Brief Encounter with 007.

Tonight was the St Margaret's Society annual Summer Party, held in the Museum.

Much of the museums content revolves around two of the former occupants of the "White Cliffs" in the bay, Noel Coward and Ian Fleming.

This display highlights Noel Coward's "Brief Encounter". The 1945 Film, screenplay written by Noel Coward, and based on his one act play "Still Life" starred Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard. The film has become somewhat of a classic and there is a current revival on at the Haymarket Cinema in London. To quote from their publicity "Switching seamlessly between theatre and film using a combination of Coward's original stage play Still Life and the screenplay of Brief Encounter, Emma Rice, Kneehigh's Artistic Director, takes you back to a bygone age of romance and the silver screen from the moment the commissionaire opens the doors."

The display above recounts Noel Cowards time at St Margaret's. Interestingly it says that weekends were spent playing Scrabble, which would make them one of the very first owners of the game, which first came into being in 1949, when just a few prototype games were made.

Ian Flemings James Bond is also well represented in the museum, although I don't think Fleming lived much of the time in the bay. He bought the house from Noel Coward in 1951, they were neighbours and friends in Jamaica.

Much of the rest of the museum is dedicated to smuggling and all things nautical. It is an interesting and different museum from that normally encountered, well worth a visit.