I am delighted to report that Caudwell’s Cabins, which engulfed Audley Square and squashed us into a corner, have gone at last. We may have got used to being next door to an ugly building site, but this reminds us that we will soon be next door to “the most desirable and valuable residence in London,” according to Caudwell’s own publicity. There is more to endure, as the project will not wrap up completely till next spring, but in anticipation of this, we are sprucing up our own exterior so that we do not look shabby in comparison. When you are next in the Club, take a moment to appreciate the extra daylight in the Square, and the gleaming new paint on our railings. There is more to come in that regard, hopefully before the AGM in June.
The Club continues to provide a packed programme of events, both in-person and online. Full details of everything we have planned for the coming months would be too lengthy for these pages, so I encourage you to scroll through the events calendar on our website. If you are not familiar with how to do this, there is a handy guide on pages 19-21 in this Magazine. Do give it a try
I will be at many of these gatherings, and look forward to seeing you there.
Best regards, Pauline
Foster
Issue Number 20: Spring 2025
You said, we did. Actions from the recent Members’ Survey.
Review of January’s Music Salon.
From the Archive: Profile of Rosamund Lehman.
William de Morgan tiles. Latest from the Entrepreneurial Club.
Navigating the UWC members’ website: a step-bystep guide.
Message from the General Manager
Dear Members,
The official start of Spring was just a few weeks ago. The recent weather seemed to indicate that Summer had come early, though the thermometer continued to tell a different story!
Taking advantage the mild weather, we are getting the Garden spruced up and ready for use. The tables and chairs have been repainted and the paving scrubbed and cleaned. We have also ordered some blankets to help fend off any seasonal chill These things are just the start of work on our outdoor space, as the House Committee have been discussing the details of a more extensive project, including a full replanting plan on both the upper and lower areas that will incorporate new containers as well as existing flower beds. The aim is to create a more beautiful, tranquil and relaxing outdoor space for you to enjoy in warmer weather.
This is just one of the projects planned for this year, the biggest of which by far is the Library refurbishment. Stage one is scheduled for late summer. The preparation work is already underway, with the House Committee overseeing the appointment of consultants and advising on the scope and schedule of works. Once the details have been confirmed we will be sure to update you all.
Also on the cards for this year is the upgrading of the ground floor toilet to make it accessible to all, and the continuing programme of redecoration of walls and ceilings in other areas of the Club. You can see details of some of the other changes we are making to the Club in our Member Survey section over the pages that follow.
On a different topic, time is fast approaching for the annual highlight in the Governance of the Club. Our AGM is more than just an update on Club matters, it is the chance for you as members to have your say in the management of the UWC. You will have already received the formal notice of the AGM that is taking place on the 25th June at 6.30pm. This notice also included details of how you can propose motions for the membership to vote on, or put yourself forward for election to the General Committee
The full details of both these processes were included with the formal notice of the AGM sent to you last month, and are also on the Members’ Area of the website, but if you require more information, please don’t hesitate to contact us. (Do note that all proposals for a motion, or candidacy for election, must be received by 11.59pm on 1st May)
In closing, can I take this opportunity for a gentle reminder to members to ‘swipe in’ at Reception whenever visiting the Club. If you do not have a membership card, or have mislaid yours, please let us know and we will make sure a new one is issued. The card is more than a way of recording your presence; you can use it to pay for food and drinks consumed at the Club. You deposit funds on your card, (i.e. your UWC account) and when you finish your meal or drinks you only have to sign a copy of the bill and the total will be automatically deducted. As always, if you need further information, please get in touch.
I very much look forward to seeing you at the Club in the coming months
Best wishes Alex
2025 Membership Survey: report and actions.
There was a great response rate to the Survey we sent out earlier in the year; thank you to all members who took part.
The quantitative results and the individual comments have been discussed at length across GC and House & Finance Committees, and will form the basis for many of the strategic decisions we take in the coming year. Much, however, has already been done.....
Here is just a taste of the comments, and the actions we have taken in response
1. Bedrooms
You said:
• Shabby furniture/decoration of the corridors need addressing.
• The carpet on the back stairs needs replacing.
• Updating rooms and corridors/ staircase will make it look better. Bathrooms are lovely now.
We did:
We have already decorated the staircase from the second to the fourth floors and the Committee are reviewing carpet options and quotes. (We are very grateful to a member who has offered to finance the replacement stair carpet). We have also received initial quotes to redecorate the second and third floor corridors which should be completed later this year. The first-floor stairwell will require more in-depth work and will be tackled next year.
2. Dining Room
You said:
• Softer lighting is needed in the Dining Room. Review the layout of tables.
• The Dining Room needs more seating, and a reimagining of the layout.
We did:
We already have new tables in place, and the layout of the Dining Room has been much improved, with greater flexibility to seat couples as well as larger groups. We have also recently purchased rechargeable table lights to set a more relaxed lighting in the evenings. (Thank you also to one of our members who has generously donated some table vases & flowers.)
