I heard the news today......It's that time again!

I’ve got this years Beatles Week programme. I am quite impressed. It’s a nice size they’ve downsized it to A5 and its 100 pages long! There is nothing missing the band information and photographs are all there. Plus all the listings of  events, We'd be lost without that! I’ve already had the highlighter out putting the mark on my choices.

There are a few familiar bands but most of them I don’t think I have heard of; Magical Mystery Men, Sheepdogs and Apples Band for example. I may get time to check some of them out. Most of all though I will make my favourites Beatles week bands the priority: The Tearaways, Gavin Pring, Instant Karma USA, Nube 9 and of course Beatles Week wouldn’t be Beatles Week without The Shakers! Oh and there is one person I have forgotten..good old Hal Bruce!!! (my mum’s favourite). Where would we be without him and his trusty guitar singing all those Beatles tunes!

The last few years I’ve really let Beatles Week pass me by. I’ve been mainly in a  drunken state in the Adelphi sitting on the couches or the carpet talking to friends. Maybe then this year I will try and  make some time for the bands as well. Beatles Week is only once a year and all these bands come to Liverpool to play Beatles (and sometimes other stuff) from all over the world.

I think this year the booze will stay behind the bar. I think I might just do quality not quantity this year. Long gone are the days in the 1990s when I used to travel up from my home in Sussex 10 hours by coach, get about 10 hours sleep all week and eat next to nothing. I’ll be taking my time watching the world go by…

Right I'm off to listen to some Beatles to get me in the mood..ask me that by the end of next week I'll be sick of hearing them, at least for a while!

Joe Strummer

Last night I started to read the next book in my rather large stack of books. A brightly coloured pink one. You might think a girlie book but no it is a book about; Strummer, Jones, Simonon and Headon. If you are not sure who they are, then where have you been? They are a great band from the punk era of the mid to late 1970s, The Clash. It’s funny because 21st August would’ve been Joe Strummer’s 59th birthday and until I started this book I had no idea!

So how fitting that I do a blog about them to celebrate the music that hit the charts with an all mighty bang in the seventies. The two songs that I personally remember are the reissued songs ‘Rock the Casbah’ and ‘should I stay or should I go’. They were reissued when I was a teenager and I’ve been a bit of a fan ever since.

They were a fresh band and to me they are better than the Sex Pistols. The Clash are a great punk band and should have the crown for THE BEST British punk band. During their career they played Liverpool’s famous Eric’s club on Mathew Street. They also refused to ever appear on Top Of The Pops, and without them, bands like the Manic Street Preachers would not exist.

The Clash were influenced by the 1960s and bands like the Rolling Stones and the Beatles. They were also influenced by Reggae music. I think it is a perfect time to revisit some of their music..

"I called myself Joe Strummer because I can only play all six strings at once, or none at all".

Turn of the Internet and go do something less boring instead!

