iain mchenry Posted 2 October , 2003 Share Posted 2 October , 2003 Hi all, As I mentioned on a previous thread, I am doing my bit as the warden of Talbot Hse. Mark Hone asked me to give an update as to what is happening. I spoke to Annelies, Talbot Hse Chief Executive today and asked her a number of questions. Here goes: I asked her as to what influence the IFF museum had over the house as it was partly due to them that TH received its grant to do the current work. Annelies replied that IFF have no control on the managment level and have no say on the running of the house or on people staying. The reason that IFF became involved was at the bequest of the TH Association as IFF have the ability to approach the Flemish Govt asking for a grant. This is because IFF is one of a number of "recognised" museums around the area. It can ask for a grant to help out unrecognised museums as is TH. It also paved the way, through the grant, to employ an archivist at TH employed to research TH history and Poperinge history for the new museum. The local Govt will also use the same designer that did the IFF museum, to lay out the Concert hall museum as they believe that his style attract the tourists. The concert Hall will be a musum dedicated to the history of Pop during WW1. The Slessorium, in the garden of TH, will be a museum dedicated to TH and Tubby. It will incorporate the different types of people he met giving explanations on their jobs and who they were. E.g. RAMC officer, there will be a detailed plan showing the casualty evacuation chain from battlefield to Field hospital. Visitors to the area will be able to buy two types of ticket; 1. Allowing access to the Concert Hall, Garden of TH and the Slessorium, but not the house itself. 2. Gives access to all areas Guests who wish to stay in the house will have access to all areas. Room rates will rise to cover the costs, but not by a lot. Unfortunatley there will be no option to soley visit the house. If I may express my personal (Iains) point of view, this is a bad move. It is expected to take approx 1.5 hours to visit all. Many people visit TH on their way back to Ferry Ports, after visiting the battlefieds to see the house and have a brew. I believe that major tour operators will have to completely re-do their itineries to cover this (experts in this field please comment). It would be terrible to see tour operators, limited to short tours and time retraints start taking TH out of their itineries. The house is seeing a lot of visitors (Groups). Today we had 149 Schoolkids, before 1200pm and 11 individual visitors. Tomorrow we have 271 schoolkids sceduled to visit. All these people in short periods running up and down stairs will cause wear and tear to TH and the TH association, I am led to believe, will start to discourage so many people from visiting the house. This is not good. But what do you do? The opening of a museum looking at Poperinges WW1 history is well overdue and I am sure it will be informative and interesting. But I am still concerned that the house will not have the same feeling about it once the new system is implemented. So far everything is on schedule and the opening is expected for Summer 2004. If anyone wishes to ask a question that is not covered above I will be glad to put it to Annelies. Sorry to go on for so long. Regards Iain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Lines Posted 2 October , 2003 Share Posted 2 October , 2003 Ian Thanks for taking the time to get this information. I agree with you that it's a shame that people will no longer be able to visit just the house. (Hopefully the majority of those that do will get more out of a visit to the house because of what they have seen in the musuem than they do now.) What about repeat visitors though who may just want to visit the Chapel or say hello? I suppose the obvious answer is to just pay up and not visit the musuem, but I fear this may put a few "old friends" off. I don't envy the Staff at the moment because whatever the decision it won't please everyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iain mchenry Posted 2 October , 2003 Author Share Posted 2 October , 2003 Hi Alan, Annelies is not back till Monday, but I will ask her about repeat visitors and those who know the crew and just wish to pop in and say hello. One thing that I did forget to mention in the above posting was that when the new system starts, Tubby's bedroom, The Chaplains Room, used by him in the war will at last be open to the public. For many years it has been the wardens room and only seen by the public if the warden wanted to show them around the room. It has some beautiful history in the room including an excellent portrait of Tubby and some excellent photos of soldiers that visited the house with explanations by Tubby of what happened to them. It will be a shame not to stay in this room anymore, but looking realistically it does need to be open to the public. Many regards Iain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Hone Posted 3 