Friday 30th November 2012
This stately shindig was the first in a series of parties, trips, concerts and events at The Georgian Group to mark the Tenth Anniversary of The Young Georgians, which I re founded in 2002...yes I was a very precocious young whippersnapper!
Sophie and I arrived at the Georgian Group on Friday knowing a long day was starting...trees to carry upstairs, huge banners of the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens to hang on the fourteen foot high walls, canapes to assemble, bubbly to chill, costumes to prepare, dance cards to print and the mighty Twelfth Cake to create. All in a day's work for us though as this the eighth such ball in the last two years; there have been Revolutionary, Royalist, Anarchist, Chinoserie, Nabob, Hellfire and Fairytale themes to name some of them. Each time a wonderfully diverse crowd of Young Georgians, dance aficionados and other revellers descend on the noble Robert Adam townhouse, number Six Fitzroy Square, which is home to the Georgian Group and it's twenty and thirty-something wing, The Young Georgians.
In the past we have had tableau, ranging from sacrificial rituals for the Hellfire Party to Milicent Binks' exotic turn for the Nabob Party, string quartets, singing, elaborate dances and other entertainments. This time the guests, as well as dancing themselves, had the thrill of watching the Hampshire Regency Society strutting their corseted stuff around the Adam Rooms. This was led by James Arnott, who was a consummate MC.
For once Number Six Fitzroy Square had a fully-liveried staff, and the two rather over talkative footmen were on hand to greet guests and let back in those who had a need for tobacco.
The evening kicked off with a ballerina, tip toeing around as The Sugar Plum Fairy, in a room full of guests swathed in their finery...a girl in a gold Grecian dress, another with a neck swathed in black swan feathers, two chaps in their Oxford Rowing blazers, another dressed as George III and many more who appeared to have stepped straight out of portraits.
As the evening went on, and the champagne flowed, people became comfortable in their finery and the party assumed the guise of a fully-fledged Georgian assembly...someone commented that this was all so 'un-cool' that it was in fact 'well-cool'...so that is good, I think?!
Apart from the bubbly there was Wassail, fine cheeses, Georgian Canapes, exquisite miniature puddings, not to mention the vast Twelfth Cake, which was likened to a Prussian War Helmet, St Peter's Rome and a large Mosque...tasty!
The Twelfth Cake in all it's architectural glory
The Twelfth Cake was presented, to the Regal tones of Handel's Zadok the Priest, by Sophie and Henry, the Young Georgian Vice Chairman and carried through the assembled throng and down the gentle slope of Robert Adam's cantilevered stone stairs to be divided in to rather more edible sized morsels. Hidden within the cake were a pea and a bean for the King and Queen of the Twelfth. These were found and the pair were made Royal for a night...
The King and Queen of Twelfth Night
The Ball brought together a large and diverse crowd and threw them back in time, where manners were better, food less fussy, dancing less dirty and clothes more frilly...this was only a temporary time trip, for it was then on to the brilliant 'Lucky Pig' on Clipstone Street to dance the night away in our own era...from Bach to Britney in one evening!!
There will be more high jinks of this Georgian kind in the future...watch this space!
Self and Sophie at the end of the Ball, happy that people had enjoyed themselves and a little magic had been made.
For more information on the Georgian Group architectural charity please go to www.georgiangroup.org.uk and see what we do.
Here is was Sophie and I do too: www.edmondsandgerrish.co.uk
All images in this blog are under the copyright ownership of Oliver Gerrish
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