PP8, part 1

Monday 8 December set off for Goldmark Art in Uppingham to collect some Piper prints to show our guest star Stanley Jones at the Curwen Press tomorrow. Unfortunately they only had 2 of the 4 I'd asked for - but FORTUNATELY Mike was there and we had a chat (as one does) and I told him about the next exciting interview - at which point he just happened to mention that he owned the Piper archive from the Curwen Studios! An absolutely amazing treasure trove with photographs, initial ideas for prints, colour separations. So I set off for Film Farm an exceedingly happy bunny.

two wheeled pedal driven vehicles

Left: David Gent, Charles, Chuck the Truck. Right: Oli/JP cycling

Those of you who are avid readers of this blog will recall that on 10 June this year we interviewed the Rev Ian Browne at Oundle School. We mentioned en passant that we were on the lookout for a young Piper clone, late teens, long and lean, whom we could film cycling along idyllic country lanes a la Piper in the 1920s.
And the gentleman in question came up with just the young blade we were searching for in the form of 14 year old, 6ft1in Oli Gent, long and certainly lean. He and his parents, David and Carolyn, tooled up at Film Farm on the 19th October, a delightful family, Oli kitted out magnificently by the Oundle School Drama Department. We introduced him to Charles' old uncle Frank's old bicycle fitted with spanking new (but suitably old fashioned) bell and they got on famously. Oli even named the bike - it is now 'Harold'. We then cranked up Chuck the Truck who was overjoyed to be seeing some of the action again, all piled in, plus bike and cameras and off to the chosen locations.
The great thing about the countryside where Charles resides is that it is stuck in a time warp (as is the renowned filmmaker himself) - no road markings, no street lights, no cat's eyes, real hedges, small fields divided by hedges and copses - in fact pretty much as rural Surrey would have looked in Piper's day.
Oli was an absolute STAR. Not only did he look the part (probably not facially but we didn't need close ups) but he entered fully into the spirit of the thing, even riding the bicycle with a ram rod straight back. After various locations we ended up at the church next door to Charles where Oli/JP rested his bike against the railings and entered the churchyard, sat on a bench and sketched architectural details, before trying out his No 3 Folding Pocket Kodak Camera (1912).
Lunch was the inaugural outing for the new venture jointly owned by Chef Eliza of Pomegranate and Chef Charles of Hare in the Gate, namely Sound Bite Location Catering, as a token of our gratitude for the family's efforts. A hugely successful day.

Oli/JP arrives at a church with Harold and takes some snaps.

Libby even managed to do some Letterpress printing (the new thrill in her life) with what was left of the afternoon - this is printed on hand made Nepalese Lokta paper and is the title sheet for her latest tome, Christ's Hospital Murals, to be published next month.

PP7, part 3

This morning we returned to Portland Bill in glorious weather, found an old stone crane, photographed Chesil Beach from above and then in the flesh, and Charles did some Super 8 work (we intend to introduce each section with a smidgin of old fashioned filmwork).

Back to Weymouth, change the equipment in the car, grab a quick fish and chips for Charles (he liked the box), photographed the amusingly odd Jubilee clock, and off down the road to interview Patrick Reyntiens who interpreted most of Piper's stained glass designs and almost single-handedly revolutionised stained glass design and making in this country. Unfortunately we got held up behind a HUGE trailer which was transporting 3 ENORMOUS blocks of Portland stone to Salisbury and which was impossible to pass - so arrived somewhat tardily, which is something I hate doing and so was getting very frustrated and irritated.

Patrick was his usual ebullient self. We showed him the roughly edited films of Oundle, Coventry and Liverpool and he just started talking, describing, discussing - brilliant stuff for which we were hugely grateful.

Arriving back in Weymouth we set out with trepidation for some fodder and chanced upon Vaughan's which really turned up trumps. The decor was understated, the waiter attentive and knowledgeable and interested, bread rolls were baked freshly continuously throughout the evening, the food, well - excellent ingredients, cooked simply and to perfection, just as we like. Imaginative in a good way. And an excellent way to end another trip - back to Film Farm tomorrow.

PP7, part 2

Charles duly primed with his cooked breakfast, we set off for the small village of Grateley and the church of St Leonard's where there is an old window (originally in Salisbury Cathedral) depicting the Stoning of St Stephen - Piper claimed that copying this window taught him as much about colour as any art course - so we had to 'bag' it. Beautiful colours.

From there to Weymouth where we booked into The Esplanade run by an enthusiastic and enterprising young couple who used to work in the City but have returned home and although they haven't managed to get rid of all the dark red patterned carpets as yet are working their way through the hotel making it more sophisticated - good luck to them. After a quick lunch in a nearby Italian (ENZO) it was off to Portland Bill which captivated us with its huge limestone rock formations, seaweed swirling below, the old lower lighthouse Charles decided he wanted to live in when he grows up (but it belongs to the RSPB) and the fact they were celebrating our arrival - someone had already scrawled my name on a wall! By the time we finished it was dark, very cold and windy, and we were tired but promised to warm ourselves up with a good Italian - how can you go wrong with an Italian - 2nd day running it was dreadful - again TOO 'cheffy'. We should have returned

to the lunch-time place (i.e. ENZO).

PP7, part 1

We departed from EKH in rather miserable weather and dreaded a repeat performance of Brighton/Romney Marsh. Today's itinerary, Stowe and Farnborough. However, out luck changed and by the time we arrived at Stowe it was pleasantly mizzly which suited the architecture and landscaping. Both the National Trust and Landmark Trust kindly waived their fees since the film will be distributed freely to schools in an effort to instill an interest in arts and crafts in today's youth.

The great excitement of the day (since neither of us are particularly potty about formal gardening on this scale) was the Batricar which Libby commandeered - terrific fun (seen above by the Palladian Bridge). And covering the distance we did with the usual amounts of equipment would have been almost impossible. Whilst Charles filmed the sights from Piper's viewpoints, Libby photographed trees and flowers, carefully avoiding the architectural delights (despite her architectural background).

What we did both enjoy hugely was the Pebble Alcove, almost every sq cm of which Charles made me photograph - oh look at the butterfly, that bunch of grapes, the zodiac signs etc etc. Here's the man himself enjoying the experience - I greatly fear Film Farm may sprout some similar oddity in due course!

Stowe took longer than anticipated (these things always do) but we HAD to get to the tiny village of Farnborough before dark to film the window Piper designed in memory of his great friend and colleague John Betjeman. The window was a delight, fresh, brightly coloured, absolutely joyful and fits so well into its surroundings. here's just a tiny part to whet your appetite for the completed DVD.

And thence to Chieveley where we had promised ourselves a big treat. Those of you who read our sister blog (frankbrangwyn.blogspot.com) will recall that on 6 February 2008 we dined at The Crab at Chieveley and considered the meal excellent. For those of you who have been there since on our recommendation - massive apologies! A change in management has introduced 'cheffy' food, lots of ingredients for the sake of it, and the result is just silly, a waste of time, not particularly tasty and not good cooking. If you've got good ingredients don't mess them up. Par example, I had traditional scallops for starters (OK) whilst my 'blonde' companion had scallops with 201 ingredients including white chocolate! No way Jose! VERY disappointing.

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!