‘Obviously,’ said Quintus Braithwaite, as if he knew what the hell she was talking about.
‘That’s it so far,’ said Lesley Tarquin, ‘but I have made a start.’
There was an impressed silence. Publicity was an area in which all local Fethering societies fell down. However much effort there was put into organizing events, most of them failed because no one knew they were on. To hear someone talking about media outlets with the confidence and professionalism of Lesley Tarquin was unfamiliar to most of those present that evening at Hiawatha.
‘Well,’ said the Commodore, choosing his words carefully. He was very impressed by Lesley – and also rather attracted to her – but he couldn’t quite keep the patronizing tone out of his voice as he continued, ‘You’ve done frightfully well and I’m sure when your contacts are joined up with those I have built up over the years through the Naval Club and Fethering Yacht Club, we could be looking at an excellent media profile for the SPCS Action Committee.’
Lesley Tarquin smiled her satisfaction at this endorsement.
‘Anything else you want to add?’ asked the Chair.
‘No. Not at the moment.’
‘Good. Splendid work, Lesley. And we move on to “Item 6” on our Agenda …’ He glanced down at his papers with disapproval. ‘It says “Possible Alternative Uses for Polly’s Cake Shop”. I personally feel that discussion of this kind of thing is premature. We need to get the funding and ownership of the property sorted before we get into this kind of detail. In fact, I’m quite surprised you put it on the Agenda, Wendy.’
But the Secretary wasn’t about to stand for public criticism of that kind. ‘It was agreed at the last meeting that any elected committee member could put forward items for the Agenda.’
‘Yes, but you should have checked it with me first,’ came the testy response. ‘I could have told you that this was not relevant.’
‘You’ve had the papers for nearly a week,’ Wendy Roote defended herself stoutly. ‘If you wanted to raise any objection, you had plenty of time to—’
‘Well, all right I didn’t. But I’m objecting now. We don’t have any ownership rights – or indeed any other rights – yet in Polly’s Cake Shop, so discussing “Alternative Uses” for it would seem to me to be a complete waste of—’
‘No, it’s not. It’s very necessary. It’s very important that everyone on the committee is sharing the same mind-set.’ The interrupter, perhaps inevitably, was Flora Claire. Jude felt pretty sure that she was the one who had infiltrated ‘Item 6’ on to the Agenda as she went on, ‘I’ve been talking to various like-minded friends in Fethering during the last couple of weeks, and there’s a strong feeling amongst them that—’
‘I don’t think you should be discussing committee business with your friends,’ the Commodore objected through clenched teeth. ‘Even “like-minded” ones. It’s important – particularly at our planning stage – that we maintain confidentiality about our plans.’
‘But it’s an issue of great relevance to the people of Fethering, and my friends are all people of Fethering, so I believe that their views are valuable. And there is a general view in the village that we have a great opportunity here, not just to maintain Polly’s Cake Shop as it is, but to broaden the scope of its activities away from the crassly commercial to something more spiritual.’
‘“Spiritual”?’ echoed Quintus Braithwaite despairingly.
‘Yes. Fethering is a place of great spirituality. There have been many independently accredited incidents of paranormal activity in the area – especially in the village of Clapham. And ley lines travel directly from Stonehenge – or “Stone Hinge”, as it should be called, because it acts as a hinge from which the sun, moon and planets are suspended – right through the centre of Fedborough, which is just up the river from Fethering. Also a lot of psychic phenomena have been recorded in the Chanctonbury Ring area and …’
The Commodore tried to cut off this flow of psychobabble, but once again Flora was shown to have a surprising amount of support in the room. Jude kept quiet. She knew that a lot of people in Fethering thought her healing work was at least as bonkers as the stuff Flora was going on about.
It was a good twenty minutes before the Chair managed to end the discussion about Fethering’s ‘spirituality’, and then he only did it by conceding that ‘Possible Alternative Uses for Polly’s Cake Shop’ should appear as an item on the next meeting’s Agenda.
He moved on with some relief to ‘Item 7: Response from Current Owner of Polly’s Cake Shop’.
This didn’t take long. It’s was Jude’s cue to report, and she did so very succinctly, relaying the news that Josie Achter’s only interest in her business was how much money she could get for it. And, as for ‘Community Spirit’, she didn’t have any.
Now, finally, Quintus Braithwaite was able to produce his prize exhibit. ‘Right, now we come to “Item 8: Fundraising” – and I don’t think even you can now object, Arnold’ – he smiled viciously at his opponent – ‘if I introduce a very important guest.’
He paused for effect, but unfortunately allowed long enough for Arnold Bloom to voice his dissent. ‘Well, I think the principle of introducing non-members to a committee meeting without consultation is something that goes against the rules by which this sort of democratic organization should be—’
But the Chair had had enough. Riding roughshod over Arnold, he continued, ‘I am very honoured to welcome here Kent Warboys, who is very much a local boy made good. We have met,’ he said with some pride, ‘through Fethering Yacht Club, of which we are both members, and I’m sure a lot of you present here tonight will know of Kent and his work.
‘But for those of you who don’t, I should tell you that Kent was brought up right here in Fethering. He attended the local comprehensive school but, in spite of that, still managed to train as an architect. And there are many fine buildings and developments in the Fethering area which are a tribute to Kent’s distinctive style.
‘In recent years he has moved away from the, as it were, “hands-on” business of architecture towards the bigger challenge of overseeing major construction projects.’
Again Quintus Braithwaite made the mistake of leaving too long a pause. Arnold Bloom came straight in with: ‘You mean he’s a property developer?’
‘I wouldn’t say that, no.’ The Chair was well aware that such a description in a place like Fethering was tantamount to an insult. ‘I mean, Kent is very aware of both heritage and harmony with the landscape. He’s … um, he’s …’
Quintus was in danger of losing it, so the subject of his speech came in to rescue him (and himself).
‘If I may speak a little on my own behalf …’ Kent Warboys’ voice, though cultured, had a reassuring undercurrent of local Sussex in it. ‘For want of a better description, yes I am a “property developer”, but this doesn’t necessarily make me the bogie man of the popular press. As Quintus said, my concerns in the work I do are heritage and harmony with the landscape.