Witten Conversation Circle goes to Barking & Dagenham
This was not going
to be any old journey but a visit to some specific destinations that don't
always show up on the tourist map. That, at least, was the agenda that
the nine members of the English Conversation Circle had set themselves
for their trip to Barking & Dagenham from 17 to 22 March 2007.
The programme did indeed include a number of offbeat highlights - for
example, a guided tour of Islington, led by actor Peter Powell, in the
footsteps of the Russian revolutionaries who had found a place there to
hide. And a trip to Highgate Cemetery, surely the archetypal backdrop
to a horror film!
Not to mention other attractions for which there is never enough time
when one is in London: Kew Gardens, the British Museum and, in Barking
itself, St Margaret's Church where James Cook got married. Unforgettable
too, our trip to the Inns of Court and the High Courts with all their
wigged lawyers and twelve-member juries.
If anything, the real highlights are the personal encounters at the various
social gatherings. Our first evening at Butler Court – a full house, packed
with members of the English branch of the club, representatives of the
Borough and all manner of friends – was an excellent opportunity to meet
old acquaintances and have a lot of chats. A second such opportunity came
with the Town Hall reception (and delicious evening meal) given by Mayor
Dee Hunt especially in honour of the guests from Witten.
Text: Erich Bremm
Barking & Dagenham
Recorder, 22. März 2007