I haven't written an online blog in a week. I got caught up in all the frustration of the riots here in Liverpool. I spent alot of Tuesday night listening to angry Scousers phoning into Pete Price's radio show. Meanwhile helicopters and police cars rushed by outside. I didn't get to sleep until well after 3am. Thankfully there has not been a repeat of that night since. 
Last night I decided to do something positive. Nikki my friend suggested a while ago living as we used to in the 1980s; No Internet, no mobile phone etc. Could it be done? Could we cope now? The subject kind of went away and nothing more came of it until the last day or so. 
It has been playing on my mind and I suggested to Nikki that we should try it, at least for 24 hours. What would happen if we couldn't check updates online or be constantly attached to our mobiles waiting for texts from friends. Looking at what everyone else is doing has become a hobby for most. If we have time to do this all the time there must be something wrong.? I have to admit over the summer that what I have been doing a lot of. I REALLY can't wait until I go back to university and get stuck into painting again. I won't have time for all this then.
It became clear from the media coverage this week that mobile phones have become more important than anything in our lives. A youth wasn't at all sorry for causing trouble in his town and they asked the judge "When can I have my mobile back?". When another was asked about being sorry for destroying their community. Their response was; That it wasn't their community. Their community was the Internet.
The Internet, yes it sure is a useful tool for me it is the social thing that when I am out in noisy places I can not have a conversation (as I am deaf). It is very hard to lip read all  what is said and especially when you are in a group. I have to face a person when talking to them. In pubs and clubs it is virtually impossible. So I end up most of the time just nodding and trying to catch a few words,try and make out what they are getting at or just getting upset cause I can't join in and feeling lost. I do like the fact on Facebook it's written there for you, but it is also very faceless and you can't tell peoples emotions or how they really feel,but there is other stuff outside your door, don't make it your whole life. There are REAL people out there!
I've discovered reading books is much better for me! I've STILL got a big pile of them to get through.
That is why I am going to try at least for 24 hours live without all the technology we rely on SO much today. I will get frustrated and probably bored, but I may just learn something. If all goes well then I may turn it into a longer project for university.

Nothing that I wouldn't do.....

Well the main reason me and Nikki travelled all the way to Ross on Wye (home to a certain Top Gear presenter). Was to attend the Hereford county fair where he was to be the president again. It was good last year I enjoyed it and it would probably be my only chance this year to say “hello” to him. Our hotel the Chase Dale was just outside the town, a lovely old-fashioned hotel. There is no train station and only a bus an hour to Ross from Hereford so it is quite cut off if you don’t drive. A lovely place full of quant shops.

I booked us a taxi the night before to make sure we would get there (there are only 3 taxi firms in Ross). A man said, “Yes we have one left about 10.25” in a very strong West Country accent, so ok it was booked.

At 10.15 we both went down to wait outside for the taxi. I was feeling nervous and was worried that it wouldn’t turn up. ‘Wonder who will be there. The usual suspects I guess…umm hurry up would we get there in time’. I was already worried as you do when you know you have to be somewhere at a certain time.

Wish I had phoned about 10am to check it was on its way. But thankfully about half ten it turned up and an oldish man got out. Great here we go I thought. He said, “do you know where we are going?” he asked. I replied “Hereford County show, Whitfield court”. He said he didn’t have a clue where that was. I tried to explain it was 7 miles southwest of Hereford on the A65 as that was the instructions that the website had.

So we all got into the taxi and he drove onto the main road. I didn’t spot a sat nav or a map anywhere in sight! I got my phone out to Google the address as my phone has directions. We thought he was heading towards Hereford. When we arrived at the roundabout he took the opposite exit to Hereford. Under my breath I said he is going the wrong way, but I thought maybe he knew to take another route and turn off somewhere so I didn’t think anymore of it.

I tried to give the man instructions of where to turn off, and Nikki was too and we were trying to write them down, but he seemed to totally ignore anything we said and we continued to get lost.

It then began to sink in that he (or we think) he hadn’t a clue where he was going. I tried to tell him to turn off in the direction the map was telling me but he seemed to ignore that. I think both me and Nikki started to panic by this time. Nikki said “oh take us back to Hereford! We will start again”. I then said “NO we can’t we haven’t got time, if we go back now we could just end up lost again”. It was about 11am by this time. I knew from last year Richard arrived at the show about half 11! So I was praying we would at least get there by 12.

He continued to drive, I began to feel sick inside and panic. We were truly lost, or at least me and Nikki were. At least I wasn’t on my own. I would’ve been REALLY scared if I had been alone. He was also driving quite fast and all I could see was fields and sky for miles. I couldn’t concentrate on anything.

THEN I spotted the metre “OH FOR FUCKS SAKE!” I said out loud, but this time I felt too frustrated to be polite. It was costing us £37 so far and we were lost.

