What a weekend for arts (starting Saturday, June 20). The contemporary dance troupe Task Force, led by Stephan Koplowitz, begin stepping their way around the historic South Devon with their Liquid Landscapes tour. Over on arts+culture there’s a run down of the venues, plus a diary of South Devon artist Helen Snell‘s involvement with the Mayflower Steps performance. But that’s not all

At the CCANW, Hadlon Forest there’s the Skylines Festival Day today (June 20). Check out arts+culture for more. And there are animated workshops as part of Exeter Festival and in association with Animated Exeter, tomorrow (Sunday, June 21). Check out D+CFilm for more.

Also on D+CFilm, there’s a Quails music video (by filmmaker Darren Jones) to celebrate the Teignmouth band’s Turkish Tour.

(and if you’re heading north – that’s North Devon, remember North Devon Festival’s Art Trek. Arts+Culture has some behind-the-scenes insights from Stella Levy as she organises the last few days up to the event).

posted by Cptn

(image: the Primitive Hut – part of Skylines at the CCANW)

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Artists are being sought to create ‘an impressive landmark to enhance and promote the new Brixham Fish Quay redevelopment’.

If you’re interested in gaining a commission for the new public art, you should register your interest by emailing kei...@torbay.gov.uk, including details of previous work, by Wednesday, July 1.

The shortlisted applications will then be asked to put together a presentation to a steering group on Thursday, July 9, about their past work and how they’d approach this new project.

If you want to get a quick recce, the work will be on the south western wall of a new employment building next to the South West Coast Path, from Oxen Cover car park ot the inner harbour.

You’ve got until August 2010 for the whole project to be finished.

• For more, including quotes from Torbay’s deputy mayor and Brixham 21 member, visit the arts+culture site.
posted by Cptn

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Devon Eccentric Colin Shaddick (no it’s official – he came third in this year’s competition), dropped us a poetic line to explain a bit about the origins of his award-winning eccentricity. You could get more of an insight at the Salon del Eccentrica, an Eccentric evening at the Broomhill Art Hotel, Barnstaple on Thursday, June 18 at 7.30pm.

Eccentric! Who, Me?

Maybe this is how it all started?

Imagined kazoo solo.
One hooded and very blue day
when I was at a most sensitive stage,
I was struggling
to wring some temperate words

from the chilly language

that shot to-and-fro,

above my rattling head.

I decided to try out

a few investigational expressions of my own.

I needed to make my mark:

draw a line in the sand.

I waited for a fleeting lull

in the daily hubbub

that continually clanged

from the pots and pans

in the steamy kitchen.

I made my entrance

and Mother turned towards me,

her arms now motionless

and her reddened elbows quivered

just above the popping soapsuds

and waited for the off.

I smiled, and determined to show off my verbal skills,

began my tirade…

They were not well-received words.

I was not allowed to continue with my experiment.

My father hurriedly interjected

and promised he would give me a thick ear…

in a minute.

I had no memory of him giving me anything, before.

I was totally flabbergasted

when he said he’d give me something -

and so speedily too.

I so wanted him to give me something.

I then pictured myself with one thick ear…

and decided it would look quite daft.

I told him that I thought it would look daft,

but he took no notice

and he up and gave me one anyway.

But it wasn’t within the minute!

No.

He said he’d give me one…

in a minute.

It took much longer than a minute.

By the time my thick ear arrived,

a good twenty minutes or so had passed!

Can incidents like the one I’ve just described above,

have a lasting affect on a person’s life?

Time moved on and I slipped inaudibly along with it…

Then, one day it happened –

I think I said something like,

Eccentric…Eccentric!

Who, me?

I’d never given much thought to eccentricity, really…

that is until they said I was eccentric.

They, were the British Broadcasting Corporation.

An eccentric was the last thing I’d contemplated being.

After all, as far as I was concerned

it wasn’t me who was heading in the wrong direction!

Vivid pictures then began to flow through my mind:

eccentrics as mad, frizzy-haired inventors,

or mumbling white-coated professors

ensconced in leaded-light, oak-panelled lodgings …

Stereotype images like that.

So, how did I get into this situation?
I vividly remember my dad treating me like an outsider,
but my mum often said she thought I was an artist

and that poetry was the most noble art.

So, when I left school and flew the uncomfortable nest,

I knuckled-down and made a new start.

I bought myself a Moleskine notebook… in black.

The sort that all the best poets

painters and composers are said to use.

It had an elastic band to hold it tightly shut…

(for when I wasn’t ready for the muse.)

With tried and tested equipment like that

how on earth could any decent publisher refuse?

