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Tuesday, 6 August 2013

A Season for all Festivals

As we all know there was a significant event in July involving one particular new born. Now as a former photojournalist, I wasn't surprised by the amount of newsprint that made up the reporting of this event. But even I was fed up with half the content of every newspaper being taken up with the birth of this royal baby.

I felt sorry for seasoned, professional reporters suddenly put on the spot during the main tv news programmes, struggling desperately to fill a few minutes of prime time telly, to tell the world exciting news that - nothing had happened yet. Meanwhile the public vox pops abounded. The general public guessing on the gender with one interviewee confidently stating that it would be a boy; 'coz I was late like that when I had my Jack'.

But my prize for the best coverage (or lack of it) would go to the Independent, whose columnist brilliantly highlighted that amongst all the hysteria, what really happened was this.....

' .. a young couple were waiting for the birth of their first born. They went to hospital; a baby boy was born. They stood on the hospital steps; they got in a car; they went home.' (The Independent )

That's the way to do it.. And talking of prizes.....

One of my highlights last month was that I won the Imagine Watford photographic competition (featured in my last blog). I was very chuffed about it as there were some really good photos from other photographers including quite a few professionals.

the winning photo - Imagine Watford

My prize - £100 worth of Watford Palace theatre tickets. It's a great prize as I love the theatre and film and the Palace put on some really good plays.

We've been busy in Watford with festivals over the last few weeks as Cassiobury Park hosted the Inland Waterways canal festival for three days. It involved a minor military operation to set up and about 15,000 visitors came along.

Colourful and flagged bedecked narrow boats, moored two abreast, lined the canal and a tented-city of stalls covered nearly half of Cassiobury Park.

where would any festival be without its Morris dancers

could this be Morris?

My role at the canal festival was to consult with the public on our latest designs for our Heritage Lottery Funding bid to restore and improve the park.

We had a good response but the stifling heat in the main marquee meant frequent visits to the ice cream stall.

canal boats at the Inland Waterways festival in Cassiobury Park

This month I also managed to see the draft copy of my front cover photograph for my boss's book on London's royal parks. They also chose eight other pictures of mine taken that day to compliment the rest of the book.

a hat, a hat, my dog kennel for a hat. Inland Waterways Festival

this hat stall did a roaring trade at the Inland Waterways Festival on one of the hottest days of the year.

back in time with the boat people.

More photographic commissions came my way with our publicity department at the council asking me to do a photocall of the Mayor with the Friends of Cheslyn Gardens, for a front cover of About Watford magazine. It's the third year in a row these colourful and delightful gardens have obtained Green Flag status.

In between I've been busy organising events such as the national linked, Our Big Gig, a celebration of community involvement in music and to promote the use of bandstands with events taking place all over the country.

Hartbeats - African drums at the Our Big Gig in Cassiobury Park

This allowed us to use the occasion to link in to one of our major restoration projects under our Heritage Lottery Funded bid, which is to restore our very own Victorian bandstand back to its original location in the in the park. Parks all over the country have for many years suffered a lack of funding and when that happens, heritage items like a bandstand can lie unused and open to vandalism in a park. Many years ago, our own bandstand was dismantled and re situated outside the library and town hall in Watford's High Street where its use and location has never attracted well

attended musical events. So when we get round 2 stage funding, in June of next year (we hope) one of the first things we will be doing, by popular demand, is re-locating the bandstand back in its natural and original location in the park.

dancing in the park

One of my jobs after much consultation with the public will be to create a year round series of activities and eclectic musical events at the newly installed bandstand. For now though, we have to make do with a stage and a high top marquee instead. Cassiobury Park is not used to regular smaller events and despite extensive publicity for the Our Big Gig there were not the audience numbers we expected. But as Spielberg once wrote for that famous film, The Field, 'if we build it, they will come'

musical activity returns to the park bandstand site - the local kids enjoying beating out a rhythm

Jive Swing dancers

Jive Swing dance troupe

and on a completely different subject....

a friendly squirrel in St James Park on a recent trip to London

Cassiobury Park

In between all this photography, I'm busy organising a heritage tour around Cassiobury Park in September. But with a difference. It will be a white Shire horse and carriage tour, stopping off at points of historic interest in the park and finishing with coffee and cake in our delightfully

named, Cha Cha Cha tea pavilion. Somehow I can feel some more photos coming on...

Deborah

Monday, 1 July 2013

Dinosaurs, Dervishes and Divas - two weeks in Watford

One of the highlights of my recent nights out was an evening at my favourite night club, Ronnie Scott's jazz club in Soho.

