Preparation and planning for these #WivChat sessions are as intense as the recording process itself. I either spend a lost minute searching the esteemed Wivenhoe Encyclopaedia for a sniff around about my latest victim, or send an anonymous email to the lovely Mrs X, my fountain of knowledge (and free cake) for all that is happening on the Wivehhoe hyperlocal beat.
Not so however for my latest guest.
Brian Ford is a name and face that I recognised from around the town. Different folk have been telling me that he is a character worth pursuing and pinning down in Studio #WivChat.
My background research on Brian wasn’t exactly down a blind alley, but my preparation notes simply read: Folk Club / Panto.
Brevity is often the bungling conversationalists best friend.
To my great delight, Brian rather warmed to an email from someone who he has never met, asking him to come around to his kitchen / Studio #WivChat, have a coffee and then sing some songs all about lonely petunias.
Our opening handshake didn’t exactly fill me with confidence in completing the gaps in my notepad. “I’m not from Wivenhoe!” declared Brian, leaving me wondering how #WivChat was going to fill the next hour or so with conversation about exactly why he isn’t from Wivenhoe.
Um…
Have faith in the healing power of a strong cup of coffee and the art of conversation. Plus a Tom Paxton song always helps.
Despite his polite protests profiling himself as a man from not around this parish, Brian has contributed immensely to Wivenhoe social and cultural life over the course of the past two decades.
In the conversation below we explore Brian’s move from Colchester to Alresford, how the Folk Club first led him to Wivenhoe, and then further thigh slapping (and mighty fine scripts) with the Wivenhoe Pantomime Group.
It is fair to say that Brian is a folkie at heart. He came to Studio #WivChat claiming, “I only know three chords.” Modesty is a fine trait in a man. Three songs later - and a chord repertoire that would allow for an avant-garde jazz re-working of Mull of Kintyre - and the recording was a wrap.
Our conversation covers what makes Wivenhoe unique when compared to Alresford, the challenges in staging a successful monthly folk club in a rural estuary town, and how you go about taking a traditional pantomime story and then twisting it totally to have a hyperlocal angle.
A little over a hour later after Brian first arrived at Studio #WivChat and my notepad was full of scribbles and observations, we had an hour of broadcast material and I was left feeling that Brian is truly a lovely, lovely bloke.
And so with apologies to Mrs X - I think your work is done.
It’s a mighty long way down rock n’roll from the Royal Festival Hall, The Barbican and the Montreux Jazz Festival to… St Mary’s Church in Wivenhoe.
Blimey.
That’s the exact musical path however that local chap Chris Allard is about to take, with a homecoming concert arranged at the church for the 8th October.
I really wanted to catch up with Chris for a Wiv Chat recording as his story seems just perfect for what I am trying to capture for this project. Plus it’s not everyday that you get a personal rendition in your own kitchen by one of the country’s leading jazz guitarists.
Chris doesn’t have to play St Mary’s to help pay the bills. In fact I very much doubt that the rather generously priced £10 ticket for the St Mary’s show will cover all of the overheads involved in bringing an all star jazz band to little Wivenhoe.
Chris explained during our conversation how:
“I’m fond of Wivenhoe and I have just moved back here. We did a gig at Snape Maltings and it made sense for the band to come and stay over. They were very impressed at how lovely Wivenhoe was. We’ve been friends for ages and I just suggested that we organise a gig.”
That “we” just happens to be Jacqui Dankworth, described by The Times as “one of our finest Singers regardless of category” and Charlie Wood - nominated by Downbeat in the USA for Best Blues Album 2010 and a former keyboardist for Albert King.
Splendid though Even Song is at St Mary’s, I can’t see it competing with the appearance of an all star jazz band for one night only.
But there is so much more to the personal journey that Chris has taken leading him back to Wivenhoe, the town where he was born and grew up. Our conversation covers Millfields and the Colne schools, character building gigs in Clacton and Colchester and then the progression to the prestigious concert stages such as the Royal Festival Hall and the Barbican.
After fifteen years of the bright lights of London, Chris now finds himself settled in Wivenhoe, being able to carry on his career from his hometown base.
We also explore during the chat the logistics of a church gig. The altar area will act as a stage, the pews are perfect and the acoustics should work. What is impressive is that Chris is working with local people for promoting the show, as well as sound and events management on the night.
