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InterviewsRobert MilesScarlet von TeazelSteve GrahamAndrew DaveyRachel Hartland

Winter 2012/13

Shining a light on literature, art, music and performance in Taunton & West Somerset

Calendar of EventsBook ReviewsTaunton ThespiansTaunton Choral SocietyCinephiliaPoetry CornerShort StoryMy Favourite

Free

Winter Issue

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05 Introduction by Beth Webb06 Robert Miles 10 Scarlet von Teazel: Bohemian Artist14 Steve Graham: Classic Jazz18 Book Review: Somerset Cricket: The Glory Years19 Book Review: Defence of Somerset20 Book Review: Resolution by John Cole21 Book Review: The Quantocks23 Book Gift Ideas33 Calendar of Events37 The Art of Concealment: Artist, Andy Davey40 TauntonThespians: Still Pulling it Off43 Accentuating the Positive: Rachel Hartland46 Taunton Choral Society: 100 Years of Music Making49 Cinephilia: The Rise of Film Clubs50 Poetry Corner: Samuel Taylor Coleridge53 Short Story: The Birdman of Farringdon Road55 My Favourite

Contents

Editorial & Advertising Lionel WardCopy Editor: Jo WardEvents Compiler: Julie MuncktonAll enquiries:lampmagazine�@gmail.com0�8�� ��774�c/o Brendon Books,Bath Place, TauntonTA� 4ER

The views expressed in Lamp are not necessarily those of the editorial team. Copyright, unless otherwise stated, is that of the magazine or the individual au-thors. We do not accept liability for the content or accuracy of the magazine including that of the advertisers.

The winter issue of LAMP covers the period from the middle of November 2012 until the end of February 2013. In this third issue we are delight-ed to say that the length of the magazine has once more been increased from 48 pages to 56 pages to accommodate further editorial.

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Welcome to the third edition of LAMP. I must say I was really grateful for my copy over the last few months as I tried to keep up with everything that was going on, especially with the brilliant Taunton Literary Festival – also organised by Brendon Books and Somerset Arts Week, all running back to back.

There are some first rate ‘what’s on’ internet sites, but nothing really covers every-thing – and it’s much cosier to sit down with a copy of LAMP, a coffee and my di-ary. That way I can organise my next few months’ arts activities from my armchair.

I do have a laptop, but the cats like sitting on it and it’s not as friendly to use as a magazine. Paper feels good and I can scribble on it and find what I’m looking for

again – unlike websites that I think I’ve ‘bookmarked’ but are lost forever in cyberspace.

That’s my Luddite rant over – now to business. In this excellent edition, you’ll read Robert Miles (of the Brewhouse) talking about his career, there’s Scarlet von Teazel on Bohemian Art and Steve Graham dis-cussing Classic Jazz. You’ll find some excellent book reviews with genuine local interest: amongst them I’d like to highlight Resolution by John Cole. Those of you who know John (he’s saved more than one life in the Wellington area) will be thrilled his book is out. Congratulations to him.

You’ll also read excellent articles on the Taunton Thespians, The Art of Concealment by Andy Davey, film clubs, Taunton Choral society, plenty of poetry including a feature on Samuel Taylor Coleridge and the essential calendar of winter events.

Whether you like going out or sitting in for a good read, here’s your checklist: coffee (or tea), diary, pen-cil, comfy chair by the fire and LAMP.

Beth Webb

Author and storyteller Beth Webb writes for children and teenagers. Stone Keeper, the last in the histori-cal fantasy Star Dancer quartet, is due out early �0��. For details of her books, storytelling and writing workshops, go to: www.bethwebb.co.uk

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From the age of eight Robert Miles wanted to be an actor and yet his family had no connec-tion with the theatre and at first did not take his ambition seriously. ‘I nagged and nagged about going to drama lessons ‘ he recalls,’ and after four years they gave in and I was taken along to a local theatre school.’ It was over-subscribed and they said they would put him on a waiting list. However, there was an audition the following weekend at the Wind-sor Royal Theatre for Babes in the Wood. He went along – ‘too young to be scared’ – and won a lead part. He found himself in the late 70’s earning £�� a week as a boy actor. That he was a little shorter than the average boy of his age was an advantage as he was able to

play younger parts, yet was mature enough to respond to directions. He went on to play the Artful Dodger in Oliver in the West End with Helen Shapiro as Nancy. When he reached �� he began to think more seriously about where his future lay. Deciding to stick with his act-ing career he landed a job in a Tom Stoppard play, Night and Day, at the Phoenix Theatre. He played the boy role in this political drama working alongside John Thaw with Maggie Smith and then, later, Diana Rigg playing his mother. All this time he had no formal training as an actor but was able to ‘act as a sponge’ learning from the actors he was lucky enough to associate with. His acting career continued. He toured throughout Europe with Hair, the hippy musical, and worked with various thea-tre and education companies. When in his late twenties he was offered the chance to direct a satirical review show in the London fringe at the Canal Cafe, he found that

he enjoyed the experience immensely - for now instead of just concentrating on one char-acter his focus could now become much wider. Further directing opportunities followed and he set up his own production company, Hun-gry Horse Productions, with writer and direc-tor Will Scarnell. This meant that he could produce the kind of shows that he was inter-ested in. They aimed to appeal to the younger market and a new generation of theatre goers. With Lounge Lizards they enticed the audience through a �0 minute slot in a comedy club with short pieces as a hook to bring the audience along to a full length show in the theatre. Building on their success they began taking up to three shows to the Edinburgh Festival. While there a commission to produce an edgy political satire received the attention of Philip Hedley who had taken over the running of the Theatre Royal Stratford East from the legen-dary Joan Littlewood. Philip, who served an ethnically mixed area with a large black and Asian community was impressed by the suc-cess they had in attracting a young diverse au-dience to their play. As a consequence, Robert was asked to work as a marketing associate at the Theatre Royal and began collaborating on how to appeal to an audience comprising a number of different ethnic groups. They discovered, for example, that one of the best inroads into the black community was to in-vite black hairdressers to their plays, for at that time the hair fashions required spending some hours in a hairdresser. The hairdressers talked about their theatre experience and played a key role in influencing other women to come to the theatre. Robert stayed at the Theatre Royal for 7 years and worked his way up to associate producer. When Philip Hedley retired from running the theatre after �� years and Robert’s friend Kerry Michael took over, he felt the time was right to move on. However, the theatre were seeking to attract a younger audience for musicals, which in the West End had catered for an older audi-ence typically based on the music of Abba or Queen. At the time rap music was the larg-est selling musical form. To coincide with the centenary of Rogers and Hart the Theatre Royal produced a musical based on the �9�0’s musical The Boys From Syracuse (itself based on the Shakespeare play A Comedy of Er-rors), remixed with rap and urban music and renamed Da Boyz. It was a great success, with the teachers on the one hand because it was using a Shakespeare storyline, and with the students as they were receiving it in a musical form they could identify with. Unable to buy the rights to film Da Boyz, Channel 4 opted instead to record a film of the musical theatre workshop process that had created the show, and Robert was asked to act as the producer for the theatre. While this was happening

Stratford East was putting on another new mu-sical called The Big Life and it became the first Black British musical to transfer to the West End with Robert producing in association with Philip Hedley and West End producer Bill Kenwright. At about this time, Robert’s wife was preg-nant with their first child and they contemplat-ed a move from London to bring up a family. This was the summer of �00� and it proved to be an eventful time. The theatre at Stratford East had been involved with the Olympic bid and on �th July it was announced that London had been successful. However, the following day tragedy struck with the London bombings and Robert and his family narrowly escaped the carnage at Aldgate East tube station when they were running late to visit their dentist. The following day Robert attended his inter-view for the directorship of The Brewhouse. The trustees put their faith in him and offered him the job that evening. At The Brewhouse Robert found an organisa-tion which had just suffered funding cuts and was struggling with box office receipts. Moral was understandably low and he had to deal with a situation that meant every time they hired out the theatre they made a loss. One of the main problems was - and still is – that the auditorium was too small to host the kind of quality shows that made money, and yet the programme had to be commercial in order to make up for the lack of funding, and the Arts Council had disinvested because they were not happy with the programme. Robert initi-ated an attempt to drive up the quality of what was on offer and make it more adventurous. There was also an increase in the theatre hir-ing rates. Community theatre groups could not always have the annual slots they were used to when a more commercial company such as Hampstead Theatre was available. He realises that he alienated some people including some of the amateur theatrical community – which he particularly regrets as ‘they are usually the ones who are the most passionate about the-atre’ though he felt that he had no choice, if the theatre was to survive. He had to - in the jargon - achieve full cost recovery. He regrets that they were not able to communicate more clearly the need to make the changes as well as he would have liked.

Robert Miles Robert Miles looks back on his career and tenure at the Brewhouse and looks for-ward to the forthcoming pro-duction of The Wind in the Willows.

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13+ Scholarships:Academic, Music, Sport, Art, Drama & Design Technology

Please contact: Barbara Lancey, Admissions Registrar, 01823 328204

Application closing date: 1st February

www.kings-taunton.co.uk

SAGT offers artists and art lovers alike an oppor-tunity to support the arts in Somerset while pursu-ing our long term goal of acquiring a high quality Permanent Somerset Art Gallery & Collection. If you are inspired by, appreciate and value the arts, SAGT is for you – a community of like-minded art enthusiasts helping Taunton to be a true Cultural Centre! Our programme includes exhibitions, talks, workshops, cultural outings & events.

For membership information check out our website or contact Jeremy Harvey (Chairman) on 01823 276421

Next Event:“Talk on His Art” by Tim MartinThe Barn, Obridge Road, Taunton, TA2 7QAThursday, November 15, 2012 7:30 p.mTo Book: 01823 276421 (admission: £5.00)

New Programme in January!

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In trying to achieve his aim he used the ex-perience and techniques that he developed in Stratford East and Edinburgh, albeit to a very different, though still diverse, Somerset com-munity – following in the footsteps of the leg-endary Joan Littlewood and applying the same lessons about how to make inroads into the local community through theatre, believing that if you put the stories of your community on stage they will come and see those stories and bring more stories so a circle is formed be-tween the community and the theatre. ‘That is the basis of my belief in running a venue,’ says Robert with feeling, ‘it is what we have tried to do here with shows like Comfort me with Apples and The Summer Set trying to replicate what we did in the East End by doing Somer-set stories.’ For the evidence of his success he points to the fact that box office sales went up by 40% between �00� and �009. Though he feels that his responsibility was to get the economics right he is also passion-ate about giving opportunities for students to progress drawing on the excellent local schools and colleges in Taunton, for example, in giving them the opportunity to perform in The Studio which was converted from a rehearsal room to a small auditorium. And he sees collaboration with schools and other institutions as a key way forward. ‘We do not want these young people to disappear until they are 40 and then return to settle down. We want there to be enough going on in Taunton to attract them back while they are still young and help develop and contribute to a vibrant cultural community.’ He believes that there is a critical mass at which we can transform the culture in Taunton to a level where it becomes natural to engage with the arts and, when once engaged, it is natural to want more. He is also optimistic about the future, includ-ing dealing with that old chestnut of not having a large enough main auditorium. A feasibility study has been carried out where � options were considered for the future of The Brew-house including a new site and a completely new building. They have decided on a more practical but less costly option to expand on the existing site. £�0 million will secure an ad-ditional 7�0 seat auditorium, a full size gallery, workshop space and a rooftop restaurant. He believes there is there is the necessary support form the Arts Council and the local authorities for it will ‘take us to new level and make us financially secure.’ He is confident of success as he rationalises that ‘there are � large cultural hubs in the region, Bristol, Plymouth and the Bournemouth/Poole conurbation, and that in the middle of the triangle you have Taunton, perfectly placed to serve a more rural audience along the M� corridor and to invest in on a re-gional basis.’ When Robert came to The Brewhouse the Christmas show was aimed at adults and was typically a whodunit or musical. They decided to make it a family show, but keep the after

Christmas pantomime performed by The Way-farers in place. The Christmas show is pro-duced by The Brewhouse using professional actors with an local community chorus, quite high in risk because of the long run, but satis-fying and profitable when it is got right. They had successes with The Snow Queen and A Christmas Carol. Then they delivered a Chi-nese version of Cinderella. Robert admits that this was a mistake. ‘We have to hold upour hands and say that we did not get that one

right.’ The show felt really innovative and ex-citing in rehearsal but when the audience saw it he could see immediately that it was not what they were expecting- a good lesson to him about what the Taunton audience would like to come and see. ‘The important thing,’ he says, ‘is that you learn from your mistakes.’ Successful Christmas shows followed includ-ing the Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe and Alice in Wonderland. Part of the concept has always been that the Christmas show has been reflected outside the auditorium and this year is no exception when the theme of the river bank will pervade the whole of the building with the production of The Wind in the Willows. It also provides an

Rather than use the Alan Bennett version of The Wind in the Willows, pre-ferred in recent years or to the A.A. Milne version, Toad of Toad Hall, Rob-ert has adapted it himself. He prefers it this way because as he is also the director he can then write it in the way he wants it performed.‘I try and use as much dialogue from the book as possible,’ he comments. ‘I firmly believe that if you cut things out of the original you have to have a really good reason for doing it.’ It is a play with songs written by Wellington based Nick Brace – though of course there are one or two songs already included in the book including the infamous self-congratulatory songs of Toad.

Wind in the Willows at The BrewhouseFriday 7 December to Saturday � January

�0.��am �pm 7pm Check individual days for timesBox Office: 01823 283244 www.thebrewhouse.net

opportunity for the local schools to get involved and Robert has no praise too high for the contri-bution of The Brewhouse staff and volunteers. ‘You could not ask for anything better than the team that is here,’ he says. ‘ They are absolutely passionate about what we do here, why we do it and how we do it. Doing it to a really high quality and serving the community, they are aware that’s what we’re here to do and they really genuinely believe in that. The amount of hours they put in above and beyond the call of duty is amazing.’

As chief executive, director and writer he is a very busy man and one wonders at the extent of the workload and the pressure of always being in the spotlight and inevitably not being able to please everybody all of the time and always in the critical eye. ‘It is one of those jobs that looks really great from the outside,’ he explains, ‘but it isn’t al-ways easy - sometimes it is a bit of a slog - but it is always a kind of a privilege. I get to work with really nice people - not just the staff but also the acts that come in – some of them young artists who walk onto our stage for the first time. It re-minds me of me when I was ��. It is a great job and a great county to do that job in.’

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‘A Book for Those Who Keep the Spirit of Youth Alive in Them’ (Kenneth Grahame)

The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame (1859-1932)

The story grew out of letters which Graham wrote to his son Alistair.Graham had enjoyed critical success with The Golden Age (1895) and Dream Days (1899), but he had difficulty finding a publisher for The Wind in the Willows. Methuen finally agreed to publish it on the understanding that there would be no advance. When it was published in 1908, he received poor reviews, (with the notable excep-tions of Arnold Bennett and Richard Middleton). Most of the reviewers could not appreciate the idea that the principal characters were animals. However, President Roosevelt, who had enjoyed his earlier work and had received a complimentary copy from Graham, was full of praise and more-or-less demanded that the American publishers Scribners should publish it (after they had initially rejected it). Sales began to rise, it reprinted many times and it remains a popular title to this day.

Counselling for ToadsRobert de Board used the characters in the Wind in the Willows, and in particular Toad, to create a modern counselling classic, Counsel-ling for Toads. Written as an extension of the original story we find Toad in a depressed state with his friends Mole, Rat and Badger, fearful that he will ‘do something silly’. After alternately encourag-ing and then attempting to force him to change his behaviour, they determine there is only one thing left, ‘You must have counselling!’ announces Badger. Over the next ten chapters (or sessions), Toad has counselling with the Heron using the transactional analysis method, learning how to analyse his own feelings and develop his emotional intelligence. Grahame and his wife, Elspeth, may have benefited from some form of counselling with regard to their son Alistair and their own relation-ship.They lived in a kind of fantasy world as far as he and their mar-riage was concerned. Their only child, Alistair was a sickly infant, handicapped by blindness in one eye and poor sight in the other. He was excessively indulged in by his parents and proved to be a difficult child who would sometimes fly into rages. However, for Elspeth and Kenneth, he was ‘loveable and unusually gifted’. He was a misfit at school and struggled to achieve the high academic expectations they had for him. Through Grahame’s influence he was found a place at Oxford (a thwarted ambition of his own). Alistair could not find a course that suited him, was socially awkward and underwent a spir-itual crisis. On the evening of the 7 May, �9�0, he took a walk from his college to a level crossing on the railway line from Oxford to Wol-vercote. He was found dead across the tracks in the morn-ing a little way along from the crossing. Though the official verdict was accidental death, the position of his body across the tracks suggested otherwise. The Grahame’s were devas-tated and spent most of the next four years abroad, mostly in Italy.

Bizarre IncidentAbout ��am on the �4 November �90� a respect-able looking man who gave his name as George Robinson, entered the Bank of England asking to see the governor of the bank. Grahame, as the Bank Secretary, was the next in command and agreed to see him instead. When Graham refused to read some documents that the man thrust to-wards him, the man pulled out a gun. The quick thinking Grahame ran out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Robinson fired three shots then ran into the Director’s Library. A porter had the presence of mind to lock him in. He was eventually captured with the intervention of the fire brigade who used a hose to knock him to the ground. He was later incarcerated in Broadmoor. It is not known what long term effect this incident had on Grahame. However, he became increas-ingly disenchanted with his work at the bank. He would leave the bank early in the afternoon and was often absent. He experienced ill health as an adult, probably a legacy of the scarlet fever he suffered as a child. This was not tolerated by the a new Governor of the Bank of England, William Campbell Middleton, who was appointed in the spring of �907. Grahame resigned in June �908 even though The Wind in the Willows was not to be pub-lished until the autumn and, at this time, he had no reason to believe that it would be a success.

Elspeth GrahamPortrait by Sir Frank

Dicksee

Alistair Graham The Bank of England

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...and butterflies and bugs and other beautiful things...

Help us celebrate the 5th birthday of

ginger fig gallery Our ‘birds and bees’ exhibition in January 2013 is open to all local individuals and organisations,

artists, schools and community groups.When we celebrated our 3rd birthday with the ‘Gingerbread Man’ exhibition we had

HUNDREDS of entries - and we’d really like to beat that

We will welcome entries in any media, so take up your paint brushes, cameras and knittingneedles; oil your printing presses or potters

wheels; get your sewing machines whirring and put your imagination to work

For more information either pop into ginger fig, call, email, tweet or facebook us as soon as possible, ideally by 14th December 2012

ginger fig, 1b Bath Place, Taunton TA1 4ER, 01823 326798

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Scarlet Von Teazel: Bohemian ArtistScarlet Von Teazel re-flects on her formative years in Prague and ac-knowledges its influence on her recent artwork.