But I’d get this recurring dream.
“Oh,” I’d be saying out loud.
“If I held the post of ‘Chair of Professor of Poetry’

at a famous old university,

I’d kiss goodbye to adversity.”

I’d be repeating this phrase over and over.

But, I’d be as happy as old Larry.

What a great way

to spend each and every busy-buzzing day.

I’d just tarry… there,

reading piles of good books, (and my guitar mags)

and every so often, quietly gaze down

from my dusty old window

at the pigeons pecking and puffing themselves up

on a perfectly manicured lawn,

in the quaint and quiet quadrangle.

I’d chat to the poetry students

in a fatherly-like way.

(They have scant knowledge

about anything in the real world,

you know.)

“This is the way poetry’s done,”

I would say to each one,

then show them a selection of

my very popular

self-published pamphlets.

They would probably pipe-up and say,

“Caw that’s brilliant, that is, sir.”

Then I’d rock back on my heels

and say to them: “Off you go then.

Order yourselves some copies from Mr Jenkins,

in the lovely old library downstairs,

and give ’em a good read.

But, no cheating though.

Make up some of your own stuff.”

They would then say,

“Oh, sir, pleeease!”

Then I’d relent and say:

“Well, go on then,

but change the words about a bit.”

I’d tap out my pipe on the pitted stone window ledge

and chuckle to myself, muttering quietly:

“Huh, bloody kids, who’d ’ave ’em?”

Then I’d sing a little song.
Who drew

the very thin line

between sanity and madness? (X3)

Who drew,
who… drew… it?

‘Aren’t all eccentrics bonkers, though,

and think of nothing other than their pet subjects,

and even if they attempted to repair the most simple of things

they’d turn out to be bodgings?

‘Their heads are in the clouds.’

That’s what people say.

Then again,

I do tend to engage my brain before my mouth

and some people have to wait ages

to get an answer.

Sometimes it can be as long as…

say, a goose would take

to complete its hazardous journey south.

I don’t always mean to be rude,

but you should understand

that I like a lot of solitude.

It’s not that I’m particularly shy,

it’s just because…that’s why.

‘An eccentric slice of a British way of life’,

that’s how I was described…

and all because I wrote Japanese-type verse

called haiku.

They thought it rather strange that I sometimes compose

when I’m riding on my baiku.

They wanted me on Radio 4.

I was to talk to Clare Balding about my poetic style,

and while I was explaining it, she would interject a bit.

It was something new for their programme, Ramblings.

Ramblings is a broadcast where everything depends

on supposedly interesting folk and their amblings.

That’s how the final die was cast.

Normality, for me, had breathed its last.

I was now officially ‘Eccentric’

and the BBC had nailed me to their mast.

Whatever happens in the future

as a result of this whirl of eccentricity…

will be secondary.

But that crowning moment

at the ‘Eccentric Club’ will always remain

with me and be the best,

because it’s where I got my title:

‘The Great British Eccentric 2009.’

I’d passed their test.

It now gives me the opportunity

to get so many dark secrets off my chest.
And did you know that…

If you say the word

kazoo, backwards,

it reads, oozak?

It then sounds more

like a question:

‘Oozak?’

That’s probably why

they never called

it that.

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You know how it is when all the cupboards are bare, and you’ve got so many projects you want to pursue but for a little lolly (that’s money to you). We know that feeling only too well. Well, here’s some funding opportunities that have come across our desk

Funding Stuff
Global Music Company supporting music education and encouragement
The aim of this foundation, set up by EMI records, is to support projects that encourage education, in particular for young people, in all aspects of music. Bursary (£5000) and general awards up to £2,500. www.musicsoundfoundation.com

Heritage Lottery funds: Young Roots; Townscape Heritage initiative; Your Heritage. www.hlf.org.uk

Arts Council – Grants for Arts. Activities that benefit people or that help artists and art organisations to carry out their own work. Minimum grant is likely to be £200 and the largest in the region £200,000. www.artscouncil.org.uk

Funding for skate park projects
Gravity Engineering Ltd, a manufacturer of concrete and steel skate parks, is looking to sponsor new skate park projects with donations towards funding of up to £5,000 per project: http://www.gravityparks.co.uk/

Free Website Offer for Your Partnership or Community Group
The Devon Towns Forum is offering all of Devon’s Community Partnerships and Community Groups the chance to apply for a free Website and Training Package worth over £600: info@devontownsforum.org.uk

The Co-operative Community Fund
Community groups, voluntary groups, self-help groups, community charities or local branches of national charities are eligible to apply for grants of between £100 and £2,000. www.co-operative.coop/membership/Community-Fund/