3. Bar
You said:
• More seating is needed, with a re-imagining of layout.
• More staff should be on hand to order drinks from.
• Can some simple bar snacks be offered at a reasonable price?
• Can we have more non-alcoholic beverage options (non-alcoholic wine, non-alcoholic gin, nonalcoholic beer)
We did:
The House Committee is already looking into furniture options which will make the bar area more of a social space. We have already started to have a member of the team behind the bar at key times, especially before events, so members can more easily order drinks, and we have started the recruitment process for a part time Bar person. After Easter we will be launching a new range of snacks, nibbles and sharing platters that we hope will be popular with members. We have been looking into expanding our range of low alcohol drinks and we have an event coming up in May (No Proof, Just Bubbles) that will showcase some of the brands we hope to stock behind the bar.
4. Working at the Club
You said:
• Hot desks (Last time I tried to use the working space, it was a bedroom instead)
• Can we know in advance when the Library/Club is being used for other events.
• Can space be found for more desks with chairs, it is tricky to work from a relaxing sofa.
• Can a room be made for members to access a TV?
We did:
With the demand for overnight accommodation ever increasing, we took the decision to turn Room 8 back into a bedroom. We do appreciate however that a more dedicated workspace is required by members. We have therefore repurposed the Committee Room in the basement to be a business room that will be available to members. It has proper office chairs, and there is a TV available for members. We have also added a page to the Members’ website that shows which rooms are available for members to use the following day. The information is on the “What’s on in the Club rooms” page in the Club Information tab.
If you have comments on any aspect of the Club’s operations, positive or negative, there are feedback forms available at the Reception Desk. Alternatively, you can write to the General Manager: gm@uwc-london.com
News from the Clubs-within-the-Club
Launching the Wednesday Supper Club
Wednesday, April 30th 7.30pm
Following the success of our Third Tuesday Lunch Club, we are launching the Wednesday Supper Club. This will offer to those who cannot join at lunch time, a similar opportunity to meet regularly with other members over a relaxing meal in our Dining Room, to enjoy good conversations and make new friends. Many recentlyjoined members have few contacts at the Club, and some have next to none, so the Supper Club is an especially good way for them to feel part of the wider UWC community.
Members old and new very welcome.
Launching the 2025 Mentorship Scheme
• May 9th: Information session for prospective Mentees (zoom)
• July 10th Official Launch for 2025 programme (in person)
• January 14th, 2026: Get together to mark end of 2025 Programme
Return of the Craft Club
• April 23rd: Make your own bookmark.
• May 19th: Make your own earrings.
• June 23rd: Making a flower crown, plus mid-summer social and drinks
The Entrepreneurial Club
• Monday April 28th: Women in Health: Leadership, Innovation & Entrepreneurship
• Monday May 29th: Bold, Branded, Unstoppable – Mastering Branding for 2025
In keeping with the best traditions of the UWC to empower women and provide a supportive environment, the 2025 Mentorship scheme aims to connect members at different stages of their careers, and foster valuable professional relationships within our community.
We are still looking for more mentors. Full details and sign-up forms are on the Club Information tab of the Members’ website
The UWC Crafting Sessions are a great excuse to get together and meet other crafty members for a chat and a drink, and just enjoy each other’s company. As a bonus, you get to take home the unique product of your labours: bookmarks, earrings, or a gorgeous flower crown for a Summer Party.
From its launch in January, with guest speaker Sharath Jeevan, the Entrepreneurial Club has been a very successful addition to our Clubs-within-the-Club portfolio. The next two meetings will be led by a panel of professionals from the relevant fields, sharing their perspectives and experience, after which members of the audience will be invited to contribute their own perspectives, or pose questions to the panel.
From the Archives: Rosamund Lehmann (1901-1990)
From its foundation the Club has been able to count many writers among its Members, one notable example being the acclaimed novelist, Rosamund Lehmann. She was born in Bourne End, Buckinghamshire, the second of four children of the writer and Liberal MP Rudolph C. Lehmann and his American feminist wife Alice Mary (née Davis). Rosamund Lehmann was educated at home before winning a scholarship to Girton College, Cambridge, where she took degrees in both English, in 1921, and Medieval and Modern Languages in 1922. The following March she was elected to membership of the UWC. She was proposed by Miss Eleanor M Allen (1867–1929), who was then Vice-Mistress of Girton, and seconded by Miss P. K. Leveson, the college bursar. At the time of her election, Lehmann was living within walking distance of the Club, in Green Street, between Park Lane and North Audley Street. At the end of that year, she moved to Newcastleupon-Tyne after marrying Leslie Runciman, whose family were ship-owners. The marriage, however, was not a success. 1927 marked a turning point in her life, for she left her husband for the artist Wogan Philipps, later Lord Milford, and her first novel Dusty Answer, was published. Although the novel’s literary qualities were immediately recognised, it became a succès de scandale because of its account of a young woman’s sexual and emotional awakening, and its gay, lesbian and bi-sexual characters. Lehmann married Wogan Philipps in 1928 and they had a son and a daughter. During the 1930s the family lived in the Chilterns, where they came into contact with members of the Bloomsbury Group, including Lytton Strachey and Virginia and Leonard Woolf.
