Six months ago, I cycled off along the Wivenhoe Trail early one sunny morning for the first time. I was but three days into the Great Escape and wasn’t even sure where the Wivenhoe Trail would take me to.
My destination was @15QueenStreet in Sunny Colch for a member’s breakfast social gathering. I wasn’t a member, and if truth be told, I’m not really much of a social person, let alone a breakfast boy.
And so six months later, I cycled off along the Wivenhoe Trail early on a sunny Thursday morning for the 180th (ish) time. I am now six months into the Great Escape and have more or less forgotten what I was escaping from in the first place.
My destination was once again @15QueenStreet in Sunny Colch for a member’s breakfast social gathering. I am now a flexi member, I’ve become quite a social beast and breakfast is bloody ace.
But there’s far more to this story than some half-arsed compare and contrast calendar dates. I pretty much knew what would happen in Wivenhoe, once the Great Escape plan was first hatched back in South London.
I work online, I play online. Sometimes though it is nice to walk away from the modern interweb; this is when the conversation truly becomes social and meaningful. @AnnaJCowen was slightly concerned that she was more insular. I knew that the social web would bring me new opportunities and friendships in our new home.
The girl however has since joined an online local swingers club and returns home in the early hours with a slight limp.
Only joking.
Facilitating [urgh!] all of this (the social, not the swingers) has been the openness of the creatives @15QueenStreet to share and support others in their chosen work. There is absolutely nothing wrong in staying at home in Wivenhoe all day long, but without @15QueenStreet, my Sunny Colch misconceptions would have remained just that.
This informal ethos of sharing and supporting is producing a series of local projects that are genuinely impacting on the lives of local people. Witness the sheer joy from the fine students @ColchesterInst, upon seeing that the BBC had taken an interest in their @15QueenStreet inspired work at the Hidden Kiosks Project.
I’ve personally found some employment through my involvement. I’m always up front about how I’m paying the bills, and I’m very proud to be offered the opportunity to be an Associate Blogger with @creativecoop.
As well as the Hidden Kiosks Project, there’s Keep Colchester Cycling and the newly launched Mentor Me project. The mentoring and supporting approach of this project fits the @15QueenStreet way of working perfectly.
In return, I offer what few online skills I have. And so after a glorious, glorious estuary ride along the Trail on Thursday morning, a quick catch up with friends, and then it was time to help out @firstsite with some online audio work.
I was rewarded with some fresh pastry and some personal pride in being able to mach @15percentkidney in the knobbly knees competition, despite surrendering some two decades to the dandy hipster.
I always end up leaving @15QueenStreet full of ideas and wanting more. There is a great deal of creative talent around these parts that is producing some fine work in isolation. The true social value however comes when the greater goal of collaboration comes along.
I came close to not cycling along the Wivenhoe Trail early one sunny morning for the first time some six months ago. I had boxes to unpack and a BT modern intwerweb network to set up. Taking my work offline and out into Sunny Colch has so far been a defining aspect of the Great Escape.
My blog is essentially my own personal online home, where I can create and dump any digital content that comes my way.
My day job involves managing online communities, as well as producing online content for localschools. Sitting somewhere in-between is my blog, hopefully as a platform for local co-operation and engagement.
When did you set up the blog and how did you go about it?
I started blogging in 2003 using Blogger. It was the online equivalent of the old punk rallying call of here’s a chord, here’s another one – now go and start a band. Starting a blog was as simple as setting up an account with Blogger.
I’ve since moved platforms to a WordPress self-hosted site, which offers more flexibility and control over the design. But ultimately it really is still all about the content.
I’ve changed direction, if not focus, in the eight years that I have been blogging. This shift more or less reflects my own offline lifestyle changes from sport, to local community issues, and then my current lifestyle change having moved out of South London to the North Essex estuary wilds. Essentially I blog about what I see around me.
In Lambeth I witnessed an incredibly poor level of local accountability when it came to local council matters. The press gallery for Full Council meetings was often empty, with local journos guilty of being caught asleep on the job.
Through blogging and tweeting about some of the political twaddle that was taking place, I was able to engage the local community in how petty local politics can often appear from the outside.
It is great to now see many similar local blogs carrying on this level of political accountability, as well as the traditional media taking to tweeting from within the Town Hall.
What other blogs, bloggers or websites influenced you?
The mighty Urban 75 has always been an inspiration in terms of community passion, and what is possible to achieve collectively online.
The South East 853 blog often overlaps with similar local authority themes that I addressed in Lambeth.
Lurking About SE11 was an online neighbourhood friend, although we only ever met once by accident, despite constant accusations that we were in league together.
memespring is doing some very interesting work with data journalism in South London.
Since my move out towards North Essex, Keep Colchester Cool and the online/offline creative hub at 15 Queen Street have both offered much support and many opportunities for collaboration.
There is a tangible sense that Colchester is going through a period of positive creative growth. It is no coincidence that this move coincides with the emergence of the Cultural Quarter in the town.
By continuing to blog about hyperlocal matters in my new home of Wivenhoe, I have been able to connect with others members in the community and share ideas as to what direction our estuary town is hopefully taking.
How do you see yourself in relation to a traditional news operation?
The distinction is often one that is made by the traditional news media, and not by bloggers who are simply going about their business. We are all observers and reporters of events that happen around us. Traditional media may make money out of this process, but that is the only difference.
