Quotations from P G Wodehouse are copyright of, and reprinted by permission of, the Trustees of the Wodehouse Estate © 2012 The P G Wodehouse Society (UK)

The Old Home Week in Moscow (August 10th to 16th, 2008)

by Masha Lebedeva

The Russian Wodehouse Society is glad to inform the Wodehousean world that The Old Home Week in Moscow between the 10th and 16th August was a great success.

We were a small, but really international group, including Plummies from the USA, the Netherlands and France. The presence of a lady from the Volga city of Ulyanovsk gave us the right to say that the OHW was really hosted by The Russian Wodehouse Society, not only by its Moscow members. Different generations were also present on the tour: from Jelle Otten (with a young soul though, as he had to play the role of the Oldest Member) to the young 13-year-old Moscow gentleman Venedikt.

As promised, we explored Moscow from the Kremlin, the capital's heart, to its suburbs. We looked at Moscow avenues from the windows on a sightseeing bus trip, and strolled among the lanes of the historical centre during our Moscow walk. We climbed to the top of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour to glance at Moscow rooftops, we descended to the Moscow metro to pop into the underground palaces of its stations; and we enjoyed the site of the Moscow embankments during the Moskva-river boat trip. Also, as part of the programme, we visited different Moscow estates – from the formidable Catherine the Great's palatial complex Tsaritsyno, through to the typical rich Moscow house of the great Russian singer F Chaliapin and to the modest wooden mansion of Count L Tolstoy. Our suburban trips were quite informative – during the trip to Melikhovo we learnt that A Chekhov was not only the author of the plays, which were not approved by Bertie Wooster, but also a very keen doctor and a landlord. Our trip to Serednikovo acquainted our guests with another Great Russian poet Mikhail Lermontov, who by chance was born on October 15, the same day as PG Wodehouse, although in 1814. A mini-golf tournament helped us to relax our tired brains, and group dinners brightened our souls!

I do believe that all the kind words addressed to the tour organisers were absolutely sincere, and the only sadness which the 'Weekers' felt was the sadness of parting.

It seems that organising Wodehousean meetings in a non-Wodehousean country is a good idea, and The Russian Wodehouse Society is proud to to have had such an event.

The above report is a shortened article, to view a fuller report please click here. The Russian Wodehouse Society have also placed on their website a report of this event and a series of photographs. You can access their website by clicking here, then press on 'English' by the Union flag at the top left hand side, directly beneath the header.