⋈ how much culture can a girl have?

this week was the Rayleigh Arts Festival:

with free tickets for How to Speak Essex:

not quite as you would think,

a talk given by Martin Astell of the

Essex Sound & Video Archive:

he played us sound recordings from as early as 1906:

lilting accents and dialects:

from north to south:

east to west:

'little old boys' 'a'er noon' 'roobub':

how vowels are changed and consonants dropped:

it's nothing new:

they've been talking for centuries:

thursday evening and more spoken word:

this time from Sundown Arts :

any poem about chocolate gets my vote:

{crank up the volume as Stuart speaks quietly}

next a piece in the form of a break-up letter to a 

London commuter train:

written and read by Ray Morgan:

we sympathise:

'I cannot commit to you when you make me feel so cold,

even in the middle of July':

we are amused by Simon Blackman and his jaunty odes:
impromptu asides and audience reaction:


our hostess Jo Overfield makes us welcome:
her punchy lines and open smile:
sharing her likes and dislikes and a light hearted tale of the
30th birthday cake she was unable to eat:

finally, the straight talking Cherry Scott:
her say-what-you-see works of our locale have
energy, daring and poignancy:

all a privilege to hear and see:

to nod and smile and appreciate:

looking forward to the next Sundowner

at Village Green ......

*on a blog coming soon!*