Frustration run rampant

22 June I set out once more for Yorkshire, first stop St Albans and Frances Bardsley School in Romford to check out the Reyntiens windows. Just before the Dartford Tunnel my car informed me that it had overheated. I slowed down, the temperature subsided a little and I managed to coax China to Thurrock Service Station. Rang Green Flag who arrived within 10 minutes, declared the car unworthy to travel further and took me back to D&D autos in Ashford. The water pump had broken. So I had to cancel my appointments and warn mother.

23 June D&D declared the car mended at midday so trooped along there, complained about some odd noises, but they said it was nothing and I'm off once more heading north. About 20 miles south of Cambridge on the M20 same thing happens, only this time going slow and talking kindly to China doesn't do a blind bit of good so I eventually drive onto the hard shoulder under a bridge (raining heavily). Get out of said car and huddle under the bridge to ring Green Flag. They declare the last time I had an account with them was in 2009, I give them my policy number, every detail under the sun, including the fact that yesterday there had been no problem - meanwhile I can only hear every other word because of the noise of lorries in the rain. After half an hour and just as the girl is about to cut me off she announces they had the postcode wrongly listed, a service operator will be with you in 30 minutes. Actually it was closer to 45 but a lovely cheerful Irish chappie. A pipe had bust, corroded away.

Meanwhile I'd rung Graham who agreed to meet me at Stanstead Services and we'd swap cars. Amazingly enough we both arrived there at the same time, I moved my files, laptop etc into his car and he returned to Kent with the Green Flag man. I finally arrived at Thornton 9pm, very tired and hungry.

24 June with mother who was not too happy that she was only seeing me for a day!

25 June arrived at Film Farm only to discover that huge triffid like plants have started marching down the drive to attack said house.

We finalise the Reyntiens film and discuss our next project. Having clipped the wings of the new stock of hens they are allowed to range freely over the garden. Charles has 4 now, a Rhode Rock, Coucou, Copper Black and Columbine (which lays pretty little blue eggs) and I bought myself a hen which he looks after - a Chicken House Blue (2nd from left) which doesn't lay blue eggs! I rang Father Hingley and he kindly agreed to show me his church (St Albans) on Thursday.

30 June I left at the crack of dawn to arrive in Romford by midday. Father Hingley is an amazing character, his church is full of wondrous art works, a mural by Cazalet in the chancel, five windows by Patrick at the east end (the photo shows both of these and the inimitable Father Hingley), a baptistry window (detail below) and rose by Patrick, candlesticks by Alex Brogden, a Christus Rex by Peter Eugene Ball (very similar to the one in Southall Minster) etc etc. He's only too happy to show people round (01708 473580)

He then took me along to Frances Bardsley School where he is head of Governors to show me their Reyntiens window on the main staircase and introduce me to their delightful Headteacher, Suzanne Philipps.

And then I dashed over to Brentwood to see the Sion Community church, rather wonderful abstract, pale coloured windows which blur the lines between inside and outside as the illustration indicates - the reflection of one window is seen through the other against a background of trees.

Postscript: 1 July my spirits were feeling much raised by the delights I'd seen the previous day and I drove off in a mended China to Aylesford to see a rather unusual Brangwyn item (in a Hospice no less) only for the car to break down again - the protective cover under the engine had dropped off and was dragging along the road. Boy was I furious! Yet another 2 hours wasted - a guy from D&D autos came out and took offending cover off completely and suggested I took the car in at my convenience to get it fixed sometime. I exploded - I don't have time to spare - I work 8am to 10pm nearly every day (what with housework, tending 1/2 acre of garden, cooking, washing, ironing, shopping let alone the day job!). Grrrrr!

wonderful window watching

Today whizzed down to St Leonard's, St Leonards. Always rather a depressing area of coast I think, especially on a drizzly day like today. Church rather shabby looking but a very welcoming helpful lady, and a double sided colour illustrated leaflet about the windows, four double panels each side of the nave and a triple panel in the sanctuary entitled Transfiguration (image above). Early Reyntiens work, I rather liked them except one couldn't see most of them clearly enough.

travels

This time to St John The Baptist, Ilford and a couple of amazing floor to ceiling windows, unpainted, apparently abstract but of course Patrick's layers of symbolism, almost Art Deco looking, no hand painting, and wonderful subtle soft colouring, pale greys, mauves, light yellow, touches of turquoise. Exquisite. Well worth a visit. Details above.

