The variety of
people I meet and events I cover continues to make my job as a freelance writer
as exciting as it is unpredictable. Just last week, for example, I was chatting
to that most natural of performers, Louie Spence, along with Linda Robson
(Birds of a Feather) whose easy going nature made our encounter seem more like
a friends’ chat than an interview. The following evening Aylesbury’s Waterside
Theatre gave me press ticket for the opening night of Sunny Afternoon. What an
entertaining show! It was packed with energy, some of my favourite songs and
outstanding performances. As you might imagine, I spent the next few days
broadcasting its merits on twitter. If you haven’t seen the show, it’s on a
nationwide tour and not to be missed.
In print,
meanwhile, Hertfordshire Life has published my interview with photographer,
Rachel Piper. I met another photographer at an exhibition during the summer –
Stuart Feurtado – and he is my latest Our Creative Vale subject in Vale Life
magazine. My Hampshire Life artist profile this month is John Green and
Buckinghamshire Life includes two of my features: an interview with the
amazingly talented magician, Tom Elderfield, and a piece about West Wycombe’s
Hell Fire Caves where I’d been on a candlelit ghost tour.
Since I interview
so many artists, I recently took the opportunity to go along to a Wendover Art
Club talk about abstract artist, Kandinsky. It was a fascinating evening,
partly due to the subject but I also met a couple of artists whom I plan to
interview next year.
Now what else?
Oh yes, I was privileged to critique the first three chapters of a friend’s
book and continue to write three Neighbourhood News columns for The Bucks
Herald. And it was good to catch up with Carole Matthews at the last Chiltern
Writers meeting. There’s lots more in the pipeline, of course, but I’ll save
details for next time.