South West Loans Fund
The South West Regional Development Agency (RDA) has announced the launch of a new £10m South West Loans Fund which is now available to help growth-oriented business with viable business plans, as part of the drive for economic recovery. www.businesslink.gov.uk/southwest

Greater Dartmoor LEAF
Greater Dartmoor LEAF is a new publicly funded organisation which has been set up to identify and fund environmental and innovative projects and businesses which will increase the future prosperity of the wider community, within the Greater Dartmoor area of Devon. www.greaterdartmoorLEAF.org.uk

The Future Jobs Fund
The Future Jobs Fund is a new initiative, which will help to generate jobs for those in greatest need, particularly young people, and also in areas of high unemployment. This aims to create 150,000 jobs providing real help for young people and who face significant disadvantages in the labour market. http://www.dwp.gov.uk/futurejobsfund

The Big Lottery Fund and Channel 4s’ The Secret Millionaire have teamed up to give viewers a chance to access funding worth £1 million in grants of between £300 and £10,000. http://secretmillionaire.channel4.com/fund_info.shtml

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Totnes, you know the constituency of everyone’s favourite mansion-owning MP, Anthony Steen, will be the setting a protest against the BNP’s Euro Election gains today (June 13).

There is no rise in the BNP, they have the same share of the bigoted and ignorant vote they have ever had.

Doesn’t mean we should ever be complacent in exposing and opposing the ‘BNP or any organisation which promotes racial, sexual orientation or religious intolerance’, as they say in the letter they want people to sign.

The problem is the rise of antipathy towards politicians – the active opting out and not voting that took place during the elections.

The Totnes MP was a big part of that pre-election atmosphere of political dislocation with his expenses claims, his offer to pay back 10 per cent and his assertion that the way he spent public money was nothing to do with anyone but him, what with us all being jealous of his lifestyle.

Sure, poor old Anthony Steen wasn’t the only MP caught out, and at least he wasn’t ‘flipping’ – the act of switching a nominated second home to maximise financial benefits. Steeny-boy was just chancing his arm when he supposed protecting his trees from rabbits in Totnes was fundamental in his representing the Totnes people in Parliament.

Totnes town councillor and former Totnes mayor David Horsburgh, told thisissouthdevon: “We must take a stand against the BNP and any form of racism.

“If not, we could sleepwalk into a Nazi-style state, as happened in Germany in the 1930s. We must take action, and take it now.”

We would add to ensure people are engaged in the political process, at least the letter they are sending to the ‘local press and media’ and all the councils will urge support of more affordable housing, improvements to schools, employment initiatives, ‘all of which reduce the climate that breeds ugly, divided communities and which give a security instead,’

Let’s wait and see what’s in store from the new Conservative-led county council on June 25 when they officially announce what they’ll be up to.

Meanwhile, the town council has a vacancy.

The protest takes place in the town between 10am and noon.

posted by Cptn

• We’re pulling together some questions for new Totnes Rural County Councillor Paula Black from the Green Party. If you’d like to join in, pop on over the People’s Republic of South Devon crowd sourcing site to offer your views.

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On a cool evening in a seaside town you can often do with a woolly jumper. Although that’s probably not what David Evans had in mind when he and his family saw a wallaby cavorting around a field in Teignmouth.

He told the BBC: “We went out and, sure enough, wandering around in a field until it got dark there was this wallaby.”

Years ago there were wallaby’s at the near by Holcombe, according to David.

But psst, the last picture is of some kind of wild cat, which are a more common sight hereabouts.

posted by Cptn

(image: a wallaby, not the wallaby)

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A few things over on D+CFilm have caught our eye this week, not least South West Screen’s notion that naming something after a Devon myth alienates people from up-country.

Exeter filmmaker Ashley Thorpe has funding for the latest in his Penny Dreadful series The Hairy Hands from the regional champion (that’s a reference to South West Screen, by the way), but they want to change the title to something, well, a little less Devon.

“I think they’re missing the point and the source of the appeal,” says writer, director and independent filmmaker of the year award winner, who’s recently had his films shown at Cannes, Ashley.

We say it sounds like the thin edge of the culturally homogenized wedge. Have your say over on D+CFilm.

Also on the site is a behind the scenes of the latest Ashley Wing film Robbing Peter, a darkly humorous tale from what we can gather (and a bit of a who’s who in the South Devon filmmaking scene).

Other stories include the announcement of a screenwriter talk at the Exeter Phoenix and a documentary filmmaking course as part of the Dartmoor Arts Summer School.

Got films or film stories, get in touch with D+CFilm on info@devon-cornwall-film.co.uk

posted by Cptn

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Any changes in energy efficiency and affordable housing levels at a development at Sherford, the planned new community between Plymouth and Brixton, has been condemned by South Hams Friends of the Earth.