I have always believed that there is an appetite for jazz within Wivenhoe. The concert may just be the springboard to help resurrect the Wivenhoe Jazz Club.
Listening back to the recording for editing purposes (not a great deal to be honest) and I was struck with the absolute technical and creative brilliance of the personal performances I was privileged to be able to experience - LIVE and DIRECT from downtown Wivenhoe!
If one man and his guitar can produce such an uplifting musical delight whilst sitting in a Park Road kitchen, imagine what is possible at St Mary’s with the support of an all star band.
The concert will also feature Dudley Phillips on bass, who’s toured and recorded all over the world with artists including Bill Withers, Womack and Womack and Mark Knopfler.
Once again it really worth repeating: THIS IS COMING TO WIVENHOE!
Tickets for the show are available now at the Bookshop, priced at £10. If you are from out of town and can’t get to the Bookshop before 8th October, you can reserve them over the phone on 01206 824050. There is also a gig coming up at the Arts Center in Colchester on 13th November.
But for now, Wivenhoe can look forward to a very special night. The Royal Festival Hall, The Barbican the Montreux Jazz Festival… St Mary’s Church.
Prior to my most recent Wiv Chat recording, Peter Hill and I had yet to cross paths. I had heard, and read plenty about this popular local figure, but somehow our Wivenhoe wanders had taken a different way.
Or possibly a different pub.
Time to put this right I though. With twenty-five years unpaid civic service on Wivenhoe Town Council, an interest in supporting young folk and a passion for online publishing - I just knew that Peter and I would find some common ground.
Peter likes to talk of how he has now taken a step back from local activity, after an unbroken quarter of a century serving as a Town Councillor. It sounds more like a life sentence than civic service.
But as we explored various ideas within the chat, it soon became clear that Peter is just as busy now as he was some five, ten or even fifteen years ago. I wanted to find out the motivation for this - Peter put it perfectly early on in the conversation when he stated:
“People change when they come to Wivenhoe.”
Quite.
I don’t think he meant in a metaphysical bodily transformation (but then again…) - more like you have to be something of a social hermit to not want to participate and experience the many levels of activities that Wivenhoe life has to offer.
Our dialogue starts in 1972 with Peter and his wife Bonnie moving to the town from Southend. Searching to find a social scene, Peter immediately started helping out with the Wivenhoe Scouts and Guides movement - a connection that still remains in place today.
This led to further connections, a formal introduction to Wivenhoe Town Council, an active part in promoting the Wivenhoe Carnival and perhaps Peter’s finest hyperlocal achievement, the setting up of the Wivenhoe Encyclopaedia.
“It’s all about meeting new and different people…”
Which is something that I am finding out for myself.
Having undergone some superb Radio Wivenhoetraining the previous Saturday, this was my first attempt at taking up the advice of being more direct.
“You need a structure - you need to nag away and ask those tricky questions.”
Um, yeah, www-welll, tell me about blah blah blah…
I did ask Peter about the mystery Mr X, and the promise to pump £1m into the Broad Lane Trust, something that Peter was instrumental in establishing. I also approached head on the incredibly delicate issue of the St John’s Ambulance building and the rival community bid to Pru Green’sprivate planning application.
The famous phrase of “Wivenhoe is full” also cropped up - which I believe the origins can be traced back to Tom Roberts?
And then just as I was prepared to put on my serious Paxman persona - whaddya know: @murphie_kitten did a whoopsie.
Whoops.
We picked up the pieces (but not the litter tray) and tried to compose for the conclusion of the conversation. The bells of St Mary’s can be heard towards the end - a fitting finale to end an interview with a fella who has fought for Wivenhoe in the past, and continues to do so, even after officially taking a step aside.
My latest guest for Wiv Chat was at first something of a reluctant interviewee. Not in an obstructive and personal capacity - far from it; simply that he seemed surprised when approached about the idea of sitting down for an informal chat about his life in Wivenhoe.
“What, me? I’m not sure that I have anything of interest for you…”
How wrong you were, Sir. How wrong.
I have known Lewis Footring informally for a few months now. We’ve had chats whilst he has been out walking his adorable border collie down by the Quay. We’ve shared a couple of pints at The Greyhound.
Small snapshots have emerged of his rich life story - snippets about hang gliding over North Essex, a mention of time at sea and a flirting reference to the legendary Wivenhoe Arts Club.
