Lowriders, Joyriders, Cruisers & Doughnuteers – Car Park Life at Night
LOCATION: A supermarket car park near you, probably. WORDS: Gareth E. Rees In 2014, Plymouth’s Crownhill retail park hosts a nocturnal gathering of around hundred cars and five hundred people. A twenty-year old named Christopher Budd enters a skills competition with
The Gallows Pole: Myth & The Taxonomy of Terrain in Yorkshire’s Rebel Landscape
WORDS: Gareth E. Rees LOCATION: Yorkshire Benjamin Myers’ The Gallows Pole [Bluemoose Books] is a novel about the Cragg Vale Coiners, a band of forgers led by David Hartley in the 18th Century. The Gallows Pole opens with a taxonomy
Lost British Landscapes
LOCATION: The Submerged Coastline of the UK WORDS: B G Nichols In September 1931 the trawler Colinda set sail from Lowestoft on a routine trip towards the Leman and Ower Banks some 25 miles off the coast of Norfolk in
A Prospect of Loughton Brook
MUSIC & WORDS: Spaceship (Mark Williamson) LOCATION: Epping Forest A Prospect of Loughton Brook was recorded using binaural and hydrophone recordings, augmented with piano, synthesizer and strings. It traces the journey of Loughton Brook, a stream in Epping Forest as
Brexit, Landslip, Divorce & a Very Sussex Apocalypse
WORDS: Gareth E. Rees LOCATION: Hastings, East Sussex The Stone Tide: Adventures at the End of the World is an apocalyptic black comedy set in Hastings, written by Unofficial Britain founder Gareth E. Rees, featuring Aleister Crowley, the Piltdown Man
The Digger’s Tale
LOCATION: Hertfordshire WORDS: George Sandison Arthur saw it first, or what was left of it after the digger had sheared through the legs. It sounded like squealing hydraulics, the visceral potential of the moment drowned out by machinery, and left
The Militarised Countryside: A Journey to Imber, Salisbury Plain’s Ghost Village
LOCATION: Wiltshire WORDS: Gareth E. Rees It’s a long road to Little Imber, Salisbury plain’s ghost village. The MOD have opened it for public access, as they do occasionally at Easter and Christmas. Turning off the A360 from Tilshead, the
Baleen
WORDS: Gary Budden LOCATION: Kent There was all the stuff you’d expect; heart lungs liver kidneys etc. Baleen thick and numerous like bristles on an old paint-brush. But nothing in the gut, half-digested and smelling of pricey French perfume. Empty
An Exploration of St Peter’s, Cardross
LOCATION: The Firth of Clyde, Scotland This is an extract from Angus Farquhar’s photo essay in the new book St Peter’s, Cardross I set up NVA, an independent arts company (the letters stand for nacionale vita-activa, meaning ‘the right to
Magic & Mystery in the Mundane – An Exploration of Uncanny Places
WORDS & PICTURES: Gareth E. Rees This is an edited Transcript of the talk I gave at the Hastings Storytelling Festival, Wednesday 9th November 2016. I want to tell you a story. It’s about how an erotic encounter with an