South Hams Friends of the Earth (SHFoE) cites a letter from developers Redtree, which says: “It is inevitable that the affordable housing delivery at Sherford, like many other aspects of the planning agreement, will be reduced from the level presented to the committee in April 2008.”

(SHFoE) says the level of affordable housing has not yet been agreed between the developers and the council, but both are agreed that it will be cut from the 36 per cent approved in 2008 (itself a reduction on the 50 per cent contained within the council’s own policy: the Area Action Plan for Sherford)

And the energy efficiency programme has been moved back in time.

Spokesman for SHFoE Steve Melia told the PRSD: “We believe the council should stand firm. A delay would be better than environmentally damaging concessions.

“Any public subsidy for building during the recession should be concentrated on brownfield sites within the cities. Big greenfield developments like Sherford should be shelved until the market improves.”

The deadline for comments on the revised application to South Hams District Council is June 25.
posted by Cptn

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‘Whoever comes are the right people’ is the first principle of Open Space Technology, which is the technique the Exeter Northcott will use to inspire a theatrical revolution in the South West.

Apparently Open Space Technology (which sounds like standing around chatting) was pioneered in the UK by Improbable Theatre.

“Our vision is to have every corner of the building buzzing with conversations, heated debate and quiet coffees about what theatre is and what it can be here in Exeter and across the South West,” says the Northcott.

“Anyone can come and start or join a discussion and if you’ve had enough, you can go and join another one or start one of your own. We aim to ask questions, slay a few demons, share our inspirations and come up with a few ideas to take theatre forward.”

This redefining of South West theatre takes place on Saturday, June 13 between 10am-6pm and Sunday, June 14, 10am-2pm.

And unless you’re thinking the right people are those who pay (a weekend ticket is £20/£10), lunch on Saturday is included in the ticket price, free refreshments are available all day and all ticket holders receive a full printed report of the discussions that take place on the first day, so don’t be so cynical and get using that open space!

posted by Cptn

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The Teign Reach branch of Plough & Share Credit Union is looking to gain more members and has improved its accessibility with the addition of Teignbridge Council’s Forde House headquarters as place to make payments to savings and loans accounts.

The new service at the council offices was launched this month, but the facility doesn’t include withdrawals.

Teign Reach has been operating for two years, offering people living or working in Teignbridge the opportunity to access low cost savings and loans at local venues, such as libraries, community groups and doctors surgeries, even if they’ve had financial difficulties in the past.

It has a 12 per cent interest rate for loans, and it’s fully regulated, supported by the Teignbridge Council and other local organisations.

Teignbridge Council is planning a £5,000 grant to the credit union, following recommendations made by the council’s independent Credit Crunch Commission last year, and approved during the 2009 budget process.

Teign Reach is now hoping to raise awareness of the credit union and encourage more local people to join.

posted by Cptn

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“The voters have spoken quite convincingly!” says Anne Marie Morris, the Conservative Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Newton Abbot on her blog. “Devon was a landslide in favour of the Conservative Party – and locally there was a strong vote for change. Across the country as a whole the Conservative vote share was 15 percentage points higher than Labour – a nine per cent swing.”

And as the dust settled, leading Tory South West Euro MP was also magnanimous in victory.

“I’m delighted to have seen the Conservatives do better than five years ago, gaining an additional seat, and look forward to welcoming both Julie Girling and Ashley Fox to the European Parliament,” Giles Chichester told the PRSD.

“I would also like to offer my congratulations to UKIP on retaining their two seats and I would have liked to congratulate Graham Watson on retaining his Lib Dem seat, had he been present at the declaration in Poole. It is clear that an overwhelming majority of people in the South West support parties that demand a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty so Gordon Brown must be rueing the day he decided to renege on his manifesto pledge. What we want now is for him to make up for it by holding a General Election immediately.”

posted by Cptn

• Labour in turmoil and Conservative gains, but with the county turning to Tory control and still just the one MEP returned, what of the Lib Dems? Comment below

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With all the inside gen on what’s been going down at PRSD towers, plus a little heads-up on one of our (not too secret) secret additions of offers and giveaways on the site, the latest newsletter has a unique insight into the current PRSD developments

Exciting much!?

Well, we think so, so we’ve decided that if you sign up for the newsletter and email info@peoplesrepublicofsouthdevon.co.uk, we’ll send you the link to the newsletter you missed. Now, you can’t say fairer than that.

All that and you can still follow us on Twitter; Facebook; MySpace; Friendfeed and via RSS

And remember, sign up to the newsletter

posted by Cptn

(image: an old email newsletter)

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