None of these came across in a boastful manner, simply a rather proud gent who doesn’t want to go around shouting about all that he has achieved. Lewis plays his cards close to his chest. I like his style.
I just had a hunch though that there was perhaps something about Lewis and his Wivenhoe treasure trove of memories. Here’s an interesting character, I thought. I bet he has some wonderful banter to share.
I wasn’t wrong.
A friendly tip off by someone rather close in Lewis’ life filled in a few sketchy details. My task was to convince Lewis that he was worthy of a chat, and then to fill in the missing pieces in the timeline.
Lewis arrived around at my house early one evening, a bottle of beer in hand, and tales of how he has passed through the place that @AnnaJCowen and I now call our home many decades ago.
A sense of the personal meets the more grand posturing historical perspective - this is exactly what fascinates me about local and oral history. Tales were told off the record about the history of the house and how it once looked.
We’re in for a good conversation here I thought as the beer was opened and Lewis composed himself to tell some of the many Wivenhoe stories he has stored up over the years.
We got off to a good start when Lewis hit upon the theme of Wivenhoe being a relatively classless society. This was indeed the very reason that first brought him to these parts during the early ’60.
A bachelor pad was sourced - not my house - and I got the impression that Lewis led a rather agreeable lifestyle during his very early years in Wivenhoe.
We then moved on to the social scene, and soon we were talking about the old Brewery Tavern, based where Brook Street meets Anglesea Road. Lewis spoke of a boozer where the banter was as much about art and philosophy, as it was about who was doing what with whom around the village.
I picked up the possibility where this conversation might be heading. Lewis is an astute fella with a fine knack of storytelling. I knew that he had previously had some involvement with the Wivenhoe Arts Club of the 60′s and 70′s, but no idea in what kind of capacity.
Very cleverly, and with little prompting from me, Lewis was telling in great detail how the Arts Club came about after a series of exhibitions and connections made in the Brewery Tavern.
None of this conversation was pre-planned - certainly not by me, but I get the impression that Lewis sensed where we were heading, and very cleverly laid out the timeline of the Arts Club, woven in with some wonderful detail of personal stories around Wivenhoe.
Facts emerged that I was completely unaware of: for all the anarchic and revolutionary spirit that seems to have been built up about the myth that is the Wivenhoe Arts Club, the official 1966 opening was actually undertaken by a Tory grandee!
The 70′s and early ’80s were then played out as we continued to drink, and continued to discuss the social history of the Arts Club as told through some personal tales.
But then all good things come to an end. We concluded this section with the Arts Club ending in the early ’80s, as well as our own booze for the evening running dry.
I asked Lewis if he still gets nostalgic when he walks up Anglesea Road and past Ballast Quay House. His piercing blue eyes lit up and I detected an immense feeling of both pride and fondness for all that has passed at the Wivenhoe Arts Club.
The interview carried on, but for brevity, and hyperlocal reasons, I have edited out a large chunk - for now, anyway. For the record, Lewis found himself in the Falkland Islands during the conflict of ’82, and then bizarrely back in Wivenhoe running an Antiques Shop where Cannsdale & Ross and Alfie the Barber currently trade from.
We didn’t even get the chance to touch upon Lewis’ knowledge of sheep shearing; his butcher skills or even hang gliding. And so from out of a reluctant interviewee, hopefully we have here a genuine hyperlocal historical tale of the town to tell.
The point has been made to me that so far I have been homing in on the more obvious characters that make up the social strata of Wivenhoe society. I have no arguments with this - all the interviewees so far have been fine company and relevant to what I am trying to achieve.
But poke around through the less obvious landmarks in Wivenhoe and I’m sure that the town still has many unique stories such as Lewis’ that are there to explore.
I think I’m going to enjoy this experience.
As a footnote - and a considerable one at that - here’s what Nicholas Butler has to say about the Arts Club in his epic The Story of Wivenhoe. Much of Butler’s observations match up with the account given by Lewis:
“They [Wivenhoe artists] exhibited locally, especially at the Brewery Tavern, which was run for many years by Roy Cross’s elder brother, Jack.
It was only logical that sooner or later all this talent would be brought together under one roof. The impetus came from Ballast Quay, for even as George Gale was helping to found the Wivenhoe Society, he was also planning to create an arts club in the former stables and coach-house of his new home, where Wivenhoe could meet the dons from the new University and he could entertain his friends.
