#roofing companies southampton
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Southampton Roofers
When it comes to protecting your home in Southampton, Hampshire, UK, trust the experts at Southampton Roofers. We are the premier roofing specialists dedicated to providing top-quality roofing solutions for residential and commercial properties. With our extensive knowledge and experience, we ensure that your roof is not only aesthetically pleasing but also durable and weather-resistant.
At Southampton Roofers, we offer a wide range of roofing services to meet your needs. Whether you require roof repairs, roof replacements, or new roof installations, our skilled team of professionals is equipped to handle any project, big or small. We work with various roofing materials, including shingles, tiles, metal, and flat roofs, allowing us to cater to your specific requirements.
Customer satisfaction is our utmost priority at Southampton Roofers. We take the time to understand your roofing needs and provide personalized solutions that fit your budget. Our friendly and knowledgeable team will guide you through the process, answering any questions you may have and ensuring that you are informed every step of the way.
We pride ourselves on our attention to detail, quality workmanship, and timely project completion. When you choose Southampton Roofers, you can rest assured knowing that your roof is in capable hands. Contact us today to schedule a consultation and let us provide you with the best roofing solutions for your Southampton property.
Address:
Southampton, Hampshire, UK
Phone:
02382026163
Email:
[email protected]
roof repairs southampton
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Shakespeare's Globe Theatre.
The story of Globe Theatre started with William Shakespeare's acting company, Lord Chamberlain's Men.
William Shakespeare (baptized 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was a part-owner or sharer in the company, as well as an actor and resident playwright.
From its inception in 1594 AD, Lord Chamberlain's Men performed at Theatre, a playhouse located in Shoreditch.
However, by 1598, their patrons, including Earl of Southampton, had fallen out of favour with the Queen.
Theatre's landlord, Giles Alleyn, had intentions to cancel the company's lease and tear the building down.
While Alleyn did own the land, he did not own the materials with which the theatre had been built.
So, on 28 December 1598, after leasing a new site in Southwark, Cuthbert and Richard Burbage led the rest of the company of actors, sharers, and volunteers in taking the building down, timber by timber, loading it on to barges, and making their way across Thames.
Working together, the actors built the new theatre as quickly as they could.
The ground on the new site was marshy and prone to flooding, but foundations were built by digging trenches, filling them with limestone, constructing brick walls above stone, and then raising wooden beams on top of that.
A funnel caught rainwater and drained it into ditch surrounding the theatre and down into Thames.
The theatre was 30m in diameter and had 20 sides, giving it its perceived circular shape.
Structure was similar to that of their old theatre, as well as that of the neighbouring bear garden.
The rectangular stage, at 5ft high, projected halfway into the yard and circular galleries.
Pillars were painted to look like Italian marble, sky painted midnight blue, and images of gods overlooked balcony. It could hold up to 3,000 people.
By May 1599, the new theatre was ready to be opened.
Burbage named it Globe after the figure of Hercules carrying the globe on his back — for in like manner, the actors carried Globe's framework on their backs across Thames.
A flag of Hercules with globe was raised above theatre with Latin motto: 'totus mundus agit histrionem' ('all the world's a playhouse').
Shakespeare's plays that were performed there early on included:
Henry V, Julius Caesar, As You Like It, Hamlet, Measure for Measure, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, and Antony and Cleopatra.
Here, the Lord Chamberlain's Men enjoyed much success and gained the patronage of King James I in 1603, subsequently becoming The King's Men.
During a fateful performance of Henry VIII on 29 June 1613, a cannon announcing the unexpected arrival of the king at the end of Act 1 set fire to the thatched roof, and within an hour, the Globe burned to ground.
Everyone escaped safely, save for one man whose breeches reportedly caught fire. Two different songs had been written about it by the next day.
Globe was rebuilt by February 1614. The company could then afford to decorate it extravagantly, and it had a tiled roof instead of thatched.
However, by this point, Shakespeare's influence had lessened. He was spending more and more time back in Stratford-upon-Avon.
Disaster struck again in 1642 when the Parliament ordered the closure of London theatres.
In 1644-45, Globe was destroyed and the land sold for building.
In 1970, American actor and director, Samuel Wanamaker CBE (born Wattenmacker; 14 June 1919 – 18 December 1993), set up the Shakespeare's Globe Trust to pursue his dream of reconstructing the original Globe Theatre.
For what would be almost the next 30 years, he and his team worked and fought to obtain the permissions, funds, and research necessary for a project of this scope.
Historians, scholars and architects all worked together in their efforts to build the Globe in the same way Lord Chamberlain's Men did, down to the green oak pillars and thatched roof.
Their work and dreams were fulfilled when the new Globe Theatre opened in 1997, one street away from where original stood.
Globe stands today as a living monument to Shakespeare, greatest English playwright, home to productions of his plays and many other new ones every season.
#William Shakespeare#Globe Theatre#Elizabethan Age#Jacobean Age#British theatre#English Renaissance#Early Modern Period#actor#playwright#writer#Lord Chamberlain's Men#Queen Elizabeth I#Giles Alleyn#1500s#16th century#King James I#The King's Men#1600s#17th century#Samuel Wanamaker#Shakespeare's Globe Trust#theatres#plays
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verybooked.io
Address:
Mountbatten House, 1 Grosvenor Square
Southampton England SO15 2JU
Phone: +44 7824 750718
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://verybooked.io/seo-agency
Description: Dominate Google Maps & organic search results for the most lucrative keywords in your industry and city. Get more than rankings, get actual bookings. verybooked.io is the SEO agency home service contractors turn to for more high-ticket clients.
What sets us apart?
We already have the traffic and the leads: we own several industry-specific marketplaces and online directories ranking organically for highly lucrative keywords designed to attract high-intent clients actively searching for your services.
verybooked.io specializes in marketing for home service companies. Here are some businesses that we help with our SEO services: https://verybooked.io/seo-agency/for/roofing-company || https://verybooked.io/seo-agency/for/plumbing-company || https://verybooked.io/seo-agency/for/remodeling-companies || https://verybooked.io/seo-agency/for/hvac-contractors || https://verybooked.io/seo-agency/for/tree-services || https://verybooked.io/seo-agency/for/electricians || https://verybooked.io/seo-agency/for/pest-control-companies || https://verybooked.io/seo-agency/for/solar-companies
Keywords: SEO Agency, Southampton SEO, Portsmouth SEO, Bournemouth SEO
Hour: Mon-Sat 08am-07pm
Year of Est.: 2023
No. Of Employees : < 10
Payment: Invoice, Stripe, Paypal, Credit Card
Social Media Links:
https://linkedin.com/company/verybooked
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Buck Construction: Trusted Roof Repair Company in Southampton, PA
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Buck Construction: Trusted Roof Repair Company in Southampton, PA
http://dlvr.it/SzVRnG
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Buck Construction: Trusted Roof Repair Company in Southampton, PA
http://dlvr.it/SzVRhs
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Buck Construction: Trusted Roof Repair Company in Southampton, PA
http://dlvr.it/SzVRb9
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Should You Choose a Handyman or Professional for Gutter Cleaning in St. Louis?
When it involves gutter maintenance in St. Louis, homeowners need to make an important verdict - should they hire a general handyman or a professional gutter cleaning company? It may be appealing to go the more budget friendly handyman option, but specialized gutter cleaners have particular benefits that are worthy of the investment. Proper gutter care has to do with greater than just getting rid of leaves and debris. It requires technical knowledge to completely evaluate, clean, and maintain your home's gutters.
According to "Clean Pro Gutter Cleaning", "Gutter cleaning extends beyond mere debris removal; it is essential for protecting the architectural integrity of your property."
