The Admiral's Tea Party

One thing that seems to slip many peoples minds is that the majority of Chatham dockyard is based in neighboring Gillingham (New Brompton).

From the beginnings of old Gillingham as a fishing village, there has been a strong naval tradition in the area. You can imagine there is a lot of naval history that is unknown about the area, or not widely known. One of the most surprising things that I have found out is that the Admiral of the whole British fleet held "fabulous" tea parties on the lawn of his residence on the lower lines park. (I'm still quite surprised that he lived in Gillingham).

To celebrate and illuminate this history, Sam of Wordsmithery fame is helping local people create a show commissioned as part of the Paint The Town Festival to be performed at the Lower Lines Park in Gillingham on Saturday, 8 July.

A day-long workshop is planned at the Brook Theatre on Saturday, 24 June for people who would like to take part. To book or for further info contact wordsmithery.info@gmail.com

See this article about the Great Lines Admiral's Gardens by the Kent Gardens Trust

Written Worlds, Inspiring Places

Yes, Rochester literature festival is fast coming our way and I'm very excited about it!

The theme this year is Written Worlds, Inspiring Places and I can't think of a more apt description

Is this really the fourth year that the full festival has been running? It doesn't feel like it, but 'tis true Each year following the garden party launch back in July 2012 the theme has been something different, from the first Other Worlds, Other Voices, to the Byronic Mad, Bad and Dangerous to know to the Live'n'Local least year.

The festival will run from Saturday, October 1 to Sunday, October 9 2016 and details of the line-up are available from the festival website here.

Olivetti Typewriter. Image credit: SM Jenkin

Knowing how many people are involved in making sure this is an accessible community event I am sure that details of other events and activities will be added closer to the time

Silent Sunday - Beltane

Silent Sunday

Chatham high Street 

The Judicious Heretics Return

“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, 

And sorry I could not travel both”

The Road Not Taken Robert Frost

The Judicious Heretics of ME4 are back! This time they will be enticing you along the road not taken, with a collaborative Litart exhibition of works inspired by the poem by Robert Frost.  

So, what's unique about this exhibition? It was all produced anonymously. A series of written responses to the poem were created and then sent to the artists, who then produced their interpretation of the new works. As last year, the artists did not know who the writers were and the writers do not know who (if anyone) has produced an artwork in response to their poem or story.  

The exhibition includes art and writing from creatives including: Chris Van Beck, Maggie Drury, Sally Evans, Sam Fentiman-Hall, Sarah Hehir, Heather Haythornthwaite, Philip Kane, Bill Lewis, Maria C McCarthy,  Peter Reeds and Dianne Reeves.

The exhibition of words and art will be launched in Rochester on Thursday, 3 September at 7.30 pm and afterwards will be shown at other locations in Medway. Further information about the launch event and exhibition is available from the ME4Writers or on the community page on Facebook

The full text of The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost is available to read or listen to on the website of the Poetry Foundation

Wandering Words

I am very excited to see the blossoming of the Medway and Swale Wandering words  project.

A number of writers have, essentially, walked the land and created some beautiful and original pieces in response to what they have experienced and seen.

Urban Fox, Stood
Image credit:SM Jenkin

The range of responses has surprised me, as well as the flashes of unexpected beauty shared in words and posted on a map. Medway and Swale is made up of many different landscapes, histories, identities, ideas.

The best part, though? Anyone can join in. Are you feeling inspired? You can sign up here

Silent Sunday

Southpaw Dance Company - Faust
Image credit: SM Jenkin

The Spirit of my Dream

The fabulous second Rochester literature festival continues with a night at the theatre. Three of Medway's finest playwrights share with you an evening to remember

Image credit: 17%

Inspired by Byron’s poem ‘The Dream’, Maggie Drury, Sam Fentiman-Hall and Sarah Hehir, have collaborated to create an evening of new plays with a somewhat fantastical theme.

More information about the plays, the writers and the venue are available on the Rochester litfest website here

Date:Saturday, 04 October at 7pm
Venue: Chatham grammar school for boys
Tickets: available on eventbrite

The Heretics are Assembling...

“But words are things and a small drop of ink, 

Falling like a dew, upon a thought produces 

That which makes thousands, perhaps millions think"

Don Juan, Lord Byron

What is the point of poetry, of literature? It is often used simply to tell a story. These stories can be told for any reason, but the question must be asked. Whose stories do we listen to? 

