2022September#151
Elliot Farnsworth Music elliot.farnsworth@leftlion.co.uk
Head Designer
Editor-in-Chief jared.wilson@leftlion.co.uk Ashley Carter Editor
George Dunbar Art Co-Editor george.dunbar@leftlion.co.uk Ian C. Douglas Stage Co-Editor ian@leftlion.co.uk Marta Tavares Art Co-Editor marta.tavares@leftlion.co.uk Sub-Editor Lauren Carter-Cooke Cover Chloe Allen Intern Gemma Cockrell (gemma.cockrell@leftlion.co.uk) Editorial Illustrations Emily Catherine Writers Dani LoveBasseyBaconCece Georgianna Scurfield Steven Sheil Nadia Whittome Illustrators James Adams Toby EvieKateEmmyFionaAndertonCarrLupinSharpWarren Photographers Chloe EmmaFrazerJustinMichaelAnastasiaHenryStellaHarryIuliaNikylaLittleNathanRichardLarryTomHairycyclersAlexDaniRichardAllenAshtonBaconBladesHetheringtonHickmottKishLangmanPosyMannersTeodoraMateiMawerNewmanNormalPetersonPrinceSmithVarneyWright
leftlion.co.uk/issue1516 SupportersCredits Featured Contributor @leftlion/leftlion @leftlionmagazine Fancy seeing your name (or the name of your band, small business, loved one, pet etc) in this mag every month? It only costs a fiver and the money supports this magazine. Plus you get all kinds of other treats too. patreon.com/leftlion These people #SupportLeftLion Alan Gilby Bicyc-al alan.gilby@leftlion.co.uk
Jamie Morris jamie.morris@leftlion.co.uk Daniela Loffreda White george.white@leftlion.co.uk
Co-Editor
Partnerships Manager
Photography Editor
Editorial Assistant
You
Marketing Assistant
Addie Kenogbon Fashion addie.kenogbon@leftlion.co.uk
Adam Pickering adam.pickering@leftlion.co.uk Curtis Powell Head of Video and Photography curtis.powell@leftlion.co.uk Tom Errington Web Developer tom.errington@leftlion.co.uk
Assistant Editor
Dom Henry Stage dom.henry@leftlion.co.uk Fabrice Gagos fabrice.gagos@leftlion.co.uk
Thi Cordell thi.cordell@leftlion.co.uk
Screen Editor
Jared Wilson ashley.carter@leftlion.co.uk Owen natalie.owen@leftlion.co.uk
Now having graduated, she is staying in Notts to pursue a Masters in Magazine Journalism at NTU. Before that, she found the time to come and join us at LeftLion for the summer, as Assistant Editor of our Welcome To Nottingham Guide. can read Gemma’s interview with Women In Tandem on page 21
Food Editor food@leftlion.co.uk George
Co-Editor
Lizzy O’Riordan lizzy.oriordan@leftlion.co.uk Katie Lyle Music Co-Editor katie.lyle@leftlion.co.uk
Gemma Cockrell Gemma grew up in Loughborough, moving to Notts for uni in 2019. Studying psychology, she realised that a career in the field wasn’t for her, so turned to the student magazines as a creative outlet during lockdown. Soon enough, she became an editor for the music sections of these mags, spending more time on them than she did on her actual degree. This became the highlight of her uni years and helped her realise her passion for journalism.
Natalie
Editor
Al Draper, Alan Phelan, Alison Gove-Humphries, Alison Harviek, Alison Hedley, Alison Knox, Alison Wale, Anamenti, Andrew Cooper, Anne Jennings, Ankunda, Annie Rodgers, Ant Haywood, Anthony Blane, Ashley Cooper, Bad Squiddo Games, Barbara Morgan, Barrie the Lurcher, Ben & Jack, Ben Lester, Ben Lucas, Betty Rose Bakes, Bridgette Shilton, Caroline Le Sueur, Chloe Langley, Chris Rogers, Claire Henson, Claire Warren, Clare Foyle, D Lawson, Dan Lyons, David Dowling, David Knight, Diane Lane, Dick Watson, Donna Rowe-Merriman, Eddie, Eden PR, Ellen O'Hara, Emma Hibbert, Emily Poxon, Erika Diaz Petersen, Felicity Whittle, Frances & Garry Bryan, Friday Club Presents, Gursehaj Singh Bhattal, Hayley Howard, Heather Hodkinson, Heather Oliver, Helena Tyce, Ian Storey, Ian Yanson, In memory of Anna Novak (Bradford and Scoraig), In memory of Jenny Smith, Ivy House Environmental, James Medd, James Place, James Wright, Jane Dodge, Jayne Holmes, Jayne Paul William & Pirate Jack, Jed Southgate, Jenni Harding, Jess Gibson, John Haslam, John Hess, John Holmes, Jon Blyth, Joshua Heathcote, Julian Bower, Justyn Roberts, Kate Newton, Kath Pyer, Kathleen Dunham, Kay Gilby, Kaye Brennan, Kiki Dee the Cat, Livi & Jacob Nieri, Liz Knott, Lizzy and Margot, Luke and Flo, Marc Weaver, Maria Brambles, Mark, Mark Barratt, Mark Gasson, Martin, Matthew Riches, Matt Turpin, Matthew Riches, Max Sherwin, Mighty Lightweights, MinorOak Coworking, Miri Debah, Monica White, Nick G (real living wage rocks), Nicola Baumber, Nigel Cooke, Nigel King, Nikki Williams, NottingJam Orchestra, Oliver Ward, Paul Boast, Paul Woodall, Rachel Ayrton, Rachel Hancorn, Rachel Hanemann, Rachel Morton, Raphael Achache, Richard Barclay, Richard Goodwin, roastinghouse.co.uk, Rob Arthur, Ron Mure, Ros Evans, Roy Manterfield, Russell Brown, Ruth Parry, Sam Hudson, Sam Nahirny, Sarah Manton, Simon Evans, Siobhán CannonBrownlie, Spicer, Stephanie Larman, Steve Lyon, Steve Riordan, Steve Stickley Storyteller, Steve Wallace, Stuart Jones, Sue Barsby, Sue Reader, Tim Foster, Tom Markkanen, Tracey Newton, Tracey Underwood , Tracy Lowe, Wolfgang Buttress
Steering the Way We explore how Women in Tandem are creating a game-changing community that is helping to tackle the gender imbalance in cycling Riding High Think cycling is only good for your physical health? Prepare to feel foolish - bikes offer loads of great mental health benefits too Jack of all Trades Stage and screen star Adrian Scarborough lifts the lid on penning his first play, The Clothes They Stood Up In, for Nottingham Playhouse
Until the next one…
Out of Time: William Collins How did a Notts-born former knitter become one of the most notorious villains of the American Civil War?
I’m going to get this out the way right up top: if you’re not a fan of bikes and cycling, you’re probably best to pop this issue back where you got it from and just wait to see whatever we come up with next month. Because let me tell you, we’re packed to the rafters with cycling
Bike-onic Everyone in the country knows who Raleigh arebut how much of a role did the Chopper and Burner play in making this happen?
The Ben Necessities Want to learn all there is to know about Disney? Co-hosted by Nottingham’s Ben Travis, the Disniversity podcast has you covered Living La Lima Boca The brains behind Boilermaker - once the city’s worst-kept secretdiscuss their new venture, Boca Lima, and what it will bring to Hockley
If that’s not enough, we’ve also got a heaping helping of non-cycling content, including an interview with the great Adrian Scarborough (Killing Eve, Gavin and Stacey) on page 26. He’s in town for The Clothes They Stood Up In, the play he’s not only written but is also starring in alongside Sophie Thompson at the Playhouse. Then we’ve got all of your usual favourites, including Overheard in Notts, Pick Six, Notts Shots, Talkin’ with the Thompsons and an Out of Time that looks at the mad story of William Collins, a Notts-born knitter who found himself as one of the biggest villains of the American Civil War.
Right, that’s enough waffle from me. Enjoy the sunshine, the issue and, if you’re into it, having a good old peddle.
To kick things off, we hear (anonymous, as always) from our Olympic Cyclist in Notts on page 17, followed by the stories of people who rely on their bikes for health, wealth and happiness on page 18. Next up, we chat to Women in Tandem, the Notts-based, women-led bike collective on page 21, before looking at some of the great work Nottingham Bikeworks are doing on page 23. Then our focus shifts to Raleigh themselves on page 25, as we explore exactly what it is that made them so iconic during the seventies.
Marching On Forget doing a 5k. Maggie’s cancer support centre are raising money in a more enjoyable way - with a culture-filled walk around Nottingham A Tribute to Roger Knott-Fayle A mainstay in Nottingham’s screen industry for decades, Roger KnottFayle was a guiding light for countless filmmakers in the city
Making Shapes We head down to Beam Gallery to explore Katharina Fitz’s latest exhibition, SHAPE-SHIFT, which blends the sleek and experimental A Normal Life Notts legend Henry Normal has turned his hand back to his first love, poetry - we hear all about his second volume of Collected Poems
The Wheel Deal Whether jumping on two wheels to get fit, make friends or raise money for charity, you lot sure do love cycling…
Why?shenanigans.Because Nottingham’s history is intrinsically linked with the history of cycling, given the enormous shadow Raleigh casts over the city. Cycling is as Nottingham as lace, the Goose Fair and Robin Hood, and dedicating an issue to celebrating that fact feels slightly overdue (sorry, we were busy celebrating ourselves last month…).
An Olympic Cyclist in Notts Raleigh might make bikes, but our Olympic Cyclist in Notts pushes them to their limits - picking up plenty of medals in the process
7leftlion.co.uk/issue151 Ashley Carter, Editor ashley.carter@leftlion.co.uk Editorial 332631212317 LeftLion Magazine is fully recyclable and compostable. Our paper is recycled or made with FSC® certified (C015932) sources, and printed using renewable energy. 2518 4841474537
leftlion.co.uk/issue1518AD
Book My favourite book must be Black Box Thinking by Matthew Syed. Its content is built around the theory of the black box within aviation, where failure is the key to success by learning from what has gone wrong in the past. Song A varied choice here, with anything from Coldplay to Ed Sheeran to Kanye West and DJ Tiesto. Personally, Something Just Like This by The Chainsmokers and Coldplay is one of my favourites, more for the memories it's created. Film I am not a big film watcher, so this is not going to be the best. Given my sporting lifestyle, plus sense of humour, it has to be Happy Gilmore. Not a classic by any stretch, but certainly an easy-to-watch film. Holiday Destination My favourite holiday has been a safari in Kenya. All animals in their wild habitat, alongside amazing food and culture. An incredible place to visit and somewhere that everyone must do at least once. Meal It has to be a proper English roast dinner with all the trimmings. The best bits are Yorkshire puddings, cauliflower cheese, roasted potatoes and good gravy. I probably should not have written this in the morning… Notts Spot Notts has an amazing city, alongside great countryside. An evening with great food and drink is brilliant – however, Farnsfield for me is just perfect. Great countryside walks, fantastic food (Rustic Crust or The Lion) and a lovely atmosphere tops it for me.
This month we’ve tasked Lee Kidger, Managing Director of Raleigh UK, with choosing a few of his favourite things…
Brake Dancing Another week, another boozy idiot story. This time, the drinker in question was dancing around in Raglan Road Irish Bar, blissfully unaware that their car, which had been parked on the hill near Canning Circus, was cascading down the road and into oncoming traffic. Somehow missing two lanes’ worth of cars, the Mini Cooper then came crashing into the shop front of Danish Homestore, causing thousands of pounds worth of damage. Talk about a pricey round.
Viva Las Arnold A young fella named Martin Walters from Arnold recently made headlines on the beeb for his star turn as an Elvis impersonator. Walters, who goes by The Memphis Flash and is a care worker for people with learning difficulties in his day job, said that performing as the King during his spare time was just second nature. “It’s part of my soul,” Walters said, “If I didn’t do it, I’d be yearning to.” Saying that, he did claim that Arnold was his “Las Vegas.” Steady on, boy.
“Iunderstandyou’ve andgotsomethingveganglutenfree…roundthe back.”
"WellIthoughtshewasalesbianwithherbeinga decorator." “And even if yoursausage ain’t workingmate you have toremember your backuptools: tongue of deathmate.”
“You don’t need melatonin.I’ll tell you where you needto go if you think you needsome melatonin. Leicester.”
“I would hit you but you’re a kid and I’m not allowed to hit “I’myou.”goingallout f-ingSuePollard when I’m old.” “Babe it’s not like that though!Ithoughtshe wasmycousin,I’ve onlyrecentlyfound “I’moutshe’snotmycousin!”notgoingto thebeach. Might swallowsome kid’s wee.”“This is so exciting! This is so exciting! I love being surrounded by cleaning products! It's so exciting!” heart,“HebrokemyIbrokehis ankle.” “He's 26 and has only just had rice for the first time.”
9leftlion.co.uk/issue151 UndergroundGoing Our mole on the ground isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty to bring you the Notts stories you might have missed... illustrations: Kate Sharp Pick Six
@kidge004
Coo D’etat Cash-strapped Nottingham City Council have had more misery heaped on them by a mob of particularly scatty pigeons. The birds, who couldn’t be reached for comment, have taken to nesting under the panels, which have been fitted to thousands of tenants’ homes as part of the scheme to be a carbon-neutral city by 2028, covering them with so much shite that the Council are having to fork out over £350,000 for additional protective mesh. To be honest, I think they might be aviary-acting. Sorry.
leftlion.co.uk/issue15110AD Screen Podcast T h e news | reviews | interviews Nottingham's take on all things film
Energy Crisis It’s nonsense. There’s absolutely no need for this to be happening. If you look at the profits for companies like BP last year, they’re raking it in. That situation has caused all of us to suffer and they need to be taxed to the hilt to make it stop. If they don’t then everyone should stop using electricity for a day or a week and see how they like that.
words: Dani Bacon
Nottingham’s most opinionated grocers on...
Cycling to Melton Mowbray About six or seven years ago we bought ourselves a couple of new hybrid bicycles from Freewheel in town. We swapped our tyres to Kevlar and decided we wanted to test them out so we cycled to Melton Mowbray and back. We’re not sure what possessed us to do that, we must have been demented. We couldn’t walk for a week afterwards. We’ve barely used those bikes since.
