Beside the See Side: October 2012

Thursday, 25 October 2012

Punch & Judy and Piggery Jokery at the Canterbury Festival

There was a colourful start to the Canterbury Festival on 13th October with a Parade which celebrated 350 Years of Mr Punch. The parade was led by huge Punch and Judy characters and featured many other East Kent Giants as well as bands and other performers. In addition to the parade there were also pop up Punch & Judy stands and theatricalities from the Hand to Mouth Theatre Group with their Piggery Jokery show.

Canterbury is one of my favourite cities. I have many fond memories of studying art history at Kent University and it was great to visit Canterbury again. However, as well as catching some interesting performances whilst back in Kent I also caught the flu! :-( Which is why this blog is a tad late. Still, just sorting the photographs from this exuberant day has made me feel a bit brighter :-)

The happy family

The Festival Parade marches through Canterbury High Street

Mr Punch poses for the camera

Hand to Mouth Theatre

The Green Man

The Piggery Jokery Show

Described as “A whimsical perambulation through the seasons, touching on the circular nature of time, as told by the Green Man and his hurdy-gurdy playing Droning Crone and their troupe of rag-bag characters”.

Waiting for Punch to take to the stage

Showtime

For more information about the 350 years of Punch celebrations: http://www.thebiggrin350.com/Welcome.html

For further details about the Hand to Mouth Theatre Group: http://www.handtomouth.co.uk/

To see my previous blog about the 350 year Mr Punch celebrations at Covent Garden: http://besidetheseeside.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/happy-350th-birthday-mr-punch.html

Thank you for visiting my blog

Samantha x

Beside the See Side

Sunday, 7 October 2012

A Time Capsule from Rochester

I have just finalised plans for another short escape from London to Kent this week and I can’t wait! For a start there are Punch & Judy Celebrations taking place in Canterbury on Saturday which I’m really looking forward to! I shall obviously be taking my beloved camera with me & so I hope to update you about all the puppet related festivities shortly!

As much as I am looking forward to observing all the Punch & Judy mayhem, I am even more excited about returning to my hometown of Medway, and seeing family and friends. Thinking ahead to the events planned for this week has concurrently made me cast my mind back to a trip to Rochester Cathedral that I made back in August.

During my visit to Rochester an impressive artwork was displayed within the Cathedral, entitled ‘The People’s Monarch’ which was designed by Helen Marshall. This huge mosaic was only at the Cathedral for two weeks (8-19 Aug) & I was lucky enough to visit whilst it was there. It seemed such a shame that I had never actually blogged about this jubilee-themed artwork, or the beautiful setting of Rochester Cathedral, & so all this reminiscing has made me decide to put this right! Better late than never! ;-)

More than 5,000 BBC viewers and listeners in the South East helped to create a unique artwork to commemorate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.

Artist Helen Marshall, aided by computer art experts pollytiles, used the images that were submitted to create a special photo mosaic portrait of the Queen.

Many people submitted family portraits, photos of their ancestors, snaps of important occasions in their lives and of times that made them laugh. Some viewers used the opportunity to share precious memories of loved ones they had lost

The final portrait is 38 square metres, the size of a double decker bus!

Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? – 1 Corinthians 1:20

Information about the mosaic artwork is taken from from Helen Marshall’s website. For further details about ‘The People’s Monarch’ and other projects please visit: http://www.helenmarshall.co.uk

For more information about Rochester Cathedral, including visiting details: http://rochestercathedral.org

Thank you for visiting my 'blast from the recent past' blog!

Wednesday, 3 October 2012

Champagne Afternoon Tea-Time & Kensington Gardens

Here are some photographs which were taken during an indulgent & leisurely afternoon, spent with a wonderful friend. We enjoyed champagne afternoon tea followed by a stroll around the beautiful Kensington Gardens and I couldn't resist capturing some of the sights!

Delicious food, bright sunshine & great company! A perfect day :-)