These outbuildings form three sides of a square. Two of these wings became an L-shaped club, with a bar and exhibition gallery in one of them, and a kitchen, lavatories and snooker table in the other. The third was converted into a bungalow for Mar Gale’s mother. On 15th October 1966, the Rt. Hon Edward Heath M.P. opened the Wivenhoe Arts Club.
John and Pamela Dan, Jack, Roy and Gail Cross, Tony Young and Michael Heard were all long-serving members of this club. It also attracted people from the larger new houses in the town, a convivial don or two, and some locals, including Mr. David Clarke, the curator of the Castle Museum, and Dr. and Mrs. William Dean. George Gale was the first chairman of the club, Jack Cross the first secretary.
The visual arts came foremost, but there were dances, quizzes, jumble sales, and entertainment of various kinds. The annual Gallery Gaieties, a home talent night, usually included specially written verses by David Clark and a skit, written and directed by Jack Cross, which sent up, yet deferred to, the management.
The opening years were rowdy and some undesirable elements had to be ejected; then the enterprise settled down as an arts and social club for two hundred people and as such it remained. As far as this went it was pleasant enough, but for its own sake and that of the town it should have gone much further. The courtyard within the outbuildings should have been given a roof and turned into an assembly hall, while Farmer Bowes next door would have surely sold some of his own outbuildings for squash courts and the like.
The ostensible reason for this lack of progress was that George Gale would never give the club a lease of more than one year. The members knew this perfectly well; they should have pressed for expansion or gone elsewhere. They never did. The lethargy of the sixties hung heavily over this establishment.
Yet the club did have many a good exhibition. I remember one of cartoons organised by George Gale himself; almost every national newspaper, and many local ones, were represented, while at one there loomed Gerald Scarfe’s Chairman Mao in the likeness of a club armchair.
Towards the end of the seventies the club went into decline. The relationship between landlord and tenants, always slightly uneasy, now flared into open rebellion as the peasants refused to dance to the squire’s tune. Mr Gale moved to Tattingstone, but his club remained for a while until his successor as landlord managed to oust it on the pretext of turning the buildings into a health resort.
Deprived of premises, the club might have expanded into new ones. Instead, it toyed vaguely with the idea of moving into the basement of the Co-operative Supermarket and finally expired with a party and exhibition at the Old Rectory on Saturday, 24th March, 1984. Thus ended the Wivenhoe Arts Club, as vague and amiable as anything that ever came out of the sixties.” (1)
(1) Nicholas Butler., ‘The Story of Wivenhoe‘, pp 339-341.
As mentioned in the interview with Lewis, very few public pictures of the Arts Club have been published. Butler includes one photo of an “unknown” couple.” They look very much of the time…
I am aware however of a number of private collections. I get the impression that the high spirits of the club perhaps is the reason as to why these images rightly remain private.
One image however has very kindly been shared by Marika Footring. Lewis makes reference to this in the audio above. I am happy - *very* happy - to share any other images online, should past Arts Club members want to open up their memories.
The above artwork depicts:
Front row l to r: Kevin O’Malley, Brian Stapleton, John Motteram (seated), Jack Cross, George Gale, Roy Cross (kneeling)
Second row r to l: Lewis Footring, Michael Heard, John Dan, Louis Claiborne, David Clarke, Billy Gillespie, John Holden
Back row l to r: Chris Last, Bob Richardson, Hugh Bostock, David Dignum, William Dean, John Guest, Tony Rhodes, Derek Hawkins
Head on pikes (expelled members) l to r Ted Gittens, Dennis Wirth-Miller
Far Right over the back: Tony Young
Nicholas Butler meanwhile will be back in Wivenhoe on the afternoon of 27th August, for the official unveiling of the blue plaque for his late mother, the actress Joan Hickson.
Copies of The Story of Wivenhoe, I believe, are still available behind the counter with a wink and a nod at the Wivenhoe Bookshop. It remains an essential read.
Following on from the interview and I have since come across a series of Wivenhoe Arts Club related quotes, carried out I believe as part of a similar oral history project (notSea Change.)
