Sunday 8th May 2011 - Watts Gallery at Compton near Guildford.

Ruth and I drove down to Guildford to see the gallery dedicated to the famous Victorian artist George Frederic Watts, whose home and workshop were in Compton village. The gallery is about to re-open to the public after a £16 million-pound refurbishment that has taken over two-and-a-half years to undertake. This weekend was a special preview event for the "friends" of  Watts Gallery, and was graced by the visit of the television actress Penelope Keith (The Good Life, To The Manor Born). G.F.Watts became established at Little Holland House in London, and there he painted his great works of art, including portraits of the contemporary "rich and famous". These included the Prince of Wales, Lilly Langtry and Ellen Terry, and of course Rachel Gurney, the future Countess of Dudley, together with her sister Laura. Nearby on Budburrow Hill stands the Watts Cemetery Chapel, an Arts &  Crafts masterpiece designed by Watts' wife Mary and completed in 1904. We thoroughly recommend a visit, despite the long journey.

Saturday 7th May 2011 - Trip to London

Myself and Ruth took a trip to London, courtesy of the Friends of Worcs. Record Office who organised a coach to the National Archives at Kew.We visited St Margaret's Church, Westminster, which is the parish church next door to Westminster Abbey; whilst the latter charges £16.00 entry, St Margaret's is free admission and just as interesting. Like the abbey, it contains the burials and monuments of many famous people, including several of the Sutton-Dudley family, who are direct ancestors of the latter-day Ward dynasty - the present Earl of Dudley's family. There are also monuments here to William Hartley Carnegie, sometime Rector of Great Witley and friend of the first Earl of Dudley. We also went to see Dudley House, the former London residence of the Ward's. This is number100 Park Lane, Mayfair, and is located opposite Speakers Corner in Hyde Park, just a few yards away from Marble Arch. Dudley House is currently undergoing major restoration courtesy of it's new owner, and is completely covered in scaffolding. However the family coat-of-arms can be seen on the ballustrade at the top of the building. It should look fabulous once work is complete.

Bank Holiday Weekend - Easter Monday

There were at least many, many hundreds of visitors to Witley today, making the most of the splendid Bank Holiday Easter weekend weather which was so kind to us this year. This was no doubt the best period for visitor numbers for many a year, which helped to compensate for the rather dismal start to 2011. The church tea-room was at one stage completely overwhelmed with customers who were queuing up to be served outside the door, but Gill and her team coped extremely well and deserve a special mention for thier efforts. Let's hope the season continues as good as this.

Easter Bank Holiday Weekend - Easter Sunday

Once again the church was exceptionally busy today with a well-attended Communion service in the morning led by the Rev. Robin Walter and Evensong at 5 o'clock. In between times well over four hundred visitors were recorded as coming into the church between 12 o'clock and late afternoon (possibly even an under-estimate), this figure probably being a record number in a day in recent times and which kept Ruth Butler and two assisting stewards on the go all the time. For my own part I was assigned to look after the visitors to the Earl of Dudley's tomb in the crypt which the P.C.C. had decided to open to the public for the first time on a trial basis. Further public openings are now likely to follow on selected days, as today was considered to be a great success. Thanks also go to Gill and her staff in the tea-room who coped magnificently with the visitors who came to sample the excellent fare available. The weather was exceptionally good over the whole weekend period with English Heritage also very busy next door at Witley Court.

Easter Bank Holiday Weekend - Saturday

After there being a wedding service in the morning, I gave assistance to the booked steward John Savage, as it was thought likely that the afternoon would turn out to be very busy. That it was, with almost one hundred and fifty people through the door by five o'lcock. Dr Paul Johnson paid us a visit and ended up giving an impromptu talk on the history of the church to a good audience of visitors. A little later on a number of the good ladies of the parish came in to decorate the church with flowers for Easter.

Spring Sunday at Witley Court

I payed a visit to Witley Court today which was a glorious warm spring day with almost unbroken sunshine. It was nice to see Gill, Nancie, Mary and the staff again at the church tea-room, after an almost six- month break, as well as Valerie who was duty church steward in the afternoon. My latest grandchild was born in the early hours to my youngest daughter, Hannah. An 8 lb. girl, Lexie Lorraine.

More from Great Witley Church

A busy day at Great Witley, providing assistance for the duty steward Ruth Butler. One of our new stewards, Angela Snow, also paid us a visit, which was a pleasant surprise. Churchwarden Ian Holland kindly allowed us to visit the crypt in order to view the first Earl of Dudley's tomb. It is a splendid marble sarcophagus. Also the environmental monitoring equipment has been installed on the windows in order to check conditions; the information gathered over the next few months will be used to enable decisions to made with regards to the future direction of conservation measures.