onionbagblog

It all started off rather innocently along Platform One of Wivenhoe Station early on Thursday evening. To @15QueenStreet! was the rallying cry for a young (ish) chap about town, still wearing some silly headgear.

The monthly Creative in Colchester night was on the agenda - a chance to meet up with like-minded folk from the area who are y’know - keen to Keep Colchester Cool n’ all that.

It wasn’t quite a red carnation and a copy of the Telegraph clasped underneath my right arm that was the identifier, but a beautiful fixie and a poking away on an iPhone that first alerted my attention. Life long relationships are built upon such moments.

My man happened to be @pmmikes - a true Wivenhoe local, and the current squeeze of @15QueenStreet favourite, the good (and very jovial) @Singyamatokun. I’ve never met Mike before, apart from following various online activities within the very informal network that is now centred around @15QueenStreet.

In years gone by I would have made a nervous mental note of possible recognition, and then carried on about my business in not so splendid isolation. But the online world, and the very real sense that some form of community is springing up around @15QueenStreet has changed all of that.

“Greetings, fella. Um, you must be Alex’s bloke, right?”

The train journey from Wivenhoe passing through the Hythe and then on to the Oldest Recorded is pleasant enough itself. Catching up with an online friend, and then filling in the offline gaps, made it all the more merry.

And so soon we were both @15QueenStreet bound for an evening that covered muso photography, online social experimentation with images, live music, DJ music, conversations, collaborations, laughter and alcohol. I didn’t really want to head back to Wivenhoe, to be honest.

This was without a doubt the most successful of the Creative in Colchester events to date. It is almost impossible to offer up a system to rank the effectiveness of these evenings. I’m simply going with my memory of grinning on the train all the way back to the Hoe - I’m not talking about the brashness of @LeePugh10‘s shirt, either.

Blimey.

Right from the start of the evening and the overspill @15QueenStreet snaked out along the corridors and headed upstairs. Something quite tangible is happening here in Colchester, and on Thursday evening, the usual daytime studio for the outrageously talented @hiddendingbat’s was at the epicentre of it all.

What was great to witness was the number of new faces that are appearing. These are folk that I recognise from being out and about @ColchesterArts or Arts on 5. As @coolcolchester commented to me later:

“The creative talent in Colchester has always been there. @15QueenStreet is bringing people out of the shadows and offering up a central space for the community to grow.”

The now traditional tombola style raffle offered up some fine artwork from Brightlingsea based @papershed37. I (finally) had the chance for a proper catch up with @sarahkplatt, finding out more about her video production and streaming business that is based @15QueenStreet.

And then it was time to head up to the boardroom for a couple of informal talks, explaining and exploring the work and ideas of some friends from @15QueenStreet.

New resident member @jjdoyleoriginal gave a fascinating insight into the world of rock ‘n roll photography. He dismantled the myth behind the art, and explained the techniques behind capturing that perfect image.

I couldn’t but help overlook some of the notepad scribblings that a lady sitting in front of me was jotting down. It wasn’t a shopping list, but the rather lovely observation of:

“jjdoyle - a very genuine man.”

Awwwww…

@webponce then opened up for discussion ideas and themes around the Disposable Memory Project. This is essentially a beautiful analogue meets online take on the traditional message in a bottle idea.

Cheap, disposable cameras are dispatched around the world, with basic instructions to capture any moment, and then pass the camera on. Once the film is complete, participants are then encouraged to return the cameras back to @webponce for the sharing of the journey, and the story behind the images.

Both speakers rightfully enthused at length about their projects and passions; this wasn’t a distraction from the rest of the evening - it actually added to the flow and diversity of the event.

Past Creative in Colchester meet ups have often ended up ‘tired and emotional.’ I felt on Thursday evening that the perfect balance had been found between the social conversation and the social collaboration.

And so back down from the boardroom to the main studio space, and then we were in true Colchester rock aristocracy territory. @adyjohnsonuk had plugged his acoustic guitar into a small amp, and we were treated to a very intimate and secret gig from the true rising star on the Colchester music scene.

