38 Degrees | Save Our Forests
38 Degrees | Save Our Forests.
The government is planning a massive sell off of our national forests. They could be auctioned and fenced off, run down, logged or turned into golf courses and holiday villages.
We can’t let that happen. We need to stop these plans. National treasures like the The Forest of Dean, Sherwood Forest and The New Forest could be sold off.
A huge petition will force the government to rethink its plans. If we can prove how strongly the public are against this, they will have to back down. Sign the petition now at 38 Degrees.
Local Action Day – Sunday 13th February, King’s Wood, Challock, Nr. Wye / Ashford, Kent.
If you would like to join others listening to speakers, signing the petition and making banners in protest at the proposed sell off Stour Valley Arts have organised a King’s Wood Action Day on Sunday February 13th, 2011 from 2 – 4pm meeting in the King’s Wood car park.
The sculpture project of new animal habitats by London Fieldworks pictured below is part of the sculpture trail in King’s Wood commissioned by Stour Valley Arts and is entitled ‘Super Kingdom’. Visit the forest whilst you still can to see more of the trail and enjoy the beautiful surroundings. You can also visit the Forestry Commission’s website for further details on King’s Woods facilities.
King's Wood, Challock, nr. Wye, Kent. ©Andy Tuohy 2008
Sad mourning for Hastings Pier
Hastings & St.Leonards. ©Andy Tuohy 2008
What a complete tragedy and a sorry end to a sorry affair. I was due to go up to Bexhill, East Sussex for a meeting on the 5th October only to be told I should divert because Hastings Pier had gone the way of the West Pier in Brighton and burnt down.
I exhibited prints of the area at McCarrons of Mercatoria in St. Leonards, so I know many people have a great deal of affection and pride in their locale and this will come as a bitter blow.
BBC News shows footage of the devastation.
If you want to keep up to speed with latest developments on the Pier you can go to the Hastings Pier and White Rock Trust website.
Pushing Print Open Print Exhibition
Pushing Print Open Exhibition
The exhibition will be taking place in various different locations around Margate, Kent.
I have submitted two pieces: Dreamland Cinema and Margate Scenic Railway and they can be seen in the Margate Gallery.
Dreamland Cinema © Andy Tuohy 2009
You can find out more info about what’s happening with the Scenic Railway from The Dreamland Trust and from Joyland Books.
Folkestone Triennial 2011 Announced
Folkestone Triennial Souvenir Poster 2008 ©Andy Tuohy 2008
We were recently invited to hear the announcement of four of the participating artists for Folkestone Triennial 2011.
The artists announced on the night were: Cornelia Parker who will be casting a life-size bronze statue of a female Folkestone resident in the pose of Copenhagen’s famous Little Mermaid; Cristina Iglesias who will create an architectural structure on the overgrown ramparts of one of Folkestone’s historic Martello Towers, which will give the illusion of an entrance into another world; Hew Locke is suspending around a hundred model ships collected from around the world in the nave of St Mary and St Eanswythe’s church, the oldest building in Folkestone; Zineb Sedira who will make a film about an extraordinary lighthouse in Algeria. The film will be housed in the former deckchair storage hall in the cliff-face under the Leas, which has not been accessible for years.
Since the launch the full complement of 19 international artists who have been commissioned to create new works for the Triennial, which will take place from 25 June – 25 September 2011, have now been announced.
The artists are:
CAMP
The Folkestone Triennial 2011 is one of the most ambitious public art projects ever to be presented in the UK. The selected artists have been invited to develop new works for Folkestone’s streets, squares, beaches and historic buildings to create a cutting-edge contemporary art exhibition in the public domain.
Andrea Schlieker conceived and curated the inaugural exhibition in 2008 and will direct the second Folkestone Triennial, A Million Miles From Home, in the summer of 2011.
The 2011 Triennial aims to bring the wider world to Folkestone, while highlighting its status as a gateway to and from Europe and its isolation on the edge of Britain. The focus will be on social and political issues, particularly those arising from migration and exile, colonialism and its aftermath, and questions of place and language. The selected artists either live or have biographical background in countries as diverse as Algeria, Morocco, Kosovo, Israel, Egypt, Guyana, India and Brazil, as well as Denmark, Spain, Germany, the US and the UK. They will bring their stories and experiences to Folkestone, finding elements of shared ground and connecting threads
Vintage at Goodwood
Sixties Dancers on the Abbey Road crossing © Olivia Wilkes 2010
Didn’t make it down to Vintage at Goodwood until the third day, but on entering we were greeted by the sun and these groovy Sixties Dancers who were strutting their stuff to the backdrop of the retro-pop-up High Street that Wayne Hemingway had designed as the gateway to the Festival. Hat’s off to the Hemingway’s because the High Street included some really great reconstructions of favourite British retail and cultural institutions, including John Lewis, Bonhams, Oxfam, and Chichester’s very own Pallant House Gallery. It was a lot of fun and a really good way of channelling people through to the rest of the Festival. And I’ve never been to a festival with such a broad age range. It was great to see so many people dressed up and living the Vintage dream (well for a weekend anyway). Oh my word! And I haven’t even mentioned the toilets yet…which were excellent. For a self-confessed non-festival goer with a pathological fear of communal portaloos, (just see the film Kenny if you want to know the truth behind festival toilets), this was a rare treat, complete with a whole stand of Dyson hand-driers.
