Report on Minerva Event at The Royal Pavilion, Brighton - 13th August 2004

The festivities for Minerva’s 10th Anniversary events were launched on August 13th with a summer drinks reception and private tour of the Prince Regent’s extravagant home in Brighton, the feted and fabulous Royal Pavilion. It’s always been one of my favourite buildings – from the outside. Countless times I have gazed at the impossible confection of turrets and minarets crowding the skyline and vowed to go inside but there was always a queue. This time I could walk straight in and share the evening with friendly faces from sister schools – possible even my own school, Birkenhead High School, though that seemed unlikely because of the distance.

The Mayor of Brighton and Hove is herself an old girl of Brighton and Hove High School. Councillor Pat Drake was our gracious host for the evening and she welcomed us warmly to the town’s biggest tourist attraction and its proudest possession. It’s ironic that the Royal Pavilion is in the hands of the local authority, who very wisely purchased it many years ago, making it in effect a council house. This no-holds barred expression of self-indulgent eccentricity is a temple to unbuttoned personal taste. However, unlike most of Britain’s publicly owned housing stock, it is beautifully maintained and a total pleasure. As they say, seeing is believing.

The Royal Pavilion is the ultimate changing room. It started out as a modest farmhouse, remodelled into a seaside villa by Henry Holland. But it was when John Nash got to work that the traditions of style and construction were pushed to the limits. In order to support huge spans and extend outwards, Nash experimented with the use of cast iron columns sheathed in other materials and developed building techniques that are still used today. The building’s owner, George IV, has also undergone an image makeover recently. Although lampooned mercilessly in his day, George’s love for the arts is undeniable and he is now regarded as a great collector who brought hundreds of masterpieces from abroad into this country.

In some ways, George was the dream patron. He knew what he liked and he had the guts to go for it, letting loose designers and craftsmen on imaginative projects that took years to complete. He often ran out of money but he never lost enthusiasm. He also adored music. The designers of today’s concert halls could learn something from the all-round mind blowing experience of the music room in the Royal Pavilion. Guarded by 27 sacred dragons, this casket of rich ornamentation is topped by a dome lined with gilded seashells - and the acoustics are good! Everywhere the interiors grab your attention by their reckless disregard for convention, with an eclectic mix of styles from oriental to English country garden gone mad. But for George’s subjects a visit here in the presence of the ‘most famous living person in the world’ must have been an overwhelming experience.

We managed to capture the flavour of Regency times, thanks to the vivid scene setting provided by our expert guide. She conducted us through ornate reception rooms to the banqueting hall, with its vast table set for dessert (gold cutlery for the sweet course, not silver). Each place setting has its own gold wine cooler. But in an age before refrigeration, where did the ice come from? In winter servants were sent out to collect ice from the ponds and ditches. It was hauled back in carts and stored in the freezing cellars below until the warm summer evenings, when it was used to chill drinks and desserts. Between the thick masonry walls of the Royal Pavilion are narrow passageways that extend throughout the length of the building, connecting the domestic offices with all the main function rooms. In these dark, dank rat-runs household staff would scurry about their business, neither seen nor heard. This was the flip side of fairyland. The kitchens themselves were surprisingly full of technical innovations. For instance there is the first example of a wind driven spit suspended from the chimney over the huge open fire. Innovatory because it replaced the orphaned child who customarily stood next to the blazing heat and turned the spit by hand. There was also an efficient ventilation system to take away cooking smells, steam and heat – but this was largely for the benefit of the aristocratic guests in the adjacent banqueting hall.

Our tour ended in the Queen Adelaide suite on the upper floor, now a charming tearoom, where refreshments were served to us. As the wine flowed and the canapés circulated, we had the chance to chat and renew old acquaintances. To my surprise, I did encounter another old girl from Birkenhead. When dusk fell, we stepped out onto the balcony and looked up at those tiny turrets and minarets, now much larger with proximity and golden in the floodlights. As an old girl of a GDST school and a Minerva member, you don’t have to restrict yourself to joining a 10th anniversary celebration in your locality. You can visit any that catch your fancy. But do attend at least one of them, if you can. Oh, and husbands, partners, family and friends are also most welcome!

Joanna Way (nee Scales) Birkenhead High School 1950 - 1963