By 1939, however, Lehmann’s second marriage had foundered after Philipps’s absence fighting in the Spanish Civil War, and her own affair with the journalist Goronwy Rees. The couple divorced in 1944. She later had a relationship with the poet Cecil Day-Lewis.
After Dusty Answer, Rosamund Lehmann published six more novels, including Invitation to the Waltz (1932) and The Weather in The Streets (1936), as well as translations from French novels, notably Jean Cocteau’s Les Enfants Terribles (The Holy Terrors, 1955). In the 1940s she contributed to and co-edited with her brother John Lehmann the antifascist periodical New Writing, which he had founded in 1936. Like her fellow novelist and UWC member, Storm Jameson, she was also an active member of PEN International.
Following the tragic early death of her daughter, Sarah, from polio in 1958, Rosamund Lehmann retreated from public life and became interested in spiritualism, which informs her autobiography, The Swan in the Evening, published in 1967. She died in London in 1990, aged 89, eight years after being awarded the CBE for services to literature.
Ceridwen Lloyd-Morgan, Honorary Archivist
The UWC Reading Group: update on its first year.
The Reading Group was set up last year as a forum in which written works from a wide variety of literary genres would be discussed, especially genres which members might not have tried before, or avoided for no good reason, or had never even heard of. Meetings are hybrid, meaning that members come in person to the Club, or join online from anywhere in the UK, or time difference permitting anywhere in the world. As with the Book Club and Film Club, the Reading Group allows members living far from Central London to make acquaintances and feel part of the UWC community.
The Reading Group has got off to a very good start. The choice of genres has so far included a graphic novel (Cassandra Darke, by Posy Simmonds), a play (Oleanna, by David Mamet) a novel/poem hybrid (Pale Fire, by Vladimir Nabokov), popular science writing (Longitude, by Dava Sobel) a novella (Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan), and most recently a biography (Mrs Jordan’s Profession, by Claire Tomalin).
For the rest of the year, the Reading Group programme will be offering titles from a further spectrum of literary genres: narrative poetry, science fiction, short story collection, magic realism, family mémoire, historical fiction and art criticism/sociology. Next up on May 14th is Christopher Reid’s narrative poem, The Song of Lunch.
The monthly meetings are informal and friendly. There is no expectation that everyone in the meeting will want to contribute an opinion on the text, or even to have read it beforehand. Anyone just wanting to listen to others is very welcome. Nor is there any expectation that, having come to a Reading Group meeting, you will be coming regularly. You can sign up or not, depending on how intrigued you are about the literary genre on offer that month. For those coming in person, there is of course the added opportunity of continuing the talk afterwards over supper in the Dining Room.
Three items to note about membership of the UWC:
Entry Fee increase.
After many years of holding the Entry Fee at £300, the GC has decided that it should rise to £450, restoring it to approximately the same relationship to subscriptions as it had twenty years ago. This is a one-off payment, charged when a new member is elected to the Club. (Existing members who resign and then reapply for membership at a later date, are treated as new members and have to pay an Entry Fee again.)
The increase goes into effect at the end of June, so if you have friends or acquaintances who might be thinking of UWC membership, do tell them they can save £150 by submitting an application soon.
Subscription payments.
Subscriptions are for one year’s membership, in advance. Members are sent a notice in November about their subscription amount for the coming year, which is payable in December. All Members with a UK bank account are required to pay by Direct Debit and we very much appreciate those who pay the full amount in a single transaction, as this helps with our cash flow and budgeting. We would like to increase the proportion of annual Direct-Debiters, so if you can manage this, or perhaps two six-monthly Debits, do please consider setting this up by contacting our Membership Secretary.
Resigning / suspending membership
As noted above, membership subscriptions run for one year, from January to December. Individual circumstances can change in the course of a year, of course, and a member may think about resigning from the Club. However, she is still obligated for the full year’s subscription, and will have to pay 50% of the joining fee if she wants to be a member again in the future.
If a member has exceptional extenuating circumstances, she can write to the General Manager (gm@uwc-london.com) to explain the situation, and the Membership Election Committee will then consider whether to offer a ‘suspension’ of membership for a year. A fee of £70 is charged for this. During that year, a member in suspension cannot use the Club facilities or attend events, unless she is invited to do so as the guest of another member. Suspension means she loses the right to vote in any UWC election, though she can continue to hold debentures. Full UWC membership can be re-instated at any time during the year upon payment of the appropriate subscription. No re-joining fee will be charged for this.
Suspending membership can only be done for two years in any five-year period.
The full details can be found in the Club Rules & Byelaws which are located on the Members’ website
Review of UWC Concert: January 30th 2025
“A rare and authentic Music Salon experience”
A Life’s Journey through Song
Performed by Anna Gregg and Pietro Iacopini Guest Speaker
Nicola LeFanu
Remarkably, Ana and Pietro met for the first time the night before the concert, but gelled immediately into a beautiful musical collaboration.
