It’s autumn, isn’t it? Quite suddenly, as if one season was tuned out and another in. Thick, heavy rain coming through the holes in the roof, dark evenings, that smoky autumnal smell, and a certain chill in the air that means dragging out the jumpers.
Anya Gallaccio’s exhibition at Turner Contemporary in Margate is perfect for the season - it’s all apples and trees. Real apples, real trees, that will decay over the next few months. I reviewed it for Isle of Thanet News here.
I write up the exhibitions at Turner Contemporary, always in Plain English, because I believe that local news, and local reviews, are important. When I started at the Connaught in Worthing, the Herald’s newsroom was full of writers, with specialists in local sport and a dedicated arts writer - I loved visiting. So it was an honour when I got my own column there, writing about the town’s nightlife. We need more trusted local news, not less, so I think this BBC Local Democracy scheme that supports journalism is important.
As well as visiting the Anya Gallaccio exhibition, I went to the Oh So Retro car show yesterday. This event brings thousands of visitors to Margate, at the end of the summer season, so has a real impact - and it started with a dozen-or-so cars at an event I organised at Dreamland in 2013, before the park was restored. It’s not the kind of show where everything’s perfectly polished: it’s old cars, in every shape and form, looked after by people who love them. I love the Datsuns, especially the Datsun Cherry. It’s a brilliant event, organised by Lee Collier who’s a lovely chap.
Anyway, you want ten inspirational, optimistic things, not my diary - so here you go.
I am incredibly excited by the Warburg Institute opening to the public, a place I didn't know existed.
"To order the collection, a unique interdisciplinary classification system was devised. Warburg insisted upon what he called 'the law of the good neighbour'…
‘The manner of shelving the books is meant to impart certain suggestions to the reader who, looking on the shelves for one book, is attracted by the kindred ones next to it, glances at the sections above and below, and finds himself involved in a new trend of thought which may lend additional interest to the one he was pursuing.’
Divided into four main themes - Image (history of art), Word (language, literature and the transmission of texts), Orientation (religion, magic and science, philosophy) and Action (cultural and political history) - the classification system encourages readers to explore the collections, make new connections and ask new questions." Studio library reorganisation incoming.
The Biden-Harris Administration just made the biggest investment in bringing electricity to rural America since FDR’s New Deal. They've announced $7.3 billion for the Empowering Rural America (New ERA) program, which will be going out to 16 rural electric cooperatives (serving five million households across 23 states) to build or purchase over ten gigawatts of clean energy projects, mostly solar and wind.
The USA is also waking up to offshore wind. They have ten windfarms so far (the UK has more than forty) but Biden-Harris are upping the wind turbine game.
The Wexford-Pembrokeshire Pilgrim Way follows in the footsteps of St Aidan’s sixth century journey from Ferns in Ireland to meet his teacher and mentor, St David, in Wales. This new pilgrimage route is through wild Celtic landscapes (and across a rough sea), and lots of musicians, poets and painters live along its path.
I love the radio show Mark Steel's In Town, so it was an absolute joy to show Mark around Margate last year for a show broadcast this year (which has a bit of me in it). And now, thanks to this handy map, you can find all the places he's been so far.
A shrill carder bee had not been seen in the Romney Marsh area of Kent for more than a decade, but it's back and conservationists say its presence is thanks to dedicated work in improving its habitat.
If you want to help the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, how about counting bees? Thanks to Connor (a regular Ragged Optimist) for spotting this one.
Restoring Bourne North Fen will boost Lincolnshire’s endangered fenland habitats by 30%; supporting the return to the area of bittern, crane, swallowtail butterfly, spined loach and greater water parsnip. The new wetland would be connected via two rivers to form part of a nature recovery network that will tackle long-standing local water management issues in the driest region in the UK.
The new toolkit from Coventry arts organisation Talking Birds and their friends will help arts organisations think about the ethics of their funding.
Efforts to save the Caretta caretta sea turtle, which has existed for 100m years, have paid off, with record numbers of nests, and more importantly record numbers of surviving hatchlings.
This week, the Welsh Government officially backed plans to reintroduce beavers, recognising the species’ crucial role in tackling the biodiversity crisis and building climate resilience.