Lyme Regis and the Art of Being......

Thanks to all who participated for Dorset Art Week, Lyme ArtsFest, and all the other myriad lifesavers that occur like magic in Lyme Regis all the year round. We're always on the lookout for colourful events and colourful people who sound good in my favourite media: audio! I know its easy to get the impression that we're moving on to TV and Video, but don't be fooled, I'm a Radio man to the core, and we are forever radio.

There are some events however that work on both an audio and a visual level, and Hugh Dunford Woods Sculpture Garden was just such an occasion. I so enjoyed drifting around the garden with my little Camcorder finding sparkling little surprises of feeling everywhere I looked. Even without the sculpture, this is a garden with deep feelings, and the wood, on its own account, is quite magical. I was particularly drawn to the arrangement of work surrounding the pond, the little boy peering into the water, the shell overlooking, but then going into the wood, I find a man with a dog on his head, and I'm stunned! I was struck, almost literally, by the face, accepting of the dog, and kind of recognising its right to be there, on his head. I understood a lot more after I heard Mary talking to the artist when I edited the recording. Reminds me very much of my relationship with our parrot, she can get very stroppy and in fighting mode when denied the RIGHT of a shoulder.

But all that was before I was chatting with Lucy Campbell, and Adrian Gray turned up and said he was just about to do a spot of Stone Balancing (This was after a conversation with Lucy about our mealy mouthed council wasting its own time by debating whether they can claim another measly hundred quid out of an artist that is a genuine asset to this town, I'll say no more, fearing that people will think I'm occupying Matt Puddy's ground). What I saw Adrian Gray do was nothing short of miraculous. How does he do that? I watched him intently, video camera running, and it seemed as if he was almost thinking the stone into place. I could almost hear him talking to it, ear pressed against the stone, listening to it. Even his posture seems to emulate the stone he is balancing. Then, after the tension, and the watching and waiting, suddenly its complete, the stone is free to fall, and it doesn't.........

We've been trying to get an interview with Adrian, but apparently he is allergic to electricity. Being a person myself with allergies to motor cars, and living in a world full of them, and not being able to escape the demons they create, I know how he feels. So we are experimenting with doing some programmes via Thought Waves.

But it wasn't just the big sculptures, or the spectacular events that captured the eye, there were these very erotic naked women in small bowls, so realistic it was easy to imagine you were viewing from a distance, through a monochrome scale, like sexuality itself....so visible and yet, so well hidden........

Hugh's little publicity stunt nearly got us all going too. There he was, on our live Sunday View programme, telling us all about how those grass circles just appeared overnight. Very good Hugh, you almost had Pip Evans believing you! But we got the truth, and its revealed on our video.......

I really do hope that Hugh is going to continue these wonderful little events at Little Place. Mary and me were saying how nice it would be to sing some country music in your lovely garden this summer........

Hear and see the whole story at this location: http://www.lymeregisradio.com/sound/sculpturegarden25may08.html

Sing it with Flowers, St. Michael's, Lyme Regis

After the mad chaos of the last couple of weeks, walking into the church on Sunday afternoon was like experiencing the antidote. A sudden and welcome slow down as the light and colour of the Flower Festival melted into the vision.
Since the first Live Broadcast SUNDAY VIEW on the 4th May, our feet don't seem to have touched the ground, and because there is a lot of ground breaking activity, its a total experience, never quite knowing if the technology will hold up requires full attention on the job in hand.
And yes, ok, I freely admit we didn't get everything right first time, and the first SUNDAY VIEW was a bit of a disaster, but if you were one of the few who checked in to the LIVE Broadcast, you got the programme as advertised, though in the studio, chaos reigned as Nomad aattempted vainly to wrest control of the various knobs, sliders and switches that link Pip and guests to the Live online Studio.
After this session, we cleared up the studio, headed straight across the road, and spent the afternoon shooting video at the May Day Fete in Anning Road Playing Field. More than 30 stalls representing local groups and organisations, great entertainment from the Majorettes and Junior Band, stunning Tai Kwon Du demonstration, couldn't be beat. almost the whole town was out and about at this annual event purely with locals in mind. Congrats to the hard working Carnival & Regatta Committee, mucho applause please! See the video on This Weeks Video page,here: http://www.lymeregisradio.com/videopages.html
We followed that up on Tuesday evening with a magical night at the Ropemakers Arms in Bridport. The Live Cam worked perfectly throughout and we broadcast some excellent music to the people of the internet. You can hear our recording for yourself at this location: http://www.lymeregisradio.com/sound/folkatherope6may08.html and guaranteed, it's well worth listening to. We called it 'Folk at the Rope', and though Mary Land and the RollOvers contributed folk songs by the Jefferson Airplane and Rolling Stones, most of the evening, all the way to Mitch Normans own brand of sophisticated 'folk funk', was fairly authentic. Thanks to the 'chance listener' from the USA who emailed us asking if we were in Oregon, because the only Bridport he could find was in Vermont! Tune in LIVE to next months session by clicking to the LIVE CHANNEL, details on Front Page soon.
We might have had an hour two break then, but on Wednesday morning, the phone was hot with news of the Landslip, and we were out on the beach the moment the tide began to roll out, getting there to find that a lot of others were there already. It was fortunate enough that our good friends Dr. Sandy Burnfield and George Hoffman were eye witnesses to the event the night before when hundreds of tons of cliff began crashing into the sea. We have an exclusive inteview in video and audio, plus spectacular rockfall footage, you can find it all here: http://www.lymeregisradio.com/sound/landslipbig7may08.html
Things might have quietened down a notch then, except in the evening of the same day, we were recording the Policy Meeting of Lyme Regis Town Council, which unusually was full of excitement and vehemence. (see last blog entry). Hear the meeting complete and unedited, including Cllr. Ellis's phone ringing half way through the proceedings, at this location: http://www.lymeregisradio.com/sound/councilmeetingpolicy7may08.html
After an all night editing session, Mary and I had a shot at a Live Broadcast on our own on Thursday night, for which, many apologies, we've now worked out how to play video's one at a time, and in the sequence we choose. When we do 'A Week in Lyme Regis' video clips this week, on Thursday at 8pm, we hope to get it right, or at least a little more right than last week.
Friday night as most people know by now, is our regular night out at the Royal Lion, and now that the Friday Night Live interviews hve been incorporated into the Sunday Live show, its brilliant, having a real night off, drinking convivial Guiness with friends while wearing our new LymeRegisRadio T-Shirts from Jiving Jellyfish!
We had to stop on Saturday and catch up on a morass of editing and updating, being swamped with new stuff and desperate to get it online and heard, followed by late night prep for the Sunday show, which is where we were at 11am Sunday morning. Hauling studio gear into the Green Room in the View From office. We went Live at Midday with some good music chosen by Pip Evans, and speaking for myself alone, I hope he will include a little something by Nat King Cole in the next few weeks. If you have your own requests and dedications, please send them in, to either us at lymeregisradio@hotmail.com, or Pip personally, philip@pemedia.co.uk. Surprisingly enough, we pulled it off with very few problems, our guest this week, Rikey Austin spoke eloquently and with deep feeling about why she is organising the Cancer Research Relay in August, Rob Thom headed imaginary footballs across the studio while discussing the year at Davey Fort with Pip, Jenny Finch from www.whatsoninlyme.co.uk informed us about events in Lyme in the week ahead, and amidst Frank Sinatra, Michael Buble, Steve Black and Ella, fossil walker Brandon Lennon ended the show by updating us on the landslip. You can hear the recording of it here: http://www.lymeregisradio.com/sound/sundayview11may08.html
Thinking that before racing home and commencing editing we would do one last video at 'Sing it With Flowers' in St. Michaels. We stepped into the church and as we walked into the Flower Festival, we just.....simply,......stopped.

