- Events, Talks, Concerts, Workshops
- Outings
- Special Open Days
Lady Anne Fanshawe: A Civil War Heroine
October 2024. Historian Lucy Moore traced Anne’s life and local connections in this illustrated talk based on her 2017 biography, Lady Fanshawe’s Receipt Book: The Life and Times of a Civil War Heroine.
Born in 1625, Anne was 17 when the outbreak of the Civil Wars forced her and her family to flee their home. For the next twenty years she and her husband, secretary to the future Charles II, worked towards the Restoration of the monarchy, travelling constantly and facing homelessness, prison, bankruptcy and disease. Anne’s husband’s family, the Fanshawes, become associated with Valence House in Dagenham – like Valentines Mansion an architectural jewel of Essex.
For more information about Lucy please visit lucymoorebooks.co.uk
June 2024
Poetry Days and Workshops
An afternoon to explore the house, gardens and park with winners of the poetry competition announced at 3pm. FREE ENTRY with optional donation to the Friends of Valentines Mansion. The children’s poems were displayed in the Holcombe Room.
Suitable for families and individuals. There were picnics and free live music from Redbridge Music Lounge in the walled garden 11.30 – 5pm and a chance to explore the photography exhibition in the gallery, as well as trails in the garden and QR code tours in the house to delve into the history!
May 2024. Speaker from Save Britain’s Heritage
You can read here about one of SAVE Britain’s Heritage recent campaigns
April 2024
February half term 2024
Children explored Valentines for inspiration to write a poem based on the historic gardens and park.
January 2024
The Inglebys were the last family to live @ValMansion with their servants and four children. Now the house is available for us all to enjoy!
“Sarah and Clement Ingleby” born 200 years ago welcomed us to an evening of history, music and games, “Clement” singing a parlour song and special guest, Ukrainian musician Iryna Rodionova accompanying him on the bandura.
September 2023
“Ahoy!”featured the wreck of the Valentine, with displays and experts on hand to explain the history, the research and the diving expeditions to the wreck of the Valentine.
11.30 “All Aboard!” ship activity, for children to learn how to load an East Indiaman and dance a Hornpipe!
“Way Hay!” performance of sea songs and shanties at 2.45 pm.
July 2023
June 2023
January 2023
New Year 2023 social event, replacing the Christmas 2022 event postponed due to ice and snow.
July 2022
February 2022
HOGARTH’S SOUTHWARK FAIR – From Paint To Print
Thanks to Julian Walker for running a fascinating workshop for the Friends .
31st October 2021
We love dressing up for a spot of storytelling!
October 2021
The Tale Of A Shirt
Revolution, wars, refugees – a recurring theme in the history of the 20th and 21st centuries. In The Tale of a Shirt local historian Michael Potter took us back to 1905, when a member of his family, then a 30-year-old student in St.Petersburg was one of the conspirators trying to remove the Tsar.
The failure to achieve this led to him fleeing his home, embarking on a dangerous journey across Europe and finally reaching safety in England. This is a deeply personal account of revolution and its aftermath.
The talk was complemented by Russian music of the period.
September 2021
Lady Sarah Raymond hosted an 18th century Macmillan Coffee Morning in September 2021!
After resuming Open Days on 24 August 2020, we had supported a Victorian Macmillan coffee morning hosted by 19th century owner Mrs Ingleby in September 2020.
July 2021
MUSIC AT THE MANSION. This free event featured a variety of music performed in and around the Mansion, from choral music to jazz, Chinese music and film classics on the piano. A memorable and VERY HOT day!!
Visitors and park goers enjoyed a great jazz quintet featuring the talented Josh Kemp on the saxophone.
Jason Rose tinkled the ivories of the grand piano in the Drawing Room.
The Valentine Singers’ mainly very gentle and sometimes humorous choral singing resonated beautifully within the canopy of the Porte Cochere.
Last but not least, we were treated to two sessions from Joanna Zenghui Qiu and other accompanying Chinese and Beijing Opera performers where we heard an amazing variety of melodic sounds on a range of instruments.
Open Days resume – Summer 2021
Art in Lockdown by Valentines Mansion Studio Artists
A variety of pieces created during the Covid-19 pandemic: paintings, ceramics, eco-prints and more.
17 May – 19 July 2021
Our first ever online event – March 2021
This event focussed on how a local fundraising campaign led by a local doctor and the building of houses in the Ilford Garden Suburb, raised the money the council needed in 1911 to acquire the rest of the Valentines estate for parkland.
Holcombe Ingleby had inherited Valentines from his great-uncle Charles Holcombe after his mother Sarah died and the mansion was also purchased by the Council thanks to this.
More about the history of Valentines Park is here.
Our Valentines – February 2020
We celebrated our 20th Anniversary with an Open Day in February 2020.
We had planned to be celebrating our part in the Mansion’s past, as well as its future, at anniversary events during 2020. It was not to be. Due to the pandemic all our May, June and July events were postponed .
December 2019
MUSIC, MERRIMENT & MINCE PIES – members and guests enjoyed drinks and nibbles in the Gallery to the accompaniment of the Roding Consort of recorders. Then it was upstairs to the Drawing Room for a recital of Christmas songs old and new, by the Crofton Singers. They were magnificent and this was undoubtedly a highlight of the evening.
An Evening With Vivyan Ellacott – October 2019
It was almost standing room only at this year’s talk – ‘My life in the theatre’ by Vivyan Ellacott. And what a talk it was! Vivyan skilfully took us through his career using anecdotes about his experiences and people he met along the way.
As a boy his first love was variety, engendered by his meeting artistes from the Empire Theatre Swansea who came into his mother’s grocery store to collect their post-war rations. This led to small parts in panto and even one in Under Milk Wood where he actually had two lines.
Various short-term stage management jobs whilst an undergraduate in London and subsequent directorial and acting roles, plus stints abroad, widened his horizons and he came to appreciate all genres of theatre. Thus he was well qualified to become involved in the design of Ilford’s Kenneth More Theatre, and its first manager. His contract with the theatre, where he stayed 36 years, allowed him to freelance, and during this time he took several successful shows on tour and flirted with West End management amongst other things.
This was a thoroughly exhilarating talk, though Vivyan hit a more serious note during the Q & A session when he reflected on the future of the Kenneth More Theatre and on the lives of youngsters supported by a charity in Romania, which is now one of his main retirement interests. Special thanks must go to Vivyan for not only providing such an entertaining evening but also for donating his fee to FoVM. Gail Ellisdon
October 2017
Valentines Mansion Events
Full details about events and opening times at Valentines Mansion and Gardens are available from Vision RCL’s website. For information on facilities and rooms for hire at Valentines Mansion, contact +44 (0) 8708 8100 or email hiringvalentines@visionrcl.org.uk.
The exhibition in the Bird Room “Oh You Beautiful Dolls” has now been replaced by a fascinating exhibition of vintage cameras, entitled “Zoom In!”
There are changing EXHIBITIONS in the Mansion Gallery on the ground floor – FREE ENTRY on Open Days Sunday and Monday.
The Resident Artists’ Studios are on the top floor. Watch this space for details of the next Open Studios when this part of the mansion, normally closed to the public, can be visited.
Friends Of Valentines Mansion 