Members

The palace people may not be into base court street food, but they are into members, a wheeze, as far as we are concerned which was pioneered by the Tate Gallery where, for around £100 a year you get some good stuff. 

Particularly cafés which are pleasanter and with better views than the public ones and entrance to exhibitions on a no cash, booking and queuing free basis. Which was a good one for me as I do not care for timed tickets or queuing. But, even so, a membership which we have now allowed to lapse on the grounds that there is far too much pretentious rubbish on show in both the London Tates.

While the palace people seem to be in a different league, offering just a members' room which was locked. I did not get the impression that it was going to offer anything much when it was open.

Most of the big tourist and pensioner destinations of a worthy variety seem to be into members now, all coming in at around £100 a year for the pensioner pair. Wisley, National Gallery, English Heritage, National Trust, the lot. But have a care, there is a limit to how much of such stuff one can consume. And while all of them do emails and magazines, most of them do not match the quality of the Tate offering.

PS: I wonder in passing whether Mr. 'Syrup' Tate was big into the Pre-Raphaelites, slowly getting the squeeze at the Millbank site he founded, in favour of unmade beds and other stuff of that sort. Pre-Raphaelites which one may not like - although I mostly do - but much of which did come with a technical mastery which the current generation do not seem to have any interest in. And I have respect for artists who have such mastery and take such care with their work. Chuck it all away at your peril. Must go and see what they have got at Birmingham.

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