The taxi driver got a call from the office! “You know where you are going?...Can’t see it on the map”…I can’t remember what else was said I was boiling up inside no matter how calm I seemed on the outside. A BLOODY taxi driver without a map or a sat nav! He might as well been on a horse and cart. He was local and surely knew his way around from Ross to Hereford? After all it was the next town!!! I think he was literally taking us for a ride!

FINALLY I saw a sign for Hereford 5 miles, right at least we were in the right direction. I spotted a car sales garage “Stop here we can ask directions!” and for once the driver listened. Nikki got out and it looked good! Yes she had got some directions..so fingers crossed. The driver actually managed to follow them just about. PHEW we finally saw signs for the show…and then the traffic slowed down to almost a halt we still had some way to go though as I could see cars as far as I could in front. Moving a snails pace I thought at least we are nearly there. I even considered getting out and walking the rest but I knew I couldn’t. We reached the sign that said 200 yards to entrance.  We made him pull in by the bus stop.. The metre read £63! He said “don’t worry about the change, just give me the £60”. I was quite annoyed and replied, “oh you can take the rest of the day off now after that fare”. I wish I had refused to pay that now as we were told it would be about £30, what if we had only had that amount on us!!!? I was angry but didn’t show it!

We started to walk and follow the flow of the cars toward the estate. I turned to Nikki and said “Oh I wish someone would stop and give us a lift”. Not long after I did this man hung his head out of his 4x4 and said “Need a lift?”. I replied, “are you offering? Yes please”.

He pulled over a rather handsome man dressed in full country attire, tweed flat cap, jeans and checked shirt jumped out. He had a look of Richard about him! (if only it was). He told us to jump in. he made space in the back. The shelf divided Nikki and me usually that was used in the boot, but he had his 2 Terrier dogs in the back (it did smell a bit doggy LOL). The couple were very friendly and asked where we had come from. When they found out I was from Liverpool the man said, “Oh I used to live on the Wirral”. It turns out he lived in Hoylake, the rough part he said. They now live the other side of the estate. He said it was a VERY long walk up to the show ground. So I am glad we got a lift. We wouldn’t have made it in time.  I noticed he even had a silver bracelet on his left wrist (like Rich wears).  I caught him checking his bright white teeth in the rear view mirror, which almost made me laugh out loud but I just grinned to myself. We explained what had happened to us with the taxi and he advised us that we should try and get a lift back to Hereford or Ross, plenty of people would be going that way and he was sure someone would. We arrived at the gate where we were supposed to pay. I had my purse at the ready and the man just said “two in the front” they got tickets and then drove in! We got in free! Nikki said thanks as she thought after what had happened that would be way of compensation. I don’t know how they didn’t see me in the back though; children are free but I hardly look that young!

They parked up and told us to enjoy our day. We never got to find out the kind peoples names, not because we were being rude. I think we were still in a state of panic from the taxi journey. We wondered down to the show and there we saw exactly what we had come all this way to see Richard Hammond.

By half three we had seen Richard and were both knackered and totally exhausted. We had also caught the sun and got a little burnt. I was feeling quite funny and thought I might have heat stroke. We wandered around the car park, I felt quite sick. I asked a few people if they were heading back to Hereford or Ross. But the people I asked either said no or they had kids and animals with them. We went up to where the cars were leaving the car park, I even tried to put my thumb up to stop someone but no one did.  I thought I would have to resort to St John’s Ambulance if I started to feel any worse. I spotted a couple that didn’t have any animals or kids with them. I asked Nikki if she would ask them she did and they said YES, They were a couple about the same age as my parents I think. They said they would drop us off in Hereford and we agreed to pay for their trouble, petrol is so expensive these days. They were called Jean and Ian and lived in Ledbury. Lovely place I’ve been there. We explained what had happened to us that day. They said they would drop us back in Ross in the end which was great for us and we were very grateful to them. If I had been anywhere else I don’t think I would have dare ask a stranger for a lift, but all the people we met this weekend were VERY helpful apart from that bloody taxi driver, who was sooo relaxed and not bothered it was worth a jobs worth award!