I was there to see a famous son- Kyle Eastwood - son of that famous cowboy, Clint Eastwood, perform with his band. Now lets lets face it, if we're honest, most of us who had never heard of him, or his music, only really wanted to see him in concert due to the curiosity of who he was and therefore proving that living off a famous name does indeed work! But being a tadge sceptical about his musical abilities and suspicious of him hanging on the coat tails of that famous name, that initial scepticism was totally shot to pieces when I heard him play.

Never mind that he did look like a young, (but softer), version of his father; handsome, over 6ft tall, slim and with a head of thick blond hair,(mmmm.. I digress), I was astounded and surprised by Kyle's, songwriting abilities and superbly dexterous, double and electric bass playing, backed by a formidable quartet of quality jazz musicians. He's earned his musical spurs on his own merit, writing, composing and playing with a surprising variety and depth, using an eclectic sound of fusion jazz mixed with upbeat jazz r&b and atmospherics -a good example was the mesmerising and haunting 'Marrakech'.

A great evening, and I'm relieved to say there was not a splat of chewed tobacci' spitooned onto the floor, and neither during the interval did the band sit in circle round the piano player eating beans, though he did play one number where he whistled effortlessly through his teeth at the begining of one song and just for a nano second showed a glimmer of his ancestry - a hint of being a chip off the old block and just as I thought I was about to hear the first strains of 'The Good, The Bad and The Ugly', the song mercifully evolved into a wonderful jazz ensemble.

But I was so spell bound that evening that the very next morning, I impulsively went out and bought two of his CD's, scanning meticulously to make sure Marrakech was listed on one of them. I haven't stopped playing it since and with every listening I'm transported back to images of exotic Kasbars, minarets and Whirling Dervishes.

And talking of mystical, frenzied, dances, the annual, open-air arts fesitival of the weird, and wonderful took place in the more prosaic Watford recently, called Imagine Watford, complete with its own, mesmerising, live, Whirling Dervish.

a whirling dervish closes a great two week open air arts festival in Watford High Street

Rehearsing his moves before the main act.

spinning to the end in the much longed for sunshine

Imagine Watford allows you to use your imagination. It included the weird, wonderful and downright bizarre.

an act called 'trolleys' - I wonder why?

Its amzing what you can do with a standard shopping trolley

trolleys, dance and gymnastics

Trolleys was a great act but I will never be able to shop in Sainsburys in the same way again. I have to say that at no point were these trolleys taken from the Sainsburys supermarket, just round the corner!

But the two weeks was full of strange, weird as well as some very funny acts. There were life size dinosaurs, a comedy act with all the performers wearing striped pyjams and using metal beds as props, with striped matching mattresses.

a comedy with the equally weird performance name of , 'Expedition Paddock'

the singing Expedition Paddocks.

And then there was 'Saurus' who roamed the High Street mixing in with the crowds and enthralling the kids.

Saurus - and their Saurus 'catcher'

and the kids loved them! what is it about dinosaurs and kids!

they just wanted to touch and meet these scary/lovable monsters.

Saurus trainer and child catcher !

more scary for the adults !

although not every one was too sure about them

you need long legs to keep control of the Saurus'

friend or foe? a truly international flavour to the festival. Saurus was a Dutch arts act

A Saurus catcher

Glissssendo Opus II - a Hungarian musical ensemble with a twist

One of the weirdest but somehow beautiful acts was Glissssendo Opus II (yes that is the correct spelling) Transporting themselves on coasters through the High Street, playing as they went on weird musical instruments with plumes of smoke eminating from conical cones on their backs.

they played really well- man, they were on fire!

bringing some colour to Watford's High Street

the magificent 'gliding', Glisssssendos'

.....bringing colour to the High Street

strange shaped trumpets for Glissssendo

there were acts with umbrellas - Splash - about climate change

and the crowd looked on...

strange banana shaped colourful balloons

which some loved and enjoyed...

and some didn't care too much for it at all.

and some had fun ....

but there were always the Imagine Watford volunteers in their distinctive orange t shirts to help and inform - seeing double!

and if all that was just too much to handle.........

just stay calm and chill out...!!

I've taken a lot of snaps these last two weeks and looks to continue that way when I recently got offered a great bit of news. It started with my regular bi monthly update meeting at work the other week. I went into my boss' office to talk all things Heritage and came out with a commission to do a photo front cover for a book!

Let me explain.. my boss is a part time author and has written several series books his present one is on London's Royal Parks. He's completed it but his publishers want a front cover photo. So.. he came to me. On completion, he's going to give me a whole book to illustrate - one that he's working on for the future. In addition we are both going to work on a book (complete with photos of course) on the heritage of Cassiobury Park, that the council can sell in the new hub building planned as part of the park's Heritage Lottery funded improvements. How good is that!