An update on St Peter and St Paul, Aldeburgh, the memorial window to Benjamin Britten, designed by Piper but carried out by Reyntiens.

St Edmundsbury Cathedral, Bury St Edmunds - I've visited the city previously but never the cathedral so took the opportunity. Actually rather disappointing, somehow lacks the gravitas that accretion over the ages can bring (no Reyntiens windows).

And yet another trip to Ely Stained Glass Museum, wonderfully enthusiastic young curator, revisited the Piper/Reyntiens Coventry panel and Reyntiens own Temptation of St Anthony.

Busy few days, then completed the Reyntiens family slide show for the DVD today. Meanwhile poor Charles was faced with trying to fit a voice-over onto the start of the film - previously recorded in his own mellifluous tones. Unfortunately the recording he was sent was much slower than the original with huge pauses between the words (i.e. not fitting the images) so he spent most of the day editing the pauses, but it was still too long, so he then had to actually export the sound to some special audio processing software to speed it without altering the pitch.

The things we do for art!

lawks a mercy!

Spent most of yesterday making another slide show for the DVD of Patrick's autonomous panels as sold through Goldmark Gallery recently - that's five I've made to date, the others being earlier autonomous panels, stained glass on location, the work of former students and a Reyntiens family slide show featuring Patrick's sketchbooks and cartoons for panels, his wife Anne's beautiful paintings and hopefully some of John Reyntiens work.
Anyway, today was looking up information about Edinburgh College of Art in Wikpedia (as one does) - I was HORRIFIED to discover that the alumni list did NOT include either Patrick or Anne - so I proceeded to add them to the Hall of Fame!

Yippee!

Despite cooking for the multitudes over the weekend, in recognition of an aunt's 96th birthday (!), I managed to finish the Reyntiens catalogue today - well as much as I am prepared to put on the DVD. It is by no means definitive - but could be if someone gives me backing/money! The ground work is there. When I questioned him a couple of years ago Patrick agreed to my compiling his catalogue of work, but little did I believe at the time that it would progress to this stage.
Phew, so now I can concentrate on other work and start thinking about the Fay Godwin film at last, although poor Charles was faced with yet more changes to the DVD over the weekend.

Scole

Annie left for work at some outrageous hour this morning (she's a nurse at the local A&E) - I took things slightly more gently and left the house at 9am, heading for Scole, another Reyntiens window. Extremely bright colours and loads of sandwiched glass (detail below). Back to Kent.

Collecting windows (4)

Today a drive from Southampton to Film Farm, passing through Ascot to see 2 Patrick windows in Heathfield School (girls very Sloaney!). Detail of one of windows below. Then to Nettlebed for 2 Piper/Reyntiens windows (detail of one below), rather satisfying. I have to admit that Piper windows do have a sense of calm and authority about them rather than the somewhat manic appearance of some of Patrick's windows. After that to a tiny T-shaped church at Pishill for a small memorial window also Piper/Reyntiens (detail below). Then to Bledlow Ridge, also JP/PR, gloriously secular to my mind, blues with pale and dark squares and circles, little white squiggles and red spirals (detail below). I see why Patrick once famously declared he was 'rather good at blue!'

And the last visit of the day, Totternhoe for a delightful JP/PR Tree of Life (detail below). A rather exhausted car rolled up at Film Farm late in the day, together with an overworked camera and a Libby who can't decide whether she is tired or not because she can't get off the roller coaster!
A couple of days working on the latest changes to the DVD and then off to see my cousin Annie in Norwich, a good chat and moan about the oldies followed by a long walk round the University of East Anglia site.

