Octobernovemberlampweb2013

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2013

FREE

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

LITERARY FESTIVAL ISSUE

INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Taunton Literary Festival Programme
Space Man: David Duthie
Taunton Sinfonietta
Kathryn Chambers
Big Art Weekend
Somerset Fonts

Poetry Corner
Short Story
Fire River Poets Competition
Short Story Competition
My Favourite
Cinema Obscura

ALBURY HOUSE
GROUP PRACTICE
134 Wellington Rd
Taunton TA1 5LA
Osteopathy: Sara Kennard & Associates
01823 332871
Physiotherapy: Maria Andrew
01823 332070
Chiropody: Marian Barnacle & Assoc.
01823 322516

* Established since 1987
* Free Parking
* GroundFloor Treatment Rooms
* Wheelchair Access

Contents

05 Introduction
07 Taunton Literary Festival Programme
22 Space Man: David Duthie
24 Calendar of Events
31 Taunton Sinfonietta
32 Fire River Poets Competition
33 Kathryn Chambers
37 Shakespeare Aloud
40 Somerset Fonts
41 Big Art Weekend
43 Poetry Corner: Emily McCoy
44 Short Story
42 Short Story Competition
46 My Favourite: Bridget Hodges
Editor: Lionel Ward
Copy Editor: Jo Ward
All enquiries:
lampmagazine1@gmail.com
01823 337742
c/o Brendon Books,
Bath Place, Taunton
TA1 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 authors. We do not accept
liability for the content or accuracy
of the magazine including that of the
advertisers.

Taunton Literary Festival 2013
Welcome to the October and November edition of LAMP Magazine. In the following pages you will find
the full programme of the third Taunton Literary Festival as well as articles on the visual arts, drama and
music.
The festival begins later this year, in November rather than September. It runs from 2-19 November, over
a longer period though with events more spread out. During weekdays most events will be in the evening,
so I hope they will be more accessible to those of working age or those who are at college during the day.
The festival would not be possible without the collaboration of the venues and I would like to thank them
in advance for their help in making it possible. We have no separate funding, however, for marketing the
festival so the programme in this magazine along with our website, the use of social media and the goodwill of the local media, will be the main vehicle for this. Please help by spreading the word among your
friends and acquaintances by whatever means you have at your disposal.
The festival, for one reason and another, has had to be put together in much haste, so I am particularly
pleased that we have been able to secure some great names for the festival: household names such as
Ranulph Fiennes, Peter Snow, Gervase Phinn, Douglas Hurd and Victoria Glendinning, but also renowned
authors in their specialist fields such as David Crystal (language specialist), Marcus Chown (science
specialist), Philip Hook (art specialist), Christian Wolmar (railway specialist), John Bradshaw (animal
specialist)... I could go on. Suffice it to say I hope you will find it a very strong and eclectic list. This year
we also have a new initiative with a book fair of local/self published authors on the first day of the festival. Above all, please do try and come along to one or more events. By giving it your support you will
help secure an annual book event for Taunton.
Lionel Ward

CW BRASS TUITION
PERFORMANCE
Professional, friendly, brass
instrument tuition for the
complete beginner to the
more advanced player.

Christmas party booking
now being taken

Also available to play at
weddings and funerals
including ‘The Last Post’.
Contact details:
Claire Whitworth
on 07947 601205

PARK ART
PARK ART AND COLLECTABLES
‘Actively Promoting Artists’

‘ACTIVELY PROMOTING opposite Vivary Park Gates. 31B High Street
Situated ARTISTS’

Contact: Rachel Hartland Tel. 077 301 33397
Situated opposite Vivary Park Gates
Contact: Rachel Hartland E mail: hartlandart@googlemail.com
Tel: o7730133397
Exhibiting and selling original
E mail: hartlandart@googlemail.com art, plus vintage and retro collectables,

Park Art offers an exceptional High Street position for Artists showcasing their work,
and for customers wanting to buy affordable art and interesting collectables for the festive season.

Exhibiting and selling original art, plus
Opening Hours
Tuesday 10am-1pm.........2pm-4pm
Vintage and retro collectables, Park Art
Wednesday 10am-1pm......2pm-4pm
offers an exceptional High Street position
Friday 10am-1pm Saturday 10am-1pm
for Artists wanting to showcase work.

Opening Hours

Tuesday

10am-1pm….....1pm-4pm

Taunton Literary Festival
2013 Programme

Programme Overview

For further information please refer to the following pages
Date

Time

Event

Venue

Sat 2nd Nov

2-5
5.00
6.00

Book Fair of Local/Self Published Authors
Richard Huish College
Self Publishing Talk
Juncture 25

Sun 3rd Nov

11.00 Roman Fiction Panel
2.00 Historical Crime Talk
4.15 Naval Fiction Talk

Hestercombe Gardens

Mon 4th Nov

6.00
7.30

David Hilary Crystal
Stephen Moss

Creative Innovation Ctre

Wed 6th Nov

4.00
6.00
7.30

Emma Carroll
Sara Wheeler
Marcia Willett

St George’s Primary
Brendon Books

Thu 7th Nov

6.00
7.30
7.30

Saul David
Fire River Poets
Julian Richards

Creative Innovation Ctre

Fri 8th Nov

6.00
7.30

Christian Wolmar
Ranulph Fiennes

St James Church

Sat 9th Nov

10.00 Shakespeare Aloud
11.00 Victoria Glendinning
6.00 Marcus Chown

Somerset Museum

Taunton Library
Castle Hotel

Sun 10th Nov 2.30

6.00

Peter Haggett
Graham Fawcett

Mon 11th Nov 6.00

7.30

James Crowden
Brendon Books
Graham Hurley

Tue 12th Nov 6.00

Philip Hook

Castle Hotel

Wed 13th Nov 7.30

Mark White

Queen’s College

Thu 14th Nov 7.30

Sinclair McKay

Somerset Museum

Fri 15th Nov

6.00
7.30

Ffyona Campbell
John Bradshaw

Brendon Books

Sat 16th Nov

11.00 Douglas Hurd
6.30 Peter Snow

Tue 19th Nov 7.30

Gervase Phinn

Brendon Books

Castle Hotel
Taunton School

Penguin Books Supporting Literary Artistic Endeavour in Somerset

2013 Programme
Saturday 2 November
2.00-5.00pm Local Author/
Self Publishing Book Fair
5.00pm Self Publishing Talk
6.00pm Juncture 25 Poetry Event
Free entry to visitors for the above events
Further Information:
Brendon Books, Bath Place, Taunton TA1 4ER
Tel. 01823 337742 email: brendonbooks@gmail.com

Venue: Richard Huish College
South Road, Taunton TA1 3DZ

Sunday 3 November
Historical Writers’ Association Day
(as part of ‘History Month’)
11.00am Roman Panel
12.30pm Lunch Break
2.00 Historical Crime Panel
3.30 Tea break
4.15 Naval Fiction Talk

Venue: Hestercombe Gardens,
Cheddon Fitzpaine, Taunton TA2 8LG

11.00am The Roman Panel: Ben Kane, Ruth Downie and Anthony Riches
Ben Kane was born and raised in Kenya and then moved to Ireland, in Dublin he studied veterinary medicine at University College Dublin, but after that he travelled the world extensively, indulging his passion
for ancient history. he now lives in North Somerset with his wife and family. Bestselling Books: Hannibal:
Fields of Blood (Hannibal 2), Spartacus: Rebellion (Spartacus 2), The Silver Eagle: (The Forgotten Legion
Chronicles No. 2).
Ruth (RS) Downie left university with an English degree and a plan to get married and live happily ever
after. She is still working on it. In the meantime she is also the New York Times bestselling author of a
mystery series featuring Roman doctor Gaius Petreius Ruso. Bestselling Books: Semper Fidelis: A Novel
of the Roman Empire (Medicus), Ruso and the River of Darkness (Medicus Investigation 4), Ruso and the
Root of All Evils (Medicus Investigations 3).
Anthony Riches began his lifelong interest in war and soldiers when he first heard his father’s stories about
World War II. This led to a degree in Military Studies at Manchester University. He began writing the story
that would become Wounds of Honour after a visit to Housesteads in 1996. He lives in Hertfordshire with
his wife and three children. Bestselling Books: The Eagle’s Vengeance: Empire VI (Empire 6), Fortress of
Spears (Empire), The Leopard Sword (Empire 4).

2013 Programme
2.00pm The Historical Crime Talk: Kylie Fitzpatrick Karen Maitland
Kylie Fitzpatrick is the author of the novels Tapestry and The Ninth Stone and is published in eleven
languages. Her third novel, The Silver Thread, was published by Head of Zeus on 1 October 2012 and in
paperback in May 2013. Kylie Fitzpatrick has worked in drama and documentary television production as
a script editor and researcher in the UK, America and Australia. She has worked in the UK as a manuscript
editor, and is a graduate of the MA in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University.
Karen Maitland is a British author of medieval thriller fiction. Maitland has an honours degree in Human
Communication and doctorate in Psycholinguistics. Her love of all things medieval grew from frequent
‘escape’ visits across the North Sea to Belgium.Karen Maitland travelled and worked in many parts of the
United Kingdom before finally settling in the beautiful medieval city of Lincoln. She is the author of The
White Room, Company of Liars, The Owl Killers and The Gallows Curse.

4.15pm The Naval Fiction Talk: Jenny Barden J.D. Davies
Jenny Barden is an artist-turned-lawyer-turned-writer who has had a love of history and adventure ever
since an encounter in infancy with a suit of armour at Tamworth Castle. A fascination with the Age of
Discovery led to travels in South and Central America, and much of the inspiration for her debut came
from retracing the footsteps of Francis Drake in Panama. She is currently working on a sequel centred on
the first Elizabethan ‘lost colony’ of early Virginia. Her latest book, The Latest Duchess is published on
7 November.
Born in Wales in 1957, J D Davies was educated at Llanelli Grammar School and Jesus College, Oxford, where he completed a doctorate in 17th century naval history. He taught History for thirty years,
chiefly at Bedford Modern School, where he also served as a Deputy Headmaster. He won the Samuel
Pepys prize in 2009 for his book, ‘Pepys’s Navy: Ships, Men and Warfare 1649-89’, and is also a previous winner of the Julian Corbett prize for naval history. His acclaimed series of naval historical fiction,
‘The Journals of Matthew Quinton’, has been published in the UK, North America and Germany. David
is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, and a former Chairman of the Naval Dockyards Society and
Vice-President of the Society for Nautical Research.

The above talks are £6.50 each or £15.00 for all three talks.
(available from Brendon Books or Hestercombe Gardens)

Meal inclusive Options (available from Hestercombe Gardens only)

£20.00 for two talks and a cold buffet lunch with the authors
£15 for two talks and a cream tea (1 scone, cream, jam pot of tea)
£30 for an all day ticket including three talks, lunch and tea.