Gutter cleaning experts advocate for utilizing professional gutter cleaners over handymen for gutter maintenance tasks in the St. Louis region. While handymen can surely do a variety of simple home repair jobs, a professional gutter cleaning service has the specific skill set, equipment, and experience necessary to deliver precise gutter maintenance and stop downright costly home repairs later on.
When it comes to an investment as vital as safeguarding your home from water damage, specialized experience makes all the difference. Keep reading to understand why trusting a professional gutter cleaning company over a jack-of-all-trades handyman is the wise option when it involves the gutters on your St. Louis home. Investing in professional gutter maintenance pays dividends through remarkable workmanship and assurance knowing your home's wellbeing is in experienced hands.
Receive the Incentives of Specialized Experience
Trusting a professional gutter cleaning service in St. Louis provides an assurance of thoroughness and quality that a handyman typically can not. Professional gutter cleaners make use of techniques and tools that are the industry standard, offering greater than simply cleaning-- they give preventative maintenance. This higher degree of service includes checking for possible troubles like leakages or weak areas that might end up being more serious concerns. Their job makes sure that gutters are not just clean but also in the best possible state, reducing the risk of water damages to your home in neighborhoods throughout St. Louis, from Clayton-Tamm to Franz Park.
Reduce Safety Dangers and Liability
By engaging St. Louis professional gutter cleaners, homeowners avoid numerous threats, including accident and property damages. According to "Clean Pro Gutter Cleaning", professionals are "trained to work at heights with the proper safety equipment, lowering the potential for falls." They can also determine and correct the early stages of structural damage that untrained eyes could miss. Professional crews carry insurance policy, protecting property owners in different St. Louis communities from liability should an incident occur on their Southampton or Tower Grove South property.
Leverage Preventative Maintenance and Professional Inspections
Certified gutter cleaners give an edge in keeping your St. Louis home's well-being by delivering knowledge and specialized service. Their detailed cleaning not only clears out leaves and debris but also includes examining gutters for indications of wear and possible concerns. This preemptive method can prolong the working life of your gutter system, ensuring it remains reliable in diverting water away from the property in neighborhoods throughout St. Louis like Skinker DeBaliviere and Forest Park Southeast.
Secure Your Most Valuable Investment
Professional experience delivers a considerable protective layer for your St. Louis home and individual safety. These experts' expertise includes proper gutter maintenance, the identification of bothersome areas, and the skills to perform required repairs, which prevent minor issues from rising into major ones. This proactive maintenance can avoid pricey water-related damages such as roof leakages, wall damages, and foundational concerns, thereby preserving the home's architectural integrity whether in The Grove or The Hill.
Validate Credentials for Quality Assurance
While not all gutter cleaning company bring the required insurance and accreditations, reputable St. Louis companies will. According to "Clean Pro Gutter Cleaning", verifying credentials provides "assurance to the property owner." This ensures that any future problems or accidents throughout the cleaning process are covered. It is vital to verify these credentials prior to hiring a St. Louis service, as they are a significant sign of the provider's devotion to quality and safety.
Training to Tackle Challenging Gutter Access
Typically, handymen might not rival the rigorous training and safety protocols observed by St. Louis professional gutter cleaning crews. These professionals undergo specialized training to take care of the specific difficulties connected with gutter cleaning, including working safely at heights and handling the threats entailed with ladder usage and roof access. This training makes certain that they can do the necessary tasks efficiently and safely, which is a degree of preparedness that a handyman could not possess.
Calculate the True Cost of a Handyman
Choosing a handyman over a St. Louis professional gutter service may seem cost-effective but can bring about greater expenses down the line. Originally, a handyman's services might look cheaper; however, this cost-benefit analysis typically excludes the possibility for incorrectly handled gutter cleaning, which can cause damages to the gutters or the home itself in neighborhoods like Lindenwood Park or Clayton-Tamm. A professional service makes certain that the task is done right the very first time, with suitable tools and methods that secure your investment in your St. Louis home. Furthermore, professionals are proficient at spotting problems prior to they end up being costly repairs, which can considerably reduce long-term expenses.
Stay Clear Of Expensive Emergency Repairs
Utilizing professional gutter services in St. Louis equates to long-term savings for homeowners. Experts not only clean but also check and preserve the gutter system, averting the progression of minor problems into major, pricey damages. Their services usually include warranties and follow-up support, which better defends the property owner's economic investment whether their home is in Southampton or Skinker DeBaliviere. This proactive approach by professional services minimizes the threat of unexpected repairs, guaranteeing consistent gutter performance and longevity.
Anticipate Meticulous, Comprehensive Services
With St. Louis professional gutter cleaning services, you can expect detailed care that extends more than basic cleaning. These services generally consist of a full evaluation of the gutter system, repair of minor issues, and tips on preventative measures. The combination of innovative strategies and high-quality tools results in a degree of service that makes certain the gutter system runs properly, protecting the structure of the home from water damage in neighborhoods across the city like The Hill and Tower Grove South.
Precision Work from Proper Training and Equipment
St. Louis professional gutter cleaners deliver superior workmanship as a result of their targeted training and access to innovative tools. They follow market standards for safety and quality, making certain that every facet of the gutter cleaning procedure is conducted with precision and attention to detail. Their expertise permits them to tackle complicated problems and offer remedies that a handyman might not be outfitted to deal with, leading to a higher caliber of service and longer-lasting outcomes for homes in Lindenwood Park and Forest Park Southeast alike.
Personalize Your Maintenance Schedule
Experts highly recommend gutter cleaning services at the very least two times a year in St. Louis, generally in the springtime and autumn, to maintain optimum performance. This regularity can be adjusted based on the property's surrounding environment and specific requirements, such as the existence of looming trees or high precipitation levels.
Consider Seasonal and Environmental Impacts
The very best frequency for professional gutter cleaning in St. Louis depends upon numerous variables, consisting of tree coverage, area, and weather condition patterns. Normally, servicing gutters at the very least biannually is recommended, but properties made vulnerable to bigger vegetation or severe climate may require more constant attention. A St. Louis professional gutter service can provide a tailored routine that best fits the unique conditions of the property in neighborhoods across the city.
Select Your Provider Mindfully
When selecting a gutter cleaning company in St. Louis, property owners need to do an in depth vetting process. This list includes verifying insurance coverage and bonding, confirming industry accreditations, and evaluating a portfolio of previous work. Service providers ought to have clear, clear-cut service contracts and a background of favorable client reviews. Evaluating these criteria will certainly cause a trustworthy St. Louis professional who can guarantee your gutter system is maintained to the highest standard, despite if your home is in Clayton-Tamm or Lindenwood Park.
Search for These Key Credentials
A reputable St. Louis gutter cleaning service provider must possess liability insurance, employee's compensation, and proper bonding according to experts. Accreditations from acknowledged industry bodies are also crucial, as they show trained employees capable of dealing with various gutter systems. These credentials ensure that the St. Louis firm is certified with safety and quality standards, providing assurance to property owners in neighborhoods like Southampton and Tower Grove South.
Cleaning Is Just the Start of the Work
Professional gutter cleaning in St. Louis need to encompass a comprehensive examination, debris removal, flushing the system, and inspecting downspouts for right water flow. It needs to also include checking out the gutter system for any type of indications of damage or wear and offering solutions for any type of concerns uncovered. This complete St. Louis service guarantees not just cleanliness but also the overall health and functionality of the gutter system, whether your home is in Skinker DeBaliviere or The Hill.
Find the Right Pro for Your Home's Gutter Needs
Selecting professional gutter services is the best judgment for the long-term care and maintenance of your St. Louis home's gutter system. Professionals offer knowledge, specialized tools, and a comprehensive approach to gutter maintenance that surpasses cleaning to incorporate inspection, repair, and guidance on preventative steps. This level of service makes certain the long life and performance of your gutters, protecting your St. Louis home from water damage whether you live in Dogtown, Clayton-Tamm, or anywhere in between. Connect to a trusted local service provider today to begin!