These add further detail to the story, and are certainly worthy of sharing online in edited highlights:
Pam Dan:
“The pub [The Brewery Tavern] was mainly frequented by the Shipyard workers, but it didn’t take long for Jack and Pat [Cross] to attract a wider clientele. The art-type people used to meet in there for the discussion of art, life and everything. A certain amount of alcohol was consumed during these conversations!”
Roy Cross and Gail Cross came up from London, loved Wivenhoe and came to live in a house on Anchor Hill. And yet more artists arrived. Tony Young with his wife Sally who’d come for a visit, fallen in love with the place and stayed. Then Mike and Angela Heard.
George Gale was now on the scene. George was an influential journalist at the Daily Express with many useful connections to the great and the good. He had arrived recently in search of a house in the country, found it at Ballast Quay and moved in. Introduced to the Brewery by Roy and Gail who had known him from the Chelsea Arts Club, he quickly became a regular.
When he discovered that Jack and Pat were thinking of giving up, he made a proposal. The outbuildings of Ballast Quay would be converted to an Arts Club.
On 5th November we had a bonfire and fireworks display which was open to all. Originally, there was some suspicion of these arty farty people, but finally half the village used to come up. There was hot soup and food, whilst the clubhouse and bar was open to all. It became a village event.
From the very beginning, the Arts Club established a link with the University. At the opening, Roy Cross presented a very large painting of a nude. Lewis did the framing and that was his donation. The painting was hung on the stairwell of Wivenhoe House. I’d love to know where that is now…
The local doctors were members. Ted Atkinson and John Doubleday, both sculptors, joined. Louis Claiborne arrived in the village. Louis was an American lawyer who had recently been Asst. Attorney General. His wife Jackie was Pat Gael’s (George’s wife) sister.
Francis Bacon was a not infrequent visitor though we never managed to get any of his work on our walls!”
A scribbling from an unknown source in the margin of the notes passed my way simply reads:
“He was eventually banned, basically for being an obnoxious prat!”
Pam Dan:
“When George Gale sold up and moved from Wivenhoe to Tattingstone Hall, the Coach House Cottage and the Arts Club premises were sold to a University lecturer, Tim Dunmore and his wife Helen. The long battle to get us out began.
There were anonymous reports to the police of out of hours drinking! To be honest, that was often the case, but on the edge of the village, no one was bothered. Ultimately the Dunmores were the victors. The Arts Club lost its premises. Some discussions took place with the Co-op who were prepared to lease us their lower storage area, but somehow none of the members could muster much enthusiasm. The magic had gone.
It was the summer of my life. We were in the right place, at the right time. We were young. We had energy. We all had children and in fine weather we would all sit out in the courtyard enjoying the glorious sun.”
Something of a world exclusive (seriously) for the latest Wiv Chat with a wonderful conversation with Jon Wiseman, to help launch his recently published The Story of Wivenhoe Cricket book.
Blimey.
Having moved from living next door to The Oval, missing @surreycricket was always going to be the major factor for me personally in leaving South London. Fifteen years of growing friendships and first class cricket can’t be forgotten over the course of one summer.
I needn’t have worried. My recent visits to Rectory Road have found a similar cricketing experience. Wivenhoe Town is a community cricket club that currently has ambitions to combine a friendly feel with a winning team.
It is an aim that appears to be well on the way to achieving. The first team sits proudly on top of the Two Counties Cricket Championship, fielding mainly local lads each weekend. The support comes from the community, with faces old and new adding to the club ethos.
As an outsider I have been made to feel incredibly welcome. This isn’t an old duffers cricket club with no direction. My awareness was pricked with match day tweets, and a strong online presence to welcome local Wivenhoe folk in.
Emails were exchanged, contacts were made and then just as Cricket Week was kicking in, I was able to welcome Jon Wiseman into my front room / broadcast studio to record the latest programme for Wiv Chat.
The Story of Wivenhoe Cricket has been an eighteen-month labour of love for Jon and the backroom assistance he has had from all within the club. It is not so much the story of Wivenhoe cricket, but the story of Wivenhoe as told through cricket.
World Wars, the decline of industry, the re-birth of the town - all of these events are told through cricket. Sport is a great adhesive in which to frame the social history of a town.
Our forty minute or so conversation of course doesn’t do justice to the volume of research and stories behind the stats that Jon’s worldwide quest for Wivenhoe cricket research has taken him.
