THE GRANDEUR OF THE LONDON BROMPTON ORATORY

Saturday was a busy day as I set off for South Kensington in search of a grand looking Church
called The London Brompton Oratory. Situated almost next door to The Victoria & Albert
Museum in Cromwell Road, it didn't take long to find. And it's certainly as spectacular as all
the pictures I had seen of it prior to my visit.

Designed by a young 29 year old architect by the name of  Herbert Gribble, it's first foundation
stone was laid in June 1880. And on the 16th April 1884 the building was completed and
concecrated.
And looking around The Oratory you might say that it's practically several Churches built
into one, as running the length of each side of the main Church are several Chapels.
Unfortunately just as I arrived at The Oratory, a Mass was taking place so I just snapped a
few pictures then moved next door and spent a couple of hours in the wonderful Victoria &
Albert Museum, then returned to a quieter and empty Oratory allowing me better access
for picture taking, although crowds were gathering for a Wedding.
But after moving on I then had a look in at the nearby London Natural History Museum.

Interestingly a couple of notable Weddings that took place here was when Edward Elgar married
Alice Roberts in 1889, along with film director Alfred Hitchcock who in 1926 married Alma Reville.
I wonder if he ever considered using this place as a film location.
This large neo-classical Church is closely connected to The London Oratory Boys School, and
many of the boys are involved in the Church choir and can often be seen in all their 
finery parading in a procession on their way in to Sunday Mass.

Looking at the Oratory Parish Magazine it's clear to see they have a busy Summer schedule
as next Wednesday (19th June ) they're putting on a Bach organ recital along with 
full choral accompaniment. And the following Saturday 22nd June is The Oratory
Summer Garden Fete.

WEDNESDAY 19th JUNE  -  J.S BACH'S  CLAVIERUBUNG PART III ( THE GERMAN ORGAN MASS ).

THE BROMPTON ORATORY WEBSITE

From East to West..... Our Southern Coastline... From Margate to Lands End

1. Penzance  2. St Ives  3. Newquay  4. Teignmouth  5. Weymouth  6. Lulworth Cove  7.  Southampton  8. The Isle of Wight
9.  Littlehampton  10. Bracklesham Bay  11. Brighton  12. Hastings  13.  Margate  14. Isle of Sheppey   15. Southend-on-Sea

NOT ON THE MAP   -  Blackpool  and The Isles of Scilly



I was recently looking over a map of our Southern British Coastline and I was keen to see just
how many places I had either visited or stayed at. I actually thought it was more. And so I've
marked above on the map all the places I've ever visited, be it for a holiday or just a day trip.

As a kid growing up in a Foster Home with eight children we often spent our annual Holidays
at a charming old Guest House in Margate.
On some years we would have a change of scenery and stay at other resorts like Weymouth,
Blackpool up North as well as Teignmouth in Devon and once on The Isle of Wight staying in
a place called Ryde. But Margate seemed to be the most popular family holiday destination.

Of course there are some wonderful British resorts in Wales and Scotland but the South Coast
offers the cream of the crop of British seaside Towns.
And yet I wonder why we've never seen a Coastal tv travel documentary covering the entire
journey from East to West, meaning from Margate and all the way to Land's End in West Cornwall.
And perhaps in a Campervan. It would make a great show. I don't know why none of the tv
companies has never come up with the idea.


Below: A rather busy looking Margate during our last day visit in 2015.


And the image at the very bottom is the view of the sea from the old Guest House that we stayed
at with the Foster family.
Of course that Guest House is still there and still in business thanks to Margate undergoing
a recent mini revival with the re-opening of Dreamland and the arrival of The Turner Art Gallery.
But it's that bottom image of the road looking down to the sea that has become quite a haunting
image that's heavily imprinted in my childhood memories. It was the last thing we saw upon
leaving as we sadly ended our two week holiday and headed back home, back to reality and back
to School.
So of course I had to snap an image of that view. That view that was just a memory in my mind. 

The Chapel at The Old Royal Naval College Greenwich

Having recently visited The Painted Hall at The Old Royal Naval College I was keen
to explore the historic grounds. And after being goaded by a tourist guide to walk down
the length of a rather strange looking basement undercroft, I suddenly arrived into
the doorway of the grand surroundings of The St Peter and St Paul Chapel.
And it's actually the adjoining building next to The Painted Hall.
The building was gutted by fire back in 1779. It was then rebuilt by James 'Athenian'
Stuart in a neo-classical style and to this day is still an active Chapel with choral
 performances put on by local music and Dance students.

For more information on The Chapel visit the official website...

THE CHAPEL OF ST PETER AND ST PAUL.

MY RECENT POSTING OF THE PAINTED HALL GREENWICH

Above: The Chapel organ created by Samuel Green,
the finest organ maker of his day.
It was built and fitted into position in 1798 and is amazingly
still in use.

Above: The Undercroft which took me from The Painted Hall
and straight to the adjoining building, The Chapel.

My Little Stay Over Room

I was recently thrilled to have an old friend stay over and use my recently
built guest room. A small space that was really just somewhere to hang
my clothes until it got overcrowded with junk and other things that
needed storing away.
And I suppose that by having him stay over for a couple of nights
it probably helped to kill of the ghost of last September when I had someone
stay over and it didn't quite work out. A strange old time that left me
baffled and confused.
Odd though because when my friend left he mentioned something about
registering my little room with Airbnb. Well that's probably not
practical as I actually live in the flat.

I do wish though that I had an extra little room like this about fifteen years ago
when living a more active social life, because around that time my flat
was a hub of activity with friends coming and going, as well as crashing out on
my floor barely a few feet away from me in bed.
And boy am I a light sleeper. So I was never comfortable about that.

Below are a few pictures I took of the room as I was preparing it for
my recent visitor.

Above: The bed all folded up and covered while not in use.

Below: Pictures of  the building of the little room from last Summer.
I had to pack away quite a bit of cement and plaster to those
damaged walls.

Below: The small room from back in Christmas 2007
when I first started blogging, and I created a sort of mini theatre Christmas display featuring my china collection of Snowmen.