The 2025 UWC Concert Series got off to a wonderful start in January with one of the finest performances in the series yet. Being a professional singer is a perilous business - the common cold can spell disaster - and sadly our booked singer Miro Treharne was ill and couldn’t perform. So, with just 72 hours’ notice we needed to find a replacement, and to come with a similar programme - not an easy task!
The fates were kind, however, and Anna Gregg heroically stepped forward. She’d have a look, she said, in a folder of English songs that she’d kept for 10 years on a bottom shelf, somewhere….
So it was that this young, energetic Irishwoman came to our house the night before the concert, and over a kitchen supper conjured up a programme as if she had spent months planning it.
Anna wove a theme through her English text songsA Life’s Journey - taking the seasons as a symbol of the stages of life: death - winter, old age - autumn, mid-life - summer, youth - spring, working backwards through images of light, first love, blossoms… The programme began with a heartrendingly tender Irish folksong, My Lagan Love, about lost love and reminiscense as she drew us into her world, expressing the text as if it were her own. With the next few songs, about looking backwards, sometimes with regret, often with wonder, she expressed deep personal feeling for each word. (Now have I fed by Samuel Barber, Now sleeps the crimson petal by Roger Quilter, Evening by E. J. Moeran) Every thought mattered to her and in every phrase, she communicated as if she were speaking personally to each of us in the room. It is rare to see such respect and personal affinity with text, married with an ability to execute it with musical artistry. Her whole physical expression was at the service of her imagination; she lived those poems, and took us along with her.
Pietro, who had performed at the UWC last year, is also an unusually sensitive musician - open-minded, flexible, happy to improvise. He too, took on this recital with a day’s notice and was almost sightreading some very tricky repertoire. He created beautiful colours, played with delicacy and tenderness and, alert to Anna’s nuanced phrasing, he breathed with her.
Our next concert in the UWC Concert Series is on Thursday, April 24th: ‘Haydn in London’ The programme will include piano trios by Haydn and Beethoven performed by Eleanor Meynell, Tom Roff and Clara Biss. Our guest speaker will be musicologist Jennifer Sheppard
We had begun the evening with a conversation in the Library with our special guest, the composer Nicola LeFanu.
I met Nicola many years ago, when I was a member of the BBC Singers. At one time, I commissioned her to write a song for me (Lullaby: ‘Rest Your Sleeping Head My Love’) as part of a recital tour around the UK, celebrating the work of the poet W.H. Auden. Nicola spoke warmly and with erudition about her own life, her idyllic upbringing and about her mother, the composer Elizabeth Maconchy. Nicola gave us insight into how the vagaries of fashion are responsible for the waxing and waning of popularity of female composers, something she has always sought positively to influence. Nicola observed how in the Italian Renaissance, women composers were given opportunity and respect. Her attentive and intellectually curious audience asked many questions, including a request for a reading list. This has led me to wonder if our pre-concert interviews should be recorded or turned into podcasts for our members who couldn’t come?
Of all the evenings of the concert series, I feel this was the richest, most informative and moving. I was deeply grateful to Anna because through singing we are able to access those emotions that are very deep down and which we dare not even show in daily life. Anna gave us all the opportunity to have an outlet for them. I love it when, all too rarely, a special musician comes along, who allows you to trust them so deeply that you can relax, and perhaps have a moment for a quiet weep. Our Drawing Room is a wonderful and delightfully appropriate setting in which to hold these intimate and thoughtful gatherings!
Thank you to Anna and Pietro for their sincerity, authenticity and the beautifully intelligent programme. I hope that they will come back!
Eleanor Meynell
The William De Morgan Stag and other tiles………
As many members will know, the Club is exceedingly privileged to have beautiful William Frend De Morgan tiles surrounding the fireplace in Reception. De Morgan, who was born in 1839 and died in 1917, was a hugely inventive and creative ceramicist of the British Arts and Crafts movement.
Given that his art work came to adorn the University Women’s Club, it is only fitting that De Morgan’s mother, Sophia Elizabeth, should have been a pioneer in the struggle for women’s rights. In 1849, she was involved in the founding of Bedford College, the first institution of Higher Education for women, subsequently convincing her mathematician husband Augustus de Morgan to give lectures there.
As for their son William, after meeting the aesthetic idealist William Morris in the early 1860s, he concentrated his work on stained glass and furniture painting - but ceramics soon became his passion. Frustrated by the limitations of commercial tile production, he embarked on years of experimentation, rediscovering and mastering the complex techniques required for hightemperature firing, and the elusive iridescent glazes characteristic of 15th and 16th-century Iznik pottery and Hispano-Moresque wares.
