MISS ELAINEOUS VISITS SOUTHEND PIER MUSEUM...

 The second museum we visited was Southend Pier Museum, which seems to only open at weekends, even during peak season.  Nevertheless, it's a great little museum and can be done in under an hour.

I've also created a YouTube vlog, link:-

https://youtu.be/MKwrpPb3E20

Southend Pier is the world's longest pleasure pier, and extends 1.33 miles (2.14km) into the Thames Estuary.  Construction of it started in 1829, and the first stone was laid in 1829, on 25th July (my birthday.)  That wooden pier was replaced by an iron version, which opened to the public in 1889.  

The pier is a Grade II listed building.  

This museum houses a selection of pier trains, and this one below is very much like the two in use nowadays.

English poet Sir John Betjeman said: "The pier is Southend, Southend is the pier."  One of the pier trains is named after him.

Inside the train, and the other is named after Sir William Heygate.  He was a member of parliament, and led the public campaign to create Southend Pier.

Southend was granted city status in 2022.

The driver's cab, and the trains run every half an hour (every 15 minutes during peak season).

The pier has suffered its fair share of tragedy, including notable fires in 1959, 1976, 1995 and 2005. 

This cabinet houses remnants of a bowling ball found in the wreckage of the 1995 fire; caused by an electrical fault in the bowling alley.

 In 1908 a ship broke from its moorings and smashed into the pier causing significant structural damage, and in 1986 a tanker crashed into the pier.  Really?  It's hardly as if the pier is easy to miss!

Penny slot machines, and such amusements would once have stood on the pier.

We were given a handful of old pennies so that we could have a go.😀

Cabinet of promotional material and memorabilia pertaining to pier shows and events...

Southend-on-Sea ceramic souvenirs...

I don't believe this old clock was working- it was late afternoon, not 6.35 when we were there!

 

Model of The Brick Tollhouse- Southend Pier Victorian entrance 1885-1931.

This is a model of the Royal Sovereign- a 1948 coastal cruiser which operated between London, Southend and Margate.

I loved the mock-up of this end-of-pier snack hut, and popped in and did a vaudeville-esque theatrical pose!

Signal box, and we had a go at working the levers.

Original 1949 train.

The seat backs "flipped" from one edge of the seat to the other, so that you could face the required direction.

...Not necessary when you're sitting sideways, much like in the trains they use nowadays...

1949 Pier Train Driving Control Unit.

Kiddies' play train.

Original toast-track tram, with patrons dressed in various period clothing styles.  This tram ran from 1890 to 1949.

...They were so called because of their obvious resemblance to toast-racks...

Vintage viewing...

Lifeboat trolley wheels.

The RNLI has an offshore boathouse at the end of Southend Pier, plus a gift shop.

~Triptych of weirdos~

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2024 update:

Two new pier trains replaced the Sir John Betjeman and Sir William Heygate trains in 2022.  

They are eco-friendly and one is named after murdered local Member of Parliament Sir David Amess (1952-2021).  Southend was granted city status as a tribute to him.  The other train is named after William Bradley (1850-1932), a pier stalwart who went on to become a local councilman and alderman.

The old trains were "retired" to the end of the pier, with the carriages providing seating and shelter.  This section of locomotive is in the area where the bar (destroyed in the 2005 fire) once stood.

Reaching the end of the pier, and the modern building is the Royal Pavilion, which is an event space which houses a coffee bar.  It was developed in 2000 and I'm unsure if I like it.

Beginning the long walk back...

These seagulls were divebombing for whatever fishy prey they'd discovered...

Looking over atmospheric water to Westcliff-on-Sea...

Pier panorama from the beach.

We sat on the wall and shared an ice cream, overlooking the pier and the fairground.

This is a shot of the Kursaal (Kursall is a German word, meaning "cure all"), which was opened in 1901.  It once contained an arcade, ballroom, billiard room, circus and dining hall.  In its time it's been an ice rink, zoo, rock music venue and a centre for trade exhibitions and sporting events.  

The last time I ventured in was in 2012, when it was a bowling alley.  Nowadays, this imposing building is sadly closed.

The Last Post is a pub inside former Post Office premises.  

I'll assume this guy swinging from the ceiling is a postie!😁

We enjoyed out breakfasts here- here's another postie, this time in a more agreeable position!😁

The industrial contraption is part of Tilbury Docks and I spotted it from the train as we passed near Leigh-on-Sea (which I've since visited a couple of times.)