Herbal

One of the most influential people in Scar-let’s early life was her maternal grandmoth-er with whom she developed a strong bond. She was a gentle warm-hearted person, full of love and wisdom who was the first to spot Scarlet’s natural curiosity and creativity. She inspired and encouraged her. She looked af-ter Scarlet and her younger sister as both parents worked. She was fond of her older granddaughter who reminded her of her be-loved but complicated father, blacksmith by trade, who was able to turn his hand to any-thing. She can remember how Scarlet was interested in understanding how things were made: she could dismantle an old clock and then put it back together. It was old things that took her interest most. Scarlet remembers being ill and going to stay at her grandparents home, so as not to pass on her germs to her younger sister, who had a weak constitution. She found the best part of staying there was looking through the drawers and discovering old books, newspapers, family photographs and docu-

ments. She recalls being enchanted by the warn leather and the scent of the old pages, fascinated by the gently fading colours and beautiful lettering of yellowing newsprint. Her Grandfather was a well read man with many interests. He taught her to play chess when she was five. His intelligence and abilities weren’t reflected in the menial jobs he had. As she grew up she became aware of her grandfather’s past. Several years after his death she discovered that he had once held a respected position in the civil service. When Germany invaded Bohemia and took over the state, the Nazi administration co-

opted the civil service structure and its em-ployees, including her grandfather. Follow-ing the war, the communist regime labelled all civil servants collaborators and put them on trial. She remembers finding in one of the drawers in her grandparents house old handwritten letters from different people testifying as to how he had risked his life using his position by smuggling in letters to their relatives imprisoned by the Nazis. He was,as a result, acquitted through the testi-mony of those who he had helped during the Nazi occupation. ‘I realised how powerful letters can be,’ explains Scarlet, ‘they can free you but they can also put you in prison. Someone’s life could be decided by pieces of paper.’ Another testimony to the importance of let-ters in Scarlet’s life was the discovery of a document stating that her father, whose af-fections were always directed towards her younger sister, was in fact her stepfather. After her grandfather’s retirement, he start-ed to work as light operator at the prestig-ious Shakespearean “Vinohradske Divadlo” theatre in Prague. From the age of 8-�� (till her grandfather’s death) Scarlet had the unrivalled experience of watching Shake-speare’s plays performed from her grandfa-ther’s lighting box. This gave her an early exposure to the world of theatre and her already strong love of books and literature gained a new dimension. Her parents decided that she should attend a ‘sensible’ college specialising in econom-ics, hotel and leisure studies rather than fol-low her heart and study art, languages and the humanities. She eventually gave in to family persuasion but very soon discovered this to be a mistake and that she did not want

to work in the hotel industry. As her course allowed only for the further study of eco-nomics, she went to university and gradu-ated with a degree in finance and credit. Despite this diversion she stayed faithful to her artistic side through part time study at an art college where she specialized in ceramics, photography and creative writ-ing. And she feels Prague, with its vibrant cultural scenes, both official and under-ground, together with its visual beauty, was influential in her development as a person and an artist. At that time most banks in Czechoslo-vakia functioned like credit unions. How-ever, there was one commercial bank in Prague and through a chance meeting with a friend’s mother who was manager there, she applied for and was given a job there. Initially she found the work interesting in its complexity. However, once the chal-lenge was mastered she became bored and eventually after a good deal of persistence made her way into the most prestigious de-partment of the bank – the dealing room – normally the preserve of men and Com-munist Party members (of which she was neither). As part of her training she was sent to London, where she met the future father of her first child. A year later her son Tho-mas was born. A move to Shipley near Bradford followed. Here she discovered the Kirkgate Studios and Workshops. For Scarlet this became a haven to practice art while at the same time she was able to be near her son who was looked after by two marvellous women who ran a crèche on the same site. She was able to take advan-tage of the facilities for ceramics, weaving,

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One of several representations of Oranges

See Scarlet’s WorkScarlet Von Teazel’s art will be on display at Brendon Books, Bath Place,

Taunton TA� 4ERfrom �� November �0�� to �� January �0��

0�8�� ��774� www.scarletvonteazel.com

screen printing, stained glass, batique, pho-tography and film making. Then pregnant with her second child, she and another art-ist were awarded National Lottery funding for their photographic project ‘Hidden in Plain View’, culminating in an exhibition in Lister’s Mill in Bradford in �000. From Kirkgate she then moved on to Brad-ford and Ilkley College and followed sculp-ture and life drawing courses. She was to add further to her skills with a course for community arts workers. After the birth of her daughter Aninka the head of a Primary School in Leeds offered her an artist resi-dency. He asked her to make a list of poten-tial projects that she was interested in doing. He chose concrete sculpture from the list, the one thing she had no practical experi-ence in. To test her theory she quickly made a sculpture of a tortoise that to this day lives in her garden. The school wanted the older (year �) children to create something for the reception class and they chose the characters of A.A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh. Working simultaneouslywith �� children, split into � teams, each responsible for one sculpture, she completed the project from beginning to end in two days. Despite having lost her voice and falling ill with exhaustion, as well as realizing for the future that project of that magnitude should require perhaps � weeks

rather than � days…this initial project had been a great success. She became registered on the ‘Northern Artists into Schools’ data-base as a sculptor and mosaic muralist and over the next � years a further �9 projects across a variety of themes and with different degrees of complexity followed. Following her move to Somerset she took

a foundation degree in fine art at Somerset College. Even though she had been prac-tising successfully as an artist, in her own mind she needed the validation of a higher qualification in art. In the second year of her degree she began to develop work using pa-per, glue and a coffee solution. Her tutors were unsure of the initial direction of her work (early experiments included strings of washing lines of crushed envelopes dripping with coffee!), but as the project developed it began to bear fruit. Around this time she was also invited to work with other artists alongside the German artist Anselm Keifer on his installation at London’s White Cube Gallery. Later she was invited to visit him in his Paris studio to interview him for her thesis. An exhibition of her new work Retro-flexions followed at Cream, Leo Davey’s cafe showing art in Minehead. She was then invited to join ‘The Recessionists’, a group of Somerset artists and exhibited both paintings and sculpture at Pylle Emporium Gallery near Glastonbury, Wiveliscombe Town Hall and at The Quartz Festival. In May �0�� she put on a well attended solo exhibition Exposed at the Pear tree Gallery in East Reach. In �0�� and �0�� she shared a studio with another artist in Paris where they began a joint body of work and which is ongoing. They exhibited together in a Pa-risian gallery in the Marais. A selection of her work along with one or two new pieces will appear at Brendon Books in November and December. Her reverence for and recognition of the power of books is reflected in their repre-sentation in varied dimensions and forms, the surface of some transformed into an extraordinary leather-like texture so they take on the guise and presence of ancient manuscripts. Her powerful piece Silence is dominated by the image of a mother lying as it were within a grave symbolising the death of a child, perhaps a miscarriage: as though with the child’s death part of the mother also dies and a clock symbolises an un-timely death. Oranges are transformed and woven into shapes reminiscent of a skull, an

insect, a beehive. Her Sun and Moon has a primeval quality. Her work on shoes is at once haunting and provocative and shows her skill as a seamstress (from the age of �� she made her own clothes). There is a profound sadness running through some of her work and an attempt to create what she describes as a ‘dialogue with the unconscious through following instincts and distant echoes.’ There are ref-erences to her growing up in Prague, the letters and unjust persecution of her grand-father — she draws deeply upon her child-hood. ‘ I believe our perception of the world as children, when we were so much closer and more open to the beauty of the ordinary, to be something that we should try to re-member,’ she explains. All in all there is an intricate craft and distinct quality about her work whose surfaces invite one to touch and feel their resonance.

Silence

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Classic Jazz Man: Steve Graham

Classic Jazz is a seven-piece band formed with the original sounds of New Orleans jazz in mind. Bandleader and trumpeter Steve Graham offers an in-sight into the band’s influences prior to a performance at Ilm-inster Arts Centre.

Originally from Grimsby, Lincolnshire, Steve Graham moved to Taunton in �97�, initially to work as a classical guitar tutor but soon became known as a lute player, performing with several West Country early music ensembles. Through such

collaborations he met people interested in traditional jazz and eventually formed the Downtown Galmington Syncopa-tors. With Steve on trumpet, the group soon became a popular local band, and with a renewed focus on the instru-ment, Steve gradually gained a nation-

al reputation as a trumpet player in the New Orleans and Classic styles. Steve had learnt to play very basic trumpet while still at school, putting his newly-found skills to the test in a jazz band during his last couple of years there. He continued to fit in playing while studying maths at the University of East Anglia, and recalls, ‘I learnt mandolin when a girl friend gave me one to take on a New Year holiday in the Scilly Isles, to pass time in the evenings playing folk tunes with companions.’ Initially inspired by the music of Louis Armstrong, which Steve admits is formi-dably difficult to emulate, he eventually found his way in the jazz world when in-troduced to and influenced by New Orle-ans trumpeters Avery “kid” Howard, De De Pierce, Kid Thomas Valentine and Bunk Johnson, not to mention Britain’s own New Orleans-styled trumpeter Ken Colyer, who was a leading light on the English scene during the �9�0s and �0’s. Classic Jazz was formed around �00�, following Steve’s long-term stint in the group Original Rags, a duo formed with Mike Denham in �999 to play ragtime and

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Over 30 charities represented including:Alzheimer’s Society, British Heart Foundation, Macmillan Cancer Support, RNLI and SSAFA Forces Helpand local charities Musgrove League of Friends,St Margaret’s Hospice andTaunton Opportunity Group

Library, Paul Street, Taunton TA1 3XZTel: 01823 336344www.heartofsomerset.com

• Somerset calendars & diaries• Christmas Stamps• Locally produced crafts and

greeting cards• Theatre Tokens• Local interest walking and

cycling books

Charity Christmas Cards on sale5th October to 22nd December

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classic jazz of the �9�0s. ‘We thought it would be good to have a full band playing that repertoire for festivals and concert venues’, explains Steve, ‘and by that time I had met several top mu-sicians who were skilled in this music’. The Classic Jazz repertoire encom-passes many artists from the hot jazz era of the �9�0s such as Jelly Roll Morton, and ragtime pieces from the previous decade by pioneers such as Scott Joplin. Mainly the band fo-cus on the recordings of King Oliv-er’s Creole Jazz Band, which was the most influential band recorded in Chicago back in �9�� (with a line-up featuring the cream of New Orle-ans jazz musicians; Louis Armstrong, Baby Dodds, Honore Dutrey, Bill Johnson, Johnny Dodds, Lil Hardin-Armstrong and King Oliver himself). ‘This music is predominantly of an ensemble style’ explains Steve, ‘but we do have an outstanding soloist in John Wurr.’ John Wurr is one of the UK’s most versatile reed play-ers (on clarinet and saxophone) and has performed previously with Steve Graham and Mike Denham at Ilm-inster Arts Centre, both with Classic Jazz and at Mike Denham’s ‘Speak-Easy’ nights that have become a regular fixture at the arts centre. All three have become great favourites there and Steve says, ‘I have had the pleasure of working with several top British musicians but, undoubtedly the most fruitful collaboration has

been with pianist Mike Denham, with whom I have been able to develop both my trumpet and mandolin playing.’ Joining Steve, John and Mike for the Ilminster concert will be Dave Martin on cornet. Dave has been active on the Devon music scene since the mid-�980s and runs the City Steam Jazz Band in Exeter. Somerset audiences may be familiar with him through Bob Rey-nolds’ New Society Jazz Band and he will soon be appearing with his own Jabbo Five at IAC in April. Complet-ing the line-up for Classic Jazz will be Tom Wittingham, who is a natural musician on trombone and has an in-stinctive feel for the jazz music of the period, plus Sarah Thatcher on banjo,

and Malc Murphy on drums. The band do not seek to reproduce slavish cop-ies of the original recordings, prefer-ring to create their own distinctive sound of driving, swinging ensemble jazz, using music from which the im-mensely popular “Trad” bands of the �9�0s and �0s developed their styles. Steve works throughout the country with a number of other jazz bands, and has recently decided to devote his study time to the lute once more. ‘Having spent a lot of time in the past playing renaissance music and accompanying singers, I am returning to this but am also embarking on a study of the wonderful music of the ��-course baroque lute.’ By Sara Loveridge

Hear Steve Graham perform with Classic Jazz featuring Mike Denham and John Wurr

Friday 30th NovemberIlminster Arts Centre at The Meeting House, East Street, Ilminster. TA19 0AN.

At 8pm. Tickets: £15. Pre-Show Supper at 7pm (must be pre-booked). Box Office: 01460 54973. Website: www.themeetinghouse.org.uk.

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�9b Bath Place, Taunton,Somerset, TA� 4EP

We are committed to providing honest food and drink, locally sourced, skillfully prepared and reasonably priced. Our main menu changes with the seasons and we have a great range of daily specials onoffer using the best of South West produce.

We also offer bespoke and budgeted catering for businesses and private events.

Tel 0�8�� ��7��4Email taunton@thescrumper.com

Back in Bath Place for the winter season

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In �0�0 Somerset Cricket Museum acquired a unique archive of images relating to the history of the club.Taken by Taunton-based photogra-pher Alain Lockyer, they chronicle some of the years of the County’s greatest success, including the period known as the Glory Years during which Somerset won five one day trophies in as many seasons. between �97� and �990.Garner, Richards, Botham, Rose and a host of fine players feature in this superb collection. However, it not only highlights exciting action from classic matches, but candid behind-the-scenes shots of the players both at rest and at play. Together the pictures are an irre-placeable document of the Country’s greatest cricket team at the height of its powers, and this book which is the first publication to feature the collection widely, will be read eagerly not only by fans of Somerset

but devotees of the summer game as a whole. Accompanying the pictures is an informative text by County Museum Trustee and journalist Richard Walsh to complete this remarkable visual his-tory, packed with classic memories. Alain Lockyer is a professional pho-tographer who has run the Taunton-based Somerset Photo News agency for more than four decades covering National news and pictures and who has captured the activity of Somerset County Cricket Club assiduously in that time. Richard Walsh lives in Taunton and is a freelance journalist who has been following the fortunes of Somerset CCC for over 40 years. He regularly writes for the Western Morning News, the Somerset County Gazette, and the Sunday Independent, in addition to which he has been the editor of the official Somerset CCC website since it was first established in 2001.

Somerset Cricket :The Glory Years 1973-1987

Talk & Booksigning at Brendon Books

on Tuesday �� November.

Both Alain Lockyear and Richard Walsh will be present

Please R.S.V.P. Brendon Books, Bath Place, Taunton TA� 4ER

0�8�� ��774� email: brendonbooks@gmail.com

Joel Garner, Ian Botham and Vivienne Richards

Somerset Cricket: The Glory Years, �97�-�987 Hardback; H:�97; W:��0; ��0p.; black and white illustrations Halsgrove £�9.99

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The aim of the book is to fill a gap in the literature by explaining the strategic concepts underpinning military activity in Somerset in the Second World War. The work addresses naval activities, both enemy and friendly in the Bristol Chan-nel, the coastal anti-invasion defences including coast artillery and also covers the air defence activities including radar, fighter control and the revolutionary electronic warfare directed against the Luftwaffe bombers navigation aids; to-gether with searchlights, barrage balloons, Observer Corps, AA guns and rockets. The surprising plethora of naval, army, RAF and other activities in the Somerset coastal area, many of which were secret, are explained. All sources of historical data identified so far, including surviving archaeological evidence, have been examined, evaluated and cross-referenced. Many little known but key activities like police wartime roles, fuel denial measures, patrols against agents landing on the coast are covered for the first time along with the perceived threats and the coastal defence plans including the roles of the Army, Home Guard and the secret Auxiliary Units with saboteurs, spies and hidden wireless sta-tions. The account presented will contain many surprises which challenge commonly-held beliefs. For instance, the elaborate coastal defences were primarily intended to guard against air-borne not sea-borne invasion. It contradicts fondly held folk memories such as the ineffectiveness of the Mine-head emergency battery. It adds to our

understanding of what we can still see in our hedgerows and on our beaches in the context of both defending one of Britain’s

most vital waterways and the industrial heartlands dependent on it but also of the ways in which war was brought to the enemy and ultimately led to their defeat. David Hunt has done the bulk of the work searching out and sifting the records in The National Archives and Somerset Record Office. All three authors have shared in its interpretation in the light of their extensive knowledge of Somerset: David Dawson and Chris Webster as archaeologists who have worked in the county for twenty years or so and David

Hunt as a Somerset man who knows the county well and sees it through the eyes a senior Army officer. This collaboration of expert enthusiasts brings archaeology, archives and military experience together to effectively complement each other in this fascinating book intended for the war enthusiast, local historian and the general public.

Somerset and the Defence of the Bristol Channel in the Second World War. David Dawson, David Huntand & Chris Webster. Published by the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society, Taunton, ��� pages, �4 maps and illustrations.

Somerset and the Defence of the Bristol Channel in the Second World War

Section post at Blue Anchor Photo: David Hunt

Doniford AA range before the war; the Queen Bee, a radio controlled target plane is launched; photo Hole collection

Doniford AA range before the war; photo Hole collection.

Talk & Booksigning at Brendon Bookson Thursday �9 November.

Please R.S.V.P. Brendon Books, Bath Place, Taunton TA� 4ER

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In describing his new novel, “Reso-lution”, as the book of a lifetime, John Cole is not exaggerating, for the book tells the stories of the lives of three modern women living in the twentieth century and up to the present time. “I worked as a family doctor throughout the greatest period of social change for womankind in his-tory. The social upheaval was enor-mous and its effects profound” said 77 year old John. The novel had been gestating for more than �� years, but a busy life in medicine as well as be-ing a dedicated professional musi-cian meant that he began writing it only two years ago. When Taunton-born John started work as a house physician and sur-geon in Cirencester back in the �9�0s, fewer than �0% of married women were in paid employment. By the time he retired from gen-eral practice in 2000, that figure had grown to 88%. “Resolution”, published in early No-vember, is set against the backdrop of national and international politi-cal and historical events. It explores attitudes to woman’s place in soci-ety, gender roles, careers and fami-lies. Societal changes are reflected through three women; Maria, Debo-rah and Ruth. Maria is a first genera-tion immigrant, Deborah a product of the “swinging sixties” and Ruth a modern girl born and brought up in adversity. Their very different lives and fortunes touch at various points, leading to what John describes as Resolution. The twin passions of medicine and music that have characterised John’s

career are widely referenced in the novel, from cadavers to choirs. It’s entirely appropriate, then, that the launch of “Resolution” coincides with John’s musical retirement con-

Resolution by John Cole

cert at which Brahms’ Requiem will be performed by the Amici Choir and Orchestra West. He was until recent-ly conductor of both organisations.