Known for his gem-tone shimmering colour palette – particularly blues, greens, and rubyreds – his work adorned interiors ranging from modest fireplaces to grand aesthetic statements in prestige homes. His unique designs often featured fantastical creatures, intricate floral patterns, or ships sailing on swirling seas. The tiles in our Reception are true to his oeuvre, and depict pelicans, snakes, hobo birds, fish and a seated stag, amongst other whimsical animals. These tiles were never meant to be mere decorations; they were to be seen as vibrant narratives captured in clay and glaze.
Do have a closer look at ours when you are in the Club!
For several years now this tile design has appeared on one of the Club’s Christmas card selections. As we are currently looking to expand our range of merchandise, it has been suggested to turn the Sitting Stag motif into a brooch. Watch this space!
In the late 19th-centruy, 2 Audley Square, like its neighbours, represented the pinnacle of London residential property, occupied by the affluent and the influential. The architect, T.H. Wyatt, had remodelled the property in 1876 for Lord Arthur Russell, who had inherited the earlier Georgian property from his mother. Lord Russell was precisely the type of client who might have commissioned or purchased decorative arts from leading figures like De Morgan, although it is not clear exactly when the tiles were first put round the fireplace, they have been present since the far-sighted members purchased the freehold of 2 Audley Square from the Russell family for £22,500. Lord Arthur himself had passed away 1910, but his wife continued to live in the property and held ‘salons’ described as the “some of the best talk and pleasantest evenings that the London world had to offer”. Clearly, the property has long been associated with independently-minded women.
Lucinda Orr.
Thursday, 17th April
Embers
by Sándor Márai
It is a thrill to read something so startlingly original – Evening Standard
In a castle at the foot of the Carpathian mountains in 1940 two men, inseparable in their youth, meet for the first time in forty-one years. They have spent their lives waiting for this moment. Four decades earlier a murky, traumatic event involving a betrayal, a woman’s deception, and a failed attempt at murder led to their sudden separation. Now, as their lives draw to a close, the devastating truth about that moment will be revealed.
Over a sumptuous candlelit dinner, the owner of the castle, the aristocratic General and his childhood friend and military companion, Konrad, will fight a duel of words and silences, accusations and evasions. They will exhume the memory of their friendship and that of the General's beautiful, long-dead wife, Krisztina. And they will return to the time the three of them last sat together following a hunt in the nearby forest – a hunt which was to change irrevocably all their lives.
Embers is a 1942 novel by one of Hungary’s most distinguished 20th century writers, Sándor Márai. Its original Hungarian title is A gyertyák csonkig égnek, which means Candles burn until the end. Márai was born in Kassa (now Košice in Slovakia) in the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1900. Profoundly anti-fascist, he survived World War II but afterwards persecution by the Communists drove him from the country in 1948. Márai died in the United States in 1989. Sadly, he did not live to see this unforgettable story translated into English in 2001 and become recognised as a classic of modern European literature.
Thursday 15th May
A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute
Nevil Shute was a popular British novelist of the 1950s who spent the last ten years of his life in Australia. Several of his novels still capture the public imagination – A Town Like Alice being the most well known and most loved.
The narrator is an ageing London solicitor relating the story of his client, a young woman named Jean Paget, who has inherited a sizeable fortune from a distant uncle. She has described to him how she spent the war years in Malaya.
When the Japanese invaded Malaya, they took all foreign nationals prisoner. They hauled the men off to camps but didn’t know what to do with the women and children. So, they marched them in random directions towards camps that did not exist. Able to speak Malay and, like all Shute heroines, wise beyond her years, Jean becomes the leader of a group of women and children who are forced to endure this aimless marching, which leads to disease and death for many of them. Along the way they meet an Australian POW Joe Harman who is forced to drive a truck for the Japanese. At a terrible cost to himself he steals food for the women which helps to keep some of them alive; a dark episode which casts an unexpected shadow of horror early in the novel. After the war, however, Jean discovers that Joe is still alive and tracks him down in Australia. There they marry and with her newfound wealth they begin to transform his one-horse outback town into a community that will compare with the thriving Northern Territory centre of Alice Springs. ‘That’s what I want to have,’ she said. ‘A town like Alice.’
Thursday, 19th June
The Leopard (Il Gattopardo)
by Giuseppe Tomasi Di Lampedusa
No novel is perfect, but this wonderfully atmospheric and immensely poignant story...comes very close – Sunday Times
The Leopard is a historical novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, which chronicles the changes in Sicilian society during the time of Italy’s Unification – the Risorgimento. Tomasi was a Sicilian nobleman – his titles included Prince of Lampedusa and Duke of Parma – who was born in Palermo in 1896 and died in Rome in 1957, a year before his only book was published. The Leopard is considered one of the most important and accomplished novels in modern Italian literature
The novel opens in May 1860, when Garibaldi's Redshirts have landed on the Sicilian coast and are pressing inland; they will soon overthrow the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and incorporate it into the unified Italian Kingdom under Victor Emmanuel. The story focuses on the reaction of the aristocratic Salina family to this revolutionary upheaval. At the head of the family is the prince, Don Fabrizio, known as the Leopard, who rules over thousands of acres and hundreds of people living in mingled splendour and squalor. He must now decide whether to resist the decline of the old conservative order and the rise of the liberal bourgeoisie or to come to terms with them.