Deborah

(c) copyright: words and photographs on this blog are copyright to Deborah Anne Brady- 2013

Tuesday, 28 May 2013

a river running through it

Cassiobury Park -'a nobleman's residence in a magnificently timbered park'

It's four months now since I started my new career as a community ranger for Watford Borough Council. And what fun its been. I joined at a very exciting time, as the Council are in the round 2 stage of a £6.5m Heritage Lottery Funding bid to restore and improve Watford's premier green space, Cassiobury Park - and according to a survey, the nations third favourite park.

Cassiobury Park- '...a magnificently timbered park'

It is the perfect job for me - around and about meeting so many different groups of people, volunteers, consultants, the visiting public, different user groups, visiting schools and much more.
I'm very often travelling down to London (only 15 minutes by train) for meetings and and lately on a round of visiting some of London's most prestigious urban parks. One the attractions for me of being a ranger is the sheer variety of the job and this particular role doesn't dissappoint! One minute, I'm organising a huge Fun day event, the next training up some volunteers to giving talks and presentations on the marvellous heritage of the park and arranging consultation events with various stakeholders and user groups.

a landmark of the park - the Cedar tree

Being a people's park, the area covers 190 acres of Green Flag parkland, including Whippendell Woods, a SSSI site which is awash in bluebells at the moment. It has the Grand Union canal running through it as well as the river Gade, and has something for everyone. There is a 1930 retro style Tea Pavillion, tennis courts, croquet and bowls clubs, football and cricket pitches, play areas, and paddling pools which families come from miles around so the kids can splash around. The park hosts a large nature reserve and wetland habitats with a multitude of wildlife.

the chain saw sculptor just a bit too noisy for this particular visitor - Fun Day at Cassiobury Park

Cassiobury Park has a great heritage - hence the Lottery Funding bid. Cassiobury House and the Earls who lived there were the toast of the counties and had many famous visitors, including the painter, JMW Turner, who painted various images of the park. The landscape designer, Humphrey Repton and Hugh May were also involved in creating the park. But the major designer who laid out the intial park and gardens was Moses Cook.

The park used to host some historic buildings. Cassiobury House, sadly demolished in 1927, alongside many other iconic buildings over the decades, was the residence of five of the twelve Earls of Essex with the 11th Earl, now a childless, retired teacher, living in a bungalow in Lancaster. The next Earl in waiting, an American grocer living in USA, will take his seat eventually but only genetically linked by being the great, great, great, great grandson of the childless 5th Earl's half brother's eldest son! A USA tv show recently brought the family over to Watford.

I certainly enjoy giving the heritage talks, with tales of the beheading of the first two Earls and mysterious deaths in the Tower of London and with horseriding, headless ghosts of those Earls, who can be seen riding through the park on certain days of the year! (I'm going to have great fun scaring the kids on Halloween activities in the park!- tee hee!)

Rob Hopkins - Herts and Middx Wildlife Officer leading a guided wildlife walk in the park

When my father died back in March I thought it was the worst time to start a new job. In fact it was the best time. Although my boss was great about me taking time off so soon after starting to attend and organise the memorial, it has been a carthartic process for me and helped me get through by keeping my mind on a fabulous, exciting and varied job. Its still hard to go back to the family home as it seems very strange not seeing my father there anymore but I have some fantastic warm memories and they are always the ones I think of more than the sadness of his passing.

Cassiobury Park

Of course living in Watford I'm now so close to London and I'm now a member of my all time favorite haunt, Ronnie Scotts Jazz club in Soho. Its so near its like living in London again. But I have the best of both worlds, a huge park and woodland space you can get lost in and which is only minutes from Watford's town centre, to being just a quick train ride away from the centre of the capital.

I've also been to see Saracens, the premier rugby team, play at their new ground in Mill Hill and shall being going more often next season, taking and wearing my Dad's rugby shirt that he always used to wear when watching the rugby on tv. But its great as a few of my colleagues at work like rugby (not to mention being passionate about Watford football club - the Hornets).

Cassio's wildlife

Other good news is my German friends that I met in Italy on my recent cycle ride, Hedi and Franz are coming over in October to visit me for a week. Well, Franz isn't coming this time but Hedi and her daughter Sabine are. I had a great time in Bavaria when I visited them last year, so I hope they like dear old Watford as much! I expect we will spend some time in London but we have got the Warner Bros Harry Potter studio tour here in Watford!