Collecting windows (3)

A Hampshire day and back to the car. First stop Odiham, All Saints, for 2 Reyntiens windows, Adoration of the Lamb in the east window and Tree of Jesse in the Lady chapel (detail of Lady chapel window below). Followed by Hinton Ampner which I really liked, two tall but narrow single lancets representing the Pillar of Cloud and the Pillar of Fire, again almost abstract. Especially liked the right hand Fire window, in reds and blacks (detail below). The background to each window made up of small pieces of glass joined with dots giving the impression of a chemical formula!

Next stop the Wessex Hotel, Winchester for 12 foliate panels designed by Piper (one below). Quite fun and I had a mooch round town afterwards since I lived there for a few years back in the late 1970s. Memory lane!And then the one I'd really been looking forward to seeing, St Mary's at Hound near Southampton, which Pevsner rates highly and Patrick himself considers the best design he's ever made (detail below). And it did not disappoint, although the church itself is in a pretty dire strait and kept alive by a local charitable group. More power to their joint elbows say I.
One thing that has forcibly struck me in the past few weeks is how generous the churches are, allowing me to use images for my catalogue, especially since many of the churches, Hound in particular, are struggling to keep going. I'm used to dealing with art galleries and museums who are notoriously grasping, even when all I want is images for research purposes and I always send my findings back to the archivists for their records. So 3 cheers for the religious establishments!
Stayed the night with Dominic and Gilly (oh, haven't you been introduced, my elder son and his wife who live in Bursledon and own a barge and a yacht and sail and mess around in boats and design boats and race boats ... and sail!)

Collecting windows (2)

Armed with my new railcard I headed off to London and was muchly satisfied by the reduced fare! First stop St Margaret's, St Margaret's Road, St Margaret's! A very modern church (well for 1970) by Austin Winckley and now Grade II listed. A clerestory window above the altar which reminded me of a poached egg (below) and a narrow sliver in greys and blues behind the Baptistery.
Thence to St Theodore of Canterbury in Hampton, a small low-budget Catholic church also designed by Winckley. Four tiny windows here, a Supper at Emmaus, two narrow windows either side of the Tabernacle, and then a truly delightful Penitence window (St Peter and a cockerel) in the Confessional. Hardly anyone except the Priest views that one - so here's a sneak preview.
Last stop the Barn Church, Kew, so named because it is actually formed from a 17th country barn, with old threshing stones in the entrance and 17th century bricks for the exterior. A delightful place, rather Arts and Crafts in style so Patrick's almost abstract window fitted perfectly with (possibly) an angel/girl and definitely a beautiful garland of flowers, all in yellows, mauves and purples - and NO hand painting, remarkable itself for a Reyntiens window.
A wander back to Kew Gardens station and since I hadn't stopped for lunch and it was a glorious day I treated myself to a cappuccino, sitting on the pavement in the sun, reading my notes.

Collecting windows (1)

OK, I admit it, I'm getting obsessive about collecting Patrick's windows, but it's partly for my lectures and partly for the article I've got to write for the Decorative Arts Society by the end of July and partly for the catalogue - which I really do think some publisher ought to take up and give me the time and means to develop into a proper academic work. It would look superb for one thing and would inspire people to get out and about and visit the works in situ. And it would prove that Patrick was not just the amanuensis of Piper. Such a tome is long overdue methinks.
Anyway today I drove up to St Lawrence College, Ramsgate and was pleasantly surprised. I got to know the town fairly well when researching for a book about Pugin's church with my friend Gill Hunter back in 2000. Unfortunately becoming familiar with the town did not endear it to either of us. Anyway St Lawrence College is in a beautiful setting, lovely old buildings, extremely helpful and friendly staff and the windows rather glorious. The main window (which happens to be the west window since the chapel faces that direction) has joyful colouring and an almost abstract design (although being Patrick there's buckets of symbolism in there) so can be viewed on all levels by the pupils. Detail of that window above. The tracery glass was designed by Piper and made by David Wasley, the remainder designed and made by Patrick, so rather an oddity. Patrick also designed the much more deeply coloured rose window in the balcony.

addenda

For some unknown reason I couldn't fit these in the previous blog! Above, some beautiful pigeons looking in through a shop window, below Robinson College, Cambridge tympanum.

