Twickenham Things to Do

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York House today serves as the Town Hall for Twickenham.
Originally the central part of the house dates to the 1630s. It was built for Andrew Pitcarne who was a courtier of King Charles I. When he died in 1640, the house was sold to Edward Montagu, 2nd Earl of Manchester in 1656, and then re-sold in 1661 for £3,500 to Henry Hyde, the son of Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, the Lord Chancellor.
It then hadseveral owners. In 1864 the property was acquired on behalf of the Orleans Pretender, Philippe, comte de Paris. Three of his four children were born in York House. He and his family returned to France following the defeat of Napoleon III as a result of the Franco-Prussian War of 1869-71.
The house then remained empty until 1876 when it was bought by Sir Mountstuart Elphinstone Grant Duff (1829–1906), a Scottish MP, junior minister in Gladstone's first government, and from 1881 to 1887 Governor of Madras.
From 1896 to 1906 the then Orleanist pretender Philippe, duc d'Orléans bought back the house he'd been born in.
Sir Ratan Tatawas the last private owner (1871–1918), a major industrialist in India. After acquiring the house in 1906 he had the riverside section of the gardens made as an Italian style garden; which was a setting for garden parties and to show off a set of statues that he'd bought. He died in 1918.

York House was acquired by Twickenham Urban District Council and after major alterations became the council's offices.
[Information from Wikipedia]

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According to the company's publicity online :The Richmond Shakespeare Society is a highly-respected amateur dramatic society with a Membership from a wide area.It was founded in 1934 to perform Shakespeare's plays annually in the open air. It has grown to have a programme of eight productions a year by vastly differing playwrights of all eras, from ancient Greece to the modern day. The theatre was opened in 1981 having been built by donaations and a legacy from Mary Wallace who ad been secretary for the company from 1956 till he untimely death in 1977. The theatre is extremely well-equipped and holds other events in addition to the plays.

Find out the programme of events and try to see one of the productions.

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In the 1960s the owner of The Eel Pie Island Hotel invited the bands like The Rolling Stones, The Who, Eric Clapton, David Bowie, Rod Stewart, Pink Floyd and other 'new' music groups to perform at his club.
It became a legend.
Today there is the Eel Pie Pub in the main street.

Orleans House Gallery is hosting a "music in Richmond' exhibition at the moment.It's entitled 'making music' and runs till 23rd October 2005.It spans the musical history of Richmond, over 500 years., exploring patrons, composers, musicians, with local links--Heidegger,Chopin,Panufnik,to the Beatles and Rolling Stones.
The gallery is free and is open all year round.April-September 30-Tues/Sat-13.00-17.30,Sun-14.00-17.30.Between October and March it closes 1 hour earlier.

One of the most interesting things you can do in Twickenham is to go enjoy a game at the stadium. I was very impressed that 75,000 English Rugby fans could sound so good together singing "Swing Low". It was so impressive, I had to take this picture of them doing so when we watched England defeat Tonga in the RWC '99.

The museum was an excellent way to spend an hour,lots of memorabilia from all over the world,from as far as Argentina and new Zealand.

One piece of memorabilia has recently been added to the museum,from Australia.........................

The Webb Ellis Trophy...

The World Cup which England won in Australia by beating the Wallabies in the final,by 20 points -17 with a drop kick fro Jonny Wilkinson.

On a match day entrance was only ý3 which I felt was value for money.

This is a really interesting museum - loads to see and do. And you can have your photo taken with the World Cup like Jeff did!