11leftlion.co.uk/issue151 City sTYLIN’ at the Cattle Market interview: Georgianna Scurfield photo: Stella Newman
First Bikes Our first ever bikes as children were Raleigh Fourteens. Then the first bikes we ever bought ourselves were a pair of Raleigh Wayfarers. They were both blue, they had three speeds and they were as heavy as lead. They cost £35 each, which was a lot of money back then. We were sixteen or seventeen and we got paid £1.50 per day each for our Saturday job, so it must have taken the best part of a year to save up.
Cycling is the only time when “it’s all downhill from here” is a positive instead of a negative
Keith Butler
I used to be a market stall trader in Covent Garden, and the Cattle Market has got the same feel to it as that. There's an enormous amount of folk memory about this place. It's today, and it's yesterday, so much activity and there are so many things thriving - you realise it's been doing that for generations and it's really reassuring. I like the variety that comes with working here, and the fact that I learn something every day. We deal with objects and objects are stories, objects are people. If you have an enquiring mind or an imagination then it's impossible not to lose yourself in a world like this. I'm very much a functional dresser most of the time. I ride a motorcycle so I tend to dress for the ride, not the slide. You will see me in a pair of motorcycle jeans that most people think are maternity jeans. Motorcycling is one of my greatest joys of life. You're out in it all: the wind, the rain, the sound. It's just a great feeling of freedom. You know, I think it's better to regret something you have done than regret something you haven't - within the remit of legality. If you really want to do something and you don't do it out of fear or nervousness then you're always going to be left with that nagging sense of what could have been.
leftlion.co.uk/issue15112 Notts Shots Sorry mate, no cats allowed Nathan Langman - @_meadowman2 A moment of reflection Emma Wright - @emmafwright Pride of place Richard Ashton - @ashton9505photography Purple patch Dani Bacon - @danijuliette_ Want to have your work featured? Send your high-res photos from around the city, including your full name and best web link, to photography@leftlion.co.uk
13leftlion.co.uk/issue151 Sun-day service Michael Prince - @crownprincephotography Avenue chew Frazer Varney - @imjustfrazer Cost of inflation Harry Mawer - @harrymawer_ Oh, hay girl Anastasia Peterson - @anastasia_peterson_photography Three’s a crowd Tom Hetherington - @shotbytomh
Even before the cost of living began to spiral, millions of people in this country were already saddled with debt, struggling in insecure work and barely able to afford their rent. Last year, over a third of children in my constituency were living in poverty. Average wages and living standards hadn’t recovered from the last recession, yet the wealth of the super-rich has soared.
It is companies putting bonuses and dividends before fair wages that is forcing workers to turn to food banks and to go on strike.
In the longer-term, unless we make drastic changes, these crises will keep coming. We need to lower energy consumption permanently, by decarbonising and insulating our homes. A massive Governmentfunded programme would deliver new jobs as well as tackling the cost of living and climate crises. And we must invest in renewables, not only to combat climate change, but also because our reliance on fossil fuels makes us vulnerable to shocks in the gas and oil markets and dependent on authoritarian regimes.
To fix the housing crisis, we must build huge amounts of social housing and put an end to the deregulation that has turned the private rental sector into the Wild West. That means giving tenants proper rights, making long-term secure tenancies the norm, and controlling rent increases.
Meanwhile, bosses are telling workers that decent pay rises are unaffordable or will drive up inflation, while the pay of company executives is up 39% and the average CEO is now paid 109 times an average worker’s salary.
Nadia on... the Cost of Living Crisis
It’s not wages that are causing inflation to rise, so why are working people being told to make sacrifices and not these executives, or the 177 billionaires in Britain?
The hardship so many are already experiencing, and millions more are about to face, is not inevitable. Government action could change lives - we are right to demand it. nadiawhittome.org
In terms of what action the Government should be taking, people firstly need help that recognises the scale of the challenge in the here and now. If the energy price cap rises in October, it will be catastrophic. Labour would save families £1,000 this winter by freezing energy bills - the Government must commit to doing the same. Benefits must rise above inflation and the Government should give all public sector workers a decent pay rise. A recent study has shown that we could afford to increase the minimum wage to £15 an hour within the next two years, with tax breaks used to compensate small businesses.
The sooner we take utilities from profit-sucking companies back into public hands, the better - and a clear majority of the public wants this to happen. Support for nationalising energy has increased by more than 10% in just two years.
We must build huge amounts of social housing and put an end to the deregulation that has turned the private rental sector into the Wild West Meanwhile, bosses are telling workers that decent pay rises are unaffordable or will drive up inflation, while the pay of company executives is up 39%
words: Nadia Whittome photo: Fabrice Gagos With a Tory Government at the wheel, the escalating cost of living crisis feels like watching a car crash in slow motion. Everyone is shouting at the driver to brake, but they’re ignoring you. You know what’s about to happen, you know it will be devastating, but the one person who could prevent it isn’t even trying to.
Now our economy is in chaos and working class people are paying the price. The real value of wages is plummeting, with inflation forecast to reach an astronomical 18.6% in January - the highest peak in almost fifty years. Energy bills could top £5,300 a year by April, nearly 35 million are under threat of fuel poverty this winter, and another recession is looming.
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While almost every corner of our society feels on the brink of collapse - from the economy, to our public services, to the environment - our Government is completely absent. To paraphrase Liz Truss in her now infamously bizarre speech about cheese, that is a disgrace.
leftlion.co.uk/issue15116
I feel fortunate, because I don’t think I’d change anything about my career. I believe I’ve been able to maximise my ability to go as fast as I can. The only thing that sticks out is wondering, had I been a bit younger when the National Lottery funding came in, if I could have achieved more? But I’m a big believer in making mistakes, and I made thousands of mistakes along the way - I wouldn’t be the person I am now without them. I’m happy with where I ended up and what I’ve achieved, which feels really nice to say.
It’s funny because I wasn’t really sporty at school. I mainly started cycling because my brother got into it, and I started going to training and races with him. My dad bought me a bike and said, ‘Give it a go,’ and I quickly became quite good at it. Then people started telling me that I could be really good at it. I was lucky because a national coach lived in the region, and he came up to me and said I could go on to be successful, and offered to help me. From there I eventually got to the national championships and finished in a high enough position to be selected for the national team. The rest is history.
In my first Olympics in Barcelona, I shared a room with Chris Boardman, which was the first time I realised these elite athletes are also human beings, and in a way that showed me it was possible for me to go on and achieve great things. It took me eight years after that to pick up my first Olympic medal, but it was worth it - winning Olympic medals is obviously the highlight of my career!
Going to an Olympic Games is a strange experience. Everybody thinks the Olympic Village is an amazing thing, but it’s a huge, quite overwhelming place. There are all these people in one space. You’d have good times and bad times together as a team, and we’d look after each other and have a lot of laughs, but we also knew when it was time to get serious. Having such a close-knit group made the travelling and new experiences easier to navigate.
It always felt like we were underperforming before we received proper financing, but once it came in we realised we’d actually been punching above our weight and doing top Cyclingstuff.is a tough sport, a very competitive sport. It’s obviously really physical, but I think a lot of people don’t really appreciate how technical it is too - there are so many tactics involved. It’s not all about who’s the strongest, but also who’s the smartest. Honestly, I was surprised by how hard it was becoming a professional cyclist. From the outside, you only see the glory moments, but there’s a lot of hard work going on behind the scenes. Another thing that surprised me more and more as time went on is the travelling involved. Within a single year, I once had to travel to Australia three times, and I would sometimes do sixty or seventy flights within twelve months. So that’s one thing I didn’t really expect before I started on this career path. A lot of people think that you get to see the world, but more often than not you literally fly there, do what you need to do and go away again. You think you’ll travel and see all these new places, but you don’t, unfortunately - you mostly just see your hotel room, a bit of countryside or the inside of a velodrome, and then you’re back on a plane Traininghome.does often involve doing the same thing over and over again. You have to work with your coach to make sure you’re identifying when things get a little boring, and come up with ways to mix things up. My coach always explained what we were doing and why we were doing it, which helps to give you some extra motivation. The great thing about cycling, though, is that you can go outside and change routes to provide some fresh scenery. We’re luckier than in other sports - like swimming, for example, where you have no choice but to go up and down the same lane every time. We can vary things more to stay engaged.
An olympic cyclist in notts
From the outside, you only see the glory moments, but there’s a lot of hard work going on behind the scenes illustration: Evie Warren
I enjoy the process of trying to push the boundaries of cycling and expand your limits. The end result often doesn’t matter to me, I like focusing on how to get the best out of my bike, out of myself, out of the team. I always knew that, if I did that, I was always going to achieve results. It was really exciting to question things and push things, and figure out how we can go faster and do better. That’s always the driving factor for Sponsorshipme.and sorting finances is the hardest part of the job. I was lucky because my parents were really supportive, but early on in my career today’s National Lottery funding wasn’t around, which made it more difficult. Once that avenue came in, everything changed, but by that point I’d already done two Olympics and about eight World Championships, and there were definitely financial challenges in those days.
I listen to a lot of music and read a lot of books to relax. When you’re away with the team, it’s hard to switch off because you’re always with people - in your bedroom there’s always a teammate, and then when you leave your bedroom there’s support staff and other competitors. When you’re competing, you can go away for anything from three days right up to ten weeks at a time, so it’s really important to find time and space for yourself, as tough as it is to do that.
From those who cycle thousands of miles for charity to others who pop on the bike for a quick neighbourhood ride, Nottingham definitely has its fair share of cyclists. So, naturally, we’ve gathered up six people of all different ages and lifestyles to ask them about where their passion for bikes was born. For some, the love of the sport stems from childhood, while for others it’s a recent venture. Yet they all have one thing in common - an undying devotion to cycling and all the places it can take them…
I didn’t really cycle until recently. It wasn’t until April this year that I really got into it, when I signed up to ride 1,000 miles for the SANDS - the Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Charity. Now I’m part of a team of twelve who will ride 12,000 miles between us. We’re all school mates and none of us were cyclists until now. It’s great fun, a good get-together and it keeps us all in touch more than we perhaps would have been before. Even though I’ve only been cycling for such a short time I already have some great memories, primarily finishing the London to Brighton bike ride after having an accident on the way and ending up in hospital for stitches. I managed to get a transport to about a mile out from the finish line, hire a local Boris bike and ride the final mile to the finish line. I found my mates waiting, refusing to cross the finish line until before I had arrived. I love cycling with them, as well as riding with my nineteen-month-old daughter in the child seat in front of me.
It can be a little daunting getting into cycling when you’re overweight, especially because of all the lycra! But with the help of online groups, I’ve been able to find gear that fits and now I proudly wear my ‘Fat Lass at the Back’ jersey. And so far, all the response from the cycling community has been really positive and encouraging. I’m not part of a cycling club but I am going to Belgium soon with some friends to raise money for charity. I’m also part of a lot of great cycling communities on social media, like Women in Tandem and Fat Lad at the Back.
I first got into cycling to get some exercise while I was doing my GCSEs, because I had to stop playing rugby at the time due to an injury. When I first got into cycling, I used a borrowed road bike from my stepdad, but now I use a carbon road bike that’s much faster and flashier than what I’ve had previously! I’m about as active as you can be in the cycling community. I organise around ten races per year for grassroots racing and for universities across Britain, as well as helping at parts of the National Series and the National Championships. My best cycling memory is completing the North Coast 500 in Scotland last summer, which was a massive challenge but worth it for the great views. Another great memory that I have is when I worked at the National Hillclimb Championships at Winnats Pass last year. The crowds were massive and the atmosphere was amazing, despite the torrential rain and sleet.
If you were to ask me why I cycle, I’d say that there are so many different reasons: I enjoy it and like the challenge of riding long distances, it's a wonderful way to start the day and it gives me time to unwind afterwards. Plus, it makes me feel like I'm doing my bit towards caring for the environment. I have so many great cycling memories but I’m most proud of finishing the New Forest Sportive. It was the first competitive ride I did and I finished last. A finish is a finish though! Everyone cheered me in at the end.
I ended up throwing more foil blankets around cyclists than I’ve ever done before!
justgiving.com/team/tourdebants
Nikyla Manners O’Riordan Alex Blades Hickmott
interviews: Lizzy
The Wheel Deal
and Gemma Cockrell photo:
Thomas Hutchison Jackson
Martyn
photo: Larry
I began seriously riding back in 2008 when my mate and I decided to train for the London to Paris ride. Now I ride every single day. I have two bikes - a Trek Lexa for speedy riding and a 1980s classic Raleigh Nova that is my daily commute. I don’t ride with a club or anything. Instead, I ride with my mate Cathy, mainly, or go out on my own. It's a social and fitness thing for me. I don’t have all the up-to-date gear and I’m usually sponsored by Aldi in the clothing department. I also use my Raleigh for getting to and from work. I live in Sneinton and work mostly in the city as a gardener, so I usually fill my rucksack with tools for that job. It’s pure pleasure and I like being out enjoying the landscapes regardless of the weather. Even if you sometimes feel pants getting in the saddle, you end up feeling so much better afterwards. It gives me time to think, reflect and be at one with my trusty steed. None of my family really understand as they’re not avid cyclists, but I think they’ve realised how much cycling is part of my life. I just really love it.
photo:
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and
Roger Turner
Matty
photo: Tom Hetherington Tom Hetherington
We started cycling when we were very young. Fast-forward to our early twenties and we still love it because it’s very cheap, good for the environment, and much faster and more interesting than walking. At the time of writing this, we have just graduated from the University of Nottingham and we are currently cycling a journey of over 1,000 miles, from John O’Groats to Dover, on cheap and aged bikes. We wanted to do this challenge because we knew it would be fun, and also because we knew it would be a bit difficult as well. Our favourite memory from the trip so far is stumbling in on a random open mic in a village outside of Perth. We went in for one drink and ended up staying all night singing endless songs, meeting great people and staying down the road with a local who had just moved in. We’re trying to live as cheaply as we can, and see how far we can make it - hopefully, by the time you read this, we will have made it to Dover!