To purchase tickets or for further info on the above:
Visit Brendon Books, Bath Place, Taunton TA1 4ER.
Tel. 01823 337742 email: brendonbooks@gmail.com www.tauntonliteraryfestival.net
Hestercombe Gardens: 01823 413923 www.hestercombe.com

2013 Programme
Monday 4th November
Venue: Creative innovation
Centre, Memorial Hall,
Paul St, Taunton TA1 3PF
6.00pm David Hilary Crystal, Wordsmith and Warriors
Tickets: £6.50

Wordsmiths and Warriors explores the heritage of English through the places in Britain that shaped it. It
unites the warriors, whose invasions transformed the language, with the poets, scholars, reformers, and
others who helped create its character. The book relates a real journey. David and Hilary Crystal drove
thousands of miles to produce this fascinating combination of English-language history and travelogue, from locations in south-east Kent to the Scottish lowlands, and from south-west Wales to the
East Anglian coast. David provides the descriptions and linguistic associations, Hilary the full-colour
photographs. They include a guide for anyone wanting to follow in their footsteps but arrange the book
to reflect the chronology of the language. This starts with the Anglo-Saxon arrivals in Kent and in the
places that show the earliest evidence of English. It ends in London with the latest apps for grammar.In
between are intimate encounters with the places associated with such writers as Chaucer, Shakespeare,
and Wordsworth; the biblical Wycliffe and Tyndale; the dictionary compilers Cawdrey, Johnson, and
Murray; dialect writers, elocutionists, and grammarians, and a host of other personalities.
David Crystal is honorary professor of linguistics at the University of Wales, Bangor. He has written or
edited over 100 books and published numerous articles for scholarly, professional, and general readerships, in fields ranging from forensic linguistics and ELT to the liturgy and Shakespeare. His many
books include Words, Words, Words (OUP 2006) and The Fight for English (OUP 2006).

7.30pm Stephen Moss, The Great British Year
Tickets: £6.50

Britain is a place of remarkable beauty and surprising extremes: nowhere else in the temperate world
boasts such extreme variety in such a small area. Our humble island has over 10,000 miles of coastline;
iconic animals and birds; and unique spectacles of migration that see wildlife from all corners of the
globe descend upon our shores. Here, life is governed by the seasons: each month bringing extraordinary transformations to our land and its inhabitants. This lavish companion to the new BBC One series
brings Britain to life, celebrating the vibrancy of the changing year through stunning photography and
mesmerising time-lapse sequences, and revealing the unmissable drama and beauty to be witnessed on
our very own doorstep.
Stephen Moss is one of Britain’s leading nature writers, broadcasters and wildlife television producers.
A lifelong naturalist, he is passionate about communicating the wonders of the natural world to the widest possible audience. His special areas of knowledge include British wildlife; birds and climate change;
the social history of wildlife-watching; getting children back in touch with nature; and UK environmental issues. He is the original producer of BAFTA award-winning series Springwatch. He Has worked
with David Attenborough, Bill Oddie, Alan Titchmarsh, Chris Packham, Kate Humble, Simon King,
Charlie Dimmock and Michaela Strachan. He has been the author of many previous books and articles
on British birds and wildlife and writes a monthly Birdwatch column for the Guardian. He is VicePresident of Somerset Wildlife Trust.

To purchase tickets or for further information on the above:
Creative Innovation Centre: Tel. 01823 337477 Email: info@creativeinnovationcentre.co.uk
10

2013 Programme
Wednesday 6th November
Venue: Brendon Books
Brendon Books,
Old Brewery Buildings,
Bath Place, Taunton TA1
6.00pm Sara Wheeler, O My America!
Price £6.50

Sara Wheeler rediscovered America thirty-five years after her first Greyhound trip across the country.
She returns in turbulent midlife to trace the steps of six women who fled various sorts of trouble in
nineteenth-century England and went to the United States to reinvent themselves. Her travel companions include Fanny Trollope, mother of Anthony and author of the biting “Domestic Manners of the
Americans”; the actress Fanny Kemble, who shocked the nation with her passionate first-hand indictment of slavery; the prolifically pamphleteering economist Harriet Martineau; the homesteader Rebecca
Burlend, who had never been more than twelve miles from her Yorkshire village before she sailed to
the New World; the traveller Isabella Bird, whose many ailments remained in check as long as she
was scaling the Rockies; and the novelist Catherine Hubback, niece of Jane Austen, who deposited her
husband in a madhouse and rode the brand-new rails to San Francisco.Tough-minded outsiders, these
women’s truest qualities emerged in a country as incomplete and tentative as their native land was staid
and settled. And they discovered second acts for themselves at a time when the world expected them to
disappear politely.Sara Wheeler’s books include the international bestseller Terra Incognita: Travels in
Antarctica, of which the Telegraph reviewer wrote, ‘I do not think there will ever be a better book on the
Antarctic.’ The Magnetic North: Notes from the Arctic Circle, was chosen as Book of the Year by Will
Self, Michael Palin, A. N. Wilson and others.

7.30pm Marcia Willett, Postcards From the Past
Price: £6.50

Siblings Billa and Ed share their beautiful, grand old childhood home in rural Cornwall. Their lives are
uncomplicated. With family and friends nearby and their free and easy living arrangements, life seems
as content as can be. But when postcards start arriving from a sinister figure they thought belonged well
and truly in their pasts, old memories are stirred. Why is he contacting them now? And what has he been
hiding all these years?
Marcia Willett was born in Somerset and lives in deepest Devon with her husband . A former ballet
dancer and teacher, she is the author of many bestselling novels. Marcia began her career as a novelist
when she was fifty years old. Until then she had been an avid reader and had never considered writing.
When her writer husband, Rodney, suggested that she should—she laughed and dismissed the whole
thing out of hand. However, after months of nagging she agreed, for the sake of peace and quiet, to see
what she could do. Since that first novel Marcia has written twenty more under her own name as well as
a number of short stories. She has also written four books under the pseudonym ‘Willa Marsh.’ Success
has not been limited to this country: she is now published in sixteen other countries - with contracts for
books to be published in twoothers - and has been in the bestseller lists of both Germany and Greece.

11

2013 Programme
4.00pm Emma Carroll:
Frost Hollow Hall

Free Event (though please book
your place via Brendon Books)

St George’s Catholic School
The Mount,
Taunton
TA1 3NR

.Frost Hollow Hall is a thrilling historical fiction debut. Told in Tilly’s unique voice, it is a
tale of love and loss, and how forgiveness is the key to recovery. Emma Carroll is a secondary school English teacher. She has also worked as a news reporter, an avocado picker and
the person who punches holes into filofax paper. She recently graduated with distinction
from Bath Spa University’s MA in Writing For Young People.Frost Hollow Hall is Emma’s
debut novel. Told in the distinctive voice of Tilly Higgins, it was inspired by a winter’s day
from Emma’s childhood. Currently, Emma isworking on her second novel, set in a Victorian
circus. Emma lives in the Somerset hills with her husband and two terriers.Age guide: 9-12.

Thursday 7th November
6.00pm Saul David: 100 Days to Victory
Tickets £6.50

Creative Innovation Ctre,
Memorial Hall,
Paul St,
Taunton TA1 3PF
Saul David’s 100 Days to Victory is a totally original, utterly engaging account of the Great War - the first
book to tell the story of the ‘war to end all wars’ through the events of one hundred key days between 1914
and 1918. The history of any war is more than a list of key battles and Saul David shows vividly how the
First World War reached beyond the battlefield, touching upon events and lives which shaped the conduct
and outcome of the conflict. Ranging from the young Adolf Hitler’s reaction to the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, through a Zeppelin raid on Scarborough, the tragic dramas of Gallipoli and the battlefields
of the Western Front to the individual bravery of the first Indian VC, Saul David brings people and events
dramatically to life. Saul David is an historian, broadcaster and the author of several critically-acclaimed
works of fiction and non-fiction. Saul has presented and appeared in history programmes for all the major
TV channels and is a regular on Radio 4.


7.30pm Fire River Poets

£5.00 Tickets available on the door of the Creative Innovation Centre
An evening with the local poets’ group, Fire River Poets, and their guest, Rebecca Gethin. Rebecca
Gethin lives on Dartmoor. Her second collection A Handful of Water was published by Cinnamon
Press in Feb, 2013. Her first novel, Liar Dice, was published in 2011 and she hopes her second one,
What the Horses Heard, will be out in 2014. Her poems appear in a variety of poetry magazines. She
has been a teacher for most of her working life and has, until recently, taught Creative Writing in a
prison and is now a tutor for the WEA.
There will also be an open mic session for which slots may be booked in advance through enquiry@
fireriverpoets.org.uk or phone 01823 252486.
12

2013 Programme
Thursday 7th November
7.30pm Julian Richards:
Stonehenge

Tickets £8
(Available from Somerset Museum)

Somerset Museum,
Taunton Castle, Castle Green,
Taunton, Somerset, TA1 4AA
Tel 01823 255088

Stonehenge is the UK’s most celebrated prehistoric monument, seen by over a million visitors a year, and
with an image instantly recognisable around the globe. It has a fascinating history of investigation and
speculation but now, at last, we are perhaps a little closer to understanding its mysteries.In this illustrated
talk Julian Richards will answer, with the aid of cutting-edge science, some of the big questions about
Stonehenge – ‘When was it built?’, ‘Who built it?’, ‘How was it built?’ and, perhaps the most difficult to
answer, ‘Why?’Julian Richards is a British television and radio presenter, writer and archaeologist with
over 30 years experience of fieldwork and publication. He maintains a special interest in the prehistory of
Stonehenge.

Friday 8th November

St James Church,
6.00pm Christian Wolmar:
St James St,
The Story of the World’s Greatest Railway Taunton TA1 1JS
Price: £6.50

It is the world’s longest railway line. But it is so much more than that, too. The Trans-Siberian
stretches nearly 6,000 miles between Moscow and Vladivostok on the Pacific Coast and was the most
ambitious railway project in the nineteenth century. A journey on the railway evokes a romantic roam
through the Russian steppes, but also reminds travellers of the vastness of our world and hints at the
hardships that were endured in its construction. Christian Wolmar
expertly tells the story of the Trans-Siberian railway from its conception and construction under Tsar
Alexander III, to the northern extension ordered by Brezhnev and its current success as a vital artery.
He also explores the crucial role the line played in both the Russian Civil War -Trotsky famously used
an armoured carriage as his command post - and the Second World War, during which the railway
saved the country from certain defeat. Like the author’s previous railway histories, it focuses on the
personalities, as well as the political and economic events, that lay behind one of the most extraordinary engineering triumphs of the nineteenth century.
Christian Wolmar is a writer and broadcaster, principally on transport matters. He writes regularly for
a wide variety of publications including the Independent, Evening Standard and Rail magazine, and
appears frequently on TV and radio as a commentator

To purchase tickets or for further info on the above event:
13

2013 Programme
Friday 8th November
7.30pm Sir Ranulph Fiennes: Extreme
Adventures at the Lowest Temperatures
on Earth

St James Church,
St James St,
Taunton TA1 1JS

Price: £8.00

There are only few human beings who can adapt, survive and thrive in the coldest regions on earth. And
below a certain temperature, death is inevitable. Sir Ranulph Fiennes has spent much of his life exploring and working in conditions of extreme cold. The loss of many of his fingers to frostbite is a testament
to the horrors man is exposed to at such perilous temperatures. With the many adventures he has led over
the past 40 years, testing his limits of endurance to the maximum, he deservedly holds the title of ‘the
world’s greatest explorer’. Despite our technological advances, the Arctic, the Antarctic and the highest
mountains on earth, remain some of the most dangerous and unexplored areas of the world. This remarkable book reveals the chequered history of man’s attempts to discover and understand these remote areas
of the planet, from the early voyages of discovery of Cook, Ross, Weddell, Amundsen, Shackleton and
Franklin to Sir Ranulph’s own extraordinary feats; from his adventuring apprenticeship on the Greenland
Ice Cap, to masterminding over the past 5 years the first crossing of the Antarctic during winter, where
temperatures regularly plummeted to minus 92 * C.Both historically questioning and intensely personal,
Cold is a celebration of a life dedicated to researching and exploring some of the most hostile and brutally cold places on earth.


