Lancashireone Blog

First of all, before I say anything about the show itself, many thanks to the three blokes who pushed my Mini out of the mud when I was leaving. I’m pretty sure I’d still be there without your help…

Anyway, with that message of gratitude out of the way, on to the show itself. It was the first time I’ve been to something like this – an agricultural show. Sure, as part of a year long photo-documentary I’m doing into the fairs and festivals of the Ribble Valley, I’ve been to some of the vintage displays and farmers markets, but this was the first time there were animals (of any number) involved. I enjoyed it. After walking in from the car park, my first thoughts were that the show felt quite similar to some of the others that I’d been to, and sure enough there were some familiar sights (a rusty red tractor and some of the food stalls, for example). I was wondering if it would hold my interest lost, both as a photographer and as a local resident attending for the first time.

It didn’t take long to get a feel for the differences though; the cows standing on guard next to the portaloo for a start, and there were lots of dogs, chicken, sheep, cows and horses there, together with their owners, looking for a few moments of glory. Bearing in mind the amount of rain that we’ve had recently, it was really quite amazing how pristine these animals where looking and there was plenty of brushing going on for the judges. Grooming a cow seemed a little odd to me, but you do have to make the right impressions…

Whilst there was plenty of interest in the various livestock competitions, I guess there was more in the dog show, or at least so it seemed. It just goes to show what a nation of dog lovers we are, there’s a certain pleasure to be gained from owning a dog. Again, there was plenty of pampering and grooming going on, and a good number of rosettes being handed out, to the dog owners but also to the livestock owners in their respective competitions. I dare say there was something similar going on over in the equestrian section too…

Something that did make me smile was the various other competitions going on, and the utmost seriousness involved in the judging. What makes a good egg? And what makes someone qualified to judge what is a good egg? The only good egg I know is on a bacon barmcake! But sure enough, there were eggs, potatoes, cauliflowers, flower arrangements and all sorts of other stuff being judged in a most earnest fashion. My mind flicked to Wallace and Grommit, and the were-rabbit film, but there’s a huge amount of pride in being judged as the best at something. I still remind my older sister that I beat her in a cake baking competition at the church fete when I was about 6 or 7…

I stayed at the show for a good few hours, and I’m sure could have stayed for longer if I didn’t need to get some shopping done. As a bonus, whilst I was there, the rain held off too…

It’s the Roman re-enactments in Ribchester next weekend, and maybe I’ll get to the Hurst Green fete too, but it won’t be long before I get to some more agricultural shows, what with the upcoming events in Chipping and Hodder Green. And after my experience in Longridge, I’m looking forward to them.

by Jonny

Thrill seekers out there know that sometimes fear can be key to enjoyment. The excitement of dangerous situations, high speeds, sharp turns and loud noises is what draws these kinds of people to jump out of planes, ride roller coasters, race cars and, in more juvenile / less noble pursuits, knock on peoples doors and run away (I was very young and I apologize).

Personally, I have seldom been one for putting myself in mortal danger, nor subjecting my body to uncomfortable pressures or extremes in the name of fun and games, but a little trepidation would keep anyone on their toes and that’s exactly where I was this weekend.

On a hot and humid Sunday afternoon, we went down to cover the ‘Porkers in the Trough’, a gentle rally through the Trough of Bowland for members of the Porsche Club of Great Britain.

Never before have I been amongst so many sports cars in one place, owners and enthusiasts eagerly gathering in the grounds of Gawthorpe Hall, for an event that saw 50 highly-tuned driving machines neatly slot in beside one another.

Now I’m a fumbler, I fumble, it’s not the most advantageous character habit but my fumbling, fidgeting, clumsiness and overall inability to keep my hands to myself, is one childlike aspect I am yet to subdue. In recent years alone I have broken plates, pens, phones, TVs, laptops, glasses, doors, toilets and windows, whilst finding the time to both drop pancakes in the street and fall into a swimming pool on camera.

It’s this habit that makes me stay away from shops like Debenhams, keep well clear of car showrooms and generally avoid places where things can be easily broken or tarnished.

Where I found myself last weekend, members of the Porsche Club GB Lancs and Cumbria region had driven in from far and wide, and the grounds around the old building were topped up with a selection of polished pride and joys that would strike fear into the heart of even the very cautious.

My issue with these events is the knowledge that every car that had been brought along was precious to the person who had brought it. This was a Porsche event for Porsche owners and the Porsches they hold dear to them, if I caused any unwitting damage, the impact would be as emotional as it would financial and there would be no running away from a disgruntled driver if that driver was driving a Boxster.

Yes it was a day spent in fear, but not a disappointing affair by any means. Speeding and shaking through the countryside in a stripped down racing car was an exhilarating experience in itself, the guys of the Porsche Club were great to talk to and the cars themselves looked fantastic.