Rachael Hemmings photo: Hairycyclers
I bought my first bike when I was thirteen, back in 1971, from the income I received from a paper round. It was an amazing Raleigh Carlton road bike. However, I got back into biking again about ten years ago when I realised my body wouldn’t allow me to continue running any longer, and I bought a new Giant mountain bike. I’ve completed quite a few MTB routes using the Giant MTB, including Sherwood Pines, Cannock Chase, Dalby Forest, a couple of routes at Castle Douglas, and the brilliant Penmachno at Betws y Coed. Nowadays I tend to mainly do local rides, but they are just as lovely. I either ride alone, or sometimes I’m joined by my sonscurrently aged thirty and 26. Riding alone is great to be able to push myself just a little, but I do prefer riding with someone else for the social aspect. The best memory I have is the mountain bike trail at Penmachno at Betws y Coed, which I completed with three friends. It was eighteen miles of pure fun with some amazing roller coaster routes around the forest. I don’t cycle quite as much or as hard as I used to due to me suffering a heart attack almost exactly three years ago, but cycling has massively enriched my life and I still get out on my bike at least once or twice a week, always with a helmet for safety! Hill Tom Liversidge
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I think it gives women added independence. Cycling is a cheap, efficient mode of transport, which can allow women to get around and run their errands. They may even be able to access support services beyond their local area, such as education or employment. Public transport is expensive, and so is running a car, and women may not have access to this. A lot of women who attend our sessions say 'This is my hour, just for me'. They take the time out for themselves, which is very liberating. How do you feel that your women-only sessions can help women to feel more confident when cycling? I think it can be a bit controversial when we say something is womenonly but it gives women a chance to feel more comfortable and ask questions that they may not have asked in other environments. Women have come to us specifically saying they're grateful it's a women-only space. Some people may not have come otherwise, if it was a mixed group. We don't advertise ourselves as being inclusive, because we're not. We're quite deliberately exclusive. But we want all kinds of women to feel comfortable in the space. We're trying to make people feel like there's no such thing as a stupid question, and break down the terminology so it's accessible. Another advantage of womenonly spaces is that we can break down the barriers that women face within cycling. Women feel more comfortable in an environment with other women that they can connect with and have more in common with. We're trying to create a space where they feel comfortable and can develop skills at their own pace. What's unique about us is that we are entirely women-led, meaning that we can be role models for the community and give women a chance to envision themselves as a part of it.
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interview: Gemma Cockrell illustration: James Adams
You mentioned that cycling is male-dominated, why do you think this is?
What do you feel these barriers are? We're still very much learning what they are and how to overcome them. A big one is finance. There's the gender pay gap, and women have less disposable income to spend on leisure activities. That's why we make our sessions free. We also offer childcare, because in reality most of the responsibility for this lies on women.
What is Women in Tandem and what does it aim to do?
Women In Tandem is a community interest company, which we set up because we wanted to help women to feel more confident when riding bikes. There's a gender imbalance in cycling and a lot of the representation in the media is of people who look a particular way. We were founded in 2020, right at the start of the pandemic. We started off fixing bikes in my garden, then we moved on to doing mobile repairs, and then we started using grant funding to help people who wouldn't be able to afford to get into cycling to have that opportunity as well. We did group rides when we were allowed to, and then in February moved into our first workshop space. Are these activities that you are still running now? Yes, and more! We are still running our Dr Bike repair services, and we're doing more group rides. We've got weekly Tuesday evening rides for beginners, and a project with the women's centre on Wednesday mornings. We've got longer weekend rides, which are our most popular sessions. We've had 26 people, which is quite powerful, a huge group of women. Then you turn up at a café and they've got to make 26 coffees and cakes! We have a fully equipped workshop now where we teach bike mechanics. We've started a new project which is a bike kitchen, and we’ve also started working more with brands, like Raleigh, and Commute, a route planning app. We want the workshop to be not just about bikes but about community too.
What are the benefits of cycling for women?
How can people get involved? We have a website, which has a page with all of our upcoming events. There's also social media - our Instagram is super active, and there's Facebook and email as well. You can visit our workshop which is open weekdays 10am-6pm, and we list everything on Eventbrite, so you can just search ‘Women In Tandem’ on there and follow us to get reminders of new events.
I think women have less time and money to do things for themselves. People don’t realise the freedom that men have
We chat to Women in Tandem’s founder and managing director, Lily Beaven, about the activities that the Nottingham based community bike collective organise and how they are helping women overcome the barriers they face within the cycling world…
I think women have less time and money to do things for themselves. People don't realise the freedom that men have. This is changing, and definitely doesn't speak for everyone, but that tends to be the case. There's also more practical things, like only recently have they started making saddles specifically for women and women-specific kit. They often advertise them as unisex when they're not. This year was the first year there was a Tour De France for women, and that was fantastic - it was called Tour De Femme. I loved it and was very proud of the riders. But how can that be the first time that the event is open to women? It wasn't broadcasted nationally, whereas Tour de France is, so the public may not have realised it was happening. Even though there is change being made, which is exciting to see and to be part of, there's still a long way to go.
steering the way
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interview: Gemma Cockrell illustration: Emmy Lupin
For those who don’t know, what is Better By Bike? We've been running it for five years now. In our full programme, people come in, take one of our bikes that have been donated by members of the public, and refurbish it alongside one of our mechanics in a small group environment over a period of a week, for half a day a week. They learn basic skills, so they have the ability to keep the bike running afterwards. Then they join our bike rides, with our volunteer ride leaders, which run throughout the year. We very rarely have to cancel it due to the weather. People learn new skills, make friends, make lasting relationships, and they’ve got an affordable form of transport. Nottingham is getting better to travel around by bike, so this opens up doors to all sorts of things. We also do free fixing sessions on Fridays, which they can access. These are pitched at people who otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford to get their bikes fixed. It’s a great project. Who is it aimed at? Its core beginnings were in mental health - it was originally aimed at people who are struggling with stress and anxiety, using the bike as a tool to address those issues. More recently, as we’ve learnt more about groups within the community, we've opened it up a bit wider to people with learning difficulties, or people who are looking to get a bit fitter or healthier. Sometimes, running isn’t accessible, whereas cycling is low impact on your joints and a bit easier to get involved with. Most people have done it at some point in their life, when they were a kid, so it’s not completely brand new so some barriers are removed from that point of view. Anyone who has issues that can be addressed by getting on a bike are more than welcome to get involved!
What are the physical benefits of cycling?
Riding High
Managing Director of Nottingham Bikeworks, Ian Keetley, chats to us about the Better By Bike project and the benefits of cycling for both your physical and mental wellbeing…
How can people get involved with the programme?
Cycling can introduce structure to your life, which can make a huge difference to your mental health
What are the benefits of cycling for your mental health and wellbeing?
You've got options on your bike, depending on how you're feeling. However you’re feeling, there’s an option for you. Sometimes, you will feel like going for a ride on your own, rather than with anyone else, to get some space. Quite quickly from Nottingham city centre you can get to some really nice countryside, parks and rivers. You can be out in nature very quickly, into healthier environments away from the stress of the city. You also have the option of the sociable side to it - going for a ride with a group of friends or a cycling group, stopping at a nice café or pub, and taking that time to sit down and have a chat and ask each other how you're all doing. The conversations start very polite, but a few weeks down the line they start to talk about deeper topics. It’s great that the bike can be an anecdotal tool for that. It's amazing how much of a sense of achievement it can bring as your fitness improves over a period of weeks, and it also introduces structure to your life, which can make a huge difference to your mental health.
The best thing to do is get in touch! Drop us an email, contact us on social media, or give us a ring. We encourage people to come and meet us for a chat and a cup of tea so they can get to know the team and the environment before their first session. Other people who are already cycling and want to pass the benefit on to other people can be trained up to be ride leaders, or if you’ve got mechanical skills you can be trained to help people fix their bikes. If you don’t have the time for that, we're always on the lookout for bike donations and monetary donations as well. So, give us a call, pop your head in the shop door, and come and talk to us! We’re happy to talk all day about cycling. nottinghambikeworks.org.uk
What was the inspiration for setting this up? It was originally set up because, as avid cyclists ourselves, in terms of all of our staff, we know the benefits of it and we experience them ourselves every day. They say that you should do what you know and what we knew was cycling. Getting people on bikes is a great start for us in introducing community work into the organisation. It's grown into some more complex projects, so now we work with specialist schools in Nottingham as well. It is dependent on what needs to be addressed within Nottingham at the time. We have the confidence now it is more established that we can tailor it to help anyone. We also did a partnership project with Nottingham City Council, because we identified that NHS staff and key workers were struggling to get to work due to reluctance to use public transport due to COVID. We felt that bikes would be perfect for them, so we issued almost 500 bikes to key workers. We now work with Ukrainian refugees, as well as refugees from all around the world. We see our role as whatever the needs of the time are. Quite quickly, we’re moving into a fuel poverty crisis according to the news, and bikes can play a role in that too. We’re here to stay!
The obvious one is aerobic ability, in terms of lung capacity, especially when you’re going up an incline. It also improves physical strength, in terms of your core and leg power. Surprisingly, it does work your upper body a lot too, so it works your whole body. The best part is that it does it without impact. A lot of people who are new to exercise struggle with minor impact related injuries, but cycling is accessible and helps to improve your fitness and activity without that risk of suffering injury. You’ll notice quickly the improvements in leg strength and leg muscles. This removes the worries of going along to things, and not being fit enough.
If the Chopper offered the scrappy energy of a Hell’s Angel, the Burner channelled a rebelliousness befitting of its manufacturer’s Notts heritage. With spinning handlebars and thick wheels, this new ride had a versatility that the Chopper simply couldn’t match, allowing youngsters the chance to not only cycle around their local neighbourhood, but go off-roading and explore wherever they wanted, regardless of the terrain. This struck a chord with the adventurous youth of the eighties, and within the first two years of its release, over half a million Burners were sold - making it the most popular BMX ever. “The bike is a key player in the Raleigh success story,” Bracey continues. “The first edition of the range [became] an instant success, kicking off a BMX boom.”
If you grew up in the 1970s there was only one thing any self-respecting youngster wanted – a Raleigh Chopper
While Raleigh continues to produce groundbreaking, trend-setting pieces in the modern day - with their Strada X mountain bikes taking off-roading to new levels and their Trace e-bikes offering a slick, stylish addition to the ever-expanding sustainability scene - these older classics are still an iconic symbol of the brand.
Like all trends, though, this craze fizzled out eventually, and by the 1980s, the Chopper had finished its race. As Easy Rider was replaced by E.T., eighties kids decided they no longer wanted to ride like Evel Knieval, but rather like Elliott, the BMX-riding, alien-rescuing protagonist of Steven Spielberg’s world-beating blockbuster. Other big screen releases, like the subtly-named 1983 hit BMX Bandits, only added fuel to the fire, enhancing the appeal of these must-have, adventurous bikes. Yet, never one to find themselves behind the curve, Raleigh once again had their finger on the pulse - releasing their attention-grabbing MK1 Raleigh Super Tuff Burner BMX in the same year those pesky Bandits were tearing through the streets of Sydney. As well as boasting an “achingly cool chrome frame”, Mountain Bike Rider’s James Bracey explains, the Burner had “classic Tioga Comp3 skin wall tyres and the ability to turn any kid into the envy of the school”.
Decades after their release, these bikes aren’t just a popular relic of the past, though; both the Burners and the Choppers continue to be cool enough for people to fork out on. Celebrities such as Lady Gaga and David Beckham have coughed up big bucks to get their hands on a Chopper, and everyone from Paddy McGuinness to Jamie Oliver have bought a Burner - with the latter also adding a Boxer and Grifter to his collection.
If you grew up in the seventies, you probably had a Chopper, and if you grew up in the eighties, you probably had a Burner. Yet whichever ride was yours, one thing’s for certain - you looked cool as ice riding around the local estate with your mates… Bicycles. Just collections of metal and rubber that take you from one place to another, right? Nothing noteworthy about that. Sure, that might have been the case before 1969. After then, though, the idea of a bicycle completely changed, shifting from a practical bit of kit to a stylish fashion choice, a declaration that you were, let’s face it, rad as hell. You see, the year of the moon landing and On Her Majesty's Secret Service also saw the launch of the Raleigh Chopper, arguably the first bike to become a statement piece, a luxury item that made you the talk of the town and the envy of your peers. In short, Raleigh made bikes cool - and they’ve continued to do so ever since.
words: George White illustration: Toby Anderton
If the Chopper offered the scrappy energy of a Hell’s Angel, the Burner channelled a rebelliousness befitting of its manufacturer’s Notts heritage
Each Christmas and birthday throughout the seventies would only boost the demand for Choppers further, as more and more envious kids ditched their traditional two-wheelers for something much more desirable, and within a decade Raleigh had sold 1.5m models, spreading the influence of the brand from Eastwood to pretty much everywhere you can think of.
Bikeonic
How did they orchestrate this stylish revolution in the cycling world? Well, by combining big old U-shaped handlebars, chunky rear wheels and a fancy leather seat, Raleigh channelled the spirit of a Harley Davidson into a vehicle for kids, allowing the youth of the day to feel like they were their very own Hell’s Angels (without the violence and organised crime, though, of course). Taking inspiration from the swagger of Peter Fonda’s motorbike in the Oscar-nominated classic Easy Rider, designer Alan Oakley spotted an opportunity - every young kid wants to feel like a movie star, an action hero, and with a Chopper, they could do exactly that. As Steve Fulford, a valuer at Hansons Auctioneers, says, “If you grew up in the 1970s there was only one thing any self-respecting youngster wanted – a Raleigh Chopper. The design, influenced by dragsters and ‘chopped’ motorcycles… was the coolest of bicycles and great for doing wheelies.” “Wheelies” is exactly right. As the stunning stunts of Evel Knievel wowed audiences across the globe, youngsters wanted a bike that could bring similar thrills - and, while it wasn’t necessarily the most mobile of vehicles, the Chopper was perfect for satisfying your inner daredevil. As News Letter’s Helen McGurk explains: “Cruising up and down the road, attempting Evel Knievel-style [tricks] on my Chopper made me feel free. At school we would compare our Chopper cuts and bruises. They were almost a badge of honour, an up-yours to the kids still riding boring [older bikes].”
Over fifty years after introducing the bike that launched a new wave of Evel Knieval wannabes, this Notts institution remains the brand that made cycling cool.
interview: Ashley Carter
Jack of all Trades
They Stood Up In. I've never done anything like it. There was a point around the time I turned fifty when I just thought, 'Oh, I don't care what anyone thinks anymore.'
What's been great is having the director, Adam Penford - a fabulous and phenomenal Artistic Director of Nottingham Playhouse – alongside me. We both know Alan and his work very well, so it's been wonderful having a fresh set of eyes on the process, and he's offered so many useful tips, as well as throwing in some judicious cutting, which has been very helpful. I simply couldn't have done it without him.