Resolution retails at £9.99 and is available fromBrendon Books, Bath Place, Taunton TA� 4ER

0�8�� ��774� email: brendonbooks@gmail.comor www.johncoleresolution.com

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A new book on the Quantocks has been published this autumn by long-standing Somerset resident, Peter Haggett. The book is arranged on historical lines and paints a biographical picture, not of an individual but of a region. The open-ing chapter identifies the unique charac-ter of the Quantocks and identifies seven reasons why the area is of exceptional interest. The next six chapters takes the reader through the evolution of the region; from its deep geological roots (Chap. �), through its occupation by ear-ly settlers (Chap, �), to the evolution of its separate villages and parish churches during the medieval period (Chap.4) to the evolution of its great country houses and estates in the early-modern period

(Chap. �) The revolution wrought by the railways is a theme of the Victorian Quantocks (Chap. �) while even more rapid change and the impact of two World Wars dominates the chapter on the �0thC (Chap. 7). The last chapter identifies five current problems in the region (ranging from maintaining its fragile heather moors to the challenge of nuclear and tidal power) and debates the future of the Quantocks.

Peter Haggett was born, bred and schooled in Somerset. A former Cam-bridge don and Bristol University pro-fessor, he returned to his roots to write this affectionate tribute to this gentle, unpretentious and often overlooked part of his home county. The many maps and diagrams have been especially drawn for this volume and he teamed up with his daughter (an Intensive Care nurse at a local hospital) to richly illustrate the text with over a hundred photographs, a third in colour. Peter has held university research and teaching posts around the world for half-a-cen-tury and in �997 was awarded the CBE for services to geographical scholar-ship. Profits from the sale of the volume are being donated to a leading local conservation charity, the Friends of Quantock. This was founded in �949 with the object of safeguarding the landscape and natural environment of the Quantock Hills. It works closely

The Quantocks

with the AONB service, local landown-ers, and the Quantock Commoners to safeguard the region. It is currently ap-pealing for funds to acquire and conserve a major area of heathland (previously owned by Somerset County Council) to look after in perpetuity for the people of Somerset.

The Quantocks: Biography of an English Region, it is �40 pages long with 120 figures, a third in colour. pb

ISBN 978-0-9�7����-0-�Brendon Books, Bath Place, Taunton TA� 4ER

0�8�� ��774� email: brendonbooks@gmail.com

Bench Ends

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Harry Frier is the one

Taunton artist from the late

Victorian-Edwardian period

whose work is still known

today. There is now an

opportunity to learn more

about his legacy with an

exhibition of his art in May

and a talk byJeremy Har-

vey on his life and work at

Somerset College in June.

What became quickly became evident to

Jeremy in researching Harry Frier was

that here was a man about which there

were a number of contradictions and sur-

prises : an artist who is avidly collected

and, increasingly, fetches good prices,

yet his work is of variable quality; as-

sociated with Taunton though not a na-

tive (he hailed from Scotland and ended

up in Taunton through a chance meeting

and association with Kate Dyer); trained

as a portrait painter yet best known for

watercolours and his pictures of land-

scapes; and an artist who experienced

some early recognition but died in pov-

erty, his last years an apparent tragedy.

What we know of Harry Friar up to

now, Jeremy Harvey acknowledges,

is largely due to the diligence of local

author Michael Jones who has written

an excellent book on him, the result of

years of research and endeavour, pub-

lished in its most recent incarnation in

2002 though now, sadly, out of print.

Jeremy Harvey’s own interest began

with weekly lectures by the art master at

his school. As a result, Jeremy became

excited by art. In the sixth form they

would go out into the countryside and

he would paint watercolours. His family

did not have any especial interest in art

though his father would sometimes take

him to art galleries. At Oxford Univer-

sity where he studied history he attended

art lectures by Eric Newton.

He has maintained his interest in art

throughout his career and headship of

Bishop Fox’s School in Taunton (where

he oversaw its transition from the site

in Kingston Road to its current site off

South Road). However, it was of neces-

sity, a spare time interest.

When he retired as head teacher he

decided that he wanted art to become

more to the fore and began studying

art more closely and attending weekly

painting sessions on a Friday morning,

learning from other artists and beginning

to appreciate the skills and techniques

required. ‘By doing so,’ he explains, ‘

you can read an artists work more intel-

ligently.’ Though modest about his skills

he has sold some paintings on his own

account. Jeremy began teaching art as part of

the adult education programme at Som-

erset College. When the funding ceased

he was invited to give an open lecture

along with other speakers. The talk he

gave was well received and he was invit-

ed to continue his lectures in the Confer-

ence Centre at Somerset College. Since

2004-2005 he has been giving approxi-

mately three talks a year at the college,

starting with Giotto and the ‘old masters’

progressing through to nineteenth and

twentieth century artists such as Sickert,

Degas and Manet.

Despite his interest and involvement

in art he had no formal qualification in

the art. However, an opportunity arose

in an unexpected way when he and his

wife visited a friend, Daphne, who they

knew to be the niece of Stanley Spen-

cer. As they were leaving, Daphne com-

mented that she wished someone would

do something with the letters she had

from Stanley Spencer. Seeing Jeremy’s

evident interest she went to a cupboard

and pulled out a box folder of 53 letters

in pristine condition.

Excited by the find, Jeremy read the

letters and gave a talk on them as part

of his Conference Centre programme

(to which he invited Daphne). Encour-

aged by the response, he contacted Paul

Harry Frier:Artist & Recorder

of Taunton’s Past

Harry Frier

Local author Jeremy Cooper has recently brought out two impor-tant books on the art world.

Following a degree in art history at Cambridge, Jeremy Cooper pur-sued a career in the art and antiquesworld;as a Sotheby’s auctioneer, an Antiques Roadshow expert and an owner of his own antiques busi-ness in Bloomsbury. He also wrote an important book on Victorian and Edwardian furniture (which is still in print). It may have seemed that hiscareer was settled and as he moved into his middle years he would be-come a doyen of the antique collect-ing world. However, this was not to be. Some-time in the 80’s he began taking an interest in contemporary music and architecture and this soon began to extend to the visual arts. He started writing and has had published sev-eral works of fiction, and this April

has seen the publication of an impor-tant non-fiction book on contempo-rary artists: Growing Up: The Young British Artists at 50. It explores their collective legacy when they trans-formed the art world in the 1990’s, staging dramatic exhibitions, typi-cally in disused warehouse or fac-tory spaces rather than commercial galleries, while focusing in detail on five of the their number: Anya Gal-laccio, Damien Hirst, Gary Hume, Michael Landy and Sarah Lucas. It is their history told by someone who was there at the time and is familiar with their work and knew several of the artists personally. So what attracted him to these young artists, which, he points, out are no longer young (most

of them now in their fifties)? ‘It is their energy, openness and class-lessness, I like,’ he comments and points out that though they may each be economically secure now, their original motivation was not to make money, an accusation which has sometimes been particularly di-rected towards Damien Hirst, for ‘If you want to make money you are not going to go to art school.’ His involvement with the yba’s goes back to his time in Shoreditch where he had his antiques business, much patronised by Gilbert and George. Joshua Compton, a Courtauld art history graduate and curator, was a tenant from 1991-1996 and played a central role in the yba move-

The cover for yBas

Growingup withthe yBas

Jeremy visited in his kitchen by two sheep

InterviewsJohn ColeClare VinerJeremy CooperToni DaveyNatalie McGraphJeremy HarveyMark BruceSummer HolidayGallery 41

Calender of EventsTaunton Literary FestivalShort StoryPoet’s Corner Children’s PageCookery Book ReviewGardening Book ReviewBook ClubsWriting Courses

May & June 2012

Shining a light on literarature, art ,music and performance in Taunton & West Somerset

Free

Advertising Contact: Lionel Ward/Clair Bennet

LAMP is a new magazine, its purpose is to shine a light on literature, art, music and performance in the Vale of Taunton and the surrounding area.

The third issue is the winter issue and will cover the period from November-February and will include a variety of arti-cles on music, the visual and performing arts, new books and their authors and a calendar of events. The print run will be 20,000 and it will be distributed through letter-boxes to addresses within and around the Taunton area and at vari-ous distribution points in Taunton, Bridgwater, Ilminster, Minehead, Watchet and other towns and villages in Taunton Deane, West and South Somerset, all the Somerset libraries, The Brewhouse Theatre, Tacchi-Morris Arts Centre, Bren-don Books, Bridgwater Arts Centre, Ilminster Arts Centre, Dillington House, Gallery 41 (Watchet), Minehead Regal, Wellington Arts Centre, Dillington House and numerous cafes, eateries, haridressers, doctors and dentists surgeries.

We are delighted that the magazine has been so well received and hope that you may wish to consider advertising. Please see below the advertising rates for this edition:

Lionel WardLAMPc/o Brendon BooksBath PlaceTauntonTA1 4ERTel. 01823 337742lampmagazine1@gmail.com

Advertising RatesSixteenth page: 62.5mm d x 45mm w: £40 Eighth page: 90mm d x 62.5mm w : £70Quarter page: 125mm d x 90mm w: £120Half page 125mm d x 180mm w: £200Standard Full Page 250mm d x 180mm w: £350Premium Full Page 250mm d x 180mm w (Inside front and back page): £400 All prices are exclusive of VAT

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Book Gift Ideasfor Christmas

Old Brewery Buildings, Bath Place, Taunton TA1 4ER 01823 337742 brendonbooks@gmail.com www.brendonbooksonline.co.uk

�4

My Animals and Other FamilyClare BaldingRRP £�0.00 £��.00‘I had spent most of my childhood thinking I was a dog, and suspect I had aged in dog years. By the time I was ten I had discov-ered the pain of unbearable loss. I had felt joy and jealousy. Most important of all, I knew how to love and how to let myself be loved. All these things I learnt through animals. Horses and dogs were my family and my friends. This is their story as much as it is mine’. 9780�709��4�� hb Penguin

Waging Heavy PeaceNeil YoungRRP £��.00 £�0.00An iconic figure in the history of rock and pop culture (inducted not once but twice into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame), Neil Young has written his eagerly awaited memoir: ‘I felt that writing books fit me like a glove; I just started and I just kept going’. Young offers a kaleidoscopic view of his personal life and musical career.9780�709��7�� hb Viking

TennysonJohn BatchelorRRP £��.00 £�0.00Alfred Lord Tennyson, Queen Victoria’s favourite poet, commanded a wider readership than any other of his time. His ascendancy was neither the triumph of pure genius nor an accident of history: he skilfully crafted his own career and his relationships with his audience. 978070��80�84 hb Chatto & Windus

Inside the CentreRay MonkRRP £�0.00 £��.00J. Robert Oppenheimer is among the most con-tentious and important figures of the twentieth century. As head of the Los Alamos Laboratory, he oversaw the successful effort to beat the Nazis to develop the first atomic bomb - a breakthrough which was to have eternal ramifications for mankind, and made Oppenheimer the ‘father of the Bomb’.9780��40����� hb Jonathan Cape

On WheelsMichael Holroyd£9.99In “On Wheels” Michael Holroyd takes on the humble automobile. Weaving together memoir and anecdote with historical example he traces his relationship with cars and driving through a lifetime of biography. Sly and perceptive to a fault, in these five delightful essays Michael Holroyd finds new and surprising ways to understand the past and challenge our view of the future978070��874�9 hb Chatto & Windus

Live from Downing StreetNick RobinsonRRP £�0.00 £��.00“Live from Downing Street” takes us on an absorbing journey through the hard-fought battles for the right to tell the public about the decisions taken on their behalf. Parliament once imprisoned those who dared to report what MPs had said. Broadcasters used to be banned by law from debating anything newsworthy and even from covering elections. Since that censorship ended, the two sides have clashed repeatedly.9780�9�0��80� hb Bantam Press

Close to the WindBen Ainslie£7.99Knife-edge decisions, adrenalin rushes, extreme weather, bitter rivalries, heart-stopping races - they are all in a day’s work for Ben Ainslie. Against all odds, in the London �0�� Olympics Ben Ainslie thrillingly won a fourth successive gold medal, making him the greatest ever Olym-pic sailor and a British hero, chosen from many to be the flag bearer for the closing ceremony. It is revised and updated for paperback to include London �0��.NancyAdrian FortRRP £��.00 £�0.00In �9�9, Nancy Astor became the first woman to take a seat in Parliament. She was not what had been expected. Far from a virago who had suffered for the cause of female suffrage, she was already near the centre of the ruling society that had for so long resisted the political upheavals of the early twentieth century, having married into the family of one of the richest men in the world. She was not even British.9780��4090��� hb Jonathan Cape

Patrick: An AdventureArtemis CooperRRP £��.00 £�0.00Patrick Leigh Fermor (�9��-�0��) was a war hero whose exploits in Crete are legendary, and above all he is widely ac-claimed as the greatest travel writer of our times, notably for his books about his walk across pre-war Europe, A Time of Gifts and Between the Woods and the Water; he was a self-educated polymath, a lover of Greece and the best company in the world.

BiographyDante in LoveA.N. WilsonRRP £�4.99 £��.99In Dante in Love, A. N. Wilson presents a glittering study of an artist and his world, arguing that without an understanding of medieval Florence, it is impos-sible to comprehend the meaning of Dante’s great poem.Dante in Love also lays bare the enigma of the man who never wrote about the mother of his children, yet immortalized the mysterious Beatrice, whom he barely knew.978�84887949� hb Atlantic

Brendon Books: 0�8�� ��774� email: brendon books@gmail.com

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CitadelKate MosseRRP £�0.00 £��.00From the No.� internationally bestselling author comes the third heart-stopping adventure exploring the incredible history, legends and hidden secrets of Carcassonne and the Languedoc. Set during World War II in the far south of France, Citadel is a power-ful, action-packed mystery that reveals the secrets of the resistance under Nazi occupation.97807��87�474 hb Orion

The House of SilkAnthony Horowitz£7.99THE GAME’S AFOOT ...It is November �890 and London is gripped by a merciless winter. Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson are enjoying tea by the fire when an agitated gentleman arrives unannounced at ���b Baker Street. He begs Holmes for help, telling the unnerving story of a scar-faced man with piercing eyes who has stalked him in recent weeks. Intrigued, Holmes and Watson find themselves swiftly drawn into a series of puzzling and sinister events

978�409���98� pb Orion

The Wine of SolitudeIrene Nemirovsky£7.99Helene is a troubled young girl. Neglected by her self-absorbed mother and her adored but distant father, she longs for love and for freedom. As first the Great War and then the Russian Revolution rage in the background, she grows from a lonely, unhappy child to an angry young woman intent on destruction. “The Wine of Solitude” is a powerful tale of an unhappy family in difficult times and a woman prepared to wreak a shattering revenge.

9780099��0�7� pb Vintage

The Yellow BirdsKevin PowersRRP £�4.99 £��.99An unforgettable depiction of the psychological impact of war, by a young Iraq veteran and poet, The Yellow Birds is already being hailed as a mod-ern classic. Everywhere John looks, he sees Murph. He flinches when cars drive past. His fingers clasp around the rifle he hasn’t held for months. Wide-eyed strangers praise him as a hero, but he can feel himself disappearing.978�4447����8 hb Sceptre

Standing In Another Man’s GraveIan RankinRRP £�8.99 £��.99It’s twenty-five years since John Rebus appeared on the scene, and five years since he retired. But �0�� sees his return in Standing In Another Man’s Grave. Not only is Rebus as stubborn and anarchic as ever, but he finds himself in trouble with Rankin’s latest creation, Malcolm Fox of Edinburgh’s internal affairs unit.978�409�447�7 hb Orion

ArmadaJohn Stack£7.99The author of the Master of the Sea series, is back with a standalone battle book that will blow all others out of the water. ��87. Two nations are locked in bitter conflict. One strives for dominance, the other for survival.9780007�8989� pb Harper

The Death of King ArthurSimon Armitage£7.99“The Alliterative Morte Arthure” - the title given to a four-thousand line poem written sometime around �400 - was part of a medieval Arthurian revival which produced such masterpieces as “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” and Sir Thomas Malory’s prose “Morte D’Arthur”. “The Death of King Arthur” deals in the cut-and-thrust of warfare and politics: the ever-topical matter of Britain’s relationship with continental Europe, and of its military interests overseas.9780�7��49480 pb Faber & FaberThe Last Dance & Other Stories

Victoria HislopRRP £��.99 £�0.99In ten powerful stories, Victoria Hislop takes us through the streets of Athens and into the tree-lined squares of Greek villages. As she evokes their distinct atmosphere, she brings vividly to life a host of unforgettable characters, from a lonesome priest to battling brothers, and from an unwanted stranger to a groom troubled by music and memory.97807���9��7� hb Headline

The RiverPatricia Wastvedt£8.99This is the Orange Prize long listed debut novel by the author of “The German Boy”. In �9�8, in a small Devon village, on an idyllic summer af-ternoon, two children are drowned. Their parents, Isabel and Robert, are overcome with grief but, as time passes, their tragedy becomes part of the everyday fabric of village life. One summer’s day, thirty years later, Anna arrives.

FictionOur Lady of Alice BhattiMohammed Hanif£7.99The patients of the Sacred Heart Hospital for All Ailments in Karachi are looking for a mir-acle. Junior nurse, ex-prisoner and part-time healer Alice Bhatti is looking for a job. With guidance from the working nurse’s manual, and some tricks she picked up in prison, Alice starts work at the crowded hospital bringing help to the thousands of patients littering the corridors.9780099���7�0 pb Vintage

Brendon Books: 0�8�� ��774� email: brendon books@gmail.com

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The Cleaner of ChartresSally VickersRRP £��.99 £��.99From the author of the bestselling Miss Gar-net’s Angel and winner of the �007 IMPAC Dublin award, The Cleaner of Chartres is the beautifully beguiling tale of a young woman who brings healing to a town that didn’t know it needed it, only to find her own re-demption among its community of lost souls. 9780�709����� hb Penguin

N-WZadie SmithRRP £�8.99 £��.99North West London comes vividly to life in “NW”, the new novel by the author of the bestselling “White Teeth” and Man Booker-shortlisted “On Beauty”. This is the story of a city. The north-west corner of a city. Here you’ll find guests and hosts, those with power and those without it, people who live some-where special and others who live nowhere at all. And many people in between.9780�4��44�4� hb Hamish Hamilton

BloodlineFelix FrancisRRP £�8.99 £��.99From Felix Francis, bestselling author of “Gamble” and co-author (with Dick Francis) of “Even Money” and “Crossfire”, comes “Bloodline”, the latest Dick Francis novel. Set in the cut-throat world of horse racing, “Bloodline” is a pay thriller packed full of suspense, mystery and intrigue.97807�8��9�44 hb Penguin

The GreatcoatHelen DunmoreRRP £7.99In the winter of �9��, Isabel Carey moves to the East Riding of Yorkshire with her husband Philip, a GP. With Philip spend-ing long hours on call, Isabel finds herself isolated and lonely as she strives to adjust to the realities of married life. Woken by intense cold one night, she discovers an old RAF greatcoat hidden in the back of a cupboard. ..9780099��494� hb Cornerstone (Hammer)

Merivel: A Man of His TimeRose TremainRRP £�8.99 £��.99The gaudy years of the Restoration are long gone. Robert Merivel, physician and courtier to Charles II, loved for his gift to turn sorrow into laughter, now faces the agitations and anxieties of middle age. Questions crowd his mind: has he been a good father? Is he a fair master? Is he the King’s friend or the King’s slave? In search of answers, Merivel sets off for the French court.