Below, detail of Lowesby window.

One of the abstract windows at Tewin below.

And a detail from East Knoyle.

a long and winding road

Tuesday 10th May I set off for Thornton and for a couple of days took my 95 yr old aunt and 92 yr old mother around the countryside (the best bit was when they sat admiring the North Bay, Scarborough, eating Mr Whippy ice creams!) Unfortunately I didn't take a photograph. Thence down to Film Farm via a Piper/Reyntiens stained glass window in Misterton (below). Wrote some voice overs for Patrick.
Charles has decided it would be better if we visited Patrick together (probably doesn't trust me with his high-faluting sound system - and I don't blame him!) so we set off for Somerset Friday, staying near Beaminster and having dinner at the Wild Garlic run by Matt Follas (of Masterchef fame) and excellent it was too until the next day's meal!
Saturday off to Patrick's and he performed the voice-overs brilliantly, then answered some of my interminable questions about previous commissions until it was obvious he'd had enough, at which point he retired to the kitchen to provide us with a splendid meal of chicken Kiev and 'peasyrice' followed by a choice of ice cream and yog or apple pie. For someone who rarely bothers about lunch, apart from a lettuce leaf on the fly, this was a huge undertaking for me, a gargantuan meal. Unfortunately I couldn't partake of the alcoholic beverages since I'm the chauffeur on these expeditions, but Charles had a very liquid lunch - sherry, much wine and then the local Temperley apple brandy which he considered EXCELLENT! I showed Patrick my catalogue to date and he appeared to be more than somewhat impressed - which makes everything worthwhile! Photos of Patrick and me in the kitchen, and part of Patrick's amazing selection of art materials in the kitchen.
In fact the brandy was so excellent that when Patrick had got rid of us we drove round there and bought some brandy, cider and Hix cherries for Film Farm's cellar and larder. With the afternoon free we drove to Lyme Regis but failed to spot any ammonites and then on to Axminster and another visit to Hugh F-W's Canteen, which was just great. Simple fare, simple surroundings, but just fabulous food (shame the wine prices are so high). Needless to say, these gastronomic delights are not part of the budget but funded from our own pockets since we enjoy good food and one has to have some fun in life! A slightly manic looking filmmaker below!Sunday drove back to FF but I insisted on bagging more churches en route so first it was East Knoyle (wonderful plasterwork by Sir Christopher Wren no less - his old man was Rector there at one point - and an amazing mosaic reredos). One Patrick window.

Then to Tewin where there were 4 Patrick windows, one very like the Annunciation at Ampleforth, the other 3 purely abstract (so I rather liked them!)
The remainder of the week was spent adding Patrick's voice-overs and painstakingly going through the 7 pages of changes desired by the clients.
Friday I visited Lowesby to see the Reyntiens window and drove back to Kent on Saturday 21st via Cambridge for another look at the Robinson College windows. My poor old car really is getting a bit of a flogging - she's done a mere 148,000 miles!

more changes

We sent off the revised DVD but apparently yet more changes are required - this is becoming design by committee - want a horse, get a camel. So I'm back at Film Farm 12th May, have to record Patrick in Somerset that weekend and back to the edit suite to hopefully produce a final version of the DVD with which everyone is satisfied. Please, please, please, cross fingers etc etc etc!!!!!!
Meanwhile I have been producing a catalogue of Patrick's work which will be an added extra on the DVD and am pretty chuffed with same it has to be said, although a huge amount of work (not in the budget unfortunately!) So why am I such an idiot, producing all this work for no personal benefit - probably just because I really do believe Patrick is a seminal figure, a one-off, unique, and I want people to appreciate what he has contributed to the development of stained glass over the last 50 years or so.

more editing

Oh yuck, the clients seem to think that they paid for a 50 minute film and receiving a 90 minute film is not a bonus - so we are supposed to cut, cut, cut - obviously to the detriment of the film as conceived. So we have spent the last 3 days cutting, horrific, hugely dissatisfying.