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Double Glazing Southampton | The window company Ltd
Double Glazing Southampton
Are you looking for the best quality double glazing? Are your property’s windows looking worse for wear and no longer performing as required? Here at The Window Company, we install excellent home improvements, from roofs for conservatories to aluminium and uPVC doors and windows. Double glazing is far superior to single glazing, providing unparalleled levels of thermal and acoustic performance, security, aesthetics, and more.
Double Glazing Suppliers in Southampton
Double Glazed UPVC Windows & Doors
When it comes to having new windows and doors installed at your property, it is essential to ensure they all boast double glazing, Southampton clients. This is far superior to the old single glazing as it provides better thermal efficiency. A property that boasts double glazed doors and windows will cost less in energy bills, and the double glaze helps insulate your property. It will keep the warm air inside and the cold air outside, so you won’t need to use the heating as much.
Additionally, double glazing will provide noise reduction properties. This is particularly useful if you live near a busy road as the double glaze will limit the amount of noise that enters your home.
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BDC Long Island Roofing Company & Contractors
BDC Long Island Roofing Company is an elite roofing contractor in Long Island, NY. We specialize in all phases of roofing including residential, commercial, and roof repairs. When it comes to finding quality roofers on Long Island with certified roofing services, We are here to help. We take absolute pride in our work and are committed to your satisfaction in Long Island and Hamptons, NY.
BDC Long Island Roofing CO.
365 County Rd 39A, Suite 5252, Southampton, NY 11968
(631) 257-3223
https://bdclongislandroofing.com/
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Premise Property Maintenance Ltd | Property Maintenance Southampton
Premise Property Maintenance LTD
Your one stop shop for all property maintenance, property refurbishments, kitchens, bathroom installations & all general maintenance services.
Premise Property Maintenance have more than 30 years’ experience carrying out competitively priced property maintenance services in and around Southampton.
If you have a property that requires maintenance or just an occasional fix, hiring individual companies to handle every little issue can be a major hassle. Premise Property Maintenance LTD has a professional team of qualified engineers that specialise in all aspects of repairs and home improvement. From plumbing and boiler services, to refurbishments and electrical repairs, you can count on our reliable and experienced team to get the job done across Southampton.
At Premise Property Maintenance LTD we have a highly trained team who cover the full range of property maintenance services in Southampton.
Bathroom installers Southampton
Boiler servicing Southampton
Builders Southampton
Carpenters Southampton
Painters & decorators Southampton
Gas central heating Southampton
Kitchen installers Southampton
Plumbers Southampton
Property maintenance Southampton
Property refurbishment Southampton
Roofing services Southampton
Bathroom installers Southampton
Does your bathroom look dated? Have you recently moved and dislike the previous occupant’s idea of bathroom design? Or is your bathroom simply worn and in need of modernising? And for this, are you looking for the best bathroom installers Southampton has to offer? Then pick up the phone and contact the top bathroom installation company in Southampton.
Boiler servicing Southampton
Do you have a boiler that needs to be serviced? Have you been looking for a dependable company to handle your boiler servicing? If that’s the case, you’ve come to the right place since Premise Property Maintenance Ltd offers top-notch boiler servicing Southampton residents can rely on. We have a team of committed and certified professionals that can ensure that your boiler system is always operating at peak performance.
Builders Southampton
Are you thinking about having your home renovated? Perhaps you have an issue with your roof, and you need a team to repair it. Whatever your requirements may be, you will need a reliable team of builders Southampton clients. This is where we can help at Premise Property Maintenance Ltd, as we boast all trades under one roof. Our team can assist with your project, whatever it may be. To find out more about how we can help, please call us today on 02380 224904.
Carpenters Southampton
Are you thinking of having some building work carried out on your property? Have you been searching for the premier building team to carry out this work for you? If so, you have certainly come to the right place, as we at Premise Property Maintenance Ltd are the best team of carpenters Southampton has to offer.
Painters and decorators Southampton
Sometimes, you feel like something went wrong with the planning when you look around your room. When you feel like it’s time for a refurbishment, you need a reliable team that would elevate and enhance the aesthetics of your Southampton property. No matter what you feel your Southampton home is lacking, you can rest assured our professional painters and decorators in Southampton are ready to turn it into whatever you have envisioned for a while.
Gas central heating Southampton
When it comes to your gas central heating Southampton clients, it is important that you only ever work with a reliable and professional team. The slightest issue with your gas system could cause major problems, but you won’t have to worry about that with Premise Property Maintenance Ltd on your side.
Kitchen installers Southampton
Have you been searching for a reliable team that can fit a new kitchen for you in Southampton? Then you’re in luck, as you’ve now found the experts at Premise Property Management! We’re widely considered to be the best kitchen installers Southampton has to offer. Our team is always willing to discuss our kitchen installation options with clients at length. You can get started with our excellent kitchen installation services now by reaching out to a member of our friendly team.
Plumbers Southampton
We strive to provide cost-effective yet high-quality plumbing services in Southampton region. This is the reason we’ve brought together a professional and reliable team of water system experts. You can trust that we employ only the industry’s finest workers to guarantee that every project lives up to both your expectations and the industry standards of quality.
Property maintenance Southampton
Our company is privileged to say that we provide some of the best property maintenance Southampton. Focusing on quality work and client satisfaction simultaneously, our team will leave no detail overlooked to ensure that each and every one of your requirements is fulfilled. Your property will shine once our team have completed their work! You can depend on our contractors to leave your property in excellent condition and restore it to its glory days.
Property refurbishment Southampton
If you feel like your Southampton home needs a bit of a change, our creative team at Premise Property Maintenance Ltd can help you with a complete home refurbishment. You can rest assured our team here at Premise Property Maintenance Ltd are experts at turning your building into an aesthetically-pleasing space that you would enjoy at all times. You can rest confident our team will handle all aspects of your home refurbishment to get the result that exceeds your expectations.
If you would like to learn more about our property refurbishment services in Southampton, you can get in touch with our helpful team today. You can do so by calling us today on 02380 224904, and a member of our team will gladly answer all your inquiries about our refurbishment services. Alternatively, you can fill in our online contact form, and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
Roofing services Southampton
The knowledgeable and approachable team at Premise Property Maintenance is well equipped to offer a full range of roofing services Southampton customers need. With decades of industry experience, there is no job that we cannot handle, as we offer a full range of options to ensure that your roof is in perfect working condition.
Get in touch with Premise Property Maintenance LTD today!
Address: Insite House, 53-57 Park Road Shirley,Southampton,
SO15 3BA
Tel: +44 (0) 23 8022 4904
Email: [email protected]
#Roofing services Southampton#Property refurbishment Southampton#Property maintenance Southampton#Plumbers Southampton#Kitchen installers Southampton#Gas central heating Southampton#Painters & decorators Southampton#Carpenters Southampton#Builders Southampton#Boiler servicing Southampton#Bathroom installers Southampton
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Roofing Southampton | Roofing Services Southampton
CAWS CARPENTRY & BUILDING LTD
Caws Carpentry & Building is proud to be one of the best building companies in Southampton. We offer a range of excellent building services, Southampton clients, including everything from loft conversions and roofing work to kitchen fitting and home refurbishment. Southampton residents can trust our reliable team to get the job done.
Roofing Southampton
Has your roof been damaged and you need to have it repaired? Do you simply wish to keep your roof well maintained and in good condition? If so, you have certainly come to the right place, as we at Caws Carpentry & Building Ltd are the premier team for roofing services in Southampton.
BEST ROOFING CONTRACTORS IN SOUTHAMPTON
Our team of roofers has long years of experience when it comes to roofing structures of all kinds. As a #1 Roofing Contractors in Southampton, we have worked hard to improve our roofing service and expanded our range of roofs to cater to our Southampton clients’ needs.
