Record Number: 30689
Reading Experience:
Evidence:
'Meeting held at Frensham. 22nd June 1943
H. R. Smith in the chair
1. The first part of the meeting was spent most happily in the Frensham garden.
[...]
2. We adjourned indoors & the minutes of last meeting were read, corrected &
signed.
[...]
6. ‘Distant Point’ a translation from the Russian Play by Afinogenev was then read.
In this F. E. Pollard was a somewhat timid and bewildered stationmaster, Margaret
Dilks his huntin’ shootin’ gold-digging wife, and Elsie Harrod, their very high
spirited daughter. The latter two, being no doubt, largely responsible for the
timidity & bewilderment of the former. Then there was Kenneth Nicholson as the
linesman who wanted to get on, Isabel Taylor as his very beautiful wife who with
their small son he feared would cramp his style. S. A. Reynolds was switchman
and father-in-law to the linesman. A. B. Dilks was the Telegraph operator – a
mixture of poet, musician & inventor. Roger Moore read with keen insight the part
of the 2nd linesman who was a drunken sot with a past. Out of the railway coach
marooned at this station, came H. R. Smith as a Commander in the Far Eastern
Russian army, Muriel Stevens as his wife, & Arnold Joselin as his Aide-de-camp.
Rosamund Wallis read the stage directions and battled nobly with the Russian
names. The write-up on the cover of this book said that this play shows the
Russians laughing at themselves, & this would seem as good a way as any of
summing it up.
[signed as a true record by] F. E. Pollard
4. IX. 43. [at the club meeting held at 22 Cintra Avenue: see Minute Book, p. 158]'
1900-1945
Date:Between 22 Jun 1943 and 4 Sep 1943
Country:England
Timen/a
Place:city: Reading
county: Berkshire
(Reader):
silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown
(Listener):
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown
Reader / Listener / Reading Group:
Reader: Age:Adult (18-100+)
Gender:Female
Date of Birth:1912
Socio-Economic Group:Professional / academic / merchant / farmer
Occupation:n/a
Religion:Quaker or associated with the Friends
Country of Origin:n/a
Country of Experience:England
Listeners present if any:e.g family, servants, friends
n/a
Additional Comments:
n/a
Text Being Read:
Author: Title:[Write-up on the cover of a copy of the play Distant Point by Aleksandr Afinogenov]
Genre:Blurb
Form of Text:Print: Book
Publication Detailsn/a
Provenanceunknown
Source Information:
Record ID:30689
Source:Manuscript
Author:Margaret Dilks
Title:XII Book Club Minute Book, Vol. 4 (1938-1943)
Location:private collection
Call No:n/a
Page/Folio:155–158
Additional Information:
Margaret Dilks was secretary to the XII Book Club from 1940 to 1970. It is inferred from this, and from the handwriting, that she was the author of this set of minutes.
Citation:
Margaret Dilks, XII Book Club Minute Book, Vol. 4 (1938-1943), private collection, 155–158, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=30689, accessed: 29 September 2024
Additional Comments:
Probably the author read and noted the blurb at the meeting on 22 June 1943, but it might have been later, while writing up the minutes. They were completed by the next meeting, 4 Sept 1943.
Material by kind permission of the XII Book Club. For further information and permission to quote this source, contact the Reading Experience Database (http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/contacts.php).