The Big Preview!

After a weekend ministering to mea mater it was back to Film Farm on the 28th, interrupted by a train journey to London for the NADFAS Directory Meeting. Unfortunately the East Coast service was suspended on the return journey 30 March so I had to get a train to Kings Lynn, Charles had to drive 50 miles to collect me, and then the following day I had to take the train to Grantham to collect my car and drive back to Film Farm. Huge expense and waste of time all round.
Thursday and Friday reviewing the DVD plus cooking on my part and then Saturday the grand preview with Patrick himself, John and Charlotte, some media friends of theirs and Charles' expert, Hugh Newsam. Although they thought it could be shortened the response was enthusiastic which was a huge relief after all the agonies we've been through. So a few minor changes and we are there - hopefully!
Photos of us all in the garden post preview.

progress - what progress?

Arrived at Film Farm again 10 March and after a hasty lunch we raced upstairs to the edit suite on the third floor to engage in putting together the film again. Before nightfall we finished Stoke St Mary and Danny Lane flame throwing. The following day completed Taunton and the Pynsent Memorial, and Saturday finished Cochem. Sunday we did the twiddly end bits and then Monday and Tuesday checked through all the chapters and interludes ensuring that the house style was consistent, that the film was balanced and that the story threads wove through successfully. Lucky we got this much done actually because the machinery had massive technical tantrums! The film is quite long, about 90 minutes but it's all excellent stuff and most people feel cheated if they don't get their money's worth on a DVD.
Wednesday we gave ourselves a break, albeit a working break, and travelled to Bradford to see the Fay Godwin exhibition at the Media Centre or whatever it calls itself these days. Excellent, seeing the photographs in the flesh was so much more exciting than looking at them in books. They really came to life and the detail was amazing. Fay is the subject of our next project! We also saw a 3D film about mending one of the USA shuttles which was quite amazing, I thought I might feel sea sick and cheat, but got quite hooked on it (photo of Charles looking extra handsome in his 3D goggles!)
Thursday drove back to Kent to prepare for a weekend invasion and much cooking!

Huffing and Puffing and much driving

As promised Monday 21st saw Libby drive north again to Film Farm and the first afternoon we reviewed Charles' new opening sequence, changed the titles and added a trumpet fanfare recorded during the service at Cochem all those years ago.

As well as changing the Promo to High Definition Charles had also been busy recording Chopin and Paganini from old records (no copyright involved), so on Tuesday we added some suitably whizzy Paganini to the Commedia del Arte section and Chopin to the sketchbooks. We recorded Charles donning his best Jeremy Irons honeyed voice and his hesitant Piper impression (move over Rory Bremner). And we made a start on the Anstey section. Plus much charging of batteries and checking of bags.

Wednesday saw the little Alfa once again being loaded to the gunnels with the usual suspects just about leaving room for long legged Charles and his diminutive sidekick to squeeze in, and we were off to Kington and the Wye Valley.

Thursday to see David Kirby who was the technical designer for Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral and prior to that assisted Patrick with the stained glass at St Mary's, Leyland. David is one of the most versatile people I've ever met - he originally trained as a stained glass artist, his first job was for Patrick which was an education in itself, then he retrained as a furniture designer, and became a professional photographer. In his spare time he races and restores vintage motor bikes (some highly techy impressive machinery in his workshop) and makes the most wonderful photographic prints (sort of reminiscent of Piper). And he and Celia live in a fabulous Huf Haus, the best designed modern house I've ever come across (see photo).
Anyway the main purpose of the visit was to interview David about his work with Patrick which was successfully accomplished despite being distracted by the beautiful surroundings.

Having left David we had a mooch round the delightful town of Kington which boasts a multiplicity of non-High Street shops including one specialising in cigarette cards (Charles' latest passion) and a special frame for his collection of Players hens was purchased.

