Other Events Reviews
CHELMORTON FESTIVAL - Chelmorton Village Festival
Once in a while it is refreshing to escape from the town and remind ourselves that we are surrounded by beautiful and historic Derbyshire villages.
Chelmorton is one such and probably only 10 minutes’ drive from Buxton. Its Village Festival runs until Sunday 19th and boasts a number of events including a food tasting and recipe book launch (Monday 6pm), a crime-writing panel and book signing (Tuesday 4.30pm), a murder mystery meal (Tues 7.30pm) and for Saturday 18th a whole day of stalls, music, sports, archery, mini beer festival and more.
But my own quiet visit was on Monday lunchtime with time to appreciate the romantic village church with its gravestones disappearing up the hillside, an art, craft and photography exhibition in the institute and a host of inventive and intricate scarecrows around the village. The institute’s exhibition and sale was particularly strong on patchworks and embroidery with Debbie Race’s sunflower quilt and Irene Otty’s willow pattern being two of my favourites. There was a real variety of work though. Paintings by Adam Race, who has Down’s Syndrome, were impressive and original, Jodie Townsend’s pottery included a cut-open pepper and a ceramic hamburger, and Harry Mayo had contributed some of his flawless industrial illustrations. All ages were represented with one stand featuring works by one entire family.
Wending through the village - passing assorted scarecrows including a robber climbing out of a window with copper waiting in the garden, Mr McGregor plus rabbit, and a piratical scarecrow that was actually a crow – we came to the church where an unflashy but comprehensive historical exhibition was full of interest. A detailed timeline told us about the village from 8000 BC onwards, old photos brought back memories of village life decades back and a war memorial to Private Horace Heintz reminded us how he must have been held in high regard to have received such recognition at the time given that his father was German. I also enjoyed reading Harry Swindell’s Ballad of Chelmorton Docks – “Chelmorton village is far from the sea/ But that’s where we all live, my old friends and me...” The Docks in case you are wondering is the name given to the lower part of the village.
It crossed my mind that this was a festival by the village for the village, but I think it is possible for it to be both that and also a welcoming spot for outsiders to visit and explore. Take your pick as to whether you fancy a leisurely stroll doing the village Treasure Hunt and seeing the scarecrows and exhibits, or whether you want to make a day of it on Saturday or take part in any of the lively evening events – there is even a pig roast and disco on Saturday. See www.chelmortonvillage.org.uk for details or look for Chelmorton Festival on facebook or on twitter @chellyfest.
Stephanie Billen
AN EVENING OF CLOSE UP AND STAGE MAGIC - High Peak Magic Society
Excitedly, I joined the sell-out audience at the Palace Hotel and sat alongside a number of budding-magicians on table 7 for an evening of close-up magic. A palpable buzz grew louder as the anticipation increased. We were convinced we would spot the scams. We were soon to get within touching distance of the trickery and figure it all out!
Or so we thought. Not the getting up-close, but the figuring out. We were baffled from the start as the first of eight members of the High Peak Magic Society visited our table with dextrous skills a-plenty using a variety of different routines, each well chosen to complement the personality of the magician.
Although there were familiar slick rope routines and razor-sharp sleight-of-hand card tricks, more unusual props like rubber bands and dining room implements were cunningly used. We saw bent forks and even one bent 50 pence piece.
Compere Alan introduced the round-robin of fast-fingered performers as they spun around the room amazing every careful table observer, each trick at the end of the night as smooth and professionally delivered as the first. Shuffled in amongst the pack of Neil, Danny, Ian, Tony, Bernie and Ollie were Chris, the 2012 British Close-up Champion and the esoteric Mystic Monk.
So, did table 7 figure out any of the tricks hear you ask? Absolutely not! And I was stunned after correctly choosing a card from an invisible pack of cards that were shuffled by someone else before being transmogrified into a real card from a real pack. Weird, but fascinatingly entertaining.
This is truly a show not to blink and miss out on. Great fun from the masters of misdirection.
David Carlisle
THE SPRINGS STORY SHOP AND BOOK SWAP - The Springs
What a nice and simple idea. In the corner of the Sprngs Shopping Centre is an oasis from the hurley-burley of Carnival day: a bookcase and a couple of comfy chairs. You can avail yourself of the chairs, or you can take along an unwanted book and swap it for one of those on the shelves. I took along Standing In Another Man’s Grave by Ian Rankin (a thumping good read) and exchanged it for James Corden’s autobiography. Not sure if the latter will be to my tastes but, hey, if I don’t I can always swap it again! It’s there all week.
Robbie Carnegie
VINTAGE CAFE,SWAP FILMS, PHOTOS & MEMORIES FOR CAKE - Past Lives Project
A late edition to the Fringe programme, this one-off café is actually part of something much bigger, an arts and heritage project touring eight regions in the Midlands between 2014 and 2016. Funded by Arts Council England & Heritage Lottery Fund, its laudable mission is to digitise people’s amateur cine film and photos with a view to creating an online archive and a new film that celebrates our social history, to be screened with live music - an entry in next year's Fringe perhaps?
As indicated in the title, today’s café involved a straightforward swap with even memories of life in Buxton becoming currency with which to procure a cup of tea and a delicious cake. With embroidered tablecloths, yellow roses in silver teapots and old-fashioned tea cups and saucers, this was the poshest of pop-up cafes but perfectly friendly and already a hit with locals, over 20 people having tea there when I called in.
A large screen showed a short film about Derbyshire including scenes from Ambergate Gasworks in 1966, Matlock Bath in 1958 and Ashbourne Show in 1935 with men in cloth caps accompanying frisky shire horses. Tony from Past Lives came to talk to us about the importance not just of preserving cine film, but people’s lives. Even footage of children playing in 1970s’ gardens was interesting he said – look at their flared trousers and the absence of mobile phones. Alongside paraphernalia relating to past film-recording techniques, some fascinating black and white stills were displayed including the Beatles at the Octagon in 1963, a little girl sitting on top of a shell store in Harpur Hill in 1940, Buxton’s last-remaining blacksmiths in 1959, and World War One soldiers parading in front of the Pavilion Gardens.
All that remained for us to do was a little business – I offered three 1980s’ Fringe photographs for scanning. We left with a promise of more from the Past Lives Project in the town including the exhibition Through Your Eyes at Buxton Museum from November 14. For more details about this valuable initiative as a whole see pastlivesproject.com or email info@pastlivesproject.com
Stephanie Billen