Marking time

At the end of the last Hinterlands workshop we tried and failed to leave Devon. Busy planning and then running the workshop I'd forgotten to make plans for the Jubilee and it kind of crept up on me. So Mike and I decided we would stay and not make the mass exodus to London. On the Monday, me, Mike, Big Tom and my family all went up to Blackborough Beacon to see it set alight. John Tizehurst who featured in my piece Memories of a house (playing the accordion) is one of the oldest residents in the village and he set the Beacon ablaze. 

We all stood and watched the pile of wood burn. There's something very comforting and wild about watching fire and as we watched ours we looked out on the horizon to see all the other beacons blazing. It felt we were part of the history of these beacons being burned throughout time, firstly as a tool of communication to alert people to the approach of the Spanish Armada and now part of the spirit of smaller rural communities. It marked our own ending to our time in Devon and the next day we packed our things and headed back to Bristol to plan for the next workshop. All good things must come to an end.

Fotopub 2011 in Slovenia

Along with Mike Lusmore I'll be a mentor at this year's Fotopub in Slovenia for the multimedia workshop. I'm extremely excited to be asked and really looking forward to the experience . It looks set to be a great festival with some very interesting workshop leaders including Brenda Anne Kenneally, Ed Ou, Espen Ramussessen and Uros Abram. Hope to see some of you there - that includes you Marcia Chandra, apparently there's a nice river swim to be had. Thanks duckrabbit for the recommendation :-).

Decompressing after our wonderful workshop

Back at home now and still coming down from the workshop. It started with an idea and grew to a full blown amazing experience. It surpassed all my expectations and all the hard work in the lead up was well worth the effort. It's been a roller coaster of emotions I felt exhausted, energised, overwhelmed but over all so, so happy we were able to create a space for the participants to learn new skills and go away feeling they had value for money.

Myself and Mike are passionate about good food, sharing skills, the great outdoors and good company - The Hinterlands workshop bought all this together and so much more. I feel proud to have been part of the team and glad duckrabbit agreed to come along and collaborate with us. The training was outstanding and Benjamin and David bought an amazing amount of energy to the five days.

There were also some brilliant speakers who I feel are well worth a look and want to say thank you to as they provided a wonderful interlude to the hard work and were truly inspirational. They include; Tessa Bunny, Jonathan Worth, Nick Hand, Georgina Cranston and of course David White and Benjamin Chesterton from duckrabbit.

Now away from the Devon hills and back in my terraced house with brown roofs to wake to and no birdsong, I am feeling more than a little separation anxiety from the people who I've laughed with, eaten delicious food with, learned with and worried over!

Those who are close to me know these last few months have been hard since the death of my father, but I feel he would be proud. So thank you Dad for everything you've done for me in my life. x