I have to admit that I usually receive the Warwick University Alumni e-mails and delete them before reading, as I’m contacted from time to time to give funds, and have made an incorrect assumption that the emails were asking the same.
However, I received one about a lunch at The House of Lords, together with a guided tour of both The House of Lords and The House of Commons, so I decided that it rated as an “experience” - and I went.
There is one amusing story from the lunch. There were about one hundred guests, one of whom was Lady Butterworth, the widow of Lord Jack Butterworth. Jack was the first vice chancellor of Warwick University and was in position when I was a student. For my sins I dabbled in student politics (and became disillusioned fairly quickly), however as a member of the elected student union executive, I was invited to Jack and Doris’s (as they were then known) for dinner, as they annually invited the executive team. They lived in a beautiful old house with character not far from the university - which gave me a bit of a dilemma, because as a poor student who spent her life in jeans and sweatshirts - I had nothing to wear. I was however in the fortunate position of having some old curtains that my grandmother had given me. I also made a lot of my own clothes back then - so yes, you’ve guessed it, I went to the dinner party in a long pinafore dress made out of the curtains with a nice white blouse under it.
When I arrived Doris commented on how unusual my outfit was, but I couldn’t bring myself to admit that I was effectively wearing a pair of curtains.
After the House of Lords Lunch, when people were mingling before the tour, I approached Lady Butterworth. I said she wouldn’t remember me as I had only met her once when invited to the SU exec dinner at her house in 1977, however I had a confession to make - and I told her the story - which she found extremely amusing!
I was on he same table as Lord Robert Skidelsky, who has recently launched a book called “How Much is Enough?: The Love of Money, and the Case for the Good Life” - a man after my own heart!
However, I received one about a lunch at The House of Lords, together with a guided tour of both The House of Lords and The House of Commons, so I decided that it rated as an “experience” - and I went.
There is one amusing story from the lunch. There were about one hundred guests, one of whom was Lady Butterworth, the widow of Lord Jack Butterworth. Jack was the first vice chancellor of Warwick University and was in position when I was a student. For my sins I dabbled in student politics (and became disillusioned fairly quickly), however as a member of the elected student union executive, I was invited to Jack and Doris’s (as they were then known) for dinner, as they annually invited the executive team. They lived in a beautiful old house with character not far from the university - which gave me a bit of a dilemma, because as a poor student who spent her life in jeans and sweatshirts - I had nothing to wear. I was however in the fortunate position of having some old curtains that my grandmother had given me. I also made a lot of my own clothes back then - so yes, you’ve guessed it, I went to the dinner party in a long pinafore dress made out of the curtains with a nice white blouse under it.
When I arrived Doris commented on how unusual my outfit was, but I couldn’t bring myself to admit that I was effectively wearing a pair of curtains.
After the House of Lords Lunch, when people were mingling before the tour, I approached Lady Butterworth. I said she wouldn’t remember me as I had only met her once when invited to the SU exec dinner at her house in 1977, however I had a confession to make - and I told her the story - which she found extremely amusing!
I was on he same table as Lord Robert Skidelsky, who has recently launched a book called “How Much is Enough?: The Love of Money, and the Case for the Good Life” - a man after my own heart!
The House of Lords
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