AV News 191 - February 2013
Then there was her birthday dinner about 10 years or so ago, when a group of
family and friends went to the George in Norton St Philip for a meal. The
conversation was going on mainly at one end of the table and I realised Mum
couldn't hear very well, so I asked her if she'd like to swap with me so she could
hear better. “No dear I'm fine here” she said, and then after a pause she said
“Well maybe, if the conversation becomes more scintillating.” When she came
up with those type of one liners, I'm reminded of Noel Coward, or maybe the
Dowager Countess of Grantham, Maggie Smith's character in Downton Abbey.
And the final story is only a little incident, but one that remains with me very
vividly. It was an Audio Visual evening in Bath and it was to be Mum's first
outing after her first series of mini strokes, and her first outing in a wheelchair.
It was a dark and damp evening with brollies needed to get her into the building
and so on. So after much effort with some steps and a tiny lift, she was
wheeled into the auditorium and positioned at the side of one of the rows of
seats. And then a gentleman I didn't recognise came up, put his hand on her
shoulder and said “Hello smiler, how lovely to see you.” To this day I don't
know if Mum knew who he was, but they had a brief conversation, and as he
left he said “Well it's fantastic to see that lovely smile of yours again”. It was
only then that I realised that even on a dark and dank evening, and when
confined to a wheelchair, she still had the ability to bring a little bit of sunshine
into peoples lives.
Thank you.
Personal memories of Lady Pollock
Richard Brown FRPS APAGB EFIAP
I first met Doreen Pollock in 1977 at a meeting of the A and F slide sound
sequences panel at the old RPS headquarters in South Audley Street. I had
only just started out on making AVs an