I personally operate best in a news patch that I know inside out. Size is all-important here – I have little interest in what is happening in a one mile radius outside of where I live and work: that is for others to look into.
Traditional media spreads itself thin by the very nature of being tied down to a financial model of covering a greater footprint.
Having moved into a new town, I am slowly, slowly finding my feet, and finding out more about the social history. Being active online in the area is a great opportunity to go about learning more about the sense of history in the place I now call home.
What have been the key moments in the blog’s development editorially?
Covering local sport was a large part of my old blog. I then began to ask more questions about how local decisions were made, and why this supposedly democratic process was often leading towards a shambles of democracy in the local town hall.
Attending my first Full Council meeting was something of a key moment, and one that was almost on par with this despair of watching sub-standard non-league football.
Sadly the downside to this local level of journalism is that you don’t exactly make yourself popular with the local politicians that you are holding to account. I felt some sense of justice when a Lambeth Councillor who left a completely random comment with racist connotations on my blog, was then ordered by the Council to participate in social media training.
Moving forward and I have recently set up a hyperlocal forum for the community where I now live. The Wivenhoe Forum is growing organically, and it has been great to see how locals are joining the online community and starting conversations about how we can make out town an even greater place to live and work.
What sort of traffic do you get and how has that changed over time?
To my great surprise my traffic levels have doubled since my blog took a more rural direction along with my house move.
I prefer the more qualitative approach to measurement than quantitative. Many new opportunities come my way via my blog. I am able to make offline connections in the local community, something that a daily data report of unique users is unable to compare with.
Welcome to @15QueenStreet, the heart of the Cultural Quarter here in Sunny Colchester - seriously.
What’s happening here tonight in the creative hub is something really quite special. To help raise funds for Comic Relief, local design team Lauren and Phil from the Hidden Dingbat Collective are attempting to live illustrate Comic Relief night on BBC1.
I say “attempt,” but having recently won a live draw off event over in Shoreditch, I think that we all know that they will pull it off spectacularly.
No pressure, then guys.
Art for art’s sake, ‘n all that - but how the chuffers are the Dingbats going to raise some serious wonga by simply drawing some rather splendid pictures of celebs on TV?
Good question, well put Comrades.
Well…
The plan is to then get as many of the celebs involved in Comic Relief night to sign the artwork produced on the night. This will then be auctioned off on eBay, with all the money raised heading the way of Comic Relief.
Neat, eh?
Here’s where any online (or even offline) folk can help out:
Head over to the Dingbats site for a live video stream of the evening, very kindly put in place by the good folk of @Kinura. There’s also twitter action to follow, with the safe hands of @CoolColchester keeping the twitterati happy.
There will of course be live blogging of the evening right here on m’blog. Using the traditional Grauniad technique of refreshing for updates, simply then scroll down for any new content. You can also leave comments on m’blog, or send us an email about the evening over here.
Plus don’t forget to pop down to 15 Queen Street in Sunny Colch is you are passing. They are an incredibly friendly bunch in here, and you would be made to feel most welcome to say hello to the Dingbats, and hopefully offer some coins towards the fine cause as well.
This has been something of a whirlwind 48 hours for the Dingbats since the plan was first hatched online midweek. Meeja appearances have followed, dahhhling, with the good folk of BBC Radio Essex and Tendring‘s Dream 100. There’s even a grand TV appearance on BBC’s Look East on Saturday.
So plenty taking place this evening @15QueenStreet
Pens and pencils at the ready…
19:25
Setting the scene ahead of the chaos breaking out in the @15QueenStreet boardroom, the Dingbats very kindly agreed to a brief @audioboo catch up. Here’s what the evening holds for us @15QueenStreet:
19:37
And we’re off! It’s all rather tense here in the @15QueenStreet boardroom as the @HiddenDingbat’s live illustrate Comic Relief. Nothing to do with the rather large amount of empty cans of Red Bull lying around. Oh, not, not at all…
Here’s the set up - this is a photo of the scene shortly before 7pm when Phil and Lauren were setting up for the seven hours of illustrating ahead:
And here’s what we’re looking at right now, after just over half an hour of illustrating action:
Don’t forget that the rather lovely @Kinura is live streaming the action over on the Dingbat’s website.
Slight *ahem* editorial issues as David Cameron appears on Comic Relief. A bit of internal debate between the Dingbats as to how best to portray our glorious PM. No worries - they’re an apolitical collective of course…
19:54
All getting lively here @15QueenStreet. Phil and Lauren are of course working wonders with magic markers. Meanwhile we’ve been graced with the local presence of Andy Winmill. He’s on his way to a gig (of course) but popped in for some support.
Just a reminder that @15QueenStreet is open all evening. Come along, say hello and offers some support…
We’ve had a request from the good @JaneDavis13 [helloooo!!] for some more images of the @HiddenDingbat’s live illustration of Comic Relief.
Aha! Here we go, madam…
Here’s the lovely Lauren, pen in hand, live illustrating some young pop star from the modern hit parade that I haven’t even heard of.
And completing the Beauty and the Beast creative collective, here’s Phil getting rather excited as the fun and fundraising breaks out around us @15QueenStreet.