October , 2003 Share Posted 3 October , 2003 As a frequent visitor over the years I must admit that I don't like the idea of not just being able to visit the house. I do take the point about wear and tear. Like other sites in the Salient, the number of school parties visiting the House seems to have increased dramatically in the last couple of years. Even 6 or 7 years ago when I told leaders of other school groups that we were going to visit Talbot House on our tour they would give you blank looks. Bizarrely it brings to mind the situation at the old Granada Studios Tour. Originally you could only visit the Coronation St set if you did the whole 11/2 hour studio tour and paid accordingly. Eventually they got the message that most people just wanted to see the Corrie set and allowed separate entry. (On second thoughts not a happy analogy because after years of apparently huge popularity Granada Studio Tours shut 'for refurbishment' in 1999 and never reopened!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris basey Posted 3 October , 2003 Share Posted 3 October , 2003 Iain Does Jacques still have an involvement at dear old Talbot House? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iain mchenry Posted 3 October , 2003 Author Share Posted 3 October , 2003 Alan, I was speaking to Dries, the archivist, this morning and asking him your question about repeat visitors. people who are considered R.V's will be given the option of joining "Friends of Talbot House", a fee payable annually. This will allow people to pop in and say hi etc. I personnally think that this is a bad idea as one of the finest traditions of the house is "abandon rank all ye who enter here". Unfortunately this may be the only way to visit the house on its own. I also have some prices for next year: Individual adults: Ticket 1 = €5.50 and Ticket 2 = € 8.00 Another very sad change that will happen is that there will be NO more guided tours of Talbot Hse itself. Jack is still here and doing well although I think all those years of working with Brits has given him the stiff upper lip if you know what I mean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muerrisch Posted 3 October , 2003 Share Posted 3 October , 2003 For years I have never passed through the salient without "popping in" to see Jack, who invariably provides tea, and then I go up to the Chapel to pray. There must surely be a niche for such a visit? I need hardly add that the collecting box is always well-primed when I leave, but that is not the point. Is not the Chapel a consecrated one? And does not that give some rights of access? I know that some cathedrals charge VISITORS for access, but not the worshippers. This website is not noticeably religious [which is fair does] but please spare a thought for those who are. Gets off soapbox/ pulpit and exits left, to do some hoovering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Morgan Posted 3 October , 2003 Share Posted 3 October , 2003 As someone who tries to provide quality educational experiences for young people, I find the thought of no longer being able to take students to meet "Jack" a very sad one. He's a link between the modern young visitor and the original young visitors of the war years - the veterans, so many of whom he met and spoke to during their later visits. His enthusiasm for the place is all-embracing and students know that they are in the presence of a real expert. They listen to him, spellbound. No matter what the improvements are, Toc-H without the opportunity to sit in the chapel and listen to Jacques will be just another museum as far as many student groups are concerned. Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Reed Posted 3 October , 2003 Share Posted 3 October , 2003 It is expected to take approx 1.5 hours to visit all. Many people visit TH on their way back to Ferry Ports, after visiting the battlefieds to see the house and have a brew. I believe that major tour operators will have to completely re-do their itineries to cover this (experts in this field please comment). It would be terrible to see tour operators, limited to short tours and time retraints start taking TH out of their itineries. Battlefield tours with coach groups are always a compromise. Factoring in a visit that would take 1.5+ hours in a day when you have people eager to see many of the (often much maligned) 'standard' places, would make it a compromise too far. We included TH on our Leger itineraries for 3/4 years. People like Jacques, and the other temporary wardens like yourself, made the visit for my groups... remove that and you only have another museum... and there are better ones I would choose first, speaking just for myself, of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Lines Posted 3 October , 2003 Share Posted 3 October , 2003 remove that and you only have another museum... and there are better ones I would choose first, speaking just for myself, of course. How do you know? It's not even finished yet! