Franklin House events as reported by 'Jane'

Carols and Cake

Singcognito

A glorious afternoon greeted the guests at the Franklin House Carols and Cake on Saturday, December 17th 2011. Singcognito entertained about 60 guests in the beautiful old St. James’s church opposite, before their afternoon tea of homemade mince pies and Christmas cake in the magnificent heritage gardens.

Honorary Life Membership Award

A truly surprised Pat Ahearn received a Honorary Life membership to the National Trust, at the Volunteers afternoon tea on December 4th at Franklin House.

Pat was on the Franklin House Management Committee, serving as chairperson for many years as well as a long standing guide at Franklin House. Through her time on the Committee she was instrumental in bringing Franklin house to the attention of the Government, politicians and local councilors, helping to save it from the threat of being sold.

Pat spoke to many Rotary and Probus clubs around the district and as far away as Deloraine, encouraging her audience to treasure their European Heritage and of course to visit, bringing their children and grandchildren.

Pat showed great tenacity in her search for new volunteers, to show off the beauty , elegance and timelessness of Franklin House.

The Victorian Picnic

Residents of Glenara dining in the Arbor behind the lupins

On Sunday 13th November, the grounds of Franklin House came alive with the Victorian picnic. People wandered around the gardens, listening to music provided by the Launceston Community Orchestral quartet and enjoyed their picnic hampers.

Picnics were most fashionable in the early Victorian period when Franklin House was built. All tiers of society would get the day off to join in the festivities. Franklin House catered for these tiers by making available 3 hampers.

The convict hamper for children was comprised of cheese, damper, chicken sausage plait, gingerbread man, apple and apple juice. The Clergyman hamper was more sumptuous comprising savoury swirls, spiced beef with onion jam and damper, cherry slice, cheese biscuits,apple and apple juice. The Squires hamper reflected the gentry’s status with savoury corn cakes, Farmhouse loaf, with caramelized onion relish and damper, prune fudge slice, selection of cheese and fruit and to wash it all down, ginger beer.

James Butler taking the picnic seriously

The hampers take a lot of planning to make them as authentic as possible. The day was overcast, but very pleasant, the gardens looked magnificent and a good time was had by all.

Launceston City Council hosts Civic Reception for Franklin House

Franklin House has been open to the public for 5o years. To mark this very important occasion and to give thanks to the many volunteers who have kept the house open, the Launceston City Council hosted a Civic Reception at the Town Hall, on Thursday 10th November.

The Mayor, Albert Van Zetten thanked the past and present volunteers for their dedication and hard work over the past 50 years. Julie Dineen, chairperson of the Franklin House Committee thanked the Mayor and spoke about the early years when there was a joint committee for Franklin House and Clarendon. How the tea room was opened privately at first, and the shop was temporarily placed in the school room ( where it remains today)

The house originally was open three days a week, which increased to seven days as the volunteer numbers increased. Through two major grants, the house was restored, painted and the gardens transformed. It was a wonderful event to catch up with old friends and to formally recognise the hard work of ‘our’ volunteers in keeping the house open and we look forward to the next 50 years!

Kitchen Gardon Workshop

L to R; Jenny Jones, Susan Donahue, Margaret Quill, Sue Walker, Lisa Manley, Ian and Georgie Blake, Robin May and Brigitte Lyons in the Victorian Kitchen Garden at Franklin House

On Thursday 27th October, Brigitte Lyons presented a work shop on Kitchen Gardens, using the Heritage Victorian Kitchen Garden at Franklin House as the perfect example.

The’ potager’ or kitchen garden embraced productive with decorative in a geometric mosaic of style, beauty and produce. In 2008, it was decided Franklin House should establish a “potager” which was relevant to the era and to provide produce for the tea room, flowers for the house and herbs for both. Also provide the opportunity for community enjoyment and education where possible ( eg. School visits) for inspiration and learning and today we share our Potager with you.

Brigitte, explained in her handouts, the need for planning ahead and keeping notes, as the potager centres around crop rotation and companion plantings.”Another vital aspect of the Potager is texture, colour and visual impact, both in the infrastructure and the plants ….foliage texture; flower colours, fruits, seasons etc..Vibrance!”

Brigitte writes. “ Let your imagination lead you, don’t expect the perfect potager to happen immediately, put your own ‘spin’ on your potager , enjoy the experience and feel the benefits! Your potager may go down in history! "

FUN FASHIONS FROM FRANKLIN.