Ady is an incredibly humble chap, and was happy to discuss at length after his performance about future plans looking towards London. There’s a Water Rats gig on 7th April for any of m’London colleagues. Many thanks to Ady for kindly agreeing to let me post up the impromptu performance form Thursday below.

Time was then tight with thoughts turning towards the last train back to the Hoe, not to mention a shared journey with @LeePugh10 (hope you bought an extra train ticket for the shirt as well, fella.)

Apologies to @jojocolchester who I really wanted to catch up with - Jardine on Monday, m’dear? Likewise I didn’t get a chance to say hello to @ColchesterInst tutor Janet, who I had met earlier in the week as part of #hiddenkiosks. How wonderful for her to return the favour and come out to support @15QueenStreet.

There was still time for cat tales with @corneliusjam (Takin’ Care of Business…) and then what I am putting down to youthful high spirits when @15percentkidney enquired:

“You’re Nu Labour, aren’t you?”

Steady the buffers, chap.

And so shortly after 11pm, the bar (*shhh*) had actually been drunk dry. This wasn’t a comment on creative booze consumption; simply that @15QueenStreet is growing.

This is only the start. There is a tremendous energy about the project that is almost impossible to resist. Colchester has many fine folk, who are only too willing to give up their time and help out others in their respective creative fields.

I left @pmmikes squeezing his latest squeeze. I trust *ahem* he didn’t miss the last train back to Wivenhoe. Hang on - I’ll check twitter and find out what is happening the morning after in the #Colchester network.

Lovely, lovely folk.

If it’s Wednesday Week then it must mean that it’s time for a meeting of the lovely Wivenhoe Society committee in the library upstairs at the Nottage.

Hurrah!

Not that I officially sit at the top table for the local group that has Wivenhoe, its heritage and its future at its heart - simply that I have been very kindly invited to come along to the meetings as an interested observer. I think that’s a polite way of putting that I’m a nosey parker.

With kitten commitments eating into my early evening (update: we have litter tray lift off. Oh Lordy…) no surprises that I was running slightly late as I headed quayside.

No worries - the first agenda item was a report on the most recent Wivenhoe Town Council meeting that took place on Monday. Our fine man from the Council was double-booked (and possibly double-parked) and so we had a read out of the minutes from the fine Chair.

It was an interesting blow-by-blow account of potholes, police station sell-offs and public convenience refurbishment updates. It was also a repeat performance for me, and so I wasn’t going to be taken in by any cliffhanger.

Mr Mayor‘s bike left unlocked outside The Greyhound, you say? It ‘aint gonna be a happy ending, fella.

Sticking with WTC, and WivSoc heard how our local councillors are a little cash strapped right now. Not in a personal sense - although there’s no dosh to be made out of volunteering for civic service - but as a consequences of the cuts coming our way via Colchester Borough Council and beyond.

The consequences for WivSoc are all connected to the Colne clean up on the 10th April. Breaking tradition, and WTC has asked for a small payment to cover the cost of two employees to help take away all the crap that has sadly found its way by the banks of the Colne.

A ‘friendly and constructive conversation’ followed. I’m no kiss and teller: in fact I’m lucky if I ever get to reach the kissing stage. But I’m breaking no confidences is stating that the balance sheet of the WivSoc probably can’t stretch to TWO groundsmen, Sunday overtime et al.

At a wider level, this opens up very real questions about who actually holds the responsibility for looking after the Colne: CBC? WTC? WivSoc? *shhh* Dave’s #bigsociety?

Blimey.

It’s all about doing your bit, and helping out wherever and whenever you can. We are blessed in Wivenhoe to have wonderful organisations such as The Hub youth club and Transition Town Wivenhoe, both of whom have very kindly offered to lend some helping hands on the big day of the riverbank clean up.

The river is sadly looking a right old mess heading out towards the Hythe. Time allowing and I sometimes stop to pick up the odd can. Many hands make light work. Two WTC groundsmen may make light work, but they will also lighten the load on the WivSoc bank account.