Some know him from Gavin and Stacey, others from his turn as Raymond in Killing Eve, to more still he’s among the most accomplished theatre actors of his generation. With a three-decade career spanning television, film, radio and theatre, you’d be hard pushed to find anyone who hasn’t loved Adrian Scarborough in one of his many eclectic roles. Now, the Melton Mowbray-born, Olivier Award-winning actor has penned his first play – an adaptation of Alan Bennett’s novella The Clothes They Stood Up In – which he also stars in. Ahead of its launch at Nottingham Playhouse, we caught up with Adrian as he left another round of rehearsals to talk about his first forays into writing, the secret to longevity in the acting business, and why the Playhouse means so much to him…
How did the process of adapting an Alan Bennett novella for the stage first come to realisation?
You were last at the Nottingham Playhouse fairly recently, playing Dr Willis in the 2018 production of The Madness of George III alongside Mark Gatiss. What is it about that venue that you enjoy? One of the reasons I wanted to bring The Clothes They Stood Up In to Nottingham is that I had so many of my formative theatrical experiences in that building. It's always been a very precious part of my life. And not just at the building - I used to get regular visits in Melton [Mowbray, where Adrian is originally from] from the Roundabout Company, which used to be part and parcel of the Playhouse. My passion for theatre and my love for acting were sparked there. I thought it would be the perfect place. Also, Nottingham audiences are always really receptive, smart people, too. They'll totally get it. As an actor, do you notice much of a difference to regional audiences from, say, a West End production?
I think a lot of my career has been spent doing lots and lots of different things. A very brilliant actor gave me a great piece of advice when I was younger: be a jack of all trades and the master of none. Because that way you'll stay in work. You'll be able to do lots of different things, and the profession will hold you up. You'll be able to keep your head above water and earn enough money to live, which, for a lot of actors, isn't the case. It's also what's great about being a character actor. If you're a leading man, you could argue that you'll only have a limited number of parts that you can play. But if you're a character actor, the parts you play are all different, and people will see you through different lenses. That's really helped me with not being typecast.
I do believe in luck.
One of the reasons I wanted to bring The Clothes They Stood Up In to Nottingham is that I had so many of my formative theatrical experiences at the Playhouse. It’s always been a very precious part of my life
Has that given you the freedom to create your own roles, like with The Clothes They Stood Up In? It was never actually my intention to be in this play. That was something that Adam more or less forced me into. It was partly because Sophie came on board and, when she did, I thought, 'Well, I'm blowed if I'm going to miss that opportunity.' I'm really glad I am though, even though I might come across as this mad egotist that's adapted this play and written himself a big role! Genuinely, though, that wasn't the case - but I'm having such a wonderful time being able to see it through the writer's lens, which is a first for me.
With that said, you're the lead role in the Acorn TV original series The Chelsea Detective now…
For those who haven’t read the original novella, what is The Clothes They Stood Up In about? A middle-class, middle-aged couple come home from the opera to discover that their flat in St. John's Wood has been burgled. When this happens to most people, the burglars tend to pick and choose, but these burglars have taken absolutely everything: the carpet, the chandelier, the light fittings, even the oven with the sticky chicken casserole in it. Lots of things that were screwed down, and lots of things that weren't. They've really been cleaned out in the most extraordinary way, and they've got absolutely no idea why. You spend most of the play finding out how that came about, and it's a very interesting journey through a marriage that has lasted for 36 years, but hasn't always been the happiest.
Much more. It's great because my kids have left home now so I don't have to put Marmite on the table like I used to, and that gives you immense freedom to be able to know that you're going to be alright for a year. There's enough money in the bank for me to be able to do a vanity project, how lucky am I? That's brilliant.
Is that something that's come with age? Or getting wider exposure from being in widely seen series like Gavin and Stacey and Killing Eve? I think that definitely has something to do with it. It's a longevity thing: people look at your CV and think, 'Oh my god, he's been doing it for 33 years. He must be alright, and able to do this in some form or another.'
Yes - there's definitely more excitement. Often in London, there's a kind of world-weary cynicism about going to the theatre. I find that often with regional theatre, people are just so happy and excited to be there. Big cities, particularly London, can be strangely unfriendly places sometimes. Often when I've travelled around the country, I don't find that to be the case in other places.
Talking about your wider career, during my preparation for this interview I realised I'd watched seven films featuring you within the last three or so months without meaning to… Bloody hell, you poor thing. I noticed that you were very ubiquitous in a lot of historical films: Gosford Park, To Kill a King, Bright Young Things, The King's Speech, The Madness of King George, 1917, Elizabeth: The Golden Age... What do you think it is about your film career that gets you cast in so many character roles in period pieces? Well, there are two films you've mentioned there that I've never even seen! Which two? I'm not telling!
The Clothes They Stood Up In is at Nottingham Playhouse from Friday 9 September until Saturday 1 October. For more information and tickets, visit the Nottingham Playhouse website nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk
I know it's not the done thing to say that about yourself, but don't you think that you've created those opportunities yourself by being there, working hard and having talent though? Like I said, I've seen you in a lot of roles, and you've never been bad... People say that to me, but I'm not altogether sure it's completely true. I'm always slightly bamboozled by that.
Do people turn up expecting you to be that guy from the sitcom?
I've been doing this for long enough now. It's not about that, it's about the experience that I have personally, to be able to enjoy my life and enjoy my creativity and to keep being imaginative, keep going in different directions and keep challenging myself. What I don’t want to happen with something like The Chelsea Detective is that I endlessly play a police detective. I love that I've been given the opportunity to play one, and play one in the way I want to, but at the same time it would be absolutely deadly if I didn't do anything else.
How so? It just came out of the blue, as often happens with parts in my career. I've been an incredibly lucky person, I think.
Does that creative freedom mean you enjoy the work more nowadays?
Yes - something like that is completely absurd!
As well as being the first thing you’ve written for the stage, does the fact that it’s an adaptation of such a beloved, iconic British writer’s work bring an additional sense of pressure? It really does, because you just want to do him justice. You agonise over everything. I spent a lot of time trying as hard as I possibly could to get every bit of dialogue from the novella into the play. Sometimes you reach the conclusion that it's just not possible, but generally speaking I really have tried to be as true to the text as I possibly can.
I was working with Alan on another play when the novella was published in 1994 or 1995. I had a conversation with him where I said that it would make the most wonderful play, and that he should turn it into one. He said that it wasn't a bad idea, and he'd think about it. I saw him five years later and asked if he ever got round to it, and he just replied, "No. You do it." I think he said it as a bit of a joke, but it sowed a seed. It's taken another fifteen years for it to come to fruition, but I've thought about it for a very long time. I put pen to paper and sent him a copy, and just hoped he would like it. And he did.
Does being recognisable from things like Gavin and Stacey ever become a hindrance to your theatre work?
Well, they're all pretty decent. You should give them a whirl. I think there's maybe a look you have as an actor that dictates where you're placed in the profession. I think some people are more geared to period dramas than others. I don't know, really. I've never been a great one for sitting and asking why. I've always just been so bloody grateful for the work that, for most of my career, I've just taken what's been offered my way. I tend to pick and choose a bit more now, because I'm aware that some jobs will make me happier than others. It's nice to feel charged up by a project.
All things being equal, you can only choose to do film, TV or theatre for the rest of your career - which do you choose? I simply couldn't do only one. Again, that's one of the reasons I've had longevity in my career, I've always tried as hard as I can to mix it up. One of the things I positively adore is doing a radio play, or narrating an audiobook, or doing a Book at Bedtime for Radio 4, in exactly the same way that I love being on film sets, I love being on television and I love theatre. And now, I love writing. That's just given me a lovely, juicy path to go down. Let's see where it takes me.
Your co-star is fellow Olivier Award winner Sophie Thomson and, from the way you’ve described the plot, it sounds like the chemistry between you two is integral… I've worked with Sophie on lots and lots of things, but never in a play, which is absurd when you consider we've both spent half of our careers on the stage. It was a dream come true when she said yes. I did push quite hard to get her, and I wasn't going to take no for an answer! I badgered her into it, really. But she's taken it on with absolute aplomb, and is completely brilliant, as you'd expect. Working with her has been one of the great treats of rehearsals so far.
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I don't know how it necessarily follows. I just like a new challenge, which is why I'm so excited by The Clothes
MomentPhotoMy@capture_bychloe-AllenChloe
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I've really enjoyed it and learned so much from Sam. Sam is the expert - he has a PhD in animation, so he’s the guy who knows all this fascinating stuff. I love film and I'm a film journalist, but my role is to watch the movies and then ask all the stupid questions so Sam can give all the smart answers. I'm learning loads from doing that!
You
Moving away from Disney and to your day job, you’re now Deputy Online Editor for the biggest film magazine in the world. What have been some of the best moments from your time at Empire so far? One of my favourite memories came just two or three weeks into my time at the magazine. I was in the Roundhouse in London, covering the 2018 Empire Awards.
For readers who don’t know, what is Disniversity?
From doing work experience at the Nottingham Post (look, we’re not all perfect) to becoming Deputy Online Editor at Empire magazine, Nottingham’s Ben Travis has become a leading voice in the screen world. Yet his passion for cinema doesn’t end with his day job - he’s also set up Disniversity, a podcast diving into the history of, you guessed it, Disney. We chat to the film fanatic ahead of his live show at the London
It's been so lovely. We started the podcast because it was lockdown and we were bored and everything was stressful. Disney+ launched just after the first lockdown kicked in, and that opened the vault to all of these classic Disney movies - the ones we all know and love, but also ones that have maybe been forgotten over time. And ever since then it’s been amazing having people watch the films along with us and reconnect to these memories from when they were kids, but also discover films they haven't seen before.
Do you still feel nervous before talking to massive stars? It’s terrifying all the time, and it's even more terrifying when it's somebody that you really care about. This is my job, too, so of course I go into interviews knowing that I have to get certain things out of it. I’ve done cover features for releases like The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and The Book of Boba Fett, which include several interviews with multiple big names. So I know I have to go and talk to people like Kevin Feige and it needs to go well, I need to get good bits out of it. But I’ve started reminding myself that I need to enjoy the moment more. Yes, I’m going to be nervous and I need to do a good job, but I’m doing incredible things - I’m trying to focus more on enjoying the fact that I’m speaking to these really exciting people and that I should have fun with it as well.
What’s one film readers should go back and watch again?
Bambi! The animation in it is absolutely stunning. It was the first attempt to really capture the natural world both very faithfully but also with a heightened experience. So much of that film is about creating the atmosphere of the forest, and at the same time telling this layered coming-of-age story. Everybody remembers Bambi’s mum getting shot - and for good reason, because it's horrifying - but there's so much other stuff in there.
Podcast Festival…
I was writing stories about the winners and doing social media posts in a room where the guests included Mark Hamill, Daisy Ridley and Rian Johnson, as The
It’s great to see independent theatres still smashing it, like the Savoy and Broadway, but I also think it's really valuable that Nottingham has an IMAX screen in the Cineworld and that it has the Showcase. It just means that people from wherever can see movies the way they were meant to be seen. I believe so firmly in having both independent arthouse venues and big cinema chains that just get people in to see movies. We shouldn’t be elitist in any way or fussy about the kind of films that people are seeing, it's just important that people see the stuff that they love and maybe discover things that they didn’t expect to love. I think it’s great that Nottingham is so well-equipped for that. can attend a live Disniversity show on Sunday 11 September, as part of the London Podcast Festival. Tickets are available at kingsplace.co.uk with Mark Hamill, Daisy Ridley and Rian Johnson George White illustration: Iulia Teodora Matei
@Disniversity Just three weeks into my time at Empire I found myself writing stories and doing social media posts in a room
The podcast is something I do with my friend, Dr Sam Summers. We both love movies and animation, so we decided to do a podcast where we watch through every Walt Disney Animation Studios film in chronological order and dig into the history of them, which then also brings you onto the history of animation and Hollywood more widely.
You’re now over thirty episodes into the podcast. How much fun has it been putting these together?
I’ve had so many fantastic interviews since then, but one of the absolute highlights is getting to chat to Bruce Springsteen. He came to the London Film Festival and I got to do a 25-minute interview with him, talking about movies, Westerns and storytelling, and he was incredible. People say don't meet your heroes, but do if your hero is Bruce Springsteen. He signed my copy of Born to Run, so that’s now a cherished, treasured possession. I truly cannot believe that happened.
Last Jedi had been released a few months earlier. A certain Steven Spielberg was also there. He was accepting an award and started talking about the McDonald's Chicken Legend. I snapped out of reality for a minute. I was like, ‘What is going on? How is this my life now?’ It was amazing.
interview:
Finally, bringing the focus back to Nottingham, how important was the city in shaping your interest in film? So many of my formative cinematic memories are tied to Nottingham. The amount of cinema trips I've done with my mum and dad to Broadway is insane; there’s nothing like going to see a film with the people who mean the world to me. And, of course, there’s my romanticism for the Showcase. Walking through the doors to the smell of popcorn and Tango Ice Blasts… It's definitely in my DNA.
How has the response been from listeners?
The Ben Necessities
Boilermaker had a real unique selling point with its speakeasy-esque set-up. How do you plan to give Boca Lima a similarly effective selling point? Lockdown was huge for us - Boilermaker just couldn’t be any more. We had to react to the way people were now socialising and create a space that customers were seeking out. We saw that Nottingham, and especially Hockley, was starting to embrace the European cafe culture scene. So instead of us pioneering something new, we created Boca Lima - an informal, Mediterranean vibe that we hope will be a really good fit for the area.
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What is it like being part of Hockley’s exciting food and drink scene, and is it challenging to stand out among so many incredible bars and restaurants?
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It's great being part of Hockley, there are so many amazing independent restaurants which bring a lot of people to the area - we’ve always believed in cooperation not competition, and we hope our offering complements the scene perfectly. This month will see a new wave of uni students coming to the city. They can sometimes get a bad rap, but how important are they to your business and the city at large?
@avocafe_nutri2go
Owner Nigel Garlick tells us all about it…
What can people expect from Boca Lima? Boca Lima is a laid back bar serving fresh, quality bites to complement the fantastic drinks we serve from 9am to 1am. We’ve called time on the novelty cocktails that Boilermaker pioneered, that are now sadly omnipresent - even in Spoons. What did we start?! We’ve decided to grow up and focus on the classics but with seasonal twists. We’ve added more European beers and natural wines to our menu, and in the morning it’s the perfect place for coffee, pastries, cakes and jumping on the internet.