Ssaturday 9th November
10.00-2.00 Shakespeare Aloud
Participatory Event

The Library, Paul St,
Taunton, Somerset
TA1 3XZ

Free Event

Come and participate in the reading of the whole of Shakespeare’s sparkling comedy: Much Ado
About Nothing. You do not have to stay for the full reading of the play.
There is a change whenever a character finishes speaking (no matter how short or long the speech).
This system encourages careful concentration on what is being said, and everyone has a fair turn at
reading!
Our single rule - that no one criticises or comments on how anyone else reads their part - helps create a relaxed atmosphere in which humour, enjoyment and the exploration of meaning can flourish.
It does not need to be well read, but if it is read with enthusiasm and curiosity it rewards the reader
like no other reading does.

14

2013 Programme
Ssaturday 9th November
11.00 am Victoria Glendinning:
From a Suppressed Cry to Raffles

The Castle Hotel,
Castle Green,
Taunton TA1 1NF

Price: £10.00

Please note, following the talk, there is an opportunity to have a 2 course lunch with the author
inclusive of wine a ticket for the talk. Price £39.00. For this option please contact The Castle
Hotel: 01823 328303 or email: events@the-castle-hotel.com
A Suppressed Cry was Victoria Glendinning’s very first book and Raffles her most recent. Victoria
Glendinning looks at how her research methods have evolved and then in more detail at the extraordinary life of Thomas Stamford Raffles (1781-1826), the charismatic and persuasive founder of Singapore
and Governor of Java who remains a controversial figure. In the first biography for over forty years,
Victoria Glendinning charts his prodigious rise within the social and historical contexts of his world.
His domestic and personal life was vivid and shot through with tragedy.His own end was sad, but his
fame immortal. An English adventurer, disobedient employee of the East India Company, utopian imperialist, linguist, zoologist and civil servant, he carved an extraordinary (though brief) life for himself in
South East Asia. The tropical, disease-ridden settings of his story are as dramatic as his own trajectory
- an obscure young man with no advantages other than talent and obsessive drive, who changed history
by establishing - without authority - on the wretchedly unpromising island of Singapore a settlement
which has become a world city. After a turbulent time in the East Indies, Raffles returned to the UK and
turned to his other great interests - botany and zoology. He founded London Zoo in 1826, the year of his
death.

6.00pm Marcus Chown, What a Wonderful World
Price: £10.00

Please note, following the talk, there is an opportunity to have a 3 course dinner with the author inclusive of wine a ticket for the talk. Price £49.00. For this option please contact The Castle Hotel:
01823 328303 or email: events@the-castle-hotel.com
Why do we breathe? What is money? How does the brain work? Why did life invent sex? Does time really
exist? How does capitalism work - or not, as the case may be? Where do mountains come from? How do
computers work? How did humans get to dominate the Earth? Why is there something rather than nothing? In “What a Wonderful World”, Marcus Chown, bestselling author of “Quantum Theory Cannot Hurt
You” and the Solar System app, uses his vast scientific knowledge and deep understanding of extremely
complex processes to answer simple questions about the workings of our everyday lives. Lucid, witty
and hugely entertaining, it explains the basics of our essential existence, stopping along the way to show
us why the Atlantic is widening by a thumbs’ length each year, how money permits trade to time travel
why the crucial advantage humans had over Neanderthals was sewing and why we are all living in a giant
hologram.
Marcus Chown is an award-winning writer and broadcaster. Formerly a radio astronomer at the California
Institute of Technology in Pasadena, he is currently cosmology consultant of the weekly science magazine
New Scientist. He is the author of the bestselling Quantum Theory Cannot Hurt You, TheNever Ending
Days of Being Dead and The Magic Furnace. He also wrote The Solar System, the bestselling app for
iPad, which won the Future Book Award 2011.

To purchase tickets or for further info:
Castle Hotel: 01823 328303 or email: events@the-castle-hotel.com
15

2013 Programme
Sunday 10 November
2.30pm Peter Haggett:
The Quantocks
Price £6.50

Brendon Books,
Bath Place, Taunton TA1 4QS

The Quantocks are a quiet corner of Somerset’s countryside with many claims to fame. Blessed
with heather-clad hills, deep wooded combes, and flanking villages with fine medieval churches, it was the first area in England to be given Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB)
status. Crucible for the Coleridge- Wordsworth friendship in the 18C, refuge for scientists and
sinners in the 19C, today it has a rich legacy of fine country houses and landscaped gardens.
This new biography captures its fascinating past and its challenging present.
Peter Haggett was born, bred and schooled in Somerset. A former Cambridge don and Bristol
University professor, he has returned to his roots to write this affectionate tribute to this gentle,
unpretentious region. To do so, he has teamed up with his daughter to richly illustrate the text
with over 130
photographs.

6.00pm Graham Fawcett:
Seven Olympians Tour:Byron Night
In his Seven Olympians, Graham wants to give audiences who love poetry a fresh experience of
each poet which he hopes will feel more like listening to a live radio programme with readings
rather than to a lecture, blowing away some of the more daunting associations we have with that
word...Graham Fawcett returns to Brendon Books following his marvellous talk on Pablo Neruda
earlier in the year.
Some comments on the Byron talk: “Byron lived fast and died young. Graham brought the poet
to life again for one extraordinary evening of poetry, politics and adventure. It was wonderful.”
(Lucy Moy-Thomas at London Byron Night) “I was royally entertained”. (Annie Freud, after
Byron Night in Lewes) “Thank you for your wonderful talk on Byron at the Hopblossom in
Farnham. I found myself gripped and enthralled and am so pleased to have finally understood
why my late mother was so besotted with Byron. Thank you for revealing why and how his work
should be approached. Can’t wait, now, for some time to sit down and enjoy what I’ve missed all
these years!” (Jane Lees, at Farnham Byron Night)

16

2013 Programme
Monday 11th November
6.00pm James Crowden:
Flowers in the Minefield

Brendon Books,
Bath Place, Taunton TA1 4QS

As an anti-tank gunner with the 51st Highland Division John Jarmain saw action at El Alamein in October 1942 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 capture of Sicily. The 51st were often in the thick of the fighting and took terrible casualties. He sent over
150 airmail letters back to his wife, often written at night in a small dugout by the light of the moon, and inside the
letters were the poems.
‘Among the poets lost to us by the war, John Jarmain must take a considerable place. A real loss.’ Vita SackvilleWest, Observer 13 January 1946. ‘Jarmain speaks with steady certainty and related intensity. Always lonely, he feels
more isolated because of his deep humanity and an unconscious responsibility for the inhumanity that he cannot
control… He will be of considerable stature in the final estimate of his war-poetry.’ Alec M. Hardie, TLS 5 January
1946
James Crowden is an author and poet who lives in Somerset. He has written many books including In Time of
Flood, Dorset Man, Literary Somerset and Ciderland.

7.30pm Graham Hurley:
Touching Distance
Three unrelated, random killings. Or something much, much worse? Graham Hurely’s new crime thriller unleashes a serial killer; combining Hurley’s talent for ultra-realistic, character driven police-procedurals with a plot
powered by an explosive ticking clock and kicking his books into a new realm of tension and fear. Jimmy Suttle
has barely got his feet under the desk at his new job. Having flown in the face of his superiors on his first big
case he now finds himself trying to track down a random, hugely skilled killer before another innocent dies and
before the media tear the force apart. Full of a sense of place, sensitive to the deep rooted agonies of a policeman
alone and facing disaster, and close to, and with a chilling understanding of the motivations of the killer this is a
bravura piece of crime fiction that will secure Hurley’s reputation and win new readers.
Based in Portsmouth, Graham is best known for creating the character of DI Joe Faraday, following several standalone novels. He contributed a column to The Portsmouth News. He received both a BA and an MA in English
from the University of Cambridge.[2]
He worked as a script-writer with Southern Television before becoming a researcher and later a director. He
filmed the seabed wrecks of the Titanic and the Bismarck (with American oceanographer Robert Ballard) and
produced ITV’s account of Richard Branson’s attempt to cross the Atlantic by balloon..

17

2013 Programme
Tuesday 12th November
6.00pm Philip Hook:
Breakfast at Sotheby’s:
An A-Z of the Art World
Price£10.00

Venue:
The Castle Hotel,
Castle Green,
Taunton TA1 1NF

Please note, there is an opportunity have dinner with the author following the talk. Price £49.00
(inclusive of talk). For this option please contact The Castle Hotel: 01823 328303 or email:
events@the-castle-hotel.com
Breakfast at Sotheby’s is a wry, intimate, truly revealing exploration of how art acquires its financial
value, from Philip Hook, a senior director at Sotheby’s. When you stand in front of a work of art in a
museum or exhibition, the first two questions you normally ask yourself are Do I like it? And Who’s it
by? When you stand in front of a work of art in an auction room or dealer’s gallery, you ask these two
questions followed by others: how much is it worth? How much will it be worth in five or ten years’ time?
and What will people think of me if they see it hanging on my wall? Breakfast at Sotheby’s is a guide to
how people reach answers to such questions, and how in the process art is given a financial value. Fascinating and highly subjective, built on thirty-five years’ experience of the art market, Philip Hook explores
the artist and his hinterland (including -isms, middle-brow artists, Gericault and suicides), subject and
style (from abstract art and banality through surrealism and war), “wall-power”, provenance and market
weather, in which the trade of the art market is examined and at one point compared to the football
transfer market.Comic, revealing, piquant, splendid and absurd, Breakfast at Sotheby’s is a book of pleasure and intelligent observation, as engaged with art as it is with the world that surrounds it.


