The Margery Allingham Society

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Past Events

Forthcoming Events News From The Glue Works

Catherine Aird Saturday 17^th May 2008 - Annual Birthday Luncheon: Catherine Aird entertained us with a talk on references in Golden Age detective fiction that are obscure to the current reader. This will be printed in a future Bottle Street Gazette.
Saturday 8^th March 2008 - 20th Birthday Party: An excellent lunch was provided in the long room at The Royal College of General Practitioners. This was followed by readings featuring doctors from five of the Campion novels performed by John Hines, Seona Ford and Barry Pike. Everyone present was given a greetings card made by the Allinghams from one of Pip's drawings and A Bottle Street Miscellany. There was also a display of photos and memorabilia from Society events and of Society merchandise for people to order. More photos
21^st September 2007 - Musical Evening: A celebration of the 70^th anniversary of Dancers in Mourning was held in conjunction with the Jack Hulbert and Cicely Courtneidge Appreciation Society. The evening started with a meal, followed by readings by John Hines, Seona Ford and Barry Pike and songs from The Buffer, the show in the novel were sung by John Hines and Seona Ford to music composed by Maurice Bentley. The second part of the evening consisted of original recordings of some of the great stars of the time. Full report
Jasmine 13^th - 17^th June 2007 - Wheaton Convention: The American Convention of the Dorothy L. Sayers Society took place at Wheaton College, Illinois. Seona Ford, Susan Peters and Jasmine Simeone gave talks in which Margery Allingham featured. The Autumn 2007 Bottle Street Gazette will have a full report and the text of Jasmine's talk. More photos
Marge and Albert's Birthday Cake 19^th May 2007 - Annual Birthday Luncheon: The Society celebrated Marge and Albert's birthday with a lunch and a birthday cake. The guest speaker, Jonathan Gash, spoke of Lovejoy and of meeting Margery Allingham at parties Marge and Pip threw at D'Arcy House. More photos
30^th March 2007 - Allingham Archive at Essex University: A visit to the Albert Sloman library to see the Margery Allingham archive in its new home. The day started with lunch at the Wivenhoe House Hotel, then we walked across to the library to see the library and the archive. Barry Pike and Robert Butler, the Sloman's librarian, each gave a talk and we finished up with tea. Photos here
22^nd - 24^th September 2006 - Cambridge Weekend: The weekend focussed on the 75^th anniversary of Police at the Funeral, and the 70^th anniversaries of Flowers for the Judge and The Shadow in the House (as Maxwell March). Speakers included Jill Paton Walsh, Michelle Spring, BJ Rahn, Catherine Cooke, Richard Cheffins, Christine Simpson, Barry Pike and Marianne van Hoeven and Richard Cheffins led a walk around Margery's Cambridge. Full account
Ann Cleeves & Barry Pike 20^th May 2006 - Annual Birthday Luncheon: The Society celebrated Marge and Albert's birthday with a lunch and a birthday cake. Ann Cleeves cut the birthday cake and spoke about her novels, bird-watching on remote islands and her new novel, Raven Black. More photos
Knot Garden, Museum of Garden History 8^th April 2006 - Margery and the Garden: The Museum of Garden History provided an apt location for a day dedicated to plants and flowers from Marge's life and novels. She was a keen gardener and her books contain many references to trees and flowers. Society members explored the museum and the knot garden. Lunch was taken at the musuem cafe. There was a talk about the history of the museum building (a deconsecrated church), the Tradescants and William Bligh of the Bounty mutiny. Barry Pike gave an illustrated talk on the use of plants and flowers in Marge's novels (illustrated transcript available here) and we had afternoon tea. More photos.
Popes Hall, Essex 10^th September 2005: Society members and descendants of Dicky Cheffins met for lunch at The Swan, Chappel, then explored Popes Hall, the model for The Beckoning Lady. There was tea with little pink cakes. We greatly appreciated Mr & Mrs Lockyer's hospitality and their kindness in allowing us to view their beautiful home and garden. More photos.
14^th May 2005 - Annual Birthday Luncheon: Jessica Mann gave a fascinating talk on evacuees, discussing Margery's protrayals in The Oaken Heart and The China Governess and relating her own experiences as an evacuee. Photos.
Centenary birthday cake 2004 - Margery Allingham's Centenary: The centenary of Margery Allingham's birth was celebrated throughout the year with events such as the release of the festschrift Margery Allingham: 100 Years of a Great Mystery Writer; the unveiling of a plaque on the Allingham's London home; the Birthday Lunch; the exhibition of material from the archive at the Barbican, Bury St. Edmonds and Chelmsford; the Crime Scene walk around Bloomsbury and Piccadilly; the weekend convention and various talks. Full details.
Dustjacket by Pip Youngman Carter 25^th October 2003 - Tate Britain Gallery Visit: 18 members joined the visit to Tate Britain on October 25th. Lunch in the restaurant, suitably surrounded by the splendid Rex Whistler murals, was followed by a tour of the 19^th and 20^th century galleries. John Sweetman's erudite and enjoyable commentary on the art of the Death of a Ghost period made the occasion memorable.
16^th August 2003 - Little Venice Walk: 2003 marks seventy years from the completion of Death of a Ghost, the novel about the art world that Margery Allingham set in Little Venice. The Society marked this with a fascinating walk around the area of London described in the novel, led by our topographical expert Richard Cheffins.
20^th May 2003 - Annual Birthday Luncheon: Guest speaker Robert Barnard gave an entertaining talk. Robert Barnard was born and brought up in Essex and read English at Balliol. He taught English in the United Kingdom and overseas, returning to England in 1983 to write full time. He has written over thirty mysteries and is the recipient of many awards for crime fiction. He has also written on Dickens and on Agatha Christie, and is currently Chairman of the Brontë Society.
From Agatha Christie to Ruth Rendell Susan Rowland 21^st October 2002 - Literary talk at the University Women's Club.: Thirteen members and friends joined a further thirty members of the University Women's Club to hear Dr Susan Rowland of the University of Greenwich talk about her recent book on Queens of Crime - From Agatha Christie to Ruth Rendell (Palgrave, 2001). This was a very enjoyable occasion for which we thank Susan, whose erudition and enthusiasm for her subject clearly captured her audience. Everyone was made aware of the importance of Margery Allingham within the crime fiction genre, and of the existence of the Society.
Autumn 2002 weekend at Danbury Park.: Twenty members participated in this very successful two-day meeting at Danbury Park Conference Centre. Once again we were blessed with wonderful weather, which added greatly to the enjoyment of the occasion, and especially so our outing to the Mill at Chappel - scene of Sweet Danger - where we were able to see the scene of Albert Campion's first meeting with Amanda. The papers given at the weekend focused on this novel and added some new and surprising insights into what many of us may have regarded as very familiar territory.