Happy Birthday Sam!!
As Sam and Stacey stayed at a friend's house in Banbury last night, after their dinner with Aston-Martin colleagues, they arrived home in the morning, rather tired!
After lunch, we again went to Warwick to have another explore. There is a "hospital" there, called the Lord Leycester Hospital (after Robert Dudley, Earl of Leycester - or Leicester, the favourite of Queen Elizabeth I). This was set up in 1571 in buildings that were by then more than 150 years old and it remains to this day. This is not and never has been a medical establishment. The word "hospital" is used in its ancient sense, meaning a charitable institution for the housing and maintenance of the needy, infirm or aged. Originally, various Guilds were housed in these buildings - in 1383 Richard II gifted part of it to the Guild of St George and by 1413 two further Guilds, Holy Trinity and Blessed Virgin Mary moved to the site to form the United Guilds of Warwick. A Guildhall was built as well as a Great Hall for banquets and celebrations and a Master's house. The Guilds carried out charitable works and, although the they were dissolved by Henry VIII in 1546, every weekday morning (except Mondays) the Master and Brethren gather for prayers using exactly the wording laid down by Robert Dudley well over 430 years ago.
We had an interesting talk with one of The Brethren (a retired ex-serviceman from the Fleet Air Arm) who, with other Brethren and their wives, lives and works there. Strangely enough, he was in Nowra (NSW) during the war with the Fleet Air Arm!).
We also had a great cup of coffee (for a change!) in the Brethren's Kitchen which has been in continual use since 1361 - hard to get your head around that, isn't it? It was first used to prepare food for the Chaplains of the Guilds and for functions in the Great Hall. The oak dress robe of Elizabeth I is on display here, from Kenilworth Castle, and also a sample of embroidery worked by Robert Dudley's tragic wife, Amy Robsart.
It's been fascinating seeing the old (very old) with the new in so many of the places we've visited and it really reinforces how much "newer" Australia is!
In the evening we went with Sam, Nicole and Stacey to a local Mexican restaurant for Sam's birthday dinner. Great food - we all came away vowing never to eat again! We had a chocolate cake, with candles, and sang a hearty "Happy Birthday" to Sam.