Although The Leopard is a work of historical fiction, it draws heavily on the author's family history and experiences, with Don Fabrizio being partly based on Tomasi’s great-grandfather whilst many of the opinions he expresses are the views of Tomasi himself. Perhaps the most memorable line in the book is spoken by Don Fabrizio's nephew, Tancredi, ‘If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change’, an approach to politics that has become known as the di Lampedusa strategy. Don Fabrizio explicitly rejects this view, as did the author himself. Tomasi’s sympathies lay with the declining aristocratic class, but he was enough of a realist to accept that it was a world that had to die.
Thursday, 17th July
The Tortoise and The Hare by Elizabeth Jenkins
A subtle and beautiful book Very few authors combine her acute psychological insight with her grace and style' – Hilary Mantel, Sunday Times
The book’s title comes from one of Aesop’s fables, where the slowmoving tortoise wins the race against the swift hare. Here it refers to two very different women competing for the affection of one man. Imogen is the beautiful and charming wife of Evelyn Gresham, a successful barrister, who has a high opinion of himself. At 52, he is 15 years older than his wife to whom he is often arrogant and condescending. The Greshams live in a large riverside house in Berkshire. Their nearest neighbour is Blanche Silcox, a frumpy 50-year-old, described as having a bloated waist and legs like a bull. Yet unlike the domestic, self-effacing Imogen, Blanche is a pillar of the local community, a competent countrywoman who hunts, shoots and fishes with Evelyn whilst blatantly vying for his attention. At first Imogen understandably discounts Blanche as a rival. But as she sees the two spending more and more time together, she eventually realises they are having an affair which spells the end of her marriage. But who is the Tortoise and who is the Hare? One might assume that Blanche is the Tortoise having won the prize of Evelyn. But is Evelyn
Thursday 18th September
Sword of Honour
by Evelyn Waugh
For further information about the Book Club, contact Jeanne Langley
jslangley.uwcbookclub@gmail.com
such a desirable prize? Might not Imogen be the Tortoise who, once she has got over the separation, will have a better life without her husband? When Elizabeth Jenkins died in 2010 at the astonishing age of 104, she was all but forgotten as a writer. Yet in her time she was a respected novelist and biographer, much praised for her biographies of Jane Austen and Elizabeth I. Carmen Callil, the Virago founder and publisher of this recent edition of The Tortoise and the Hare has said that it is one of her favourite modern classics.
Marvellous…one of the masterpieces of the century – John Banville, Irish Times
Traditionally we read a longer book or trilogy for September, as with the summer break in August we have two months to do so. This year we shall read and discuss Evelyn Waugh’s Sword of Honour.
Sword of Honour is a single volume that just before his death Waugh reedited from his earlier war trilogy: Men At Arms, Officers and Gentlemen, Unconditional Surrender. Extensively revised by Waugh, they were published as the one volume Sword of Honour in 1965 in the form in which Waugh himself wished them to be read. Largely based on his own experiences as an army officer in World War II, Sword of Honour was the crowning achievement of Waugh’s writing career where he perfectly captured the bureaucracy, pettiness, absurdity, humour, and confusion of war.
The semi-autobiographical protagonist is Guy Crouchback, heir of an ancient but decaying Catholic family. He is in his late thirties when the novel opens, divorced and living alone. On the outbreak of war Guy joins the Royal Corps of Halberdiers and his adventures – and misadventures – take him to Scotland, Africa, Crete, and Yugoslavia, where he finds himself mostly on the periphery of events. In Crete, for example, much of Guy’s time is spent simply trying to find the front lines, while his superior officer makes a run for the beach. Though often sombre, Sword of Honour is also a brilliant comedy, filled with laughout-loud moments and peopled by the fantastic figures so familiar from Waugh's early satires. In short, Sword of Honour is everything that great literature should be - beautifully written, evocative, poignant, funny, tragic and profound. For many readers it is one of the finest pieces of narrative writing in the 20th century.
NB: There are many editions of Sword of Honour. But any edition which is a Penguin Modern Classics paperback with a date of publication from 2001 onwards and a closeup of Abram Games’s poster of a square-jawed soldier on the cover is fine.
The page count varies from 660 upwards. Happily, Penguin has given this version a clearer typeface with double spacing, instead of single spacing, so it is easier on the eye.
“Investing
in Ourselves – Women, Money and Financial Well-being”
This March 28th event, presented by our Honorary Treasurer Sarah Lavers, delved into a topic that is all too often sidelined: financial well-being and investment literacy for women.
Whether you’re a seasoned entrepreneur or just beginning your journey, understanding the importance of financial autonomy is essential—not just for business success, but for long-term empowerment and security.
