PP6 day 2 Art Historian and Filmmaker Suspected as Terrorists

I actually managed a run in the dry first thing this morning, and after breakfast we set off to record the glories of the Romney Marsh and Dungeness. We bagged East Guldeford church, a forlorn barn of a place, without too much trouble from the itinerant sheep and proceeded to Dungeness - which is where the trouble started. I didn't park prettily at the end of a layby but there was no one around in such grim weather - by now it had started raining again and the wind was howling without obstruction across the wastes. We lugged the gear along to the beach and set up the tripod and camera on the highest bit of shingle with the power station behind us and the lighthouse of which Piper had made a collage in our sights. I was wearing a fluorescent yellow raincoat and Charles is well over 6ft, so we weren't exactly camouflaging ourselves. The weather was so remorseless we actually had to give up without filming anything and staggered back to the car with wet equipment and damp us. A police van was awaiting us - 'Oh gosh, sorry, are you going to reprimand me about my parking' was my opening gambit. 'I'll disregard that this time' responded the fully equipped policeman - think flack jacket, gun, god knows what else strung round his waist but it all looked exceptionally frightening. Did we realise that one required permission to film here, what were we doing, did we appreciate that there was a power station behind us? We tried to explain about Piper and that he created is images before the power station was even there and we desperately DID NOT want said building in our film, and anyway we hadn't managed any film due to the lousy weather, and I hadn't realised one required permission (which is odd because I've checked just about everywhere else we've been, politeness being my middle name). One would have thought that if we were dangerous criminals we would not have stood on the highest bit of shingle for everyone to see, together with large tripod and camera, let alone the yellow peril raincoat. Anyway said policeman had to fill in the relevant Stop and Search form (he did put my hair colour down as dark rather than grey which was flattering!) after which he took Charles' details and then said they'd have to do a check on the car. Why couldn't his mate have done this while we were waiting? No wonder policemen don't have time to catch the real criminals. In all we were at the mercy of the LAW for about 90 minutes. UGH!

The situation was marginally improved for Charles anyway by a sighting of the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch train!

By now we were late for our meeting with Sir Donald Sinden at St Clement's, Old Romney at midday and I wanted to dash but didn't dare add a speeding fine to my sins. The churchwardens had been in and the place looked spotless, flowers everywhere. Sir Donald was his usual exemplary professional self and I tried manfully or even womanfully to play my part asking him about the Romney Marsh Historic Churches Trust, of which he is a Vice President and discussing generally the features of the church. This was followed by lunch at the Woolpack during which he kept us vastly amused with his hilarious stories all delivered with such aplomb. C&I tried the same jokes out on each other during the afternoon but our renditions fell completely flat.

We tooled back to Old Romney and tried to do some outdoor shots in the drizzle, and were just about to call it a day when I fancied I saw a flash of blue sky so we then dashed over to St Mary in the Marsh and Ivychurch but by then the rain it was a-raining again! Photos indicate the bleakness and the wind.

Back to Film Farm the following day, a drying out session, a play with the letterpress which I can quite see I'm going to get completely hooked on, and thence back to Kent. About 10 days of grace before the next outing during which Charles has 2 sets of work related visitors and I have to drive to Yorkshire for another of mea mater's 90th birthday celebrations and want to work on the Christ's Hospital monograph. It's all go as someone once opined.

PP6 day 1

A 2 day dash to Bruges to do some Brangwyn filming (see http://frankbrangwyn.blogspot.com/) and we are already in Piper mode on the return ferry - watching Pink String and Sealing Wax on the laptop (they used a Piper drawing of Brighton for the titles). No rest for the wicked.

And so to Chichester and its cathedral, a delightful small sized friendly and light edifice with some stunning art works mainly commissioned by the Very Rev Walter Hussey, including of course the Piper tapestry which just glows with colour, quite sensational and reminds one very much of his collage work, even some bits of marbled paper here and there. One of the guides, Alan Bradford, was brilliant so we cajoled him into doing a spot of talking for us. Unfortunately when the day chaplain did his hourly spiel and asked for some reverential quiet Libby dropped her lens cap on the encaustic tiles, which clanked resoundingly. I made my apologies later and he was a super chap, very friendly and jolly. In fact everything went swimmingly until it was time to go - and then we needed to swim, literally - because in the meantime the heavens had opened and it was fair bucketing it down. No chance of getting all the kit into the car without it becoming seriously damp. So were were marooned for about 90 minutes.