978070��8��0� hb Chatto & Windus

DodgerTerry PratchettRRP £�8.99 £��.99Dodger is a tosher - a sewer scavenger liv-ing in the squalor of Dickensian London. Everyone who is nobody knows Dodger. Anyone who is anybody doesn’t. But when he rescues a young girl from a beating, suddenly everybody wants to know him. And “Dodger’s” tale of skulduggery, dark plans and even darker deeds begins...9780�8���9�7� hb Doubleday

A Possible LifeSebastian FaulksRRP £�8.99 £��.99Provocative and profound, Sebastian Faulks’ daz-zling novel journeys across continents and time to explore the chaos created by love, separation and missed opportunities. From the pain and drama of these highly particular lives emerges a mysterious consolation: the chance to feel your heart beat in someone else’s life.978009�9��808 hb Hutchinson

Fault LineRobert GoddardRRP £7.99For Jonathan Kellaway, the past is somewhere he chooses not to go. Dead friends, lost lovers and a family dy-nasty hell-bent on self- destruction lie buried there. But if he is to uncover the truth, he must confront all the secrets which have consumed his life, and which may yet consume him...9780�������8� pb Corgi

Fiction

Brendon Books: 0�8�� ��774� email: brendon books@gmail.com

Jewels of ParadiseDonna Leon£�7.99 £�4.99Caterina Pellegrini is a young Venetian musicol-ogist hired by two competing cousins to find the truthful heir to an alleged treasure concealed by a once-famous, but now almost forgotten, ba-roque composer. Sworn to secrecy, Caterina can solve the mystery only by searching through the papers contained in the composer’s two chests that have not been opened for centuries97804�40���74 hb William Heinemann

Back to BloodTom WolfeRRP £�0.00 £��.00Based on the same sort of detailed, on-scene, high-energy reporting that powered Tom Wolfe’s previous best-selling novels, The Bon-fire of the Vanities and A Man in Full, Black to Blood is another brilliant, spot-on, scrupulous, and often hilarious reckoning with our times.9780��4097�77 hb Jonathan Cape

�7

Unfinished EmpireJohn DarwinRRP £��.00 £�0.00John Darwin won the Wolfson History Prize for his book “After Tamerlane: The Rise and Fall of Global Empires”. In “Unfinished Empire” he examines the enormous influence of the British Empire. It has shaped the world in countless ways: repopulating continents, carving out modern nations, imposing its own language, technology and values.978�84��40884 hb Penguin

A History of the World in Twelve MapsJerry BrottonRRP £�0.00 £��.00Jerry Brotton is the presenter of the acclaimed BBC4 series “Maps: Power, Plunder and Possession”. Here he tells the story of our world through maps. Throughout history, maps have been fundamental in shaping our view of the world, and our place in it. But far from being purely scientific objects, world maps are unavoidably ideological and subjective, intimately bound up with the systems of power and authority of particular times and places. 978�84��40990 hb Penguin

The SleepwalkersChristopher ClarkRRP £�0.00 £��.00In “The Sleepwalkers” acclaimed historian and author of “Iron Kingdom”, Christopher Clark, examines the causes of the First World War. The moments that it took Gavrilo Princip to step forward to the stalled car and shoot dead Franz Ferdinand and his wife were perhaps the most fateful of the modern era. An act of terrorism of staggering efficiency, it fulfilled its every aim.97807��9994�� hb Penguin

First ClassChris WestRRP £��.99 £��.99This delightfully playful history uses �� of our most expressive, quirky, beautiful and sometimes baffling stamps to tell us the story of Britain, through Dickens and the potato famine to Thatcher and punk. Stamps tell a story. Since the Penny Black first burst on the scene in �840, they have made and mirrored history as it hap-pens - from the ‘British Empire Exhibition’ of �9�4 to the Austerity Olympics of �948, from the Coronation to the death of Diana, from the advent of computers to the new Millennium.9780��409�4�4 hb Square Peg

Life & Death in the British Secret ServiceGordon Corera£8.99The British Secret Service has been cloaked in secrecy and shrouded in myth since it was created a hundred years ago. Our understanding of what it is to be a spy has been largely defined by the fictional worlds of James Bond and John le Carri. The Art of Betrayal provides a unique and unprecedented insight into this secret world and the reality that lies behind the fiction.97807��8�8��� pb Phoenix

Blood SistersSarah GristwoodRRP £�0.00 £��.00How the Wars of the Roses were won and lost by the political and dynastic skills of the royal women: this is the true story behind Philippa Gregory’s dramatic novels about fiery Queens and the perils of power. After archaeologists unearthed the remains of Rich-ard III in a Leicester carpark, his pivotal era is once again ripe for valuation.9780007�09�90 hb Harper Press

History/Current Affairs

How Britain WorkedGuy MartinRRP £�0.00 £��.00Illustrated throughout with specially commis-sioned photography as well as historical images, Guy will take us through each project; his pas-sion, enthusiasm and sheer inventiveness bringing a completely new perspective to the Industrial Revolution.He invites us to live it with him, to enjoy the nostalgia, marvel in the mechanics and learn from its legacy.97807���40848 hb Virgin

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Lessons for the TopGavin EslerRRP ��.99 £�0.99One of Britain’s leading journalists and interviewers reveals what the stories that lead-ers tell can teach us about getting to the top - and staying there. Great leaders have always understood the power of stories. Through the stories they tell, the most successful leaders educate, persuade and bring about change, but we rarely have the background knowledge to explore how they do so.9781846684999 pb Profile

Birds in a CageDerekNiemannRRP £�0.00 £��.00“In the summer of �940, lying in the sun, I saw a family of redstarts, unconcerned in the affairs of our skeletal multitude, going about their ways in cherry and chestnut trees.” Soon after his arrival at Warburg PoW camp, British army officer John Buxton found an unexpected means of escape from the horrors of internment. 978�7807�09�7 hb Short Books

A Force to be Reckoned WithJane Robinson£9.99Over �00,000 women in the UK belong to the WI and their membership is growing. They cross class and religion,include all ages -from students and metropolitan young profession-als, such as the Shoreditch Sisters,to rural cen-tenarians -with passions that range from sup-porting the �9�0s Bastardy Bill (in response to a wartime legacy of illegitimate babies) to the current SOS for Honey Bees campaign.978�84408��0� pb Little Brown

�8

NigellissimaNigella LawsonRRP £��.00 £��.00“Nigellissima” takes inspiration from Italian cooking to bring the spirit of Italy into the kitchen and onto the plate, pronto. At the heart of Italian cookery lies a celebration of food that is fresh, tasty and unpretentious; Nigella Lawson reflects this in recipes that are simple and speedy, el-evating everyday eating into no-fuss feasts.978070��87��0 hb Chatto & Windus

Curry NationMadhur JaffreyRRP £�0.00 £��.00Travelling across Britain, visiting local Indian and South Asian communities, Madhur reveals how it’s possible to sample virtually the whole of Indian cuisine without ever leaving the Brit-ish Isles. In the official tie-in book to the series, Madhur showcases her favourite recipes with influences from all over the subcontinent.978009�9499�8 hb Ebury Press

Clarissa’s EnglandClarissa Dickson WrightRRP £�0.00 £��.00The quintessential Englishwoman Clarissa Dickson Wright, one of the Two Fat Ladies and author of Spilling the Beans, takes us on a personal journey through the country of her birth. From Cornwall to Cumbria, Norfolk to Northumbria she brings her extraordinary knowledge, huge passion, forthright opinions and inimitable wit to the distinctive history and regional character of every corner of England.978�4447�909� hb Hodder & Stoughton

Cooking with the MasterchefMichael Roux JrRRP £��.99 £��.99Michel Roux has a justifiable reputation as someone who knows everything there is to know about food, how it should taste and how it should be cooked. He is very serious-minded about cooking and his masterly performances on MasterChef have created a wide and admir-ing fan base. ‘MasterChef shows cooking as it should be and it’s very good at showing the passion and skills required in becoming a chef and you learn something about food.’97807��8�8�49 pb Phoenix

Great British PuddingsThe Pudding ClubRRP £�8.99 £��.99From steamed sponges (chestnut and chocolate pudding) to classic crumbles (ap-ple, blackberry and cinnamon), forgotten creations such as Lord Randall’s pudding and school dinner favourites like jam roly poly, through chocoholic delights to perfect rice pudding and vintage Christmas pudding, this book is a genuine pud-lover’s delight with ��0 foolproof, tried-and-tested recipes, easy instructions and colour photographs.978009�94�4�8 hb Ebury Press

Kitchen DiariesNigel SlaterRRP £�0.00 £��.00Includes over ��0 recipes, many from his BBC TV series Dish of the Day, Simple Suppers and Simple Cooking. From Nigel Slater, presenter of Dish of the Day and one of our best-loved food writers, a beautiful and inspiring companion volume to his bestselling Kitchen Diaries. ‘For years now I have kept notebooks, with scribbled shopping lists and early drafts of recipes in them. These notes form the basis of this second volume

Cookery/Natural History

Wild Hares & HummingbirdsStephen Moss£8.99As the year unfolds, Stephen Moss witnesses the landscape as it passes from deep snow to spring blossom, through the heat haze of sum-mer to the chill winds of autumn; from the first hazel catkins to the swallows returning from Africa; from the sounds of the dawn chorus to the nocturnal mysteries of moths. “Wild Hares and Hummingbirds” is both the story of a small corner of the West Country and a celebration of the natural world.9780099���4�8 pb Vintage

SurvivorsRichard Fortey£9.99An awe-inspiring journey through the eons and across the globe in search of visible traces of evolu-tion in the living creatures that have survived from earlier times. In this groundbreaking book, prize-winning science writer Richard Fortey chronicles life’s history not through the fossil record, but through the stories of organisms that have survived, almost unchanged, through geological time.9780007�0987� pb HarperPress

The Old WaysRobert MacfarlaneRRP £�0.00 £��.00The “Old Ways” is the stunning new book by acclaimed nature writer Robert Macfarlane Short-listed for the Samuel Johnson prize �0��. In “The Old Ways” Robert Macfarlane sets off from his Cambridge home to follow the ancient tracks, hol-loways, drove-roads and sea paths that form part of a vast network of routes criss-crossing the British landscape and its waters, and connecting them to the continents beyond.9780�4��4�8�0 hb Hamish Hamilton

Brendon Books: 0�8�� ��774� email: brendon books@gmail.com

Otter CountryMiriam DarlingtonRRP £�0.00 £��.00Over the course of a year, Miriam Darlington travelled around Britain in search of wild otters; from her home in Devon to the wilds of Scotland; to Cumbria, Wales, Northumber-land, Cornwall, Somerset and the River Lea; to her childhood home near the Ouse, the source of her watery obsession.978�8470848�9 hb Granta

�9

The Spanish Ambassador’s SuitcaseMatthew Parris & Andrew BrysonRRP £��.99 £��.99Matthew Parris and Andrew Bryson bring together some of the funniest despatches from British Ambassadors abroad, in this sequel to their acclaimed Parting Shots. Based on a new BBC Radio 4 series, it features some classic stories.9780�709��0�4 hb Viking

I’m Sorry I Haven’t a CLueBarry Cryer et alRRP £�0.00 £��.00“I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue” is the most lis-tened to comedy programme on British radio. It regularly attracts an audience of �.� million listeners on Radio 4, a figure that would put it comfortably into the top ten programmes on BBC� or Channel 4. The format of the game is very simple: four players - Graeme Garden, Tim Brooke Taylor, Barry Cryer and a guest are given silly things to do by the Chairman Jack Dee.

978�84809�9�8 hb Preface

House of FunSimon HoggartRRP £�4.99 £��.99“House of Fun is a bumper collection of Simon Hoggart’s finest and funniest sketches writ-ten since he took up the poisoned quill twenty years ago. It is instant history with added jokes. 97808�����8�4 hb Guardian Books

Mrs Weber’s OmnibusPosy SimmondsRRP £�0.00 £��.00Collected here for the first time are the complete strips. Although celebrated for pinpointing the concerns of Guardian readers in the �980s and their constant struggle to remain true to the ideals of the �9�0s, they are in fact remarkably undated. They show one of Britain’s favourite cartoon-ists, celebrated for “Literary Life” and “Tamara Drewe”, maturing into genius.9780��409�8�� hb Jonathan Cape

Weekend WodehouseP.G. Wodehouse£7.99This title comes with an introduction by Hilaire Belloc. “P.G. Wodehouse remains the greatest chronicler of a certain kind of Englishness, that no one else has ever captured quite so sharply, or with quite as much wit and affection”. (Julian Fellowes). “Weekend Wodehouse” - required reading at country house parties in the late Thir-ties - remains one of the best introductions to the work of PG Wodehouse. All the favourites are here: Drones Club stories, Mr Mullinger stories, stories of Jeeves, Lord Amsworth and Ukridge.9780099��8�49 pb Cornerstone

Steven Appleby’s Guide to LifeSteven ApplebyRRP £�4.99 £��.99Steven Appleby’s weekly “Loomus” cartoon is one of the “Guardian’s” most popular features. Together they form a quirky, origi-nal and hilariously perceptive guide to the unexpected twists and turns of everyday life. Have you ever wondered how to be a good house guest, been a victim of the curse of the evil spell check or wanted to learn the secrets of smell spotting? Here, you’ll find all the answers to life’s big questions.

97808�����777 hb Guardian Books

The True History of the Black AdderJ.F. RobertsRRP £�8.99 £��.99The True History of the Black Adder” is the very first in-depth examination of the creation of a British institution like no other - arguably the greatest sitcom of all time - not to mention the first historical investigation into the lives of the Blackadder family, one of the nation’s most villified dynasties.978�84809�4�� hb Preface

Humour/Sport

My TimeBradley WigginsRRP £�0.00 £��.00On �� July �0�� Bradley Wiggins became the first British man ever to win the Tour de France. In an instant ‘Wiggo’ became a national hero. Ten days later, having swapped his yellow jersey for the colours of Team GB, he won Olympic gold in the time trial, adding to his previous six medals to become the nation’s most decorated Olympian of all time.9780��409���8 hb Yellow Jersey Press

Can Anyone Hear MePeter BaxterRRP £��.99 £��.99For �4 years from �97� Peter Baxter was BBC producer of the hugely popular Test Match Special, and during that time he reported on Test matches from around the world. This funny and revealing book takes us behind the scenes.978�90�8�04�� hb Corinthian

Running My LifeSebastian CoeRRP £�0.00 £��.00One second in time may separate the great athlete from the merely good. Seb Coe has made every second count. From an early age he has been driven to be the best at every-thing he does. Since the moment Coe stood alongside a ‘scrubby’ municipal running track in Sheffield, he knew that sport could change his life.978�4447����8 hb Hodder

Brendon Books: 0�8�� ��774� email: brendon books@gmail.com

�0

Miscellaneous The Brain is Wider than the SkyBryan Appleyard£9.99It is time, says Bryan Appleyard, to resist, and to reclaim the full depth of human experience. We are, he argues, naturally complex creatures, we are only ever at home in complexity. Through art and literature we see ourselves in ways that machines never can. He makes an impassioned plea for the voices of art to be heard.978�780��0��4 pb Orion

Rough Guide ot the ��st Century CinemaAdam Smith£�4.99Celebrate the centurys’ finest movies in “The Rough Guide to ��st Century Cinema”, a lavishly illustrated homage to the world’s best movies of this new era of cinema. It offers: the best �0� films: a run down of the finest films of the millenium from Hollywood blockbusters to indie gems.978�40��8��74 pb Rough Guides Ltd

The Book of ChristmasJane StruthersRRP £9.99 £7.99Packed with fascinating facts about an-cient religious customs and traditional feasts, instructions for Victorian parlour games and the stories behind our favourite carols, “The Book of Christ-mas” is a captivating volume about our Christmas past.978009�947�9� hb Ebury

The Fabled CoastSophia KingshillRRP £�0.00 £��.00Pirates and smugglers, ghost ships and sea-serpents, fishermen’s prayers and sailors’ rituals - the coastline of the British Isles plays host to an astonishingly rich variety of local legends, customs and superstitions. In “The Fabled Coast”, renowned folklorists Sophia Kingshill and Jennifer Westwood gather together the most enthralling tales and tradi-tions, tracing their origins and examining the facts behind the legends.978�84794���4 hb Cornerstone

Wonder Book of TrainsPaul AtterburyRRP £�4.99 £��.99Paul Atterbury’s Wonder book of Trains estab-lishes the sense of excitement and wonder in the world of trains, remembered by a generation of boys who grew up to be railway enthusiasts. In this wonderfully evocative book Paul draws together marvelous classic colour illustrations, archive photographs and period line drawings and hand lettering with intelligent and insightful commentaries.978�44��0�0�� hb David & Charles

The HorologiconMark ForsythRRP £��.99 £�0.99The Horologicon (or book of hours) gives you the most extraordinary words in the English language, arranged according to the hour of the day when you really need them. Do you wake up feeling rough? Then you’re philogrobolized. Pretending to work? That’s fudgelling, which may lead to rizzling if you feel sleepy after lunch, though by dinner time you will have become a sparkling deipnosophist.978�848��4��� hb Icon

Hello AgainSimon ElmesRRP £�8.99 £��.99�4 November �0�� marks the ninetieth anni-versary of the BBC’s first ever broadcast and the beginning of the British love affair with radio. This fascinating book takes as its start-ing point those early, tentative programmes broadcast from Marconi House on the Strand, and follows the story of those magical radio voices through the years of economic depression, war and austerity, to the swinging Sixties and up to the digital era.978�84794���� hb Cornerstone

CopendiumJulian CopeRRP £�0.00 £��.00Eschewing the usual criteria of chart suc-cess or acknowledged influence, “The Copendium” - a collection of album reviews and themed track samplers - takes energy, originality and heaviness as its bearings. The result is a feast of obscure and neglected masterworks that together form a surprising but entirely credible new tradition.