Women are still navigating a world where economic structures were not built with us in mind. The gender investment gap is stark: research shows that women invest at significantly lower rates than men, and when they do invest, they often start later and commit smaller amounts. Yet, women tend to outperform men in long-term investment returns—a reminder that the issue isn’t capability, but confidence, access, and systemic barriers.
Caring responsibilities—often unpaid and undervalued—remain a significant factor. Many women don’t consider this labour “work,” and as a result, they may de-prioritise building personal wealth or planning for future financial independence. Female entrepreneurs, too, are more likely to undercharge, undervalue their services, or reinvest in their ventures without taking a salary.
Sarah’s talk explored why it’s crucial that we begin to shift this narrative—starting with ourselves. Prioritising our financial well-being, learning the basics of investing, and making even small, consistent choices can create powerful change. This isn’t just about money—it’s about agency, freedom, and building a life on our own terms.
We will be putting full details of upcoming meetings for the Entrepreneurial Club into the Events Diary, so do check the online calendar for details. (See also page 5 of this Magazine.)
The discussions take place on Zoom, every second Tuesday in the month, 7.00pm, London time.
Reg (Overseas members: If the time difference permits, do join us!)
Tuesday
May 13th
Capote (2006)
Directed by Bennett Miller
The plot follows American author Truman Capote as he prepares to write In Cold Blood, an account of a horrifying crime in 1959 Kansas in which an entire family was brutally killed. Capote interviews the two suspects as they await trial, and later, when they appeal their death sentence, he becomes obsessed with extracting from one of them a first-hand description of precisely how their victims died. Without this, Capote fears his book will lack a proper ending.
Phillip Seymour Hoffman was widely acclaimed for his portrayal of Capote, winning an Oscar, a Golden Globe, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a BAFTA.
Tuesday June 10th
The Battleship Potemkin (1926)
Directed by Sergei M. Eisenstein.
This Soviet-era silent film is a dramatisation of a mutiny that occurred in 1905, when the crew of the Russian battleship Potemkin rebelled against their officers.
In an early example of cinematic propaganda, Eisenstein aimed to produce intense emotional responses from the audience, so that viewers would feel sympathy for the mutineers and hatred for the officers. An example is the famous ‘Odessa Steps sequence’ where a young mother is shot and her helpless infant in its pram rolls down the steps to certain death. Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels was highly impressed by the film’s emotional power, calling it "marvellous […] without equal in the cinema.”
In the UK, by contrast, it was banned for longer than any other film in British history.
For further information about the Film Club, contact Pauline Foster at pauline.foster.uk@gmail.com
Tuesday July 8th
Lust, Caution (2008) Directed by Ang Lee
In 1938, during the Sino-Japanese war, a group of Chinese students decide to assassinate an official of the puppet Japanese Government in Shanghai. One of them, a young woman, is recruited to seduce, then kill him. She accepts the assignment, but upon meeting the intended victim, she develops an intense sexual attraction to him which puts the mission, and her fellow students, in jeopardy. The film contains a hint to its meaning; the character for "lust" can be read as "colour", while the character for "caution" can be read as "ring". With a coloured ring playing a pivotal role in the story, the alternate readings are interwoven into a tale of desire, loyalty and betrayal.
SAVE THE DATE: OCTOBER 31st UWC Fright Night
A double-feature film programme for Halloween
We will be screening two classic horror films in the Library: The Shining (1980) dir. Stanley Kubrick, Let The Right One In (2009) dir. Tomas Alfredson.
Navigating the UWC members’ website: a step-by-step guide.
The Club’s public-facing website (www.universitywomensclub.com) is a great first introduction to the UWC. It provides information to non-members about our history and facilities, and also gives information on the kind of benefits that members can enjoy. For UWC members, the public website also grants access to the Members’ Portal which holds a wealth of information about the Club, its facilities, events, and fellow members.
Here you will find more information about navigating the portal, and how to get the most out of it.
Accessing the Members’ Portal
You can access the Portal via: www.universitywomensclub.com Select ‘Members’ Area’, from the navigation menu along the top of the page. You might want to save it as a favourite on your preferred browser so you can easily access it when you need to
Navigating the Members’ Portal
The Members’ Portal can be explored using the navigation menu that runs along the top left of the webpage. If you scroll down, the Dashboard also has an extended navigation menu with quick links to featured articles. At the top right of the page you will find your personal profile information, where you can update and amend your profile, see a record of your bookings, and any outstanding payments.
Noticeboard
The Club Noticeboard displays each new article, in date order from the most recent, including upcoming events, new menus, event recordings, and news about the Club and Clubhouse.
Club Information
This is the key location for the majority of the information about the Club and the Clubs-within-the-Club. From here, you will find lots of information about the Club and projects past and present, such as the Centenary Exhibition in 2021, our current Debenture appeal, and links to past editions of the Club Magazine.
Operational information such as subscription and room rates, direct debit information, along with guidance on using the Club, and the Club Rules and Byelaws can also be found in this section.
The Club Information page is also where you can find out which of the public rooms are available on a day-by-day basis (‘What’s on in the Club Rooms’), and you can make Bedroom or Dining Room reservations.
