Wot, no breakfast?

We were informed by the owner that she was going out in the morning and would not be able to cook a breakfast but we should help ourselves in the dining room. We found a few boxes of cereals, some milk, slices of unappetising processed bread in a tupperware box, but no tea and no coffee or even the facilities to make same. Unfortunately I'd already paid for the rooms the previous evening, and there was no-one around, but we were less than impressed, it has to be said.

Thence to Kingsland to take photographs of the cartoon for the Bucklebury window, and back on the road - this time heading for Film Farm.

And what a joy to be sitting in the cosy Aga heated kitchen once again, drying out for what feels like the first time in days (including those Gore-Tex boots).

The next outing? Filming glass making in December near Wolverhampton. I just pray it doesn't rain.

And the rain it raineth

St Winifred's, Manaton.
Below: Charles filming inside the church, with the early 16th century roodscreen behind, defaced (literally) during the Reformation.











Knowing that today would be a long, tiring day, Charles decided on a large cooked breakfast - bacon, sausage, poached egg, tomatoes, fried bread, mushrooms - I think that was all, the right decision as it turned out but it nearly defeated him. Our genial host noted that this was his small size cooked breakfast - he could perform greater feats with even larger plates. Goodness gracious me.

And so, having piled up China once again we sadly said goodbye to Dawlish and headed up to Manaton, a fairly tiddly village near Bovey Tracey (a large proportion of FB's windows do seem to be hidden in obscure parts of the countryside - is there anything relevant in this one might ask onself). We filmed the inside of the church and the FB window (dedicated to Esmond Moore Hunt, the son of one of Brangwyn's friends) and my blurb but I kept getting my murds wuggled up (I blame the cold). I scoured the graveyard for Esmond's grave to no avail and got rather wet in the process. We filmed the outside of the church, me trying to cover Charles and the camera with an umbrella (not easy when the cameraman is 6ft 3in and I am a mere 5ft 2in (although I did actually stretch to 5ft 3in when living in Hong Kong and doing loads of sports). We then bundled into the car, all soggy and wet and back on to the moors for location shots (wet and grey and misty).

And with excellent timing arrived at our next venue nearby to interview a relative. Unfortunately the gentleman was one hour late and no explanation was forthcoming, but he was absolutely charming so we bagged that bit of film and set off again for Leominster area, still exceedingly wet and damp (more so than yesterday's swim in the sea) and by this time rather tired and a little miserable. The B&B didn't 'do' food but we scraped together some picnic goodies at an M&S service station. We finally arrived at our destination about 9pm after a horrible drive in the dark through the rain, and then of course spent the next 30 minutes emptying the car of it's precious load before attacking our picnic with gusto (who he).

Art History Plumbs New Depths

I tried to explain to mine hosts at the B&B that I was a serious academic historian but each time I started uttering broke into gales of laughter, and today proved exactly the point. Donning the wetsuit I had collected Friday we drove down to the front at Dawlish and thence proceeded to Coryton Cove where I put on my flippers, mask and snorkel in order to dive down and find the wreck of the SS Empress of Britain, for which FB had designed some stained glass panels. Unfortunately at this precise moment the rain decided to descend in buckets full and Charles wimped out claiming that his camera would get wet. Meanwhile I frolicked on the beach, did some jogs, beachcombed for interesting stones, found a long stick and performed a Charlie Chaplin act, and sploshed about in the water (my wild child act). After 3/4 hour I realised Charles had completely disappeared but finally found him sheltering under a beach hut. We decided the rain had eased off sufficiently and he tiptoed onto a little promontory with trepidation whilst Libby floundered around in the water, rose from the depths (her Nereid act) and did her words to camera (brilliantly if I may say so) but the filmmaker kept getting things wrong and demanding more takes, which served him right because at one point a rather large wave topped the little pier and poured water into Charles' Gore-Tex boots, about which he was none too happy.

The wetsuit was wonderful (c/o Scuba Solutions) and even after an hour I didn't feel cold. Charles did!

Coryton Cove was known as Gentleman's Cove in Victorian Times, and gained the ENCAMS Quality Coast Award 2007 and Marine Conservation Society Good Beach Award 2007. It is backed by Brunel's railway line and the trains trundle through (unfortunately not puffers) regularly which is rather fun.

Old postcard of the Cove above.

Having treated my colleague to so many wonderful meals during our filming ventures he decided that it was time to reciprocate, and so we ended up at ... (wait for it) ... the Rock 'n' Sole Fish Bar where we (yes, even me) devoured pollack (very good and environmentally correct) and chips (well I left some of the latter which were immediately hoovered up by CM).

James Dean lookalike?!