As for the artwork itself? It’s coming on rather nicely. About a quarter of the first mass sheet of drawing paper has now been filled. Every scene and character from Comic Relief is being captured on pen and paper, telling the entire story as the evening unfolds.
One of these men is our esteemed PM. I’d say artistic licence was rather restrained…
Meanwhile, all of this creative surge in energy needs some sustenance. The fine Amy has baked this special Comic Relief cake. Went down rather well @15QueenStreet.
We’ve got some video content coming up next…
20:58
Two hours in, only five more to go… Enthusiasm is still high from Phil and Lauren as they carry on with their live illustration marathon. We’ve got a team of expert spotters (um, young folk) who are helping out and keep up with all the star spotting on TV. I’ve recognised dear old Dale Winton so far, and that’s yer lot.
It’s a glorious coming together of anarchic (un) planning on the night, which is somehow making sense. I think that the team here @15QueenStreet are collectively pushing the in-house WIFI to the max. I’m counting three MacBooks, one MacBook Pro and a clapped out laptop [hellooo @CoolColchester.]
Don’t forget that you can help with the fine cause. The Dingbats have a donate button on their website, where you can also watch a live video stream from @15QueenStreet.
I’m the one sitting in the corner, trying to look cool (yeah, right…) and waiting for some video to encode. Apologies if I bork the @15QueenStreet WIFI.
21:11
Video taking an age to upload. Grrrrr.
Meanwhile, here’s some audio with Lauren trying to identify one of Jack’s finer scribbles (all in an artistic sense of course…)
21:29
OK, with Ant and Dec currently booming out from the boardroom TV of @15QueenStreet, time to concentrate on some of the artwork. The Hidden Dingbat gallery is growing. Below is just a snapshot of just some of the on the spot sketches that Phil and Lauren are putting together. It reads like a Sgt Pepper’s album sleeve for the celeb generation.
But who can you identify?
You can tweet your thoughts to @HiddenDingbat, or leave any comments in the box below.
Only another four hours to go. Is the off licence still open…?
Image 1
Image 2
Image 3
Image 4
Image 5
Image 6
Image 7
21:44
Many, many thanks for all the tweets and re-tweets folks. These are all being seen by the Dingbats, who are rather busy drawing away… They really are appreciated, and are keeping the @15QueenStreet crowd going throughout this seven hour stretch.
Just over half way into the evening (oh Lordy) and the Dingbats are still looking bright and fresh. The Comic Relief live illustration is growing by the minute. We’ve worked out the hard and fast rule that celebs will be drawn if they appear on the screen for one minute or more. David Cameron just slipped through the benchmark…
Here’s the current state of play with the grand illustration:
And here’s a small section of the @15QueenStreet supporting cast:
Look at the talent on offer! Money couldn’t buy this! …but any spare pennies you may have jangling around would be greatly appreciated if they could find their way to the Hidden Dingbat Comic Relief Cause. We’re currently standing at the fine figure of £200 - many thanks all.
Still waiting for that video to encode.
Oh Lordy…
22:35
TV (and Dingbat) gold! Mad scramble as the legend that is Rick Astely appears on Comic Relief. Smiler Rick didn’t quite pass the one minute test (steady) but Lauren couldn’t wait to illustrate his cheeky chubby chops on the grand design.
22:38
We have Hidden Dingbat video action - hurrah! It may have taken almost two hours to encode (um, should stick with pen and pencil…) but here we have Phil and Lauren explaining more about their grand venture taking place @15QueenStreet this evening.
Meanwhile - we’ve just hit the £250 mark. Halfway there. Hurrah again!
23:06
Still with us? Hope so. Into the final stretch with only a couple of hours to go. If you’re watching the video stream, then you may have seem Lauren hopping around on one leg for the past five minutes. This *wasn’t* an artistic statement (I think) - simply pins ‘n needles from four hours of constant drawing.
There was also a blink and you’ll miss it video cam moment with one of those pesky Ram Man / Men. Like I said - it’s been one of those evenings @15QueenStreet.
We’re all counting down to Partridge time. Aha!
23:46
Reaching the midnight hour, and yep, hopefully it’s been worth the wait. Using a rough calculation involving squinting through my sleepy eyes and swigging back another Red Bull, I’d say that the Dingbats have filled 90% of the grand illustration mural. Here’s hoping that the future celebs appearing on Comic Relief are all under four feet.
Below are some of the latest illustrations that Phil and Lauren have been busy working away on throughout the evening. A fine, fine effort.
Keep those watching you, watching me images coming in. Below is the ace effort from the lovely, lovely @singyamatokun. Sadly she can’t be with us on the evening, but we like to think that a little of the @15QueenStreet love is located somewhere up in Staffordshire right now.
Cripes.
Phil and Lauren are currently sucking a lemon and fulfilling the non-existent client brief by sketching Jimmy Carr.
Righto - time for some more @HiddenDingbat video action. I do hope that a jumpy buffering video stream can do justice to the enormity of what Phil and Lauren have managed to achieve here in Colchester this evening. They’ve been working for almost six hours constantly now, producing this fine piece of work.
As for the next phase? Well… we’re open to offers. The plan is to try and get as many of the celebs as possible to sign the artwork, and then auction it off. Like most projects @15QueenStreet, we are open to offers and collaboration. How can we use this stunning piece of artwork to help generate more money for Comic Relief?
