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Arable field marked up ready for planting

2019 has seen the culmination of a dream, one in which Waveney & Blyth Arts have a stake. W&BA members Melinda Appleby and Brian Guthrie have led two successful walks along Cowpasture Lane, Mellis (near Diss) as part of our annual Celebrate events programme. The walks proved popular because of the link with nature writer Roger Deakin, whose home, Walnut Tree Farm, lies adjacent to the lane and features in his books.

During the 1980s, when agricultural intensification was still being encouraged, Deakin was instrumental in preventing the removal of the lane and only a small section was lost. In 2016 we walked from Thornham Parva to Mellis reading from Deakin’s books along the way.

The current owners of Walnut Trees Farm kindly welcomed walkers to look round the flower filled meadows that surround the farmhouse. We discussed how landscapes influence writers but also asked if writers influence landscape. There were whispers that perhaps the missing section of Cowpasture Lane might be reinstated.

The lane dreams of its future

In 2019, as part of our Bugs & Blossoms campaign, we led a stroll round Mellis Common culminating again at Walnut Tree Farm, with a few of us swimming in its famous moat. The whispers were louder: there was a real plan to bring the community together to replant the lane.

At the end of November, when rain had puddled the heavy clay soil, the planting weekend took place. More than 2,500 hedgerow plants and trees were planted on either side of the footpath south of the main railway line. Sixty of us took part, including tree wardens from all over Suffolk, local residents, a district councillor and families with children. Notably, nature writers Robert Macfarlane and Patrick Barkham brought their families to help. Soup, tea, coffee, a fire, cakes and other delights were provided by local people. The work was part of a Woodland Trust More Hedges scheme with additional funding from Suffolk County Council and coordinated by local residents, Edwin Van Ek (Woodland Trust) and Suffolk Tree Warden Network.

A small but inspiring story of how words can inspire action and how communities can work together to put nature back. We will be watching to see how the lane evolves. There might be walks and celebrations; maybe a special follow-up walk in 2020.

Melinda Appleby

We hosted an exciting year of walks, talks and workshops – 44 in total! – as part of our annual Celebrate programme. A massive THANK YOU to all the programme leaders, volunteers, management committee, venues, collaborating partners and supporters of our programme who helped with energy and enthusiasm to make it such an excellent year.

Behind the scenes, we’ve been busy getting plans together for our 2020 programme, a couple of which have already been announced on our website. Next year is W&BA’s 10th birthday, so we’re planning a year of activities which builds upon our decade of work using the arts to connect people and places along the Waveney and Blyth river valleys.

Alongside changes to our management committee in November, we’ve also introduced a new secure online payment system for membership and events. If you’d like to join us a member (or continue your membership for another year), follow the simple payment system on our website. The cost is the same – £15 for individuals and £20 for organisations – and, as ever, includes discount at all of our events and creative opportunities through the year.

Our programme in 2019…

Thrilling Thursdays Woolgathering event in 2019, image by @ingridx on Instagram

Our Celebrate programme ran from May to October this year. We hosted an engaging programme of creative walks which took groups to curious places in the landscape, discovering habitats through drawing in Walberswick, Roman ruins in Burgh Castle, and stories of hoards in Hoxne.

Through our talks and workshops, we explored the mythology of spinning through poetry, the lives of insects via the lens of macro photography, and the world of all things wool at a popular textile-themed morning at The Cut (pictured) as part of our Thrilling Thursdays programme.

Our sixth annual sculpture event – Waveney Valley Sculpture Trail – was held at the Raveningham Centre near Beccles for it’s third year. It was curated by artist Sarah Cannell themed around the ‘Woven Woodland’, set amongst three acres of lawns, orchards and woodland spaces. It was a busy and well-attended 5 weeks and we’d like to thank everyone involved who made it possible! This year, our flagship sculpture event will take on its next incarnation as Sculpture in the Valley 2020. Every three years we move onto a new patch and next year, we’re very excited to be hosted at Potton Hall, Westleton to delve into the Blyth valley landscape. Sculpture in the Valley 2020 will run from 18th July to 2nd August, curated by Suffolk-based David Baldry. Our call out to artists is now open until 7th February – we can’t wait to see your proposals!

