Editorial

Grace Currie’s Town Centre Takeover

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Grace Currie's Town Centre Takeover

Frankwell’s Helter Skelter Studios have been working with Shropshire Artist Grace Currie for nearly a year now, building her web site, adding a Shopify e-commerce store and last week, shooting a video entitled Grace Currie’s Town Centre Takeover to celebrate her involvement with the Great Big Art Exhibition.


The event has been covered by Shropshire Live and the Shropshire Star

For those who haven’t come across Grace’s uniquely vibrant art, there is a backstory that tells of an extraordinary struggle against the odds to not merely survive, but to gain a First Class degree in Fine Art last summer.

11 years ago, Grace was hit by a car as she got off a bus. She was a bright student hoping to study psychology at University. She was revived three times on the pavement and the medics said that she would not survive the ambulance journey to hospital. She did survive, not only the trip to hospital but a series of operations removing part of her skull. The official prognosis was that she would need 24 hour care for the rest of her life and would not regain full cognitive function.

She was in hospital for a year and has had to deal with what was in her words “waking up in a different person”. She has rebuild her life with the help of family and friends and is now a full time artist. Her collection of jewellery put online before Xmas raised several hundred pounds for a Shropshire Refugee Charity.

If you haven’t seen the exhibition, take a walk over the Welsh Bridge, up to Shoplatch, it will hand for at least a month, possibly longer. The paintings are of friends and family, painters from memory, impressions of relationships conducted via Zoom and FaceTime during lockdown. It will bring a smile to your face.

Septimus the Giant

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Septimus the Giant

Frankwell’s Helter Skelter Studios have been working with Thingumajig Theatre and Shrewsbury Morris on a project called Septimus the Giant. The project has been funded by the Arts Council and will deliver two films and a series of performances featuring Septimus and the Shrewsbury Morris celebrating the story of the Shrewsbury Cobbler.

The giant has been built under the expert tutelage of Thingumajig Theatre in Leighton Village Hall, enthusiastically assisted by members of the public who have discovered skills they never knew they had – to be fair, most people have never created a giant clog!

The workshops have been filmed and photographed by Helter Skelter Studios and the upcoming performance on Sunday 29 September in the Square, Shrewsbury will be filmed too. Come and join in the fun at 11am – 2pm Septimus the Giant, clog dancing, music and Morris dancers – it will be awesome!

CORACLE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2019

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Coracle World Championships 2019

Sponsored by Cancer Charity Macmillan, the Coracle World Championship 2019 is being held on 13 September on the River Severn at Pengwern Boat Club opposite the Quarry about 200 yards from the Boathouse.

The racing starts at 2:30 pm and should be marvellous fun. For those who don’t know, a Coracle is a boat that is completely round with no obvious method of steering other than vigorous rowing from either side of the vessel.

Coracles were first used in the UK over 2000 years ago, dating back to pre-Roman times. These craft were designed for fishing in the fast moving streams of Wales and Shropshire a purpose for which they are ideal being highly manoeverable and very light. They were however not designed for racing and I suspect the potential for the inexperienced to spin helplessly out of control while being washed downriver to Ironbridge is high!

Whatever happens it will be a fun afternoon, should you be inspired to enter a team, there were two places up for grabs at the time of writing – it’s a great cause, last year’s event raised £45,000.

 

Bank Holiday Rocks!

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Bank Holiday Rocks

Bank Holiday Rocks in Funky Frankwell!

For once, the weather gods smiled as we stumbled, damp & bedraggled into the late summer Bank Holiday weekend. It was as some underpaid sub-editor once wrote “…A Scorcher”..

We try to cover most of the events in and around Frankwell and this time we selected two absolutely storming local showcases. First up, at the Wheatsheaf, we attended an absolutely rocktastic line up featuring Shrewsbury band The Ronaldos and a brilliant set by Two Faced Tom & the General Lee …. The Ronaldos are the best good time band I’ve seen in years, they swing like gibbons and rock like Gibraltar.. If you haven’t seen them do yourself a favour and do it while you can. Two Faced Tom & the General Lee are the real deal too, rockabilly rebels with a penchant for the Everly Brothers and Buddy Holly.

On the Monday, we went to Foodmandu an event at the Buck’s Head that added three bands to an authentic Himalayan BBQ – a perfect end to a perfect Bank Holiday. The Food was superb and we were particularly impressed by the sleazy R&B cooked up by Frankwell residents CRUMP. Students of the Chicago school of dirty blues, these guys rocked tirelessly proving that Funk is for life, not just the weekend!

If you’re promoting an event around Frankwell, let us know, we’d love to cover it!

A Taste of the Himalayas – FOODMANDU

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FOODMANDU

Ye Olde Bucks Head

Monday 26 August

The authentic taste of the Himalayas in the Bucks Head Garden, Frankwell

Nepalese Seasoned BBQ (Meat & Vegetarian)

Featuring three local musicians/bands:

All the way from Frankwell – Crump (feat. Mickey Crump)

The King of the Castle – Simon Willis Elvis Tribute (https://www.facebook.com/The-King-of-the-Castle-Simon-Willis-Elvis-Tribute-397179844241633/)

Farai Muvuti from Farai & the Forest Dawn
https://www.facebook.com/theforestdawn/

TICKETS AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE AT THE BUCKS HEAD & ROSIES EMPORIUM; You can also call 07916096472 to reserve tickets