00:48
It’s getting mighty full now on that @HiddenDingbat Comic Relief illustration wall. Phil and Lauren are almost out of space, and then along comes the ego of Russell Brand. Woh! Where to fit him in?
Time to catch up on some of the illustrative highlights from the past half hour…
00:54
What has been absolutely ace about the evening here @15QueenStreet has been the online connections that @HiddenDingbat’s have been able to make, all based around their work.
The tweets and emails that have been coming in have been very supportive - thank you all. Even though this is a creative Comic Relief fund raising project, all @15QueenStreet were still surprised with the online creativity that has been pinging back and forth.
The latest in our watching you, watching me gallery is @pmmikes drawing of, um, Phil and Lauren drawing. Thank you, Sir!
Oh yeah - did I mention that we’re up to £250 for the evening now? Still time to give…
Hang on - 01:16 you say? That bike ride back to Wivenhoe is starting to look a bit hit and miss as I peddle back up Boundary Road. No worries. There’s always some audio I can listen to on my iPod as I turn the pedals…
01:27
Our fave quotes from the evening:
“Ringo! Jedward! Um, who am I drawing…?”
All spoken by PhilLauren.
Whoops.
01:36
Almost seven hours since @HiddenDingbat’s started this crazy illustration idea, we’re almost ready to call it a night (or even morning) here @15QueenStreet. The design wall is now full, and Phil and Lauren have captured wonderfully the whole evening in their unique style as it has unfolded on TV.
We’ve raised £250 so far, with grand plans to take this further. What we now need is some support, ideas and collaboiration as to where we can take this amazing piece of artwork next. Please do contact the Dingbats if you can offer any support.
There’s a TV appearance on BBC Look East scheduled for Saturday, followed by a short rest before we take this project even further. Many, many thanks once again for all the support we have received both online and offline this evening.
Great things happening in Colchester…
Much, much later…
Here the final piece of fantastic artwork that was produced on the night @15QueenStreet:
Alongside the justifiably proud artists:
With a little help on the night from…
But we’ll leave the final word to Phil and Lauren, the Hidden Dingbat Collective supreme:
It’s a great initiative from Phil and Wivenhoe local girl, Lauren - using their considerable illustrative and design talents to capture an artistic angle of the event unfolding.
The plan is to get the celebrities to sign the artwork, and then auction it all off for Comic Relief. Having recently triumphed in a similar live draw off event in London, the Dingbats are rather brilliant at capturing live events using design.
In what has been less than a twelve-hour time frame since the plan was first hatched online, it has been wonderful to see how the creative hub @15QueenStreet has rallied around the cause to help out.
@kinura will be live streaming the event; the PR background of many of the members has managed to secure a radio appearance to plug the project on BBC Radio Essex at 3:30 on Friday afternoon.
I’m still not sure how the live blogging is exactly going to work - video, audio and images for sure, but I’m undecided as to where to put the content - here or over there. Or maybe even both?
This piece was first published in the brilliant Colchester 101 magazine. Copies are available for free around pubs, shops and other public places in the town.
Now is not a good time to be a politician in power. On the national level and you are seen as the bogey man swinging the big axe and making cuts to local authorities. Meanwhile, back at the Town Hall and any local politician in power has to put up with the blame for cutting back on local services.
What Colchester Borough Council needs is some from of promotion; a campaign to raise awareness of the town and to talk up the benefits that the borough has. Ah - did someone mention a cabinet member for Economic Development, Culture and Tourism?
Councillor Nick Barlow would be your man then. Nick is a LibDem Cllr for the Castle ward, as well as the cabinet member with the fancy title for talking all about what is good within our town. He calls it the “work and play” portfolio. Short of handing out free cupcakes to commuters at North Station, Nick’s role is to give Colchester some love.
It is precisely this positive approach that we like here at 101, and so what better than to sit round a table at the Town Hall and hear from work and play politician as to why Colchester is so cool.
But first, a bit of politics.
Boo!
The basics are that CBC is currently governed by a coalition. This may cause problems on the national stage, but historically it comes as second nature to Colchester. The LibDem / Labour coalition is made up 26 Cllr’s from the Love Me I’m a Liberal lot, supported by seven red flag flying Comrades. The blue rinse opposition holds 24 seats.
Cllr Barlow was first elected in May 2007. He has held his work and play cabinet post since February 2010. This roughly coincides with the complete crash of the economy as local authority cuts start to bite. Frontline services are of course crucial - so why then are the arts so important to Colchester?
“We’ve moved Culture and Tourism under Economic and Business. Other Councils treat them as leisure. We think that it is an important part of the Colchester economy. The area had four and a half million visitors last year. The cultural and media industries are one of the biggest employers in Colchester.
There are lots of little companies involved in media, such as the people working out of 15 Queen Street - they are a very important part of the Colchester economy. It helps to make us distinct. As a Council we provide funding to the Mercury Theatre, Colchester Arts Centre and firstsite. This isn’t just for their core operations but for their outreach work in the community. People then visit Colchester, which brings money and jobs into the local economy.”
Treating the arts as an industry is fine stance to take. The figures also stack up to support this - the 15 Queen Street creative hub is currently at capacity, with paid up members working out of the site and bringing in business. But walk along the High Street on a Saturday afternoon, and it would take a bit more than a love of the arts to persuade most locals that culture is the future of the Colchester economy. What is the perception of Colchester, both from within, and more crucially, outside of the town?
