Clacton & North East Essex Arts & Literary Society - 2009 2010 season

Review / Comments on Monday Nights Performance

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

22nd February 2010 Television presenter, photographer, traveller and wildlife expert Chris Packham

 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

15th February 2010 Sir Jonathan Miller, CBE

The Arts and Literary Society spent an evening in the company of Sir Jonathon Miller, CBE which proved to be an extremely interesting one.   The very relaxed and articulate Sir Jonathon took us through his life history explaining how he came to make the various choices in his career.  It started with his father becoming a doctor in the first World War and his mother writing novels from a young age.   His father had been interested in shell shock victims and this had led Sir Jonathon to take up medicine as his life work.   After qualifying in 1959, he was asked to join in a show at the Edinburgh Festival with other Oxbridge ex students - the result Beyond the Fringe.   Following the massive success of this show, he never looked back and began to direct films, other shows and then, opera.

Sir Jonathon explained how he changed the way in which many operas were presented, moving some into the modern times with especial mention of the way he changed Cosi Fan Tutti.   He spoke at great length about his work in the media but wondered if the changes in the way neurology is perceived now might have kept him in medicine.

The evening was sponsored by GCS Alarms of Clacton-on-Sea . 
  Audrey Owens Press Officer

8th February 2010 Big Band Singer Matthew Ford

An evening of musical nostalgia greeted the Arts and Literary Society at its 13th presentation when Matthew Ford and his Band gave us ‘A tribute to the Swing Legends’. The nine piece band of outstanding musicians, many of whom had appeared with Jim Wilson at the unforgettable MGM promenade concert last year, accompanied Matthew as he reminded us of the legendary performers such as Matt Monro, Tony Bennett and Dean Martin. The music was lively and very reminiscent of the big band era with which most of us had grown up. The audience loved every minute of the performance and clapped and cheered for more, so Matthew and his band obliged with a truly epic rendering of Mack the Knife.

The evening was sponsored by Michael and Julie Payne.

Audrey Owens Press Officer

1st February 2010 The Tim Kliphuis Quartet.

‘The Art of Improvisation’ - Tim Kliphaus Quartet

The Society's 12th Presentation last Monday evening was entitled 'The Art of Improvisation', and it certainly lived up to its title. The Tim Kliphuis Quartet showcased a virtuoso performance comprising an amalgam of Jazz Classics from such maestros as Duke Ellington & Stefan Grappelli, interspersed with rather unusual upbeat arrangements of some classical pieces from  Schuman, Dvorak, Grieg and Richard Strauss. In addition to Tim Kliphuis the quartet is composed of three other leading jazz musicians - Dave Newton on piano, Len Skeat on bass, and Colin Oxley on Guitar.

 Members were treated to stunning improvised performances from each member of the quartet and they demonstrated their approval very audibly. Tim Kliphuis must rank as one of the world's finest Jazz Violinists and he  Classical Music. It was perhaps, the compositions originally written in this upbeat tempo that were more successful. Thus, the performance of Grappelli’s composition ‘La Chanson de Rue’, which featured Liphuis on violin and Dave Newton on piano, was played superbly highlighting the delicate chord structure of this piece. Delicacy gave way to a rousing cacophony of sound in Edgar Sampson’s composition ‘Stompin’ at the Savoy’. This was a musical tour de force in which each member of the quartet used their instrument - be it guitar, bass, piano or violin, to interpret and accentuate this jazz classic. This caused a non jazz aficionado like me to tap my feet!

The final item was a haunting rendition of ‘Misty’ the jazz standard written by Erroll Garner and which followed the traditional thirty two bar format. The performance was delicate in the subtle highlighting of this haunting melody.  This was the quartet’s curtain call which was the culmination to a superb evening,  highlighting four very talented musicians. The self deprecating style of Tim Kliphuis’s introductions to the programme items enabled a varied performance to be enjoyed to the full. Another presentation well worth braving the chilly winter weather!
 

The evening was sponsored by Leslie Barlow, Clacton.

Robert Pearce

Locum Press Officer

‘Blood, Sweat & Snakebites’ with Mark O’Shea

Monday evening’s presentation witnessed the return, after some 17 years, of Mark O’Shea the well-known and respected Field Herpetologist. Unlike his previous visit Mike was unable to bring any specimens with him due to the difficult constraints that legislation now places upon the movement of dangerous animals. However, this did not detract at all from a very enjoyable evening.

Through the media of a sophisticated audio visual presentation members were presented with an overview of Mark’s career which had evolved from his interest in keeping a Grass Snake as a young boy of 7. Various research projects and involvement with the West Midlands Safari Park (to whom he donated his collection of snakes) were followed by several forays into the sphere of Natural History films centred on Reptiles, and in particular his study of venomous snakes.