Thence a drive along the Welsh borders and up to Preston for the night. And what an uplifting drive it was, beautiful countryside, beautiful weather (for a change), fabulous old half timbered houses in all shapes and sizes, and no motorways! Bliss. Really raised our spirits. Our 2nd brush with 21st century architecture came our way in Bishops Castle where a sign to The Wintles caught Charles' eye - very unusual eco-friendly housing with good brickwork details, extra thick walls, rounded corners to windows, lime wash on the exterior painted in jolly Mediterranean colours, lots of glass and wood - very interesting (http://livingvillages.com/). However a trawl on the inter-web suggests that all is not rosy in the Wintles and that the developers have gone bust.

Friday a short drive to Leyland to film the aforementioned church. Much larger than expected, in the round, and all the exterior walls of dalles de verre, purely abstract (detail in photo). Was interested to discover that the fathers are all Benedictine monks from Ampleforth which is how Patrick gained the commission.

Filling the car with diesel the man behind was shouting and gesticulating - in typically guilty fashion Libby imagined it was abuse but the chap was just yelling 'Can you hurry up before Colonel Gaddafi makes another speech?'!

Found some excellent fish and chips for Charles' lunch (even Libby succumbed to 2 little chips and a bite of fish) so he was a happy bunny, although it has to be said that by the time Film Farm hove into sight once more both bodies were distinctly bushed.

And so Saturday the Kirby/Leyland rushes were fed into the system. Meanwhile we added the Irons introduction and images. Irons has the magnetism to carry the audience but if we only have a sound recording this whole intro is just too long and heavily weighted towards religion which I personally think will put a lot of people off. It might also mean scrapping our original intro with interviewees spouting quick descriptions of Patrick, rather like bullet points - very fast paced, visual and aimed to immediately engage the audience. We shall see. We also added the Piper voice-over and succeeded in finishing the Anstey section and an interlude with Patrick painting in his sketchbooks, tea bags at the ready.

Sunday: With the Kirby interview and Leyland film fresh in our minds it seemed best to complete the Liverpool section but as with all things it took longer than anticipated so Libby's departure for Kent was delayed until Monday.

And so a new week dawned, Libby was faced with the prospect of another long drive (over 900 miles this week) and Charles with the prospect of VAT and tax returns. Ugh, we both need a good long relaxing holiday - or at the very least a non-working weekend!

joyful shepherds

And another editing session 4-9 February. Despite the equipment continuously crashing the first couple of days and slowing up the editing process dramatically, it decided to behave itself thereafter, and much was achieved. Charles always complains he's under the cosh when hyperactive Libby arrives - no time allowed for contemplation, listening to wireless programmes or CDs, let alone R&R!

The film has developed in so many ways, the educational, intellectual and secular side of Patrick's work gaining ascendancy over the religious and militaristic (perhaps this is sub-conscious since both of us hate conflict and are atheists) so we had suggested changing the working title of From Coventry to Cochem to something broader. However John and Charlotte are adamant that this title should remain so top of the agenda was how to rework the beginning of the film using the footage from the promo we showed last year. Having decided what to do, the next problem is how to do it - we're now working in High Definition and although the promo was filmed in HD, it was edited in Standard Definition, so Charles is going to have to put together the entire sequence all over again. Libby's also got to add a suitable introduction for the mellifluously voiced, almost nostalgic tones of Jeremy Irons.

So, what did we achieve this time round? Well, amazingly enough Dame Edna including the very amusing Australian interlude, Southwell Minster, Patrick's sketchbooks, the Moore Memorial at Much Hadham and Commedia del Arte including some wonderful lively footage we took of Patrick before this film was even a twinkle. We also added up the running time from the sequences completed to date - a rather scary 77 minutes! I'm going to have to lose some of my darlings doubtless!

And we even managed a quick trip to the rather wonderful Harley Gallery (http://www.harleygallery.co.uk) near Worksop to see Nora Fok's amazing creations - the exhibition curated by Charles' friends Ken and Brochocka Baynes. The special opening was to celebrate the Year of the Rabbit - I'm one of them! We're supposed to be creative, hardworking and ambitious, with an eye for colour and line, and apparently this year promises hopes, positivity and fun! Good, good!