Great OperasMichael SteenRRP £��.00 £�0.00Great Operas is his accessible and entertain-ing user’s manual to making the best of an opera - whether at home or at a live perform-ance, interspersing the key facts with erudite commentary from a man for whom opera is a lifetime’s passion.978�848��4�7� hb Icon

Our ChurchRoger ScrutonRRP £�0.00 £��.00For most people in England today, the church is simply the empty building at the end of the road, visited for the first time, if at all, when dead. In Our Church, Scruton argues that the Anglican Church is the forlorn trustee of an architectural and artistic inheritance that remains one of the treasures of European civilization.978�84887�984 hb Atlantic

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The Worst Thing About My SisterJaqueline Wilson£�.99Marty and her sister Melissa couldn’t be more dif-ferent. Marty loves her Converse trainers, playing football, hiding in her secret den and helping her dad with his DIY. But Melissa loves Justin Bieber and all things pink, girly and pretty. The sisters can manage to live together, despite their occasional scraps but then Mum tells them they have to share a room.97804408�9�8� pb Yearling Pub date �/��

Bilbo’s Last SongJ.R.R.Tolkien£�.99While Bilbo embarks on his last journey to the West, his mind is cast back to his first big adventure, “The Hobbit”. J.R.R Tolkien’s beautiful poem is brought to life through Pauline Bayne’s stunning illustrations. It’s the perfect introduction to the epic fantasy series of “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings” for younger readers, and a real treat for all Tolkien fans.97800994�97�� pb Red Fox

The Big Snuggle-UpBrian PattenNicola Bayley£�.99It all started with a scarecrow coming into the house out of the snow, bringing with him the mouse that lived up his sleeve. But it wasn’t only these two who were looking for a warm place to snuggle up!978�849�94��� pb Andersen Press

InheritanceChristopher Paolini£7.99It began with Eragon...It ends with Inheritance. Not so very long ago, Eragon - Shadeslayer, Dragon Rider - was noth-ing more than a poor farm boy, and his dragon, Saphira, only a blue stone in the forest. Now, the fate of an entire civiliza-tion rests on their shoulders. 9780�����0�4� pb Corgi

How to Seize a Dragon’s JewelCressida Cowell£�.99The story continues in the tenth volume of Hiccup’s How to Train Your Dragon mem-oirs. When we last left Hiccup things were getting very dark indeed. The Dragon Rebel-lion has begun. Snotlout is the new Chief of the Hooligan Tribe. Stoick has been ban-ished and given the Slavemark. And Alvin the Treacherous has EIGHT of the King’s Lost Things, and has been proclaimed the new King of the Wilderwest ...978�444908794 pb Hodder

I Want My Hat BackJon Klassen £�.99The bear’s hat is gone, and he wants it back. Patiently and politely, he asks the animals he comes across, one by one, whether they have seen it. Each animal says no, some more elaborately than others. But just as it he begins to lose hope, lying flat on his back in despair, a deer comes by and asks a rather obvious question that suddenly sparks the bear’s memory and renews his search with a vengeance.978�40���8��9 pb Walker

The OdysseyGillian CrossRRP £��.99 £��.99A magnificent retelling of Homer’s epic sto-ry, illustrated with lavish full colour pictures and exquisite black and white silhouettes. Homer’s great story is retold with simplicity and style by award-winning children’s writer Gillian Cross.978�40��0��74

Horrid Henry’s Fearsome FourFrancesca SimonRRP £��.99 £�0.99Full colour bind-up gift book of four Horrid Henry Early Reader stories - in-cluding Horrid Henry’s Birthday Party, Horrid Henry’s Underpants, Horrid Henry’s Nits and Horrid Henry and the Football Fiend. Early Readers - your child’s stepping stone from picture books to reading books.978�44400��7� hb Orion

One GorillaAntony BrowneRRP £�l.99 £8.99Explore the family of primates and learn to count from one to ten with former Children’s Laureate in this exquisite picture book for the youngest of children. With all the colour and drama of the natural world, Anthony Browne’s detailed depictions of monkeys and apes bring a new depth to first numbers and convey an important message to us all.978�40����799 hb Walker Books

Safe For LifeKatherine ReynoldsLord Stomper is kidnapped. The entire troupe must flee their home to escape capture. Through many ad-ventures, Red Tabby and Dylan lead the troupe to the temporary sanctuary of Buckler’s Island, home of Red Tabby’s old shipmate Captain Buckler. Lord Stomper, rescued by Banjo, disguises himself as a monk to sniff out the forger behind the illegal sale of his estate97809��0���4� pb ideas4writers

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Children’s Books

Brendon Books: 0�8�� ��774� email: brendon books@gmail.com

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Heroes of Olympus: The Mark of Athena Rick Riordan RRP £12.99 £10.99The phenomenally successful Rick Riordan is back with the next thrilling installment of the “Heroes of Olympus series”. Can “Percy Jackson” and the “Half-blood” Heroes suc-ceed on their quest to find “The Doors of Death” or will the Greek Gods of chaos win their battle to stop them? 9780�4����74� hb Penguin

A Stallion Called MidnightVictoria Eveleigh RRP £4.99Jenny secretly befriends ‘Midnight’, a wild horse on the island of Lundy. Midnight won’t let any-one tame him. Anyone, that is, except Jenny - but that’s their secret. A perfect story for pony-lovers based on the real legend of ‘Midnight’ the Lundy Stallion. Jenny has to leave him on their island home and go away to school. 978�44400���� pb Orion

Diary of Wimpey KidJeff KinneyRRP ��.99 £�0.99The “Third Wheel” is the hilarious next book in the brilliant, bestselling and award-winning “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” series. Perfect for readers of 8+ and all the millions of Wimpy Kid fans. A Valentine’s Day dance at Greg’s school has turned his world upside down. As Greg scrambles to find a date, he’s worried he’ll be left out in the cold on the big night. 9780�4��44980 Pub date: �4/��

Make Your Own T.REXRRP £�4.99 £��.99This title helps you to create your very own dinosaur. It’s just what every dinosaur fan wants - your very own T-Rex! With “Make Your Own T-Rex” you can become an expert paleon-tologist and build your own dinosaur. 978�409�7�4�9 hb Penguin

The SacrificeCharlie HigsonRRP £��.99 £�0.�9The sickness destroyed everyone over the age of fourteen. All across London diseased adults are waiting, hungry predators with rotten flesh and ravaged minds. Small Sam and his unlikely ally, The Kid, have survived. They’re safe with Ed and his friends at the Tower of London, but Sam is desperate to find his sister.9780�4������� hb Penguin

Lego Batman Visual DictionaryRRP £��.99 £��.99Enter the world of LEGO Batman. The complete visual guide to all things LEGO Batman, and includes an exclusive minifigure with every copy. This is the ultimate guide to every set and minifigure to be found in the DC Universe.978�409�8�0�8 hb Penguin

The Quentin Blake TreasuryRRP £�9.99 £9.99“The Quentin Blake Treasury” contains: “All Join In”; “Quentin Blake’s Nursery Rhyme Book”; “Patrick”; “Angelica Sprocket’s Pockets”; “Mister Magnolia”; “Quentin Blake’s ABC”; “Cockatoos”; “Angel Pave-ment”; and “Mrs Armitage Queen of the Road”.

97808�7��0477 hb Jonathan Cape

The Roald Dahl TreasuryRRP £�9.99 £9.99This superb hardback is jampacked with complete picture tales, as well as ex-cerpts from longer stories, poetry (some previously unpublished), autobio-graphical material and letters. It is also filled with outstanding artwork from Quentin Blake, Raymond Briggs, Posy Simmonds, Ralph Steadman, Patrick Benson, Charlotte Voake, Lane Smith and Babette Cole among others.9780��404�9�� hb Jonathan Cape

Children’s Books

DarkeAngie Sage£�.99On the shortest day of the year, as the Castle is lit with candles and everyone prepares to celebrate, Wizard Apprentice Septimus Heap marks his fourteenth birthday. He has reached a new stage in his Apprenticeship: Darke Week. Awe-inspiring, terrifying, unbelievably impor-tant, Septimus’s future will depend on what happens during this week.978�40880��7� pb Bloomsbury

Wave HunterBeth Webb£8.99Part three of the stunning Star Dancer quartetAs she passed her hand over the mirror’s blackened surface, Étain memorised what she had scried: a young druid-girl with raven hair, but not an ordinary student of the arts who stuck rigidly to spells and potions; this one worked instinctively with raw magic plucked from the elements. 97809��8�7�08 pb March Hamilton

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November 2012 Events

Date Event Details Venue

Events in date order. Contact details for most of the venues are given at the end of event listings. Please note, we do not take any responsibility for errors or omissions. Please check with venue for timings and programme details.

�� Talk Somerset Cricket: The Glory Years - Alain Lockyear & Richard Walsh Brendon Books 7.00Drama Farm Boy by Michael Morpurgo - New Perspectives Theatre Company Brewhouse 7.4�

��-�� Drama Lend Me a Tenor - Taunton Thespians (also see later entry) Tacchi-Morris 7.�0�4 Drama Le Grande Suit (The Big Jump) - Theatre de La Guimbarde Tacchi-Morris (Space) ��.00/�.00

Talk Survivors of the Ice Age - Alice Roberts (Rgs) Brewhouse 7.4��4-�7 Drama Calendar Girls - Blake Drama Club Bridgwater Arts Centre 7.4��7 Music Wellington Acoustic Music Club Wellington Arts Centre 8.00�� Art Talk Tim Markham Art Talk: ‘My Art’ The Barn 7.�0

Dance Neshima Dance Company & Swerve Dance Theatre Company Tacchi-Morris (Space) 7.�0Music Masters of the House - Songs from musicals Brewhouse 7.4�

�� Comedy Happiness Through Science - Robin Ince Brewhouse 8.00�7 Drama Lend Me a Tenor - Taunton Thespians Tacchi-Morris �.�0/7.�0

Music Jazz from the Prohibition Years - Mike Denham & Tom ‘Spats’ Langham Cossington Village Hall 8.00Music Kathryn Roberts and Sean Lakeman - Folk Rock David Hall 8.00

�8 Music The Martinu String Quartet Dillington House �.�0Music Sinfonietta �0th Anniversary Concert St James Church, Taunton �.00

�9 Drama Mother Courage and Her Children - Blackeyed Theatre Brewhouse �.00/7.4� Talk The Parrett Floodgates - Davi Greenfield (Som Ind. Archaelogical Soc) North Town School 7.�0�9-�0 Dance Dancing Through the Lens - Heathfield’s dance companies Tacchi-Morris 7.�0�0 Magician Piff The Magic Dragon in Jurassic Bark Brewhouse 8.00�� Drama A Child’s Christmas in Wales - Somerset College Tacchi-Morris 7.�0

�� Circus Circus of Horrors - Circus acts from around the globe Brewhouse 7.4��� Floral Art Frosty Festival Fantasy - Stephen McDowell with Taunton Floral Art Club Tacchi-Morris 7.�0

Music The Alberni String Quartet Dillngton House 8.00�� Music Come to the Kabaret - Waterfront on Tour Porlock Village Hall 7.�0

Comedy Gagging Order - Jimmy Carr Wellsprings Leisure Ctre 8.00

Music Andre Cannniere - American trumpeter and composer Bridgwater Arts Ctre 8.00Music The Schubert Ensemble Castle Hotel �.4�

�4 Music The Schubert Ensemble Castle Hotel �0.�0/�.4�Music Come to the Kabaret - Waterfront on Tour Minehead Social Club 7.�0Music Clare Teal - Jazz and Blues Brewhouse 7.4�Music Baroness Boogie Disco- Funk, R& B, Pop Exchange , Taunton 8.00

�� Talk The Tate Britain Pre-Raphaelites With Julian Halsby Dillington House �.�0Music Schubert Ensemble Castle Hotel �0.�0Music Three Counties Swing band - tribute to eric saffin Lawns (BritishLegion)Taunton �.�0Music Three Bonzos and a Piano David Hall 8.00

�7-�9 drama Mansfield Park - Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds Brewhouse �.00/7.�0

�7-�9 drama One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest - Heathfield School Drama Festival Tacchi-morris 7.�0

Music Some Enchanted Evening - Bridgwater Amatuer Operatic Society Bridgwater Arts Centre 7.�0�0 Music The Reflections The Crown 7.00

Comedy Feeling Lucky - Chris Ramsey Brewhouse 8.00

Music Steve Graham - Classic Jazz Ilminster Arts Centre 8.00

Music The Producers - David Saunders Band Square & Compass, Ashill 8.00

�4

December 2012 Events

Event Details Venue Time

Events in date order. Contact details for most of the venues are given at the end of event listings. Please note, we do not take any responsibility for errors or omissions. Please check with venue for timings and programme details.

� Music Gala Showcase - Somerset Opera St James Church 7.�0Music Carolling & Crumpets - John Kirkpatrick Wellington Arts Centre 7.�0Music Come to the Kabaret - Waterfornt on Tour Roadwater Village Hall 7.�0

Comedy Roy Chubby Brown Wellsrpings Leisure Centre 7.�0Music Somerset Folk Songs for Midwinter Halsway Manor 8.00

� Talk The Golden Age of Islamic Science - Prof. Jim Al-Khalili Dillington House �.�0� Talk The Fussell’s Family and Their Ironworks - Robin Thornes North Town School 7.�04-� Drama Oli (Modern twist on Oliver) - Heathfield School Year 11 drama festival Tacchi-Morris 7.�07 Music Exeter Cathedral Choir Castle Hotel �.�0 Music Microlight Music The Crown Pub, Ilminster 7.00

Music Open Mic Night of Festive Music Tacchi-Morris 7.�0Music Las Torders - Ska, Pop and Rock Bridgwater Arts Centre 8.00

7 to� Jan

Drama Wind in The Willows - Brewhouse Christmas Show (check individual days for times)

Brewhouse �0.��/�.00/7.00

8 Music Fetsive Evening of Carol Singing Hestercombe Gardens �.00Music Phoenix Singers - Christmas Concert St James Church, Taunton 7.�0

Music Maiastra - Classical Music Ilminster Arts Centre 7.�0 Music 4 Girls, 4 Harps - Christmas Concert Dillington House 8.00�0 Drama Christmas Community Drama Evening Tacchi-Morris 7.�0�� Dance Christmas Community Dance Evening Tacchi-Morris 7.�0��-�� Variety Gensis Christmas Showcase Wellington Arts Centre 7.�0��-�� Drama Underground - real life words and sound form the underground Tacchi-Morris (Space) 7.�0

�4 Music Pearl and the Diamond - Geezers Music Crown Pub, Ilminster 7.00 Ballet A Christmas Carol - Ballet Theatre UK Tacchi-Morris 7.�0

Music And the Beat Goes On - The Mersey Makers Lawns Social Club 7.�0 Music Sleep Holy Babe - Blossom Street St Michael’s, Milverton 8.00

Drama Talbot House Bridgwater Arts Centre 8.00

�� Music CK Gospel Choir Christmas Concert Tacchi-Morris 7.�0Music Wellington Acoustic Music Club Wellington Arts Centre 8.00Music Handel’s Messiah - Taunton Choral Society/Taunton Sinfonietta St James Church 7.�0

�� Music Christmas Through the Ages - Gabrielli Consort/Copenhagen Royal Choir St Mary Magdalen, Taunton �.00Music Carols in the Park - Friends of Vivary Park Vivary Park 7.00Music Acoustic Roots - Chris Jaggers Square & Compass 7.4�

�7 Music The Glory of the English Carol - Collegium Singers St Johns, Wellington 7.00

�8 Music Business Carol Service (for all those who work in Taunton) St James Church �.���9 Music The Deane Big Band - 40’s/�0’s big band music/Frank Sinatra Tacchi-Morris 7.�0�� Music Blue Mile Music Crown, Ilminster 7.00

Music Collegium Singers Christmas Concert St Johns, Wellington 8.00

��-�� Music Taunton Concert Band’s Christmas Showcase Tacchi-Morris 7.�0

�� Drama One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest - Heathfield School Drama Festival Tacchi-morris 7.�0

Talk Crocodile Mundi - Dr Joanna Kyffin of Egyptian Exploration Society Friends Meeting House �.00

Music Festival of Nine Lessons & Carols - Phoneix Singers St Johns Baptist Ch. (Well) �.�0

�8 Panto Dick Whittington Wellsrpings Leisure Ctre �.00

�9-� Jan

Panto Babes in the Wood - Minehead Panto People Regal Theatre, Minehead �.�0/7.�0

��

�� Talk She-Wolves - Dr Helen Castor Dillington House �.�0

��-�9 Panto Dick Whittington - Wayfarers Pantomime Society(Check individual days for times)

Brewhouse �.�0/�.�0�.�0/7.�0

�8-�0 Music The Endellion String Quartet Castle Hotel �0.�0/�.�0Music Bobby Wellins & Jim Mullen with Craig Milverton Trio Ilminster Arts Centre 8.00

Music The Dante Quartet St Michaels’, Milverton 8.00�0 Music Final of Taunton Young Musician Competition Queen’s College �.�0��-�7 Panto Alice in Wonderland - Wellington Pantomime Group Wellesley Theatre 7.�0�4 Music Hats Off to Led Zeppelin Brewhouse 7.4��� Storytelling Baba Yaga’s Oven - Storytelling for Adults Brewhouse 7.4� Drama Free Fringe Fridays - experimental theatre Brewshouse (Studio) 7.4��� Music The Johnny Cash Roadshow - Clive John & The Spirit Band The Brewhouse 7.4� Music Concert: Nick Wyke, Becki Driscolli & Dave Shepherd Halsway Manor 8.00�7 Talk Gardening & Moral Value in �8th Century England-Dr Steve Poole Dillington House �.�0�0 Music Lee Memphis King - Elvis Presley tribute Brewhouse 7.4��� Music Voice of the Heart - music of Karen Carpenter Brewhouse 7.4�

January 2013 Events

Date Event Details Venue Time

Events in date order. Contact details for most of the venues are given at the end of event listings. Please note, we do not take any responsibility for errors or omissions. Please check with venue for timings and programme details.