“We’re doing some research on this at the moment. We are in the process of putting a bid into the National Lottery for £5m to help redevelop the Castle. We are finding that it is perceived as a historical and heritage town, as well as a modern cultural hub for the entire East of England region. The Mercury is nationally renowned, there’s the work at the University and firstsite opening soon. Local bands are just starting to come to the surface nationally through the work of Keep Colchester Cool.”
Ah yes - about that cultural hub for all of the East of England. We must be talking about *shhh* firstsite here. If you happen to be a LibDem MP representing Colchester at Westminster, then firstsite is a waste of money. Thankfully at a more hyperlocal level, our cabinet man with the tourist hat disagrees with his party colleague, Bob Russell:
“The core activity for firstsite is art. It’s providing a central art gallery. But it’s also a hub and space that will revitalise the whole area around St Botolph’s. There is a creative business centre coming to the old police station. The site will also house a restaurant, shops and smaller galleries. There is a very big education remit as well. All of these will completely re-develop the area.”
But it will take a bit more than a love of the arts per se to convince our esteemed local MP of the value that the project can bring to the town. Bob Russell is on Hansard, stating:
“It was decided what Colchester needs was not something to do with history, but rather a Visual Arts Facility to promote contemporary Latin American art. Such art is a subject the people of Colchester constantly talk about. Actually, I think not. The original project price of that facility was £16m. Today, the construction of the facility is running approximately four years late and £8.5m over budget.”
Whoops.
That’s a lot of wonga to be found locally during these days of savage cuts (coming from Mr Russell’s coalition party at a national level…) But no worries - firstsite may be over budget, but as Cllr Barlow explains, the money is not a drain upon local Council Tax payers:
“firstsite is costing somewhere in the region of £25m - £30m. Of course we should be spending money on health, education, roads etc. But very little of the firstsite money has come from Colchester Borough Council. It will be our building, but the money came principally from the Arts Council, the old Development Agency, the University and Essex County Council.
That money was always going to be invested. If it didn’t come to Colchester then it may have gone to Chelmsford or Ipswich. Building firstsite will bring in an extra half a million tourists. It will increase our local profile, our income through tourism and subsequently generate further taxes.”
“The council doesn’t have a policy yet - there is a range of views covering yes, no and everything in-between. We are having discussions on how to proceed. My personal view is that given the conditions - they don’t want huge bids with large amounts of money being spent - I think we should go for it. This is a great promotional opportunity. My understanding is that Colchester is Britain’s first city anyway. We were a city when we were founded by the Empress Claudia.
City status doesn’t bring any requirement for growth. We have grown as a town dramatically in the past ten years. One of the reasons that we will continue to grow is because we are a very attractive place. People see Colchester, they hear about the schools and they want to live here and bring up their families.”
Castle Park is a place of genuine beauty; likewise for High Woods Country Park and the other valued green spaces around the town. The museums in Colchester are greatly valued (witness the campaign that saved Tymperleys Clock Museum) and we have a thriving local theatre scene. Won’t the savage cuts being handed down from a national level make the work and play cabinet role something of a compromise?
“There will be cuts in arts funding next year of around 17%. Other Councils have cut the arts budget completely. Some cuts have come from the museums budget. We are working to be more efficient. It is hard. The main government grant has been slashed. There are certain things that we have to do such as maintaining the roads and keeping the streets clean. Other areas such as parks, museums and arts - we don’t have to do these.
We choose to because they are good for the borough. We are trying to get cultural organisations to work closer together. One thing we have done is to put in place a joint management arrangement with Ipswich museums. We have saved money as there is only one museum education department in both towns.”
And if you don’t like it, then you play your part in the democratic process and cast your vote. Which with apt timing comes around once again in May of this year. CBC operates a slightly weird election by thirds model - twenty new councillors out of the sixty in the chamber are elected at any one time. The LibDem / Lab coalition could come to an end. It could continue with an increased majority…
Either way, the cabinet post for Economic Development, Culture and Tourism will no doubt continue to thrive. Councillor Barlow clearly has the genuine love of Colchester at his heart. He is playing a delicate balancing act between bigging up the town and making sure that the budget books stays in the black.
These are interesting times ahead in Colchester on the culture front. They could be the defining mark on the town to carry us forward to the next generation.
You can follow Cllr Barlow on twitter at @nickjbarlow - he really is very good at online interaction - or engage with his blog over at: www.nickbarlow.com.
Thursday night is social night in Wivenhoe and the surrounds - or so it would seem, with an itinerary of entertainment that would stretch the imagination of even the most social of butterflies. Or even bored bloggers.
Spoilt for choice, and I took my social interests out of town. You scoundrel! You bounder!
Steady the buffers. I wasn’t turning my back on this fine parish, simply taking the 19:32 out of Wivenhoe Station for the monthly Creative in Colchester meetup at the ace @15QueenStreet.
As a social member, then I was keen to explore further the social elements of the ever-growing hub of connected locals centred around @15QueenStreet. Although this is most definitely *not* a mini-bar event, oh no Sireee, no, no, no… but I was rather hoping for some booze as well.