7.30pm Professor Mark White:
The Dazzling Image of JFK
£2.00 Tickets available on the door

Venue:
Queen’s College,
Trull Road,
Taunton TA1 4QS

During his lifetime, John F. Kennedy created a dazzling image that has been sustained since his assassination in 1963. This book examines how Kennedy succeeded in using his military service in World
War II, his literary efforts, his sex appeal, his family and other attributes and achievements to develop
such a potent image. It also explores the roles played by Joseph and Jackie Kennedy in bolstering his
appeal. Probably no other figure in history has created such a positive impression on people throughout the world today than Kennedy. This book seeks to explain how this happened, and to consider the
extent to which the image conformed to the reality of the man.
Tickets available on the door. For any further information please contact Mr G Bisson, branch
secretary of The Taunton Historical Association on 01823 353749
or email geoff_bisson@hotmail.com
18

2013 Programme
Thursday 14 November
7.30pm Sinclair McKay:
The Lost World
of Bletchley Park
Price £8.00

Venue:
Somerset Museum
Taunton Castle, Castle
Green, Taunton, Somerset,
TA1 4AA

The huge success of Sinclair’s The Secret Life of Bletchley Park - a quarter of a million copies sold to
date - has been symptomatic of a similarly dramatic increase in visitors to Bletchley Park itself, the Victorian mansion in Buckinghamshire now open as an engrossing museum of wartime codebreaking. Now,
therefore, Aurum is publishing the first comprehensive illustrated history of this remarkable place, from
its prewar heyday as a country estate under the Liberal MP Sir Herbert Leon, through its wartime requisition with the addition of the famous huts within the grounds, to become the place where modern computing was invented and the German Enigma code was cracked, its post-war dereliction and then rescue
towards the end of the twentieth century as a museum whose visitor numbers have more than doubled
in the last five years. Featuring over 200 photographs, some previously unseen, and text by Sinclair
McKay, this will be an essential purchase for everyone interested in the place where codebreaking helped
to win the war.
Sinclair McKay is a features writer for The Telegraph and The Mail on Sunday.

Friday 15th November
6.00pm Ffyona Campbell:
The Hunter-Gatherer Way
Price: £6.50

Brendon Books,

Ffyona Campbell spent many years exploring the world from on foot and, as she went,
learning from Australian Aborigines, African Bushmen, Pygmies, and North American
Indians. In 1997 she returned home to learn the wild food of her native land and to find
out what happened to us, 4,000 years ago,
to turn us away from the hunter-gatherer life we loved. Since then she has taught over
1,000 people to be hunter gatherers here in Britain.
Her book The Hunter-Gatherer Way: Putting Back the Apple has recently been published. She is also the author of three bestselling books about her epic series of walks:
Feet of Clay, On Foot Through Africa and The Whole Story

19

2013 Programme
Friday 15th November
7.30pm John Bradshaw:
Cat Sense
£6.50

Brendon Books,

From John Bradshaw, one of the world’s leading experts on animal behaviour, and the author of the Sunday Times Bestseller, In Defence of Dogs, Cat Sense is a scientific portrait of the true, surprising nature
of cats. Worshipped as gods, feared as demonic servants, seen as both wild opportunists and beloved companions, cats often seem as unfathomable, enigmatic and magical to us today as they did in ancient times.
They have lived with humans for at least ten thousand years (far earlier than the reign of the Pharaohs),
and today are the most popular pet in the world. That they now outnumber the dog, man’s ‘best friend’,
by three to one, is small wonder: at once affectionate and self-reliant, they seem to be perfectly suited
to our busy 21st Century lifestyles. Yet cats still think like the wild scavengers and hunters from which
they are descended - and to which they can quickly revert. Today, they face unprecedented challenges in
their life with humans: from conservationists who cast them as a threat to wildlife; from other cats who
they compete for territory with; and from good-intentioned owners and vets with misconceptions of what
they require.Cats need not so much our sympathy, but our understanding, if they are to continue to enjoy
our companionship. The recent surge in feline science - with John Bradshaw at the forefront - means we
are now better equipped to understand them than ever before. Cat Sense offers us for the first time a true
picture of one of humanity’s closest and most enigmatic companions.


Saturday 16th November
11.00 Douglas Hurd, Disraeli
£10.00

Venue:
The Castle Hotel,
Castle Green,
Taunton TA1 1NF

Please note, following the talk, there is an opportunity to have a 2 course lunch with the author inclusive of wine a ticket for the talk. Price £39.00. For this option please contact The Castle Hotel:
01823 328303 or email: events@the-castle-hotel.com
Benjamin Disraeli was the most gifted parliamentarian of the nineteenth century. A superb orator, writer
and wit, he twice rose to become Prime Minister, dazzling many with his famous epigrams along the way.
But how much do we really know about the man behind the words? How did this bankrupt Jewish school
dropout and trashy novelist reach the top of the Victorian Conservative Party? And why does his reputation
continue to have such a hold over British politics today? In this engaging reassessment, Douglas Hurd and
Edward Young explore the paradoxes at the centre of Disraeli’s ‘two lives’: a dandy and gambler on the one
hand, a devoted servant and favourite Prime Minister of the Queen on the other. A passionately ambitious
politician, he intrigued and manoeuvred with unmatched skill to get to - in his own words - ‘the top of the
greasy pole’, but he also developed a set of ideas to which he was devoted. His political achievements are
never quite what they seem: he despised the idea of a more classless society, he never used the phrase ‘One
Nation’, and although he passed the Second Reform Act he was no believer in democracy.By stripping
away the many myths which surround his career, Douglas Hurd and Edward Young bring alive the true
genius of Disraeli in this wonderfully entertaining exploration of his life.

To purchase tickets or for further info on the above and following event:
20

2013 Programme
6.30pm Peter Snow:
When Britain Burned
the Whitehouse
Price: £10.00

Venue:
The Castle Hotel,
Castle Green,
Taunton TA1 1NF

Please note, following the talk,there is an opportunity have dinner with the author following the
talk. Price £49.00 (inclusive of talk). For this option please contact The Castle Hotel: 01823 328303
or email: events@the-castle-hotel.com
In August 1814 the United States’ army is defeated in battle by an invading force just outside Washington DC. The
US president and his wife have just enough time to pack their belongings and escape from the White House before
the enemy enters. The invaders tuck into the dinner they find still sitting on the dining-room table and then set fire to
the place. 9/11 was not the first time the heartland of the United States was struck a devastating blow by outsiders.
Two centuries earlier, Britain - now America’s close friend, then its bitterest enemy - set Washington ablaze before
turning its sights to Baltimore. In his compelling narrative style, Peter Snow recounts the fast-changing fortunes
of both sides of this extraordinary confrontation, the outcome of which inspired the writing of the ‘Star-Spangled
Banner’, America’s national anthem. Using a wealth of material including eyewitness accounts, he also describes
the colourful personalities on both sides of these spectacular events: Britain’s fiery Admiral Cockburn, the cautious
but immensely popular army commander Robert Ross, and sharp-eyed diarists James Scott and George Gleig.On the
American side: beleaguered President James Madison, whose young nation is fighting the world’s foremost military
power, his wife Dolley, a model of courage and determination, military heroes such as Joshua Barney and Sam
Smith, and flawed incompetents like Army Chief William Winder and War Secretary John Armstrong.

Tuesday 19th November
7.30pm Gervase Phinn:
Little Village School Series
Price: £8.00

Taunton School,
Staplegrove Rd Taunton,
Somerset TA2 6AD
01823 349200

Gervase Phinn is a teacher, freelance lecturer, author, poet, school inspector, educational consultant and visiting professor of education.For fourteen years he taught in a range of schools,
then acted as General Adviser for Language Development in Rotherham before moving on to
North Yorkshire, where he spent ten years as a school inspector. He holds five fellowships,
honorary doctorates from Hull, Leicester and Sheffield Hallam universities, and is a patron of
a number of children’s charities and educational organizations.
The third Little Village School novel Summer has arrived in Barton-in-the-Dale and as a new
term begins at the little primary school, it’s not just the warm weather that’s getting people hot
under the collar. Meetings with the teachers from Urebank School to discuss the merger are
producing more than a few fireworks, a disruptive new pupil arrives, set to cause trouble, and
a surprising staff love affair is exposed. There’s also a big school production of The Wizard
of Oz to organise as well as an impending visit from the Minister of Education. Headteacher
Elisabeth Devine certainly has her work cut out for her. And that’s just some of the drama set
to shake-up the village. Throw in a sprinkling of secrets, shocking revelations, old flames, new
liaisons, psychics, weddings and misfortune ...There’s plenty to gossip about this term.

21

SPACE Man: David Duthie
As Taunton’s SPACE
Company prepares to
bring Shakespeare’s
‘Titus’ to the derelict,
industrial landscape of
Fox’s Mills in Wellington,
Director David Duthie
describes the challenges
and triumphs of site-specific theatre.
flexibility and dexterity - like you’ve
never seen them before! You won’t recognise them, but you will recognise their
talent, drive and energy!’

our own version of Titus’ Rome, allowing
the history of the site as a cotton and wool
mill during the Industrial Revolution to
influence design choices and staging.’

This latest production by The SPACE
Company presents the full horror of
Titus’ Rome and his descent into madness. Those familiar with the text will
know it’s not a play for the faint-hearted and features some epic moments of
gruesome violence. So just how do you
prepare students for such challenging
scenes?

The SPACE Company have developed
a reputation for staging cutting-edge,
site-specific performances of Shakespeare texts at landmark sites around the
region. In 2011, The SPACE teamed up
with West Somerset Railway to perform
‘Lear’ on a moving 1950s train, stopping
at stations en-route to the restoration yard
at Williton, where the show culminated
amongst the abandoned railway carriages
and freight containers.

‘The subject matter is famously horrible’ admits David. ‘From Lavinia muted by the removal of her tongue and
hands, to Tamora’s sons decapitated,
made into pies and fed to her in a sickening feast of horror.’ He is quick to
add that the students have been warned
of the content, and are free to leave rehearsals or take a break from the process if they need to.

‘These pieces are always logistically
demanding but ultimately a unique and
unforgettable experience for cast, crew
and audience alike.’ says David. ‘Last
October we performed “The Tempest”
at the military fort on Brean Down - an
eerie shell of a building perched on the
cliff edge. The fort had no electricity so
the entire production was lit by fire - a
magical experience.’

Rather than recreate Shakespeare’s entire original text, The SPACE Company
have chosen to adapt the play to give it a
more contemporary feel. ‘To me, a script
is a record of a performance that once
happened and a stimulus for one which
is yet to begin.’ explains David. ‘We intend to take the essence of the revenge
story, the thrill and horror of its climactic
moments and the most beautiful and exhilarating passages of the text and team
it with contemporary physical theatre and
some technical twists and treats.’

‘The students come from a generation
who have grown up watching horror
movies and dramatizations of serial
killings and often their stomachs are
stronger than us directors!’ jokes David, reminding (and perhaps reassuring)
audiences, ‘This is the cast that brought
you ‘Our House’ - but testament to their

Always on the look-out for potential new
sites to stage productions, the atmospheric former Fox’s Mills buildings caught
David’s attention after he and his family
moved to a village in the area.

‘This year we needed a new challenge
for the talented group of students who
are moving into Year 2,’ says David. ‘And Shakespeare’s most violent
and bloody play seemed the perfect
choice!’

