Veil wearing, white poppies and DVD with Wap and Kit & Helen Williams

What a brilliant gem this DVD is - £10 from The Vine Tree pub in Randwick - local award-winning film maker Cliff Smith has a collection of films from early 1970s that include 1972 Wap - great hairstyles, clothes and cars - indeed what a wonderful innocence - at least that's how it seems - or maybe it is just me remembering as an 11-year old child?

Although be careful - I got a scratched copy of the DVD so will need to change it.

The DVD also includes the Cheese Rolling, the uncovering of the Roman Pavement in 1973 and a great documentary about artists Kit and Helen Williams from 1977.

Kit Williams has his studio in Horsley and still has a semi-private opening once a year to show his wonderful latest creation - I first came across him when his book the Masquerade came out in the late 1970s (see photo of one of the pages) - the book, written and illustrated by Kit Williams, could be read as a standard child's fable about the moon falling in love with the sun, but it was designed as a real-world treasure hunt: Follow the subtle clues dropped throughout the book, and you'd discover the location of a very real hand-made jewel, valued at the time at around £5,000 - never understood the clues but it had people digging up half the countryside across Britain.

To see more about Kit visit some of the websites out there like this one:
www.bunnyears.net/kitwilliams

Helen Williams also still lives locally and years ago produced much miniature work - the later more recent stuff is much bolder but last year Helen was inspired to return to her miniature work following a study of Islamic decoration in Egypt and Morocco. In this collection, "An Afternoon in the Garden" she created a blend of delicate painting and embroidery that explores her fascination with carpets and gardens mounted within the intricate arabesques of Islamic windows and doorways.

Last night's cafe Discussion

Last year Helen Williams also illustrated a book about Islam - see BBC report - and it was infact her convertion and experiences of Islam that she shared last night at the Cafe Discussion in Star Anise - the evening explored "Image and Identity" with a particular look at wearing the veil - three muslim women were among the speakers in a fascinating discussion - their openness, honesty and frankness about their experiences of deciding to wear the veil or scarf, the racism experienced and their willingness to share was very special.

One of the other speakers Jeff Coates talked about White poppies - as noted in a previous post I have been happy to wear both - but it did have me wondering more about those red poppies - are they really viewed by some as a justification for war? Or a glorification - certainly there is a fine line....

Jeff also talked about the anger some people felt towards peace - it is indeed a strange thing - when I have been demonstrating for peace in a vigil it has often surprised me how angry that makes some people - not in Stroud as I think people are now used to the weekly vigil every Saturday in the HIgh Street.