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iain mchenry Posted 4 October , 2003 Author Share Posted 4 October , 2003 Whilst I wish them sucess with the Concert Hall museum about Pops WW1 history, I am increasingly concerned about the house. As Paul said, if you remove the spirit of the house all you have is another museum. I hope this never happens. What concerns me also is the stopping in May 04 of guided tours by Jack around the house. For those who don't know Jack, he has worked, and lived, at the house for many years. He met the Rev Tubby Clayton before he died and has also the experience of meeting many WW1 veterans at the House who visited the house during the war. There is NO OTHER person in the house with half of Jacks experience. If you speak to any person, young or old, that has visited the house and listened to Jack deliver his piece, they all come away thouroughly satisfied. When you remove guided tours from around the house espescially given by Jack then I do fear that the house may become "Just another museum" I did speak to Dries, the archivist, at the house about some of the concers people had voiced so far and he rightly came back and said that an evaluation process would be carried out after a number of months of opening the new system. Lets hope that following the evaluation that TH is reopened as it used to be. Iain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul guthrie Posted 4 October , 2003 Share Posted 4 October , 2003 He spoke to our US Branch WFA group in April then later led us around the old house. Terrific fellow, enthusiastic, strange to hear how English his English is! I have not understood yet the reason he will no longer give tours> Why? What will his role be? THis is nonsense but I am not against the concert hall concept as I unserstrand it otherwise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw Posted 4 October , 2003 Share Posted 4 October , 2003 Last April , I visited Talbot House had a cuppa with the lady warden and spent 20 blissful minutes alone in the Chapel with my thoughts. At the time, I thought to myself "This is just too good to last". Whilst I hope to be proved wrong, I think we all know that behaviour like this is not too appealing to the "corporate" mentality that today seems to aspire to control and homogenise all our activities. I hope to repeat my last visit this November. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muerrisch Posted 4 October , 2003 Share Posted 4 October , 2003 I do hope that our reactions will be conveyed to the powers-that-be. The idea of 'evaluation' post event is usually a sham, relying on people's short memories and lack of clout to cement the changes. Jacques is [hope he doesn't read this, I would hate to make him blush] such a good man, giving of himself unsparingly to serve his ideals, and every small group I have introduced has come away inspired by his stories. He must be allowed to give tours for as long as he feels the urge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iain mchenry Posted 4 October , 2003 Author Share Posted 4 October , 2003 LB1418, Don't worry, everything that is sent and replied to on this forum is shown to the powers that be in the hope that they will take on board the feelings of those who have visited the House. Not just for their/our sake but for the sake of those who visit in the future. Best regards Iain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliff. Hobson Posted 4 October , 2003 Share Posted 4 October , 2003 I visited Talbot House two weeks ago for the first time and may I add with some reverence, for it brought back to me a treasured memory of going to a Cricket Match ( Notts. v Yorkshire) with my Father at a very young age and seeing adjacent to the field a big house with a large sign which said TOC. H. On asking my Father what it meant I got the full story, Woodbine Willy, who he met and the fact he had visited Talbot House at Pops as he called it on more than one occasion. I sat in the Chapel and half listened to the talk, my thoughts were elswhere, but to hear the Speaker say it was a living Museum rather than solely a museum. To convert it to such would I believe detract from the whole ethos of the House. Cliff. Hobson. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Mackenzie Posted 5 October , 2003 Share Posted 5 October , 2003 Has anyone made an audio record of Jaques stories? Neil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Simon Bull Posted 8 October , 2003 Share Posted 8 October , 2003 Has anyone thought of videoing one of Jacques tours? I once went on a battlefield tour with Jon Nichols (as in "Cheerful Sacrifice") during which he played a video of Alf Razell's describing an attack he was in at Ovillers. This was played on the coach video whilst we were on the coach at the spot where Alf went over the top. Obviously, to have heard Alf himself would have been better, but the video was a jolly good substitute. Simon Bull Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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