Some wonderful dramatic sunsets whilst at EKH (hence the happy shepherds) a couple of which bookend this blog. I'm off to London tomorrow to help son the younger move into his new house, then to Yorkshire next week to visit mea mater, back to Kent for more London removals before returning to Film Farm 21 February. It's all go!

editing and Oundle

24 January and Libby was back at Film Farm ready for the next editing instalment. Finished off the Burleighfield Education segment but realised we needed more images of the place - have emailed Ray King to see if he can come up with some goodies.
25 January we did a short interlude about Patrick's autonomous panels based on the stories in Ovid's Metamorphoses and completed Education 2 which is about Patrick's time at Central - the ex students we interviewed were great, good lively debate which led irrevocably to the influence of Cecil Collins and thus to the stained glass he designed for Basingstoke.
26 January edited Basingstoke (despite the equipment having a really stroppy day and crashing every five seconds) - an absolutely beautiful section, Charles produced some wonderful photography (aided not a little by the angle of the sun shining through the silvery yellow colouring). Quite ethereal and spiritual and perfectly suited to Cecil Collins.
27 January Charles was dragged kicking and screaming out of bed long before his normal waking hour and we charged off to Oundle to do some more work on the chapel and school exterior. Stephen Forge the School Archivist took us in hand and found some wonderful old engravings of the school, a film of the Queen Mother at the opening dedication of the windows in 1956, and the piece de resistance - a film of the school and schoolboys dating back to 1913. Priceless stuff. Including footage of the OTC marching and presenting arms and then leaving on a train, happily waving - considering that about 1/3rd of all the old boys who joined the forces were killed in WW1, this is quite tear jerking stuff. The 2nd floor edit suites were set to work overtime and process the material overnight. Photo of the chapel seen through a screen of silver birch trees and of course Libby got sidelined by the first sign of spring, celandines (unfortunately not open since there wasn't sufficient sun to coax them open). 28 January - well we just had to re-edit the Oundle section with all our wonderful new material. Excellent and adds a new dimension to the film.
29 January - we found some software which shows breaking glass - but at some phenomenal cost - Charles investigated to see if he could find something similar but cheaper - he's not too happy with the chapter endings as they are. The day was otherwise spent in reviewing the work to date and calculating how many more days we can squeeze into our already packed agendas in order to finish the film by the end of March.
30 January at some god-forsaken hour (certainly before Charles had even surfaced) Libby waved au revoir to Film Farm, driving to Bewdley where she spent a couple of days making notes on an extensive Brangwyn collection (over 150 works which all need to be written up as formal reports ASAP!) Aaaargh!
SMARTIES - fiddlesticks, we didn't have time yet again for the smartie experiment.

... and we're off

A mere 2 days into the New Year and Charles and Libby are back to work again editing the Reyntiens film. We started on Coventry but got bogged down because Libby is more word based and Charles more visual based and he wanted some beautiful film where the protagonists weren't saying anything constructive, whereas I wanted some good words where the protagonists were standing in the wrong place! Much discussion over dinner after which we compromised and understood each other's approach!
The following day we finished Coventry amicably, but decided we required Smarties (you've no idea how difficult these are to purchase these days, and they don't even appear to sell them in the traditional round tube. Appalling, what is the world coming to?!) Why did we need Smarties? Wait until the next episode when we might have time to experiment!
We edited an interlude wherein Patrick paints a stained glass panel and, aware of his predilection for painting to the accompaniment of banjo music, Charles moved into garage band and composed a jolly piece there and then! What a hero!
Thence to the Liverpool sequence, but decided to leave this until we've interviewed David Kirby. To which end we phoned him and have booked for February 24th, and have also gained permission to film St Mary's, Leyland on the 25th - so excellent news.
Then decided that we needed a recognisable way of ending each chapter (the important stained glass windows) and played around with images of glass breaking until we got what we wanted. Added some interesting sounds of wind playing in wires, quite eerie.
More amusing interludes, plus serious chapters on Sanderson window and Education and before you can say Jack Robinson, it was Sunday and Libby had to return to Kent.