Some of the many bespoke roofing services in Southampton we offer include:
Flat Roofs
Extension Roofing
New Pitched Roofs
Tile and Slate Roofing
Chimney and Lead Work
Refurbishments
So, if you believe that we at Caws Carpentry & Building Ltd are the premier team for roofing services in Southampton, you need only get in touch with us today.
GET IN TOUCH TODAY FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE SERVICES WE PROVIDE
T. 02380471052 / M. 07939 217974
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Premise Property Maintenance LTD | Property maintenance & Refurbishment Southampton
Premise Property Maintenance LTD
Your one stop shop for all property maintenance, property refurbishments, kitchens, bathroom installations & all general maintenance services.
Premise Property Maintenance have more than 30 years’ experience carrying out competitively priced property maintenance services in and around Southampton.
If you have a property that requires maintenance or just an occasional fix, hiring individual companies to handle every little issue can be a major hassle. Premise Property Maintenance LTD has a professional team of qualified engineers that specialise in all aspects of repairs and home improvement. From plumbing and boiler services, to refurbishments and electrical repairs, you can count on our reliable and experienced team to get the job done across Southampton.
At Premise Property Maintenance LTD we have a highly trained team who cover the full range of property maintenance services in Southampton.
Bathroom installers Southampton
Boiler servicing Southampton
Builders Southampton
Carpenters Southampton
Painters & decorators Southampton
Gas central heating Southampton
Kitchen installers Southampton
Plumbers Southampton
Property maintenance Southampton
Property refurbishment Southampton
Roofing services Southampton
Bathroom installers Southampton
Does your bathroom look dated? Have you recently moved and dislike the previous occupant’s idea of bathroom design? Or is your bathroom simply worn and in need of modernising? And for this, are you looking for the best bathroom installers Southampton has to offer? Then pick up the phone and contact the top bathroom installation company in Southampton.
Boiler servicing Southampton
Do you have a boiler that needs to be serviced? Have you been looking for a dependable company to handle your boiler servicing? If that’s the case, you’ve come to the right place since Premise Property Maintenance Ltd offers top-notch boiler servicing Southampton residents can rely on. We have a team of committed and certified professionals that can ensure that your boiler system is always operating at peak performance.
Builders Southampton
Are you thinking about having your home renovated? Perhaps you have an issue with your roof, and you need a team to repair it. Whatever your requirements may be, you will need a reliable team of builders Southampton clients. This is where we can help at Premise Property Maintenance Ltd, as we boast all trades under one roof. Our team can assist with your project, whatever it may be. To find out more about how we can help, please call us today on 02380 224904.
Carpenters Southampton
Are you thinking of having some building work carried out on your property? Have you been searching for the premier building team to carry out this work for you? If so, you have certainly come to the right place, as we at Premise Property Maintenance Ltd are the best team of carpenters Southampton has to offer.
Painters and decorators Southampton
Sometimes, you feel like something went wrong with the planning when you look around your room. When you feel like it’s time for a refurbishment, you need a reliable team that would elevate and enhance the aesthetics of your Southampton property. No matter what you feel your Southampton home is lacking, you can rest assured our professional painters and decorators in Southampton are ready to turn it into whatever you have envisioned for a while.
Gas central heating Southampton
When it comes to your gas central heating Southampton clients, it is important that you only ever work with a reliable and professional team. The slightest issue with your gas system could cause major problems, but you won’t have to worry about that with Premise Property Maintenance Ltd on your side.
Kitchen installers Southampton
Have you been searching for a reliable team that can fit a new kitchen for you in Southampton? Then you’re in luck, as you’ve now found the experts at Premise Property Management! We’re widely considered to be the best kitchen installers Southampton has to offer. Our team is always willing to discuss our kitchen installation options with clients at length. You can get started with our excellent kitchen installation services now by reaching out to a member of our friendly team.
Plumbers Southampton
We strive to provide cost-effective yet high-quality plumbing services in Southampton region. This is the reason we’ve brought together a professional and reliable team of water system experts. You can trust that we employ only the industry’s finest workers to guarantee that every project lives up to both your expectations and the industry standards of quality.
Property maintenance Southampton
Our company is privileged to say that we provide some of the best property maintenance Southampton. Focusing on quality work and client satisfaction simultaneously, our team will leave no detail overlooked to ensure that each and every one of your requirements is fulfilled. Your property will shine once our team have completed their work! You can depend on our contractors to leave your property in excellent condition and restore it to its glory days.
Property refurbishment Southampton
If you feel like your Southampton home needs a bit of a change, our creative team at Premise Property Maintenance Ltd can help you with a complete home refurbishment. You can rest assured our team here at Premise Property Maintenance Ltd are experts at turning your building into an aesthetically-pleasing space that you would enjoy at all times. You can rest confident our team will handle all aspects of your home refurbishment to get the result that exceeds your expectations.
If you would like to learn more about our property refurbishment services in Southampton, you can get in touch with our helpful team today. You can do so by calling us today on 02380 224904, and a member of our team will gladly answer all your inquiries about our refurbishment services. Alternatively, you can fill in our online contact form, and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
Roofing services Southampton
The knowledgeable and approachable team at Premise Property Maintenance is well equipped to offer a full range of roofing services Southampton customers need. With decades of industry experience, there is no job that we cannot handle, as we offer a full range of options to ensure that your roof is in perfect working condition.
Get in touch with Premise Property Maintenance LTD today!
Address: Insite House, 53-57 Park Road Shirley,Southampton,
SO15 3BA
Tel: +44 (0) 23 8022 4904
Email: [email protected]
#Bathroom installers Southampton#Boiler servicing Southampton#Builders Southampton#Carpenters Southampton#Painters & decorators Southampton#Gas central heating Southampton#Kitchen installers Southampton#Plumbers Southampton#Property maintenance Southampton#Property refurbishment Southampton#Roofing services Southampton
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Below is the story of my day touring Tema with Prince Philip, in this chapter from my book “The Catholic Orangemen of Togo”. You may be surprised to read that I rather liked him.
The African Queen
One morning I was sitting in the lounge at Devonshire House, with its fitted wool carpets and chintz sofas. I was drinking the tea that our steward, Nasser, had brought me. I heard movement in a corner of the room, and thought it must be Nasser cleaning there. But looking round, I saw nobody. Puzzled, I got up and walked towards that corner. Rounding a settee, I nearly stood upon a thin, green snake. About four feet long and just the thickness of your thumb, it was a bright, almost lime green colour. There was not much wedge shape to its head, which rather tapered from its neck. Its tongue was flickering toward me, perhaps a foot away, its head raised only slightly off the floor. I took a step backwards. In response it too retreated, at surprising speed, and zipped up the inside of the curtains.
I stood stock still and yelled “Nasser! Nasser!”
This brought Nasser hurrying into the living room with Gloria, the cook.
“Nasser, there’s a snake in the curtains!”
Nasser and Gloria screamed, threw their arms in the air, and ran together into the kitchen and out the back door of the house. This was not altogether helpful.
I remained where I was to keep an eye on the snake, not wanting it to be lurking inside the house unseen. After a while the front door opened and somebody, presumably Nasser, threw in Nasser’s scruffy little dog. The dog was normally banned from the house, and celebrated this unexpected turn of events by immediately urinating against the hall table. Then the dog too ran into the kitchen and out of the back door.
Abandoning my watch, I went out and recruited the reluctant gardeners and gate guards. They armed themselves with long sticks and came in and beat the curtains until the snake fell onto the floor. As it sped for cover under a sofa, Samuel the youngest gardener got in a solid blow, and soon everyone was joining in, raining down blows on the twitching snake. They carried its disjointed body out on the end of a stick, and burnt it on a bonfire.