February 2013 Events

� Music Jazz - Emily Wright & The Royals Ilminster Arts Centre 8.00

� Music The Quartetto di Cremona Dillington �.�0

� Talk New Leaf Design - Planning to Succeed in Your Market Place Rumwell Hall �.009 Music Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Pageant with Adrian Evans Dillington �.�0 Music Halsway Manor Concert/Dance Halsway Manor tbc�0 Talk Divine Women - Bettany Hughes Dillington �.�0 Music Chamber Music Concert Temple Meth. Church �.00 �� Music Catrin Finch - Harp International Concert Series 7.4� 7.4��� Music The Cappa String Trio - St Michael’s, Milverton 8.00 Music Jazz - Mike Denham & Chris Garrick Ilminster Arts Ctre 8.00�7 Music Grtea Britain - Great Britten - Somerset Chamber Choir King’s College Chapel �.00�0 Storytelling The Eye of the Beholder - Sharon Jacksties Halsway Manor 8.00�� Talk My Art Talk - Roger Large TBC 7.�0��-�4 Music The Wihan Quartet Castle Hotel �0..�0/�.�0�4 Music Piano Recital with Martin Roscoe Dillington �.�0�8 Talk Monet - Talk with Jeremy Harvey TBC 7.�0

��

Art Exhibitions November 2012 - February 2013

Contacts List Barn, Obridge House. Contact: Jeremy Harvey. 0�8�� �7�4��Barrington Court Barrington Ilminster, Somerset TA�9 0NQ 0�4�0 �4���4 Brendon Books Bath Place Taunton TA� 4ER 0�8�� ��774� brendonbooks@gmail.comThe Brewhouse Theatre & Arts Centre Coal Orchard Taunton TA� �JL 0�8�� �74�08 info@thebrewhouse.net Bridgwater Arts Centre ��-�� Castle Street Bridgwater, Somerset TA� �DD 0��78 4�� 700 The Castle Hotel Castle Green Taunton TA� �NF 0�8�� �7��7�Church St Peter & St Paul Moor Lane North Curry Ta� �JZ 0�8�� 490���The David Hall, Roundwell St SOuth Petherton. TA�� �AA 0�4�0 �40�40 info@thedavidhall.org Dillington House Estate Office, Whitelackington, Ilminster, Somerset TA19 9DT 01460 258648 dillington@somerset.gov.uk Enmore Inn Enmore Rd Durleigh, BRIDGWATER, Bridgwater, Somerset TA� �AW0��78 4�� 0�� Halseway Manor Crowcombe Taunton, Somerset TA4 4BD 0�984 ��8�74 Hestercombe Gardens Hestercombe Taunton TA� 8LG 0�8�� 4�� 9��Hobbyhorse Ballroom Esplanade Minehead, Somerset TA�4 �QP 0��4� 70��74 Ilminster Arts Centre East Street ILMINSTER TA�9 0AN 0�4�0 ��78� Oake Manor Golf Club,Oake Taunton TA4 �BA 0�8�� 4��99� Parish Church St John Wellington 7� High Street Wellington(0�8��) ����48 Porlock Village Hall Toll Road (New Rd), Porlock TA�4 8QD 0��4� 8��7�7Queen’s Conference Centre Trull Road Taunton Ta� 4QS 0�8�� �7���9 contact@queenscollege.org.uk Regal Theatre �0-�� The Avenue Minehead TA�4 �AY 0��4� 70�4�0 mail@regaltheatre.co.ukRichard Huish College � Kings Close Taunton, Somerset TA� �XP 0�8�� ��0800Silver Street Centre Silver Street Wiveliscombe, Taunton, Somerset TA4 �PA 0�984 ����07 St Mary Magdalene Church Church Square Taunton TA� �SA 0�8�� �7�44�St Mary’s Church Bridgwater St Mary Street Bridgwater TA� �EQ 0��78 4��4�7 saintmarybridgwater@gmail.com St Mary’s Church Stogumber office.qtb@btinternet.com St John’s Church Park Street Taunton TA� 4DG secretary@stjohnstaunton.org.uk Tacchi-Morris Arts Centre School Road Taunton TA� 8PD 0�8�� 4� 4� 4� info@tacchi-morris.com Taunton RFC Hyde Park, Hyde Lane, Bathpool, Taunton, Somerset, TA� 8BU 0�8�� ������ Temple Methodist Church Upper High Street Taunton TA� �PY (0�8��) �7�7��Warehouse Theatre Brewery Lane, Ilminster, TA�9 9AD Tel 0�4�0 �7049

0�/�0/�� – �7/��/�� Brewhouse Theatre Mandate From The Honest Hard-Working People Volkhardt Müller 0�/��/�� – �7/��/�� Ilminster Arts Centre TRIPLE VISION Jan Brame - an etcher, Michael Tarr and Robert Parker - painters��/��/�� – 0�/��/�� Hestercombe Gardens Sue Gooch - Stained Glass New Lutyens Gallery Exhibition �9/��/�� – 0�/��/�� Ilminster Arts Centre ‘made in glastonbury’ is a collective of seven artists working in, and inspired by Glas-tonbury and the Isle of Avalon.�7/��/�� - ��/��/�� Gallery 4�, Swain St, Watchett - The Big Little Picture Show0�/��/�� – 0�/0�/�� – Hestercombe Gardens Rebecca MacPherson - Paintings07/��/�� – 0�/0�/�� – Brewhouse Theatre Poop Poop – The Wind In The Willows��/0�/�� – ��/0�/�� The Brewhouse Taunton Work: Surface - Andrew Davey

�7

Mojos 09 08

Andrew Davey has a spe-cific memory of the first time his art was recog-nised. He was nine and had completed a paint-ing of a butcher’s shop for which he was praised by his teacher.

A little praise goes a long way for years later in the sixth form at the grammar school he became the first and only pu-pil to take ‘A’ level art in his year, even though his headmaster attempted to dis-suade him telling that he was a ‘bright chap’ - the implication being that he should not waste his talents on art. While he did not receive encouragement from his headmaster he did receive it from a new young art teacher. Warnings that he was given about ‘goings on’ at Art school only served to stimulate his curiosity and he became accepted for Hornsey College of Art once he had completed his ‘A’ lev-els. When he completed his Fine Art Paint-ing degree in �9�9 he took a variety of jobs, the first as a hospital operating theatre porter. Gardening and general la-bouring followed, the only creative res-

pite being some occasional construction work for stage design within television, and a job at the Royal College of Art - that only required him however, to hold up the art of student applicants to a panel to say yes or no to their entries. Eventually, he decided that he would try working as an art teacher. This was the last year when it was possible to walk straight into a teaching job without acquiring a teaching qualification and he found the first year in his post in a school in Lambeth without any training very challenging and at times wonders how he got through it. However, he per-sisted and eventually he became head of department in a school in Islington and spent �0 years in all as a teacher in Lon-don. In �984 he moved with his wife and young family to West Somerset Com-munity College in Minehead as head of art and later Team leader for all the Arts. He remained there until he retired from teaching in �008. He enjoyed his time there immensely and for �� years was joined by his wife, Toni, also a graduate of Hornsey College of Art. Together they built up a thriving art department and be-tween taking over the department and his retirement the number of students taking A level art each year increased from � to more than 40. When they first moved to Minehead Andrew had imagined that there were would be further opportunities to work

as an artist outside his school work and away from the rigours and stresses of teaching in the inner city. However, he was mistaken as the focus on education at that time became more intense and demanding and left him little free time. However, he does not regret this and comments, ‘I felt very privileged to work with kids in this community.’ Andrew was happy to put his own art work to one side feeling that he had still had a creative life with the students and adopted a way of teaching that meant that he could still participate in the artistic process. There are many sketchbooks and drawings from his teaching years and there were occasional bursts of painting activity. Now that he has finished teaching he has the opportunity to concentrate on his own art work. He also reflects that he now has the means and opportunity to produce the work he wants to, giving him a kind of freedom that perhaps would not have been available to him if he was try-ing to make his way as a young artist. An early project after teaching grew out of the departments large collection of art books – more than a thousand. One day just before he left he began turning them all around so that the spine was facing the wall and the fore edge was on show, concealing the content. He admits to a slight obsession with tidying his books and keeping his studio in order. (His art-ist’s studio does seem incredibly tidy and well organized). He then took photos and

Andrew Davey in his studio

The Art of Concealment

Stair

�8

Andrew Davey Exhibition: Worksurface Saturday �� January – Saturday �� February

at The Brewhouse, TauntonArtist’s Talk: Wednesday � February. �.00

(Also at The Brewhouse)0�8�� �74�08 info@thebrewhouse.net

made representations of the books and sev-eral paintings followed. He has been work-ing full time as an artist ever since. Recent projects have been based on trees, the mineral line railway and maps, pairs of figures, and representations of Shiva. Andrew’s work is typically based around a geometric layer which sits flat across the picture. Layered squares or rectangles com-pete with an image which in varying degrees is obscured. Here is the heart of the matter: the balance between what is revealed and what is concealed. The central image may be further obscured by painted veils. The image though is never completely obscured and there is an intentional ambiguity: perhaps the image is disappearing from view or is about to be revealed? There is also an ambiguity on another level. Is the painting figurative or abstract? Are we witnessing something that forms a series of random shapes and lines or is it a tangible image representing an every-day object? That is how Andrew thinks that we now experience the world, in a fragmen-tary and interrupted way and increasingly through media or ‘windows’, through com-

puter screens or virtual portals. While this may seem a very modern type of observation Andrew draws on the work on of the �7th century Dutch masters, Vermeer, de Hooch and Terborch. In their composi-tions spaces are opened up or closed through corridors, windows, doors and screens. He is also influenced by twentieth century paint-

er Mark Rothko, through the use of his stacks of colour, with layers and veils superimposed one upon the other, where the eye is often drawn away from the cen-tre and towards the edges and margins. These references to other painters he be-lieves is a way that his work has been in-fluenced by the direction of his teaching. He encouraged his students to refer to other artists and their ideas and methods as a way of developing their own skills and their own work. It made me wonder if there were any direct links to the art of his student days when he was studying for his degree at Hornsey: ‘Though the themes and subjects are very different there are certain ways of doing things or a kind of painter’s hand-writing that I have in common with my-self as a young artist.’ He points to the way he puts down a mark, how he will often draw directly with the paint tube onto the canvas. In terms of composition, there has always been an awareness of the vertical and horizontal and the pres-ence of that geometric overlay. His paintings are always a journey where the destination is unknown though they will be based around a central strong theme as in the present case where lad-ders and steps with all their symbolic sig-nificance are central to the body of work. Because he is never sure of the precise outcome, there is much room for experi-ment and some of his use of medium is unconventional: correction fluid in some of his drawings or stainblock for his larg-er paintings (having the quality of being opaque and creamy and lending itself to being dragged or scraped). A painting may become transformed or become a ve-hicle for another painting: so for example a rubbing is taken from a previous work

with an impastoed surface to produce a noticeably different effect. This may then be copied and transformed into another painting or drawing – and so on.

He is also interested by the way inten-tion is communicated and then interpreted by the viewer, how for example, a recent version of a painting of his of a tree with an abstract overlay was interpreted as the tragedy of the twin towers when this was not his intention. He admits perhaps to searching too much for a meaning in his own paintings as though to justify his work. This is a dialogue which he has had with his youngest daughter Rose who is a graduate of the Slade School of Art. Her response is to tell him not to search too hard for meaning and to let it emerge from the work which is something he has actively tried to do and believes it has a positive influence on the direction of his work.

Step

Stair

�9

The Big Little Picture Show

www.g-41.com . info@g-41.com . Tel: 01984 639009

41 Swain Street . Watchet Somerset . TA23 0AE

17 November—23 December 2012

Over 100 small, affordable, original pictures for sale alongside new ceramics, pottery,

sculpture and glass priced from £30. Ideal for Christmas gifts.

Still Life 2 © Janine Partington

5% of sales from the Big Little Picture Show will be donated to Children in Need

Jazz from the Prohibition Years. Cossington Village Hall Trivetts Way Cossington Bridgwater TA7 8JN Saturday November �7th - 8.00pmMike Denham (piano) and Tom “Spats” Langham (banjo-guitar-vocals) invite you to jump aboard the Jazz Train on a delight-ful journey from Chicago to Paris, stopping off in New Orleans, New York and many more jazz orientated cities en route. Enjoy the wonderful works of Fats Waller, George Gershwin, Bing Crosby,,Django Reinhardt and more, all performed by � outstand-ing musicians and raconteurs. Reserved tables £�0.00 per person which includes tasty interval treats.are available from host Roger Collett 0��78 4���87 local resident Sue Tippetts 0��78 7��4�� or Strings ‘n’ Things in Bridgwater. A licensed bar with real ale will be open from 7.00pm. A dona-tion from the evening and a collection at the end of the performance will be on behalf of Bridgwater Hospital League of Friends.

Mike DenhamSpats Langham

40

Taunton Thespians still pulling it off The following is an edited version of a piece written in �9�� by the then Taunton Thespians chariman John Wilkins with additional material provided by Nicola Dawson and other contem-porary Thespians.

The Founding Fathers – and Mothers – of the Taunton Thespians would have claimed no far-sighted plans when, in �9�7, finding an amateur dramatic vacuum in Taunton, they got together and said, “Let’s do a play.” Fortunately among them was Mr. Neville Bradshaw, a master at Taunton School, a born organiser who was producer, business manager and even billposter. And so the posters went up for three performances of “Tilly of Bloomsbury” at the Lyceum Theatre, now the Odeon, with the name, The Taunton Thespians, added at the last minute to give a little class. The production was a success; none of the trusting guarantors had to pay up. The proverbial shoestring was al-ways in evidence; a bill for ten pounds for a broken “prop” which had been borrowed meant a treasure hunt or whist drive to avoid depleting slender reserves. A tremendous debt is owed to two of the schools in Taunton which provided facilities at a peppercorn rent, the former Weirfield School (later sold and incorporated into Taunton School) with rooms for rehearsals, and Taunton School with facilities for scenery con-struction, and later, with the use of the School Hall for productions. The Society met in September, �9�9, with resolution and determined to “carry on.” Indeed, as the war progressed, it increased its productions to three a year. Somehow the difficulties were overcome; players walked to rehearsals through the black-out, or got on their

bicycles to ride off to give a performance in a neighbouring village hall; if “Labur-num Grove” demanded the unobtainable bananas, the props department got to work with sponge cake and chamois leather; when male members went to the war, their places were often taken by men from the Services stationed in Taunton, among them some professional actors; and when our own producers were too busy, we were fortunate in finding in Taunton a distin-guished theatrical evacuee in Miss Esmé Beringer. With such increased activity a new type of organisation was inevitable, and the old benevolent despotism gave place to a set of regular officers elected by a formal membership. More players were needed, and, to train these, classes were established-at one time three of these were running concurrently. Other play-ers, mainly young housewives, formed a Children’s Theatre which gave afternoon performances in primary schools. The importance of youth was recognised, and a teenage section, “The Pleiades” came into being, to be followed by another Group, “The Twenties,” which combined acting practice with play production. These manifold activities had to be pursued in a variety of make-shift rented premises, garages, army huts, a rifle range, and, above all, some old stables known affectionately as “The Dump.” It was decrepit, draughty, and it leaked, but was well loved. The Thespians rehearsed and built scenery in it, and did Studio

Productions there. But it was lost it in the “Year of Disaster.”, �9�0. Ine day in the stage gang had just finished the fit-up for next day’s opening of a play at the Odeon, and at � a.m. sallied forth, raincoats buttoned up against driving rain. By 7 a.m. Taunton was under three feet of water, the Odeon was awash, lots of equipment was lost and the play was off for six weeks. After ordeal by water, ordeal by fire. Next May, the old “Dump,” now ironi-cally like tinder after a dry spell, went up in flames, leaving just a few twisted lanterns, charred remains of rostrums and scorched and soaking drapes. It had

The first Production: Tilly of Bloomsbury

The Winslow Boy, �949

4�

been destined some time for demo-lition to make way for a car park; perhaps there was wry satisfaction in seeing it end its days in a blaze of glory, and it did indeed contribute some extra publicity towards the Society’s �00th full-length produc-tion, “Teahouse of the August Moon,” which took place in the autumn. Miss Ewing and the Taunton Arts Centre Association made efforts to induce the Town Council to adapt an existing building as a little theatre. But it was no good; the old Town Mill by the riverside was demolished, and that disused eighteenth century chapel, full of character, was regarded as a structural menace. Then, in the black-out of frustration some un-seen benevolent electrician switched on a couple of spots; the Council announced its decision to build a splendid civic theatre, and we found a big old Georgian House, condemned for housing, but just what we wanted, and could afford. However, it took ten more years of lobbing and fundraising before the Thespians celebrated the opening of the Brewhouse Theatre. Many Thes-pians volunteered as helpers at the new theatre. In the �990s the Thes-pians moved out of the Canon Street premises into a former fruit ware-house at the far end of Wilfred Road. Since then, the Thespians have aver-aged three of four main theatre pro-ductions a year. The society is a keen supporter of the Somerset Fellowship of Drama One Act Festival and most

years enters one or two short plays. Over recentyears, the Thespians have deliberately attempted more outreach activities including semi-improvised murder mysteries, cabarets and mini tours. In �997 Arthur Miller’s The Cru-cible was the first in-house produc-tion at The Place at Wilfred Road. In �00�the society initiated a two week open air touring production in mid June. Twelfth Night was popular suc-cess and has been followed by other Shakespearecomedies, and then a romp through restoration and later amusements including The Rivals, Tom Jones, London Assurance, A Servant of Two Masters and in the wettest summer for �00 years, Terry Pratchett’s Lords and Ladies. In March �009. with great sadness, the Thespians announced that they could no longer afford to hire the Brewhouse Theatre and moved their spring and autumn productions to the Tachhi Morris Theatre. In November �009: Thespians were invited to take a show to The Gambia as part of that country’s first ever arts festival. The chosen play was Daisy Pulls It Off and it prove a great suc-cess.

Lend Me A TenorThe Thespians latest production

This night in September of �9�4 is the biggest in the history of the Cleveland Grand Opera Company world famous tenor Tito Morelli is to perform Otello, his greatest role, at the gala season opener. Saunders, the harried General Manager, hopes this will put Cleveland on the cultural map. Morelli is nowhere to be found; when he finally arrives drunk, it is too late for any rehearsal. Through a hilarious series of mishaps, ‘Il Stupendo’ is given a double dose of tranquilizers which mix with the booze he has consumed and he passes out. His pulse is so low that Saunders and his assistant Max believe he is dead. What to do? Saunders coaxes Max into Morelli’s costume, intending to fool the audience with this fake ‘Il Stupen-do’, blackface and all. Nervous amateur Max succeeds admirably, but Morelli revives and dresses for his second act. With two Otellos now in costume and two women en deshabille, each thinking she is with ‘Il Stupendo’, the

farce spins out of control onstage and off.