To celebrate Senior’s week, Franklin House hosted a fashion parade and morning tea at Glenara Lakes. The emphasis was on fun, and Francis Graham presented 70 garments from her own personal collection and some that had never been shown before from the Franklin House collection.

Models encouraged the audience to participate and take a closer look, even feel the materials and decoration. With over 60 guests, the morning was a great success and raised funds to go towards the restoration of the Cameron fountain/horse trough located in the front garden of Franklin House.

Below is a selection of some of the beautiful outfits:-

(Click on a dress for a closer view)
       

Spring Cleaning at Franklin House

As Spring is in the air and we are still in the cooler months, Franklin House has been busy spring cleaning.

Franklin House is one of the few National Trust Properties that does not close its doors through winter and so this becomes a bit of a juggling act.

All the furniture, architraves, window sills, shutters and doors have been polished and the china washed or dusted. We are now commencing on the wooden floors and then the silver, brass and books.

As you can imagine this is a very painstaking process and has to be done with the utmost care so as to keep our ‘treasures’ safe for future generations. The work is carried out by a small group of dedicated and skilled volunteers. Also this winter has seen the tearoom at Franklin House transformed with a change of colour scheme. It looks bright and refreshed ready for our busy season ahead.

Franklin House Book Launch

On Tuesday 30th August, the new book about Franklin House was launched. This book has been in the pipeline for many years, and updates were constantly being added as Franklin House was renovated and the gardens transformed in to how they are today

Franklin House is very appreciative of Anne Green, historian and member of the Franklin House Committee for her excellent research, writing and photography included in the book. To Thomas Gunn and Chris Tassell as Editors, to the photographers Anne Green, Hilary Keeley, John Leeming, Warren Boyles and the National Trust Archives. We also wish to thank Kent Whitmore, designer and the Launceston City Council for their support.

Director Chris Tassell launching the publication assisted by George Anderson S.P.

Anne has made the book very readable with the history and family stories combined, giving us a glimpse of life at Franklin House through the various owners and times.

The book is available at Franklin House for an introductory price of $10.00 or on our web-site here

 

 

Fund raising Cocktail party at Sotherton

The sponsor group of Franklin House held an exciting cocktail party at Sotherton, home of Robert Dunstan, who has recently won an award from the Launceston City Council for his authentic and sympathetic restoration work on this property. Funds raised from the evening went to the Lady de Carteret restoration appeal.
Photo: left to right: Julie Dineen, Margot Smart, Hilary Keeley (Property Manager), Rosemary Anderson, Caryl McQuestin

 

Britton Jones Licence Presentation

On Friday 3rd June, Mr. David Britton Jones (left) handed over to Franklin House the original License held by Britton Jones (who built Franklin House, 1838) of the Sir William Wallace Inn in Franklin Village. This important document was gratefully received by Mr Ray Foley (right) and Mr. Andrew Kemp, from the National Trust Board at a luncheon to celebrate this event.

Antique Fair

Franklin House and the Tamar Group of the National Trust were invited to join the Antique Fair at the Albert Hall over the Queens birthday weekend. Franklin House is raising funds for the restoration of the Cameron Fountain. The Cameron Fountain was donated to the township of Launceston in 1884 by Emma Walker in memory of her father, merchant John Cameron.

The fountain, cast by Walter McFarlane & Co. in Glasgow, Scotland, was originally sited in front of the Government Buildings in Launceston on the corner of St. John and Paterson streets. It was removed around the time of World War 11 and was sited on the bank of the North Esk River at the bottom end end of St. John Street, before it was placed in the front grounds of Franklin House. In 2010, Franklin House through the Heritage Projects Jobs Fund grant was able to have the Cameron Fountain prepared and re painted; now it needs to have the missing light for the top reconstructed. Restoration appeal here

The Veteran Car Rally

What a magnificent sight awaited the passers by on Monday 25th October, as over one hundred and twenty veteran cars gathered at Franklin House for the start of the week long rally.

As the cars commenced each morning from Franklin House, we were privileged to see and to get to know some of the cars and their owners, many of whom had ventured from other States, and some from as far afield as America. The National Rally Committee, in planning this event, thought that a heritage theme was appropriate, and the routes took in the wide diverse nature of Tasmania’s colonial past.

Teresa Cox of Clarendon's Daimler (purchased 1912). Click for larger view

The weather proved to be very kind, especially as many of the veteran cars were open topped, though I’m sure I glimpsed a few thermals under coats! Franklin House was extremely honored to be a part of this first type of rally held in Tasmania, and hope some of our local residents and their beautiful cars will re visit again in the future.