Well done Vintage and can’t wait to come back next year!
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- Dancers © Olivia Wilkes 2010
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- Redvanman © Olivia Wilkes 2010
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- Caravan © Olivia Wilkes 2010
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- Lush © Olivia Wilkes 2010
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- Dogface © Olivia Wilkes 2010
The park, full of salvaged railway architectural features. © Olivia Wilkes 2010
We spent the afternoon on Sunday at the open day of the Fawley private railway of The Hon. Sir William McAlpine Bt – basically a life-size steam train set complete with park land full of exotic animals and a phenomenal museum. The collection the museum houses is apparently the largest in the country in private hands and is a mind-boggling array of rail related objects and ephemera. There really wasn’t enough time to take it all in.
Fawley Mountaineer pulls in. © Olivia Wilkes 2010
Station Garden © Olivia Wilkes 2010
The afternoon took a turn for the exciting when the Fawley Mountaineer de-railed with us on it! All the passengers had to be ferried back in jeeps through the park in case we were accosted by the over friendly goats (which all lined up single file thinking we’d feed them – quite weird) and unfriendly lamas. We walked back through the park to see how the re-railing was going and everyone was still hard at it being marshalled by Sir William himself.
Off the rails! © Andy Tuohy 2010
Some of the many signs that covered the small station and were throughout the museum, it was a designer’s dream!
Station signs. © Olivia Wilkes 2010
Broadstairs
Broadstairs - Viking Bay © Andy Tuohy 2010
Deckchairs and VW Beach hut © Olivia Wilkes 2010
Second time in Broadstairs! And I have to say on the face of this visit that it has become one of my favourite seaside towns. The sun was glorious and the beach thronging with people. It’s one of the most Victorian of resorts and very well preserved. A delight.
Oscar's Festival Café, Broadstairs, Kent - © Andy Tuohy 2010
Moving forward in time, somewhere you must check out is Oscars Festival Café on Oscar Road. Stumbled across it quite by accident whilst trying to find somewhere that would cater for the likes of us. Themed in a 1950′s Festival of Britain stylee there was plenty on offer including teacakes and lashings of ginger beer and on the day we arrived Graham, the Proprietor, and his waitress were really looking the part. If you love all things 2oth Century Modern get down there.
I don’t have a website address for the Café, but Graham Ward, the Proprietor, is also an artist who produces really lovely work. Check his stuff out here: grahamward.co.uk
Kent and East Sussex Railway, Tenterden
Kent & East Sussex Railway
Really short one this. Made a quick visit to Tenterden to do some shopping. Had a look around the steam railway station there – Kent and East Sussex Railway. Didn’t get much of a chance to really explore the museum and take photo’s of classic steam trains (as there wasn’t one pulling in when we arrived) but this is definitely worth the return visit, but next time we’ll be catching the train all the way to Bodiam via Northiam and eating fish and chips on board.
Carter’s Steam Fair, Margate
Great Carter Railway © Andy Tuohy 2010
Ok, I know this post is 1 month late but things here have been pretty busy trying to earn a few bob. Just doing a little catching up.
We made a day trip down to Margate to see Carters Steam Fair at the site of the old Dreamland Funfair, which was just amazing. Things were pretty authentic and literally running on steam.
Piggy Back! © Andy Tuohy 2010
Quite a contrast to when I visited Margate a couple of years ago to produce an image of the old Dreamland Cinema. Things looked pretty grim then. Not long after the switchback railway had sadly burned down. The final nadir. Good to see things seem to be picking up and, with Heritage Lottery money, hope is in the air for its future. As evidenced by the turn out for Carters, it looks like a return of the fair would be hugely popular. Keep living the dream!
For up to date info on Dreamland’s progress and events check out the Dreamland Trust’s website.
Many thanks to Tom Fenley, Mario Citro, Paul Uttin and all the pupils of Sharman Mini School for inviting me to speak on achievement at their celebration evening. It was a great event and congratulations to all those that received awards and helped with the organisation of the evening. I look forward to visiting again in the future.
