Sunday Ramble a few sketches type of thing

The idea was to do some sketching and possibly some painting today, it really was to windy to sit outside.

I started with this sketch from Gerry’s Coffee Shop in Albert Square Ramsgate, very good coffee at Gerry’s.

I went on to Margate for a last viewing of “Making Painting: Helen Frankenthaler and JMW Turner” which finishes today. Helen Frankenthaler didn’t really do it at all for me until today when I got a slight hint of the energy of producing some of he paintings. Frankly not really enough.

Lunch at Café G and another sketch.

Back to Turner Contemporary where Manuel was occurring.

A few more sketches during that. 

“Manual demonstrates how we are experts in the movements which make up our daily lives. Dance artist Helka Kaski invites visitors of the current exhibitions of Edmund de Waal and Helen Frankenthaler to help her carry out a familiar action by giving her a series of verbal instructions, for example standing up from a lying-down position. As they work together to complete the task, it becomes clear that what at first may appear easy, is actually complex and extraordinary, often causing amusement and bemusement. Manual poignantly draws attention to simple movements, meticulously dismantling their timing and order.”

And the inevitable photos

I did go shopping in another local bookshop, which seemed to me a bit of a David Lynch experience, anyone here remember Twin Peaks?

Sorry I really don’t think I have mastered the moving image.

I will be posting some stuff about the council proposals http://thanetlab.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/leaders-report-to-council.html I have to say I am not so keen on turning the Pavillion into the biggest pub in Europe and I do have some positives and negatives about moving Ramsgate Market.

One issue here is that retail has to be related to any town’s car parks and in some instances multi-storey car parks are excluded because they are dirty and don’t feel safe enough for everyone to use.

I can of course see how Ramsgate Town Council would influence Thanet District Council to try and centralise commercial activity in the part of Ramsgate where the town council are.

The big problem here is the coloured concrete promenade that removed most of the parking from this part of Ramsgate, apart from Pier yard itself this may make it difficult for any market to succeed there.

A though about this blog here, comment management is becoming more time consuming than actually writing the posts, doing the sketches and taking the photographs. So I would urge you all to think before you comment and try and make it both related to the post and within the guidelines under the comment box. If I have to waste a lot of time dealing with emails about comments and deleting comment that fall outside of the guidelines, you will inevitably get less in the way of posts.  

I may ramble on here…. 

Ruth Rollason exhibition at The York Street Gallery Ramsgate

Ruth is a Ramsgate based artist who brings to the gallery a host of images created using other various media. With a great selection of photo images and ceramics. The exhibition runs -- 6th May 2014 - 13th May

Latest Manston Airport offer rejected, part of a Broadstairs sketch and a possible ramble.

Update 1.40 06.05.2014 the airport closure date has now been set for 15.05.2014 this information comes from Save Manston Airport facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/616428761764523/640109086063157/?notif_t=group_activity

I understand that the consultation has moved from a group consultation to consulting with individual employees and that no more offers will be considered, although some news sources are salying that further offers will be considered up to 15.5.2014

further update

Joint Statement By Sir Roger Gale MP and Laura Sandys MP 

“The statement released by the current owners of Manston Airport today is very saddening indeed.

“We know that there is ongoing and serious interest in the acquisition of Manston as a working airport and we hope that even at this late stage the current owners may be persuaded to reconsider and negotiate.

“Our first thought has always been for the employees of Manston, many of whom have families to support. Their wellbeing is of the upmost concern, and we will be making ourselves available for anyone who would like to meet us and discuss their concerns and options.

“Our second priority has been to establish the viability of Manston as an operating airport in the local and national interest. We are convinced that, given more time, real progress could have been made and it is thus hugely disappointing that the decision has been taken to close it. The both of us have always said that had we known about the owners’ intentions months ago, a plan could have been put in place well in advance and this continuing uncertainty could have been avoided.

“We wish to pay tribute to the local community who have been so vital in keeping the momentum around the airport going, and urge local people to keep faith that a positive solution for Manston will be found. We will absolutely not accept second best and will fight together in the coming weeks to make sure the interests of the people of Thanet are protected.”

Various reports about the airport offer are starting to appear in the media so this one is just an example http://www.kentonline.co.uk/kent-business/county-news/manston-airport-offer-rejected-16777/  

I have been a bit short of time this bank holiday and this sketch today is an example of a hurried start with no time to finish.

With Manston airport I think a problem has been that although the closure of the airport, or for that matter it remaining open has a considerable impact on local people in both positive and negative ways, public information about the closure is very limited. 

I would say that the airport being sold for £1 can easily be misleading, as it isn’t clear just what existing liabilities the new owner took over as part of the deal. 

  

A quick sketch of Canterbury, an offer for Manston airport, a few Canterbury photos and a possible ramble.

A bit of a tale of two towers here, obviously one of them is wrong as they should have both come out the same size, I didn’t have the time to start again and the viewing angle made it difficult to draw, because of looking up at it.