In the afternoon we interviewed Mike Westbrook, a fascinating shoot, where he sat at his grand piano and explained the thinking behind the FBSG compositions. And in the evening Kate cooked us a meal - without a doubt the best meal during the west country expotition.

Techy Stuff

For those of you interested in such things, here's some extra details about the sound recording:



Soundfield Technology is based on the principle that all acoustic events can be represented by four basic elements. These are 'X' which is front/back information (depth), 'Y' which is left/right information (width), 'Z' which is up/down information (height) and 'W' the central point from which the other three elements are referenced. Collectively, W, X, Y and Z are entitled B-Format. Soundfield are the only microphones in the world which deliver B-format which can be stored on four tracks of any recorder.



The Soundfield microphone itself contains four capsules, mounted in a tetrahedral array. The Soundfield System relies upon B-Format and its processing at its core. B-Format is a 3 dimensional representation of acoustical events, all referenced from a single 'virtual' point source. The 3 dimensions are: X, Y, Z as noted above. B-Format offers these 3 dimensions as an individual output plus the point source reference W, across 4 channels. It is possible to alter mic position within the recording after it was recorded and generate a final stereo output. B-Format also provides multi-channel output capability.



So there. FBSG has the distinction of not only being the first ever Catalogue Raisonne to be published as a DVD but also the first ever to be recorded in 5.1 surround sound! Wowzers, whatever next - don't ask!

Art History Scales New Heights

Mike Westbrook and Andrea Argent conferring
Mike with Miscellany: Andrea Argent , Audrey Barnes, Marianne McAleer, Ann Seabright, Helen Hill, Carolyn Morgan, Alison Pemble, Julie Taylor, Christine Parfitt, Patricia Pimm, Wendy Sergeant, Cynthia Dobson

Today was the day - the great Miscellany recording in St John's church, Clevedon. We piled up the car with all the filming and recording gear, collected Mike Westbrook (still not in the best of health) and zoomed off to Clevedon, where we met Andrea Argent, the highly efficient Musical Director of the group (as well as press officer, secretary, treasurer and musical dog's body), who possesses a wonderful turn of phrase and a good sense of humour. In fact the whole group do - between each take the choir broke into peals of laughter - one of the joys of working with the girls is that they are highly professional, obviously enjoy their music greatly, and have all been good friends for years. Charles set up his wonderful surround sound recording gear in the vestry, the girls ranged themselves in the sanctuary, the piano was trundled up to help with fine tuning, and we were off. Mike has written seven pieces for the film, and Miscellany started with the ones they were most familiar and at ease with. Andrea and Mike talked way above my non musical head, and the collaboration worked well, the choir's abilities growing exponentially as the afternoon progressed, so that when they came to the last (hardest) work they practically sailed through same, although Charles is left with some stitching to perform. And the afternoon was so well organised and well paced that the recording was completed in four hours.

The recording was made using a Soundfield SPS422B microphone system, recording onto a Sound Devices 744T hard disk digital 4 track recorder; the recording was also recorded in stereo onto a Tascam DA-P1 DAT recorder and monitored on Fostex 6301 loudspeakers. The 4 track B-format master will eventually be processed into a 5.1 surround sound audio track for the DVD.

Helen Hill, Andea Argent, Ann Seabright and Marianne McAleer listening to a playback in the vestry with Charles




Andrea wrote afterwards that 'at the end of the day, I felt as if we'd climbed an unfamiliar mountain, reached the top against all odds, and glimpsed a fascinating new world beyond.'



Helen Hill and Carolyn Morgan (my highly revered sister-in-law)

We returned to Dawlish in the wind and rain, took Mike home, emptied the car yet again, and went out in search of food. Unfortunately Dawlish out of season is not the best place for culinary delights and nothing was open. We ended up buying a rather limp pizza (CM) and a tub of coleslaw (me) which was washed down in the B&B with a bottle of red which almost made it palatable.

The Glory of Glass

Having devoured a ginormous cooked breakfast (CM) and a delicate bowl of grapefruit (me), we took a stroll through the town, decided on a venue for Monday's extravaganza, didn't spy a single black swan (swizzle), and then walked up to Mike and Kate Westbrook's house to say hello and have a coffee. Mike and Charles have worked on a number of projects together and go way back. Unfortunately Mike was suffering from a dreadful cough but says he will still accompany us tomorrow (recording Miscellany). Kate has a wonderful studio in the attic and is a hugely talented painter, not completely abstract, not completely naturalistic, and very multi-layered, like looking at life through gauze or blurred glasses.Midday we packed the car and headed off to interview Patrick Reyntiens (above), Britain's pre-eminent stained glass designer and maker. He was absolutely charming, talked about Brangwyn's glass design, his collaboration with John Piper and his own work, showing us some beautiful autonomous glass panels, his delightful sketchbooks (tea bags and turmeric) and his wonderful library where he declaimed some of the Idylls of Theocritus for our benefit. Amazing how contemporary they sound, proves something about human nature. I would just love to be able to catalogue Patrick's stained glass windows and panels - but can't afford to without some sort of backing or sponsorship. How come thicko footballers get book deals but when one wants to do some serious work nothing is forthcoming? Rhetorical possibly.