I found that as the day went on, the sun shone brighter, the fear of bankruptcy settled and I even sourced the courage to sit myself down on a bonnet for a chat with Simon, my chauffeur and co pilot for the afternoon. Much like animals in the wild, I had become settled around the Porsches, and I dare say the Porsches had settled around me.

I admit that it wasn’t only the sun that was making me sweat in my day with the Porkers, but all in all, I can’t think of a nicer bunch to be nervous around.

Most images were printed to a reasonable size – to A3 I guess (others were smaller or larger, this is just a general observation), and framed (with or without mattes) in black frames, although there were one or two students framing in white. I saw one that was fitted in a light box, some that weren’t framed at all and another student used old frames, although this made sense in the context of her show (Journeys to her father - the frames included those that held old family photos, more later).

A couple of photographers printed onto what I guess would be aluminium (no notes – tut tut!).

There were also a slack handful of book submissions. Some photographers exhibited 2 prints, others over a hundred. And everywhere there were postcards and business cards!

Ruth Collins had a quite eclectic approach to the presentation ofautophobia, with a total of 7 images, 1 of which was a lightbox, some in black frames and others without frames (aluminium backing?). It worked though, or at least it worked for me with my updated approach to presentation: no longer just black frames with white mattes for me! I also quite liked the images, which appealed to my old surrealist sensibilities…

One that didn’t work (for me, obviously) was the cornucopia of “snaps” from Sarah El-taki. The blurb that came with the exhibition talks of the Facebook users and how they create an “ideal identity” with profile pictures, the images in the exhibit were from her own profile and “represent the identity I have created for myself online though images and performance.” Now, to be fair, the hundreds of photographs (6×4-ish, maybe a touch bigger) will have done what she intended, but for me there was no desire to look at the photographs in any detail, or indeed at all of the photographs.

There was some discussion on a forum I read some time ago that hinted that the Facebook generation is perhaps devaluing photographs – see one, take in, look to the next. The saturation of media is deadening our sensitivities. That is exactly what I felt here with the orgy of images. So, in some respects it worked as I expected, I’m just not sure that it was what she intended. Perhaps I’m just too old to “get” it… Maybe they just need to be presented differently, they were too dense (touching in a grid). Space may have allowed them to talk individually, much like Engström’s work did in Bradford. I guess the space wasn’t available.

Rachael Radford is the photographer who used the odd collection of frames from her childhood, together with other photographs that remained unframed. At least one of these photographs (of the photographer and her father, now deceased) was used a number of times throughout the display, a particularly strong memory perhaps? The presentation all seemed a little random, but then this suited the show, it felt like it tied in with the “family memories” theme – memories can appear random. The installation included a chair and table from the family home, and in some ways this reminded me of the description Martin Parr gave of his own degree show (described at a talk I attended some time ago). There was also a book, which included many words as well as photographs, together with bits of old notes, etc. All in all, a very personal journey, and maybe I felt a little uncomfortable taking part in it, but it worked.

Emma Paternoster’s project Behind closed doors brought in aspects of the writings of Lacan (What is a picture?) and how people project themselves for others to see – Emma’s concept is that we can only be ourselves when we are alone. Something worth exploring, but unless the woman in the photographs is the photographer, then the person is not alone. Even if it is the photographer, she would be aware that the images are being taken, so therefore will be acting for the camera. Perhaps the photographs could have been surreptitiously captured? I’m not so sure though, but maybe that’s just the cynic in me.

There were others in room 16, and yes, there were good images there, but I was running out of time and wanted to look at the mezzanine floor too…

Upstairs, there were photographs displayed in the corridors and also in another room, although this room was predominantly books. One particular book interested me – Sarah Smith has retaken old photographs of the Litherland area (I’ve no idea where this is!!!), displaying the original archive photograph together with the new photograph. It’s pretty much what I had wanted to do with a Boring Postcards idea, and the more I think about this, the more inclined I am to go ahead and do this as a personal project for my own satisfaction… (I’ll go into this at some other time I guess) Yeah, I liked this work, although it was only available in book form for some reason – space maybe? Another possibility is that the archive prints aren’t hers, having been borrowed – there’s details of this on her blog from when she exhibited a small selection of the pairings…

Out on the corridors there were some accomplished images, although I have found now that whilst I took names, my notes weren’t enough for me to remember what the names were associated with. Maybe I’ll research these names later. One though did stick with me, and that was a set of photographs by Rebecca Tsui Wah Yu. She has photographed someone somersaulting across a road, a set of four photographs showing the movement. It wasn’t so much the images themselves that interested me, rather the presentation style – the square images were at the bottom of very tall white frames so that there was a lot of blank space above the images. Yes, it made the images feel bottom heavy in the frames, but this worked well (for me…) because of the movement within the images. I thought this was effective.

