Centenary Lounge in Worcester recently hosted a special group of international visitors from Georgia, USA, treating them to a classic afternoon tea.
The group of eleven were visiting the Museum of Royal Worcester and included Lorna Reeves, Editor of American Teatime magazine, and others involved in establishing the Porcelain and Decorative Arts Museum at the State Botanical Gardens in Athens, Georgia, USA.
Lorna Reeves, Editor of American Teatime magazine, said “The Museum in Georgia houses a portion of the private collection of Deen Day Sanders and many items of Worcester porcelain. Mrs Sanders wanted to thank our group for their work in setting up the Porcelain and Decorative Arts Museum in her lifetime by sending them on a tea tour of England, and she asked me to organise it. She is elderly and in poor health, so she sadly won’t be accompanying us, but she specifically wanted the group to visit the Museum of Royal Worcester and enjoy afternoon tea each day.”
The American visitors spent a whole day immersed in the history and beauty of the Museum, enjoying a talk, private guided tour of the Museum’s Showstopper Trail and a walking tour, by local author and historian, Colin Millett. His entertaining talk ‘Ladies of the Porcelain’ reveals the remarkable stories of the hard-working women who were talented, funny and clever and who made a significant contribution to the international success of Royal Worcester. They also enjoyed a flower-modelling demonstration by former Royal Worcester worker, Avril Pulley. In 1967, at just 17-years old, Avril was engaged as a china flower maker. Spending 11-years in this role she made thousands and thousands of porcelain flowers and met her husband, Raymond, an ornamental caster. The visitors rounded off their special day of all things porcelain, by taking afternoon tea at Centenary Lounge at The Cross in Worcester, where they tried the different award-winning loose leaf teas and particularly enjoyed the scones.