Clacton Arts & Literary Society

1st March 2010 Join us for a ‘A Feast of Song’

The concluding night of the Arts and Literary Season found a full house at the Princes Theatre when members spent an evening in a Feast of Song with four exquisite singers from the Welsh National Opera together with their exceptional accompanist.  The audience were treated to many favourite and familiar arias, duets and quartets. Among these were the Barcarole and the delightful and funny Gendarmes duet with audience participation. Opera was not their only music as the quartet gave us some of the most famous songs from Rogers and Hammerstein, Ivor Novello and George Gershwin.   

This was a final season night to remember as the audience cheered and clapped their approval of the fabulous voices from the Welsh National Opera.  The next season is keenly anticipated. The evening was sponsored by Boydens, the Frinton Estate Agents.

  Audrey Owens Press Officer

The Arts and Literary Society spent a very interesting evening with Chris Packham, the photographer, traveller and wildlife expert.  His aim was to show us 100 photographs and explain things about them.  This he did brilliantly.   We saw the most wonderful pictures of leopards, lions, cheetahs and elephants.  Lots and lots of elephants in all sorts of places, gorgeous baby ones as well as other members of the herd.   We were fascinated and amused at the antics Chris had to perform to get these incredible shots, although he told us that in every picture there was something not quite right.   Chris Packman is a perfectionist and that condition is hard to obtain.   We saw marvellous pictures of foxes, wolves, otters and many other species.   We learned of the hours he spent lying in mud or water just waiting for the right moment to press the shutter and get the picture.   There were the most impressive shots of birds in flight – albatross, penguins and others from the southern Atlantic around South Georgia together with icebergs.   We also learned some of the tricks used to present the perfect picture with imposed backgrounds.

It was one of the most interesting and exciting evenings and very much appreciated by the members and the sponsors Mark Mobility Centre of Holland on Sea.
                                                            Audrey Owens

                                                                Press Officer

Anything presented by `Clacton Arts and Lits` is fine by me-I know well,beforehand, that the high standard achieved in all areas will be preserved ,but, occasionally, there is something truly special,and that was just one of those times when Tim Kliphuis and his talented, ellow musicians came to town. “I’m from Holland”-he cheerily quipped -well ,so am I (just a minute difference of location!) so we immediately had something in common!  To see/hear musicians of this quality on a cold winter Monday evening in Clacton is absolutely extraordinary! We were treated to a concert, the likes of which you could not better anywhere in the world (and I say that with a certain amount of knowledge,`cos this girl is much travelled!) I have seen Len Skeate with other `outfits`, and he proved yet again,why he is amongst the handful of top bass players. Dave Newton-this fella is amazing-he `eats and breathes music`,and his interpretations are always thrilling. The guitarist I had not seen before, but his dexterity was breathtaking-and Tim is a worthy successor to the great Stefan Grapelli-he certainly could make that fiddle `talk.`(and his English spoken word wasn`t that bad,either!) His beautiful arrangements of music of all genres painted lovely images and when he confessed it was all improvised,it made it all the more remarkable. Another wonderful evening, thank you to Lesley Barlow for sponsoring it and the `team` for yet again astounding us for another evening of pure magic.

 Jennifer Kersey.

Tom Hart Dyke – By Jennifer Kersey 

`Was he for real-or was this some surrealistic dream we were all participating in?`
I refer to the presentation given by Tom Hart Dyke.
Right from the outset when he enthusiastically endorsed this unknown mentor and we anxiously awaited to find out who it was-the tension was breathtaking-then, with a rousing chant he exposed her as his 96 year old `granny` who had given him some rather insignificant gardening aid for his third birthday!
`Wow, this was some orator`-even though I(as did others) struggled to keep up with the incessant flow of words-no wonder his kidnappers somewhere in the jungle location of Panama were glad to get rid of him-he turned the tables on them and literally talked them senseless (then having the sheer cheek to return and ask them for a map,`cos he was lost!)
Stopping only briefly to invite us to join in the `granny` chant, after the interval (we all needed this break!) he went on to describe how, at the point of threatened death by his kidnappers, whilst his also condemned friend, in the next hut was praying, he was designing a `world` garden(for his domicile back in sleepy Kent)he had in mind,where trees and shrubs would be representative of their native land!
`Phew`,I cannot think what I would have been doing-perhaps checking my make up to ensure that,if I was to be shot,at least I looked presentable-most definitely NOT making notes in an old school scrapbook!?
The only thing in the evening that slightly spoilt it for me, was the occasional use of that disgusting Americanism -`Guy`(many have surrendered to this constant erosion of our beautiful language(with this and other sayings) and it has now become an appendage for people of BOTH sexes-let anyone even dare to call me a guy and I do assure you, they will be sorry!) -particularly when he referred to God as `the Guy up above.`
However, I can forgive him, looking at the `bigger picture`-it was a most entertaining evening, and if you, like me, do not know anything about horticultural matters, you were no doubt caught up in the sheer vitality of this speaker, and how he lovingly spoke with genuine adoration,of the images in his presentation.
What a wonderful evening-it made up for the fact I could not attend last week because of transport problems.
Well done again to all concerned.

Jennifer Kersey

The Arts and Literary Society were treated to an evening of horticultural madness when a thoroughly enthusiastic and garrulous young man, Tom Hart Dyke, regaled the story of his life in plants.   It started with his grandmother giving him seeds to plant at the age 3 at his home in Lullingstone Castle and the gift of a greenhouse when he was 13.  He progressed to travelling the world seeking orchids and other specimens.  Of course, the major part of his story concerned his capture and kidnap in the Darien Gap.   His account of these months was both harrowing and amusing but the very real terror was still apparent when he spoke about it.

Later on he showed us pictures of his wonderful and incredible world garden which he has created at Lullingstone Castle.   This garden was designed when in captivity during the few hours left before he was to be executed.  Fortunately, this did not happen and so this wonderful garden is there for anyone to see.   The plants and trees are placed in the country of their origin and are growing magnificently despite the eccentricities of the English climate, although some have to be dug up and put in glasshouses during the winter and replanted in the Spring.

This was a very different evening and thoroughly enjoyed by the audience and the sponsors Normal and Neill (Optometrists) of Clacton on Sea.

                                                            Audrey Owens

                                                                Press Officer