I was pleased to find that Jon’s starting point was Nicholas Butler’s absolutely brilliant The Story of Wivenhoe (a nod and a wink at the Bookshop, and I believe copies are still available behind the counter…) as a blueprint for his research.
Butler also believes that sport can be used to track the development of the town. Brevity meant that the complete story of Wivenhoe cricket couldn’t be accommodated in his book. Thankfully Jon has had the foresight to complete the story.
In our chat below, Jon explains more about his own forty year involvement with cricket in Wivenhoe, and the “circle of life” that he believes passes through Rectory Road with each passing generation.
It was a rather sombre Wednesday morning when we recorded it. I found the dialogue genuinely moving and quite emotional as Jon opened up as to how the club has played a major role in his own life.
We then explore the research methods, and the stories that lay within. Cricket is a game for characters; it is to no surprise that Wivenhoe has been able to produce many of these since that first recorded game back in 1765.
The final section of our chat concludes with the current golden age that Wivenhoe Town is now experiencing. It is no coincidence that the cricket club is going through a boom period, five years or so after the Committee decided to focus on the long term future of the club.
A day later and I found myself along the boundary at Rectory Road as Cricket Week was in full swing at Wivenhoe. The occasion was for the formal launch of The Story of Wivenhoe Cricket and to celebrate all that Jon has achieved.
Mid-afternoon and half the town appeared to be up at Rectory Road, with a game taking place between the first eleven and Leg Trappers XI, aka the visiting team from Bermuda - blimey!
Mr Mayor, his supporting cast of Wivenhoe Town Councillors, Colchester Borough Councillors, familiar faces from all the local pubs and general flotsam and jetsam that gets washed up within Wivenhoe life - all were out to enjoy cricket and the clubhouse bar.
Chin chin.
As the tea break came, the sun made a spectacular appearance across the marquee, and it was time to celebrate The Story of Wivenhoe Cricket. Club Chairman Michael Lucking spoke of how this day was the “biggest occasion” in the recent history of the club.
Looking around the marquee as the printed history was about to be made public, and you could see that the five generations of Wivenhoe cricketers past and present clearly felt the same.
Jon explained a little more about the book, clearly playing a straight bat within the banter that surrounds any sporting club. He seemed rightfully proud of what he has achieved.
I’m happy that I managed to catch him with a few off-spinners away from the safety of the pavilion the day before, and allowed Jon to open up more about what cricket in Wivenhoe really means to him.
And then as one would expect from a cricket tea, the most splendid spread was laid out for all to enjoy. Books were purchased; personal messages were left by the author.
I looked around across the outfield, and as well as the expected sight of the elder generation of Wivenhoe cricket having an eager first read of the book, what I shall remember is the reaction from the current first team.
Huddled together around the boundary, the players were equally keen to head straight for the stats page and to eagerly see if their own relatively short contribution to Wivenhoe cricket has made it to print yet.
This is a club that respects tradition, and has built in a culture of keeping this alive and taking it to the next generation. It is the 75th anniversary in two weeks time since the deeds were signed for the cricket club to have a permanent base at Rectory Road. How fitting that the current first team seems to understand the value of what has gone before, and what it means to play cricket in Wivenhoe in 2011.
I returned back to base, and tuned in, as ever, to the magnificent ball-by-ball online commentary from @surreycricket. Mr Ramps had just hit a fine 140 knock, and all was well within my cricketing world.
You can take the cricket nerd out of South London, and just *maybe* you can find something as equally enjoyable away from the splendour of The Oval and out towards the North Essex estuary wilds.
Oh - and as Jon kindly pointed out, there is a Surrey / Wivenhoe connection in Digby Jephson, the demon underarm bowler, known locally as The Lobster. Digby went on to captain Surrey…
Splendid.
The Story of Wivenhoe Cricket by Jon Wiseman is published by Oxford Publishing Services. It is available from the Wivenhoe Bookshop.
Cricket Week at Rectory Road continues up until Sunday 31st July. There is a T20 tournament on Friday, and then afternoon games on Saturday and Sunday.
Something slightly different for Wiv Chat #7. There has never really been a plan for this random Radio Wivenhoe series, other than simply have a chat with Wivenhoe folk.
Most of the charming guests to date have reflected on the past; this particular recording looks towards the future.