This year, in response to the decline of biodiversity in our patch and beyond, we launched our Bugs & Blossoms programme. In May, we took over the community centre at Palgrave near Diss, for a weekend getting up close to the lives of insects, including an illustrated talk and macro photography workshop from Nicky Upton, weaving workshops with Jenny Goater and Maggie Campbell, and a walk inspired by Roger Deakin’s plant and insect observations. The Bugs & Blossoms theme created a buzz throughout the 2019 programme beyond the weekend launch too, with a midsummer moth walk led by Mark Cocker and haiku poetry with Tim Gardiner, and will continue into 2020… Look out for announcements in spring!

We also established our inaugural Two Rivers Book Festival in 2019, which is shaping up for next year’s programme too. This year, our festival patron Liz Calder – Booker Prize judge & co-founder of Bloomsbury Publishing – launched the festival with Dan Franklin and Lucy Hughes-Hallett talking about the fascinating world of publishing. Liz Calder will be back in 2020 with another intriguing talk in the summer.

Letterpress printing event as part of Two Rivers Book Festival in 2019, image by @mitchellfinch on Instagram

As part of the Two Rivers Book Festival this year, we also took a creative look at books, including book-binding with Helen Durrent, letterpress printing with Edwin Mitchell-Finch (pictured), and authors Rosemary Davidson and Arzu Tahsin took an audience through ‘craftfulness’ techniques, exploring ways to achieve calm through making. The ever-popular Doggerland also featured too, with excerpts from Julia Blackburn’s Time Song leading the path for a guided walk through Benacre. The Low House at Laxfield ran with the theme and hosted a very popular weekend marking the end of our first year of Two Rivers.

We were also delighted to be selected for the 2019 Pakefield Postcard Auction which this summer raised over £3,500 for the W&BA programme next year. Thank you to the PPA organisers who work tirelessly to give back to their local community through annual art auctions. We’re very grateful to the generous postcard artists and bidders!

Coming next year…

In light of the changes to the management committee in the November AGM, we’ve been working behind the scenes to plan a programme which gets to the core of W&BA: using the arts to connect people and places along the Waveney and Blyth river valleys.

On 5th March, we’ll be hosting our first Thrilling Thursdays morning of 2020 at The Cut, Halesworth. We’ll be delving into the fascinating world of fungi with support from our experienced guides Jon Tyler and Tony Leech, who’ll be talking on the subject. Plus, we’ll be joined by Joanna Scott AKA Dotty Scotty, W&BA member and needle-felter extraordinaire, who’ll be showing us how fungi is endlessly inspiring in craft too. The Cut will also be laying on a mushroom themed lunch to enjoy. Book your tickets now!

Sculpture in the Valley 2020 team – Genevieve Rudd W&BA Chair & SitV coordinator, David Baldry curator & Simon Raven site manager

Sculpture in the Valley 2020, our flagship annual sculpture event, will be hosted at Potton Hall, Westleton from 18th July to 2nd August. We’re delighted to be working with curator David Baldry who will be selecting the work for the event. Potton Hall offers W&BA members working in sculpture the opportunity to explore this year’s theme: ‘Reflections on Landscape’. We’re looking for artists to consider ideas about scale (micro to macro), perspectives and interaction between wild and cultivated aspects of the landscape. We are living in the context of climate crisis and this, along with broader perspectives on the landscapes we live in and our relationships with it could be compelling ideas to explore. Read more about the application process on our website.

Next year, expect walks, workshops and talks which grow curiosity for the landscapes, habitats and places in our patch through the arts. But for now, enjoy the festivities and look forward to the returning of the light as the days start to get longer towards spring.