Sir Roger Gale says that there is a firm offer to buy Manston airport as a going concern with the intention of continuing to run it as an airport, From: GALE, Roger 

Sent: 04 May 2014 18:23
To: GALE, Roger
Subject: Manston - a formal offer made

Manston  - A formal offer

North Thanet`s MP, Sir Roger Gale, has indicated that this (Sunday) afternoon a formal offer has been made for the purchase of Manston Airfield as a working airport.

Speaking from his constituency Sir Roger has said:

“ In the light of the ongoing concern about the future of Manston and the obvious distress and concern that this is causing to our constituents employed there I have today telephoned the company with whom I met last week and they have confirmed that they have, following discussions with the owner of the airfield, Mrs. Gloag, now submitted a formal offer to purchase the business as a going concern.

This does not, of course, mean that the offer has  been accepted but I hope and expect that common sense  and fairness will now prevail and that, as a result, an agreement will be reached that will enable Manston to remain open and operational  and to realise its’ potential both in the interests of those that Laura Sandys and I represent and also in the national interest.  Clearly any agreement will take still more time to finalise and legalise but given the indication that Mrs. Gloag gave to me personally to the effect that she wished to sell I would hope and expect that any differences between seller and buyer will be resolved.”

Some sad news on the Canterbury shop front which is Chromos the artist’s materials shop is to close, this shop is one of the main reasons that I visit Canterbury regularly.

The new statue of the comic Dave Lee has appeared outside the Marlowe Theatre where he appeared 1,000 times.

European elections and the Thanet factor.

I expect I am being naïve here but for the most part I would like to have a MEP who is Thanet based and would get our deprived area some of the huge pot on EC funding in terms of grants spent locally.  

The only candidate I can find who lives in Thanet is Conservative Julie Marson, so at the moment that is the way I am considering voting, is it a one horse election?

The snag here is in the numbers down the right hand side, I am pretty sure, but not certain that the number 7 next to her name means that with the pr system the other 6 Conservative candidates with lower numbers would have to get in first. 

Here is the list of candidates from the bbc website at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-27051068 so I assume that it is accurate.

South East - 10 MEPs
Party	Candidate/s	Party list order
An Independence From Europe	Laurence Stassen Joyce Nattrass Paul Godfrey Alan Sheath Ken Holtom Mark Henry Keith Vernon Michaelina Argy Seana Connolly Dorothy Sheath	1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
British National Party	John Robinson Gavin Miller Eric Elliott John Moore Alwyn Deacon Anthony Bamber Brenda Waterhouse Mark Jones Jack Renshaw Yvonne Deacon	1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Christian Peoples Alliance	Norman Burnett Suzanne Fernandes Flora Amar Rev Anthony Dorothy Mugara Kayode Shedowo Bridget Oyekan Nnenna St Luce Chikka Roja	1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Conservative	Dan Hannan Nirj Deva Richard Ashworth Marta Andreasen Richard Robinson Graham Knight Julie Marson George Jeffrey Rory Love Adrian Pepper	1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
English Democrats	Steve Uncles Julia Gasper Amanda Hopwood Simone Clark Steve Clegg Milly Uncles Mike Russell Mike Tibby Doreen Dye William James	1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Green Party	Keith Taylor Alexandra Phillips Derek Wall Jason Kitcat Miriam Kennet Beverly Golden Jonathan Essex Jonathan Kent Stuart Jeffrey Ray Cunningham	1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
The Harmony Party	Terry Leach Raymond Crick	1 2
Labour Party	Anneliese Dodds John Howarth Emily Westley James Swindlehurst Farah Nazeer James Watkins Maggie Hughes Christopher Clark Karen Landles Tracey Hill	1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Liberal Democrats	Catherine Bearder Anthony Hook Dinti Batstone Giles Goodall Ian Bearder Allison Moss Steven Sollitt Bruce Tennent John Vincent Alan Bullion	1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Liberty GB	Paul Weston Enza Ferreri Jack Buckby	1 2 3
The Peace Party	John Morris Jim Duggan Julie Roxburgh Jeff Bolam Geoff Pay David Brown Keith Scott Imdad Hussain Munim Choudhury Charles Wilkinson	1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
The Roman Party	Jean-Louis Pascual	1
Socialist Party of Great Britain	Dave Chesham Rob Cox Les Courtney Sean Deagan Max Hess Claudia Hogg-Blake Danny Lambert Andy Matthews Howard Pilott Mike Young	1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
UKIP	Nigel Farage Janice Atkinson Diane James Ray Finch Donna Edmunds Patricia Culligan Nigel Jones Alan Stevens Simon Strutt Barry Cooper	1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
YOURvoice	Julian James Rachel Ling Fulvia James	1 2 3

I will add to this post if I have any more ideas and would appreciate any comment suggesting ways that it could be better to vote, for people living in Thanet.

Thanet Council, Turner Contemporary, Edmund De Waal and The Impossible Object; a day orf ramble.

