Egham to Orme and Back Again

SUNDAY 6 July 2003

By Tina Hammond

Sunday morning saw us spilt into two groups – the Orme Court explorers and those amongst us who just wanted to return home earlier or take it easy for one reason or another.

Four or five carloads of idiots set off for Bayswater at 10 o’clock, not necessarily in convoy…

Meeting up with a few GSPS members. who had not attended the RHUL bash, at the office Spike shared with Eric Sykes for over 50 years at 11.30, we waited expectantly for Eric Sykes to appear and unveil the plaque, cunningly positioned adjacent to a dodgy balcony on the first floor.

Celeb spotting passed the time, and much in evidence were Joe MGrath, John Antrobus and John Junkin. Other persons of note included Jess Conrad, Anita Harris and Norma Farnes, Spike and Eric’s long-serving (suffering?) manager.

We chatted to Sile and Jane Milligan, plus Sile’s three children Hastie, Brodie and Callum, plus friend (Nicholas??), whilst Alastair had a disastrous experience trying to obtain a photograph of himself with Michael Sellers!

Eventually Eric and Norma appeared on the balcony and Eric unveiled the plaque proclaiming ‘Spike Milligan 1918 – 2002 lived here’. WRONG!! He only worked there…. Never mind, a good excuse to have another unveiling….maybe at Rye, Banet or maybe even Finchley, immortalised in the Goon Shows and finished off by Margaret Thatcher.

We hung around for a while after everybody else had gone to the Grosvenor to partake of a comestible treat, eventually leaving at 12.30, arriving back to RHUL to have a relaxed buffet lunch and very enjoyable Q and A chat with Ruxton Hayward. He never WAS a scout leader, by the way – merely a scout. Peter got that bit wrong!!

We said our goodbyes and eventually left about 3 pm, vowing that this must not be the last Goon weekend…. Any ideas, anybody?!?

PS – the Grosvenor lunch was reportedly good – Jane sang ‘Alice in Wonderland‘ during the pudding and Brodie (Sile’s middle boy) read the poem ‘Sticky‘.

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