What is great about these events is the informality, which is then matched with a purpose. Sure, you socialise around the room and talk about collaboration and co-operation to help promote Colchester. But you need action to back all of this up.
Which is why shortly before 9pm, @marcde_ath called the crowd of creatives up to the board room for a couple of presentations and planning from some local folk operating out of Colchester.
First up we had the excellent @hiddendingbats. This is a collective in every true sense, with one half of the partnership firmly bedded down in Wivenhoe. Lauren and Phil are fresh design graduates out of the Colchester Institute. The way in which they promote their work enables them to come across as experienced pros.
With a portfolio that already includes @firstsite, Colchester Free Festival and Wivenhoe’s very own Moving Image, the Dingbats are a collective that have firmly established themselves on the local design map.
What was wonderful to hear however was the plans for the next phase. We all need to pay the bills, and the Dingbats work incredibly hard to do this during the week. At the @15QueenStreet social though they outlined an ambitious plan to put in place genuine co-operation for Colchester based creatives.
The idea is to to stage a series of weekend camps @15QueenStreet. The Collective brings together anyone that can offer a skill - design, developers, networkers, video artists, audio specialists - even bloggers.
Blimey.
With no client to please outside of the working week, the team identifies a possible project, priority or even problem that has a local agenda. We then explore how our various skills can build a solution, be it digitally or using more traditional media.
It may lead to a commercial enterprise; it may simply lead to a fun way to spend the weekend with like-minded individuals who are working off the many hands mantra. With events such as the Colchester Free Festival almost coming on to the horizon once again, this seems like an ace way in which to move forward.
You can contact the Dingbats on twitter, or email them over here. No dates have yet to be set; no skills base or experience will be turned away. Beer and pizza will probably also be involved.
A round of applause in the boardroom, and then the floor was handed over to Black Box Press, to proudly showcase some of the beautiful books that the not for profit platform has been helping to put together over the past couple of years.
Having purchased a Risograph GR3770 printing machine, it was refreshing to hear how this more traditional approach to design and creativity totally overlooks the digital landscape.
This doesn’t mean that Black Box Press is living in the past - the online presence is still there. But there is recognition that design needn’t be digital, and judging by the order books, there is still definitely a market for this elegant way of spreading a message.
It reminded me very much have the iconic EP and album covers put out by Crass in the early ’80s. Part of the message is contained in the process of design and production, an operation in itself that is a labour of love.
Back downstairs in the non mini-bar, and the socialising carried on. Keeping with the not for profit theme, I handed over a bottle of Wivenhoe Sloe Gin to help liven up the spirits. I couldn’t wait to get rid of the rank concoction to be honest.
I had a great catch up with @firstsitehannah over the progress of the flagship arts space for the east of England - it was all very encouraging. The Colchester Circle magazine folk were on fine form and full of ideas for the town. I even managed a rather tired and emotional (apologies) conversation with the inspiration behind walkies. Oh - and an ace idea from @creativecoop to help promote the Wivenhoe Forum at the May Fair.
So yeah - I may have missed out on the #hyperlocal Wivenhoe action for the evening, but a quick trip into town filled me with enthusiasm to hopefully put ideas into place back at base.
Many, many thanks to all @15QueenStreet for being so encouraging and supportive as I find my feet in my new patch. This is an incredibly welcoming crowd, genuinely keen to collaborate and exchange ideas with other locals keen to promote all that is good in Colchester.
The next Creative in Colchester meet up is on 31st March. Best start bottling that sloe gin.
This piece was first published in the brilliant Colchester 101 magazine. Copies are available for free around pubs, shops and other public places in the town.
Welcome to Colchester: Britain’s Newest City - nope, it’s not working for me either. For all the jokes about Britain’s Oldest Recorded Town, Colchester has an incredibly proud history that we need to not only celebrate, but also use as a springboard to build upon. Being sucked into becoming a sterile new city shouldn’t be part of this process.
Debate is growing around the town over a bid for Colchester to take on a city status. As part of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations to mark the Queen’s 60th anniversary on the throne, Her Majesty is keen for a new city to emerge in 2013. It’s part of a growing populist trend to assimilate micro local history into a nationwide identikit sterile appearance. We built this town on Roman records, not on rock ‘n roll, yer Maj.
Colchester Borough Council has confirmed that it is “looking into” the city status bid; Destination Colchester is already talking of a survey to see what the good people of the town think about becoming a metropolis. And that really is where the debate is centred. City status probably won’t change your day-to-day life. The High Street will continue to evolve; trains out of North Station will still be *ahem* occasionally delayed and Colchester United sadly won’t be playing in the Champions’ League anytime soon.
What will happen with a city status however is the perception of Colchester, both from within and wider afield. A city mentality takes away all that is good about the local environment. Townsfolk have civic pride; city dwellers start to become postcode property snobs. Colchester is an amazing town as it is. We don’t need to be told that we are officially a city in order to have ambitions above our size.
Ah, but you’ve got to think outside of this small town mentality, the cynics will no doubt say. The cynics are also usually the folk who work within PR or advertising, and think nothing of feeding off the London economy, rather than keeping local Colchester industry afloat.
A town has personality - a city soon becomes anonymous. Should we really accelerate growth at such a pace, simply to shop dress the city branding? Celebrating what Colchester can offer to people looking to escape the city, seems more acceptable to me.