It was as a result of his work for the BBC and the Discovery Channel that Mark was approached to become involved in a project that would occupy some five years of his career. The project was the making of “O’Shea’s Big Adventure” which encompassed reptilian subjects across the globe. Mike outlined in the first half of the evening the anatomy of making such a series and how on some occasions some projects never came to fruition due to political reasons or purely because the particular specimen they were seeking to film was impossible to track down.

The second part of the evening focused on extracts of various ‘pieces to camera’ that Mark did and which linked the various sequences of his series together. The anecdotal nature of his presentation was very enjoyable and his interest and broad scientific knowledge in Reptiles and Amphibians was easily ascertained from the manner in which he delivered his talk.

This was a very successful and enjoyable evening for the large numbers of members present. It successfully married entertainment and the imparting of information in a very fluid manner. It was evident that Mark was very passionate about his field of expertise, but he did not allow himself to become bogged down in nomenclature or over description. Presentations such as this only serve to underline the ethos of the society.

The evening was sponsored by Tendring Reuse & Employment Enterprise.

Robert Pearce

18th January 2010 Tom Hart Dyke

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

Winter in Majorca - By Audrey Owens 1^st December 2009 - 5:38am 

 

Chaconne Brass - By Audrey Owens 24^th November 2009 - 1:34am 

The sixth presentation at the Arts and Literary Society was made by Chaconne Brass, four men and a girl, who performed on various brass instruments from the tuba to the trombone. Emily White also played the sackbut, which is a 16th century version of the trombone.

The programme consisted of a variety of different types of music, some especially composed by members of the quintet. The musicians were extremely accomplished and very clever. However, the type of music played was not to the taste of all the audience although some thought it wonderful, others felt it to be somewhat discordant. Everyone agreed that the final items from Handel’s Water Music played on kettles and watering cans to the beautiful Christmas medley showed the true brilliance of this group in harmonies which all could understand.

The evening was sponsored by the West Cliff Theatre, Clacton-on-Sea.

 

 

 

Eric Knowles - By Audrey Owens 17^th November 2009 - 1:27am 

A packed house greeted the famous Eric Knowles as he made the fifth presentation at the Arts and Literary Society Eric, who was totally irreverent throughout the evening, gave us a potted history of his life from his childhood in Nelson, with a father who must be believed whatever his explanation, to his work at Bonhams and the varied antiques programmes on television. The lecture was illustrated with pictures of his home town and, of course, the many antiques he had seen and handled throughout his life. The non-stop talking, with many outlandish jokes, rocked the audience with incessant laughter together with some oohs when shown a slide of an exquisite sapphire and diamond pendant which sold for £385,000. Eric had examined various antiques brought in by members and gave his valuations during the show.

This was a thoroughly fascinating evening given by a superb showman who received the rapturous applause he richly deserved.

The evening was sponsored by Thompson, Smith and Puxon, Solicitors of Clacton-on-Sea.

 

 

Simon Weston - By Anthea D'ancey  17^th November 2009 - 1:25am 

We were delighted to have Simon Weston O.B.E. for our third presentation. He entertained us all talking about his time with the Welsh Guards. He is well known for his struggles to overcome his terrible injuries in the Falkland Islands in 1982.

We spent time in the company of a hero who won over the hearts and minds with his irrepressible humour, infectious enthusiasm and engaging personality.

We all admired how he has rebuilt his life and now he is a tireless worker for charity and a wonderful example to people everywhere.

The evening was sponsored by the Coronation Toyota Garage, Kirby Cross, Frinton-on-Sea.

 

 

 

Simon Weston - By Jennifer Kersey 8^th November 2009 - 3:06am 

I have purposely waited until this special day to share my comments about the Simon Weston programme with you.
It was a very poignant evening,but a time filled with humour and general warmth shown not only for the collegues he lost,lived and fought with,but those human beings who were,in this instance, the foe.
He is living proof of the true depth of the human condition in both spirit and physical form-a person who has come through many adverse situations in his life that have,in some strange sort of way,enriched him.
War,in itself,can never really solve anything-think of the fights in the school playground,where the vanquished crept away,probably secretly vowing to avenge at some later period-that is how wars start,that is true on he `world stage`,and all conflicts start because of our fellow human being having maybe different thoughts,aspirations,to our own and when we,he/she resolves them in a physical way.
Unfortunately,war is sometimes the only final solution.
Simon showed us all that we must endeavour to resolve our issues in a more practical and lasting way.
His programme was filled with pathos and humour-yes,in the depths of despair,sometimes it is only humour that keeps us going.
Remembrance day is a time when we can all reflect on our negative faults and try to be better people-striving to resolve our own issues without violence,respecting the other person`s point of view,even if you do not agree with it.
So,for all those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in any conflict, Simon is a true representative of courage and how we all should be.
A truly beautiful evening that will live in my memory always.
Once again,thanks to all concerned.

 

 

 

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