Speaking of which, I’m playing my cards closer to my chest than a 44FF gifted young lady who is holding all the aces: Yep - it’s only the WivSoc Treasurer’s Report.

A small amount of money has been made from selling calendars. Costs have occurred in printing out the Newsletter up at University, plus the very kind donation from WivSoc to Wivenhoe in Bloom (£200 seeing as though you ask. I think the tight lipped 44FF gifted young lady has just undone a singular bra strap.)

The Secretary’s Report confirmed that the speaker at the WivSoc AGM in April will be the Director of Colchester Arts Centre. This is an ace choice of guest, with three decades of sex, drugs and rock’n roll to tell tall tales of. Oh - and Fairport Convention.

Other AGM plans are now all in place. Most importantly these include the news that Dave Harrison, the Wivenhoe Wine Toaster Extraordinaire is well on the case. Or even the cases.

Chin Chin.

Perhaps the most important part of the evening was the monthly analysis of planning applications. Wivenhoe is full (so said the man who has just moved in…) Even minor alterations can have an impact upon the local infrastructure.

The application for a block of flats along Rectory Road has been withdrawn. WivSoc welcomes this, taking the view that the original plans were cramp and ill conceived.

But the real biggie when it comes to proposed new buildings right now is all about that other lot over the river. The planning application has now been formally submitted for the redevelopment of Rowhedge Warf. It seems that our near neighbours are about to go through what Wivenhoe went through over the past two decades with the residential opening up of the waterfront.

With the original application for 300 new builds being thrown out by CBC, the developers have now come back with a proposal for 170 new homes on the site of the empty wharf.

Don’t be fooled by the reduction - this is the application for only the first stage. Today’s Cook’s Phase 3 is the future Phase 3 for our friends at Rowhedge. A total of 250 new builds is believed to be the aim of the developer.

And so what interest is all of this to WivSoc? Well… that beautiful scenic waterfront view just as the sun is setting over West Quay could look drastically different in a decade from now.

The derelict wharf ‘aint exactly a beauty spot right now, but the opportunity is there to guide and advise as to what might take its place, and help keep the Colne a scenic place in which to live around.

The newly submitted plans seem to suggest that an access road will be built right along the Rowhedge waterfront. On a practical level this allows more property to be tightly packed in.

WivSoc takes the view that the increase in traffic levels, and subsequent noise, are sufficient reasons to oppose this. An access road behind the first row of houses, similar to West Quay, would seem more sensible.

The new set of plans has dropped the proposal for a series of tall residential properties. Two and a half storey is now the average height, with a single flagship taller property as the centerpiece, designed to mirror the splendor of our own St Mary’s.

Good luck on that one.

And so the Rowhedge redevelopment seems inevitable, and if put in place sensibly, most certainly an improvement on the current abandoned wharf. But there’s a huge gulf between local sensibilities and the balance sheet of a corporate developer.

Moving on…

A domestic planning application for Belle Vue Road was briefly touched upon. I have a personal policy of publicly not passing any judgment on non-commercial planning applications - there but for the grace of God, ‘n all that twaddle. Did I mention the plans for a skyscraper extension to our back garden?

Concluding the planning update and the application for Cedric’s Bus Garage has been withdrawn. No reason has been stated. CBC has turned down the planning application for a care home for special needs kids on Cracknall Close, up towards Broomgorve.

Planning sorted, time for some Front of House hospitality. We’re talking in particular here the annual competition to see who can tart up their two up, two down best with hanging baskets and other fauna and flora. Excitement is building within WivSoc (seriously) with the publicity, prizes and judges being organised.

A request was then considered from WTC for a call of interest in helping to put together plans for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations in the town next year. WivSoc collectively may be supportive of the Monarchy, but then again WivSoc *may not* be collectively supportive of the Monarchy. Either way, no official Royalist response is being sent back to the Town Council offices.

On the Social front and a quick read of the officer’s report suggests that WivSoc is one wild abandon of a social party, with an occasional eye on planning applications.

Possibly.