As I say, I was running out of time for parking, so I really didn’t give the exhibition full justice, but I did take names, so I will look at them again. On the whole though, well worth the visit.

As some of you may be aware, behind closed doors, in a dark room, in a top secret location, Lancashire One have been developing the idea of a blogging team.

We’re planning to build a network of blogger profiles for the Lancashire One site, that could help offer the people of Lancashire the most detailed and personal view of the county’s towns and districts available on the internet.

Although we are still in the process of designing an area on the website to house these hotly anticipated blogs, we have decided to get the ball rolling by unleashing some of the pieces already prepared to our WordPress.

So let me introduce to you Rob, our very first Lancashire One Blogger!

From Samlesbury, in the Ribble Valley, Rob is a photographer with an eye for the arts. Keep an eye on his future blogs for his thoughts on local festivals, photography and what’s going on the the Ribble Valley.

If you want to get involved or simply learn more, email, Facebook or tweet us with some information about yourself and your blog and we’ll get back to you!

by Adam Ogden
Following last weekend, the ribbons around Lancashire have turned away from blue and back to red.

And it wasn’t just Manchester United’s probable title winning escapades at Old Trafford, but the local elections which brought about a large shift in political power across the region.

Almost every council which the Labour party targeted to win on Thursday, they did. In total, they gained control of 8 councils from the Tories and knocked two back into No Overall Control – where no party has a majority.

To take back a town hall like Blackpool, where they only possessed a quarter of the councillors before Thursday night, was a massive coup.

And as well as comprehensively regaining power in Preston, Blackburn and Warrington – to name but a few – Labour also came mightily close to majorities in Chorley and Rochdale, an astounding feat considering that both those two districts were only electing one third of the council.

And even in the councils that Labour already controlled, their capitalisation of the disastrous Lib Dem vote meant that the lead grew even further.

In Liverpool, Liberal Democrat candidates lost in 11 out the 13 wards that they contested. Nobody was safe from the voters cross in the box; 38 year councillor and former leader Lord Storey was even ousted by an 18 year old!

And whilst the Liberal Democrat presence across Lancashire has been severely wounded, the Conservatives’ unmoving national polls weren’t replicated across the county. Going into polling day, they controlled more councils across the North West than all other parties did together; it’s safe to say that it isn’t the case anymore however.

And when the dust settles and the councils without clear majorities start to form coalitions, the number of Labour controlled authorities will most likely grow even further.

So where does Lancashire go from here? To be honest, not far.

If the local voting is a result of public opinion with the national government, then you can expect to find to find more vocal and protectionist voices in your council.

But that might be as far as it goes. The budget allocations from national government are unlikely to change, and the majority of decisions as to how to spend the smaller pot of money have already been passed.

For the meantime at least, the election results can only be seen as more of a referendum on the current coalition government than anything. To see what changes will be made by the new council make ups probably won’t really be seen until much later on in the year.

Whilst we wait to see how these new Labour councils work with (or probably against) the coalition government, spare a thought for poor Tory candidate Robert Hodkinson in Bury, who lost his race by the drawing of lots (or in this case cable ties) after the votes between himself and Labour candidate Joanne Columbine were exactly level.

Politics can be a cruel game.

by Nigel Sharples

It’s great to hear from those of you who’ve moved abroad to work or to live permanently – we’ve always hoped that we could build a strong ex-pat community keeping in touch with what’s happening in the old country by logging onto Lancashire One.

We’ve recently heard from Joan Bloch who moved to Canada after living in Blackpool for eight years and originally hailing from Liverpool. She came across Lancashire One by chance: “I just found your website and I love it” she wrote.

Joan suggested an ex-pat exchange on the site, where Lancastrians across the globe could keep in touch – and indeed that’s always been one of our intentions. So if you know anyone who’s abroad and would like to keep in touch let them know about Lancashire One and see if they have other ex-pat friends from the same area. We’d love to hear from them and will shortly be creating a special section on the site where they can send in news and views from around the world.

And if you’ve just come across this while working or living abroad, then contact me nigel@lancashireone.com and tell us what you’re up to!

By Nigel Sharples
It may be a coincidence that St George’s Day (23rd April) celebrating England’s patron saint landed on the same weekend as Easter this year – but it does seem as if we’re seeing a resurgence of people across the county wanting to celebrate traditional values and festivals.
When I was growing up in the 60s and 70s no-one seemed to even think about St. George’s Day but this year we’ve had celebrations in Lancaster, Clitheroe, Whitworth, Blackburn and Colne to name but a few.

Jonny Nelson with the man himself!

And then Easter itself – Easter Monday’s egg rolling in Preston’s Avenham Park seems set to attract record crowds this year – again we’ll be there and will bring you a full report.

What do you think? Are we seeing people reverting to tradition in these difficult times – or is it just another way for some people to make money?!