Council Policy Meeting:

Last night at the Policy Meeting (7th May 08), Cllr David Cozens launched an astonishng tirade against our much valued local Community Policeman, Richard Winward. Richard is a local man in every way, and has been based in Lyme for many years, he doesn't deserve to be attacked publicly in such a vicious and unprincipled way. Though I'm in absolute agreement with the rule of no skateboarding on Marine Parade, this is no way to deal with a caring local policeman who has much more important work to do besides sorting out a few adolescents on the seafront. When asked about skateboarding at the Town Meeting, Richard owned up to the fact that on occasions he had given permission for a few kids to use the shelters. Obviously, in the absence of anywhere else he could direct them, he puts them in the nearest off street spot where he can keep an eye on them, offering as his reason they would only be boarding somewhere else, probably further up the Parade. Its not a situation either in which he has any legal power. What if the youngsters challenge his rule, can he arrest them? Caution them? Give them an on the spot fine? Even if a Bye -Law is in force, he still has very little power to do anything, and it's a great message to send out to visitors and holidymakers, that their children will be in trouble with the police for involving themselves in an 'illegal' activity if they visit Lyme. It seems to put skateboarders in the same category as criminals. If we need a skateboard park at all, it needs to be on or near the Parade, the gardens, or the seafront. Its where the action is, especially in the Summer. Holidaymakers don't want to traipse their kids half way to Charmouth to take part in what is essentially a street activity. If Lyme has failed to provide a safe central area, its the fault of the council, not Richard Winward, who is unfortunate enough to be caught between two opposing camps, and is doing his best while the council dithers about in indecision.
This council rambles on about squeezing a few extra quid out of a stone balancer, or how much juice can be squeezed out of a solar powered squeezer, and occupies half its meeting time in trivia instead of making real decisions. Then when it comes to grief, it blames its workers, helpers and support organisations. I'm not unhappy about Lyme looking forward, but what about Lyme NOW?
What is needed, and was made clear at the Town Meeting is that the Police need proper guidance from the Council on this matter. Telling him to "Go out there and enforce this" is stupid, pointless and futile.
I don't agree either that we need to pander to every whim of young people either. In every town in every city in the country, there are young people in a constant complaint that there is 'nothing to do around here'. It happens everywhere, its a youth thing. Skateboarding is a transitory thing that young people do for a while, then, if they're sensible, move on to something better.
So here is a man who owned up to his 'mistake', and admitted his 'fault', there should be no more to be said. Here is a man condemned by his own honesty, who could have avoided saying anything at all if he chose, but he told the truth. Richard has proved himself to be honest and reliable, and to be castigated for it in such a vicious way is beyond the pale.
Richard Winward has the trust and respect of Lyme Regis, and has earned that respect by being a good man, and an exceptionally good policeman.
I consider Cllr Cozens to be out of order on this matter. Not just out of order, but uncharitable and unforgiving, and though he claims to have experience of working with young people for 50 years, he doesn't appear to haave learned learned anything from the experience. We should be grateful that our brilliant team of local coppers aren't of the 'old school' represented by Cllr Cozens bully and bash method of upholding the law.
A complete recording of the meeting can be found here......
http://www.lymeregisradio.com/sound/councilmeetingpolicy7may08.html