Bookings are already coming in for the November Craft Fair (phew - rock ‘n roll.) A serious fiscal debate then followed, regarding the raising of the entry price from 20p to 50p. It is under such circumstances that revolutions take hold.

The fine Wivenhoe Folk Club and Transition Town Wivenhoe group have both been offered free stalls for the WivSoc Fun Day on 10th September. The rather excellent Judith Chalmers popular combo band has been booked once again for the Post Christmas Party on 7th January.

The NAP minutes were then up for discussion. Once again, I refer my honorable friend to the answer I gave some three weeks ago.

And finally, Any Other Business - always the best part of any local meeting, and the one time when I feel like taking to my feet for a spot of stand up.

But there wasn’t much to laugh about when we went over the escalation during the past month of the blatant vandalism of the Colne vegetation by the Environment Agency. This is an area that was discussed in mild terms last month when the signs first went up.

What has happened in-between has been well documented. There’s one hell of a difference between the posting of some A4 signs along the Colne, and the complete destruction of the once wonderful area of natural beauty.

With spring finally starting to shoot through along the estuary, the one uplifting thought to come out of the very depressing debate was the hint of some guerilla gardening taking place by the Colne.

Cripes.

And then a final, final item agenda, which seems to have slipped into our little local patch almost undetected. Heads up the good folk of the Queens Road Resident’s Association who were very early on the case in highlighting the proposed waste dump site across the river at Fingringhoe Wick.

What is up for grabs here is essentially landfill:

“Thames and Colne have a plan to import and process waste at Ballast Quay. Part of the company’s plans for the expansion of four quarry sites in Fingringhoe involves the import and processing of inert waste material to infill the quarry sites. Processing of the waste will take place at Ballast Quay.”

A huge variety of materials are proposed to be part of the project. This includes plastic and other non-biogradable items. Where this leaves the long-term plan of flooding the marsh remains to be seen.

Of more immediate concern is the 24/7 schedule for the operation. The noise of the mechanical machinery will travel around 1km in distance - easily within reach of the residential accommodation down by Wivenhoe Quay. It is also expected to be a light pollutant as well.

As this is a business proposal and not a residential property development, it seems that the usual channels for alerting and consulting with local residents has passed by under the radar. WivSoc is going to urgently raise the matter with Essex County Councillor Julie Young, and Bernard Jenkin MP.

And so that was WivSoc for another month. With issues covering major commercial and residential development, down to the cost of entering the Craft Fair. The agenda reflects the diverse issues currently taking place around the town, and likewise the need for a diverse range of local representation.

Once again, I feel guided to point you in the direction of the membership page on the WivSoc website. If you join up rather prompt, you might just be in time for the AGM, the debate and… the booze.

Chin chin.

Image: The lovely Hidden Dingbat Collective

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.

There is plenty of online activity, over @HESAIDTalent on Twitter, the HE SAID Talent youtube channell and the main website for the project.

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 @ColchesterArts on Wednesday evening for the second time in a week. There’s even fighting talk of a third visit before the weekend kicks in.

Cripes.

I’m never quite sure exactly where the burgeoning Colchester Cultural Quarter actually starts and where it ends. In our short stay around these parts, we’ve found more artistic entertainment on offer than the bright lights of London ever tempted us with.

Price of course is all-important. Paying over the odds for a ropey West End production, or keeping it local in Sunny Colch, with a £15 ticket to see the magnificent Mark Thomas entertain us for more than two hours?

Yep, the “investigative journalist disguised as a comedian” came to Colchester this week for two performances of his Extreme Rambling show. I booked on the premise that I’m something of an extreme rambler myself - I did manage to walk all the way to Rowhedge once.

But how much humour can you extract from the Middle East? If you’re Mark Thomas, then two hours of punch lines, and still you leave with the deep political message contained in the performance.

Thomas walked the entire length of the Israeli Separation Barrier, crossing between the Israeli and the Palestinian side. Out of this experience he has put together the Extreme Rambling show, telling the story of the people he met along the way and their struggles.

