got him into trouble but a trait which made him who he was, a genuine man with no pretentiousness. He made mistakes - don't we all - but he made efforts to correct them and although in his last few years he was probably less financially secure than at any other time of his life, I hope and believe that he was content, amongst some real friends at Hebden Bridge. Rest in Peace, Graeme.

Lord Kitchener

It was with great sadness that I learned just before Christmas of the death of Henry, 3rd Earl Kitchener on 16th December 2011.

As previously mentioned I have an interest as one of the trustees of the Lord Kitchener Memorial Holiday Centre. Lord Kitchener had only been our patron for a relatively short time, after the death of our previous patron HRH Princess Alice, but he had been a vice-patron and a stalwart supporter of the Centre at Lowestoft for a number of years.

The trustees were very grateful that his family had managed to arrange what turned out to be his final visit to us in September this year and our heartfelt condolences go out to them for their loss. We also have every sympathy with the unfair situation expressed by Julian (Fellowes), Baron Fellowes of of West Stafford, that his wife The Lady Emma, although Lord Kitchener's niece and legal heir, cannot inherit the title as 4th Countess under current legislation.

Loss of friends

Self, Keith
Ann, Doreen

It's been a sad week for us with two funerals. The first, on Monday, was that of Penny Barley, much loved wife of Robin with whom I worked for several years in the late 1970's and who was taken after a very short illness. She was far too young to have been taken yet at all and the sense of loss and her popularity was marked by the standing room only at the celebration of her life.

Yesterday, Thursday, Ann and I attended that of Keith Savage whom we had known for the nearly fifty years it is since he and I had served together with the East Suffolk Police at Lowestoft.

Those were the days of foot patrols, of great-coats surmounted with a cape when on night patrol shaking hands with shop door handles and of point duty in a white-painted wooden box at what was known as Tuttles corner, the junction of Waveney Road with what was then the A12. This was some time before we eventally took delivery of the first Panda cars in the town and he became Panda 4 and I Panda 2 (it was physically more comfortable policing but we lost touch with the public).

Towards the end of the 1960's Keith and I, with our respective wives Doreen and Ann, spent a memorable holiday together bed and breakfasting round the Highlands of Scotland. Being realistic about the reliability of our own cars, Keith's Morris Minor and my Sunbeam Alpine, we hired a Ford Corsair.

The image shows that we made it, all the way to the top (click the image for a larger version where the text is readable). We were young, carefree and full of hope and anticipation if a little windswept!

Yesterday brought some consolation, that of renewed acquaintance with Keith and Doreen's son (and our Godson) Gary and of meeting his wife Natalie. Doreen and Keith had every right to be very proud of Gary's achievements, of his double first at Cambridge, his doctorate and his teaching career at Eton, Westminster and now as Headmaster of Alleyn's School at Dulwich. It was also good to renew friendships with colleagues not seen for so long.

In latter years after he had retired from the police Keith, always a collector, became a fellow bookseller with a shop in Saxmundham. We would visit on an occasional basis but never on a Tuesday afternoon or a Saturday when Ipswich Town were playing at home as he always had a prior engagement!

We'll miss you, rest in peace Keith.

AGM of Lord Kitchener Memorial Holiday Centre at Lowestoft

From left: Guest speaker Colonel Moss, Lady Fellowes, Lord Kitchener,
Chairman: John Greenacre, Lord Fellowes, Trustee: Michael Sims

Wearing one of my other hats I recently attended the Lord Kitchener Memorial Holiday Centre for their Annual General Meeting. The LKMHC is a prime building facing the sea in the Suffolk coastal town of Lowestoft which provides serviced holiday accommodation to ex-members of the merchant and armed services. It first openend its doors in 1919 as a memorial to the national war hero the first Lord Kitchener of Khartoum, who had died with his staff when HMS Hampshire was sunk by a mine off the Orkney Islands in 1916.

The Lord Kitchener Memorial Holiday Centre, Lowestoft

This year, after much planning, we were delighted to welcome back our patron, the present Lord Kitchener, who had not been able to visit us for some years after a stroke. By planning well in advance his niece and her husband, the Lord and Lady Fellowes of West Stafford, were able to drive him from his home in West Sussex. Lord Fellowes is better known as Julian Fellowes (the actor and writer, Gosford Park, Downton Abbey, etc.) and his wife Lady Emma, and we managed to fit the AGM into their busy schedule so that they could bring Lady Emma's uncle.

The AGM was attended by some 90+ friends and supporters of the Centre in a somewhat less formal meeting than of recent years. We heard a brief summary of the last financial year from the new chairman of the management committe, Dr. John Greenacre, an interesting account of his work by Colonel Neale Moss, Commander Aviation 16 Air Assault Brigade, and a short address by Lord Kitchener. Lady Emma was presented with a posy by the chairman's daughter, Alice Greenacre.

