Billy Childish and Patrick Butler hold Medway exhibition
Plus Royal Engineers celebrate 150 years since FA Cup win, Where the Wind Blows at Medway Little Theatre, we review Beantown, our weekly events guide, news in brief, and more
Billy Childish is probably Medway’s most well-known artist, and Nucleus Arts is our largest arts organisation, but the two have never come together until now. Billy will be exhibiting work at Nucleus alongside Patrick Butler to raise funds for an art mentoring scheme, so we’ve been speaking to all involved to find out more. Further down, the Royal Engineers have celebrated 150 years since their FA Cup win, we have reviews of Where the Wind Blows at Medway Little Theatre and breakfast at Beantown in Rochester, our weekly events guide, news in brief, and more.
Billy Childish and Patrick Butler hold Medway exhibition
Patrick Butler and Billy Childish are exhibiting at the Halpern Gallery at Nucleus Arts in Chatham from 23 May until 4 June. It is the first time Billy has exhibited at Nucleus, and any revenue from the sale of work is contributing towards a fund to support an emerging artist. We caught up with all involved to find out more.
Patrick Butler, who has been “the motivator behind this exhibition, is an established and successful contemporary artist,” says Genevieve Tullberg, manager at the Halpern Gallery. Patrick came to the Medway Towns in 1978 to become the Head of Art at Fort Pitt school. Billy Childish is “probably Medway's most famous and successful contemporary artist working in Medway at the moment,” says Genevieve.
Patrick orders a gin and tonic and sits rolling a cigarette whilst mulling over my question of how he would describe his art. “It's more and more explicitly objective, I suppose. You can actually tell there are figures.” Patrick acknowledges that he finds it difficult to put labels on his work. “If you asked me to put labels on Billy's painting, I'd find it just as difficult.”
We shift gears, and I ask what we can expect to see in the exhibition. Billy gets straight to the point and tells me via email, “some woodcuts and a painting.” Patrick elaborates that when Billy told him he wanted to exhibit mostly prints, that “there is a logic to doing prints. He doesn't get any hassle from his gallery, and he doesn't get any hassle because it's for charity.” Exhibiting prints will allow the work to be at a price point that will work for the exhibition. While Billy will possibly exhibit three paintings, Patrick says that due to the low ceiling in the gallery, it won’t be any of his large-scale works.
Patrick is looking forward to doing something he hasn’t done before, “and that's exhibit little paintings.” Only three of the prints Patrick will be exhibiting will be for sale “because somebody lost the originals.” Patrick is averse to producing too many prints as they are expensive to produce and take up space. Patrick has purposely done small paintings, as they will be more affordable for people. “The difficulty is changing your price points. I can't say, “This was £3,000 yesterday, and it's £1,000 today. Somebody would punch me in the face. And I agree with them.”
Both Billy and Patrick have exhibited across Europe and the wider world, so why did they decide to exhibit at Nucleus Arts? “That’s where they said it would be,” Billy tells me, and I put the same question to Patrick, hoping he has more information. “I know quite a few vagabonds here,” says Patrick, “and I seem to match in with those quite nicely.” Patrick goes on to explain that he likes the ethos of Nucleus Arts as a community that promotes art to people of all ages, and both professionals and amateurs.
Patrick has known Billy for 30 years, and they used to live around the corner from each other. This is the first time that they have exhibited together after Genevieve at Nucleus proposed the exhibition to Patrick. Patrick is happy that it is occurring at the grassroots level through Nucleus Arts. “Billy knows I’m the poor relative,” says Patrick, though Billy acknowledges his part in Billy’s journey. “Pat invited me to exhibit,” Billy tells me. “I know Pat from ways back when he used to let me and Wolf sit in on his life drawing classes at Rochester Adult Centre.”
The intention of the exhibition is to support a new mentoring scheme for an emerging artist. If successful, this could include studio space at Nucleus Arts and may include mentoring time with Billy in his studio, though details are yet to be firmed up. I ask Billy what he can tell me about the mentoring scheme. “Not a great deal,” he replies, suggesting I speak to Pat instead. “They tell me it’s all for the good, so I agreed.”
Patrick believes the mentoring scheme will be important to Medway and that this is just the first year. “If Patrick and Billy didn't have the friendship they have and their mutual respect, this wouldn't be happening,” notes Genevieve. The selection process for the supported emerging artist has yet to be finalised, though the final decision will be made by Patrick, Genevieve and (possibly) Billy or Steve Lowe of the L-13 arts collective. “Hopefully, it’s of benefit to someone somewhere,” concludes Billy.
In brief
💷 Kent and Medway organisations working to improve mental health are invited to apply for grants from Kent and Medway Better Mental Health and Wellbeing Community Fund, with pots of up to £10,000 available.
🍲 Sotto Lounge, part of the bar-restaurant chain rapidly expanding nationwide, will open at Chatham Dockside on Wednesday (21 May).
🍹 The Pumproom at Copper Rivet Distillery in Chatham reopens today and will operate as a bar on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.
🔊 ‘cene magazine has interviewed Rochester pop artist Lo Lauren.
Royal Engineers celebrate 150 years since FA Cup win
Last weekend, a celebration was held to mark the 150th anniversary of the Royal Engineers football team winning the FA Cup in 1875. The journey to the celebration was slightly longer than I might have hoped. Having walked past King’s Bastion, the location for the event, a number of times, I had never walked up it and was surprised by how far it went, questioning at one point if I was still in Brompton. Only once I could see the war memorial from a previously unseen angle did it become clear that I was in the right place.