May day today and I went to Margate; in search of something pagan? Don’t know really. At Turner Contemporary I went through the motions of not photographing or drawing “Atmosphere” by Edmund De Waal, the only major exhibit you are allowed to photograph, I hope was is a sufficiently minimalist approach. There are parallels between the vitrines containing his pots and the gallery’s café where I went for a coffee. There is a sense there of being inside an extension of the exhibits that one has just been, what’s the word? We will go for “observing” from different angles.

For me the acid test of any work of art is does it inspire me to engage in art myself. And after my minimalist observation I was just gagging to draw, my brain was still between two glass cases, so the impossible (above) occurred.

After this I ventured further into the gallery in search of maidens with maypoles.

On the bookbuying front I struck lucky with a pagan Margate item.

The literate among you will know “Impossible Object” is a novel by Nichols Mosley, what with one thing and another I baulked at trying to photograph an impossible object

So here is a picture of one of his other books.

On, sadly to the council, some of you will have read Ian Driver’s blog post http://thanetgreencouncillor.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/thanet-council-bullies-whistleblowers.html where there is an email from the council’s lawyer asking Ian to do the impossible i.e. remove something from the internet.

Here is the relevant quote:

“You should also be aware that qualified privilege attaches when issues of concern are raised internally but your conduct in publishing these can attract no such protection and as a result, you have placed yourself at significant personal risk of having multiple actions in defamation taken against you by all those named in your web-blog, If nothing else will persuade you to do the right thing, perhaps the realisation that you have placed your home and personal assets at risk, will.

I therefore require you to immediately remove from your web blog all the matters referred to in this letter. I would also suggest that you seek urgent legal advice on how to mitigate your liability for your ill judged actions.”

Of course no one would read this as a veiled threat and as I have already said, removing something from the internet is impossible anyway, only the most technologically illiterate would have the slightest difficulty finding the cached page.

Anyway this morning I sent the following open letter in the form of an email to the council’s chief executive, lawyer, leader and leader of the opposition.

“Hi Sue [forwarded to the others asking them to comment on it] 

Please see this one as an open letter that will be published today, with any reply you send me.

I am becoming increasingly concerned about the situation at TDC with senior officers and councillors.

This culminated yesterday in a councillor publishing documents [which he was then asked to remove] Ed. I have removed part of this paragraph pending legal advice.

I am leaving part of the post deleted at the moment but have added this link to the Gazette article about the issue http://www.thanetgazette.co.uk/Council-takes-legal-advice-chief-executive/story-21035116-detail/story.html   

The follow up to this was the council’s legal department threatening the councillor with legal action that could result in the loss of his house.

Looking at this from outside the council my impression is, that if an elected member discovers wrongdoing or suspects that there may be wrongdoing among the most senior officers, then that councillor is likely to be threatened with having his or her house repossessed and being made bankrupt.      

Any thoughts you have on this matter would be helpful.

Best regards Michael”

I have so far had the following reply from the leader of the opposition:

Hi Michael

As I am presently a member of TDC's General Purposes Committee, which is presently engaged in a process related to the issues you raise, I feel that it would be inappropriate to comment on your open letter. The work of this committee has been seriously compromised by Cllr Driver's actions and I have no desire to make things worse.

Regards

Bob

And this reply from the council’s PR team:

Dear Michael,

Your recent e-mail has been passed on to the PR and Publicity team.

Our response to your enquiry is as follows:

The council is following due process and in order to allow this to be properly and thoroughly considered – and in fairness to the parties concerned – it would be inappropriate to provide any comment on this investigation at the present time.

Kind regards

*****

I don’t really know if I will get any more replies though I expect I will as I am sure they are not all in it together, if I do I will publish them.

In view of the warning and although I really don’t have any idea what the council would do with my bookshop, comments with names of officers and councillors that look dubious will be deleted from this post as will anything else that could possibly construed as detrimental to the council’s investigation.

I will also ramble on here about my visit to Margate.

Now the bulb has gone out in Tracey Emin’s Margate sign, I wondered if anyone could remember what it said as I found myself struggling. Wasn't it supposed to be worth loads of dosh, I do hope I am not the only person to notice that there is no canvas in the frame.  

Back in Ramsgate with the lifeguard hut on our rapidly diminishing beach.

As you see they have the right idea about how to stop it floating away.

Ah yes, a stamp on the toe for being so slow, I went to the webstats for this blog that I usually use for the referring sites on my pinch and a punch posts and it says I only had one visit during the last month. So either there has been a technical glitch or this blog has become a lot less popular recently.

This is a picture of the rather limited information about referring sites on bloggers own stats page, this is what drives the counter app at the top of the sidebar.

Ivor Barnard art exhibition at The York Street Gallery in Ramsgate

Ivor is a Broadstairs based artist who produces large (And smaller) portraits on canvas using oils and acrylics.  With a host of images created using other various media.

The exhibition runs -- 30th April - 6th May 2014