It certainly is a different world down there, they seem to live in a different time. Different from what I am used to but it was interesting and I liked it at least for a weekend!

Taxi firm we used...a joke surely!

SATURDAY

It might be Ross On Wye, but I've found a Costa. So I can have a rest before I head back to the hotel. So far it has been great to get away for a bit. from the hustle and bustle of the big city rat race I call home, Liverpool. The hotel we booked is called the Chase Dale. It's old and probably hasn't changed much for many years. There are lots of old reminders of how things used to be. The view from our hotel bedroom is so pretty and you can see the green hills and trees for miles. They also do a really nice full English breakfast.
The best bit about our hotel room is the en-suite bathroom with a bath! I only have a shower at home, so I purchased some bubble bath from the local Morrisons. I am almost tempted to pour the whole bottle into the bath, but I don't want to flood the place. While in Morrisons I half expect Richard Hammond to pop his head around the corner pushing a trolley and saying 'You felt the baps lately?'.
The hotel has lots of nik-naks; old ceramic hot water bottles, pictures,  suitcase, vases etc. It would fit well with a country television drama set of the 1930s. It is just out of the town centre and back off the road. There is also a pub called the Prince of Wales. We had a drink and shared a lovely desert of Eton Mess, it was small but very rich..lots of cream! The seating was lovely red swivel chairs. We sat playing a game on my mobile phone for a bit. The pub was very quiet. It was great for me because I really hate noisy pubs you can never have a conversation in one. There was also a lovely Audrey Hepburn picture on the wall a large canvas one.
Looking around the shops in Ross it is mainly charity shops, tea shops and thankfully lacks chain stores that are in most shopping towns and cities these days. In fact it has a good variety of shops. It does however have a Boots, Superdrug, Peacocks and Costa. Most of the shops are quaint little shops a good chance to root around for a bargain.
We went to a Deli and saw a list for "Richard's choice of cheeses'..what was that? Was it Mr H? I asked what it was about they said 'Oh its just his choice'. Who was he? I didn't like to ask! Oh well we would NEVER know who HE was. More than likely it was just the shop owner. I did try a piece of their Hereford cheese it was very nice. Also went to the local sweet shop where I purchased cider toffee. I wanted the honey comb covered in chocolate after seeing a boy eating it at a bus stop earlier that day.
We wondered around the shops. i brought a lovely navy dress and jacket from this vintage shop called 'oooh!', some coffee 'packed in Ross' from the local organic shop. Nikki brought a VERY large cake called a lardy, which is a local cake. Which we thought would take a few sittings to eat, but we ate it in one. 
While we were there we also sampled a local ploughmans lunch and a gorgeous fish and chip supper. the best chips I've had in ages!
I also spotted a wax jacket in a charity shop for £3.50! BARGAIN in Liverpool second hand ones are selling for £40 at the moment. It fitted so I got it!
Nikki got some odd ments of jewellery from a charity shop for her making.
We also saw the Ross carnival go past twice it was a lovely weekend.
I also saw a original teasmaid in a shop for £10 but I was unable to fit it in my case a real shame!
I'm glad the weather was ok.

Dusty....

Springfield is  a great icon from the 1960s. She had an amazing soulful voice and when she sings it sounds as though every word is meant.
She also had amazing hair with added hair pieces. The make up she wore in the 60s. Thick black eyeliner, which she went to bed wearing, not bothering to take off.
I also think her clothes are very glamorous and her outfits always looked great on her!
My favourite album is Dusty in Memphis. I think of her best songs are Son of a Preacher man and Love Power and Spooky. I was very sad when she died from breast cancer a sad loss to the music industry.