Clubs-within-the-Club and Events
We have a wide range of different Clubs-within-the-Clubs, all run by members for members.
Here you will find more details on each Club and an overview of their upcoming events. You can also find the archive of past events, and recordings of some of the presentations and discussions.
Full details, including ticket information (and whether an event is available remotely), of each Clubswithin-the-Club Event, Library Talk, Special Event and Dining Event are listed under the ‘Events’ page up to 2 months in advance, and you can book these via their individual listing. There are also key dates, such as the Summer Party, AGM and UWC Christmas Event, flagged for your diary.
The Calendar Page shows a summary of events for the month, and also upcoming Committee Meetings.
Your Profile
‘Your Profile’ allows you to personalise your online profile, holds information for event bookings, and also for the Club Directory.
To edit your profile select, ‘Your Profile’ then ‘Edit profile’. The system allows you to add a profile picture, if you wish, and then as much or as little information as you prefer.
Once you have completed your profile, click ‘Submit’ at the bottom of the page to save your changes.
It is up to you whether you wish to make your details available on the Club Directory. If you are happy to opt-in, please de-select the ‘Private Profile’ tick box at the top of the ‘Your Profile’ page. You can change this at any time.
You can further control what information is visible in the directory by hovering your cursor over the field you wish to hide and selecting ‘Click to hide on profile’, when it displays.
Directory
The Club Directory is a library of our current membership, and being part of it is completely optional. It is a great resource if you wish to connect with members in the same industry as you, or who share the same interests.
At present a little under 1/3 of our membership have opted-in to the Club Directory, and we encourage all members to sign up as it can be a great way of meeting other members. As explained above, you are in complete control of the information you share.
The Directory can be searched by name (using the free-type search box), industry or interest (using the tick boxes to the side). Each new criterion added will filter down your search list so you can be as precise as you like when searching for other members. Keep in mind that the search will be based on information that each individual has made public. If they have chosen to keep some aspects of their profile or the whole profile private, they will not show in search results that require that information.
Committees
The Committees page provides the details of the Club’s committees, what each committee is responsible for, and who is part of that committee.
In addition to displaying all upcoming events, the Calendar also shows any upcoming committee meetings, marked with a yellow bullet point. Whereas you can click on the event entries for further information, the committee meeting appointments are greyed out as they are accessible only to members of that committee. However, if you have something that you wish to be raised for discussion in an upcoming meeting, for example, you may wish to propose a members’ event for consideration by the Events Committee, you can check when the next meeting is taking place, and ensure that you get your proposal submitted in plenty of time.
Final notes and reminders…….
Archives transcription project.
In the Autumn issue of the Magazine we announced the launch of our project to transcribe and produce a searchable database of three earliest Candidates’ Books, which record the election of Members. We are very grateful to those who volunteered to help and who have now received their first set of digital images, together with a copy of the Guidelines and an Excel file for entering the data. If you missed the invitation or were not able to volunteer at the time, it is by no means too late! If you are interested in joining our team of transcribers, please contact the General Manager (gm@ uwc-london.com).
Topics for talks
We often boast, and with reason, that our greatest resource is our membership. As our calendar demonstrates, many of our events are led by UWC members with a particular area of expertise that they are willing and able to share. If you think there is something you could contribute, why not explore that possibility with the Events Committee? In the first instance, write to events@uwc-london.com and ask for an event pro-forma. This will guide you through the kind of information needed to put an event together, and the Events Committee can then take your proposal under discussion.
2025 Debentures
To the members who have already taken out a 2025 Debenture, many thanks for your generous support of the Club. You are providing vital funds for the work needed in the Library. If you have not yet taken out a debenture, but have been intending to, the form is available under the Club Information tab in the Members’ Area of the UWC website. If you have not yet thought about it, please give it some consideration. The refurbishment of the Library is an expensive once-in-a-generation undertaking, and we want to do the best job possible to preserve the room for our present and future members to enjoy.
There are more Debenture events planned for the autumn to showcase the history of Clubhouse, and especially its Library, which we hope will generate even greater interest in its preservation.
2025 GC election
There is still time for anyone wishing to stand for election to put herself forward as a candidate. The deadline for completed applications is 23.59pm on May 1st
On the 28th March, you will have received an email from the Club, with details about the upcoming AGM and links to all the relevant information about standing for election, including the application forms. If you would like to give this some thought, please look back through your emails. If you cannot find it in your inbox, you can always write to the General Manager to ask for it again.
Luggage Storage
Secure storage is available for members to leave luggage at the Club; however, space is very limited. We therefore allow up to 2 bags per member to be held at the Club for a maximum of 6 months. The following charges will apply for luggage left at the Club, £10.00 per bag per month or £5.00 per bag per week. Any other personal belongings including clothing should not be stored at the Club.
If you currently have items left at the Club please contact the Reception team (reception@uwclondon.com) to arrange for them to be collected or to arrange storage. Any unclaimed items may be discarded or donated to charity.