Lady Emma and Alice Greenacre

The meeting was very well attended and as well as the top-table guests our distinguished visitors included Major-General John Sutherell, Peter Aldous MP, the Chairman of Waveney District Council, the Mayor of Lowestoft and many more. All the armed services were represented as were many ex-service associations. Aftewards we enjoyed an excellent buffet prepared and served by the Centre staff and our VIP guests took the opportunity to talk to our many other guests at the Centre that evening.

The stamina of Lord Kitchener, now in his nineties, was amazing and he circulated and spoke to many people during the buffet. This was Lord and Lady Fellowes of West Stafford first visit to us and they really showed in interest in what we were doing at the Centre. Lady Emma was given a short tour of some of the rooms and I even managed to get my first editions of 'Snobs' and 'Past Imperfect' signed by Lord Fellowes (in his persona as Julian Fellows).


The stalwart service of the Centre manager Steven Schofield, his wife and Centre housekeeper, Lorraine, and their staff was publicly acknowledged. The Centre, which is open from April until th end of October is able to offer bed, breakfast and an evening meal to 20 guests at a time in 10 en-suite twin-bedded rooms, at a rate which is kept below the minimum income level by grants from service charities.

The management committee and trustees are all unpaid, a fact to which tribute was paid by Lord Kitchener, who has experience of management fees being charged in other charitable enterprises. The trustees and management were very grateful to all those who made the evening go so well, not least the police at Lowestoft who were able, by their presence, to ease the arrival of guests in a single-carriageway road. It is hoped that the visit of our noble, gallant and distinguished guests can be repeated next year.

From the left:
The Baron Fellowes of West Stafford (Julian Fellowes),
The Lady Fellowes of West Stafford (Lady Emma)
and The Earl Kitchener of Khartoum

Further details about the Centre and the service offered can be found at:

Lord Kitchener Memorial Holiday Centre

Lowestoft and Plaisir Twinning

With delight I have discovered the Lowestoft and Plaisir Twinning Association blog.

Choisissez une langue de traduction:

What seems like a lifetime ago in 1979, when I was still serving in the Suffolk Fire Service, my wife and I were the guests of the the Briand family when we attended the original twinning ceremony between our two towns in France. Lieutenant Briand was in command of the Sapeurs-pompiers at Plaisir and I was a full-time operational Sub Officer at Normanshurst in Lowestoft.

The formal ceremony 1

(Click on any image for a larger version)

The formal ceremony 2

The formal ceremony 3

After the formal ceremony. Lieutenant Briand (fore-ground, in uniform) with his wife and mine, Ann

I believe the visit was for three days, a most hectic period of almost non-stop activity covering the twinning ceremony itself, the 'cross' (a cross country run, viewing not taking part), a social event in a community centre, a jazz gig in a park, a visit to the the Caserne (Fire Station)...

A visit to the Caserne....

....where I am even allowed to play with some of the equipment.

and another to the Palace of Versailles, as well as the hospitality at the home of the Briands and of their friends and neighbours.

...and another to the Palace of Versailles...

The Briands had no English and we had only very rusty 'O' level French, but with the help of a French/English dictionary we managed to communicate. In fact we found that it was by far the quickest way to learn French, to be plunged into a totally French speaking environment!

Sadly, shortly after our visit I started to develop health problems and after one more promotion and a couple of years taken for the diagnosis to be completed I had to retire from the Fire Service on grounds of ill health. I have lost touch with the Briands so if anyone knows of their whereabouts I would be pleased to hear.

A little while later we were able to return a small portion of the hospitality that we had received. The Briands were unable to visit but another family (sadly their name has been forgotten) who had connections with SNCF stayed with us.

At the time we were running a guest house but they stayed as our guests and, in the hope that the Transport Museum at Carlton Colville might be of interest, took them there. They appeared to enjoy it but after their high-tech French railways it must have seemed rather quaint.

With other commitments in our lives we lost touch with those involved with the twinning. The level of commitments in other directions is still high but it is great to have the opportunity to try to establish them again.

A cautionary tale...

You wouldn't think that selling books would involve the loss of much blood but unless you keep your concentration, it can!

The steri-strips came off today but you can still see the angle at which the steel rule was being held to guide the Stanley knife through the cardboard of the book-pack, trimming it to size. Only a blade past the prime of sharpness prevented complete removal of the top right corner of the index finger. On the other hand (so to speak) a sharper blade might have cut straight through the slight fault in the cardboard that made it jump.

Either way, it has been a 'sharp' reminder to keep your mind on what you are doing!