The walk itself was 750km; the show is condensed into two hours, with the perfect pace and packed full of detail as his holiday by mistake unfolds. Thomas brings out the personal stories in the message, describing the madness that is the Middle East.

No laughing matter? His tale about a Palestinian zoo where a dead giraffe had been stuffed with a certain artistic licence, and then put up as a symbol of the resistance, was certainly unique for Colchester on a Wednesday night.

This was a decent Colchester audience. It wasn’t quite Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow - and thank heavens for that. It was a sympathetic local crowd, showing that there is a home for political satire in Sunny Colch.

Future shows @ColchesterArts include Mark Steel, Fairport Convention and the Colne Valley Youth Orchestra.

Now that’s what I call a Cultural Quarter.

And so that was the @ColCAMRA Winter Beer Festival. This blog post has the possibility of being the shortest ever published, given the unforgiving ability of the booze to play around with your brain cells. A quiet Saturday afternoon drink soon became Sunday morning.

Whoops.

#chinchin.

But first, something about the wonderful @ColchesterArts Centre, which staged the four-day drinkathon. Holding a beer festival inside the once sacred surroundings of a church has to be something of a coup.

The building is brilliant as an intimate live music venue. Transport over 100 different varieties of beer around the vestry, and the surrounds soon became the perfect place to worship booze. The original occupants always did like their red wine during evening sermon.

But it wasn’t all about the booze. It just felt that way…

If there was ever any justification in arranging a dreaded tweet up, then a beer festival has to fit the bill. Online dialogue had been building up since the start of the week, with a call for any #Colchester based boozers to seal our online friendship with five pints of the roughest, darkest ale that was on offer.

How wonderful then to meet up with @benlocker, @zemblamatic, @LeePugh10, @nickjbarlow, @bonniehoward and of course @CoolColchester - the one man promotion team who is largely responsible for all that is good in Sunny Colch right now.

Oh yeah - @AnnaJCowen tagged along at the back.

Between us we managed to boast a yellow shaded Colchester Borough Council cabinet member (blimey,) and then the acceptable face of political opinions at the two opposite extremes.

It may have been something to do with the beer, but the conversation all afternoon was one of positive thoughts for the town, and how best to promote Colchester. There’s a definite lesson to be learnt there. Perhaps all politics should be conduced when politicians are completely p***ed.

I always try (and fail) at beer festivals to keep a set list of what I’m necking. Saturday afternoon was no exception. I do remember trying to keep it local, and sampling the fine beers from our Essex and Suffolk breweries.

My broad rule of thumb for these events is to stick with the dark stuff. If you can see across the room through your pint glass then you are probably drinking a Babysham.

Black Adder bitter from Mauldons brewery was the high (low?) point of the afternoon. It even managed to get something of a wild yarn being told involving the Honourable Bernard Jenkin MP, which I couldn’t possibly commit to print.

I became rather tired and emotional mid-afternoon, and had something of a lost half hour. I ended up backstage briefly, and then face to face with a Brian Clough look-alike. Now then, young man - it was that kind of afternoon.

And so sometime before (um, really can’t remember…) I was bundled back on the train by the good @LeePugh10, and all bound back for Wivenhoe. On reflection, a top up at The Station was a mistake. Apologies to @Wozzy138 for the iPhone confusion from the deluded @AnnaJCowen.

Like all good nights out, we ended up at Papa’s Chip Shop.

Blimey.

I’m sure there was some in depth conversation with Mr Papa. Once again apologies ‘n all that, and if in doubt, blame it on the Black Adder booze. Or even Bernard Jenkin.

Chin chin.

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.

Twenty years to the exact week that I first moved to Colchester, I made my return to North Essex in October of 2010. I met my partner at a fresh undergraduate (a very fresh undergraduate…) during my first night on campus back in 1990. Three glorious years at Wivenhoe Park followed, seventeen so so years in London. Now we find ourselves back in North Essex.

Blimey.

And so what’s behind giving up the bright lights of the West End for the bright lights of Queen Street? A possible mid-life crisis, a probable quest to find a more peaceful lifestyle, plus a genuine love of living in Colchester and the surrounds.