Whose stories are listened to, rewarded and given space in the canon of approved narratives that we hand on to other people? And what happens to the stories that vary with and may even conflict with stories shared and approved in that canon?

Quite often labels are attached to these stories and storytellers, labels  that can be used to discard and ignore what they say, labels such as heretic. Once attached, these labels are hard to shake off, and the storyteller pursued. 

Whose stories are ignored, slandered, labelled? What do they have to say, what is in their words that is so threatening, so heretical?  

The Heretics are assembling. Join us at the Rochester literature festival 25 September - 05 October 2014 to find out...

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Image credit: StephenMcleod - International Man of Mystery via photopin cc

I resign!

So tonight was officially my last night on the committee of the Medway St Patrick's day parade committee. It was a sad evening, but I know the time has come to move on. There are other projects that I would like to work on, and the time needed to put together a parade like this would mean that they would not see the light of day

After speaking with the new committee, I know that there are a lot of plans for the next year. It sounds very exciting, and I am sure that that the future of the parade rests in safe hands

Image credit: DuBoix

 So, what do I do now? It's very exciting, but I'm not sure which project to start first...
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Image sourced from Morguefile

Silent Sunday - Tone Deaf

Installation by Kathy Hinde
Image Credit:SM Jenkin 

Tone Festival 2014 - sound and light

The Tone festival has been playing in Medway over this weekend. It has moments of beauty, and I can see that a lot of time and care and attention has gone into creating the concepts in many of the pieces.

Frode Halti plays while Morgan O'Hara sketches
Image credit: SM Jenkin

Too Prolix, the performance tour of Chatham Dockyard, was an intriguing illumination into a little-report piece of history. Bolshy dockyard workers petitioning the navy board for better treatment. There was a splendid Salon held on the tennis lawn this evening, with maritime-themed food and drink and music.

The other pieces were well thought out and clever, with one example of this being atonal music being accompanied by an artist sketching the movements of the musicians hands.

However, I felt disengaged. I can appreciate high-concept art, but it felt a little samey. This festival has high aims, but needs a little more variety in the execution of its ideas and more engagement with the audience.

I haven't explored the free art yet in the other locations yet, and there is a lot to see. If nothing else, the festival has been ambitious in showcasing art in multiple locations.

Silent Sunday - As the World Tipped

Image credit: SM Jenkin

Love music, hate racism

This weekend, the fantastic Love music, hate racism weekend of celebrations kicks off. It will be held at a new location this year- Fort Amherst in Chatham

Image credit: Earl 53

There will be a good mix of music and spoken word. Details about the line-up are available online here

So lets keep our fingers crossed for good weather....

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Image sourced through morguefile

WOW - Bryan Talbot at Rochester Art Gallery

A picture speaks a thousand words, or so the saying goes. This coming month the thousand words comes to Rochester Art Gallery, with a new exhibition from Bryan Talbot, Mark Barnes, Joe Decie and Ian Williams. It runs from the 12 June until August 10, 2014.

Image credit: Wintersixfour

I'm very excited about the exhibition, in my opinion Bryan has been at the forefront of graphic novels ever since the startling Alice in Sunderland, a blending of history, magic realism and Lewis Carroll. It was one of the first graphic novels that expanded the limits of what graphic novels are capable of - besides Watchmen and Persepolis. Graphic novels can explore ideas stories and biography that other mediums cannot touch, and it grinds at me that so often mature is understand as "graphic". 

Information about the exhibition, and the many other cultural highlights coming to Medway are available in the June edition of WOW - What's on Where

The exhibition is going to be graphic - and it coincides with the start of FUSE festival, Medway's marvelous summer arts festival. Details available here

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Image sourced through Morguefile

An assemblance of judicious heretics…

The Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know are coming to Medway... and it is a work in progress

Image credit Doctor_Bob

As part of the Rochester literature festival, the ME4Writers are curating an intriguing exhibition, and they would like to invite you to take part. Are you interested?

The assemblance of judicious heretics is an open access collaborative project. The idea is to encourage artists of all styles to send in work to complement a series of writing pieces on the theme of Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know.

The exhibition will be displayed in Rochester during September and October. If you would like to know more, please see the details on the ME4Writers blog here. You don't have to be based in Medway, you can send in work as long as you can deliver the art to Rochester. 