Best wishes,
Genevieve Rudd, W&BA Chair

Last Thursday’s AGM at The Cut was a significant event as it marked the start of a new era for the organisation.

After 9 years of amazing activities, and with both sadness and some relief, I stepped down as Chair of the Management Committee and handed the role over to Genevieve Rudd. Genevieve has been the Great Yarmouth representative since 2017 and the Newsletter/Social Media/Website mastermind for the last year or so. I and the committee are hugely pleased that she is taking on this role and leading a refreshed team into the next period of W&BA growth.

For it was not only my turn to step down. We also said thanks and farewell to Jan Dungey, who has had to retire as Secretary due to ill health, and to Hon Treasurer Greg Tebble who is stepping back into an advisory role, but remaining as Independent Examiner. In their places Jo Butcher was elected as Secretary and Katie Ferdinand as Treasurer.

These three bright young women, plus Harleston representative Hatty Leith, make up what we are calling the Next Generation Team. In keeping with W&BA’s collaborative style of management and delivery they are going to undertake a professional development programme over the next 12 months so that they are in a strong position to lead the organisation into new areas. Members of the original team (Simon Raven, Brian Guthrie, Netta Swallow and myself) are staying as active members of the Management Committee to provide continuity and share our knowledge and skills, but will have a much lighter hand on the tiller.

You will be pleased to learn that as the organisation is in a sound financial state it was decided to peg membership rates for another year at the current level. New automated functions are being added to the W&BA website so that it will be much easier to take out and renew membership, and to buy tickets for events. These aspects are being road-tested at the moment and as soon as they are fully functional you will be sent a reminder to renew your membership before 31st December, so please look out for this.

Thanks to those members who came along on Thursday, or sent their apologies, and to all our members for your continuing support and enthusiasm. We always appreciate your comments, suggestions and even niggles (not that there are many!) so please stay in contact, and continue to help arts and the environment thrive in Waveney & Blyth.

Here is Genevieve to introduce herself and tell you about her aspirations for the organisation:

“I have been involved with W&BA since 2017 as the representative for Great Yarmouth. For the past 14 months, I’ve collated the weekly newsletters, and managed the website and social media for W&BA. I have also led walks as part of the annual Celebrate programme in my end of the micro-region. Alongside my work at W&BA, my background is in community arts and arts engagement. I organise and lead creative projects with people in Norfolk & Suffolk as a freelancer, plus as an Associate Artist/Tutor at the Sainsbury Centre at the UEA. I work with a broad cross-section of community groups, and the common factor which links the projects is to connect people to local heritage, cultural and environmental matters through visual arts.

“I’m very honoured to be put forward as Chair for W&BA, and to be part of the Next Generation team, which will build upon the last 10 years of excellent work, and look forward to the next 10 years, and beyond. As Chair, I will bring my energy and enthusiasm for connecting people with the local landscape through the arts, my experience of coordinating arts projects, and of building collaborative working partnerships in the locality.”

From Nicky Stainton & Genevieve Rudd

Mid-September and our poetry competition results are in.

[Read more…] about Blog: Poetry Competition Results

The Booker judges have whittled the longlist of thirteen books down to a shortlist of six. Four of them from the giant conglomerate Penguin Random House. Four woman authors, two men; two big hitting previous Booker winners; many countries represented. Here they are.

Margaret Atwood: The Testaments – despite the fact this much anticipated sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale is not published until 10 September

Lucy Ellmann: Ducks, Newburyport – the longest (1,000 pages) from the smallest publisher, Norfolk-based Galley Beggar Press

Bernardine Evaristo: Girl, Woman, Other – the only UK author

Chigozie Obioma: An Orchestra of Minorities – one of two longlisted books set in Nigeria

Salman Rushdie: Quichotte – Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children won the best of Bookers, but this latest has its critics (‘bloated’ said one)

Elif Shafak: 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World – from Turkey’s leading author

So let’s have your votes, and your views. Our prize ­– a signed copy of the winning book – is still to be won. Take a look at our Booker Prize 2019 page to be in with a chance to win.