For all the folly of Britain’s Oldest Recorded Town, Colchester Zoo or even the crazed traffic islands - these are all unique to Colchester. Think then of Highwoods Country Park, the University, the emerging Cultural Quarter, theArts Centre, firstsite - even Blur, Jay Kay and dear old Darren Day. We don’t need to measure our status to create what is great about Colchester. Never mind the length – feel the thickness. Keeping it local allows the town to grow organically, without the PR boost of being dubbed a city.
The esteemed civic leaders of our town should be allowed to indulge in the chest beating PR circuit, but please don’t take it all too seriously. It’s nothing but putting your name out there and pimping out your past. It’s the Town Hall equivalent of writing your profile for an online dating site and then being slightly economical with the truth: Mature town with good connections would like to sell its soul and be shafted by someone from outside the area. Safe, um, cities only please.
Sure, we should play along with this beauty contest of a bidding process. It’s all about raising the profile and creating a buzz about Colchester. But the town has so much more to offer than simply calling itself Britain’s Newest City. Be careful what you wish for. Colchester City FC just sounds silly anyway.
This piece was first published in the brilliant Colchester 101 magazine. Copies are available for free around pubs, shops and other public places in the town.
I’m a firm believer that you can judge the success of a town by the quality of the local charity shops. Sure it’s great to have the big High Street brands nearby, but the true character of Colchester shines through with the range of charity shops to choose from.
The very ethos of donating cast offs, speaks volumes about the social conscience of a town. This may sound like a liberal wet dream, but it is also something of a retail lifesaver for many local families in these uncertain economic times.
A recent trip into the town centre saw me pick up a woollen jumper, a couple of shirts and a pair of (unused) hiking socks. I blinked at the opportunity of buying a (used) 44DD bright pink bra. I still had change from a tenner, and so spunked £100 away on a designer man bag.
Only joking…
Age Concern along George Street, Scope and the PDSA on Long Wyre, Cancer Research at Culver Street West - it may not be a West End shopping experience, but I’d be struggling to find a pair of (unused) hiking socks along Regent Street for under £1.
What I find fascinating about our local charity scene, dahhhling, is the selection of clothes found within. The items donated serve as a social time capsule for the current state of the town.
Designer clothes don’t exactly grace the rails along the charity shop circuit. There’s a more practical approach, with sensible clothing, as your parents might have once said. This doesn’t mean that Colchester is dull - witness the bright young things scrumaging around in the bargain bins to buy some clothing that they will then customise.
Yep - Colchester is comfortable, rather than costly. This atmosphere helps to promote further creativity within the town. The bottom up approach of retail during this recession is booming, compared to the early 90′s. The black bin liner bidding shops that sprung up after Black Wednesday in ’92 are thankfully nowhere to be seen.
Instead we have the likes of Slack Space, the creatives at 15 Queen Street and the Hidden Kiosk Project by the old bus station, all successfully using empty building space to create something beneficial for Colchester under these challenging times.
Charity begins at home. Or along George Street, Long Wyre, Culver Street West etc.
A highly social Thursday evening, combining the company of the good folk of @15QueenStreet, a performance @ColchesterArts (again) and of course some booze action. These blog posts don’t write themselves, y’know.
With the ace Colchester Mini-Bar (that’s not really a bar, and no booze is really involved, oh no…) given the month of January off, the @15QueenStreet creatives called instead for a trip to the Arts Centre.
Hurrah!
Booze followed, but purely in a creative capacity, with future projects and collaborations (very excited, btw) about the promotion of Colchester planned.
Having already attended the Colchester Beer Festival and Mark Thomas at the Arts Centre this week, my hat trick of visits proved to be the most unique and enjoyable. A beer festival is a beer festival is a beer festival; you then fall down. Mark Thomas was ace, but then I was expecting that anyway.
What I wasn’t expecting from Jamie Moakes and You Will Be Rare on Thursday night was an engaging and relevant piece of stand up performance, taking in macro economic arguments and the obsessive world of He-Man.
Hurrah!
Jamie’s vision is to take on the economy. It is a fine and noble objective, but unless you have an oil well in your back garden, then it’s also a vision that is going to leave you somewhat out of pocket.
Instead Jamie has taken a micro economic approach, combining this with a flair for a piece of social art performance: corner the market in a particular commodity, and then you will have absolute power [hold off those He-Man jokes for now...]
It’s not really important where this absolute power is welded - which is just as well, seeing as though if George Osbourne is looking to appoint an economic advisor that specialises in the cult He-Man action figure of Ram Man, then Jamie is, um, yer man.
It’s a niche market for sure, and one which Jamie has been able to control. Put simply, he carried out the quantitative economic experiment of buying up as many Ram Man action figures as possible, and then seeing what affect this has on the overall market price.
The more important qualitative social story here is the performance at the Arts Centre and beyond, outlining what a fickle beast the economy is. Controling a market has nothing to do with skill or judgement; the profit and loss is purely based on quantity.
Jamie told the tale of how he took on the Ram Man world, by first of all stating a few facts and figures. His spreadsheet documents that he has bought to date 109 Ram Mans, at a cost of just over £1,000. It is estimated that there could be over two million little Ram Men in the world, just waiting to find their way over to Sunny Colchester.
