Badly drawn violinist

Posted on October 20, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Barn dance, Black and white, Dance, Drawing, Fun, Life, Penkhull, Penkhull mystery play, Penkhull Village Hall, Sketching, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, Urban Sketchers2 Comments

I did these sketches tonight because I’m part of urban sketchers. These were drawn at the Mystery play barn dance up at Penkhull village hall. The band laying were called the Shropshire Hero’s and the barn dance caller was Baz Parkes.

It was excellent fun although I was helping behind the bar for part of it. Just watching people dance was great. Some do well, others make mistakes. The worst thing that happened was someone accidentally stood on my foot. But that was because I was drawing, and I think I was a bit in the way, so I wasn’t looking and got stood on. I was more worried because the dancer almost fell over me!

The other problem with drawing dancers? You guessed it.. They don’t stand still!

Panto

Posted on October 18, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Drama, Fun, Humour, Life, Panto, Pantomime, Penkhull, Play, Stoke-on trent, TheatreLeave a comment

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Have you heard of Panto? Or better known as Pantomime?

No? It’s something that goes on here in the UK around Christmas time.

Usually seen in a theatre it consists of brightly coloured sets, with brightly clothed people, messing about, telling an adventurous story while telling awful jokes and singing contemporary songs.

We do this in Penkhull, but for the at two years someone from the group has written the panto/pantomime, rather than buying in a script.

We started rehearsing last week. Lots of people who have done it before, greatful to get a couple of lines and be able to play act again. Most modern pantos seem to have commercial sponsorship, but in our case we just mention local shops. We don’t have advertisements in the panto, unless it’s jokey ones in the programme.

This time we are doing Aladdin. Set to open for four performances (too many for’s?) in February 2020, so the cast can take Christmas off!

Oh yes we can!

Old pottery

Posted on October 11, 2019October 11, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Falcon works, Life, Penkhull, Photos, portmeirion, Possible painting, Pottery, Research, Staffordshire, Stoke, Stoke-on trentLeave a comment

I have a project for the weekend. Which of these should I paint? I wasn’t necessarily going to paint a bottle oven (these are at the Falcon works, with the Goss hawk at the end of the building). They are situated around the back of Portmeirion pottery. And I quite like the architecture. I might paint a negative image….

I have seen these buildings for years but didn’t investigate them much. I learned more about them and the owner today from a friend. Apparently the owner treated his work force very well and he even introduced a fire extinguishing system in the pottery to prevent fires.

Hoe Down?

Posted on October 9, 2019October 9, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Barn dance, Dance, Fun, Jig, Music, Penkhull, Penkhull mystery play, Penkhull Village Hall, Pie and peas, Polka, Real ale, Shropshire Heroes, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, WaltzLeave a comment

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Who fancies coming to a Barn dance up at Penkhull village hall, Stoke-on-Trent on 19.10.19? It’s in aid of the annual Penkhull Mystery Play, next due to happen in July 2020. A huge community project that includes theatre, creative writing, music and FUN !

There’s dancing and spinning, hornpipes and all sorts of mad frivolities at the Barn Dance. Plus pie and peas (and a vegetarian option), oh and yes there’s a real ale bar.

The band is the Shropshire Heroes and the caller is the inimitable Baz Parkes who cajoles and explains the steps of the dances, gets the right numbers of people to join in and encourages people to miraculous efforts, including me!

So if you happen to be in Penkhull on the 19th and you are feeling energetic, why not come along?

Singing workshop

Posted on October 6, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Drawing, Fun, One inch challenge, Penkhull, Penkhull Village Hall, Singing, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, Urban sketching, WorkshopLeave a comment

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Quick sketch of people singing at a workshop today up at Penkhull village hall.

We sand lots of autumn songs, including old English songs and a poem set to music by the poet Lemn Sissay and musician Anni Tracey. We also sang a French song written in 1945 and translated into English called Autumn Leaves. It was by Joseph Kosma and Johnny Mercer with arrangement by Greg Stephens.

We got on really we and had a lovely time. The teachers Kate and Penny were very patient and helpful. I enjoyed it

The Greyhound inn.

Posted on August 26, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged 1540, court house, Greyhound Inn, Inn, Penkhull, Pub, Public house, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trentLeave a comment

The Greyhound Inn on Manor Court Street, Penkhull, Stoke-on-Trent. A very interesting building. We called in today on the way back to Stoke from Rudyard lake.

To think a building originally built around 1540 and used as a court house been 1558 and 1829 would be enlarged and eventually became an Inn ( type of public house). Over the last few years it has gone through quite a few landlords, some more successful than others. It seems to be a friendly place now. But there are two other pubs nearby, so it has to share custom with them. We had a relaxing half an hour there.

Sunset

Posted on July 23, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Colour, Driving home, Evening, Life, Penkhull, Penkhull sunset, Sunset7 Comments

I was coming home from choir early because I was hit and bothered because its so hot here, (around 30°). But the sunset was fantastic and I just had to stop and take pictures. It developed as I watched.

Believe it or not… Bat

Posted on July 23, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Bat, Environment, Flitting, Moth, Penkhull, Pipistrelle, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, Village hall12 Comments

This tiny bat was flitting around the back of the village hall last night. I know they are fuzzy photos but all I can say is we watched it for about ten minutes. I think it was a pipistrelle bat. It was hard to get a clear shot because it was moving so fast.

There were a few moths about and I think it was trying to catch them. I wish I had a bat detector. It transforms the high pitched call of a bat into a clicking sound you can hear.

Anyway that’s what happened last night. No vampires were harmed taking these photos. X

Scenery

Posted on July 20, 2019July 20, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Celts, History, Ice age, Penkhull, Penkhull mystery play, Pottery, Riot, Romans, Staffordshire, Victorians, VillageLeave a comment

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This is a papier mache hill I made out of willow withies covered in newspaper and glue. The idea was to depict the last ice age. I painted a couple of wolves in the distance. This was another mystery play a few years ago. Set in the area which then became Penkhull. It was about the way the village evolved and the town surrounding it. I don’t remember much about the play except it had Romans and Celts in it, then victorians and a riot. We seem to riot a lot in the plays!

I wonder what we will be doing next year.

Forgotten?

Posted on July 18, 2019July 18, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Carving, Church Yard, Death, Grave, Gravestones, Life, Local history, Penkhull, Photo, Pollution, Pottery, Sandstone, Smoke, St Thomas churchLeave a comment

Sandstone is a beautiful stone, soft and porous, it can be carved into fine shapes. But as this gravestone shows it also dissolves, especially in out acid rain environment. In this case the stone has turned black, probably from pollution, as Stoke-on-Trent was a very smoky place, due to the coal fired potteries. And yet the church is clean. I don’t know if it has been cleaned but it has had some restoration.

The lettering on the headstone is almost lost. Its almost as if a layer has peeled off. Gone but not forgotten? It depends on whether the family still exists, and whether they still live in the area.

Other stones in the graveyard are in worse or better condition. Some have been turned into steps, gradually wearing away under foot.

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Penkhull