22

‘The derelict buildings will create a dynamic shell within which we can create

‘I would like to add our thanks to Abacus Construction for allowing us to use
the site, and Tacchi-Morris Arts Centre
through whom the tickets for “Titus” and
other SPACE shows will be sold.’
Situated next door to Tacchi-Morris Arts
Centre, The SPACE opened four years
ago, to offer world-class, bespoke training
to young people with an interest in performance. The work at The SPACE continues the reputation of excellence in the
performing arts established at Heathfield
Community School. The course has seen
graduates go onto great things - studying
at the country’s top schools for drama and
dance, in university or directly into em-

ployment, either in the creative industry or
in vocations which use the vital transferable
skills that an involvement in the performing
arts promotes.
“Titus” is just one of the exciting shows The
SPACE has lined up for this season. While
the Year 2 Company rehearse “Titus”, the
Year 1 Company will be rehearsing for their
launch event, “Ignition 2013”, involving a
promenade performance and an extract of
Sondheim’s “Into the Woods” taking place
from 1st - 2nd October. They will then begin a devised production using the verbatim
technique, based on the work of the emergency services called “Blues and Twos” taking place from 10th - 12th December.
By Sara Loveridge

As well as teaching Drama and co-directing shows, David Duthie is Course Director at The SPACE, and leads a dedicated
team of talented and passionate staff. He
became interested in Drama at school,
after taking part in school musical productions. He graduated with a B.A. Honours
from the Univeristy of Wales at Aberystwyth, specializing in performance and set
design before training in Drama teaching.
David then taught in a secondary school,
spending his spare time performing and
directing semi-professionally, before
joining The SPACE team, and bringing
together all his skills and experience to the
role.

See “Titus” performed
at Fox’s Mills, Wellington
Tue 15th-Thu 17th Oct at 7.30pm

(time may be subject to change - please
check when booking).

Recommended age 15+ years.
Tickets: £10 / £8 / Concessions / £5Students.
Book through Tacchi-Morris Arts Centre,
School Road, Taunton. TA2 8PD. Box
Office: 01823 414141.
www.tacchi-morris.com.
23

Cinema Obscura, the
Wiveliscombe-based
film society, has just begun its 14th season with
a well-attended, warmlyreceived screening of
Untouchable, the most
successful Francophone
film ever.
The next show, on 20th October, marks
the 100th anniversary of the first Indian
feature film. We’ll be running Satyajit
Ray’s 1966 masterpiece, The Hero.
An egocentric film-star, en route to an
awards ceremony, encounters a young
journalist seeking a scoop to launch a
new magazine. Her directness and lack
of awe draw unguarded disclosures
from him. This stylish film, incorporating some entertaining dream sequences,
shows the influence of French cinema
on Ray.
The 17th November meeting features
Bamako. Set in the capital of Mali

during preparations for a wedding, it
centres on a symbolic trial of Western financial institutions that exploit
African countries. Anything but dry
and academic, it features several passionate, moving performances, plus a
“Greek chorus” of three laconicallyamusing onlookers and some beautiful
African music.
On 8th December we are showing
Alice In The Cities, an early film by
Wim Wenders, best-known for Buena
Vista Social Club. One of Wenders’s
homages to American “road-movies”,
it tells how Phillip, temporarily acting as guardian of Alice, treks across
Germany to help the little girl find her
grandmother.
Films are shown at Wiveliscombe Primary School in North Street (TA42LA)
starting at 7.30pm. Doors open at
7.00, when you can buy hot and cold
drinks and cakes and chat to other
film-fans. Admission is £5. For further
information, you can ring me on 01984
629114.

Top: Still from The Hero (Nyak)
Above: Still from Alice in the Cities

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

24

October Events
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 confirm with venue timings and programme details.

Date

Event Details

Venue

Time

1

Ballet

Swan Lake - Moscow BBallet

Octagon, Yeovil

7.30

2

Musical

Ignition 2013 - Space Theatre Company

Tacchi-Morris Arts Centre

7.30

Drama

Cymbeline - Shakespare re-imagined - Phizzical Theatre


7.30

Music

The Bootleg Sixties Sight and Sound Show

Octagon, Yeovil

7.30

3

Music

Putting on tne Ritzitz - The Pasadena Roof

Octagon, Yeovil

7.30

3-5

Musical

The Sound of Music - WODS Musical Theatre (2.30 Sat matinee)

Playhouse, WSM

7.30

3-5

Drama

Calendar Girls - Minehead Dramatic Society (Sat matinee 2.30)

Playhouse, WSM

7.30

Music

Faustus Trio

Bridgwater Arts Centre

8.00

Music

Flying Folk Evening

Ilminster Arts Centre

7.00

Music

Kaiser Monkey Killers Tribute Night

Oake Manor Golf Club

7.00

Music

RAFA Concert Band Presents; Music From the Films

Blakehay Theatre, WSM

7.30

Show

Postman Pat Live - Permier Stage Productions

Octagon, Yeovil

2.00

Music

Chris While Julie Mathews

David Hall

8.00

Music

Jazz Country Charity Concert: Rice, Clark Storey

Dunster Tithe Barne

7.00

Music

Fake Thackery - The Songs of Jake Thackery

Arts Centre, Wellington

7.30

Music

Meet the Minstrels

Bishop’s Palace, Wells

11-4

Musical

Actiontrack Show - Heathfield Year 10 Students

Tacchim-Morris Arts Centre

7.00

Music

Rooted in Landscape: OrchstraWest concert in memory of John
Cole

St Mary’s Church, Taunton

7.30

Music

Blowzabella

David Hall

8.00

Talk

Crewkerne Textile Industry - Somerset Ind. Arc. Soc

North Town School

7.30

Music

Westfest music festival

Bath West Showground

7.00

8-12

Musical

Guys and Dolls - Yaos (Saturday matinee)

Octagon, Yeovil

7.30

11

Music

Eurospka Quartet


7.00

9-12

Musical

A Chorus Line - Taunton Amateur Operatic Society


7.30

10

Music

Charlie Landsborough

Playhouse, WSM

7.30

12

Music

Camerosa Quartet

David Hall

8.00

Music

Evening of Music For Voice Piano Gill Reed/Martin Newman

St Peter St Paul Ch , Nth Curry

7.30

Reading

The Taming of the Shrew - Shakespeare Aloud

Yeovil Library

10.00am

12-13

Variety

Showtime 2013

Minehead Regal

7.30/2.30

13

Music

Golden Age - Stormy Times - The Phoenix Singers

Church St Andrew, Stogursey

3.00

Talk

Putting on an Olympic Show with Piers Shepherd

Dillington House, Ilminster

2.30

Music

The Sensational 60s Experience

Playhouse, WSM

7.30

Cinema

Live Ciinema: RSC Production of Richard II

Wellesley, Wellington

14

Drama

Jason and the Argonauts - The Courtyard

Octagon, Yeovil

7.00

15

Drama

Sahkespeare Schools Festival


7.30

Drama

Jason and the Argonauts - The Courtyard

Octagon, Yeovil

10/2.00

4
5

6

7

25

October Events

Event Details

Date

Venue

Time

15-17

Drama

Titus - Space Theatre Company (Book through Tacchi-Morris)

Fox’s Mill Wellington

7.30

16

Music

Syd Lawrence Orchestra

Playhouse, WSM

7.30

Cinema

Live Cinema: Royal Opera House: Royal Ballet - Don Quixote

Wellesley, Welliington

7.00

17

Drama

Dracula - Blackeyed Theatre

Octagon, Yeovil

7.30

18

Literature

A Way with Words


7.00

Stand-Up

Comedy Box


8.30

Music

Voodoo Room


8.00

Music

Barbara Dickson

Octagon, Yeovil

7.30

Variety

Weston Super Mare Showcase


7.30

Music

Fleetwood Mac Tribute Night


7.00

Music

And Finally - Phil Collins Tribute

Octagon, Yeovil

7.30

Music

The Urban Folk Quartet

David Hall, S Petherton

8.00

Talk

Britten Uncut with John Bridcut


2.30

Music

Concert: Louise Jordan

Halsway Manor

tbc

Children’s

The Elephant Bridesmaid

Playhouse WSM

2.30

Music

CCS - Martin Roscoe - New Piano Concert

Octagon, Yeovil

7.30

Talk

The Manufacture of Explosives for WW1 - Som Ind Arch Soc

North Town School

7.30

22-24

Drama

Twelth Night


7.30

23

Comedy

Happyism: Adam Hills

Playhouse WSM

8.00

23-26

Drama

An Inspector Calls

Warehouse Theatre, Ilminster

tbc

24

Music

Fascinating Aida

Octagon, Yeovil

7.30

Music

Vampires Rock

Playhouse WSM

7.30

24-26

Drama

Cider with Rosie - The Barnstormers

Minehead, Regal

7.30

25

Music

Jazz All Star Special


7.00

Stand-Up

Jo Caulfield


8.00

Variey

Performance Evening


7.30

26

Music

Michael Jackson and Lady Gaga Tribute


7.00

23-27

Musical

That’ll Be The Day

Octagon, Yeovil

7.30

25

Music

Blake

Playhouse WSM

7.30

27

Music

Gigspanner

David Hal, S Petherton

8.00

Music

Concert with Michael Dussek Leos Cepicky


2.30

19

20

21

Music

Bach the Magnificent with Leos Cepicky


6.30

27 30

Stories

Gory Stories Stroytelling

Bishop’s Palace , Wells

11/12/2

28

Talk

Mary Berry

Octagon, Yeovil

7.30

29

Drama

The Canterbury Tales - The Pantaloons

Playhouse WSM

7.30

26

November Events

Date
1

Event Details

Venue

Time

Variety
Theatre

Same Difference Pop Academy
The Selfish Giant Puppet Theatre


6.00
11/1.30

Music

Meatloaf Meets Blues Brothers Tribute


7.00

Octagon, Yeovil

2.30

Chiuldren’s show The Elephant Bridesmaid - People’s Theatre Company
Book Fair

Taunton Literary Festival Event. Self-publishing/local author
Book Fair (from 2.00pm-5.00pm)

Richard Huish College, Taunton

2.00

Talk

Talk on Self publising


5.00

Poetry Reading

Juncture 25 Poetry Reading book launch


6.00

Talk

An Evening with Henry Blofeld

Ilmiinster Arts Centre

7.00

Stories

Spooky Somerset Stories with Bard for Life

David Hall

8.00

Talk

Charles Dickens with Claire Tomalin


2.30

Show

An Evening with Pam Ayres - Warren Productions

Octagon, Yeovil

7.30

Talk

Taunton Literary Festival Event. Roman Panel: Historical
Writers’ Talk. Ben Kane, Ruth Downie Anthony Riches

Hestercombe Gardens

11.00

Talk

Taunton Literary Festival Event. Historical Crime Panel:
Historical Writers’ Talk. Kylie Fitzpatrick Karen Maitland.

Hestercombe Gardens

2.00

Talk

Taunton Literary Festival Event. Naval Fiction Talk: Historical Hestercombe Gardens
Writers’ Talk. Jenny Barden J.D. Davies

4.15

Music

Armonico Consort with Gillian Keith

Octagon, Yeovil

7.30

Drama

Merry Wives of Windsor - Creative Cow

Minehead, Regal

7.30

Talk

Taunton Literary Festival Event.
David Hilary Crystal,Wordsmiths Warriors

Creative Innovation Centre, Taunton

6.00

Talk

Stephen Moss,,The Great British Year


7.30

4

Talk

The Glastonbury Canal - Som Ind Arch Soc

North Town School, Taunton

7.30

5-6

Drama

Educating Rita - Talking Scarlet Presents

Octagon, Yeovil

7.30

6

Talk

Sara Wheeler, O My America!