Everyone identified it as a green mamba. I was sceptical. Green mambas are among the world’s deadliest snakes, and I imagined them to look beefy like cobras, not whip thin and small headed like this. But a search on the agonisingly slow internet showed that indeed it did look very like a green mamba.
The important question arose of how it had entered the house. With air conditioning, the doors and windows were usually shut. Nasser seemed to have solved the mystery when he remarked that a dead one had been found last year inside an air conditioner. The unit had stopped working, and when they came to fix it they found a snake jammed in the mechanism. That seemed the answer; it had appeared just under a conditioner, and it seemed likely the slim snake had entered via the vent pipe, avoiding the fan as it crawled through the unit.
This was very worrying. If anti-venom was available (and we held a variety in the High Commission) an adult would probably survive a green mamba bite. But it would almost certainly be fatal to Emily, and possibly to Jamie.
A week or so later, I was constructing Emily’s climbing frame, which had arrived from the UK. A rambling contraption of rungs, slides, platforms and trampolines, it required the bolting together of scores of chrome tubes. I was making good progress on it and, as I lifted one walkway side into position above my head, a mamba slid out of the end of the tube, down my arm, round my belly and down my leg. It did this in no great hurry; it probably took four seconds, but felt like four minutes.
There was one terrible moment when it tried an exploratory nuzzle of its head into the waistband of my trousers, but luckily it decided to proceed down the outside to the ground. It then zig zagged across the lawn to nestle in the exposed tops of the roots of a great avocado tree. Again the mob arrived and beat it to death with sticks. I persuaded them to keep the body this time, and decided that definite action was needed.
I called in a pest control expert. I was advised to try the “Snake Doctor”. I was a bit sceptical, equating “Snake Doctor” with “Witch Doctor”, but when he arrived I discovered that this charming chubby Ghanaian really did have a PhD in Pest Control from the University of Reading. As Fiona had an MSc in Crop Protection from the same Department, they got on like a house on fire and it was difficult to get them away from cups of tea to the business in hand.
He confirmed that the dead snake really was a green mamba. We obviously had a colony. They lived in trees, and he advised us to clear an area of wasteland beyond the boundaries of our house, and build a high boundary wall of rough brick at the back, rather than the existing iron palings. He also suggested we cut down an avenue of some 16 huge mature trees along the drive. I was very sad, but followed this sensible advice. That removed the mamba problem from Devonshire House. But I continued to attract mambas on my travels around Ghana.
The second half of that first year in Ghana was to be almost entirely taken up with preparations for the State Visit of the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh in November 1999. A huge amount of work goes into organising such a visit; every move is staged and choreographed, designed for media effect. You need to know in advance just where everybody is going to be, who will move where when, and what they will say. You need to place and organise the media to best advantage. You need to stick within very strict rules as to what the Queen will or will not do. Most difficult of all, you have to agree all this with the host government.
I had been through it all quite recently, having paid a major part in the organisation of the State Visit to Poland in 1996. That had gone very well. The Poles regarded it as an important symbol that communism had been definitively finished. It was visually stunning, and at a time when the Royal Family was dogged with hostile media coverage, it had been their first unmixed positive coverage in the UK for ages. I had handled the media angles, and my stock stood very high in the Palace.
I am a republican personally; I was just doing my job. The Palace staff knew I was a republican, not least because I had turned down the offer of being made a Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order (LVO) after the Warsaw visit. I had earlier turned down the offer to be an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) after the first Gulf war.
Rawlings was delighted that the Queen was coming. He craved respectability and acceptance in the international community, which had been hard to come by after his violent beginnings. But he had turned his Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) into a political party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), and had fought elections in 1992 and 1996 against the opposition New Patriotic Party, which had an unbroken tradition running back to Nkrumah’s opponent J B Danquah and his colleague Kofi Busia. There were widespread allegations of vote-rigging, violence and intimidation, and certainly in 1992 the nation was still too cowed to engage in much open debate.
Even by 1999, social life was still inhibited by the fact that nobody except those close to the Rawlings would do anything that might be construed as an ostentatious display of life, while Rawlings had sustained and inflated the personality cult of Nkrumah still further (he is known as Osagyefo, “the conqueror”.) Open discussion of the disasters Nkrumah brought upon Ghana was almost impossible. It is still difficult for many Ghanaians today, after decades of brainwashing. As Rawlings had gradually liberalised society, the increasing freedom of the media, particularly the FM radio station, was giving a great boost to democracy. But there was still much prudent self-censorship. The media was particularly reticent about investigating governmental corruption.
The NDC government was massively corrupt. There was one gratuitous example which especially annoyed me. A company called International Generics, registered in Southampton, had got loans totalling over £30 million from the Royal Bank of Scotland to construct two hotels, La Palm and Coco Palm. One was on the beach next to the Labadi Beach Hotel, the other on Fourth Circular Road in Cantonments, on the site of the former Star Hotel. The loan repayments were guaranteed by the Export Credit Guarantee Department, at the time a British government agency designed to insure UK exporters against loss. In effect the British taxpayer was underwriting the export, and if the loan defaulted the British taxpayer would pay.
In fact, this is what happened, and the file crossed my desk because the British people were now paying out on defaulted payments to the Royal Bank of Scotland. So I went to look at the two hotels. I found La Palm Hotel was some cleared land, some concrete foundations, and one eight room chalet without a roof. Coco Palm hotel didn’t exist at all. In a corner of the plot, four houses had been built by International Generics. As the housing market in Accra was very strong, these had been pre-sold, so none of the loan had gone into them.
I was astonished. The papers clearly showed that all £31.5 million had been fully disbursed by the Royal Bank of Scotland, against progress and completion certificates on the construction. But in truth there was virtually no construction. How could this have happened?
The Chief Executive of International Generics was an Israeli named Leon Tamman. He was a close friend to, and a front for, Mrs Rawlings. Tamman also had an architect’s firm, which had been signing off completion certificates for the non-existent work on the hotel. Almost all of the £30 million was simply stolen by Tamman and Mrs Rawlings.
The Royal Bank of Scotland had plainly failed in due diligence, having paid out on completion of two buildings, one not started and one only just started. But the Royal Bank of Scotland really couldn’t give a toss, because the repayments and interest were guaranteed by the British taxpayer. Indeed I seemed to be the only one who did care.
The Rawlings had put some of their share of this looted money towards payments on their beautiful home in Dublin. I wrote reports on all this back to London, and specifically urged the Serious Fraud Office to prosecute Tamman and Mrs Rawlings. I received the reply that there was no “appetite” in London for this.
Eventually La Palm did get built, but with over $60 million of new money taken this time from SSNIT, the Ghanaian taxpayers social security and pension fund. Coco Palm never did get built, but Tamman continued to develop it as a housing estate, using another company vehicle. Tamman has since died. The loans were definitively written off by the British government as part of Gordon Brown’s HIPC debt relief initiative.
That is but one example of a single scam, but it gives an insight into the way the country was looted. The unusual feature on this one was that the clever Mr Tamman found a way to cheat the British taxpayer, via Ghana. I still find it galling that the Royal Bank of Scotland also still got their profit, again from the British taxpayer.
So while the State Visit was intended as a reward to Jerry Rawlings for his conversion to democracy and capitalism, I had no illusions about Rawlings’ Ghana. I was determined that we should use the Queen’s visit to help ensure that Rawlings did indeed leave power in January 2001. According to the constitution, his second and final four year term as elected President expired then (if you politely ignored his previous decade as a military dictator). We should get the Queen to point him towards the exit.
Buckingham palace sent a team on an initial reconnaissance visit. It was led by an old friend of mine, Tim Hitchens, Assistant Private Secretary to the Queen, who had joined the FCO when I did. We identified the key features of the programme, which should centre around an address to Parliament. A walkabout might be difficult; Clinton had been almost crushed in Accra by an over-friendly crowd in a situation which got out of control. A school visit to highlight DFID’s work would provide the “meet the people” photo op, otherwise a drive past for the larger crowds. Key questions were identified as whether the Queen should visit Kumasi to meet Ghana’s most important traditional ruler, the Asantehene, and how she should meet the leader of the opposition, John Kufuor. Rawlings was likely to be opposed to both.