Astrid Kirchherr

A kind lady said to me the other day "You look like Astrid Kirchherr". I replied "Thank you" . Then I explained to her how flattered I was because she is one of my 'heros". Astrid was good friends with The Beatles and took some FABULOUS photos of them in Hamburg during the early days.
Her boyfriend was Stuart Sutcliffe artist and bass player with the band for a short time before he died at 21.

Photography is a a great hobby of mine and I have always loved the impact that black and white photographs have on me. It's my favourite way to catch a moment in time, but I do miss using the darkroom to develop my own images. That is all part of the art of photography. Having control over the final image.

All I need now is to find my own Stuart Sutcliffe.............

Fancy A Drink?

I'm talking about coffee. It isn't simply a "coffee" anymore. From a young age I always enjoyed a cup of coffee. I thought it was grown up to drink it I suppose. It was made by my mum who made either "kettle" or "milky" coffee with Nescafe instant from a jar.

In Bognor there was the weekly treat of going to town to get a milky coffee from the cafe called Macari's. It was owned by a family of Italians who drove Ferrari's of course! They sold the usual sandwiches and hot food, but it was for the coffee I liked to go there. They served their coffee in clear glasses with silver metal holder, how sophisticated! After all it was the 1980s!

In the last ten years coffee is no longer JUST coffee: espresso, latte, Mocha Cappuccino..the list is endless.

There are coffee shops on every corner; Starbucks, Nero and my favourite Costa, there are at least 8 of those in Liverpool city centre. While I write this in my little note book I am sat in Starbucks drinking a small skinny cappuccino sheltering from the rain, resting my feet and reading a few pages of my latest book. Its my way to relax and escape from the busy world around me, most of the time though too many people think the same thing, its busy, noisy and it is hard to find a seat and the queue is a mile long (ok a bit of an over estimate). The other day I was hungry but the foreigners in front of me were fingering all the sandwiches and that put me off..fruit bread it was then!

When it comes to ordering my coffee its never a white coffee its 'medium one shot americano with hot skinny milk'...I have ordered so many now it rolls off the tongue!

What I HATE about Starbucks is the horrid mugs they are heavy and clumsy. At least Costa have proper cups and saucers, but even they have the cup on the side of the plate why? I also can't stand the huge cups they have with 2 handles? You have to be a weight lifter to pick them up full of coffee, plus that size coffee must give such a caffeine fix!

I will just stick to my: small, large, one shot Espresso, Americano, with hot skinny semi-skimmed whole milk, chocolate, mocha, sprinkles, and cream..oh actually cancel that I will have a tea?

Tattoos

I've got six tattoos at the moment. I have said I will get no more, but I can NEVER say I won't I just think I am happy with what I have got for the time being. I never have gone for big ones. I like little, what you could say are *girlie* ones. I'm not really into biker style tattoos.

My first one was in 1999 and is an OM sign on my left upper arm. I got this done because it is something George Harrison used alot in his life and it also means; mind, body and soul in Indian I think...

The next one I got was cherries on the inside of my left wrist

Then I got the hearts on the side of my right wrist (Jade Goodie had these and I liked them).

My next one was cherry blossom on my right foot.

My last two was the star on the back of my neck and then the butterfly.

People ask me if they hurt having them done. Well yes of course they do, but its better for me than going to the dentist. I told my dentist that. Even he thought he would rather have one than go to his dentist!

What you can get for Four pounds...

Today I went to this little thing called the Vintage Jumble sale. It is not far from where I live! I was hoping to maybe pick up a bargain and I am pleased to say I did.

This lovely lady had a stall full of things selling each for mostly under £5! I found this gorgeous tea set still in its box. Dates from the 1970s I think. I don't really care I love it. I got it to use but I am not sure if I will! I am on the hunt for a a nice coffee set complete with pot now!

I also got this set of glasses still in their original box.

I am really pleased with my purchases today!

Retro heaven!

Amazing.....That's Kappa alright!