To Nosh Banana Bread - Tough Mary’s Bakehouse Google says bananas are the best food for cyclists - so surely banana bread must be good too, right? Regardless, there’s never a bad time to dig into a slice of this soft, sweet slab of goodness.
interview: George White photos: Frazer Varney
How much of a role will local suppliers play in your food and drink menus? They’ll be huge. We’d be idiots not to take advantage of our friendships with the many great local suppliers like Delilah, Fruit Basket, Welbeck Bakehouse and Dark Woods Coffee. There are so many more we are going to tap into as we grow - we can't wait!
Obviously Boilermaker became a beloved institution in the city over the years. What were some of the stand-out moments from your time running the bar? The biggest highlight? Probably the fact that most people always got the name wrong. Boiler Room or Boiler House, for some reason, were preferred to Boilermaker - which always made us smile. That and the fact that so many other bars copied our drinks and concept… You’ve got to take it as a compliment, I guess!
@toughmarysbakehouse
To Visit Avocafe For healthy meals that don’t taste like sand, Avocafe is the place to be. They whip up everything from Buddha bowls to chicken fajitas fresh to order, and the staff are always nice as pie.
The students always give us a real boost. Nottingham is a place with a large student population that brings a huge pool of creative talent - whether that’s in music, art, fashion or design - and that sets us apart from our neighbouring cities and small market towns like Derby, who have always looked on enviously at how much cooler we are than them. You’re now open to the public. How have you found the response to Boca Lima so far? The overall response has been really great. Both old customers and new are liking the new look and vibe - everything has been very positive. We are a little more grown up but we still have our playful side, and we have lots of things planned in the months ahead - please keep in touch with our socials to see what’s coming up! We’ve called time on the novelty cocktails that Boilermaker pioneered, that are now sadly omnipresent - even in Spoons. What did we start?!
After becoming the talk of the town with Nottingham’s worst-kept secret, the team behind Boilermaker have recently launched their brand new venture, Boca Lima - which promises to bring classy, cosy vibes to Hockley.
To Sup Cappuccino - Spokes Finish your bike ride with a soul-warming cappuccino at Jubilee Campus’s cycling-in spired cafe. Why Jubilee has a cycling-in spired cafe is beyond us, but we’ll never say no to a nice coffee… @SpokesNottingham
What’s one pick on your new drinks menu that people have to try? Our Sakura seems to be the one we've had the best reaction from - it’s both delicious and looks amazing! It’s a beautifully balanced gin cocktail with hibiscus, Umeshu plum, yuzu and cherry blossom.
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35leftlion.co.uk/issue151 IONshFA 35 IN w Ith the OlD words: Addie Kenogbon September is a month that’s often associated with renewal and change, and if you’re looking to freshen up your look this month, why not do so sustainably by taking part in Second-Hand September, the thirty day event encouraging you to shop preloved?
You can find more information about Second-Hand September on Oxfam’s website. oxfam.org.uk/get-involved/second-hand-september
COW Two floors of vintage pieces in the heart of Hockley, what’s not to love? In addition to a wide selection of retro items predominantly from the eighties, nineties and noughties, you’ll also find their reworked collections which feature preloved pieces that have been given a new lease of life wearecow.com
vINtAge Bubble Vintage Why not try Bubble Vintage on High Street, which features vintage menswear and womenswear with prices that are all colour co-ordinated for ease and start at two items for just £5 for items with a green label. You’ll also find premium one-off designer pieces too. theexchange.uk.net/stores/bubble-vintage
Our Fashion Editor, Addie Kenogbon, has made a list of the very best places to help you discover some unique finds without costing the planet… chARIty British Heart Foundation Opening its doors for the first time last month, you’ll find premium items such as nearly new Dr Martens, designer pieces and preloved highstreet favourites. Of course, as a charity shop, the proceeds from sales go towards helping to fund the BHF’s research into cardiovascular disease. bhf.org.uk Sue Ryder Over the years the Sue Ryder shop on Goose Gate has made a name for itself as the go-to for all things vintage. With an eclectic mix of pieces from the fifties, sixties, seventies and eighties, as well as vintage and antique furniture, it’s a treasure hunter’s haven. sueryder.org Oxfam Notts has a few Oxfam stores, including Goose Gate, Mansfield Road and Plains Road. Featuring a wide variety of pieces to rummage through, including mens, womens and childrens clothes, you can shop knowing your money will go toward helping support the great work Oxfam does. oxfam.org.uk White Rose No preloved shop round-up would be complete without charity shop giants White Rose. With seven stores across Notts, an online shop and regular kilo sales, they are not like your traditional charity shop chain, boasting a huge collection of hand-picked goods and preloved pieces. whiterosefashion.com
Braderie Based on the corner at Pelham Street, it’s hard to walk past Braderie without taking a look. Featuring a great selection of eighties and nineties menswear and womenswear you’ll find lashings of patterns, jazzy retro shirts, eye-catching statement jackets and cool retro sweaters. braderie.co.uk
Wild Clothing Hailed as one of the UK’s first ever vintage clothing shops and Nottingham’s longest running independent fashion stores, Wild Clothing first opened its doors in 1983. You’ll find branded pieces like Dickies and Carhartt as well as one-off true vintage items from the sixties onwards. wildclothing.co.uk
To start with, what is Maggie’s?
We are a support centre who offer psychological, emotional and practical support to anyone affected by cancer across the East Midlands. We’re actually a national charity with about 25 centres, and the idea is that we’re a place of calm. We’re based at City Hospital and often people come when they’ve just had the diagnosis and are feeling quite overwhelmed. So we have cancer support specialists that can talk them through their situation, prompting them to ask the right questions in appointments and so on. We also run a lot of workshops around mindfulness, relaxation, art therapy and creative writing. Plus groups for families, children and the bereaved. People can access this support for as long as they need. We always say that there is no expiry date on using Maggie’s.
Providing care to patients and their families, Maggie’s are the free cancer support centre stationed outside City Hospital. Now they’re raising money to keep the centre running through their annual Culture Crawl - the fivemile night walk kept lively by a selection of Nottingham personalities and performers. We catch up with Maggie’s about the work they do, the celebratory nature of the walk and how to get involved… traceymeek.com
maggies.org/our-centres/maggies-nottingham interview: Lizzy O’Riordan photo: Little Posy
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Coming up this September, you have a ‘Culture Crawl’ fundraising event going on. Can you tell me what this involves?
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The Culture Crawl is a five-mile walk to raise money for Maggie’s. It’s going to start at the University of Nottingham and go all the way into Wollaton. It's a walk that incorporates all kinds of Nottingham culture - so Robin Hood and Maid Marian will be there, along with the Tuneless Choir, and lots of other local artists and performers. There will also be a reflection tree where people can write their thoughts and take a moment of calm, surrounded by classical music from the Nottingham Youth Orchestra. It’s not anything to do with pub crawls but it’s really about community culture, and entertaining people as they walk.
Affirmation time: “I am creating a safe space to thrive in.” Until next time… Be safe, no fear and stay blessed. Love CeCe lovecelestene.com@lovecelestene A sAF e spAce A quick and effective way of clearing a person or space of heavy, negative thoughts and feelings is by smoke cleansing with incense
The Culture Crawl is taking place on Friday 30 September at 6pm. Find out on the Maggie’s website
People pay £20 to register for the event and then we ask that they raise a minimum of £100 from sponsorships. The £20 will cover their T-shirt and the administration for the event, but they will also be given some food on the route from Memsaab and a prosecco at the finish line, so it’s a really nice experience. Often people raise much more than they think they will. I think last year we raised about £25,000, which is really good - especially because it costs about £2,400 to run the centre every day. From the stories on your website it seems like it can be quite a heartfelt experience to take part in the Culture Crawl…
Before you light your incense, open all the windows - I like to joke that if you don’t, the demons will be running around the room! In reality, the smoke needs an exit to carry the unwanted energy away. Make sure you have a fireproof dish or an abalone shell to catch the ash. Start at the entry point of your home and allow the incense of your choice to fill the space. Move around the room directing the smoke into the corners with a feather, fan or just your hand. You can say a mantra while you do this. Something like: “I remove any energy that does not serve and invite love and light into this Oncespace.”youfeel satisfied, you can move to another room until your whole home is cleansed. Can you feel the change in the frequency of the room?
gINwellbem ARchINg ON 37
How does the fundraising aspect work?
I get goosebumps when you say that because it’s so true, we find that in Nottingham a lot of our centre visitors are the ones who take part. Stephen, for example, is one of our centre users and the face of the Culture Crawl this year. He tells his story of losing his wife to cancer, alongside his own cancer experience. But a lot of people walking are survivors, the bereaved or those going through treatment. It's very emotional but it’s also a massive celebration. And finally, how can people get involved? They can check us out online on the Maggie’s Nottingham website, through which they can sign up for the walk and set up a fundraising form. Or if they aren’t so computer savvy, they can come into the centre and pick up a paper form. We’re also looking for volunteers, either to be marshals or performers - so, please do just get in touch! Let’s jump back to protecting our energy, because the collective anxiety is rising along with those bills. A quick and effective way of clearing a person or space of heavy, negative thoughts and feelings is by smoke cleansing with incense. The Latin word ‘incendere’ means ‘to burn’, and smoke cleansing is the practice of burning herbs or resin with the intention of promoting a positive environment. It is an ancient ritual that the indigenous people of North America use white sage for. Ancient Egyptians loved burning herbal bouquets and the Bronze Age Indus civilisation adored frankincense and cypress. When clearing is done, it is important to be respectful of other cultures and their practices. It's always a blessing when something resonates but we must acknowledge how sacred these rituals are to their people.
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Dr Mike Clifford, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Engineering, tells us: “Only 10% of people surveyed said that they would have used a private car if they hadn’t had access to an e-scooter, and 15% would have used a taxi.” However, the rest would have walked (34%), used the bus (16%), tram (15%) or cycled (10%); so, Mike continues, “The net result is that the provision of e-scooters actually increases the CO2 emissions compared to the modes of transport that the scooters replace.”
I met with some of the canal’s custodians - volunteers from the Canal & River Trust, one of many organisations that helps look after this critical blue-green infrastructure. They, alongside over 100 other groups and businesses, form the Nottingham Canal Improvement Partnership, working to understand, manage and restore biodiversity on (and in) the canal in this way is key to it being able to thrive into the future. Our blue planet is in a precarious state. In the UK, privatised and asset-stripped water companies dump sewage at scandalous rates. Fertiliser and pesticide runoff, plastics, warming oceans, extreme weather and drought are all harming wildlife, as well as our own sustenance and enjoyment of water. Campaigners have launched what they're calling Motion for the Ocean, asking for local authorities to act. Thirteen councils have backed it so far, but none locally… yet. Like the rest of our ailing natural commons, waterways now need our active support and understanding to thrive again.
This issue we’re mainly banging on about cycling and the thriving local community that rolls with it. But while they’re probably the greenest way to get about town - and often the quickest - bikes aren’t the only option to go places while keeping your emissions down. Environment Editor Adam Pickering takes a look at Nottingham’s other travel options, and weighs up their green credentials… Nottingham’s often cited as having one of the best public transport systems in the country, and it boasts pretty good green credentials too. A 2020 study by Uswitch.com ranked ours as the third-most sustainable transport system out of fifteen major UK cities - just behind Liverpool, with London up top. So, let’s have a look at what we’ve got on offer and how each travel option stacks up…
Biogas fuels, while still creating some emissions, are created in a renewable circular process that captures methane and other gases that our waste and agriculture produces, turning them instead into a relatively clean fuel. NCT tells us their biogas “is produced naturally through anaerobic digestion using food waste, farm waste and sewage. It is the methane emitted during this process which is eventually used for turning into biogas (fuel) for our buses.”
Trams Trams are one of the best ways to electrify our transport and move away from fossil fuels, as they don’t require ecologically costly lithium mining to make loads of whopping great batteries that currently tend to need replacing after they’ve completed their fairly short lifecycle. It’s also good to know that Nottingham’s trams are powered entirely by renewable energy.
Originally built during the industrial revolution to transport coal at the end of the eighteenth century, Nottingham & Beeston Canal has since undergone dramatic changes, with much of it eventually falling into disrepair and being abandoned. What’s left still serves a wide variety of users from boaters to commuters and dog walkers - it's a particularly nice way to get to Attenborough Nature Reserve on a bike.
E-scooters Nottingham’s controversial e-scooter trial has generally been judged by the industry to be a success. Operator Wind UK has claimed a million rides over the year to December 2021 across Nottingham and Derby. Industry blog Zag says each scooter is ridden an average of five times a day - the highest e-scooter usage numbers they’ve seen, at around five times the London usage rate. But there’s new scepticism about the environmental benefits of e-scooters, as a study at the University of Nottingham analysing their usage has raised concerns about whether they replace the right journeys.
t ROubleD wAteRs
But if you are using e-scooters to replace car journeys then you’re probably still onto a winner. In their defence, Nottingham City Council have stated that this pioneering scheme costs the taxpayer nothing, and new, high-tech LINK-model scooters replacing the original yellow gear-grinders are designed to be safer.
I recommend checking out locally-based urban explorers, Trekking Exploration. A video on their YouTube channel shows their search for the buried Beck Burn along the the River Trent, as they enter tunnels somewhere between Trent Bridge and Colwick, popping up two miles away at the ‘Curious Tower’ in Sneinton art collective Chaos Magic’s community garden, sandwiched between the city’s Victoria Park and St Mary’s Rest Garden.
Trentbarton have made steps to make their buses cleaner too, namely by adding fuel-saving technology to their 330 buses that helps monitor usage towards cutting emissions, while they’ve been introducing more “ultra low emission certified buses” to their fleet. Eco Champion Matt Newman told reporters, “Over the past seven years, Trentbarton has spent £20 million on greener buses and is exploring zero emission buses for the future.”
Taxis How are taxis green, you might wonder? Well, for one, it’s a form of car-resource sharing which is good, but they’re also a lot greener when they’re electric. Nottingham’s got a fair few of these already, with 54 electric Hackney Carriages as of June 2022 - the largest operating fleet outside of London.
There are plenty of routes and modes of transport around Nottingham, and the smarter we are about using them to best minimise our emissions while getting where we need to go, the better. Of course, the most active option is always going to be the best for our health - so get walking, or on yer bike, if you can.
Working to understand, manage and restore biodiversity on (and in) the canal is key to it being able to thrive into the future words: Adam Pickering
Of late, my curiosity’s been swimming down the twists and turns of Nottingham’s own waterways and wet areas. The River Leen and its offshoots tell a fascinating local history of our often fraught relationship with nature, and hidden wetlands like Martin’s Pond just north of Wollaton Park are a wild escape from city life.