The recce visit went very well, and I held a reception for the team before they flew back to London. Several Ghanaian ministers came, and it ended in a very relaxed evening. Tim Hitchens commented that it was the first time he had ever heard Queen and Supertramp at an official function before. It turned out that we had very similar musical tastes.
Planning then took place at quite high intensity for several months. There were regular meetings with the Ghanaian government team tasked to organise the visit, headed by head of their diplomatic service Anand Cato, now Ghanaian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. We then had to visit together all the proposed venues, and walk through the proposed routes, order of events, seating plans etc.
From the very first meeting between the two sides, held in a committee room at the International Conference Centre, it soon became obvious that we had a real problem with Ian Mackley. The High Commissioner had been very high-handed and abrupt with the visiting team from Buckingham Palace, so much so that Tim Hitchens had asked me what was wrong. I said it was just his manner. But there was more to it than that.
In the planning meetings, the set-up did not help the atmosphere. There were two lines of desks, facing each other. The British sat on one side and the Ghanaians on the other, facing each other across a wide divide. The whole dynamic was one of confrontation.
I have sat through some toe-curling meetings before, but that first joint State visit planning meeting in Accra was the worst. It started in friendly enough fashion, with greetings on each side. Then Anand Cato suggested we start with a quick run-through of the programme, from start to finish.
“OK, now will the Queen be arriving by British Airways or by private jet?” asked Anand.
“She will be on one of the VC10s of the Royal Flight” said Ian.
“Right, that’s better. The plane can pull up to the stand closest to the VIP lounge. We will have the convoy of vehicles ready on the tarmac. The stairs will be put to the door, and then the chief of protocol will go up the stairs to escort the Queen and her party down the stairs, where there will be a small reception party…”
“No, hang on there” interjected Ian Mackley, “I will go up the stairs before the chief of protocol.”
“Well, it is customary for the Ambassador or High Commissioner to be in the receiving line at the bottom of the aircraft steps.”
“Well, I can tell you for sure that the first person the Queen will want to see when she arrives in the country will be her High Commissioner.”
“Well, I suppose you can accompany the chief up the steps if you wish…”
“And my wife.”
“Pardon?”
“My wife Sarah. She must accompany me up the steps to meet the Queen.”
“Look, it really isn’t practical to have that many people going on to an already crowded plane where people are preparing to get off…”
“I am sorry, but I must insist that Sarah accompanies me up the stairs and on to the plane.”
“But couldn’t she wait at the bottom of the steps?”
“Absolutely not. How could she stand there without me?”
“OK, well can we then mark down the question of greeting on the plane as an unresolved issue for the next meeting?”
“Alright, but our side insists that my wife…”
“Yes, quite. Now at the bottom of the steps Her Majesty will be greeted by the delegated minister, and presented with flowers by children.”
“Please make sure we are consulted on the choice of children.”
“If you wish. There will be national anthems, but I suggest no formal inspection of the Guard of Honour? Then traditional priests will briefly make ritual oblations, pouring spirits on the ground. The Queen will briefly enter the VIP lounge to take a drink.”
“That’s a waste of time. Let’s get them straight into the convoy and off.”
“But High Commissioner, we have to welcome a visitor with a drink. It is an essential part of our tradition. It will only be very brief.”
“You can do what you like, but she’s not entering the VIP lounge. Waste of time.”
“Let’s mark that down as another issue to be resolved. Now then, first journey…”
The meeting went on for hours and hours, becoming increasingly ill tempered. When we eventually got to the plans for the State Banquet, it all went spectacularly pear-shaped as it had been threatening to do.
“Now we propose a top table of eight. There will be the President and Mrs Rawlings, Her Majesty and the Duke of Edinburgh, The Vice President and Mrs Mills, and Mr and Mrs Robin Cook.”
Ian positively went purple. You could see a vein throbbing at the top left of his forehead. He spoke as though short of breath.
“That is not acceptable. Sarah and I must be at the top table”.
“With respect High Commissioner, there are a great many Ghanaians who will feel they should be at the top table. As we are in Ghana, we feel we are being hospitable in offering equal numbers of British and Ghanaians at the top table. But we also think the best plan is to keep the top table small and exclusive.”
“By all means keep it small,” said Ian, “but as High Commissioner I must be on it.”
“So what do you suggest?” asked Anand.
“Robin Cook” said Ian “He doesn’t need to be on the top table.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Neither could Anand.
“I don’t think you are being serious, High Commissioner” he said.
“I am entirely serious” said Ian. “I outrank Robin Cook. I am the personal representative of a Head of State. Robin Cook only represents the government.”
I decided the man had taken leave of his senses. I wondered at what stage can you declare your commanding officer mad and take over, like on The Cain Mutiny? Anand was obviously thinking much the same.
“Perhaps I might suggest you seek instruction from headquarters on that one?” he asked. “Anyway, can we note that down as another outstanding item, and move on to…”
I don’t know whether Ian secretly realised he had overstepped the mark, but he didn’t come to another planning meeting after that, leaving them to me and the very competent Second Secretary Mike Nithavrianakis.
The most difficult question of all was that of meeting the opposition. Eventually we got the agreement of Buckingham Palace and the FCO to say that, if the Queen were prevented from meeting the opposition, she wouldn’t come. But still the most we could get from Rawlings was that the leader of the opposition could be included in a reception for several hundred people at the International Conference Centre.
I had by now made good personal friends with several Ghanaian politicians. Among those who I could have a social drink with any time were, on the government side John Mahama, Minister of Information and Moses Asaga, Deputy Finance Minister, and on the opposition side John Kufuor, leader of the opposition, his colleagues Hackman Owusu-Agyemang, Shadow Foreign Minister, and Nana Akuffo-Addo, Shadow Attorney General.
In the International Conference Centre the precise route the Queen would take around the crowd was very carefully planned, so I was able to brief John Kufuor exactly where to stand to meet her, and brief the Queen to be sure to stop and chat with him. As he was the tallest man in the crowd, this was all not too difficult.
Once the Queen arrived and the visit started, everything happened in a three day blur of intense activity. Vast crowds turned out, and the Palace staff soon calmed down as they realised that the Queen could expect an uncomplicated and old fashioned reverence from the teeming crowds who were turning out to see “Our Mama”.
The durbar of chiefs in front of Parliament House was a riot of colour and noise. One by one the great chiefs came past, carried on their palanquins, preceded by their entourage, drummers banging away ferociously and the chiefs, laden down with gold necklaces and bangles, struggled to perform their energetic seated dances. Many of the hefty dancing women wore the cloth that had been created for the occasion, with a picture of the Queen jiggling about on one large breast in partnership with Jerry Rawlings jiving on the other, the same pairing being also displayed on the buttocks.
After the last of the chiefs went through, the tens of thousands of spectators started to mill everywhere and we had to race for the Royal convoy to get out through the crowds. Robin Cook had stopped to give an ad hoc interview to an extremely pretty South African television reporter. Mike Nithavrianakis tried to hurry him along but got a fierce glare for his pains. Eventually everyone was in their cars but Cook; the Ghanaian outriders were itching to start as the crowds ahead and around got ever denser.
But where was Cook? We delayed, with the Queen sitting in her car for two or three minutes, but still there was no sign of the Secretary of State or his staff getting into their vehicle. Eventually the outriders swept off; the crowds closed in behind and we had abandoned our dilettante Foreign Secretary. Having lost the protection of the convoy and being caught up in the crowds and traffic, it took him an hour to catch up.