The Royal Engineers Association Football Club, also known as ‘The Sappers,’ have been based in Kent since the 1860s and were, at the time, one of the best teams in English football. The 1875 FA Cup was the fourth final of the tournament and the third final that the Royal Engineers had made it to. They lost 1-0 to Wanderers in 1872 and lost 2-0 to Oxford University in 1874. In 1975, they played Old Etonians, with the match ending 1-1 after extra time. They went on to win the FA Cup 2-0 in a replay.
Once at the King’s Bastion grounds, I find a wide array of family activities, including, rather bafflingly, an opportunity to play noughts and crosses against somebody in scuba diving gear in a tank. There is also a fun fair and an opportunity to have your photograph taken with the FA Cup. You are repeatedly told not to touch the cup, which, given the setting, I duly complied with.
For the football itself, there is a Soccer Aid match between Royal Engineers and Old Etonians to begin, with teams made up of veterans and the women’s teams. A good game is played out, and whilst The Sappers controlled much of the game, their attack was better than their defence, and they lost the game 2-0.
Afterwards, honorary colonel Al Murray is in attendance and gives each of the players a medal. Before the main match, the Red Devils fly over the grounds, completing an impressive display before unfurling a large Union Jack and flying it across the sky. They may also have delivered the match ball as part of this extravaganza.
Al Murray joins us in the stands, and former England players Des Walker and Terry Butcher arrive to celebrate the event. A better journalist than this one would present you with a quote from any of these people, but it was not to be.
The current Royal Engineers and Old Etonians football teams take to the pitch. Again, The Sappers controlled the game, but 30 minutes in, it was still 0-0, and I felt that it was not going to be The Sappers day. Thankfully, the half ended 2-0. They continued to control the game and ended the day 4-0 winners, another fine win for the Sappers.
Out to Breakfast: Beantown in Rochester
Beantown is to be found in the middle of Maidstone Road in Rochester, part of a small parade of shops opposite the cemetery. What appears a small venue actually has more space than would at first appear, thanks to upstairs and outside seating areas. It’s a smart, friendly environment, and I sit downstairs and survey the breakfast options.
I ordered the American breakfast, which comes with a big breakfast price and consists of two free-range fried eggs, two rashers of streaky bacon, two premium sausages, two hash browns, baked beans, three American pancakes and Canadian maple syrup. Despite international geopolitics, it is good to see that pancakes and syrup can still work well together. However, let me take a moment to talk about the need to end premium sausages. Sausages are a great way to use off cuts of pork mixed with other ingredients and deliver as mini packs of deliciousness. The fact that we are using premium cuts of pork to make sausages is an example of modern Western decadence and the failures of the capitalist state, comrades.
With my crispy hash brown in hand, I cannot fully express the sheer level of disappointment and despair as I dunk it into my egg yolk to find it hard. Sadly, I dunked it instead into my warm, not hot, beans. The sausage is dense and clearly premium, but it is also not hot, as if it was previously cooked and warmed through, only not for long enough. I pour the maple syrup over the pancakes and tuck in, but by now, my heart really isn’t in it.
I have eaten at Beantown before and enjoyed it. Sadly that was not the meal I reviewed today.
Review: Where the Wind Blows at the Medway Little Theatre
by Moira Mehaffey
Raymond Briggs’ charming and devastating 1982 graphic novel is brought to the stage in a sweet, discomfiting and thoughtful adaptation at Medway Little Theatre under the able direction of Mike Dickinson. This well-loved tale of retired couple Jim and Hilda facing the aftermath of a nuclear strike in rural England is imbued with tender poignancy and moments of both dark humour and stark disquiet.
As Jim, Ian White moves capably from bustling and practical, constructing the inner zone or refuge, unshakable in his faith that he is doing the correct thing by following governmental stipulations, to increasingly frail, his stoicism underlining the sheer futility of his precautions. Zo Hartley, as Hilda, adds pathos with a performance that convincingly portrays the incomprehension of the unimaginable situation being faced by the couple, alongside her misplaced pride in maintaining appearances and standards.
The focus is on the smallness of their world, the disruption to the routines and familiarity of their shared life and the sheer anonymity of the forces beyond their control which have caused this. A flash of bright white light marks the impact of the bomb, with a continuous red afterglow visible through the window of their living room set, reminding us of the bigger, worse world outside. A single broken plate, a garden gate from which the paint has been burned off and the horror of switching on a radio from which only the absence of sound emanates are the simple props which help to convey the play’s critique of a faceless government’s inadequate preparations for an inevitable attack.
The humour can be disarming but reminds us of the essential humanity of the characters. Assuming a new pertinence in the current international situation, the production will reward the investment of your time.
Where The Wind Blows is playing at the Medway Little Theatre until 24 May, and you can buy tickets via their website.
Events this week
🎉 Sat 17 May - WHOOP Heritage Festival // Fun activities for all the family. Slough Fort, Allhallows. Free.
🛍️ Sat 17 May - Broken Heart Bazaar // Alternative art, curios and wonders, gothic gifts, spooky homewares, and preloved trinkets. Sun Pier House, Chatham. Free.
🥕 Sun 18 May - Rochester Farmers’ Market // Wide range of traders selling food and gifts. Blue Boar Lane car park, Rochester. Free.
A Company Interested in its Community
Last time, we caught up on how our Medwayish project came into being and the good time that was (mostly) had by all. As we continue the journey of spinning the project out into a separate entity as a Community Interest Company, we’ve posted an update on what has changed and, excitingly, what comes next.
More Authority
We recently held our latest Medway Question Time event at MidKent College, where our readers can put questions to a panel of significant figures. For those who couldn’t make it along, we’ve made a recording of the event available. It’s a wide-ranging and good-natured discussion about the issues facing our towns, and we look forward to doing it again later in the year.
We also published our latest column from one of Medway’s elected representatives. This time, it was the turn of Kent Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Scott, who talked about his new Police and Crime Plan and children’s exposure to phones and social media.
Footnotes
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