Good luck!
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Image source: Morgue file.com

Jack in the Green - Blue Bell Hill

Now winter is over I'm happy to say
And we're all met again in our ribbons so gay
And we're all met again on the first day of spring
To go about dancing with Jack in the green

Wake up Jack!
Image credit: SM Jenkin

On mayday every year at 5.32 am precisely, while the first rays of sunshine are starting to illuminate the picnic spot at blue bell hill, the spirit of summer is summoned.

The spirit of summer, embodied in an 8 foot high walking bush called Jack in the green, is woken up with the recitation of a beautiful song. Jack is crowned with a beautiful circle of red flowers before he joins in with the enthusiastic Morris Dance sides, who are ready to dance in any weather!. For the rest of the sweeps festival, Jack - in - the - green will be seen joining in the dance up and down Rochester high street until the final parade on Monday afternoon.

Every year, we have the debate about how old the ceremony is. How similar is it to the rituals people must have performed here years ago, before the romans, going back to a time as nebulous as the lwo level mist that surrounded us that morning. It's hard to tell - the sources of information are either missing or written from a bias perspective. The current sweeps festival revival dates back to 1980 and was inspired by a description of the sweeps festival in Dicken's work. Like so many other activities "revived" in the Victorian era, its hard to tell if they were revived, inspired or simply invented because they "should" exist.

But does it matter if we are doing something different to what has gone before? The organisers are obvious in their respect for those who arranged similar celebrations before the revival, and have worked hard to make something meaningful for people to connect with now. And long may it continue!

An interesting article about the sweeps festival is in the KM here
Some information about Jack-in-the-green all over the UK is available from The Company of the Green Man

Medway festival of Steam and Transport 2014

Image Credit: SM Jenkin

I attended the first day of the Medway festival of steam and transport today. Despite the traditional bank holiday weather, I had a whale of a time. There was a great deal going on, and it was lovely to see the dockyard so busy.

What is there to see? Three music stages for a start - one of these is hiding with the steampunks in the Mezzanine Floor of No. 3 Slip (the BIG Space). Funnily enough the folk and blues stage (where the splendid Hobo Jones and the Junkyard Dogs were playing) was right next to the Nelson Brewery van. Can you find the cheeky stall holder selling potterdjes? - I might post their sign later. There was plenty of places to eat and drink

Of course, being a steamhead, I loved seeing all the steam powered engines. They even had a steam powered woodcutter! The mobile ones were paraded along the length of the dockyard. If you're going tomorrow, be sure to catch it at 2pm. The real highlight for me though was the steampunk palace. It was like another world of art, music, fun people to chat to. There were a few nice things to buy as well, but mostly I just chatted. It was fascinating to hear about peoples costumes, and each had an interesting story attached.

Elsewhere at the festival there is also a small zoo, a chance to ride a penny farthing, play scalextrics, a chance to have a go at model making and more. I really enjoyed the chance to ride the penny farthing - scary but fun! Overall, everyone I spoke to was very enthusiastic about what they were doing, and were very happy to share that with you.

I've heard the weather is going to be dry tomorrow. Whatever you are doing, I hope you have a great day.

Medway Festival of Steam and Transport 2014 - it's coming!

So this Easter, there's going to be an exciting event at the historic Dockyard in Chatham

The Medway Festival of Steam & Transport will be going full steam ahead!

It sounds like an exciting mixture of retro chic, music, steam and vintage vehicles and steampunk! Yes, our very own Great Kentspectations will be taking over the Mezzanine Floor of No. 3 Slip The BIG Space. I love events like this, where people who share a variety of passions, interests, obsessions call them what you will, are able to share them with others. It's a great way of meeting new people, and having your world expanded.

More information about the events for 2014 is available online here

Have you ever been? Do you have any memories you'd like to share? Any tips for a newbie?(Do they sell beer?)

Thank you - go raibh maith agaibh 17 March 2014

The Pentacle Drummers, Medway st Patrick Parade
Image credit: SM Jenkin

Go raibh maith agaibh

It means so much more than, thank you. It's more along the lines of "may the good be at you"


Thank you, everyone, thank you pleural. To all of the people who made the parade a success, who helped behind the scenes, filling in forms and directing traffic. Those standing in front of the cameras, waving flags would not have achieved what we did without you

The sun shone, and there was a real feel good factor.

Would you like to know how to say St Patrick's day in Irish? Try this link here