Cook was an enigma. I had already experienced his famous lack of both punctuality and consideration when kept waiting to see him over the Sandline Affair. His behaviour now seemed to combine an attractive contempt for protocol with a goat-like tendency – would he have fallen behind to give a very bland interview to a male South African reporter? He was also breaking the tradition that the Foreign Secretary does not make media comments when accompanying the Queen.
When we returned to the Labadi Beach Hotel, there was to be further evidence of Cook’s view that the World revolved around him. He was interviewing FCO staff for the position of his new Private Secretary. Astonishingly, he had decided that it would best suit his itinerary to hold these interviews in Accra rather than London. One candidate, Ros Marsden, had an extremely busy job as Head of United Nations Department. Yet she had to give up three days work to fly to be interviewed in Accra, when her office was just round the corner from his in London. Other candidates from posts around the World had difficult journeys to complete to get to Accra at all. I thought this rather outrageous of Cook, and was surprised nobody else seemed much concerned.
The port town of Tema, linked to Accra by fifteen miles of motorway and fast becoming part of a single extensive metropolis, sits firmly on the Greenwich Meridian. As far as land goes, Tema is the centre of the Earth, being the closest dry spot to the junction of the Equator and the Greenwich Meridian. You can travel South from Tema over 6,000 miles across sea until you hit the Antarctic.
There was in 1999 a particular vogue for linking the Greenwich Meridian with the Millennium. This was because of the role of the meridian in determining not just longitude but time. Of course, the two are inextricably linked with time initially used to calculate longitude. That is why Greenwich hosted both the Naval Academy and the Royal Observatory.
The fascination with all this had several manifestations. There was a BBC documentary travelogue down the Greenwich meridian. There was a best-selling book about the invention of naval chronometers, Longitude by Dava Sobel, which I read and was as interesting as a book about making clocks can be. There were a number of aid projects down the meridian, including by War Child and Comic Relief. Tema and Greenwich became twin towns. And there was the visit of the Duke of Edinburgh to Tema.
I think this was the idea of my very good friend John Carmichael, who was involved in charity work on several of the meridian projects. It was thought particularly appropriate as one of the Duke of Edinburgh’s titles is Earl of Greenwich – though the man has so many titles you could come up with some connection to pretty well anywhere. We could make it a new game, like six degrees of separation. Connect your home town to the Duke of Edinburgh.
Anyway, Tim Hitchens had warned me that the Duke was very much averse to just looking at things without any useful purpose. As we stood looking at the strip of brass laid in a churchyard which marks the line of the meridian, he turned to me and said:
“A line in the ground, eh? Very nice.”
But we moved on to see a computer centre that had been set up by a charity to give local people experience of IT and the internet (providing both electricity and phone lines were working, which thank goodness they were today) and the Duke visibly cheered up. He was much happier talking to the instructors and students, and then when we went on to a primary school that had received books from DFID he was positively beaming. The genuinely warm reception everywhere, with happy gaggles of people of all ages cheerfully waving their little plastic union jacks, would have charmed anybody.
We returned to Accra via the coast road and I was able to point out the work of the Ghanaian coffin makers, with coffins shaped and painted as tractors, beer bottles, guitars, desks, cars and even a packet of condoms. The Prince laughed heartily, and we arrived at the Parliament building in high good spirits.
There he was first shown to a committee room where he was introduced to senior MPs of all parties.
“How many Members of Parliament do you have?” he asked.
“Two hundred” came the answer.
“That’s about the right number,” opined the Prince, “We have six hundred and fifty MPs, and most of them are a complete bloody waste of time.”
The irony was that there was no British journalist present to hear this, as they had all thought a meeting between Prince Philip and Ghanaian parliamentarians would be too boring. There were Ghanaian reporters present, but the exchange didn’t particularly interest them. So a front page tabloid remark, with which the accompanying photo could have made a paparazzi a lot of money, went completely unreported.
On a State Visit, the media cannot each be at every occasion, as security controls mean they have to be pre-positioned rather than milling about while the event goes ahead. So by agreement, those reporters and photographers accredited to the visit share or pool their photos and copy. At each event there is a stand, or pool. Some events may have more than one pool to give different angles. Each journalist can probably make five or six pools in the course of the visit, leapfrogging ahead of the royal progress. But everyone gets access to material from all the pools. The FCO lays on the transport to keep things under control. Organising the pool positions ahead of the event with the host country, and then herding and policing the often pushy media in them, is a major organisational task. Mike Nithavrianakis had carried it off with style and only the occasional failure of humour. But he had found no takers for Prince Philip in parliament, which proved to be fortunate for us.
I should say that I found Prince Philip entirely pleasant while spending most of this day with him. I am against the monarchy, but it was not created by the Queen or Prince Philip. Just as Colonel Isaac of the RUF was a victim of the circumstances into which he was born, so are they. Had I been born into a life of great privilege, I would probably have turned out a much more horrible person than they are.
Prince Philip then joined the Queen in the parliamentary chamber. Her address to parliament was to be the focal point of the visit. I had contributed to the drafting of her speech, and put a lot of work into it. The speech was only six minutes long (she never speaks longer than that, except at the State Opening of Parliament. Her staff made plain that six minutes was an absolute maximum.) It contained much of the usual guff about the history of our nations and the importance of a new future based upon partnership. But then she addressed Rawlings directly, praising his achievements in bringing Ghana on to the path of democracy and economic stability. The government benches in parliament provided an undercurrent of parliamentary “hear hears”.
But there was to be a sting in the tale:
“Next, year, Mr President,” the Queen intoned, “You will step down after two terms in office in accordance with your constitution.”
The opposition benches went wild. The Queen went on to wish for peaceful elections and further progress, but it was drowned out by the cries of “hear hear” and swishing of order papers from the benches, and loud cheers from the public gallery. There were mooted cries of “No” from the government side of the chamber.
I had drafted that phrase, and it had a much greater effect than I possibly hoped for, although I did mean it to drive home the message exactly as it was taken.
For a moment the Queen stopped. She looked in bewilderment and concern at the hullabaloo all around her. The Queen has no experience of speaking to anything other than a hushed, respectful silence. But, apart from some grim faces on the government benches, it was a joyful hullabaloo and she ploughed on the short distance to the end of her speech.
Once we got back to the Labadi Beach Hotel, Robin Cook was completely furious. He stormed into the makeshift Private Office, set up in two hotel rooms.
“It’s a disaster. Who the Hell drafted that?”
“Err, I did, Secretary of State” I said.
“Is that you, Mr Murray! I might have guessed! Who the Hell approved it.”
“You did.”
“I most certainly did not!”
“Yes you did, Secretary of State. You agreed the final draft last night.”
His Private Secretary had to dig out the copy of the draft he had signed off. He calmed down a little, and was placated further when the Queen’s robust press secretary, Geoff Crawford, said that he took the view that it was a good thing for the Queen to be seen to be standing up for democracy. It could only look good in the UK press. He proved to be right.
The State Banquet was a rather dull affair. Ian Mackley’s great battle to be on the top table proved rather nugatory as, in very Ghanaian fashion, nobody stayed in their seat very long and people were wandering all over the shop. There were a large number of empty seats as, faced with an invitation to dinner at 7.30pm, many Ghanaians followed their customary practice and wandered along an hour or so late, only to find they would not be admitted. This caused a huge amount of angst and aggravation, from which those of us inside were fortunately sheltered.
Mrs Rawlings had chosen a well known Accra nightclub owner named Chester to be the compère for the occasion. His bar is a relaxed spot in a small courtyard that features good jazz and highlife music, and prostitutes dressed as Tina Turner. It was a second home for the officers of the British Military Advisory and Training Team (BMATT).
Chester himself was friendly and amusing, but amusing in a Julian Clary meets Kenneth Williams meets Liberace sort of way. Chester says he is not gay, (regrettably homosexuality is illegal in Ghana) but his presentation is undeniably ultra camp. It is hard to think of a weirder choice to chair a state banquet, but Chester was a particular pet of Mrs Rawlings.
