I drove to Bath yesterday to collect a large framed poster that Future, publishers of The Musician magazine for two decades, had kindly prepared as a gift to mark the years of my working with them.
I initially met up with writer and musician Neil Crossley, who was a marvellous consultant editor on the journal for twenty years, and top class designer Chris Stenner for lunch at the Garrick’s Head in the centre of town. Great to catch up with them once more.
I then visited Quay House, Future’s HQ, and received the poster. It’s certainly sizeable! (The main photo shown here is from the same set, taken by Joe Branston in November, from which the poster picture was chosen).
I realised I should take advantage of being in the area and unusually with wheels – I have always caught the train to Bath in the past – and visit the villages around Stroud that were home to many of my ancestors on my father’s side of the family.
So I booked myself into a Premier Inn in Bristol for one night and in the morning drove the relatively short distance to Stonehouse, King’s Stanley and Selsley. These are all attractive Gloucestershire villages, but Selsley is a particularly beautiful place, boasting historic stonework in its buildings and located on the side of a hill offering panoramic views of the neighbouring valleys.
My thanks to everyone I met at the churches I visited, including St Cyr’s Church Stonehouse, St George’s in King’s Stanley and All Saints’ in Selsley. My great grandparents Sidney and Charlotte Hague are buried in the latter’s picturesque and superbly maintained graveyard. Sidney was a chorister at the Church for over seventy years. Remarkable.
