Interests
Alongside the professional work which is detailed on the site, I have other interests. This section of the site has some information on some of these, and I hope to grow it over time.
Broadway
Broadway Media Centre in Nottingham is the best (and best-looking) independent cinema in the country, recognised by the Telegraph as ‘the crucible of independent cinema’ and by Total Cinema as 'one of the best ten places to see a film in the world'. I am on its board of directors and had the privilege of chairing it over several years, seeing Broadway through a major capital development which has consolidated its position as one of the leading cultural attractions in the city and a centre of creative enterprise which has brought international recognition to Nottingham over many years. Broadway’s website can be found at www.broadway.org.uk.
I have had connections with Broadway and its predecessors over a long time. I was part of the group which wrote a plan called ‘Nottingham as a Media Centre’ twenty years ago, to press the British Film Institute to recognise the city in its then new media centres policy. Over time, several separate organisations in the city came together to become what is now Broadway. It has transformed the former Co-op Education Centre (once a Wesleyan Chapel) into a great 4-screen independent cinema with café-bars and restaurant, digital art displays, creative business workspace, production and education facilities and a rich programme of activity that defies the scant resources on which it runs. There is a brief history here.
A not-for-profit enterprise, Broadway has been supported by EM Media,
Arts Council, Europe and EMDA. What a shame that Broadway does not get
better recognition and support from Nottingham City Council. Broadway is a really
great place, and if you have never been there, go, and tell your friends.
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Nottingham Playhouse
The board of Nottingham Playhouse Trust was kind enough to invite me to join the board when the company was re-structured a few years ago. I was around when the Playhouse was being built, and dimly aware of the political farce which was played out around its construction, and when it opened under the direction of John Neville. There has been a distinguished sequence of directors since, and the Playhouse has built a reputation for its original production work, and has developed strong co-production and touring links which have brought its productions a wider national, and now international audience. Anish Kapoor’s Sky Mirror has become a signature image for the city and is one of few examples of large-scale international public art in the region.
For details of the current programme please visit the Nottingham Playhouse
website at www.nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk
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Kurt Schwitters
In 1965 I became involved with the removal and restoration of the last work of Kurt Schwitters (above, 1947). The work is the Merzbarn, made in the last few months of his life in a shed in Elterwater near Ambleside, and moved in 1965 to the Hatton Gallery in Newcastle University. It was the last of the series of large-sale environmental works made by the artist. I spent three months living with it as preparations were made to move it (longer than Schwitters himself had done) and was responsible for restoration and conservation once it was installed. For a second-year student, as I was then, it was a major, and in many ways life-changing, project. I became deeply interested in the artist, and in this particular work, and continue to be involved with it. The removal story from my point of view is told here. Some other useful Schwitters links are below.
A wonderful recent research project on the removal of the Merzbarn by Myra de Vries and Robert van Bijlert, which is well worth a look, is here.
A current campaign to preserve the building and garden in which the Merzbarn was made, and possibly to recreate it there, is here.
http://www.kurt-schwitters.org
Art
I will shortly be putting on the site some information about past and current art work I am involved in. Meanwhile, here is a couple of images.
Ukulele
After years of struggling to play guitar, I took to the ukulele, and became slightly obsessed. Starting with a £9.99 China-made ukulele I progressed to the ukulele-banjo (or banjolele) and started to e-Bay.
Here are a couple of favourites, on the right a Keech, and on the left a John Grey instrument, originally a banjo-mandolin, which I have restrung as an 8-string ukulele. I am currently playing electric ukulele and varous other things with a band sometimes called Yes, John.
Some indispensable ukulele links:
The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain
Vegetable gardening
I have always liked to grow things I can eat, and for the last few years have been taking it more seriously. I put in some raised beds and have a lot of fun growing vegetables, and we have a soft fruit patch too. Last year (2008) the courgettes did particularly well, unusually for me. This year things are getting along rather slowly because of having had Winter for once. Here are a few pictures.
