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A-Mazing

During the past week we have negotiated several mazes - in the interest of research of course. As the subject of my very first published article back in 1991 which was the Year of the Maze I have always had a soft spot for mazes and labyrinths and have enjoyed seeking out examples old and new.   Around the UK there are many ancient mazes such as the one on the green at Saffron Walden in Essex and of course the world-famous maze at Hampton Court. In fact the first is technically a labyrinth and the latter a maze. A labyrinth has a single track which does not go directly to the centre but reaches this goal providing you stick to the path. A maze has numerous routes, many ending in dead ends.   The “mazes” we came across this week were generally labyrinths despite their labels but today we encountered a real maze. The Saxon Maze at the Herb Farm at Sonning Common was designed by Adrian Fisher, probably the best known maze designer of the present day. It was one of the many mazes that were constructed in the Year of the Maze and is now fully mature and as such is more challenging than it would have been when planted with the hedges now above head height.   Mazes and labyrinths appeal to all ages it seems. The age range of those tackling this particular maze today was wide and everyone was clearly pleased when they completed the task.

Cheltenham Literature Festival

Yesterday saw us at an illustrated talk given by Jeremy Paxman at the Cheltenham Literature Festival. Before you query our choice of speaker I should add that the tickets were won in a competition and, as we discovered, we were even second choice for that as someone else had turned down the offer!   The talk was based on his recent television series on the Victorians where art works of the day were used to study Victorian society and trends. We had enjoyed the series and were interested to see what he could add to this and also to see where the idea had come from in the first place. It seems his interest in both art and history is purely that, an amateur interest. He has no academic axe to grind therefore when labelling much of the art work indifferent to say the least. His interest was simply in the story told.   He had arrived late not having appreciated the venue was the Racecourse and not the main Festival haunts in the town itself. From access and parking point of view this was an asset of course but not easy to travel swiftly between the two. He was slow to get under way with the talk too, often simply repeating what we had already gleaned from TV, but once launched he did indeed add value to what had been included in the TV series. Mindful of the time he cut the talk short to allow for the promised question and answer session on any subject. Here he was less sure. Initial questions on art topics showed he was indeed just an enthusiastic amateur who "knew what he liked" but went no further. Asked for his opinion on more recent matters he resorted to familiar territory using political examples and occasionally raising a laugh. In the end, and I never expected to say this, I actually felt sorry for him. He had been welcomed onto the stage by one of the sponsors and was then left alone on stage to pace up and down, gesture and so on at will. However, no one appeared to end the session. As he took several last questions he even asked who was running the show but no one appeared. Finally he made a quip in reply to a question and, when this was applauded he simply walked off. Meanwhile the audience streamed out in a manner reminiscent of the final house at the cinema when the National Anthem was to be played - now that dates me. It transpired that the next show was due to start in half an hour and we were carefully shepherded from our seats by the stewards anxious to close the doors before they re-opened for the next audience.   This wasn't our first Cheltenham experience. A couple of years ago we had tickets to see Jenny Eclair at the delightful Everyman Theatre in the town. (Yes, that was a competition win, too.) That was conducted as an interview with Jenny reading from her latest book and finally answering questions. On that occasion, with the interviewer on stage, there was no doubt when things were being drawn to a close and the audience was being ushered out for the inevitable book signing. Yesterday even that took place in a room that did not have to be accessed unless one specifically aimed for it. We were left feeling a little cheated and can only assume that Jeremy Paxman, unless he is completely thick skinned, was feeling let down too.

Poetry in the landscape

We have become used to seeing sculptures in both town and country settings as we travel around. Local authorities seem keen to support the visual arts and no new development is complete without its piece of sculpture. Bland shopping malls all containing the same mix of shops can often only be distinguished by their art work.   A number of these art works also support poetry, usually highlighting poems written about the location, or inspired by it in times past so it was refreshing to see some new poetry inspired by a very old landscape, one of the oldest in Britain in human terms. We recently revisited Grimes Graves near Thetford in Norfolk. Found within the confines of Thetford Forest the "graves" are not burial mounds as you might expect but the remains of some 400 flint mines where flint was mined for the production of flint tools. Using deer antlers the flints were dug out and ,as with nineteenth century industry, the flints were taken elsewhere to be manufactured into tools. Who says there is anything new?   When English Heritage wanted to update the display to cover the human aspects of the site Michael Rosen, Children's Laureate and poet, was asked to write some poems or charms to suit. These poems do not rhyme but have a rhythm which is quite haunting and is more typical of the poetry of old. One device used is the Kenning, a Norse form that I found very popular with children, and Michael Rosen has used this to great effect in one of the charms. In a kenning an object is not named but is described in a two word phrase so a cat may be a milk-lapper and some have been absorbed into our language as single words such as beachcomber. Rosen uses a number of these kennings such as pick-handlers and sky-watchers.   The display has an interactive section and one of the options is to hear Michael Rosen explain the background to the poems and to read them, allowing the full effect of the rhythm to be appreciated.   The challenge of the site lies in visiting the mine that has been completely excavated. Access is via a steep ladder with hard hats obligatory. “It's thirty two steps down and thirty two steps back up,” you are warned. We had made a previous visit years before with the children and knew that from the base of the pit a number of tunnels radiated out. What we had forgotten was how close to the ground they lay and with limited mobility from my hip I could only manage to access three of them but did manage some pictures and OH viewed them all. Although children under five are not allowed to descend the mine it does make a great place for children to visit and is quite unlike anything else around. However, on this occasion, the poems were definitely the icing on the cake

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