{"id":157,"date":"2023-11-20T17:56:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-20T17:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hughwalpole.org\/?page_id=157"},"modified":"2026-04-19T13:49:43","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T13:49:43","slug":"latest-news","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/hughwalpole.org\/index.php\/latest-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Latest News"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

April 2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rodney Ackland\u2019s acclaimed adaptation of Hugh Walpole\u2019s novel\u00a0The Old Ladies<\/em>\u00a0returned to the London stage for the first time in over 30 years in March. It opened at the Finborough Theatre in West London on Tuesday 24 March 2026, for a limited four-week.\u00a0 The production was presented by Walpole Society member Andrew Maunder and Neil McPherson for the Finborough Theatre. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The production received some excellent reviews:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Old Ladies review \u2013 spite, greed and nerves in a rickety boarding house – The Guardian <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Old Ladies, Finborough Theatre review – sound, but not quite creepy enough <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Old Ladies – Finborough Theatre | Review – LondonTheatre1<\/a>\u201cThe Old Ladies\u201d by Rodney Ackland at Finborough Theatre<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Old Ladies \u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605 Finborough Theatre | Mar 24 – Apr 19, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

REVIEW: The Old Ladies, Finborough Theatre (2026) \u2013 TheatreVibe<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

****************************<\/p>\n\n\n\n

March 2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Members of the Society gathered in the churchyard of St John’s, Keswick on Thursday 19 March 2026 to unveil a new sign directing visitors to Hugh Walpole’s grave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The unveiling followed the 11 o’clock said Eucharist service in the church which included words of thanksgiving for the life and works of Hugh Walpole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
(Photo Thomasina McGuigan)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After lunch we visited Keswick Museum where the curators had put on display a large number of items from the Walpole Collection which are no longer on public display.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The unveiling of the new grave sign was covered extensively by the local print media and also by Border Television’s Six O’Clock News: Celebrated novelist honoured at his final resting place – Latest From ITV News<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The old grave sign (Photo Nicholas Redman)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
The new grave sign (Photo Thomasina McGuigan)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

****************************<\/p>\n\n\n\n

December 2025<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following the success of Red Amber and Other Stories<\/em>, the Society has published a second collection of Walpole short stories taken from his contributions to British and US magazines of the 1920s and \u201930s. The book, titled Gifts for My Friends and Other Stories<\/strong>, <\/em>is now available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To order a copy, email HughWalpoleSociety@gmail.com. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

****************************<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Saturday 24 May 2025 the Society visited Durham School<\/strong> where Hugh Walpole was a pupil from 1898 to 1903. This was followed by a tour of locations in Durham with Walpole connections. Our visit was arranged by Durham College Archivist and Librarian George Gardner, to whom many thanks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

March 2025<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Saturday 8 March 2025 the Society visited Epsom College<\/strong>, the school where Hugh Walpole was a schoolmaster in 1908. His experiences during his time there inspired his novel Mr Perrin and Mr Traill<\/em>, published a couple of years later. We saw the settings of the novel, the surviving records from Walpole\u2019s time at the college, and, most importantly, the celebrated hat and umbrella stand that gave rise to the central episode of the novel. Our visit was arranged by Epsom College Archivist and Society member Rebecca Worthy, to whom we are most grateful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

November 2023<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Society has just published its first book – Red Amber and Other Stories<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

April 2026 Rodney Ackland\u2019s acclaimed adaptation of Hugh Walpole\u2019s novel\u00a0The Old Ladies\u00a0returned to the London stage for the first time in over 30 years in March. It opened at the Finborough Theatre in West London on Tuesday 24 March 2026, for a limited four-week.\u00a0 The production was presented by Walpole Society member Andrew Maunder and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-157","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hughwalpole.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hughwalpole.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hughwalpole.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hughwalpole.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hughwalpole.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/hughwalpole.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/157\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":261,"href":"https:\/\/hughwalpole.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/157\/revisions\/261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hughwalpole.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}