Chester was stood on the platform next to the Queen, gushing about how honoured he was. His speech was actually very witty, but the delivery was – well, Chester. I turned to Prince Philip and remarked:
“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen two Queens together before.”
To give credit to Chester, I gather he has been telling the story ever since.
High camp was to be a theme of that evening.
Fiona and I accompanied the Royal party back to the Labadi Beach Hotel to say goodnight, after which Fiona returned home to Devonshire House while I remained for a debriefing on the day and review of the plans for tomorrow. By the time we had finished all that it was still only 11pm and I retired to the bar of the Labadi Beach with the Royal Household. The senior staff – Tim and Geoff – withdrew as is the custom, to allow the butlers, footmen, hairdressers and others to let off steam.
The party appeared, to a man, to be gay. Not just gay but outrageously camp. The Labadi Beach, with its fans whirring under polished dark wood ceilings, its panelled bar, displays of orchids, attentive uniformed staff and glossy grand piano – has the aura of a bygone colonial age, like something from Kenya’s Happy Valley in the 1930s. You expect to see Noel Coward emerge in his smoking jacket and sit down at the piano, smoking through a mother of pearl cigarette holder. It is exactly the right setting for a gay romp, and that is exactly what developed after a few of the Labadi Beach’s wonderful tropical cocktails.
We had taken the entire hotel for the Royal party, except that we had allowed the British Airways crew to stay there as always. Now three of their cabin stewards, with two Royal footmen and the Queen’s hairdresser, were grouped around the grand singing Cabaret with even more gusto than Liza. Other staff were smooching at the bar. All this had developed within half an hour in a really magical and celebratory atmosphere that seemed to spring from nothing. I was seated on a comfortable sofa, and across from me in an armchair was the one member of the Household who seemed out of place. The Duke of Edinburgh’s valet looked to be in his sixties, a grizzled old NCO with tufts of hair either side of a bald pate, a boxer’s nose and tattoos on his arms. He was smoking roll-ups.
He was a nice old boy and we had been struggling to hold a conversation about Ghana over the din, when two blokes chasing each other ran up to the settee on which I was sitting. One, pretending to be caught, draped himself over the end and said: “You’ve caught me, you beast!”
I turned back to the old warrior and asked:
“Don’t you find all this a bit strange sometimes?”
He lent forward and put his hand on my bare knee below my kilt:
“Listen, ducks. I was in the Navy for thirty years.”
So I made my excuses and left, as the News of the World journalists used to put it. I think he was probably joking, but there are some things that are too weird even for me, and the lower reaches of the Royal household are one of them. I have heard it suggested that such posts have been filled by gays for centuries, just as harems were staffed by eunuchs, to avoid the danger of a Queen being impregnated. Recently I have been most amused by news items regarding the death of the Queen Mother’s long-standing footman, who the newsreaders have been informing us was fondly known as “Backstairs Billy”. They manage to say this without giving the slightest hint that they know it is a double entendre.
The incident in parliament had made the Rawlings government even more annoyed about the proposed handshake in the International Conference Centre reception between the Queen and John Kufuor. My own relationship with Ian Mackley had also deteriorated still further as a result of the Royal Visit. I had the advantage that I already knew from previous jobs the palace officials and Robin Cook’s officials, and of course Robin Cook himself, not to mention the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh. All in all, I suspect that Ian felt that I was getting well above myself.
As the party formed up to walk around the reception in the International Conference Centre, Ian came up to me and grabbed my arm rather fiercely.
“You, just stay with the Queen’s bodyguards” he said.
I did not mind at all, and attached myself to another Ian, the head of the Queen’s close protection team. I already knew Ian also. Ian set off towards the hall and started ensuring a path was clear for the Queen, I alongside him as ordered. Suddenly I heard Sarah Mackley positively squeal from somewhere behind me:
“My God, he’s ahead of the Queen! Now Craig’s ahead of the Queen.”
If I could hear it, at least forty other people could. I managed to make myself as invisible as possible, and still to accomplish the introduction to John Kufuor. The government newspaper the Daily Graphic was to claim indignantly that I had introduced John Kufuor as “The next President of Ghana.” Had I done so, I would have been in the event correct in my prediction, but in fact I introduced him as “The opposition Presidential candidate”.
As always, the Queen’s last engagement on the State Visit was to say farewell to all the staff who had helped. She gives out gifts, and confers membership of the Royal Victorian Order on those deemed to merit it. Only once in the Queen’s long reign had she ever been on a state visit and not created our Ambassador or High Commissioner a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order – that is to say, knighted him. Ian and Sarah were to become Sir Ian and Lady Sarah. This seemed to me to mean the world to them.
The day before, Tim Hitchens had turned to me as we were travelling in the car:
“Craig, I take it your views on honours have not changed.”
“No, Tim, I still don’t want any.”
“Good, you see that makes it a bit easier, actually. You see, the thing is, we’re trying to cut down a bit on giving out routine honours. The government wants a more meritocratic honours system. We need to start somewhere. So, in short, Ian Mackley is not going to get his K.”
I was stunned.
Tim continued: “And as well, you see, it hasn’t exactly escaped our attention that he has … issues with the Ghanaians, and some of his attitudes didn’t exactly help the visit. Anyway, if you were to want your CVO, then that would be more difficult. Ian Mackley is going to have one of those. So that will be alright.”
No, it won’t be alright, I thought. You’ll kill the poor old bastard. For God’s sake, everyone will know.
I wondered when the decision had been taken. The kneeling stool and the ceremonial sword had definitely been unloaded from the plane and taken to the hotel: that was one of the things I had checked off. When had that decision been reached?
We were lined up in reverse order of seniority to go in and see the Queen and Prince Philip. I queued behind the Defence Attaché, with Ian and Sarah just behind me. She was entering as well – nobody else’s wife was – because she was expecting to become Lady Mackley. Tim was going to tell them quickly after I had entered, while they would be alone still waiting to go in.
You may not believe me, but I felt completely gutted for them. It was the very fact they were so status obsessed that made it so cruel. I was thinking about what Tim was saying to them and how they would react. It seemed terribly cruel that they had not been warned until the very moment before they were due to meet the Queen. I was so worried for them that I really had less than half my mind on exchanging pleasantries with the Queen, who was very pleasant, as always.
If you refused honours, as I always did, you got compensated by getting a slightly better present. In Warsaw I was given a silver Armada dish, which is useful for keeping your Armada in. In Accra I was given a small piece of furniture made with exquisite craftsmanship by Viscount Linley. Shelving my doubts about the patronage aspect of that (should the Queen be purchasing with public money official gifts made by her cousin?) I staggered out holding rather a large red box, leaving through the opposite side of the room to that I had entered. Outside the door I joined the happy throng of people clutching their presents and minor
medals. Mike Nithavrianakis and Brian Cope were Ian Mackley’s friends, and they were waiting eagerly for him.
“Here’s Craig” said Mike, “Now it’s only Sir Ian and Lady Sarah!”
“No, it’s not, Mike”, I said, “He’s not getting a K”
“What! You’re kidding!”
It had suddenly fallen very silent.
“Ian’s not getting a K, he’s only getting a CVO.”
“Oh, that’s terrible.”
We waited now in silence. Very quickly the door opened again, and the Mackleys came out, Ian with a frozen grin, Sarah a hysterical one beneath the white large-brimmed hat that suddenly looked so ridiculous. There was a smattering of applause, and Sarah fell to hugging everyone, even me. We all congratulated Ian on his CVO, and nobody ever mentioned that there had been any possibility of a knighthood, then or ever.
Personally I don’t understand why anyone accepts honours when there is so much more cachet in refusing them.
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