Brendon Books, Taunton

6.00

Talk

Marcia Willett, Postcards From the Past


7.30

Music

Alice Throughout the Century - Heathfield Comm. School

Wellington School

5.30

Music

Steve Graham’s Classic Jazz


7.00

Drama

Still Moving - A level drama students


7.30

Talk

Saul David: 100 Days to Victory


6.00

Talk

Fire River Poets With Guest Poet Rebecca Gethin


7.30

Talk

Julian Richards: Stonehenge

Somerset Museum, Taunton

7.30

Comedy

Life is Pain - Alan Davies

Octagon, Yeovil

8.00

Music

Alice (Through the Century) - Primary and Secondary Students


6/7.30

Talk

Christian Wolmar, Story of the World’s Greatest Railway

St James Church, Taunton

6.00

Talk

Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Extreme Adventures


7.30

Comedy

My Valentine - Sandi Toksvig Live

Octagon, Yeovil

7.30

Music

Kimber’s Men


8.00

2

3

7

8

27

November Events (Cont’d)

Date

Event Details

Venue

Reading

Taunton Literary Festival Event. Shakespeare Aloud Group:
Participatory reading of Much Ado About Nothing

Taunton Library

10.00

Talk

Taunton Literary Festival Event. Victoria Glendinning,
From a Suppressed Cry to Raffles

Castle Hotel, Taunton

11.00

Talk

Taunton Literary Festival Event. Marcus Chown, What a Wonderful
World


6.00

Comedy

Paul Merton’s Impro Chums

Octagon, Yeovil

8.00

Musical

Back to Broadway

Playhouse WSM

7.30

Music

Taunton Sinfonietta in Concert

St James, Taunton

7.30

Music

Orchestral Concert - Taunton Sinfonietta


7.30

Music

Pied Piper of Hamelin Puppet Theatre


11/1.30

Talk

Peter Haggett, The Quantocks: Biography of an English Region


2.30

Talk

Graham Fawcett: Seven Olympians, Byron Night


6.00

Talk

Red Plain of Mars - Sanjeev Gupta


2.30

Talk

James Crowden, Flowers in the Minefield: John Jarmain


6.00

Talk

Graham Hurley, Touching Distance


7.30

11

Music

Armistace Day Concert - Collegium Singers

St John’s Church, Wellington

7.30

11-16

Drama

Disposing of the Body - Swan Theatre Company

Swan Theatre, Yeovil

7.45

12

Talk

Philip Hook: Breakfast at Sotheby’s: A-Z of the Art World


6.00

12-14

Drama

War of the Worlds Student Production


7.30

12-16

Musical

Grease - Yeovil Youth Theatre (2.30 Saturday matinee)

Octagon, Yeovil

7.30

13

Talk

Taunton Literary Festival Event. History Society Talk: Prof Mark
White, American Icon: The Dazzling Image of JFK

Queen’s College, Taunton

7.30

Music

That’ll Be the Day Xmas Show

Playhouse WSM

7.30

Talk

Sinclair McKay, The Lost World of Bletchley Park

Somerset Museum, Taunton

7.30

9

10

14

Time

Music

Maiastra Concert


7.30

14-16

Drama

Educating Rita - Talking Scarlet (Saturday matinee 2.30)

Playhouse, WSM

7.30

14-16

Musical

The Spice of Life - Waterfront Theatre Company

Minehead, Regal

7.30

15

Talk

Ffyona Campbell, The Hunterer-Gatherer Way


6.00

Talk

John Bradshaw, Cat Sense


7.30

Music

A Taste of India


7.00

Comedy

Comedy Box: The Best in Stand-up


8.30

Talk

Douglas Hurd, Disraeli


11.00

Talk

Peter Snow, When Britain Burned the Whitehouse


6.30

Music

Autumn Concert:Amici

St Mary Magdalene

7.30

16

28

Event Details

Date

Venue

Time

Music

Martyn Joseph

David Hall

8.00

Comedy

Reginald D Hunter

Octagon, Yeovil

8.00

Music

Midwinter Dreams

Bishop’s Palace

12.30

Talk

Extraordinary World of Quantum Physics


2.30

Music

Concert: O’Hooley and Tidow

Halsway Manor

tbc

Talk

The History of Clark’s - Som Ind Arch Soc

North Town School, Taunton

7.30

Talk

Gervase Phinn: Little Village School

Taunton School

7.30

Music

Elkie Brooks

Octagon, Yeovil

7.30

Storytelling

Stioytelling Show: The Tower of Bagel

Halsway Manor

tbc

19-23

Drama

Arsenic and Old Lace - Taunton Thespians (include Sat matinee)

Tachi-Morris Arts Centre

7.30

20

Music

Steeleye Span

Octagon, Yeovil

7.30

20-23

Drama

Laying the Ghost - Combined Arts Drama


7.30

21

Music

Bets of the Eagles - Talon Tribute Band

Octagon, Yeovil

7.30

Literary Lunch

Henry Blofeld: Squeezing the Orange

Castle Hotel

12.00

Ballet

The Nutcracker - Russian State Ballet

Octagon, Yeovil

7.30

Music

Best of Eagles - Talon Tribue Band

Playhouse, WSM

7.30

Music

The Way of the Drum - Mugenkyo Taiko Drummers

Minehead, Regal

7.30

Music

Melvyn Tan

Milveton Church

8.00

Music

Richard Lennoz Salutes Some Piano Legends


7.30

23

Comedy

Normal Service Will Be Resumed - Ministry of Entertainment

Minehead, Regal

7.30

23-24

Musical

Niracle on 34th Street - Paul Taylor-Mills

Octagon, Yeovil

2.30/7.30

24

Children’s show

Fireman Sam

Playhouse WSM

1.30/3.30

26

Music

Dominant Quartet, Moscow

Octagon, Yeovil

7.30

28

Music

Show of Hands (folk)

Octagon, Yeovil

7.30

Music

The Big Chris Barber Band

Playhouse, WSM

7.30

Music

Robert Fowler, Dominic Ashworth/Craig Milveton Trio


7.00

Music

Viennese Strauss Xmas Gala

Playhouse, WSM

7.30

Variety

Girls’ Night Out - World Vision

Minehead, Regal

7.30

18

19

22

29

Art Exhibitions October/November
Until 26 October. Kathryn Chambers: Stitched Up. Quilted Textile Art. Ilminster Arts Centre.
5 October - 4 January 2014 Somerset Revealed: Art from the Museum Collection. Tue - Sat 10.00-5.00
7 - 27 October. Lorraine and John Charnley Photography Exhibition. Lutyens Gallery, Hestercombe Gardens.
8 - 25 October. The Big Draw. The largest drawing festival in the world.
28 October - 17 November. Rosy Reed: Driftwood Art. Lutyens Gallery, Hestercombe Gardens.
29 October - 23 November. Neroche Artists. Ilminster Arts Centre.
30 October - 24 November Jeremy Cooper: Postcard Patterns. Contains Art Exhibtion, Watchet Harbour. Wed-Sun 10.00-5.00
5 November - 20 December. Sites of Fact and Fiction by Jenny Graham. Tacchi Morris Arts Centre.
1 November - 31 January 2014. Lainey Whitworth. Mixed Media and Textile Art. 3D Exhibition. Hestercombe Gardens.
29

Contacts List
Barn, Obridge House Priorswood, Taunton. Contact: Jeremy Harvey. 01823 276421
Barrington Court, Barrington,  Ilminster, Somerset TA19 0NQ 01460 242614
Bishop’s Palace, Cathedral Green, Wells Somerset BA5 2PD 01749 988111 www.bishopspalace.org.uk
The Blakehay Theatre, Wadham Street, Weston-super-Mare, BS23 1JZ 01934 645493
Brendon Books, Bath Place, Taunton TA1 4ER 01823 337742 brendonbooks@gmail.com
Bridgwater Arts Centre, 11-13 Castle Street, Bridgwater, Somerset TA6 3DD 01278 422 700
The Castle Hotel, Castle Green, Taunton TA1 1NF 01823 272671
St Peter St Paul Church, Moor Lane, North Curry Ta3 6JZ 01823 490255
The David Hall, Roundwell St South Petherton. TA13 5AA 01460 240340 info@thedavidhall.org
Dillington House, Ilminster, Somerset TA19 9DT 01460 258648 dillington@somerset.gov.uk
Dunster Tithe Barn 01643 821658 info@dunstertithebarn.org.uk
Enmore Inn, Enmore Rd,  Durleigh, BRIDGWATER, Bridgwater, Somerset TA5 2AW01278 422 052
Fyne Court, Broomfield, Somerset TA5 2EQ 01823 451587
Gallery4Art. www.gallery4art.co.uk. 01984 623357
Ginger Fig, Bath Place, Taunton TA1 4ER 01823 326798
Glastonbury Abbey Shop Ltd, The Abbey Gatehouse, Magdalene Street, Glastonbury Somerset BA6 9EL 01458 831631 shop@glastonburyabbey.com
Halseway Manor, Crowcombe, Taunton, Somerset TA4 4BD 01984 618274
Hestercombe Gardens, Hestercombe, Taunton TA2 8LG 01823 413 923
Hobbyhorse Ballroom, Esplanade, Minehead, Somerset TA24 5QP 01643 702274
Ilminster Arts Centre, East Street, Ilminster TA19 0AN 01460 55783
Imagine Design Create Bath Place, Taunton TA1 4ER 01823 252133 imaginedesigncreate@live.co.uk
Museum of Somerset, Taunton Castle, Castle Green, Taunton Somerset TA1 4AA 01823 255088 www.somerset.gov.uk/museums
Music in the Quantocks 01823 451162
Night of the Prom: 07973 252 346
Oake Manor Golf Club,Oake Taunton TA4 1BA 01823 461992
Octagon Theatre, Hendford, Yeovil BA20 1UX 01935 422884
Parish Church St John, Wellington, 72 High Street Wellington(01823) 662248
The Playhouse Theatre,High Street,Weston super Mare,BS23 1HP 01934 645544
Porlock Village Hall, Toll Road (New Rd), Porlock TA24 8QD 01643 862717
Queen’s Conference Centre, Trull Road, Taunton Ta1 4QS 01823 272559 contact@queenscollege.org.uk
Regal Theatre, 10-16 The Avenue, Minehead TA24 5AY 01643 706430 mail@regaltheatre.co.uk
Richard Huish College, 2 Kings Close,  Taunton, Somerset TA1 3XP 01823 320800
Silver Street Centre, Silver Street,  Wiveliscombe, Taunton, Somerset TA4 2PA 01984 623107
Somerset Industrial Archaeological Society, Field Officer, Peter Daniel, 29 Barbers Mead, Taunton, TA2 8PY.
Telephone : 01823 339368. E-mail : peter.daniel51@btinternet.com
Somerset Rural Life Museum. Abbey Farm, Chilkwell Street, GlastonburySomerset BA6 8DB 01458 831197
St Mary Magdalene Church, Church Square, Taunton TA1 1SA 01823 272441
St Mary’s Church, St Mary Street, Bridgwater TA6 3EQ 01278 422437 saintmarybridgwater@gmail.com
St Mary’s Church, Stogumber office.qtb@btinternet.com
St John’s Church, Park Street, Taunton TA1 4DG secretary@stjohnstaunton.org.uk
The Swan Theatre, 138 Park Street,Yeovil BA20 1QT swantheatre@gmail.com
Tacchi-Morris Arts Centre, School Road, Taunton TA2 8PD 01823 41 41 41 info@tacchi-morris.com
Taunton Flower Show http://www.tauntonfs.co.uk/
Taunton Library, Paul St, Taunton, Somerset TA1 3XZ 0845 345 9177
Taunton RFC Hyde Park, Hyde Lane, Bathpool, Taunton, Somerset, TA2 8BU 01823 336363
Taunton Racecourse, Orchard Portman, Somerset TA3 7BL 01823 337172
Temple Methodist Church, Upper High Street, Taunton TA1 3PY (01823) 275765
Tyntesfield Wraxall, North Somerset, BS48 1NT
Warehouse Theatre, Brewery Lane, Ilminster, TA19 9AD Tel 01460 57049
Wellesley Theatre, 50-52 Mantle Street, Wellington TA21 8AU 01823 666668
Wellington Arts Centre, Eight Acre Lane, Wellington, TA21 8PS 01458 250655
Wellsprings Leisure Centre, Cheddon Road, Taunton TA2 7QP 01823 271271
Yeovil Library, The Library, King George Street, Yeovil Somerset BA20 1PY Tel 01823 336370