To be honest I used to think Kappa were far too loud for me! When ever I passed the Cavern Pub after leaving The Shakers at the Cavern Club I could hear the music coming up the stairs! Just those few years ago though I wasn't into bands like Led Zeppelin really. It has only been the last three or four years I've picked up on them.

Then last November I decided to check them out and BOY was I impressed! The Cavern Pub was packed as hot as Beatles Week in August. I was impressed by Paul's AMAZING guitar playing and swaying hips, Tony's drumming..I've no idea how he keeps going for 3 hours in one gig and Martin's bass playing is FAB..not to mention the hair! They certainly work great as a band together!

Not only that they managed to do another 2 hour gig across the road in the Cavern Club almost straight after!

The band not only cover; Led Zeppelin and various other rock classics. Paul also plays his own songs which intermingle perfectly with the rock classics. Even I didn't realise he had written them himself they are that good! Just goes to show how talented Paul Kappa is.

The guys certainly have a lot more stamina than I will ever have.

I've also seen them do a full Led Zeppelin tribute gig a few times which has been truly amazing. I even got dressed up for the occasion, and I was about the only one!

Sometimes they have a drummer with them called Laura who is very good too (she also plays in her own band called The Tone Junkies). Kappa are off to America in August. I hope it goes well for them.

I have really enjoyed going to see them over the last year. It has been great fun! The best thing was me and a friend Rosie doing our little tribute videos to Kappa songs!

Now I'm off for a rest..I'm all Kappa'd out! Until next week!

Kappa play the Cavern Pub every Saturday at 7pm and the Cavern Club at midnight

Shakin' All Over

I wanted to write something about one of my favourite Merseybeat bands, actually they are my FAVOURITE! I have been seeing them in their regular spot at the Cavern on a Saturdays since they started there. The date escapes me...perhaps 1963 (LOL).

I love the fact that they play nothing that hit the pop parade after 1964. I LOVE Johnny Kidd and the Pirates and Shakin' All Over it is played by them to perfection.

I just wanted to write a little bit about them as this week is the anniversary of when the Beatles played their last gig at The Cavern in 1963.

The Shakers play songs by a lot of the Merseybeat groups; Gerry and the Pacemakers, Billy J Kramer, The Mojos, even Cilla and of course The Beatles. They also do songs by the likes of Peter and Gordon, The Rolling Stones and Johnny kidd and the Pirates.

So if you are down Mathew Street in Liverpool on a Saturday afternoon about 3.30pm or a Sunday night about 9pm. Please go and have a listen. Tony, Eddie, Martin and Phil are the real deal and are as close to the REAL thing as you can get pure nostalgia.

Andy Warhol is a significant artist and influenced the decade of the 1960s. He realised and picked up on the boom time after the depression of 1930s America he was born into. The 1950s was the start of the consumer revolution. His work was a comment on the mass consumer culture going on around him. He became obsessed with the celebrity icon. The art he created was using images from supermarket brands such as: coco cola, Brillo and Campbells Soup cans. He also became incapturelated by the link between death and celebrity. He made a strong statement about the times he was living in.

He questioned the nature of art and its need to be original. The concept behind the idea was what mattered rather than the skill it took to make it. His art recycled others work and reproduced it. His work was brash, and irreverent and mass produced, just like the world around him.

His Brillo box focuses totally on the image, which jumps out.

“Warhol’s boxes have comic timing. The humour of the work is that Warhol has bothered to make an object at all- just as it may be humorous to think that we are buying things rather than refined images when we purchase commodities “.

“Despite (Brillo) being a three dimensional object, its functional as nothing more than a label. It is not a container of something else there is no Brillo pad inside it-but a sign complete in itself. “ (Kitnick, 2007, 100)

He used a technique that he would be forever associated with, silk-screen printing it was a way he could produce images many and quickly. These images were garish and brightly coloured just like the advertisements to sell to the consumers the goods they desired to make their lives better.

