Tub of pencil crayons..

I went to an event planning meeting today at BArts in Stoke. It’s going to be an opera based on the witch (wise woman) from Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, who was alive in the 17th and 18th centuries. She was buried at 90 degrees to the normal North South orientation.

From Wikipedia :

Margaret ‘Molly’ Leigh (1685–March 1748) was an English property owner in the Staffordshire town of Burslem who, in her will, left substantial sums to charity. She was also accused of witchcraft, and, after her death, her grave was disturbed following claims she was haunting the town.

We had a singing session based on some of her life and the treatment she received from her neighbours. We were also invited to create some art based on her life. (hence the tub of pencil crayons. The opera is due to be put on later this summer.

Looking forward

Spring will be well underway when we perform for one night only in St Thomas’s church Penkhull, Stoke-on-Trent

We had a good rehearsal yesterday, we sang a song from the film Grease full of wop bada do wop a bing bang boom! Or something like that. It’s so fast my tongue was tripping over the words, but it got better as we went on. Then we sang the oompah pah song from Oliver! Fun and good for stretching your lungs. There will be much more to learn over the following weeks. My music sheet shakes when I hold it, I might need a music stand!

The Leopard

My friend sent me this photo (I don’t have an attribution for it). This was a few year’s ago when it was open and the Leopard Hotel was running ghost tours and serving lovely food.

Then one of the owners died and it was taken over by a family member. I don’t know what happened but I think Covid didn’t help. In the end it closed and the owner moved elsewhere. Although the frontage looked OK it needed a tremendous amount of money spending on it as it was partly derelict in the back upper floors.

The hotel stood empty for months, it was bought by an entrepreneur who may have been going to turn it into flats. Unfortunately someone got in and apparently set up a cannabis farm in it (what I heard). Then it simply burnt down. Some of the frontage may remain but the place is boarded up.

I was involved for a while because I painted the murals in the back room, the Arnold Bennett Suite. I never got decent photos in there. I do hope it can be restored.

Mystery Plays coming back?

Mask made for one of the plays

Something is being planned. Over several years the Penkhull Mystery Plays involved the local community in theatrical projects to bring people together. The plays bought a mixture of fact and fiction, history and spirituality together to create a one day festival of fun to penkhull village Green. Usually in early or mid July.

Up to 400 people would be involved in making props and costumes, acting and setting up the play and other work. All these activities built around the central performance where local adults and children got together to bring stories such as the history of the Trent and Mersey canal, Jonah and the Whale, the song of Solomon, a history of the 1842 peasants revolt in the Potteries and other interesting and fun stories onto the village green as a substantial play.


The organisers also included singing and making music for the shows. Writing scripts, putting on seperate performances for the day including morris dancing, maypole dancing  local choirs, brass bands, Ukelele players and a tower of song where individual musicians could perform. There was also an annual tug of war competition and circus skills workshops on the village green. A recent introduction was the Titchy Theatre where new writing was put on as playlets by a small number of volunteer actors. There were also stalls for such things as bakers and crafters and local charities together with plant sales.
It was only as Covid began that the Mystery Plays were toned down and had to be suspended. But with the 100th anniversary of the uniting of the six towns into the City of Stoke on Trent and the 20th (is it 25?) Anniversary of the Mysteries it feels like an important time to bring it back to Penkhull.

Nativity, church window.

I found a photo

This time of year is called Christmas and this stained glass window is in Bethesda chapel in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent. It depicts Mary, mother of Jesus. I’m afraid the photo is a bit blurry and small, but it is one of my own pictures.

Around 2000 years ago stories were written of a tale of a child born to a virgin woman. The baby was visited by shepherds who were told to see the him by an angel. He was also visited by three Magi or King’s bringing gifts of gold, Frankincense and Myrrh. His family fled as refugees into Egypt to flee the massacre of innocent baby boys by Herods troops.

In later life, after performing miracles by looking after the poor and healing the sick, he was crucified by the Romans as a type of rebel, or freedom fighter, but he was trying to get people to love one another, care for each other, forgive each other’s sins.

The stories were collected into a book called the Bible  and the new Religion called Christianity was born.

Met a cat

A cat moved into the warehouse where we held out art and craft show. It has a home in a local housing estate but I guess because the warehouse is heated it’s found a place to visit. The main problem is there is a ladder up to the loft space and on Saturday it climbed up and went to sleep!

There was a panic because they couldn’t lock up the building until it was found. Luckily someone bought some cat treats so it came down!

Penkhull village calendar

Very proud to say three of my photos I entered for Penkhull village calendar competition were chosen to be included in the 2025 calendar. They were on display and I looked and thought they looked a bit like mine, but someone else must have taken similar views? I actually didn’t believe it until they told me. How bizarre! These are photos of the photos so they are a bit cropped to get straight lines!

Tiny paintings

Some mini paintings including  abstracts, I’m trying to get some work done for a small stall at Etruria Industrial museum in Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire this weekend. It’s the last steaming of the princess engine this year. I haven’t done anything for months but I finally got some miniature canvases so decided to have a go.

Bright lights over Bentilee

I’ve just got back from the local theatre, Claybody Theatre at The Dipping house, Spode Works, Church Street, Stoke upon Trent, Stoke-on-Trent.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable performance. It was set in 1967 on the Bentilee housing estate, on the edge of the city of Stoke on Trent. A city of potteries and coal mines and steel works that had since suffered industrial decline.

It’s late summer on the estate when several people see a bright glowing light in the sky that goes from red, to slightly greenish to a blue hue. It ended up on TV with locals talking about what they had seen, but no real explanation. (this was the era of science fiction programmes on TV, like The Invaders, or Space family Robinson and even Fireball XL5.)

What I enjoyed was the local knowledge. The speech was real Stoke on Trent accents, with a smidge of Durham and a twang of American or Irish.

I won’t go into detail with spoilers, but there is a mixture of 1960s memories, a touch of romance, a lot of local in jokes. It was useful knowing Bentilee estate, I have worked there. The comedy made the audience chuckle and laughter out loud. I do enjoy Deborah McAndrews writing. The play got a loud round of applause at the end. Good to see local friends who had come out to see it!

Garlic mushrooms

Tasty lunch, doubled portion (just flipped photos). It was very tasty with a fresh salad. I was taken out for lunch by my friends and I really enjoyed it. It’s been a while since I went out and socialised. I’ve been a bit up and down recently. This was at the Glebe pub in Stoke, Stoke-on-Trent.