30

Musical Trend Setters
‘‘The Taunton Sinfonietta - a
Musical Trend Setter’ was
a proud slogan to be seen
on some car stickers in the
1990’s. This was no idle
boast; the Sinfonietta had
indeed been a force for innovation in the West Country’s musical scene for over
ten years.
It was founded by Hugh Bushell in
1982 out of the belief that there was a
place, indeed a need, for a professional
orchestra working in the area, and built
from resources available within the region. Before that there had been only
the usual gatherings of professional
musicians in theatre orchestras, pits or
churches, engaged on an ad-hoc basis
for local performances of opera, oratorio etc. Hugh William Done Bushell
was a double bass player himself and
studied at Jesus College, Oxford, and
played for ten years with the Salomon
orchestra in London. He was on the

staff of the Richard Huish college in
Taunton, conductor of the Wednesday
orchestra and assisted with the National
Children’s Orchestra. With his violist
wife Anna he was a tireless promoter,
not only of this orchestra, but especially of introducing music to children
in the area. He maintained his energy
and drive until his death from chronic
lung disease in August 2003, though he
had been forced to give up active playing a few years earlier due to the effort
required to carry such a large musical
instrument around!

Those who came together to form the
Taunton Sinfonietta shared the conviction
that far more could be achieved by assembling largely the same musicians, but generally without a conductor or singers, and
with an appropriate rehearsal and management structure. The rest, as they say,
is history. Many ‘themed’ concert series
were devised by Hugh, with a lot of input
from his wife, and we have fond memories of ‘Vivat Europa’, ‘Very Vivaldi’,
‘Mozart with a Modern’ and many others.
Whilst the orchestra’s base is Taunton,
over the years it has played in places as
diverse as Bath, Bristol and Canterbury
Cathedrals, and many other venues closer
to home in the South West.
The orchestra has been flattered to have
had Allan Schiller, the world-renowned
pianist, as its president for many years.
Whilst the title of the next programme
‘Emphasis on Elgar’, is based on our
tribute to one of England’s greatest composters, Edward Elgar, the high spot of
the programme in November will be the
C major cello concerto by Joseph Haydn.
Written in about 1761, the concerto was
lost until rediscovered in a library in
Prague 200 years later. It is now possibly
the best known and loved cello concerto
31

of this era, and will be played by the talented Mehuhin School student Sarah Padday,
playing on an instrument made by her father Tony. Sarah lives near Shepton Mallett
in Somerset. Salut d’Amor (Love’s greeting) was written by Elgar as an engagement
Event Details
present to his fiancée, and is unashamedly

romantic; the Introduction and Allegro for
Strings, on the other hand is a demanding and sublime work, contrasting a solo
string quartet with the full string orchestra.
Hugh Bushell would be pleased that we
are performing a world première in this

programme. Eric Sweeney has been described as ‘– one of Ireland’s most significant contemporary composers, music
of ethereal melodic beauty’. This work
should prove to be a valuable addition to
the string orchestra repertoire.

See Taunton Sinfonietta
Orchestral Concert

Elgar - Introduction and Allegro for Strings, Elgar - Salut d’Amour,Sweeney - CEOL
Concertante (World Premier), Haydn - Cello Concerto in C

Soloist Sarah Padday - Menhuin School
7.30 9 November St James Church, Taunton
01823 336344
3.00 10 November, Bridport Arts Centre
01308 424204
www.tauntonsinfonietta.org.uk

Sara Padday

FIRE RIVER POETS OPEN POETRY COMPETITION
1st PRIZE: £100 2nd PRIZE: £75 3rd PRIZE: £50 ENTRANCE FEE: £3 for one poem, £5 for 2 poems, £10 for 4
poems
CLOSING DATE: 8 November 2013
JUDGE: Ann Gray has an MA in Creative writing from the University of Plymouth. Her collections include At The Gate
(Headland, 2008) The Man I Was Promised (Headland, 2004).
Rules
* Poems may be in any style and on any subject but must be the entrant’s original, unaided work. Each poem must be in
English and must not be a translation.
* Each poem must be no more than 40 lines, typed, on A4 paper, one side only.
* Any number of entries may be submitted provided each is typed on a separate sheet and accompanied by the correct entry
fee. The entrant’s name must not appear on the poem sheet.
* Entries must not have been published, appeared on the internet, been broadcast, won a prize in a previous competition,
been accepted for publication or be currently submitted to other competitions or for publication.
* Poems must be accompanied by correct payment an entry form from Fire River Poets’ website or a sheet of paper with
titles of poems, name, address, telephone number and email address of the entrant. Poems will be judged anonymously.
* Members of Fire River Poets and their immediate families are not eligible.
* No alterations can be made to a poem once it is submitted.
* It is regretted that entries cannot be returned.
* The judge’s decision is final and no correspondence regarding it can be entered into.
* Submission of a poem implies the entrant’s acceptance of the rules.
Payment
Cheques, Postal Orders and International Money Orders should be made payable to FIRE RIVER POETS. We can only
accept pound sterling (GBP).
Acknowledgement and results
Enclose SAE marked ‘A’ for acknowledgement of receipt of poems or ‘R’ for results.
Prizewinners will be notified by 21 December, 2013. A list of prizewinners and winning poems will appear on the Fire River
Poets website www.fireriverpoets.org.uk as soon as possible after their announcement and for the ensuing year. Copyright
remains with the writer. Winners will be invited to read at a future poetry event in Taunton.
Please post entries to
Fire River Poets Open Poetry Competition, 9 Turner Road, Taunton, Somerset, TA2 6DT
32

Stitched Up: Kathryn Chambers
theme.’ says k3n, who has also been developing and adapting various textile
art techniques to use in her work. As a
result, visitors to ‘Stitched Up’ can expect to find plenty of surface embellishment and other less conventional quilting
techniques, particularly in her landscape
pieces.

Award-winning quilter
Kathryn Chambers known as k3n - returns
to Ilminster Arts Centre
with a new exhibition
called ‘Stitched Up’.
‘Ilminster is my local town and the
Arts Centre is such a fabulous venue to
have on my doorstep.’ says k3n. ‘My
last exhibition two years ago was very
successful and I met a great range of
people - both quilters and non-quilters.
I am really looking forward to coming
back.’
K3n’s latest exhibition ‘Stitched Up’ is
so-called partly because she likes the
pun, but also to reflect her current body
of work titled ‘The Path of the Sacred
Feminine’. This covers all sorts of subjects including witchcraft, goddesses
and female literary figures such as the
Lady of Shalott.
‘I have been doing a lot of research
over the past year about how women
have been treated historically and many
of the pieces on display will be on this

Many people think of quilts only as bed
coverings, but for k3n it is important to
have her work seen as art, and viewed by
a wider audience outside of the quilting
world. ‘I like the ‘shock factor’ - hopefully encouraging people to see quilts in
a whole new light and contemplate hanging them on their own walls as well.’ explains k3n. ‘As the Arts Centre features
such a range of work in different media, I
am keen to help fly the flag for the textile
side of things!’

exhibiting as a group at Ilminster Arts
Centre in Autumn 2014.
‘I am also a member of the Quilters Guild
of the British Isles and have recently
joined Contemporary Quilters South West
which is affiliated to the Guild.’ says k3n.
‘Being an artist of any kind can be a lonely occupation and I think it is important
to have contact with my peers so that my
work doesn’t stagnate.’
Kathryn works under the name k3n (try
saying it fast!) which was invented by her
partner Hans, mainly because people kept
spelling ‘Kathryn’ incorrectly. ‘People
love it or hate it’ says k3n, ‘but hopefully
they’ll remember it and not being averse
to a bit of pretension, I actually like it.’

Although modest about her achievements,
k3n has won an impressive number of
awards for her work at various shows
and competitions including the National
Quilt Championships (3rd Place Open
Themed and Art Deco Themed Competitions, 2011), the Spring Quilt Show, Exeter (South West Regional Winner Open
Themed Competition, 2011), Bath and
West Quilt Show (Best Freehand Machine
Quilting, Best Large Wall Hanging and
Best in Show, 2012) and Festival of Quilts
It was during a 6 year stint living in (Highly Commended, 2012).
France that k3n took up patchwork and
quilting again with a vengeance, teach- ‘On 3rd October I will be running a working herself techniques such as appliqué, shop in Quilted Textile Art where I will
foundation piecing, fusing, fabric-dye- be teaching many of the techniques I use
ing and freehand machine quilting from in my work, including Stitch and Flip,
Fabric Bubble Wrap, Strippy Collage,
books, magazines and the internet.
Confetti, Fabric Weaving, Couching and
For the past 3 years she has lived in Som- more.’ says k3n. ‘Participants will be able
erset with her family - partner Hans, chil- to either make a sampler from blocks of
dren Joey and Lily, plus 1 cat, 2 dogs, and each technique or pick and choose their
3 bantam chickens. She is a member of favourites to adapt for use in their own
South West Quilters, a very active group work. The workshop is aimed at quilters
in the region that is open to quilters of who want to expand their horizons but I
all abilities and experience for whom k3n also welcome complete beginners, as long
gives occasional workshops and talks. as you can use a sewing machine and sew
More recently she has joined the South a (vaguely!) straight line!’
West Textile Group, who will be holding
a group exhibition at the Town Mill Arts She will also be running a Christmas
Guild in Lyme Regis in October, before Quilting workshop on 28th November
Born in Blackpool in 1965, k3n grew up
in the New Forest from the age of 3. She
started doing patchwork at the age of 9
using scraps left over from her mother’s
dress making, and although she admits
during her teenage years other interests
took over - namely ballet, horse riding
and boys - she has always been keen on
all types of needlework including knitting, embroidery and cross stitch.

