I was taken today to my first NADFAS lecture. The acronym stands for the National Association of Decorative and Fine Arts Societies, and most of the rest of the committee of the music society seem to be members. I'd never heard of it, and was initially rather puzzled that they all seemed to be so much into floral art when they talked about seeing each other at the next meeting, until I worked out that it was nothing to do with NAFAS, the National Association of Flower Arranging Societies. Finally a friend on the committee asked whether I'd like to go to a lecture on early twentieth century Russian art, and I thought, why not.
I recognised the address of the church in Colchester where the meeting was held. I once gave a woodland charity talk there myself, to a group of National Trust supporters. The lecture hall was large and well equipped, and none of the organisers on that occasion knew how to work the sound system. They had to call out the vicar to help them, who did not seem entirely delighted to be dragged away from their supper, or children's bedtime, or whatever they had been doing when the phone rang.
The hot issue today was parking. The church has a car park, but it is not nearly big enough to hold the number of cars generated by a church full of non-locals. On-street parking is available, and is currently only restricted to residents for an hour and a bit in the afternoon, just enough to stop people leaving their cars there all day, but space is tight. Along with the usual requests to switch off mobile phones were heartfelt pleas to not block residents' drives, or park in a way that would impede access by emergency vehicles, otherwise the council would entirely restrict parking to permit holders. Though if they do they will kill off most of the activities held in the church, which will presumably result in financial hardship for the church as well as difficulties for the events organisers. Colchester is not well provided with facilities for club meetings and lectures, as we have found when trying to find somewhere for the beekeepers to meet in the evenings.
I had expected to recognise the church, as I've been there before, but hadn't expected to recognise quite so many of the audience. The present and past committee of the music society were out in force, and a great hunk of the regular concert audience. In fact, if all else failed I thought they might as well move the meeting out of central Colchester and simply hold it in the village. I was delighted to bump into a charming former colleague from my City days, actually very former as we worked out that I'd left the firm and he had retired in 1996.
The lecture was very good. Early twentieth century Russian art, while trying spasmodically to be essentially Russian, owed a great deal to Paris, but Paris was the artistic epicentre of the western world in those times. I had not heard of most of the artists, apart from Wassily Kandinsky and Marc Chagall, but I liked what I saw. By a beautiful irony, given what is going on in the Ukraine, 2014 has been officially designated as the bi-lateral UK-Russia Year of Culture. William Hague and Sergey Lavrov signed up to it in March of last year. There are all sorts of events scheduled, as listed on the Russian Art and Culture website. You have to wonder whether William Hague and the new Culture Minister will now be so keen to attend them now.
After the lecture my friend introduced me to a fairly new Colchester restaurant that I didn't even know existed, one of those post-industrial chic places, with tables made out of sawn planks, raw metal lampshades, and menus served on hardboard clipboards. My fish pie and honeycomb pudding with coconut ice cream were delicious, and I am completely unable to eat any supper.
I collected my two tyres on the way home, and the chap in the service department insisted on carrying them and the remains of the bottle of tyre sealant out to my car for me, so that I wouldn't get my tweed jacket or my dress dirty. I could get used to being a lady who lunches.
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