Anke: Royal Tunbridge Wells

The Spectator Exhibition

There is a new exhibition on at the Art Gallery to coincide with the the Olympics this summer. As the name suggests though, it's more about the spectators than the sport.

Tonight (Friday) was the launch night and it was also the prize-giving ceremony for the lucky winners of the competition that ran before the exhibition. Myself, Jamie and Jo from the Museum, and Glen from The Courier, all gathered together a few weeks ago to choose the lucky winner and amazingly we were unanimous. You can see their winning entry on the Wall of Fans gallery when you visit.

...including some by the great Martin Parr

I really encourage you to pay this exhibition a visit, there are some wonderful photographs on display, including some by the great Martin Parr. There are also some intriguing sports-related items donated by other museums and local residents for you to enjoy. If the kids get to restless whilst you look around there is also Wii Sports to play with.

When you stop by please take a few moments to read the intro boards scattered around because one of them is mine, and to encourage you to pop along I have reprinted a small fragment of my piece here below:

If there is one name in the world of photography that will polarise opinion more than any other, it’s Martin Parr.
Until a year or so ago the photographic pedant inside me really didn’t appreciate his images, I couldn’t see past the technical imperfections. But I was missing the point. It’s not until I really studied his work that I discovered that his primary objective is capturing moments; he is interested in people and the minutiae of their lives, and he always does it with a healthy dose of affectionate humour.
The images chosen for this exhibition are great examples of his work and perfectly embody what it’s like to be a spectator. Stand in front of these photographs for a few minutes and soak up the emotion emanating from the sports fans. Feel their passion, feel their pain.

All in all a really great exhibition that has obviously taken a lot of hard work to put together and is really well worth you all taking a half an hour out of your day to go along and visit. Let me know what you think when you do.

Click here to see some photographs from the opening night.

The Royal Visit to The Pantiles

The Jubilee Celebrations have begun today in great style with a visit from the Earl and Countess of Wessex to The Pantiles. David and I were there as official photographers to document the day.

Edward and Sophie arrived at the far end of the Pantiles and met local dignitaries before making their way along the large excited crowd. It was really nice to see so many people turned out and in such good spirits. Large swathes of schoolchildren, having the morning off school, were enthusiastically waving flags and screaming quite loudly.

Click the photo or here to see all 90 of my photographs (4 pages).

It was a wonderful, albeit exhausting, morning and a really great event for The Pantiles. A huge thank you to William, Sue and Jo at Tunbridge Wells Borough Council for the privileged access.

Royal Tree Planting

To mark the Queen's Jubilee celebrations, a commemorative oak tree has been planted on the very edge of the Common. It's on the meadowy verge at the end of Church Road.

The Lord Lieutenant, Viscount De L'Isle, placed the final shovelful of dirt onto the base of the tree and another in our long line of royal trees is born.

Click to see more photos from the planting.

The Expensive Telephone Toy

A rather intriguing invite hit the virtual doormat of my inbox last week, an invitation to see some really old wiring. How could I resist?

The main system of wires in the basement.

The wiring in question belongs to the what we think is the earliest known telephone system still in use in Tunbridge Wells. It belongs to the residents of Chancellor House on Mount Ephraim and dates from the late 1930s.

Tunbridge Wells was one of the very first towns in the UK to have a municipal telephone service, beaten by a few months by Glasgow in 1901. Back in this time, each subscriber had the privilege of making two phone calls per day. Ten subscribers were needed to form a circuit and they had the use of the wire in common. Of course, only one subscriber was able to use the wire at a time, and the other nine subscribers, if they so chose, could overhear all conversation.

One of the boxes that lead into each flat inside the building.

If that wasn't comical enough, another bizarre feature was that the subscribers on the circuit were only identified by a certain number of rings when being called. For instance, No.1 subscriber would attempt to pick up the phone when they heard one ring, No.2 subscriber would do so on the second ring, and so on. The likelihood for confusion must've been staggering. The Courier Newspaper at the time called it "The Expensive Telephone Toy".

The system in Chancellor House was installed when the telephone service in Britain was really taking off, in the years around this system being connected the 999 service was introduced and the speaking clock looked at her watch for the first time. These same lines that carried those services still manage to carry the resident's broadband Internet today. I think you'll agree it's quite an object.

The wires double up through these joints.

One last telephone related nugget: do you know why we have the code 01892? The standard codes were originally designed to be as meaningful as possible to the users of the telephone system, and therefore the original 89 code was because...well...have a look at an old phone keypad and you'll see.

Well there you have it, a little post for the telephone and wiring nerd inside us all. I would like to thank Kate Boyes at Alexandre Boyes for the lead and to Stuart the Concierge for showing us around.

A close-up of the main system of wires in the basement.

Do you know of an older system? Perhaps one dating back to the very beginning?

Town Centre Meadows

The town centre is about to get just a little bit greener. Those large grass patches that run alongside London Road are being left to nature to become seasonal wildflower meadows.

It’s looking rather short now, but let’s see this spot again at the end of summer.

This was in the news last week but getting this blog redesign up and online meant I had neglected to post it, but thanks to some lovely weather I had no excuse but to go out with camera in hand and take some photos.

These stretches of grass are usually cut short over the spring and summer months, but this year they are to be left to their own devices to develop into wonderful colourful wildflower habitats. It is being called “An Experiment in Biodiversity.”

The beauty will be in the surprise, just what wildflowers will pop up? What insects, butterflies and moths will make their homes here? If anything it should at least attract some interesting bugs for Ian Beavis to kidnap and identify.

As someone who lives very near to these patches I am very much looking forward to seeing their progress, although I think my hayfever might have something else to say about it.

The grass will be still be cut in places such as edges, pathways, and so called “badger lines”, these are the lines that people naturally take when making their way across the areas. There is talk of cutting other specific spaces for picnicking and pursuits too.

Another great piece of flora and fauna news is that to coincide with the upcoming Royal visit there will be another in our long line of Royal tree plantings, this time on the patch between Church Road and York Road. Check back later in the week ahead for some photographs of that.

One thing the Commons Conservators want your help with is feedback. What do you think of the idea? Why not leave me a comment.