Buses Nottingham City Transport already operated the world’s largest fleet of biogas double-decker buses, and they’ve recently expanded it to 143. The existing fleet has made a pretty sizable contribution to improving Nottingham’s air quality, preventing over 26,000 tonnes of CO2 being emitted, as well as reducing nitrogen oxide emissions (with their much greater greenhouse effect) by 180kg.
Local operator Tramlink often voice their support for Carbon Neutral Nottingham 2028, recently launching a branded tram supporting the initiative, which is currently gliding around Notts. Unveiling the tram, Tim Hesketh says, “Nottingham is leading the charge in tackling climate change so this newly wrapped tram will create a ‘green symbol’ of the city’s clean growth ambitions.”
39leftlion.co.uk/issue151 39 IRONvNemeNtgOOD mOves words: Adam Pickering photo: Justin Smith
We’re also home to the UK’s first trial of wirelesscharging taxis, funded to the tune of £930,000 by the Government’s Office for Zero-Emission Vehicles. These mean drivers can charge easily while they wait for their next customer. Although taxis aren’t a form of transport many of us can afford to take on a regular basis, it’s good to know that greener options are increasingly out there.
A BALLET BY DAVID NIXON CBE NUTCRACKERTHE HHHH ‘A FABULOUSBALLET’FESTIVE DAILY TELEGRAPH Theatre Royal, Nottingham Wed 16 – Sat 19 Nov 0115trch.co.uk989 5555Audio described performances available. Registered charity no. 259140. Company registration no. 947096. Matthew Koon and Rachael Gillespie in The Nutcracker. Photo Guy Farrow. Production supported by
Roger was revelatory as a teacher - he knew that formal education could sometimes exclude or alienate students and he worked hard to counter that. His key gift was as a communicator - he was forever seeking the best way to translate his knowledge and experience to his students. He knew that communication was not about imposing your ideas on others, but required empathy and care and interest in other people and their thoughts and needs.
Tues
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The Skin I Live In But I’m a Cheerleader Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Taking a look at the eclectic mix of movies being shown at Scalarama this year emphasises just how impressive our screen scene is right now. Whether it’s Jackie Treehorn Productions shining a light on audacious indie flicks you likely haven’t seen, or The Loft Movie Theatre giving you a chance to catch up on beloved blockbusters you absolutely should have seen, there’s so much to do in Nottingham every month - all thanks to the passion of film-manic volunteers.
To Do This Is England Sure, it’s tacky to promote your own events, but we’re doing it anyway - as we’re joining Cult Film Club for an intimate Scalarama screening of this classic from Shane Meadows. Grab your tickets now (please)! 20 Sep, Works Social
He may not have been the public face of Nottingham’s filmmaking scene, but he was certainly its heart. you look, there are exciting things happening in independent venues across the city Roger Knott-Fayle may not have been the public face of Nottingham’s filmmaking scene, but he was certainly its heart
Beyond Headstart, Roger continued teaching - for Intermedia, Broadway, Confetti and NTU amongst others - and he brought the same care, curiosity and creativity to each of those roles. Alongside education, he also worked as a cameraman - where his knowledge, experience and innately collaborative approach made him a boon to any crew - and on his own work across a whole range of disciplines, including photography, film, art, music and writing. In recent years he was a key member of the team involved in the BFI Film Academy at Broadway, guiding the next generation of young people through their first contact with the industry. I’m so glad that my own daughter also got the experience of being taught by him.
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To Remember Two for Joy With Bella Ramsey and Samantha Morton among its cast, this intimate family drama was a proper Nottingham affair - and still boasts a perfect critic score on Rotten Tomatoes four years after its release. To Follow Notts Bad Movie Club We’re all about celebrating cinema here - but sometimes it’s good to embrace the bad. And that’s exactly what this lot do, setting up screenings of movies that are so terrible, they’re terrific.
@scalaramanottingham
A mainstay in Nottingham’s screen industry for decades, Roger Knott-Fayle was a guiding light for countless aspiring and established filmmakers in the city before his recent passing. Among those is Steven Sheil, who opens up on why Roger meant so much to so many…
Everywhere
If you were to create a personality that embodied the characteristics of the film culture from this city you might include these elements: determinedly individual, naturally anti-authoritarian, endlessly curious and experimental, and profoundly interested in the lives and minds of others. Roger Knott-Fayle was all of these and more, and his teachings and his ethos are embedded throughout the city’s filmmaking DNA.
Last month saw The Nottingham Horror Collective take over Broadway Cinema on four separate occasions, screening the likes of The Exorcist and Rosemary’s Baby - stone-cold classics that are bound to make your skin crawl - for captivated audiences. In the space of a year, the team behind this quarterly zine have become a mainstay in the city’s cinematic landscape, joining an ever-growing, increasinglyvaried gang of film exhibitors.
He delighted in the interplay between his mind and others, and for many of those he taught his approach was transformative. With Roger, you never felt like you were being instructed by a superior authority, but that you were engaged in a conversation. It was part of the reason why so many of those he taught became, like me, his friends, and why the outpouring of grief at his passing has been so profound.
I first met Roger in 1996 when I was a student on Intermedia Film and Video’s Headstart programme, a one-year practical foundation course in filmmaking designed to help people into the industry. It was a difficult time for me, just after the death of my sister, and I was apprehensive about going into a new and potentially challenging environment. But the course, and Roger - whose kindness and empathy were there from the start - ultimately changed the direction of my life.
And now we are able to welcome Mammoth, a Climate Change Action Cinema, to the scene - filling the void left by Screen 22 when it closed in 2015. Promising to instil “a community element” into the venue, owner Patrick Hort is aiming to make this more than just a place to watch movies - but a space to celebrate them together. Everywhere you look, there are exciting things happening in venues across the city. And, at a time when the future of big cinema chains like Cineworld are under threat, these independents are essential for getting eyes in front of screens, and for allowing people to experience cinema in the way it’s meant to be So,experienced.ifyouhaven’t yet made the most of Nottingham’s varied film scene, now’s your chance to make up for lost time. Whether you’re after corny rom-coms, terrifying horrors or gritty dramas, Scalarama - and the dedicated groups taking part in it - will have something for you.
@nottsbadmovieclub
Roger Knott-Fayle may not have been the most famous person to emerge from Nottingham’s film scene over the past few decades, but he was arguably the most influential. For over thirty years working as an educator, practitioner, collaborator and mentor, Roger was instrumental in guiding and shaping the careers of multiple generations of filmmakers and other creatives in Nottingham and beyond, helping to ignite passions and shape futures - my own included.
A tRIbute t O ROgeR K NO tt-FAyle words: Steven Sheil
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Nineteen tracks of vintage-style hip-hop sounds from Dathan Horridge with considerable input from Jurrell Wood, and featuring many artists you must have seen and heard on the local music scene over the years - be happy for this Shrusic journey of jazzy, bluesy, ambient sounds and be happy for the personal journey that Dathan has gone through while making the album, because this is one full of hope and happiness.
Bassey Drive Through Hazy Spread Lies (Single) Drive Through Hazy will be taking to the Metronome stage for BBC Introducing this month - and if their new single, Spread Lies, is anything to go by, it’s set to be one hell of an introduction. Combining captivating vocals with soothing electronic harmonies, this is a delightfully atmospheric track that adds something fresh to an increasingly saturated area of music. It’s easy to picture this tune becoming a regular on Radio 1’s Chillest Show at some point in the near future - and equally easy to imagine Drive Through Hazy flying high for a long time to come. George White hidingthehurt The Day U Said U Wanna Die (Single) hidingthehurt (the moniker of Nottingham-based student Ollie Greenhalgh) has recently released a new single titled The Day U Said U Wanna Die. His sound is an amalgamation of influences driven mainly by hyperpop, but this track is completely unexpected from him. Beginning with an immediate explosion of guitar and drums, you may think he’s a more rock-influenced artist if this is your first time listening to him. However, this just demonstrates how diverse he is as an artist, with his music never feeling stale or repetitive thanks to his fearless attitude when experimenting with sound. Keep an eye out for his EP later in the year. Gemma Cockrell The Publics Marathon in Heels (Single) Fairly new to the music scene, The Publics are a five-piece indie rock band hailing from Mansfield. Having just released their fourth single, Marathon in Heels, the group are channelling that distinctly British sound that we’ve come to love from the likes of Arctic Monkeys and Catfish and the Bottlemen, while still holding on to their own sense of identity. As such, Marathon in Heels is cheeky and upbeat, with the perfect amount of grunge. If that sounds up your alley, you can catch them supporting Tidepool at The Chameleon Arts Cafe next month. Lizzy O’Riordan GIRLBAND Girls With Boys (Single) Bring together three of the most unique, mesmerising Notts voices into one rebellious package and what do you get? GIRLBAND, of course. Formed by Georgie, Jada Mullings and Kay Flo, this new group have combined their phenomenal solo talent to create something truly special. With dreamlike vocals and a catchy, energetic beat, their debut single, Girls With Boys, is guaranteed to stick in your head from the very first listen. We can't wait to see what they come up with next. George White
Shrusic & Sunrise Nowhere Know Yourself To Death (Album)
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She wants the process to be visible in the final outcome so that we think about what it means to use materials
Katharina Fitz: SHAPE–SHIFT is on view at Beam Gallery until Saturday 10 September
The latest exhibition at Beam Gallery has turned the space into something like an archaeologist’s study room, filled with curious discoveries from an unknown place and time. There is a mystery to the giant hulking sculptures and mechanical shapes that fill the place. Both pristine and decaying, the artworks appear like relics of strange machines that are obscured by brilliant white rock. This is artist Katharina Fitz’s latest series of work, SHAPE–SHIFT, which is now presented at Beam Gallery. The exhibition consists of sculptural and drawing work by the Nottingham artist. The artworks are made of large, rough industrial materials with heavy, rusted textures that are juxtaposed with precise and delicate mechanical forms. Her work is highly experimental, and this exhibition is the current stage of an ongoing process of experimentation and thought that Fitz has undertaken for the past ten years. The exhibition was timed to coincide with the launch of a new book that Fitz has produced with the publishing house Beam Editions, which operates alongside the gallery. The book is entitled When Seams Become Audible - Sculpture and Photography 2013–2022, which presents her work from over that time period and explains the process and the ideas and experiments that led her to create the work that is currently on display.
A series of highly precise, architectural-looking drawings really give the exhibition the feeling of being both an art show as well as a study into art. The drawings explore the architectural forms that build the place. This ties this 2D work into her 3D sculptural work which also explores ideas of place and shows the variation in the different techniques and styles Fitz has explored over the years. The book that accompanies the exhibition shows the evolution of her practice, from starting out as a photographer to changing her subjects and techniques dramatically over the years, and her 2D work is evidence of this. Her work is hard to define. It has a lot of mystery and is both art as well as a critical commentary on art. In this way, the exhibition is a fascinating one and well worth a visit.
This month’s cover artist, photographer Chloe Allen, takes us inside her creative process… Tell us a bit about yourself… I am a photographer of around eight or nine years and hold a degree in Art and Design. I wanted to follow my great-grandad and take photos for the RAF but, unfortunately, I was unable to do that. I found a different path for my creativity and focused on fashion photography. I admire all areas of photography and am always taking photos of anything I think looks intriguing. In my work I like to look at areas that you wouldn’t necessarily think of using and use that as a backdrop, I like to find beauty in things that aren't noticed and share that with people so they can see it too. What was the inspiration behind the cover?
Industrial materials including plaster, clay, steel, plywood and latex are a key element to her practice. She then puts these types of materials through a process of turning, scraping, baking, cutting and fixing together. This process of creating the art is key to understanding the final outcome of her work. She wants the process to be visible in the product so that we think about what it means to use materials, how we use materials and think about what it means to create. Two sculptures, Catch and Release I & II, really show this process. They are created using plaster that is turned and shaped, and the energy and the tools used to do this are all visible in the outcome. Alongside this work, there are two clay fired slabs with similar processed, architectural forms evident in them. She likes the work to have the imprint of its creation on the surface so that there is a language between process and product. This is a reconnecting with thought on the means of production through a critical lens. This brings up questions about production in modern society and allows the viewer to think critically about what it means to produce and create products or machines. Having the evidence of labour visible in the final piece puts the spotlight on the idea of labour itself and shows evidence of skill and care which makes the viewer want to value the work.
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Creating large textured structures, Katharina Fitz’s work walks the line between the sleek and the experimental. We head down to Beam Gallery to explore her latest exhibition, SHAPE-SHIFT, to see how she uses industrial materials to create her final pieces, alongside learning more about her new book, When Seams Become Audible - Sculpture and Photography 2013–2022…
What have you got planned for the future? Keep pushing my photography. If we are talking a while into the future, I would like to have my own studio and possibly publish a photo book. I would love my own space where I can create crazy concepts and there are no limitations –that's the long-term dream. As for now I am going to keep doing what I love and keep taking photos whenever I can.
I wanted to capture the magazine theme of cycling whilst also showing some of the architecture around the city that you might otherwise miss. When on a bike or walking around we tend to be looking forward, rather than up at what’s around us, meaning we don’t always notice some of the hidden sights. (Please don’t look up whilst cycling – I don’t want you to crash). I also wanted to portray the openness of it, the freedom, the wind and what’s all around you, the space that you’re cycling through. How does it compare with some other projects you’ve worked on? My focus is usually on fashion so it is quite different to what I am used to working on. I have also been in a few magazines but this is my first front cover; I was honoured to be asked to do it and very excited to challenge myself in a new area. I had to think differently and take into consideration new aspects of the image. That being said, I thought about the bike as being the model – what angle would it look best at, the negative space, etc. Tell us about some projects you’ve worked on in the past… One of my favourite projects I’ve worked on was creating a fashion-based zine in 3D based on humans and the connection we have with music. I organised, designed and shot three photos based on eighties songs. It was challenging as I had never done anything to that scale before, but I wanted to create something I am passionate about, whilst learning something new. The 3D part was the most interesting as I got to see my photography come to life on paper. A couple of my other favourite projects were ones that were spontaneous. For example, one shoot fell through for a few models meaning I had to step in to take some photos of them at an amazing venue. I ended up taking some of my favourite photos I've ever shot. I have some more projects in mind but they are hush for now...
Is there anything else you’d like to tell the LeftLion readers? I hope you’re enjoying your coffee whilst reading this – have a great day! (If you don’t have a drink, go get one. And some cake).
@capture_bychloe
Can you start by telling me about July and what inspired you to write it?