We came close to relocating up to the Lake District. I wanted remoteness, but not that remote. You can’t under estimate the near perfect geographical location Colchester benefits from. The coast is only a short bike ride away, and London life less than an hour out of North Station. I know which option will be holding more appeal to me after seventeen years of London living.

The past couple of months have been spent rediscovering Colchester. Much has changed in our two decades away, but reassuringly, the spirit and friendliness of the local folk seems to remain.

The whole Hythe redevelopment has passed us by. “Darling - they’ve knocked down Colchester Lathe Factory and only gone and built a bloody Tescos!” Given the size of the huge superstore out towards Greenstead, and there’s probably a whole lathe aisle located within.

Layer Road football ground has been lost. I like the name of the Community Stadium, and only hope that the genuine community around the U’s has managed to make the move along to the edges of the A12. Do they still sing “Roy McDonough’s blue and white army?”

I’m very much the new boy around these parts, but I’m meeting plenty of interesting people. Simple household tasks such as arranging for a plumber, an electrician and a handyman to come round (we had a hat trick of bad luck) has opened up some fascinating tales on Colchester life. My experience of London tradesmen is usually centred on the bill; the Colchester counterparts come across as an extension of the Essex Tourist Board.

We’ve actually had a busier social life over the past two months in Essex than the past two years in London. It’s a bit of a drag to make the trip from South London to North London to watch a play or go to a gig. In a more intimate town, and the appearance of a recognised name at the Arts Centre gets you out and about. If Dick Gaughan has an interest in Sunny Colchester on a Monday night, then I have an interest in heading out to see him perform.

And so almost two decades after my first North Essex adventure, I’m once again having a wonderful experience second time around. The double-headed student beast of booze ‘n books made it an insular approach back in the day. Colchester has so much to offer and explore - and I don’t mean the just the SU bar either.

There’s always been a folk element to m’blog.

Blimey.

And so for the second time in a fortnight, I pulled on a chunky polar neck sweater (seriously) and set off out for an evening of traditional acoustic entertainment in North Essex.

On offer on Monday night @ColchesterArts was the great Dick Gaughan. Oh the irony of a Socialist folk hardliner, singing songs of Scottish national identity on a cold Monday night in Sunny Colch.

But first the Arts Centre - I actually got slightly lost wandering down the High Street, heading towards the back of The Odeon.

In what is becoming something of a recurring theme on m’blog of late - the last time blah blah blah… But yeah, back in the undergraduate days and @AnnaJCowen and I went to the newly opened Arts Centre in the summer of ’93, only to find that the band had split up on route to Sunny Colch.

Cripes.

No chance of Dick Gaughan going the way of Paris Angels. Unashamedly spiky, but with a warmth in his voice to make you believe, the folk hero’s appearance in the old church wasn’t preaching, but it certainly was uplifting.

Gaughan is the guitar player that Billy Bragg wishes he could be. Couple this with the story telling style in his songs, and you’ve pretty much got a fantasy folk hero.

The man can even get away with a rambling introduction ahead of a song, describing in great detail the historical significance in terms of the revolutionary timeline, and then… play an instrumental.

A brief beer break, and I felt alone in the Arts Centre for not having brought along a book or my knitting. I somehow bluffed my way through downing a pint of Guinness.

The fine bar staff were even applauding - not me, but the sense of suspension and storytelling craft that Gaughan carried on with after the knitting break. He isn’t the most natural of performers, but that’s the appeal. This is raw folk. It only adds to the message in the music.

An encore-dodging sprint down the High Street for the last train back to the Hoe - I really couldn’t tell you if Gaughan finished his set with a Girls Aloud melody.

Keeping it at a #hyperlocal level, and a parish notice for any local folkies to remind you that the Wivenhoe Folk Club has a change of venue for the November get together.

The Masonic Lodge along The Avenue will host Johnny Silvo on Thursday night. I’m not sure if Scottish Socialism will be on the agenda, but the combination of folk and Freemasonry sounds like a lot of fun.

There’s always been a folk element to m’blog…