Of course, we have to have a Vain Old Tart birthday piccie!

The SuperDean wondered if I was posing this way as to avoid looking like I have a double chin, but no- I have no such thing, and was actually manoeuvring my head in such a way so my spots wouldn't be highlighted!

I originally took these photos to show off how bouncy my hair was looking that evening (although I did threaten to get a crew cut as the weather was hot, hot, hot...)

The SuperDean took this photo of Adventure Island fairground and Southend Pier the day we arrived, and it's the first time I'd ever seen them at nighttime.

The next day we took the l-o-o-o-o-ng walk to the end (1.341 miles, or 2158 metres to be precise) and then walked back again as we needed the exercise!

Southend, I will return.

Until then...

TTFN

The Miss Elaineous

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MISS ELAINEOUS VISITS THE WUNDERKAMMER at SOUTHEND CENTRAL MUSEUM...

Wunderkammer (German- "wonder chamber")

In this instance a cabinet doesn't actually mean a piece of furniture.  It means a room, and a wunderkammer is a cabinet of curiosities, originally used to display rare natural history objects.  They were the predecessors to museums, date back to the 16th century but reached their apex during the Victorian era.

I have also created a YouTube vlog, link:-

https://youtu.be/MKwrpPb3E20

We visited this single room of displays within Southend Central Museum on a very warm day last year, when we were in Southend for a couple of nights to celebrate my birthday.

The Sense of Sight, 1617, Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) and Jan Brueghel "the Elder" (1568-1625).

This is from a set of paintings about the five senses.

This instrument is called an Ophicleide, and is a predecessor to the tuba.

Some form of dead animal- it looks decidedly feline...

Mr Owl keeping watch all over all of us, probably wondering what kind of weirdo would find all of this strange stuff fascinating!

It was the fan which caught my eye the most in this varied cabinet.

This was in a separate little makeshift room, and depicts another cabinet of curiosities...

A naked man and what appears to be a turtle or tortoise shell hanging on the wall, although closer inspection reveals uniform lines so I'm flummoxed...

The outside of this atmospheric little room...

I loved the mother of pearl visiting card case- so elegant.

It was my favourite piece, and is a reminder that Wunderkammers were used to display wealth and power- only the richest, most erudite and powerful could amass large collections of artefacts.

Beautiful vases with an oriental appeal...

If my memory serves me correctly (and that's the trouble with blogging six months after you actually visited something) you could stand directly underneath this very Victorian lampshade and listen to a commentary about collector Charles Nicholson, who was born locally in Hadleigh.

Swimming with the fishes...

View over the vibrant room and the chairs were certainly in keeping with the (strangely oppressive, although maybe that's intentional?) décor..

Statuesque gramophone...

Varied cabinet with what appears to be eggs and seahorse skeletons inside, amongst other things.  

The whole exhibition acknowledges how some things are really not ours for the taking, and it does fill you with a sense of unease as you look around...

Beetles...

Bigger beetles...

An alligator tail...

Sea anemones, a mini-skull and other delights, including what I thought were amphorae... 

...They are actually steam inhalers, and date from the late 19th/ early 20th century...

A taxidermy deer with hanging butterflies...

The butterflies are exhibited hanging onto Perspex tubes.  It's an effect that's both pretty, but undeniably disturbing.  I think that's the point of Wunderkammers nowadays- to arouse, excite and make you contemplate...

Buttons and buckles- a variation on the button tins of yesteryear which our mums and nans kept...

Jars, ore deposits and shells, and something very interesting in the central right hand section...

This is a Neo-Assyrian (911-612 BC) stone toy chariot.  Southend Museum's documentation states that the charioteer is in the British Museum...

Mummies, a Vain Old Tart and another very interesting object which piqued my interest...

Mummia and Mummy cloth.  Mummia was used liberally on wounds and rashes, and was the most common substance found in apothecaries in the 16th century.  Mummia was made by grinding up Ancient Egyptian mummies, and dates back to the early 1100s.  Here we can see a vial, and the cloth most likely belonged to the mummy residing in the vial. 

More mini-mummies and jewellery, plus a Vain Old Tart again.  

The exhibition shows clear links between colonialism and exploiting other, indigenous cultures; by amassing artefacts obtained by unequal gifting or force.

Southend Central Museum also houses its regular historical exhibition, but as we were pushed for time and had somewhere to be I only honed in on a few objects on display here.

This is a one-person air raid shelter from the Second World War.