��-�7 NovemberLend Me a Tenor by Ken LudwigTacchi Morris Theatre & Arts CentreSchool Road Taunton TA� 8PD 0�8��

4� 4� 4� info@tacchi-morris.comCostumes arranged in date order

Daisy Pulls it off in the Gambia, �009

4�

4�

In 1978 Rachel was badly burned in a car accident on her way to work at a local Taunton newspaper. Her new volume of poetry, Holes in the Soul, A Life of Poetry in Art, is dedicated to all the staff at Frenchay who enabled her to make a good recovery and then return to work to resume her life.

Rachel takes a very positive approach to liv-ing since the accident and her life since is a testimony to this. However, we need just for a moment to consider the severity of the ac-cident. She was involved in a road traffic ac-cident, having been knocked unconscious by a head on collision, and for a time she was trapped in a burning car. It was a devastat-ing accident. The burns to her face caused excessive swelling which in turn affected the eyes and she was unable to see for the dura-tion of a week. This is a frightening aspect of facial burns, as not only is the patient in a strange environment but is unable to see the treatment being given. The staff were excel-lent with their communication skills explain-ing to Rachel what was happening to lessen the anxiety of the situation. Full thickness burns were sustained to her hands and legs as within in a few minutes her life had been transformed. As described in her poem ‘The Scream’ accompanying this article, ‘Changes

yet Unqualified’ In those days East Reach was the accident and Emergency centre for Taunton and after a short assessment the decision was taken to transfer Rachel to the burns unit at Frenchay. She can remember the excruciating pain, as the ambulance made its way to Bristol, and on to Frenchay Hospital. The initial problem with severe burns is the loss of fluid from the body; this is called hypovolaemic shock so before leaving Casualty in Taunton intrave-nous fluids we set up. From beginning to end she has nothing but praise for Frenchay hospital and the staff. ‘They carried me through it,’ she explains. ‘I did not want to fail and they were not go-ing to let me. Failure was not an option!’ She benefited from the fact that her surgeon then was Mr. Hiles, one of the most respected in his field with regard to burns and their treat-ment. However, she finds praise for the help she was given at every level. ‘As I was im-proving and my eyesight was restored, if the Nurses were too busy, the Domestic staff on the ward would help me open my post, as I had polythene bags full of ointment on both hands.’ She had lost weight, and at one point was only 7 stone. ‘The lack of suit-able nourishment will cause skin grafts not to ‘take’ effectively, so all the time I was in Ward �4 the Nurses encouraged me to eat, and drink high protein drinks, as a result of this I had a 99% ‘take’ on all my grafts. An-cillary staff, medical and nursing staff, were commendable in the way they worked as a team.’ Rachel noticed that even though there was an ancillary workers’ strike and heavy snow, they never let the patients down. She considers that there was a great spirit about

the place even though the hospital presented many organisational challenges with a mish-mash of buildings many of which dated back to the Second World War. And there was the support of a constant stream of visitors, colleagues, friends and family, and lots of treats. She spent the Christmas of that year there. Her bed was at the back of the ward which looked onto the green at Frenchay and she remembers seeing the squirrels running up the trees through the snow and this gave her a feeling of great hope for the future. There was also a bizarre almost surreal ex-perience of which she thinks with great affec-tion that happened that Christmas. A young junior houseman with a guitar approached her bedside where she was sitting covered in bandages. He asked her if she could sing. She said ‘yes’ (her brother and sister could play the piano but she was considered the one with the best voice). They proceeded to tour the ward as a duo while she sung ‘The Times They Are a Changing’ and he accom-panied her on the guitar. She felt like some-thing from the horror film ‘The Return of the Mummy’, but strangely her voice still sound-ed the same and this was very comforting, having to come to terms with such a changed exterior. However, she reflects, many people in the ward were in a similar positions and being in hospital buffered the patients from the reactions they would receive outside the hospital. After a short convalescence at Wellington Cottage Hospital she was back at work with-in a few months at the newspaper, quicker, the surgeon told her, than anyone he can re-member - she believes, on reflection, a little too quickly. She was not prepared for some of the re-actions she would get to her injuries. She wanted to go swimming to improve her flex-ibility: ‘It was a nerve-racking experience when people’s children started pointing and describing my scars in loud voices ,’ she admits. Sales assistants would drop change into her hand ‘because they think you have an infection when in fact you have a nice clean skin grafts.’ In the poem ‘My Beauti-ful Hands’, Rachel celebrates the usefulness of her hands and all the things she has been able to do with them as a result of the nurs-ing and medical skills at Frenchay Hospital . She writes ‘In the last poem and art work on page ��, I show my heartfelt gratitude, as the pattern for the fabric collage is taken from the present topography of my useful, flexible and therefore beautiful hands.’ Though she had enjoyed working on the

Rachel Hartland: Accentuating the Positive

Residue

44

newspaper, a few months after she returned she felt the need to be involved with a job that presented her with more immediately real is-sues, and that she should pay something back to society, so she decided to train as a RGN. She nursed for over ten years, first in Taunton and then in Pembrokeshire. She also gained a diploma in cosmetic camouflage for scars. She thought that she would like to help oth-ers, and while still in Somerset she gave ad-vice both cosmetically and supportively to those who had met similar challenges. Returning to Taunton she met and married her husband, David. After obtaining a Cer-tificate of Education, she taught an adult education class ‘Painting on Glass’ at Som-erset College, tutored Saturday workshops and evening classes and also ran private day workshops in Somerset. She had always enjoyed art although excelled at drama and

when she was younger, having attended eight schools before the age of thirteen due to her family re locating, Drama became the easiest option when the eighth school closed in her A level year. She then attended Drama school in Bristol. She began producing art in her studio and was commissioned to make several interior panels for private homes in the Taunton area. To reinforce her art experience she complet-ed a fine art degree with Plymouth Universi-ty which she attended at Somerset College in �0�0. Rachel has exhibited at the Hot House Gallery at Somerset College in Taunton, The Old Glove factory at the North Devon Festi-val, the Brewhouse in Taunton and twice at The Atkinson Gallery at Millfield in Street, where she won a prize for her installation, ‘The Shadow Factory’ (at the ��st Summer Show in �009). She has also exhibited in her own gallery as part of Somerset Art Weeks in �0�0 and �0��. Examples of Rachel’s art along with poetry are currently on display in the North corridor of Frenchay hospi-tal and will be exhibited until March �0��. Ruth Sidgwick, Arts Programme Manager for North Bristol NHS Trust was particular-ly keen to mount the exhibition, ‘We really hope that Rachel’s words and images will be a rich source of inspiration and hope for other trauma patients’. Poetry, of course, has also played an impor-tant role in her life. As a child she remembers spending time in the old servants’ quarters on the top floor of a remote rambling vicarage in a tiny village in Yorkshire and sharing her

thoughts on paper. Even at the age of nine she remembers using poetry ‘as a cathartic medium in which to file and explore her feelings’. The poetry covers a wide range of subjects over a long period though; naturally many of the later poems record her feelings in relation to the challenges presented by her accident. ‘Changes in body image, identity and trauma are present in some poems, as I try to come to terms with my new life,’ she explains. Each of the pages in the poetry book includes background images from Rachel’s art or photography. Rachel is keen to point out however that the book covers many sub-jects, not only her hospital experiences, there is humour and satire within the work.The profit from the poetry book will be do-nated to the adult burns unit at Frenchay

The Scream

Because the face no longer fits the name

Turning you disowned me in that place

From deep inside the scream is still the same.

You may have thought it just a silly game

This dreadful visage an impostor’s ruse

Because the face no longer fits the name.

Ethereal essence that will not tame

As ghost patrolling my usual haunts

From deep inside the scream is still the same.

You knew not of my burning fame

Absented from a humdrum working life

Because the face no longer fits the name.

Perfection melting in the flame

Changes yet unqualified

From deep inside the scream is still the same.

Embarrassed I turned away in shame

How will I live if I am not myself?

Because the face no longer fits the name

From deep inside the scream is still the same.

Poetry Book Launch

Rachel will be launching her po-etry book at Brendon Books on Tuesday �7 November at 7pm. There will be a short talk and reading followed by a signing. There is no charge for this event

but please R.S.V.P. Brendon Books.

Bath Place Taunton, TA� 4ER 0�8�� ��774�

brendonbooks@gmail.com

4�

BOOKS: New & Old Ordnance Survey Map Stockists

Named as one of the top 50 of all bookshops in the UK by the Independent Newspaper in February 2012

01823 337742 brendonbooks@gmail.com

www.brendonbooksonline.co.uk

4�

Eighty voices in full flow at a rehearsal on a Tuesday evening can be a pretty overwhelming sound! But it is also a very uplifting experience for the mem-bers of Taunton Choral Society as they hone their performance in prepara-tion for their next concert in December.

The current membership is continuing over a hundred years of music making for the Society. It all started in �90� as the Taunton Madrigal and Choral Soci-ety. Although madrigals feature less in the repertoire now, the tradition of cho-ral music continues. Records show that the first concert was a performance of Mendelssohn’s ‘St Paul’ followed later

that season by Coleridge-Taylor’s ‘Hia-watha’s Wedding Feast’ – a work not of-ten heard these days.

The pattern that became established quite early in the life of TCS was to perform large choral works interspersed with in-strumental and smaller scale works. This is still much the same today. Between the two World Wars many of the famous choral repertoire pieces were tackled but after �9�9 records have either been lost or are incomplete until �9��. During that year we know the Society performed a programme of Christmas music.

Many in the town will remember Ronald Tickner and it was when he was appoint-ed as MD in �97� that the group changed its name to Taunton Choral Society. During Ron’s leadership the choir sang works by Rossini, Purcell and Britten as well as many other choral favourites. In �989 John Cole took over the baton and it was he who persuaded a then up and coming young baritone by the name of Bryn Terfel to sing the title role of ‘El-

ijah’. Perhaps pleased to have set him on his way (!), Bryn is now the Society’s pa-tron but unfortunately rarely has time to sing with them now... After a successful and influential fifteen years, John Cole retired from the Society in �004 with a sell-out performance of Verdi’s ‘Req-uiem’. His wife, Linda, still works tire-lessly for the Society ‘fixing’ soloists and supporting it as its President.

The last few years have seen perform-ances of such grand pieces as Haydn’s ‘Creation’ and the ‘Nelson Mass’ as well as ‘Elijah’ again – this time with the wonderful David Soar taking the title role. And last year, timed to celebrate an exciting royal occasion, their most re-cent musical director, Stephen Bell, led a ‘Celebration Concert: Music for a Royal Wedding’. Works by Parry, Handel, Mo-zart, Walton and Rutter echoed round King’s College Chapel to a warmly re-ceptive audience.

But what sort of person sings choral mu-sic these days? Well, Gareth Malone has

A 100 Years of Music Making

47

shown us how popular choral singing can be – and also that almost anyone can do it. Although there are some very experienced musicians in TCS, there are also many members who simply enjoy singing as a hobby. It’s not essen-tial to be able to read music, although it helps a bit – but a good ear and a will-ingness to learn brings enjoyment and

satisfaction at producing a harmonious, well blended sound. That’s partly why TCS ran a workshop earlier this year. Their ‘Come and Sing’ day was a great success – many visitors came along and rehearsed Faure’s ‘Requiem’ and the ‘Cantique de Jean Racine’ during the day, then gave a pretty polished and well received performance in the evening.

The members like to perform to an au-dience – so what’s next...? Currently the choir is preparing for a performance of Handel’s ‘Messiah’. Many see this as the perfect start to their Christmas cele-brations (even though it was written for Easter). The first performance of ‘Mes-siah’ was in April �74� (not by current TCS members!) in Dublin. Parts of the work are very well known and almost anyone will be able to sing a few bars of the famous ‘Hallelujah’ chorus. Tradi-tion says that when that part of the mu-sic is reached, the audience stands sup-posedly because King George II stood up at that point when it was performed in London in �74�. But there’s no con-vincing evidence that the king was even present at that performance! Neverthe-less, when you come to hear TCS you will no doubt carry on the tradition.

Accompanied by Taunton Sinfonietta, TCS will sing this well loved work on Saturday ��th December at St James’ Church in Taunton. Tickets are £�� (with concessions for students) avail-able from the Ticket Office in TIC, or by calling 0�984 �40787. Alternatively you can now book for the ‘Messiah’ and all TCS’s other concerts online (for a small booking fee) at www.tauntoncho-ralsociety.org.uk.

If you think you’d like to join the choir or simply want to know more about it, you could take a look on their website or email the secretary at pjhollin@sky.com. Rehearsals take place every Tues-day evening at 7:�0pm in Temple Meth-odist Church hall – do go along if you’d like to give it a try. The choir can also be heard in Taunton town centre on Thurs-day �0th December singing carols to entertain the shoppers. And in the New Year look out for details of Carmina Burana (remember the Old Spice ad-vert!) that they are due to sing in April. Christopher Doyle

MD Stephen Bell Photo: Jolie Blanchard

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CinephiliaThe Brewhouse cinema in association with independent cinema group Curzon Cinema was launched at the beginning of September and has mirrored a trend in the growth of independent film clubs and cinema. We look at some of the offerings in the area.

The Brewhouse initiative appears to have proved an im-mediate success with the first film, The Artist, shown to a packed audience. It has a large screen that fills the prosenium and, in modern cinema terms, with its ��0 seat capacity is a large capacity audtorium. Robert Miles, chief executive of the Brewhouse, believes it will allow them to

show a different kind of film which previously may not have had an airing in commercial cinemas and would be mostly be available on CD. The films will not necessarily be ‘old’ as many films with be available wihtin a month or two of their release.’The great thing is I get emails from people asking for particularly films and very often I can respond to their requests.’ Plans in the near future include a season of all the Harry Potter Film over 4 days next Easter and all the Star War films on the same day on the 4th May – entitled ‘May the Fourth be with You.’ It helps to make us truly more of an Arts Centre rather than just a theatre -important though that is.’

He does not think that they are necessarily in competition with local film clubs in the surrounding vilages and towns. ‘There is something special about experiencing the cinema within your own immediate community and they are more accessible to many people In general it is great that cinema is becoming an important part of our lives. The more we get of it the more we will get a taste for it.’

The Cinema at the Warehouse is situated in the Warehouse Theatre (a former banana warehouse) in Brewery Lane, Ilminster, Somerset.It is now in its twenty-first season and is vey popular. As there are only 150 seats in the theatre, member-ship is restricted to ��0. They have a waiting list of people wishing to join.Sat �� December: Hugo, Sat � January Carnage, Sat �9 January Coriolanus, Sat �� Feb Casablanca.All films are now shown on a high quality 11ft x 14ft, electrically controlled, screen using DVD. The cinema’s seats are raked.Coming Shortly: at �� dec Hugo, sat � Jan Carnage, Sat �9 Jan Coriolanus, Sat �� Feb Casablanca.Contact details: Rob Rainbow 0�4�0 cris.rainbow@runbox.co.uk

49

Taunton Film Society

Formed in 2003 The films shown tend

to be contemporary, of all genres and from a variety of different countries. Also promote the study and appreciation of film by arrang-ing events, such as earlier this year a showing of ‘Pina’ at Tacchi-Morris which also involved a performance by some dance students or at the end of �0�� the day conference we ran about book/film links based on ‘Never Let Me Go’.TFS meets in a lecture theatre at Somerset College on one Friday in each month, except in August; the doors are open from 7:00pm with the film starting at 7:30pm. The next dates being 16th November, when the film will be ‘Whistleblower’ an American film about human trafficking, then on 7th Decem-ber ‘The Kid with a Bike’ a winner at last year’s Cannes Festival and �8th January �0�� we will show ‘Position Among the Stars’ a documentary about a family in Indonesia. More information about TFS and an up to date programme can be found at www.tauntonfilm-society.co.uk or ring 0�8�� 4���0�

Cinema Obscura, Wiveliscombe. Formed in 2000 to spotlight films you might not otherwise see. They have given several films their South-West premiere, and shown others never screened elsewhere in the UK. Alongside recent films from around the world they find room for neglected classics. They have recently been re-equipped with a Blu-Ray player and high-quality projector. They meet at the Primary School, North Street, Wiveliscombe TA4 �LA. Screenings start at 7.�0, but the doors open at 7, when you can meet other enthusiasts in an informal atmosphere over tea, coffee and cakes. Membership is still open, but guests are very welcome: admission for non-members is £�. For further information, visit their Facebook page, or ring Eddie Gaines (0�984 ��4��7) or Barry Witherden (0�984 ��9��4).

North Curry Film Club

Aim to show contemporary films that do not get a wide distribution by large multiplex cinemas. The majority of films are in the English lan-

guage but foreign, subtitled films are also shown. The equipment is owned by the village hall and is available for hire to other interested groups. Initially showings were to members only, but from September �0�� it is possible to view individual films for a payment of £5 on the door, if the Hall is not too full. We are also introducing a ‘Winter Warmer’ series of films on Saturday afternoons in the Winter, with tea and cake. Information about these extra programmes will be given nearer the date. there will be a charge of £� for members and £� for non-members. Nov �8 th Mao’s Last Dancer, Dec �9 Albert Nobbs, Jan �� We have a Pope, Feb �7 Sex Drugs annd Rock and Roll. Contact:Heather Williams, Willow Cottage, Knapp, Taunton, TA� �BB

The Regal Theatre, MineheadThe largest film society in the South West. Has been running for 18 years. Unlike many film societies now they still run 35mm film as well as digital – some affician-does believe that it delivers better quality film. They have nearly 400 members and are based in the Regal cinema though it is temporarily closed for refurbishment. Show an ecelectic mix of English and foreign language films.November screenings in the Methodist Hall, opposite the Regal while the theatre is closed.

‘The Descendants’ on November �� are available from Toucan Wholefoods, The Parade, Minehead, or telephone Vic-toria Thomas on 0��4� 8���4�.Membership for the season costs £��.�0 for an individual and £�7 for a couple, with a concessionary price of £�� per person. Admission to films costs £2.50 for members and £4.50 for guests. Tuesday, February 19 – The Angel’s Share.

�0

Portrait of Coleridge by Pieter van Dyke

Poetry Corner

The 21 October marked 240 years since Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s birth. He was only 25 when he moved to Nether Stowey in 1797. During the next three years he would write poetry which would change the way we saw the world forever, and the Romantic Move-ment would be born.

