A warm sunny May Day with gusting winds. We headed for the famous Helminghall Hall plant sale and enjoyed a Grand Day out, mooching around the stalls, a picnic in the garden, followed by a gander around the moated Tudor Hall dated to 1480 complete with drawbridges and water so clear that trout of all […]
I must admit, I didn’t quite know what to expect from an own label Tesco ‘Craft Beer’ brew. The Co-op ones are unexpectedly excellent, especially the Mersea Island brewed Growler varieties, but my expectations were a little flakier for the new ‘Revisionist’ Steam Beer. Tesco have jumped on the Craft Beer wagon and it seems […]
I went to see Robert Cray 20 years ago at the UEA in Norwich and apparently I was there, but cannot remember any of the gig! Had tickets at Hammersmith ten years later and never saw the legend. So this time I finally made it – and it was well worth the wait! Voted best living […]
I came to the mighty Deep Purple through the tradesmans entrance, long after the paint had peeled. My first gig… December 81 at Ipswich Gaumont, the metal mecca with the Ian Gillan Band touring their double opus, Double Trouble. Gillan had a fast and furious band and I was blown away, although at 11 years […]
Funerals are ghastly, but a symbolic ritual, an opportunity to take time to remember a cherished loved one or friend. The service is a critical facet and it may seem odd to enthuse but this Humanist service carried real weight and conviction. The Humanist Society works on behalf of non-religious people who seek to live […]
My favourite film is a grand old 40 this year, Peter Hall’s 1974 free form adaptation of Suffolk born Ronald Blythe’s portrait of the vanishing English village culture, Akenfield (1969). It is a masterpiece of rural social commentary, an improvised folkscape of a county long gone from the turn of the century to the beginning […]
I had a great evening at my local boozer last weekend, crowned by a chap belting out an acoustic version of The Moody Blues ‘Nights in White Satin’ followed swiftly by a rollicking ‘Hey Ho Silver Lining’. In my slurred slumber I mentally cued up (and subsequently requested) Lynyrd Skynyrds Freebird next, but sadly it […]
National Theatre Live at the Ipswich Corn Exchange. The week that has gone saw King Lear beamed live to the Ipswich Corn Exchange and another 1000 theatres all over the world simultaneously from the Barbican. Simon Russell Beale is the ‘old King’ and utilises a limp and stoop to emphasis the part, the former researchers […]
The real inspiration for the magnificent film The Long Good Friday and this web site sadly passed away this week. He also had more than a hand in some other classics including Dennis Potters, Pennies from Heaven, Mona Lisa and Hook. Born in Bury St Edmunds, you can read about his amazing life and work […]