As the Membership and Bookings Officer for Waveney & Blyth Arts, I am busy through the summer months taking bookings from people for the ‘Celebrate’ programme. But early in July, I went to volunteer for seven days with the Cairngorm Reindeer Herd in Scotland. The Cairngorm Reindeer Centre offer daily hill trips for visitors to see the herd and I had been on one of these trips in 2015, fallen in love with the reindeer and since then had wanted to return to spend more time with these charming and intriguing animals, and find out more about what goes on at Reindeer Centre, so I applied to volunteer.

The Cairngorm reindeer herd was established in 1952. Mikel Utsi visited Aviemore in the late 1940s and found that the habitat on the Cairngorm Mountain was perfect for reindeer, and had been surprised not to find any there. In fact reindeer had been native to Scotland but had died out, so Mikel Utsi reintroduced reindeer to the Cairngorm mountainside by bringing eight reindeer across from Sweden in 1952 and today the herd is 150 strong.

Reindeer Centre in Glenmore consists of a souvenir shop where visitors go to buy their hill trip tickets, a small office and accommodation for the herders. There is also a paddock and exhibition space so visitors can learn more about the history of the herd and about reindeer in general. There are craft activities to enjoy in this space and talks by herders. Four reindeer are in the paddock each day so that visitors who can’t make the hill trip still have the opportunity to interact with these fabulous animals.

When volunteering there is no guarantee of how much time volunteers get to spend with the herd as there are a variety of jobs to do at Reindeer Centre but I am tremendously grateful that I got to spend a lot of time with the reindeer, up on the hillside and in the paddock, learning about herding, halter training, health checks, and feeding, all of which I got to take part in, it was very exciting.

I was shown how to put food out for the reindeer in the paddock, these reindeer got an extra treat of lichen with their food, Lichen, birch leaves and blueberries, ‘blaeberry’ in Scotland, are all favourite food for the reindeer. Blueberries grow on the mountainside so are one of the things the reindeer have naturally in their diet. Although the reindeer have everything they need to eat on the mountainside their diet is supplemented with a food mix made by the herders at reindeer centre and so I was shown how to mix their food, and this became a task I did regularly. Included in the reindeer food are dark grains, a by-product of the whiskey industry, sheep food, barley and sugar beet.

In the summer months there are three hill trips for visitors a day. Visits to the herd are a car ride and short walk away from reindeer centre. The herders leading the hill trips carry the bags of feed up the mountainside where visitors are given the opportunity to hand feed the reindeer. Feeding the reindeer is a wonderful thing to do, they have furry noses and you can feel their breath on your hands as they feed. One of the things I loved about accompanying visitors on hill trips was seeing the joy on their faces when feeding the reindeer, the same joy I had first experienced when visiting in 2015. Visitors going on the hill trips will often need to hire wellies, so I would help with getting the right size for visitors and then washing off any dirt from the wellies when they were returned. Other general duties were cleaning and topping things up; stock in the shop, bird feeders, the squirrel feeder, water, and craft supplies in the exhibition centre. I swept up pine needles that were dropping from the trees and ‘poo picked’ the paddock. Where there are reindeer there is reindeer poop so scooping poop from the paddock area was one of the first jobs I was shown. This was not a messy job as reindeer poop is like a cluster of rabbit droppings.

Whilst in the paddock area there were often rabbits and pigeons, and on occasion I saw a tiny little mouse and I was also lucky enough to see red squirrels. I was also shown how to set up and close down the exhibition space and paddock area morning and evening and on my last day completed the set up and feed and let the reindeers in to the paddock by myself which was a real treat. What I really enjoyed and felt very privileged to be a part of was the team spirit at reindeer house, everyone working there looked for jobs to do and everyone helped with everything. It was very inspiring.

