Category Archives: Art

Visual art including photography

Bobservation No. 116: Old Friends

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Old Friends from Fulking
I suppose having moved from Fulking to Henfield a year and a half ago it is always a great pleasure to see old friends from Fulking. Nick Hughes joined us for a coffee one morning and looked as fit as ever, now resident in Hove and the owner of a glorious 55 year old bright yellow Porsche 911! Jill Bremer popped in and seems to be making the best of widowhood in Devon, she swims in the sea most days and is very involved in a ladies rowing boat! We had a pub lunch with Anthony Kenney who is well and living in Ovingdean where he busies himself in village matters! Just a stone’s throw from us Jim and Carolyn Sapsted have made a very happy move to Henfield. We regularly see Samantha Leader who has joined Henfield Parish Council and is still a powerhouse of energy. The logic of our move from Fulking to Henfield was supported by a visit to see the bluebells at Furzefield which we have passed to Rich, Sarah and Archie Brett-Sheridan. Their custodianship of this unique property is as good as anything we could have wished for and they will prove to be a great asset to Fulking.

Julia Peckham R.I.P.
Just to report the passing away of Julia on 23 April after a relatively short battle with cancer. Although not resident in Fulking, Julia was a very good friend of the village. She and her husband Richard were involved in the Annual Village Fair, the Choir and Christmas arrangements at St Andrews as well as putting on several fundraising plays. I well remember the hilarious Punch & Judy she put on at the fair some years ago. After Richard’s death from Motor Neurone Disease she became very involved in the care of victims of MND, as well as fund raising really substantial amounts for research into this, at present, incurable nightmare. A very talented actor and great friend. Oh! How we will miss her.

Interested Readers
I have absolutely no idea how many of you read Bobservation each month and it would assist me in making a decision whether to continue blathering away if you would you kindly e-mail me at bob.pamrowland@btinternet.com just saying ‘I read you’ if you do. Thanks, Bob.

Bobservation No. 99: Friends Departed RIP

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Watercolour - view from stile across meadow southwest towards Downs

Watercolour by Nick Bremer- view from stile across meadow at Perching Sands

‘Baz‘ Parmar

My very good friend Baz passed away on the 4 November. He fought a quite horrific type of cancer some years ago and until quite recently had been clear. Regrettably he suffered another bout which eventually proved to be fatal. A quiet, modest, helpful and unassuming man who had been a most successful orthodontist, my respect for him was great. He was part of one those remarkable Asian families who came to Britain as a result of the crisis caused in East Africa by Idi Amin. We should all consider these national advantages before criticising any form of immigration to our shores.

Nick Bremer

So hard to know what to say about the passing away of an old chum. Both Nick and Jill contributed more to the social life of Fulking than anyone in the past 30 years and were my inspiration for getting involved in this wonderful village. Nick was a fine artist who designed and produced the so attractive village pictorial signposts. Even though old age has made it necessary for us to move to Henfield we still have a fine watercolour of the bluebells at Furzefield that we commissioned Nick to create, reminding us of happy days with them in Fulking. Wonderful sense of humour, golf addict, terrible cribbage player, great friend and colleague on the Parish Council. See you next Tuesday you old devil!

Jen Green linocuts now at Etsy

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Jen Green linocuts
My linocuts are now available from Etsy. This year has been hard for artists, with almost all exhibitions cancelled, but I am hoping that art available online will prove popular in the run-up to Christmas. My range encompasses wildlife, seascapes, and South Downs landscapes including Fulking and Poynings. If you order through Etsy and live locally, I can hand deliver and refund you the postage or else, possibly, supply a mount for the print.

Jen Green (552) also at instagram

South Downs News, August issue

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South Downs Newsletter August 2020
Younger readers may recall Pan’s People. This issue leads with a page and a half on PANN (People and Nature Network). There’s a report, of course (reports are what the SDNPA does), and a plan to extend “green infrastructure” into the seedy urban areas — aka “coastal communities” — that straggle along the Hampshire and Sussex coast. A cute picture of a baby sand lizard advertises a family event in Petersfield. There are a couple of surveys and a couple of reports of institutional beneficiaries of John Major’s cunning plan to transfer resources from the poor to the not-so-poor (the National Lottery). The cultural material includes an interesting biographical item on the writer Eleanor Farjeon; an advert for a set of rather competent-looking wildlife art postcards by children (if you want a set, you’ll just have to drive to the South Downs Centre in Midhurst); notice of a September exhibition by Gordon Rushmer in Petworth; and news of a downloadable audio version of Sara Clifford’s Cherry Soup. Fewer virtual events but altogether too much material about Petersfield.

South Downs News, April issue

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April 2020 South Downs Newsletter
SDNPA Chief Executive Trevor Beattie claims that “there are already signs that the lock-down has reinvigorated many people’s love of nature”, presumably analogous to the way in which going on the wagon reinvigorates a love of alcohol. He will surely be lobbying for regular lock-downs in future years. There’s a link (to a link (to a link ..)) to “a detailed map [that] has been created for people to find food, drink and other support services close to where they live” which turns out to be every bit as dire as earlier food-related cartographic efforts by the SDNPA (The South Downs Sahara in 2015, and The South Downs Sahara (update) in 2017). Food is unobtainable in Steyning, apparently.

On the positive side, page 10 features a photo of David Ellin and Annie Brown, though they are not quoted or identified, and page 12 advertises a 3-part Facebook video instruction series by an ‘animal behaviourist’ on walking the dog (the animal, not the Rufus Thomas song).