33

where participants can make fabric bowls
that make ideal festive gifts. K3n’s workshops are suitable both for beginners and
more experienced quilters. ‘I think the key
thing is not to be afraid to experiment.’ advises k3n, describing how her 9 year old
daughter creates beautiful little pieces she
has confidently freehand machine quilted because no one has told her she can’t. ‘The
biggest lack in people coming to my workshops is never ability, it is confidence. And
never listen to the infamous ‘Quilt Police’
– that elusive group who are very good
at pointing out what is wrong with other
people’s work and pontificating about how
things should be done. There is no right or
wrong way – there is only your way!’
For those still in need of a little guidance,
k3n will be holding a free Quilt Clinic in
the gallery every Monday and Wednesday
morning throughout her exhibition. As
well as demonstrating different things on
her sewing machine, k3n would like people to bring along their own work for her
to see, especially if they need any help or
advice with any aspects of patchwork or
quilting. ‘I am self-taught so I have made
most of the mistakes - or should I say met
most of the challenges - myself at some
point.; says k3n. ‘I can show the solutions
I have found that work for me, but what I
won’t do is criticise.’
By Sara Loveridge
See k3n’s exhibition ‘Stitched Up’ from
Monday 30th September - Saturday
26th October. Open Monday - Friday
9.30am - 4.30pm, Saturday 9.30am 2.30pm. Free.
K3n’s Quilted Textile Art workshop
takes place on Thursday 3rd October
and Christmas Quilting workshop takes
place on Thursday 28th November. Both
workshops take place from 10am - 3pm
and cost £25 per session. Please bring
your own sewing machine and book in
advance through the Box Office: 01460
54973.
K3n’s Quilt Clinic takes place in the
gallery every Monday and Wednesday
morning throughout the exhibition.
From 9.30am - 12.30pm. Free. All take
place at Ilminster Arts Centre, East
Street, Ilminster. TA19 0AN.
www.themeetinghouse.org.uk.
34

Top Left:Reflecions of Long Pond Top Right: Genoag Gansen. Above: Eve Ensnared.

A TALE FOR
OUR TIMES –
ON EXMOOR
A compelling story
of family and
ecological conflict
on Exmoor, set
against the current financial crisis and interwoven
with sexual rivalry
and obsession.
And at another
level, a reflection
on our planet as a tiny, living, teeming sward
- finite and vulnerable - and floating alone in
the dead sea of the universe.
PAN’S PRINCIPLE by SIMON PATRICK
A ‘MUST-READ’ NOW ON KINDLE – ONLY £0.99P

ginger fig gifts and gallery

1b Bath Place, Taunton TA1 4ER 01823

ginger fig gallery promotes artists and designers exclusively from
the South West, exhibiting new talent alongside established artists
18

35

COME AND SEE WHY
OUR REPUTATION GOES BEFORE US

HICKIES
We’ve moved!
Come and visit our new
Showroom and Coffee Shop
for
All your Framing needs
and
Now also a lovely new range of
Furniture,Pictures,Giftware
Lamps
Opening Times
Mon - Sat 9.00 - 4.30
@ Prockters Farm
West Monkton, Taunton
01823 412972
info@quantockartandframing.co.uk
www.quantockartandframing.co.uk

Enjoy Christmas
with

The Phoenix Singers

‘Fanfare for Christmas’

December 14th – St James’s Church,
Taunton, 7.30pm

‘Nine Lessons Carols’

December 23 – St John the Baptist Church,
Wellington, 6.30pm
rd

for further information see
www.thephoenixsingers.co.uk
36

the music store

Reading Tiverton Est. 1864

New Pianos Used pianos
Digital Pianos
Piano Hire
Piano Removals
On Site Workshop

A fine selection of grand and upright pianos

01884 257211

Tiverton

See our showroom at:
7 Lowman Units Lowman Way Tiverton EX16 6SR
Just 10 minutes off J27 M5

www.hickies.co.uk

Email: pianos@hickies.co.uk

Why Not
Advertise in
LAMP?
Make yourself visible while
supporting the promotion of the
artistic community in Somerset
LAMP Magazine
c/o Brendon Books,
Old Brewery Buildings
Bath Place Taunton TA1 4ER
01823 337742
lampmagazine1@gmail.com

Shakespeare Aloud
at the Taunton Literary Festival
When Nigel Smith was inspired
to set up the Shakespeare
Aloud group it followed 40 years
when he had no interest in even
watching the latest Shakespeare
production on television.
In his own words, it was ‘40 years of
silence’. Now he has set up a thriving
Shakespeare reading group in Wellington.
On Saturday 9th November the Shakespeare Aloud group are going to read the
whole of Much Ado About Nothing at
Taunton Library as part of the Taunton
Literary Festival.
Nigel did have an interest in Shakespeare
dating back to his school years. He would
always put his hand up when they asked
for parts for the annual production of the
school play though was rarely offered a
speaking part. He was handicapped at that
time by having a severe stutter. He remembers, though the day when he was given a
speaking part in Macbeth as a Messenger.
He still remembers the feeling of excitement of being involved.
It was a book that re-ignited his interest
all those years later: ‘There was a book,
a lovely picture book showing all the
films and productions of Shakespeare.’
He decided that he would read the whole
canon of plays and brought books about
the plays. He did, though, find this hard
going. Then he joined a U3A Group called
‘Reading and Watching Shakespeare’.

The idea was to listen to an audio
broadcast of Shakespeare and follow
with the text. The group would then go
to see a production of the play on film
or in a theatre. He enjoyed this though
felt there was something missing. He
had read another book called Speaking Shakespeare by Patsy Rodenburg
which stressed the importance of reading Shakespeare aloud. Following some
research of Shakespeare reading groups
in the USA, he experimented with a
reading of Shakespeare with the U3A
reading group. It was a success and together with fellow U3A member Bridget Hodges, who was enthusiastic about
the idea and had taught Shakespeare to
adults, they set up a fortnightly reading
group. The Shakespeare Aloud Group
was born.

are not rushed and part of the time is
taken up with introducing the play and
reflecting over and discussing the content. Originally, each participant was given a part. However, because some parts
were much longer and the absence of a
member could create a problem, this was
modified so that now parts are not allocated, but read round the group in turn,
changing whenever a character finishes
speaking (no matter how short or long the
speech). This system encourages careful concentration on what is being said,
and everyone has a fair turn at reading.
This system is particularly suitable for
the public reading at the library as part of
the literary festival as it means that those
wanting to participate do not have to stay
for the whole four hour session but can
come and go as they please.

Reading the play aloud, he believes,
helps to a truer understanding of the
plays in a non-threatening way (The
golden rule is that no one criticises or
comments on how anyone else reads
their part). However, most of all, Nigel
believes, there is the fun of participating
and reading the words. He explains:
‘You feel a delight and a thrill when
you ‘speak Shakespeare’ for the first
time (and over again!). When you allow
yourself to speak it you find immediacy,
sensuality, playfulness, rebellion and
numerous riddles and games. The words
are an adventure for the speaker.’
So far they have read seven plays. They
read every fortnight and typically a play
is read over four weeks. The readings

Those interested in joining the group or
participating in the literary festival reading can contact either Nigel or Bridget on
the following emails.
Bridget Hodges: bmlhodges@gmail.com
Nigel Smith: nigelr.smith@talktalk.net

Taunton Literary Festival Event

10.00-2.00pm

Shakespeare Aloud:
Much Ado About Nothing

The Library, Paul St,Taunton,
Somerset TA1 3XZ

The Shakespeare Aloud Group in
Action at a previous library event
37

Somerset’s Ancient Church Fonts
In the 1880s a young man
in his 20s, a product of the
Victorian era, son of the
vicar of West Harptree,
set out on a modern-day
crusade. His quest was to
record all of the ancient
church fonts in Somerset
before they were lost to the
ravages of over-zealous
Victorian architects, builders and clergy.
That young man was William Harvey Pridham. Pridham witnessed the affect the ‘late
architectural blight’ known as the Gothic
Revival had on Somerset’s churches, and
the ravages of the Victorian’s enthusiasm
to do away with the old to make way for
the new. Many churches had been thoroughly modernised and dozens of ancient
church fonts had been replaced by new less
attractive versions. Fortunately in Somerset, Pridham found that only 85 out of the
481 ancient parish churches had lost their
old fonts, whereas counties such as Berkshire had lost over 50 per-cent.
Pridham set about measuring, describing
and recording as much detail as he could
for every ancient font in the county of
Somerset that he could find. These medieval treasures were often the only survivors
of the Gothic Revival, and one of the first
he drew was in St Mark’s church, Bristol.
He visited every church and chapel in the
county on his bicycle, at a time when they
were nearly always open, enabling him to
undertake his monumental task. He had an
excellent eye for detail, as well as being
able to execute perspective drawings of
numerous fonts, such as those at Shepton
Mallet, Edington and Wraxall. He identified several fonts that were of particular

40

Improved thrubwell nempnet

Wraxall

merit, such as those at Lullington, Nettlecombe and Orchardleigh.
He was so thorough and driven in his
quest, that when he visited a church or
chapel that had lost its ancient font he
made enquiries to try and discover it, or
its fate. For example, at Abbots Leigh he
found the ancient font unceremoniously
placed in the sexton’s garden. Other fonts
were also found in gardens, churchyards,
in a chapel in a near-by castle, in a mission church, in a belfry, and even in a
farm yard. A font at Aller was even used
to house some gold fish. He traced one
font that had been buried under the floor
of the nave by the order of the architect
who renovated the church! Sadly many
of his searches for fonts were fruitless,
leaving Pridham exasperated. He wrote
of the missing ancient church font belonging to Yatton, which he had seen a
drawing of, ‘why the beautiful font . . .
should have been done away with it is
impossible to conceive . . . The font was
a fine specimen of Norman work’.
He spared no criticism of one act of
vandalism he personally witnessed at
Wincanton, in September 1888, when a
local builder unearthed part of the 13th

Lullington

century font, only to destroy it:
While intelligent people were rejoicing
over the recovered treasure, the contractor sawed it up in order to use the material in repairing the pseudo-Classic South
doorway, and save his pocket to the extent of half-a-crown. While we continue
bravely sending Missions to the heathen
beyond the limits of Wincanton; surely
the money need not all be sent away.
But he also convinced over a dozen clergymen, on finding discarded ancient
fonts belonging to their parishes, to have
them restored to their parish church.
Pridham’s work was interrupted in 1889
when he sailed to America and took up a
post as a draughtsman in Colorado. He
soon took a job as an architect and also
served as Secretary to the Denver Architectural Sketch Club (DASC). He won
first prize in the 1895 DASC competition
for his design of a village church in the
13th century English Gothic style. Fortunately for Somerset’s fonts he returned
to England in 1898 and recommenced his
quest.

Octobernovemberlampweb2013

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Similar to Octobernovemberlampweb2013

Similar to Octobernovemberlampweb2013 (20)

More from Jo Ward

More from Jo Ward (7)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Octobernovemberlampweb2013