I was very kindly invited along (again!) to the absolutely ACEWivenhoe Youth Hub on Tuesday evening. Each time I turn up, I can visibly witness a growing social group. The energy almost flattens you as soon as you walk in through the doors of the Philip Road Centre.
The occasion on Tuesday evening was for a taster session for the current crop of Year 5 pupils. Tuesday nights are all about Year 6′s and 7′s. Those cunning (and charming) volunteers at The Hub planned to catch the next crop young, ahead of possible returns come September time.
I planned another basic blog post - a few photos, a snatch of audio, possibly some video. But with so many positive things in place at the Hub, and with the potential to capture all of this this through audio, I decided to try and record a snap shot of the evening for Wiv Chat.
No planning took place - you don’t say.
I was simply allowed to roam around the Philip Road Centre (FOUR times CRB checked with FOUR different organisations before you ask…) and see where the conversations took me.
I can safely say that this is the first Wiv Chat in which I get to record a piece whilst playing basketball. I certainly hope that it isn’t the last in which I get to talk whilst being put through an impromptu ballet class.
The audio quality in the boos below is slightly hit and miss. I’m sure that the nice Head Honcho of Radio Wivenhoe will see to these, come proper Sunday evening broadcast time.
But for now, here is but a micro take on some of the truly great work that is being carried out at Wivenhoe Youth Hub. Sixty-eight young folk turned up on Tuesday night. Numbers are also growing for the Year 8′s and above on a Thursday.
But I’ll leave the last word to Crystal, a somewhat reluctant (but charming) interviewee. She was at the old Youth Club when it demised. She mentions how the only option then was that was that of “hanging around the Co-op,” hence she was inspired to volunteer and help out the next generation of Wivenhoe youngsters.
Hopefully the recordings below capture some of this raw spirit.
The Wivenhoe Youth Hub is now taking a six-week summer break. The sessions will return come the first week of September. Simply turn up on a Tuesday evening for Year 6 and 7 pupils, Thursday for Year 8 and above.
Adult volunteers are of course always welcome. I guarantee you’ll come out beaming. You may even get to try some ballet.
The sixth Wiv Chat recording is something slightly different. Having had a historical approach to the previous recordings, my conversation with Marika Footring looks ahead to the first staging of a new event in the Wivenhoe calendar - the St Mary’s Church Ale.
There is still a fascinating historical story here. We talk about the origins of the Church Ale and how they emerged during Mediaeval times as a means to help bond the community together. There really couldn’t be a more suited location to resurrect the Church Ale than Wivenhoe.
As Marika explains during our recording, Ales took the form of many different guises during Medieval times:
“The Church Ale, held to encourage parishioners to come and pay their tithes and so to help pay for the upkeep of the church building; the Bride Ale, benefited a newly married couple; the Clerk Ale, to support the impoverished curate.”
But it’s not all about the booze. First off here are the basics:
The St Mary’s Church Ale will take place over the weekend of 17th and 18th September. Essentially it is a celebration of the community involving a grand procession, traditional crafts and… ale. The event is free to attend, with any money raised being used to help maintain the upkeep of St Mary’s.
We talk about the events planned for the Church Ale during our chat. Mr Mayor will lead a Medieval procession from the KGV down to St Mary’s. A costume competition is in place for the kids, and traditional crafts such as rope making will be available to experience.
Oh - and there will be beer, very kindly brewed from the local Sticklegs Brewery at Elmstead Market.
I found the conversation fascinating - Marika has clearly put a tremendous amount of planning and time into the resurrecting the Church Ale. Hopefully the recording can also act as a rallying call - as ever, volunteers are always needed.
A Church Ale open planning meeting has been called for the evening of 24th July, taking place at 7pm in the Black Buoy. Anyone with an interest in the event is urged to attend.
Radio Wivenhoe meanwhile has just completed the end of a highly successful first week of broadcasting. The range of shows has been as diverse as one would expect from Wivenhoe. We’re far from a slick operation - we recognise that. The idea is very much to start with realistic ambitions and see where the project takes us.
Next up on my Wiv Chat schedule is an interview planned with Jon Wiseman, the Wivenhoe Town Cricket Club historian extraordinaire. With Jon’s The Story of Wivenhoe Cricket book about to be published during Cricket Week at Rectory Road, this will be a timely recording.
I’m working my way through my hit list of local folk to chat with. Please do volunteer yourself - or others - if you would like to take part in this project.