In his Marilyn prints the ink was layered over a black and white photograph taken by Gene Korman.

“The misprints and occasional clogging of the screen gave each face a slightly different expression. Making the point that although her face is reproduced endlessly Marilyn Monroe is not the plastic consumer good she appears to have become…” (Whiting, 1997, 176).

The Monroe image was reproduced to the point where it wasn’t clear where the movie icon ended and the real Monroe began. Warhol’s comment on at and consumer culture was making the point that everyone could produce art and anything could be art.

“..Warhol exaggerated the appearance and style of both the stars themselves and the mass-produced photographic images by which they were known. Warhol’s silk-screens are not therefore, about Taylor and Monroe as real people at all, but about their public image in its purist form.” (Whiting,1997 148).

A star’s true identity is therefore trapped beneath the public image. They became public spectacles. In the 1950s the press set out to uncover the person behind that movie icon image.

Warhol spearheaded the Pop Art movement in America. His art was a statement on the Capitalist consumer society that had exploded after the hardship of the Second World War and the end of rations in food and consumer goods that enveloped the early 1960s. He created work that reflected this and made art accessible to the masses rather that the high art bourgeois that it was before this.

“In February 1965, Life illustrated an article on Pop fashion, home appliance and advertising with a dress based on Warhol’s silk-screen prints of the Campbell’s soup cans” (Whiting. 1997, 179).

Thursday night viewing

There wasn't much on the TV tonight so I thought I would dig a pile of DVD's out and I decided on Breakfast At Tiffany's. I have never seen it before and I didn't know the story, but I've had the film sat unwatched for at least a couple of years. I am also ashamed to say I have never seen a film with Audrey Hepburn in (not that I can remember). I have only ever seen her famous image in photographs and part of Andy Warhol's prints. The film is a wash with early sixties American glamour. Audrey Hepburn's outfits are truly stunning even her little black dress. My favourite was a bright pink dress with matching shoes and tiara.

The story is of a lonely girl who calls herself Holly Golightly who is searching for a rich man to marry. Her only companion is a ginger cat, who she simply calls 'Cat". Until 'Fred" enters her life (played by actor George Peppard). they become friends and neighbours.

A touching moment is when Holly sits on the window ledge strumming a guitar singing 'Moon River" which is the backdrop throughout the whole film. Mostly it is the instrumental we hear.

She thinks she has found a husband who is going to be president of Brazil and she plans to fly there to marry him, but things take a turn for the worse and she gets rejected by him.

It ends up with her in a taxi with 'Fred' and 'Cat'. the sad bit in the film is when she chucks her beloved pet out of the taxi into the pouring rain. you see him looking from railings all rejected and wet..poor thing!

Of course the film ends happily with Fred declaring his love for Holly..and she finds her beloved Cat again...The end...

The Navy Lark

My grandad William Pratt (top left in the photo) was in the Royal Navy during the Second World War. I've got a photograph of him somewhere in his uniform. I've been looking everywhere for it but I can't find it. I also have one of him with my nan on their wedding day which I also can't find. But I did find one of him with some other chaps from his submarine crew.

He started life out as a stoker on the submarine H M Seal. This even has it's link with Liverpool as it had it's first test run on the Mersey (my grandad wasn't in the crew then though).

It was a mine clearing submarine, deep under the sea. A VERY dangerous job, one wrong move and the whole submarine could blow up and along with it all it's crew.

During 1940 they were on their way somewhere and the submarine got tangled up in somes mines and they could not go anywhere, stuck and running out of air and time.

Their only hope was to be rescued. In May 1940 they were rescued, but by some Germans Officers who captured the submarine and the crew. Prisoners for the rest of war. He was very lucky and survived.

He worked his way up to the best job according to my mum. When he left the Navy though I

have been told he spent all his money on drink. I am not surprised I think the war affected so many people.