To Read Don’t Blame the Blacks
We
Thursday
To Do Write a Sestina
I’ve always been very open about my mental health struggles, because even though the world has gotten a lot better at talking about mental health, there’s still a stigma. People don’t always understand how depression and anxiety can affect everyone so differently; pretty much everyone who meets me would not suspect that I have depression, because I’m always smiling and generally bouncy. But it’s always been a part of me and I’m happy to share that, which extends into my writing and poetry.
It was actually a lot easier than I was expecting, probably because I just went at it with an open mind, seeing what happened on any given day. Since poetry is usually a lot shorter and faster than prose, you can just condense everything into one given moment. In comparison to writing my novel, it was nice to not have to hit a word count. There was a lot more freedom to just let the words be themselves.
I think so. Whether I put out another poetry collection or not is a different kettle of fish, but you never know! If July does well, I might. Or maybe I’ll just be in the mood to put another collection together and give myself that creative boost again. But even if I don’t, this experience has definitely made me pay more attention to metre, rhyme, and rhythm which hopefully will help with novel number two. July is available on Amazon and through richardkish.co.uk ON words: Lizzy O’Riordan
I imagine that means you can be a lot more organic with your writing! In a way, yes. Because it was just a case of seeing what inspired me on any given day, whether rehearsing for a play I’m going to be in, adventures with my dog, or a world event that happened that day, I was always writing as something was happening. It made it easier to just write, rather than having to aim for consistency.
It’s September, the time of new pencil cases and new possibilities. So give Writing East Midlands a follow to spot regular (and good) writing opportunities.
@writingeastmidlands@richardakish
July is a collection of poems that I wrote over the course of July this year. It began because I’d been struggling to make any progress on the novel I’m working on and needed a new creative outlet. Over the past year-anda-half, my mental health has also been going through a bit of a rollercoaster and I found that poetry was quite helpful in getting feelings and thoughts out and down on the page, whether clarifying them or giving a sense of catharsis. So, since I wasn’t getting anywhere with my novel, I set myself a challenge to write a poem every single day for a month. Every day is quite a commitment. Did you struggle at all to maintain consistency?
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interview: Lizzy O’Riordan photo: Richard Kish What’s a sestina? didn’t know either, but apparently it’s a type of poetry made of six stanzas and six lines. Lucky for us, Leanne Moden is offering a class on how to write them. 22 September, Nottingham Writers Studio
And if it could help someone else clarify and understand their feelings, seek help if needed, or just know they’re not alone, then that would be great.
The book is largely inspired by your experiences with depression. How was that to write about?
In the past you’ve mainly written prose. Do you see yourself working on more poetry?
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With this month’s Raleigh collaboration, I got to thinking about travel in fiction and why it’s such a commonly used storyline. No, I’m not talking about travelogues (though they’re certainly great too), but rather pieces of fiction in which the story hinges around a journey, whether by train, car or foot. Of course, the first genre that comes to mind is that of fantasy fiction, which is rife with long treks and arduous journeys, often peppered with a series of obstacles - J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit or C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia to name the most obvious. But also the genre of children’s fiction, which really has an unbelievable amount of travelling in; examples include Dorothy’s walk down the Yellow Brick Road, Harry Potter’s train journey to Hogwarts, and Alice’s long and confusing trip through Wonderland. Why is this so common in literature? Well, if we think about what a journey symbolises for a minute, the answer becomes clear. Change, discomfort, challenge, newness, expansure. Travel is the perfect metaphor, with the protagonist beginning the story somewhere (quite literally) and ending up somewhere entirely different by the end - the physical movement mirroring the ways in which the character has changed internally. And this works whether it’s about a character’s development from cowardly to brave, like in the case of Bilbo Baggins, or the transformation from child to adult, like in the case of most children’s Infiction.away, all fiction is about personal growth, whether successful or unsuccessful, but the metaphor of travel allows us to access this theme really easily - a sentiment reiterated by a much greater thinker than me, aka Leo Tolstoy, when he said, “All great literature is one of two stories; a man goes on a journey or a stranger comes to town.” If we think about what a journey symbolises for a minute, the answer becomes clear People don’t always understand how depression and anxiety can affect everyone so differently Publishing his first novel Burning Ash after ten years in the writing, Richard Kish found himself stuck for inspiration, in large part because of his experiences with depression. So, in the hopes of a ‘creative boost’, Kish turned to poetry, making a vow to write a single piece every single day in July. Now published in a collection of the month’s name, we chat with the young writer about how the project came about, life with mental health struggles and the difference between prose and poetry…
Currently on sale in Five Leaves Bookshop, Nottingham artist Panya Banjoko has written the introduction to George Powe’s thought-provoking pamphlet Don’t Blame the Blacks. fiveleavesbookshop.co.uk
To Follow Writing East Midlands
Musing on poetry more widely, Normal seems fascinated with the topic of connection, and how we create art to connect with each other. “I think all poetry, whether long or short snippets, fulfils our desire to communicate.
Available as of last month, Collected Poems: Volume Two reads as an honest and often funny selection of poems, offering a range of perspectives from both a younger and older man, meeting together in one collection. A place of home, it’s a pleasant visit for the reader, and a real achievement for the author, who doesn’t plan to give up writing any time soon.
When I sit down to talk to Henry Normal over Zoom, he’s wearing a sling, having broken his arm three weeks prior. But despite the injury, he’s still excited to talk about poetry. In fact, he’s been spending his recovery time reading other people’s favourite poems, after sending a call out on Facebook to fellow poetry lovers near and far. And as for his own collection, his appetite seems equally healthy, as he tells me that there will be “at least three volumes of Collected Poems, hopefully four”. Each of these contains three of his slimmer poetry anthologies, in the case of Volume Two: This Phantom Breath, The Department of Lost Wishes and Swallowing the Entire Ocean. A lover of poetry since a young age, Henry remembers publishing his first collection when he was only nineteen, sold at Nottingham’s Mushroom Bookshop in the 1970s and entitled Is Love Science Fiction? A product of his time at “the writers group in the Central Library on Angel Row”, it’s something he looks back on fondly. And in the present day, after what he describes as a twenty-year break, his passion for the form is back in full force - with the wordsmith penning nine books in five years, re-starting with Staring Directly Into the Eclipse, published in 2016. Do you think there’s any particular theme to your poetry? I ask Henry, wondering which are the topics that come up again and again. After thinking for a moment, he laughs, “It’s funny, because Amazon tells you which category your books are in, and I’ve been ranked 27th in the category of death and loss poetry, and also about the same in the category of inspirational poetry. So it’s varied, though to me they’re very similar in my outlook on life. Really, though, I suppose the collections are a diary of my internal landscape, and that’s something that can change from year-to-year. But they’re all about mapping out surroundings and coming to terms with Reflectinglife.”
The collections are a diary of my internal landscape, and that’s something that can change from year to year
“I thought it would be nice to include that second book from my twenties,”
Henry says. “When people look at me now, they think I’m some grey-haired old buffoon. But I was once in my twenties and I had thoughts and feelings and hopes and dreams, so it’s nice to have some registry of that for people to relate to.”
Collected Poems: Volume Two is available through Flapjack Press @HenryNormalpoet Lizzy O’Riordan Henry Normal
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his most recent internal landscape, Normal’s latest poetry is steeped in family life, capturing the quaint loveliness of spending time with his wife, Angela, and son, Johnny, in their east Sussex home - a life which he refers to as at a slower but deeper pace than before. “In a way, anyone who reads poetry is eavesdropping,” Henry says, and his poetry certainly allows us to be a fly on the wall for his thoughts.
I ask Henry what this poetry collection means to him and whether he feels proud of the achievement. He responds by considering the concept of belonging. “You know, I’m working on a radio show and the next one is all about home, so I’ve been trying to think about what home is and I’ve got it down to the fact it’s about acceptance. Home is where you are, who you are, and where people accept you,” he muses. “So, when you ask me if I’m proud, the answer is that the poems feel like home to me. I would accept these as a representation of what I’m about.” Taking a tangent, Normal starts to talk about his first memory, which takes place on Seymour Street in Nottingham, during which he’s four years old and holding a bright red plastic fire truck, moving it back and forth on a window ledge. Then, drawing it all into the point, he adds, “The overall memory I have is that of being present, experiencing a moment where I was just me. And I feel the way about my poetry. That I accept them as myself, and I’m happy with that.”
From co-creating the British TV classic The Royle Family to setting up Baby Cow Productions with Steve Coogan, Henry Normal has had an industrious career in the arts. But since retiring, the 65-year-old has turned his hand back to his first love, poetry, and is celebrating his second volume of Collected Poems, published last month by Flapjack Press…
Spanning from his early twenties with The Department of Lost Wishes, all the way to his sixties with This Phantom Breathe, Collected Poems: Volume Two certainly succeeds in showing Henry’s changing perception of the world. The former is focused on yearning for a sense of love and belonging, and the latter centres around the death of his brother and his retirement from the TV industry - yet both capture the fears and thoughts of their present moment.
One of the best ways to describe poetry is to say that it’s the communication of perception, and it’s quite nice to see how someone else perceives the world, because we all perceive it so individually,” the author tells me.
Although boasting impressive size and stature, William Collins was the furthest thing from an ideal soldier. Born in Nottingham at some time around 1835, his childhood was spent learning the knitting trade before, aged just thirteen, sailing to New York Harbour aboard a ship, aptly named the America, with his eleven-year-old sister Charlotte and a woman named Louisa Smallwood, who was possibly their grandmother. By the time the Civil War had begun, Louisa Smallwood was dead, his sister Charlotte was lost to history and William had been living in Philadelphia for as many years as he’d lived in Nottingham. Considering the many blotches that would later appear in his service record, it’s something of a surprise that he voluntarily joined the 88th Pennsylvania Infantry less than six months after the war’s commencement. Perhaps, given that the last US census in which Collins’ appears lists him as having no known profession, the appeal of regular meals and pay was worth the risk of being killed in action.
The American Civil War was fought in a thousand places for a thousand reasons. Friendships, unions and even families were torn asunder by fundamentally opposing viewpoints: centralised government versus the rights of the state, the wealth disparity between the North and the South and, most vitally, the desire to bring an end to slavery. Sitting almost exactly at the midway point between the Battle of Waterloo and the beginning of the First World War, it acted as something of a bridge between the old world and the new, marking a decisive end to the gallant cavalry charges and romanticised notions of warfare from the former, ushering in the era of artillery-fuelled carnage seen on a much larger scale in the latter. It was the first conflict in which weaponry rapidly outgrew tactics, enabling carnage on a scale previously thought unimaginable. Fought by the grandsons of the men who had battled Britain for independence less than a century before, it was a desperate, pitiless fight for the soul of a young country taking place over four blood-soaked years –every day of which saw a battle of some scale – between 1861 and 1865. It remains the deadliest war in American history, with the human cost higher than the losses suffered in World War I, World War II, Vietnam, Korea, Iraq and Afghanistan combined. The town of Winchester in the Shenandoah Valley changed hands 72 times during the conflict, generals on either side were frequently friends and former comrades of one-another and Robert E. Lee, the leader of the Confederate forces (those Southern states fighting to secede from the Union, maintain slavery and break the financial domination of the Northern states) had originally been offered command of the opposing Union army by President Abraham Lincoln. The American Civil was as ugly and frenzied as it was intimate. Despite being confined to one country, the war had distinctly international undertones. Over a quarter of the two million soldiers that fought in President Abraham Lincoln’s Union army were born outside of the US, including a large percentage of recent immigrants from Britain. While the majority of them fought for the North, some did take up arms for the Southern Confederate cause, leading to bizarre examples of entirely Irish regiments squaring off against each other for a cause that wasn’t their own, shattering companionships and rekindling old rivalries on battlefields thousands of miles away from home. The story of the war is deeply and irrevocably intertwined with the story of Britain: no sooner were men from all corners of the Isles arriving on the shores of America in search of a better life than rifles and uniforms were being thrust into their hands.
As the cloth sack slipped over his face, closing his eyes to the crowd of dishevelled, emaciated faces eagerly baying for his blood, you have to wonder whether William Collins’ mind drifted back to the streets of Nottingham he’d grown up on. Just how had this Nottsborn former knitter found himself as chief villain in one of the American Civil War’s darkest stories? There wasn’t a single sympathetic face amongst the 26,000 onlookers, packed into a filthy and overcrowded stockade, as the noose was placed around Collins’ neck in what remains the most witnessed execution in US history. Starving and despairing, they were glad to see the demise of a man who had heaped misery on their already pitiful lives inside Andersonville prisoner of war camp. But the extraordinary story of William Collins had another twist yet.
At this point in the war, the vastly outnumbered Confederate Army under the leadership of Robert E. Lee was performing miracles in the field, out-manoeuvring, out-flanking and outfighting the better equipped, better paid and numerically superior Union forces. Collins re-joined his unit just in time to take part in the Battle of Chancellorsville, a major six-day battle that ended in yet another defeat for the Union forces. However, two months later saw what many believe was the defining turning point in the entire war: Gettysburg. Fought over three days in early July 1863, the Battle of Gettysburg is ascribed mythological status in the annals of US history. The subject of countless books, films and podcasts, it served as the moment in which the tides of fortune finally turned in favour of the Union side, delivering President Abraham Lincoln the victory he so desperately needed. It was no drubbing - the casualties were relatively equal on both sides (23,000 Union and 23-28,000 Confederate) - but while the Union army could afford to lose men, the Confederates simply could not, and the perceived invincibility of Lee’s army had been permanently shattered. After Gettysburg “it was no longer possible for the Confederacy to win the war”, wrote historian Bruce Catton. “The North might still lose it, to be sure… but outright defeat was no longer in the cards.”
Ferociously defending the hill from three Confederate brigades, the 88th charged over a stone wall to capture two regimental colours, as well as the survivors of the 23rd North Carolina’s they’d just decimated, inflicting a staggering 80% casualties. The records show that Collins and his fellow trouble-makers in Company D were first over the wall and, despite his chequered past, Collins performed well enough to receive a battlefield promotion to corporal. To this day, his name remains engraved on the plaque dedicated to the exploits of the 88th on the Pennsylvania Monument at Gettysburg. words: Ashley Carter illustration: Natalie Owen
At the time of his enrolment, the 88th was still in the process of being outfitted, and Collins soon found himself being bounced from company to company, including being moved twice in the same day in 1862, suggesting he was seen as problematic from the outset. Ending up in Company D, a unit notorious for its discipline problems and the natural landing place for trouble-makers, regimental muster rolls show him as being absent without leave for two of his first four months in uniform. Later records show Collins as having run up a sizeable debt to the regiment, presumably for lost or damaged uniform and arms.
