Stevenage: an evening with Ann Bainbridge

Ann Bainbridge is back from her holidays, and she has brought the photographs with her.

For those who have not yet heard, Ann, Gordon and Ezekiel spent a fortnight in Stevenage in July. Nobody had it on their card. The plan had been the Norfolk coast until a small difficulty with the booking, and by then the kennels were full and Ezekiel had made his position on kennels a matter of public record. Stevenage could take all three of them at a fortnight's notice, which Ann points out is one of the great advantages of Stevenage, and which nobody at the Bring and Buy felt able to contradict.

She has come home an enthusiast and will hear nothing said against the place. There is the Old Town high street, which is genuinely handsome and which she has photographed from all four sides. There is the museum, which she describes, after some thought, as compact. There are the cycleways, all forty five miles of them, laid out by planners with a vision, and Ann and Gordon walked a good deal of that vision in the rain. There are the roundabouts, six of them in a row, about which she has prepared remarks. Asked for his own highlight of the fortnight, Gordon considered the question carefully and said that the drive home had been very straightforward.

Ezekiel, for his part, had the time of his life. He formed a profound attachment to a bench near the town square, had to be reasoned with every morning, and is understood to be the only member of the party who would go back tomorrow.

The upshot of all this is a slideshow. Ann has four hundred and sixty photographs and has promised, after some negotiation with Gordon, to show a selection. There will be anecdotes, several of which involve the roundabouts, and at least one which Gordon has asked her to leave out and which she fully intends to include.

Everyone is welcome at the church hall at Privett Street on Friday 18 September at half past seven. Admission is free with a retiring collection for circuit funds, tea and cake are provided, and Ezekiel will be present in person to verify the more contested details. Ann asks only that nobody mentions the Norfolk coast.