This is a two-tonne cannon from the shipwreck of The London; a 17th century Cromwellian warship which mysteriously exploded in the Thames Estuary in 1665. 

This is a cabinet full of Bakelite objects.  In the early noughties I visited the Bakelite Museum in Williton, Somerset, which was crammed to the rafters with a plethora of artefacts, but I believe it's now closed for good.

We'll end this blog with a photo of my little owl, Ollie, who sits on my desk keeping my stationery holder warm.  I bought him from the museum some years back.

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If you want to look at a really freaky collection of (some might say distasteful) thingumajigs, then you might want to check out this Viktor Wynd Museum in Hackney, London.

Here is the link:-

http://elainerockett.blogspot.com/2018/12/miss-elaineous-visits-viktor-wynd.html

Southend Central Museum, I will return- it's always nice to spend half and hour to an hour here.

Until then.

TTFN

The Miss Elaineous

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CATHERINE WALKER, An autobiography by the private couturier to Diana, Princess of Wales

CATHERINE WALKER

An autobiography by the private couturier to Diana, Princess of Wales

THE BLURB:-

When Diana, Princess of Wales, announced the auction of eighty of her evening gowns- most of them designed by Catherine Walker- the French-born, London-based designer was thrust into the spotlight she has long eschewed. In an elite industry considered a “loss leader,” Walker is one of the few profitable designers with an illustrious and devoted clientele. At the top of Walker's remarkable long list of clients stood the Princess, whose signature look was created by walker.

Catherine Walker's career is a literal rags-to-riches tale that transcends fashion. In a poignant, distinctive voice, Walker shares her experience of love and marriage, the grief of being widowed with two babies in a foreign land, her early days selling children's dresses door-to-door out of a basket, to a rule-breaking career among the stars and royalty, and her own battle with breast cancer.

The story runs parallel to the arrival of the young Diana, whose fifteen-year professional relationship with walker saw her develop from a fairytale princess to a style icon of legendary proportions. This book is a chronicle of two remarkable women who remained true to themselves, even amidst the pressures of the glamorous worlds of fashion and royalty.

THE REALITY:-

It's for personal reasons that I picked up this book- which I have owned for some 20 years- from my pile of fashion compendiums and revisited it. Catherine Walker was Princess Diana's favourite couturier and her story is very interesting, although (cynical me) couldn't help but think that life is certainly easier if you're middle class with a bit of money to spare; as well as having moved in the kind of circles which are apt to offer good business/ life advice.

Criticism aside, I did find Catherine Walker's tale inspiring, especially with regard to how she chose to run her business her way; selling directly to the public rather than going through buyers who are nowadays way too commercial. Whilst there's nothing wrong with making money, all too often the beauty of the garments are sacrificed because of it. Heavens, as someone who once worked for the High Street supply chain, I do realise that I would probably have been better off working in couture, as it allows for more freedom of creative expression.

The real delights in this book were photos of the beautifully embroidered garments, and the loving attention to detail- something which can all too easily become lost in mass market production. I do think it's obvious that Catherine Walker wasn't formally trained, though, as her sketches seem too heavy-handed, with often childlike details such as scalloped hems and horseshoe opening fronts of jackets. The London College of Copying- sorry, the London College of Fashion, which I attended- took a more methodical approach, and kind of veered away from anything even slightly different from the tried and tested norm. And that's a shame. I've seen the same quirk in Vivienne Westwood's work and she too didn't formally train, so fashion colleges could certainly learn something from these two. Both designers honed their craft by experimenting with construction and what works around the body, and I love them for both that and their individuality.

I have seen many of Catherine Walker's designs, in various fashion exhibitions over the years.  They do contain shockers, though- with this Princess Diana lace-back dress, surely a side zip would have been a better idea?  The pattern is totally misaligned, and it looks cheap.  My mother (a keen and knowledgeable dressmaker) even commented on it (very negatively!) when she saw this design at the V & A Museum.

Hmmm.  I'd expect better attention to detail with couture...

I once applied for a job with the company (I can't remember the role- I think it was a bit of everything; sample room, sales, etc) and posted (as was the way 20 years ago) my CV and covering letter on a Wednesday. I got my refusal letter that same Saturday, so that definitely comes under the "That'll be a no, then" category!🤣🤣🤣🤣  Their loss.

Heavy-handedness aside, this book makes for an interesting autobiographical read, and is a must for both Diana and couture fans.