It was supposed to be one of the wettest weeks of the year (along with the week we chose to visit Wales of course) and it certainly wasn't kind to us. We travelled on to Brighton to match up the Brighton Aquatints images, the journey punctuated by sudden showers. Arriving at Arundel Terrace we could see the rain advancing across the water but set up the tripod and camera anyway in the hopes of filming before the rain caught up with us - no such luck. We had to dash to the car, dry the equipment as best we could and wait for the storm to pass. This became the procedure as we slowly moved along the front towards Hove - Royal Pavilion, Metropole Hotel, Regency Square, Bedford Square, Brunswick Terrace, First Avenue Hotel - it was completely and utterly miserable, cold, and the wind buffeted us and the camera. Charles soldiered on and gamely tried to cheer Libby up periodically but she went into a cold and damp despond and was a very unhappy bunny. Finally at about 7.30 in the evening, with the light starting to go, we finished - or at least we hope we've finished - only the rushes will tell. A dismal drive back to the hotel with low visibility, the windscreen wipers working overtime, and then a careful drying out of kit - and ourselves!

Farnborough

En route back to Kent took a detour to recce the John Betjeman memorial window in Farnborough church, Bucks - we finally discovered the church on the rhs of the road despite the AA directing us to the lhs - anyway, well worth the detour, because the window is beautiful, vibrant. Although I had seen images in books the window in the flesh was astounding and gave me a happy feeling all the way home!

Stowe

I had to drive down to the West Country for my f-in-l's 90th birthday celebration so decided to take in Stowe on route as a recce. Astounding landscaping but not to my liking really, too full of self-aggrandisement, too contrived and manicured despite the fact it was meant to look natural. Huge swathes of countryside were manipulated in the name of art - huge swathes are now manipulated in the name of money by farmers - but is the latter any worse? I visited the follies etc which Piper sketched and have worked out a route by which, hopefully, if we attain a 4 minute mile average, we can capture all in the minimum time since the National Trust charge so much per hour and we are working on a set budget - any fees come out of Charles's pocket!
Gothic Folly illustrated above.

Narborough Hall

Early departure from Kent to Film Farm, thence Charles drives us to Narborough Hall in Norfolk, an exceptional, dreamy country house with a superb and developing garden and Victorian kitchen garden. Anyway, the main point of the visit was to see the Piper exhibition put on by owner Robert Sandelson - some exceptional pieces we hadn't come across previously including a wonderful vibrant tapestry of plants and sunflowers. The Perfect Spot cafe, run by his pre-teenage daughters, Fennel and Mermaid, and wife (in that order apparently) was just delightful, wonderful home made scones with jam and cream, good pot of tea, and all in aid of charity. How good can it get. See www.narborough-hall.co.uk for more information.

Brighton Recce

Took the train down to Brighton to compare the present buildings with those illustrated in Piper's Brighton Aquatints - more trees these days, and Piper had used artistic license in squishing buildings together, but doesn't look too difficult to film - or find convenient parking space nearby. Not that I was car bound today - far from it - I took the train and consequently walked for 3hrs 40 mins from the station, along the front to Hove, back to Arundel Terrace at the east end of Brighton and then a return through Kemp Town. Slightly weary of limb by the close.
A lady sat next to me Eastbourne to Brighton and commented on the drawings I was perusing (inwardly digesting Piper in Brighton) - aha, she had heard of Piper, mainly because she receives catalogues from a gallery in Leicestershire (actually Rutland but many make the mistake) - but that must be the Goldmark Gallery I retort - and sure enough it was - she praised the quality of the catalogues and the individual approach and I told her about Mike's philanthropic vision re the art DVDs being given freely to schools to inspire current students in arts and crafts. Spread the good word!
Meanwhile Charles is busy downloading all the rushes to date and putting them on to the new Piper hard drive, ready for editing; plus dealing with the usual pack of visitors, the garden, the remaining hen, Charlotte Bach and Phil Rogers.

The tragic West Pier above, Pavilion rooftops below

PP5

An early start today to get to the Tate Library and Archives by 9am where we are to film some of the Piper sketchbooks. Unfortunately communications had broken down somewhere along the internal line and although Chris Webster was there to greet us, the Archives staff had turned up missing, back from holidays, delayed by punctures etc. Anyway, we finally got going, I think I made some semblance of sense despite having had a sleepless night, and we managed to finish just before the public were due in at 11am.
And after a breather we're off again, this time to interview Martin Harrison who regards Piper as something of a mentor, and is an authority on stained glass (and more recently Bacon - not the frizzled variety). Great interview with unexpected twists and turns - who would expect less of Martin?!