This is very much an online project, using social media to spread the message and tell the story, as well as the obvious benefits of eBay to actually source the product and measure any market increase in price.
But what of the conclusion? Is the world of mid ’80s obsessive action figure collectors heading for the same fate as RBS? Sort of. Ram Man’s price increased by almost 200%. The nerds of the internet even began to discuss the implications, noting on various forums that there is currently a run on Ram Man’s [the plural of the short, stocky little fella is addressed during the performance.]
The performance ends with the message of don’t allow the market to control you. The mantra of everything has a price is correct, but you can control the price of a commodity, simply by buying into the dream - or not - as Jamie suggests at the end of the show.
It was all food for thought and drink, which is why the @15QueenStreet crowd then buggered off to the Hole in the Wall and bought five pints of Guinness as a social experiment in booze price fixing.
Or maybe that was just me?
The You Will Be Rare project is continuing, as long as the finances are in place, and as long as Jamie’s good partner can withstand having an army of Ram Men looking down from one end of the bed.
I personally just loved the idea that it wasn’t even the main character in He-Man that managed to sell out the show at the Arts Centre. I think that this said something about the creative tastes within Colchester…
Many thanks to Jamie for kindly offering to explain more about the project in the podcast below.
To the lovely Lakeside Theatre@Uni_of_Essex on Tuesday lunchtime for a press conference to launch the spring Arts on 5 schedule. As we try and shake off what has been this wretched estuary winter, anything with spring in the title certainly turns me on right now.
With coffee and charming conversation added to the equation, my sense of arousal was only added, as I got to engage with my wannabe artistic alter ego. I may not ever get to play the great Dane, but don’t rule out a third rate panto Dame treading the boards.
Not much slapstick at Arts on 5, but plenty of worthy and invigorating public art - perfect for Wivenhoe locals who want to experience the true meaning of the Town ‘n Gown relationship.
The good Steve Goatman, the Arts Co-ordinator on campus, was our host for the afternoon presser. A quick coffee and cake with an assortment of journos, creatives and Wivenhoe locals, and soon it was time for Steve to sell the schedule to us.
There wasn’t really much selling to do, to be honest. There is an incredible diversity of events happening at Arts on 5 between now and Easter, covering theatre, art, films, comedy and a burgeoning children’s season of shows.
This was the first time that @Uni_of_Essex has formally launched the Arts on 5 season with a press conference - a sure sign that the buzz currently being created on campus and beyond is worthy of celebration.
Ah yes - about this beyond: Wivenhoe locals really should celebrate the opportunities that the Lakeside has to offer. This is a space that isn’t just for the campus crowd - non-students account for 50% of ticket sales.
Tickets are priced at under £10; free entry is offered for all exhibitions at the Arts Exchange space. With previous curators including Steve McQueen and Jake and Dinos Chapman, that’s quite a saving on your £25 train fare to London to take in the latest cutting edge art.
Steve explained how many shows transfer directly from the London stage to the Lakeside. A combination of our geographic location, and the buzz that the campus has created for arts draws in many leading productions.
I’ve blogged before about some of the schedule that I’m personally looking forward to over the coming months. Highlights picked out during the presser included Skip ‘Little Axe’ McDonald (who was responsible for the riffs on the Sugarhill Gang output - blimey!) Comedy Central Live (seen as a “training ground for comedians who then transfer to TV“) and the specially produced programme for children.
The Holocaust Memorial Week was also rightfully singled out as a very special event in the programme:
“We are very proud to be part of Holocaust Memorial Week since 2007. The University is highly supportive of this. The theme for this year will focus on the pink triangle as a symbol of resistance.”
A particularly welcome local addition is the portrait exhibition planned, showing photographs of local Colchester survivors of the Holocaust.
Steve also elaborated more about the intriguing Intimate Bureaucracies exhibition, which explores the artistic process of art in transit. This has direct parallels with the work that the wonderful @LloydDavis is currently putting into place. I have plans to personally bring Lloyd to the Lakeside, via @15QueenStreet…
Keeping it #hyperlocal, and for Wivenhoe folk, a couple of events in the schedule also stand out: Wivenhoe locals Joe King and Rosie Pedlow have curated Strange Lights. This is the story of UFO sightings in Suffolk, as told through a rich media experience.
With more coffee calling to complete the lunchtime launch, all that was left was for Pasco-Q Kevlin, the Artistic Director at Essex University to share his vision for the arts on campus and beyond.
“I’m am incredibly proud to be working within this town and region. This is most definitely not just a programme of events for the University. We have put together a schedule that will hopefully also benefit Wivenhoe and Colchester.”
Pasco then explained how he sees Arts on 5 sitting somewhere in the middle between the Colchester Arts Centre and the Mercury Theatre, Colchester. The spring schedule on campus draws in elements of the leftfield found at the Arts Centre, but can also accommodate the casual arts crowd that can be found at The Mercury.
Sitting right in the middle of course is Wivenhoe. This programme of events can most certainly accommodate our small little estuary town, with all its many offbeat characters and observations.
So yeah - if Arts on 5 don’t turn you on, then you ‘aint got no switches. I left the Lakeside positively beaming.
Michael: Moving Image are also staging a Music Film Festival during the May Fair weekend. On Saturday 28th we will be showing The Runaways and I’m Not There, and on Sunday 29th you can see...