Written in �798, Frost at Midnight is one of Col-eridge’s conversation poems and, of these, is usually reckoned to be his finest.

The poem expressed the need to be raised in the coun-tryside and he expresses the hope that his son Hartley should experience this.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge, known as Sam to his family, was born in the vicarage of Ottery St Mary in Devon in �77� and spoke with a West Country burr all his life. He moved to a cottage in Nether Stowey - “the hovel”, he called it - with his wife, Sara, and baby son, Hartley, in �797 to be close to his patron Tom Poole and to concentrate on writing. It was damp and mouse-ridden. In a letter to a friend, he described his routine. He cultivated his large vegetable garden in the early morning, followed by reading and composing, back to the garden in the afternoon, attend to the pigs and poultry, more literary work until the evening and, at night, socialise with the very pretty young women of Stowey. We are very happy.’

Coleridge lived in the cottage for less than two years before going to Germany in September �798 to study. Yet here he produced much of his finest work in verse - including Kubla Khan, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison and Frost at Midnight, and began the collaboration with William Wordsworth on The Lyrical Ballads. This inaugurated the Romantic movement in England, which, in turn, would revolutionise the world of poetry. Wordsworth and his sister, Dorothy, rented the gentleman’s residence of Alfoxton Park for a year and either he or Col-eridge would walk the three miles to the other almost every day.

Walk the Coleridge Way and feel the wild romance of the Quantock HillsFurther information

www.quantockhills.com

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Frost at Midnight

The Frost performs its secret ministry,Unhelped by any wind. The owlet’s cryCame loud--and hark, again ! loud as before.The inmates of my cottage, all at rest,Have left me to that solitude, which suitsAbstruser musings : save that at my sideMy cradled infant slumbers peacefully.‘Tis calm indeed ! so calm, that it disturbsAnd vexes meditation with its strangeAnd extreme silentness. Sea, hill, and wood,This populous village ! Sea, and hill, and wood,With all the numberless goings-on of life,Inaudible as dreams ! the thin blue flameLies on my low-burnt fire, and quivers not;Only that film, which fluttered on the grate,Still flutters there, the sole unquiet thing.Methinks, its motion in this hush of natureGives it dim sympathies with me who live,Making it a companionable form,Whose puny flaps and freaks the idling SpiritBy its own moods interprets, every whereEcho or mirror seeking of itself,And makes a toy of Thought.

But O! how oft,How oft, at school, with most believing mind,Presageful, have I gazed upon the bars,To watch that fluttering stranger ! and as oftWith unclosed lids, already had I dreamtOf my sweet birth-place, and the old church-tower,Whose bells, the poor man’s only music, rangFrom morn to evening, all the hot Fair-day,So sweetly, that they stirred and haunted meWith a wild pleasure, falling on mine earMost like articulate sounds of things to come!So gazed I, till the soothing things, I dreamt,Lulled me to sleep, and sleep prolonged my dreams!

And so I brooded all the following morn,Awed by the stern preceptor’s face, mine eyeFixed with mock study on my swimming book:Save if the door half opened, and I snatchedA hasty glance, and still my heart leaped up,For still I hoped to see the stranger’s face,Townsman, or aunt, or sister more beloved,My play-mate when we both were clothed alike!

Dear Babe, that sleepest cradled by my side,Whose gentle breathings, heard in this deep calm,Fill up the intersperséd vacanciesAnd momentary pauses of the thought!My babe so beautiful ! it thrills my heartWith tender gladness, thus to look at thee,And think that thou shalt learn far other lore,And in far other scenes ! For I was rearedIn the great city, pent ‘mid cloisters dim,And saw nought lovely but the sky and stars.But thou, my babe ! shalt wander like a breezeBy lakes and sandy shores, beneath the cragsOf ancient mountain, and beneath the clouds,Which image in their bulk both lakes and shoresAnd mountain crags : so shalt thou see and hearThe lovely shapes and sounds intelligibleOf that eternal language, which thy GodUtters, who from eternity doth teachHimself in all, and all things in himself.Great universal Teacher ! he shall mouldThy spirit, and by giving make it ask.

Therefore all seasons shall be sweet to thee,Whether the summer clothe the general earthWith greenness, or the redbreast sit and singBetwixt the tufts of snow on the bare branchOf mossy apple-tree, while the nigh thatchSmokes in the sun-thaw ; whether the eave-drops fallHeard only in the trances of the blast,Or if the secret ministry of frostShall hang them up in silent icicles,Quietly shining to the quiet Moon.

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As an anti-tank gunner with the famous ��st Highland Division John Jarmain saw action at the battle El Alamein in October �94� and then for the next six months he fought with them through the Libyan deserts, right up into Tunisia and then took part in the invasion of Sicily. The ��st were often in the thick of the fight-ing and took terrible casualties. He sent over ��0 airmail letters back to his wife in Dorset, often written at night in a small dugout by the light of the moon, and inside the letters were the poems. The title of the book is taken from a line in a poem about that crucial battle. Seventy years have now passed since El Alamein, but the poems are still fresh and in many ways untypical of war poetry, being understated and minimalist. Jarmain was killed by mortar fire in Norman-dy, rather unsportingly before breakfast, on ��th June �944, in the once picturesque village of St Honorine, east of Caen, in the Calvados region. Sadly John Jarmain never saw his poems in print or even his first novel called Priddy Barrows which was about a boy’s school on Mendip. He was himself a schoolmaster at Millfield in its early days. The reviews that his poems received in �94� were impressive. Today several key academics such as Prof. Jon Stallworthy of Oxford are keen to recognise the re-discovery of his work.

Almost by chance James Crowden found the poems and the letters and has worked for over a year researching Jarmain’s life and the various actions he took part in. It has been a journey of discovery and immensely rewarding. Crowden feels that John Jarmain deserves to be known to a much wider audience and his poems once again set alongside the work of other Second World War poets like Keith Douglas, who are still, even today, little known and very much in the shadow of their First World War counter-parts. They fought a very different but just as bitter war, and many of the poets in the Western Desert were killed. We can still learn so much

from those that were embroiled in such major conflicts of conscience, brav-ery and hardship. Jarmain’s poems were shaped by solitude and the desert And as one of his lines says:

“ And the desert will live within us when war is ended.”

John Jarmain - War Poet 1911- 1944 Edited and researched by James Crowden, a ‘new’ book of war poetry by John Jarmain, is to be launched at Sladers Yard, West Bay, as part of the Bridport Literary Festival - Remembrance Day

- 11th November 2012 12 noon.Available form Brendon Books, Bath Place Taunton TA1 4ER

01823 337742 brendonbooks@gmail.com

Flowers in the Minefield: El Alamein to St HonorineJohn Jarmain -War Poet

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I don’t usually give money to beggars. After all, they’ll only spend it on drink. So I’m really not sure what got into my head that July morning. Maybe it was the sunshine, maybe it was the girls in short dresses, maybe there was just something in the air. Whatever it was, I went over to the old tramp outside the station and threw a couple of pounds into his bucket. Instead of thanking me, however, he stood up, reached behind my ear and produced a single feather, as if by magic. Looking deep into my eyes, he pressed the feather into my hands, closing them over with his.“You’re a bird,” he said to me. The voice was quiet, steady and educated, with no discernible accent. He held my gaze for several more seconds before nodding slightly and releasing me. I didn’t really know what to say, so I simply nodded back and moved away, putting the feather in the inside pocket of my jacket. Far from being discomfited by the morn-ing’s strange encounter, I felt elated for the rest of the day. A bird! Yes! That’s what I was! I was an eagle, soaring with wings outstretched above the mundane

pettiness of everyday working life, just waiting for the moment to strike. At last my destiny had been revealed to me. Curiously enough, it turned out to be a rather good day all round. I shafted two of my least favourite colleagues in our Mon-day-morning progress meeting, closed a half-million deal just before lunch and booked myself a few rounds of golf with the MD for the end of the month. The run of success continued for the rest of the week, and by Friday morning, I had installed a rather magnifcent framed picture of an ea-gle over my desk to remind me of what I had become. It was raining that evening, but when I got to the tube station, the tramp was still there, sitting behind his bucket, which now had more water in it than money. It seemed churlish not to offer to buy him a drink, and he readily accepted.“So what ... I mean ... how ...” It’s not al-ways easy to open the conversation with a beggar. But he understood what I was ask-ing.“You may not believe it looking at me now,” he began, “but I went to university once. Studied zoology.”“Really?” I said.“Yeah. But afer I funked out, the only job I could get was as a zookeeper.”“Well, at least you still managed to work with animals,” I said, trying to sound posi-tive.“Hah. Have you ever considered how much shit they produce?”“No,” I replied, truthfully. “Rather a lot, I imagine.”“Rather a lot,” he said, “rather a lot.” He was silent for a few seconds before continu-ing. “Anyway, it all fnished afer the acci-dent.”“Accident?”“Bleedin’ hippo fell on me. Damn nearly killed me. As it is, I’ll never work again, but I did acquire this ability.”“I’m sorry?” I said.“Yeah. See those tarts up at the bar. Which one would you choose for a one-night stand?”“You what?”“I said, which one would you choose?”“Oh, I dunno. Maybe the blonde one on the

left. She’s pretty fit.” He snorted. “Ha! No. You’re wasting your time with her. Nah. I’d go for the dark one in the middle.”“But why?” I was genuinely fascinated.“Y’see,” he was continuing, oblivious to my interruption, “if I look around this bar, this whole place is like a bleedin’ menagerie to me. See that guy over there?”“The Asian guy with the newspaper un-der his arm?”“Yeah, him. Penguin.” He started to scan the room. “Ooh, there’s an interesting one. See that chap over in the corner? The one with the half-pint of shandy?”“Where?” I said. “Oh, him?” He was looking at a weedy-looking middle-aged man with thick glasses.“Yeah. Manatee. Don’t see many of them in this part of town.”“Are you sure?”“Course I’m sure. Anyway, it’s my round ...” he waved his empty glass at me.“Oh, thanks, I’ll have ...”“... only as you are no doubt aware, I’m skint.” He was still waving the glass. “Another pint, I think.”I went of for the next round. He spent the next quarter of an hour identifying a bizarre array of animals that were appar-ently sharing the bar with us. Finally, I drained my glass, and made to leave.“Er ... your round, I think?” he said.“Well, I was just leaving.”“I’m not. And whilst you’re at the bar, have another look at that dark one. Trust me, she’s red hot.”“But what’s so special about her? I still like the look of that blonde.”“Nah. She’s a rabbit.”“Sorry? Excuse me, but isn’t that ...”He leaned in close, and whispered in my ear. “The one in the middle is an octo-pus.” He tapped his nose in a meaning-ful manner, nodding slightly. Curiously, he turned out to be right about her. It was quite an exhausting weekend.The upward trend continued for the next week. The new project was getting ready to start, and I was invited to recruit my own team. I was new to this, and the idea of selecting staff was more than a little frightening, but it oc-

Short StoryJonathan Pinnock, who lives near Wedmore, has been writ-ing for several years and had his first book about software development published in 1997. In recent years he has turned to fiction and his Regency science-fiction spoof “Mrs Darcy versus the Aliens” was published last year and has proved very popu-lar. His short stories have won several prizes and have been published in a number of pres-tigious places, including BBC Radio 4. HIs first short story col-lection, “Dot Dash”, is published by Salt Publishing in November. The following short story, The Birdman of Farringdon Road is taken from that collection.

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curred to me that I might be able to use my new friend. So next Monday morning, I stopped by to have a word with him.“D’you fancy a bit of work this week?” I said.“Like what?”“I need some advice picking a team.”He rolled his eyes, as if he’d seen it all be-fore. “OK, I’ll do it,” he said eventually, as if he was doing me a great favour. “£�00 a day.”“Huh? That’s outrageous,” I said. “You’re a beggar!”“£�00 or nothing,” he said. “If you really believe I can help you, you’ll pay that.”I thought about it for a few seconds. “OK,” I said. “Deal. When can you start?”He looked from side to side, then down at his bucket. “Well,” he shrugged, “I can fit you in to-morrow.”The next day I picked him up outside the station and took him along with me to the offices. The receptionist eyed him up sus-piciously before relenting and giving him a badge to wear. Then the MD walked in, provoking an odd response from the beggar. He burst out laughing and started pointing at him.“A pig!” he said. “Your boss is a bleedin’ pig!”This did not go down well, and my planned golf session was mysteriously cancelled not long aferwards. I made a mental note to keep my friend out of sight for the remainder of his employment. We spent the next few days going through the various applicants. The rou-tine was the same every time. I would go through the motions of a formal interview accompanied by a stooge from personnel, and then I would take them on a tour of the office, during which the beggar would observe them covertly before giving his assessment once they had gone. I had al-ready decided that my ideal team would consist of a fox (for cunning), a dog (for loyalty) and a cat (for stealth and speed), so all we had to do was identify one of each. As you may imagine, I had been think-ing all this through in some detail, and I was beginning to see a whole new career opening up for me. I could see the title of my slim management treatise now: “Who’s in Your Zoo?” – available from

all good airport bookshops. Unfortunately, we ran into problems on the very frst day, as one potential re-cruit who had interviewed extremely well turned out to be an elephant, and thus completely inappropriate. I had an ex-tremely tough job explaining to personnel why I didn’t want her for the job, and it got worse when I also had to turn down a puffin, two sloths and an aardvark the same day, all of whom had otherwise ex-cellent attributes. However, on the second day of inter-viewing, we struck gold, in the shape of a cat, a dog and a fox in rapid succession. To be honest, all three had turned in rath-er lacklustre performances, but I insisted that they were just what I was looking for, and eventually got my way. I arranged for my friend to get paid a grand in cash for his eforts and he went on his way a happy man. I was happy too. I really felt that I had learned something important. Three months later, the project and my immediate career were both in ruins. My fox had turned out to be a thief, and had succeeding in embezzling an impressive amount of the company’s funds. My dog was indeed loyal to me, but then he was loyal to anyone and everyone who made the mistake of giving him the time of day. He was probably the neediest person that I have ever met, and he also turned out have appalling personal hygiene, to the extent that our customer had specifcally asked that he should no longer visit their offices. The dog was also making life difficult for the cat, although she was as useless as him, given as she was to spending most of her time preening herself and falling asleep in the corner of the office. Even when she was working, she tended to wander of on her own projects, ignoring the interests of the rest of the team alto-gether. She had also developed a habit of making unpleasant personal attacks on me, which didn’t exactly help with our working relation-ship. As I walked back to the station for the last time, clutching my P4� in one hand and my framed eagle picture in the other, I was surprised to see the beggar again. I hadn’t seen him for a while, and I had as-sumed that he had used the money to fnd

something better to do with his life. He did seem to have acquired a tan, how-ever, and he was looking slightly fuller in the face.“Fat load of use you were, mate.” I said to him, brandishing my P4�.“Didn’t work out, then, did it?” he said, as if he’d been expecting this all along.“No, it bloody didn’t,” I said. He smiled, and reached into his coat pocket. He with-drew a handful of birdseed and held it out in his palm. A pigeon few down from the roof of the station and started eating.“Nice picture you’ve got there, Mr Bird-man,” said the beggar, examining my ea-gle.“Hah,” I said. “Well, that’s a bit of a sick joke now, isn’t it?”“Hmmm,” he said. “Did you ever take a proper look at that feather of yours?” I put down the picture and reached into my inside pocket where I kept the feather. I took it out and held it in front of me. Now that I studied it closely, it was ac-tually a rather dull, unexciting greyish colour. I looked at the feather and then I looked at the pigeon, still eating out of the beggar’s hand. As I watched, the pigeon stopped eating and looked back at me. It cocked its head on one side and appeared to smile, as if to say: do I know you from somewhere?

Dot Dash is available from Brendon Books, Bath Place, Taunton TA� 4ER0�8�� ��774� brendonbooks@gmail.com

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One of my favourite nights in the theatre was when Pete Postlethwaite was acting in Desolation Angel , a little play of mine about Jack Kerouac. He suddenly came out of character and said to the audience, “Can you imagine, someone actually sat down and wrote this shit?”

That was in what I’d guess you’d call an experimental theatre in an old ware-house. The late Pete laid off the drink and performed in the same piece many times in different former warehouses. It was in another warehouse where I was reviewing a play by Ken Campbell that a massive piece of the scenery fell into the seat beside me. He said later that it was his best night ever in the theatre, coming close to killing a critic. A few nights later a small fire on the stage became a big fire; the fire engines came, and the build-ing went back to being an empty former warehouse. George Bernard Shaw is a great favour-ite of mine, particularly Man and Super-man. I saw this at the National Thea-tre, and another production when Peter O’Toole came on after drink had been taken; he succeeded in walking across the stage in one scene and turned to the

audience. “I bet you thought I wouldn’t make it,” he said. But Shakespeare is my favourite. I’ve see many Hamlets and it’s amazing how the play seems new with every new Prince. Romeo and Juliet became a fa-vourite one night when the performance suddenly stopped and the manager came on and said we could all get out money back because Friar Lawrence was drunk. I’d been sitting there thinking it was a wonderful new twist which explained a lot. I made a living writing a satirical col-umn for the Guardian, and I suppose Candide is my favourite book. When I came to England from America practi-

cally as a barefoot boy, I discovered Evelyn Waugh, and a little later Ronald Firbank. The best of Firbank for me is a novel which he wanted to call Sorrow in Sunlight, but it has always been pub-lished as Prancing Nigger. Such a very un-PC title probably means it is out of print these days. Despite my own attempts at musical theatre (I had a musical version of An-drocles and the Lion put on at the Liv-erpool Everyman with Julie Walters and

Bill Nighy) I like best to listen to classi-cal music. I turn on Radio Three every morning. If it’s Wagner or Leonard Bern-

stein, I turn off. Of American composers, I like Charles Ives. My favourite music, though, is Swan Lake though I don’t want to see it performed; since I find it difficult to walk, I don’t think I’d enjoy seeing people use their legs too well. I fell in love with painting when I first saw the French Impressionists; to me, they are It. I like Picasso in his Blue pe-riod, and Gauguin, but my favourite is Matisse. What appeals to me are the col-ours and the flow of the lines.

My Favourite...Stanley Reynolds published his first novel, Better Dead Than Red, in his twenties, and the next, Death Dyed Blonde, in his seventies. He wrote a satirical column for the Guardian, was TV critic for The Times and the Guardian, and for many years was Literary Editor of Punch. He lives near Taunton.

Tchaikovsky, composer of Swan Lake

�7�9 edition of Candide

John Barrymore, Hamlet 1922

Woman Reading, Matisse

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