Past Events

See below for previous events organised by the Friends of Milton's Cottage:

Pimms in the Garden - Late August 2006

After a cold and wet week, the sun came out just in time for ‘Pimms in the Garden’ on the last Thursday in August so that Friends of Milton’s Cottage and their guests were able to enjoy the beauty of the cottage garden. Caterers serving freshly made Pimms, also served the guests with trays of delicious homemade hors d’oeuvres.

Chairwoman Nancy Neville-Cadwallader, welcomed the Friends and then announced the great news that GE Healthcare is sponsoring the launch of the 400th Anniversary celebrations of John Milton’s birth with a reception. This is to be hosted by The Earl Howe with a talk by David Starkey, at the House of Lords on Friday 27th April 2007.

Friends were also delighted to hear from Eddy Dawson, the curator, who spoke of his appreciation of the Friends, for their ongoing and important support of the cottage and requested, on behalf of the Friends, that this become an annual event.

July 2nd 2006 - Mozart in the Sunshine

The day of the 2nd of July was extremely hot and concertgoers would have been forgiven if they hadn’t made it. It was fortuitous that the ice-cream seller had such a poor day of sales – she said that no one comes out when it is too hot. We persuaded her to stay on a bit longer than usual for our picnicking guests and she ended up with a record day! The picnics themselves were enviable displaying the imagination and flair of the Friends. Tables and chairs came out, picnic baskets, refreshments and all kinds of food. At this point the concert could have been an anticlimax and it was anything but that. The music was beautiful, the performances wonderful and the young solo violinist, Gabrielle Teychenné, playing the Mozart Violin concerto, magnificent. She was a talking point at the interval as was the great generosity of the Harrow Symphony Orchestra in performing for our charity.

Gabrielle Teychenné (13), shaking hands with Robert Was, Leader.

The pieces played were:

• Gioacchino Rossini Overture “l’Italiana in Algieri”
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Violin Concerto No. 3 in G major
• Joseph Haydn Symphony No. 103 in E flat “The Drum Roll”
• Ludwig van Beethoven Overture “Prometheus”

We spent the interval in the garden of the church that, due to its position on the top of the hill, was cool and breezy. We all got a chance to speak to members of the orchestra.

The Friends were offered refreshments for which they made the most generous donations!

The second half of the concert was as impressive as the first and it is testimony to the Harrow Symphony Orchestra that many guests lingered afterwards savouring the evening.

The kind verger and volunteers of St Lawrence Church made us most welcome. The church was an ideal place to spend a summer’s evening. This event raised £1500 for the cottage