The striking difference between the Cairngorms and Norfolk is of course the mountains, and the incredible views that accompany a climb up a mountain. I climbed Cairngorm Mountain, which is the sixth highest mountain in the UK, there is a 360 degree view from the top and it did not disappoint, it was phenomenal. My camera battery had run out half way up but I was relieved in a way because it meant I was completely in the moment, absorbing the view of mountains after mountains after mountains for miles in the distance. There was some cloud the day I went up, not enough to obscure the view, just a few near by and when I reached the top it did feel as though I was in the middle of a cloud doughnut at one point, it was very atmospheric.

This was another fascinating aspect of going part way up the mountain on the hill trips, seeing the incredible views of the landscape, different on a daily basis, affected by the changing weather in the distance. I really enjoyed watching rain, mist, sunlight, clouds, and cloud shadows transform and morph the view, sometimes on a minute by minute basis.

Another difference between being in Scotland compared to Norfolk was the light. To be more specific, the hours of daylight. I don’t think I have previously travelled north in summer before as I was really surprised by how light it was late into the evening. With staying there so close to the summer solstice it was particularly noticeable. It was very striking, and as I hadn’t considered that it would be lighter it was a delightful surprise.

As well as enjoying all of the above it was fascinating to learn more facts about the reindeer too. The herders stop at intervals on route to the herd to tell visitors all about the reindeer, so I picked up lots of interesting facts from this as well as from looking around the exhibition space. The most intriguing thing to me is the ability the reindeer have to conserve energy in the challenging weather conditions. In winter they grow a thick cut with an under layer, the long hairs on the outer layer are hollow to trap warmth. They can locate one another in foggy or blizzard conditions from the clicking noise that comes from their heels which is made by tendons snapping over bone, this saves them losing warmth from their bodies, which would happen if they communicated vocally. As well as having furry noses the reindeer have an internal heat exchange system which means air breathed in is warmed before it gets to the lungs and cooled before it is breathed out. The reindeer are very energy efficient. There are lots of other exciting reindeer facts so if you are interested in learning more one thing you could begin by looking up is about their feet, and one book I would recommend is ‘Reindeer: An Arctic Life’ by Tilly Smith, owner of the Cairngorm Reindeer Herd. In this book you will find out about the Cairngorm Reindeer Herd as well as about reindeer in general. I would of course also recommend a visit to the Cairngorm Reindeer Herd, for more information and the blog they write this is their website http://www.cairngormreindeer.co.uk you can find out interesting things like how they name their reindeer, amongst lots of other things. If you want to see more pictures from my visit you can find them on my Instagram account @katie_ferdinand, but you will need to scroll back as I have posted several other pictures since.

I had an incredible time and am looking forward to going and spending time with the herd at some point again soon, either as a visitor or working with them.

Last week on 14th August, the Pakefield Postcard Auction was held at Hotel Victoria in Lowestoft and, this year, W&BA were chosen as the recipients for the fund.

It was such a great evening and very well attended by contributing artists and supporters of the Ferini Art Gallery and W&BA. The event ran like clockwork thanks to the fantastic team behind the scenes led by Michaela Hobbs. We are very grateful to all of them, and to the businesses and sponsors who gave raffle prizes or support in kind — in particular Cunninghams (our main sponsors) who provided a team of very efficient cashiers, the Victoria Hotel for use of their fab facilities, and to Durrants of Beccles. Thanks also goes to Norfolk Mobility Scooters for sponsoring the arrival drinks.

The star of the evening was Nicholas Rudge, the amazing auctioneer from Durrants, who led the auction for the sixth year, and charmed and cajoled everyone to keep raising their bids.

Prices ranged from £10 to over £400 per item – and a lovely sketch donated (anonymously) by Dame Judi Dench raised £160. We’re very pleased to announce that the final figure of the PPA this year is £3,895, which is a stupendous result! The funds will be invested into our 2020 Bugs & Blossoms programme, which looks at the essential role of pollinators and environmental protect through arts and cultural activities in our locality. Thank you bidders for your generosity on the night!