In 1961 a book called 'Will Not We Fear' By C.E.T. Warren and James Benson. It tells the story of what happened to them. My nan had a copy so I read it, but I have my own now which I managed to source from Ebay.

My grandad was never able to tell me about what happened to him as I was only 4 years old when he died. All I can remember about him was sitting on his knee, getting piggy backs and knuckle sandwiches. I had no idea what a hero he was and what he went through.

I know he was very ill I remember before he died he looked bad. He was only 58, he died from Lung cancer, due to smoking.

Here is something I wrote for an exhibition at The Cornerstone Gallery earlier in the year.

As you walk into the Cornerstone Gallery at Hope University, the Sutton Taylor exhibition is situated in lit cabinets around the parameter walls of the ground floor exhibition space, rather than in the middle of the room. This gives the viewer the opportunity to view the pieces from different angles, and admire the lustre that glows, shines and bounces all around the spot lit glass display cabinets. They reflect light, sheer gloss, the great splendor of the shiny metallic surfaces of this pottery, which comprises a collection of oversized vessels.

From a distance, the large pieces look alluring, their heights approximately 50cm on average for the vases with the bowls being around 15x 25cm, on closer inspection they show the progression in both style and colour. The journey begins with the more pastel shades of ‘Bowl with flower pattern’ (1986) coming right up to date with the geometric style and bold colours of ‘Dark purple and green bowl’ (2010). These pieces assault the senses with such gusto; the garish bright colours look like precious stones in a jewellery shop or a part of a priceless hoard of treasure. The shine attracts the viewer to them like a magpie and from a distance the surface glistens and looks smooth, but on approaching, the tones, shades and colours change, and also the bumps and imperfections are clearly visible making them all more desirable as pieces to be ‘lusted’ after.

Taylor is a lifelong self-taught ceramicist, who is “attracted to bright and changing light conditions in expansive skies, and moving-water-to light through foliage to patterns and juxtaposition of colour in the landscape to pattern of light and shade in rock faces or individual pebbles”. (www.hartgallery.co.uk/artists/taylor ).

In the middle of the ground floor gallery space is the staircase leading up to the next level, where the first part of the other exhibition collectively called ‘Quartered, Drawn and Hung’, (a macabre pun on the proper name for a death sentence to be ‘hung. quartered and drawn) is displayed. These, unlike the Sutton Taylor pieces, are works by different artists linked to the University. At the top of the first staircase is a collection of small white pottery pieces, and sketchbooks in glass cabinets. On the back wall, various artists have explored their perception through drawing using various media. Two of the art works aren’t conventional. The first, a cross-stitch sample, by Fiona Ward (2010) is framed by its own hoop with a piece of embroidered red writing communicating the message ‘the miserable have no other medicine. But only hope’. A quote taken from Shakespeare’s Measure for measure. “I studied this at A-level and it really stayed with me; there are a good many layers to it and always something new to think about it. The line used seems to fit well with the present way of the world. I chose the medium because I’ve always enjoyed textiles and used to do a lot of sewing and I am also interested in how the use of textiles has been seen through the history of art” (Fiona Ward).

The second work approach to drawing is one which challenges our perception and approach to drawing in a traditional format using media such as charcoal, pencil and line etc., and stood out among the other mainly traditional approaches to the subject of mark making.

Tony Smith’s painterly mixed media pieces are small, brightly coloured, and experimental.

“ I like something which is formally quite under-spoken and subtle like minimalist art, and in particular how minimalist painting is displayed via something bawdy and over the top like a banner. There exists a paradox or contrast between the work and the mode of presentation” (Tony Smith).

Another set of stairs led to the final level. For this part of the exhibition accessing the works was more limited; the balcony forces the viewer to follow the drawings around one way or the other and in a certain order rather than personal choice.

The Drawing exhibition makes the viewer question what drawing is, and the title suggests that the creators of these pieces have each ripped apart this traditional form of visual expression in their own way.