West Country

The great west country saga began on Wednesday when I travelled up to Film Farm. The following day Charles charged batteries and sorted the gear which was duly piled up in the hall ready to go first thing Friday. And what a phenomenal pile it was too - all the usual paraphernalia PLUS the new microphone in a huge metal box, mike stand, the new 4 track digital surround sound recorder and miles of cables. Packing the car on this morning was reminiscent of 'how many policeman can one fit in a mini' and worthy of a Guinness record. Packed to the gunnels is no exaggeration but somehow or other I managed to leave space for the driver (MOI) and Charles' very long legs. The worst aspect of travelling with all the film gear is that we dare not leave the car, so coffee and lunch and other breaks have to be staggered. Six hours later we arrived in Dawlish (our base for the next 4 days), collected a wet suit (of which more anon) and booked in to our superb B&B, beautifully appointed, views of the sea, and, as it transpires, cooked breakfasts to die for. If ever you are in Dawlish, the Lammas Park House is the place to be.

Fellowship is Life ...

Lack of Fellowship is Death - so wrote William Morris. Unfortunately the London Borough of Waltham Forest don't see things in the same way and have decided to sack the staff and close the unique gallery which is complete and utter intellectual vandalism to my mind - don't get me started! Anyway, the highly esteemed curator, Peter Cormack, is due to leave mid December, so we had to get in quickly to interview him about stained glass in general and Brangwyn's efforts in particular. He was great, so knowledgeable, very articulate, but all conducted with a wry sense of humour. I think all three of us enjoyed the morning hugely. And here is the man himself in front of a green screen so that we can project him in front of any of the stained glass windows we have filmed!

on the road

No, not Kerouac, but the FBSG leviathan! A week Monday we interview Peter Cormack, then the following weekend my slangam friend and I have a bumper bundle and will be giggiting about the west country. We interview Patrick Reyntiens no less, to which I am greatly looking forward; record Miscellany performing Mike Westbrook's composition; interview Mike about his inspiration; film in Manaton church and do a couple more interviews and photography sessions.

Meanwhile the hunt for illustrations has borne fruit and I've been spending some happy hours in Photoshop!

curious incidents

There's a fascinating article about Brangwyn and art collections by Peter Duffy in the British Art Journal, Vol VIII, No 1, amusingly titled 'Frank Brangwyn (1867-1956) and the curious incidence of the art in the Tate'. Unfortunately the article went to press without Peter being able to proof read, so Fig 6 went out turned through 90 degrees and without the measurements supplied, and the last sentence is missing - it should read 'accommodate both reception and critique' - you heard it here first. Some extremely interesting revelations, and it's good to see people standing up against the authorities - but I doubt Peter will be allowed through the portals of the Tate again!

A RANT!

This is YOUR Post Office they say - USE IT! Well, I do, but feel I'm being ripped off and just wonder whether there are, in reality, any standards and do I have faith in my post arriving at its destination? For example, when based in a small Yorkshire village during the summer I had occasion to send two A4 envelopes to a colleague. I went to the PO and had them weighed and the PO man himself stamped them. The post did not arrive, but about 2 weeks later my colleague received a note saying that two envelopes were awaiting his collection - they had been underpaid! So HE had to pay extra to recover them from bondage.

A couple of days ago I needed to send a parcel speedily to Dorset (not exactly the other end of the world) and since I was working in the V&A Library that day, popped into the S Ken PO. The lady told me the parcel would cost £20! I nearly shrieked (well, OK I did shriek!). She then said it could go for £9 if I wanted but it would take up to 2 weeks - for crying out loud I could run it faster! Pressed further she said there was a 3rd method of postage whereby it would cost £14 and may arrive in 2 days. I compromised and went for the £14 which involved her in taking down the address. At that point she announced there was no such post code. For the next 10 minutes she and another member of staff reiterated their stance that the post code did not exist, therefore the package could not be accepted. By this time the queue was out into the road and I gave up, waltzing out in a distinct huff.

Yesterday I took same parcel to my local PO in Kent. £7 she said - my eyes opened wide in astonishment - but how long will it take? Oh, couple of days tops! You could have knocked me down with a feather.

Oh, and the postcode is completely and utterly bone vide - I've checked.