Image: Will Goodman

On a sultry afternoon in July those who were not felled by the heat gathered in the lovely setting of The Locks Inn at Geldeston to create short poems and haikus.

Tim Gardiner, a wildlife expert as well as a prize-winning published poet and specialist in Japanese short-form poetry, introduced us to the essentials of haiku writing. In addition to the well-known stipulation of a maximum 17 syllables (normally 5,7,5 per line) we were told that traditionally all haiku were about the natural world, reference the seasons in some way, have a break that cuts the poem into two contrasting parts, and use irony, surprise or emotion to ensure that the poem means more than it apparently says. They are, as Tim pointed out, deceptively simple.

He then advised us not be overly constrained by the rules, apart from the overall length, and to concentrate more on the rhythm, alliteration, metaphors and imagery. With that liberating message we wandered into the adjacent cool, shady woods (thanks to River Waveney Trust for securing this little gem for public use) to take inspiration.

After a few hours and a very productive group ‘crit’ we each had a couple of poems we were happy to share. Thanks to all who took part, a combination of more and less experienced poets, and to the laid-back but effective Dr Gardiner.

Lynne Nesbit:

Fallen not felled
Willow will not weep

Poet seated on her muse
Inspiring summer breezes

Footprints in duckweed
Scatter surface waters
Only to close over

Nina Roffey:

duck weed blanket
holds our shadow
before we drown

wren stabs a warning
near nettles laden with
their own venom

bark fissured skin
Poplar grows old
wears moss socks

Ashley St Clair:

In the woods
empty hollow
void of leaf or flower
spirit fills

Haiku workshop
poet rests on stump
breathing sultry woodland air
inspiration

Chance encounter
nettle brushes arm
unexpected meeting
feeling love’s keen sting

Nicky Stainton:

Seed heads
Holding life in a tiny orb
Blushed with colour

Silver slug trail
Earth patterned with shadows
Calligraphy of twigs

Kaaren Whitney:

A Place Found
two soaring willows
ancient trunk roots joined
a sacred seat

Kilbran’s Marriage Guidance
branches intertwine
room to grow respected
breathing space

Insect Learning
a brown moth zigzags
rises before the mower
sharply cuts the path

And, last but not least, Tim Gardiner:

wild hops intoxicated by the view

filling the hours taxidermist

turning hay
in the far field
west wind

prize pike
in the cabinet
beware the hunter

Some of us stayed on and were joined for the second event of the day – a talk about moths and a walk led by renowned naturalist and nature writer, Mark Cocker.

Mark had promised to set a moth-trap in his garden the previous night and bring a few specimens from the nearby Yare valley for us to look at. What he brought was the most amazing cornucopia of moth life. He revealed hundreds of the creatures, from the flamboyantly colourful pink and green privet hawk-moth and eerily spectral poplar hawk-moth to dozens of pretty little rosy footman moths and their more restrained cousins, the common footman, as well as arches, cinnabar and gypsy moths.

We watched in fascination as he brought out these treasures and shared information and statistics about moths, a group of insects related to butterflies, belonging to the order Lepidoptera. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of which have yet to be described. Mark pointed out that only 3 or 4 of these are the type of house moths that eat our clothes and textiles and are not greatly loved by humans. In common with all other insects moths have a vital part to play in a healthy ecosystem.

Once all the moths had been released into their new habitat we went for a short guided walk spotting a brilliant blue-green banded demoiselle (damselfly), spiders and other often overlooked wildlife elements feeding and breeding around us.

As the temperature dropped a little some of us stayed for a delicious supper in the garden of The Locks. We are very grateful to Grain Brewery, the new owners of the pub, for giving us use of their lounge, free run of their grounds and a warm welcome. It was the perfect setting for this fascinating day, and well worth a visit for anyone who loves the quiet beauty of the Waveney Valley and its unspoilt grazing meadows.

Has this summer inspired you to write about Bugs & Blossoms?

[Read more…] about Blog: Only 16 Days to Pen your Poem