Considered one of the darkest chapters of the American Civil War, the Andersonville Raiders were an organised mob of thieves and murders who preyed on their fellow prisoners at Andersonville prisoner of war Camp. Led by William Collins, a former knitter born in Nottingham, they created a reign of terror amidst the already miserable conditions, and paid the ultimate price…
Collins’ first taste of action came at a time when Lincoln’s Union army was firmly on the backfoot, and he found himself being wounded in the thigh and captured by Confederate soldiers on the final day of the Second Battle of Bull Run in August, 1862. Paroled back as part of a prisoner exchange three days later, he was sent to hospital where he remained, missing two of the war’s most iconic battles at Antietam and Fredericksburg. The relative comfort of hospital life was infinitely preferable to endless days spent marching, training and fighting as, by the time he was expected to rejoin his unit in January of the following year, Collins had disappeared. His freedom was short-lived, however, as recounted by assistant surgeon DeWitt Peters in sent a letter to the provost marshal’s office in Baltimore: “Private Wm Collins… was down on the list to go to his regiment, but escaped and went into the city. I saw him on the street today and caused him to be arrested and brought to our Guard House. He had an old wound of the thigh, which causes him to limp when under inspection but today I saw him walking as well as any person could. He is a hard drinker… can you not take him under charge and send him to his regiment by the first opportunity?… This man is better off in the field than confined here, where he is a source of annoyance.”
The battle seems to have been as much of a personal turning point for Collins as it was the Union. The soldier, whose history until that point was little more than a list of unauthorised absences, faked injuries, drunkenness and debt, was part of Baxter’s Brigade, fighting fiercely on Oak Ridge on the Union’s right flank.
As the six men were led up the gallows steps, none who had suffered at their hands missed the opportunity to witness their execution
But as the attacks rose, so did the effort to combat them. Wanting to protect the cash they’d been allowed to keep, the new influx of wealthy prisoners developed a system of screaming “Plymouth!” at the first sign of an attack, bringing their comrades streaming out to their defence. Bands of informal ‘regulators’ began to form, tasked with acting as an ad-hoc police force of sorts. Sometimes these methods were enough to deter the attempted robberies and beatings, and sometimes the raiders simply bided their time and waited for a more opportune moment. With some semblance of law established, punishments started to be meted out for those caught in the act of attempting to steal from a fellow prisoner. Eugene Forbes, a prisoner at Andersonville who kept a meticulous diary during his time there, recounted several such incidents Thursday, May 26 - “Some of the dirtiest men were sucked and scrubbed today, and some of the “raiders” bucked and gagged, and their heads shaved.”
Built over ten acres and roughly 1,000ft by 800ft in size, Andersonville was originally intended to hold around 9,000 Union prisoners of war. At its most crowded, it was packed with almost 45,000. With little to no food, barely any clean water supply and hellish sanitary conditions, death stalked the camp on a daily basis, claiming over 13,000 of the prisoners kept there. At its worst, the death rate was over 100 per day. While scurvy, diarrhoea, dysentery and starvation were the chief causes, more than a few men’s lives were violently ended at the hands of their fellow prisoners.
The waters of history are muddy at the best of times, and the conditions in which Andersonville diaries were kept were far from the best of times. While details from different records often contradict oneanother, all those who wrote about what happened at the execution of William Collins agree with what occurred next. “The six prisoners seemed stunned,”
Thursday, June 22 – “Our own men are worse to each other than the rebels are to us…. Heard a chase after a raider after we had turned in; don’t think they caught Wednesday,him.”June 20 – “The raiders were hunted from one end of the camp to the other… about 50 were taken outside and their issuing of rations stopped… Large quantities of clothing, blankets and currency were found in some raiders’ tents.”
The surviving court transcript paints a despicable picture, describing how Collins and his ilk lived as slum kings while his former brothers-in-arms were subjected to treatment of the very worst kind. Against the already hellish landscape of Andersonville, their already slim chances of survival were reduced further by the selfish barbarism of the raiders. As the six men were led up the gallows steps, none who had suffered at their hands missed the opportunity to witness their execution.
writes historian Gary Morgan. “Several witnesses would later write that they had the impression that the six had not actually believed that they were about to die until that moment.” But their arrest, trial and sentence was no elaborate ploy to bring them into line. One of the six attempted to flee through the prisoners’ latrine just as he came to the gallows steps, but was quickly brought to heel. Cloth meal sacks were placed over the condemned men’s heads and nooses fixed around their throats. At the signal given by their executioner, the prop holding up the platform on which they stood was knocked away, plummeting the six men into the abyss.
Thursday, June 30 – “The crusader against the raiders continues, and several were taken today.”
This feature is often used to celebrate the men and women from Nottingham who made a positive impact on the past. The inventors, soldiers, politicians and philanthropists that, having once walked the same streets we walk every day, went on to witness and shape some of the biggest turning points in world history for the better. But it’s equally important to remember the villains Nottingham has produced and, in one of the darkest stories in an already cruel chapter of world history, there were few more villainous than William Collins.
Spluttering and coughing, a bemused William Collins opened his eyes to see a crowd of faces staring down at him. Was this the afterlife? It looked just as grim and dismal as the prison camp in which he’d just shuffled off his mortal coil. Looking around as he slowly came to his senses, he saw the dangling corpses of his five former associates swinging behind him. This was no paradise - his rope had just snapped, sending him crashing to the mud and knocking him unconscious. Surely this was a sign from God, and the Almighty had seen fit to spare him punishment for his wicked crimes? At least this was the claim he made to the unsatisfied mob, as he piteously pleaded for his life. But his pleas fell on deaf ears as ‘Limber Jim’, the man whose brother Collins had reportedly murdered, lifted the large-framed man over his shoulder “as if he was a baby” and carried him back onto the scaffold to be hanged for a second time. This time, the rope held just Collinsfine.and the five other raid leaders were not permitted to be buried with the other fallen prisoners, and their names were not counted amongst the honoured dead – a sentiment that continues to this day. When the thousands of graves at Andersonville National Cemetery are decorated with American flags each Memorial Day, the six graves of Collins and the other leaders sit to the side, yards away from the rest, unflagged, unhonoured and forgotten.
The move into Andersonville did little to curb Collins’ behaviour. If anything, the more extreme conditions fuelled increasingly extreme behaviour. His gang grew larger, becoming known as both ‘Mosby’s Raiders’ and ‘Collins’ Raiders’, and the attacks grew more carefully choreographed. With so many people packed into such a small space, an ecosystem of bartering, shops and alliances naturally evolved and, as with any such rudimentary system, strength of force was the only true currency. New arrivals at the camp would be lured into a tent with the promise of a welcoming meal or warm cup of coffee, only to be severely beaten – sometimes fatally – and their clothes, possessions, food and valuables stripped away. At some point, Collins moved from being the thief to the thief conductor, as several surviving diaries record him as being absent from the events themselves, but well-known as the chief orchestrator – a Fagan-type figure pulling the strings of his desperate, nefarious band of degenerates. He was preying on men who had given everything for a cause they believed in, and now found themselves at their lowest ebb. Prisoner exchanges had become too complicated to function, and their hopes of freedom from the notorious camp lay only with the conclusion of a war, which was still over a year away. “It was a terrible time,” says a Sunday Mercury newspaper article from August 1865. “But what appeared to be every man’s business was nobody’s business; and no man dared grapple with this inhumane organisation… A reign of terror had spread itself over the prison, as men lay down in the miserable tens at night in terror and they woke in the morning unrefreshed, the terrors of the banditti still haunting them.” It was a truly desperate situation of which Collins was taking full advantage.
The American Civil War was a conflict that made gods and monsters of mortal men, deifying the likes of Lincoln and, despite being on the losing side, Robert E. Lee, while men like Collins were ignominiously lambasted as being felons of the very worst kind.
‘Collins’ Raiders’ were far from the only group operating in such a way. At least five other bands ran similar schemes of separating and attacking weaker prisoners, often working in unison with one another. Whether because of his physical size, his bright red hair or his ruthless, violent reputation, Collins is the most written about of them all. Because the gangs moved fast and in shows of strength, there was little the victims could do to avoid being attacked, but this was to change with the arrival of the Plymouth Pilgrims, a group of 2,364 Union soldiers who had been captured at North Carolina. As part of their terms of surrender, the Plymouth captives had been allowed to keep their cash and property which, as it happened, included three months’ worth of back pay, as well as enlistment and reenlistment bounties. This influx of cash into the camp – which would have been the equivalent of hundreds of thousands of dollars in modern currency – would change life at Andersonville completely. The increase of wealth brought a sharp rise in crime, as prisoner diaries recount attacks becoming more and more violent and brazen.
Friday, May 27 – “A “raider” was caught last night, and kept prisoner until daylight, when he was bucked and gagged, his head shaved and afterwards marched around the camp.”
At some point during these back-and-forth skirmishes, the brother of a man known as ‘Limber Jim’ was killed by the raiders, possibly by Collins himself or, at the least, at his order. The camp's commandant, a Swiss-American named Captain Henry Wirz (who would later be hanged for war crimes due to the brutal conditions at Andersonville), finally decided to intercede. Collins and five of the other ringleaders - Charles Curtis, John Sarsfield, Patrick Delaney, Teri Sullivan and Alvin T. Munn - were hunted down and arrested. The raiders’ reign of terror was finally over. Such was the outpouring of vengeance against the raiders that Hirz had a job on his hands to prevent them being lynched there and then. An impromptu trial followed, during which the majority of the arrested men - who numbered somewhere between fifty and 75 - were given punishments ranging from having their heads shaved to being forced to ‘run the gauntlet’ – the process of being led between two lines of their victims who, having been armed with bats and clubs, were permitted to beat them as they passed.
Collins and his ilk lived as slum kings while his former brothers-in-arms were subjected to treatment of the very worst kind
Several were thrashed with such fury that they later died from their injuries. But for Collins and the five other gang leaders, there could only be one penalty and, as the sun set over the hastily-assembled gallows in Andersonville prison, William Collins knew his luck had finally run out.
Gettysburg was to be an anomaly in Collins’ military experience. Three months later, the 88th were undertaking a series of night manoeuvres deep in the heart of Confederate Northern Virginia when Collins used the cover of a moonless night to slip away from his unit, deserting for (at least) the second time. Unfortunately for Collins, it wouldn’t be a mildly irritated Union surgeon that caught him this time, but Confederate soldiers. Prisoner of war records show him arriving at Belle Isle Prison Camp in Richmond, Virginia, just 24 hours later. It was here that William Collins, the infamous villain from US folklore, was Adoptingborn.the nickname ‘Mosby’ (after a Confederate general that led small, quick and unexpected raids against the enemy), the tall, physically intimidating Collins abandoned any notion of fraternal togetherness by forming and leading a gang of thugs and thieves to prey on his fellow prisoners. At this point in the war the South was being blockaded on all sides, and rations were in short supply for the Confederate army. Historian Larry J. Daniel writes that the desperate Confederates were forced to “beg, borrow and steal” food from wherever they could find it, and often dedicated as much time in the search for provisions as they did preparing for battle. With no flour, sugar or coffee, men relied on their own coffee concoction made from chicory roots, acorns, sweet potatoes and peanuts, and ate hard, spoiled cornbread which they crudely roasted over fires upon their own bayonets. If this is how the soldiers – the most precious commodity the South had – were treated, you can only imagine how little was available for the Union prisoners under their watch. For Collins, it was a Darwinian decision and, if it was to be survival of the fittest, he was going to do whatever he could to make sure he survived. But his behaviour didn’t go unnoticed as, on 4 March 1864, he was transferred to Camp Sumpter, more commonly known as Andersonville Prison. In a war already littered with unimagined horrors, it’s hard to describe Andersonville without falling into hyperbole. Robert H. Kellogg, who was sent there as a prisoner in May, 1864, wrote: “As we entered the place, a spectacle met our eyes that almost froze our blood with horror, and made our hearts fail within us. Before us were forms that had once been active and erect;—stalwart men, now nothing but mere walking skeletons, covered with filth and vermin. Many of our men, in the heat and intensity of their feeling, exclaimed with earnestness. "Can this be hell?" "God protect us!"… In the center of the whole was a swamp, occupying about three or four acres of the narrowed limits, and a part of this marshy place had been used by the prisoners as a sink, and excrement covered the ground, the scent arising from which was suffocating… how we were to live through the warm summer weather in the midst of such fearful surroundings, was more than we cared to think of just then.”
leftlion.co.uk/issue151 50leftlion.co.uk/issue145 1 leftlion.co.uk/issue1401 What’s on? 51leftlion.co.uk/issue151 THURSDAY 1 SEPT �� Alice in the Cities Broadway Cinema From £5, 6pm �� Pots and Pints Rough Trade £27.50, 6.30pm �� Feet Rescue Rooms £12, 7pm �� The Illegal Eagles Theatre Royal and Royal Concert Hall £35, 7.30pm FRIDAY 2 SEPT �� Playing Card Design Workshop The National Justice Museum Free, 10am �� Play in Public Space Primary Free, 12pm �� Fortune & Glory Film Club: But I’m A Cheerleader Drag Along Nonsuch Studios £20, 7pm �� The Black Blues Brothers Theatre Royal and Royal Concert Hall From £22.50, 7.30pm SATURDAY 3 SEPT �� Vegan Market Blue Camel Café From £1, 10am �� Make Your Own Open Planter Debbie Bryan £44, 10am �� 1525 Building Queerville: Crafting a New World Nottingham Contemporary Free, 2pm �� Black Cats and Magpies Rescue Rooms £9, 6.30pm �� Saturday Night Comedy The Glee Club From £10.25, 6.45pm �� Embrace Rock City £28.50, 6.30pm �� NWS Monthly Social Nottingham Writers Studio Free, 7pm SUNDAY 4 SEPT �� Carl Hutchinson: Live Canalhouse £15, 5pm �� The Gilded Merkin: Burlesque & Cabaret The Glee Club £18, 6pm �� The Official RuPaul’s Drag Race UK: Series Three Tour Theatre Royal and Royal Concert Hall From £37.50, 8pm MONDAY 5 SEPT �� Japanese Television: Live + Signing Rough Trade £13.50, 6pm �� Sourdough Starter Masterclass Malt Cross £24, 6.30pm �� Catch Your Breath: Comedy That Might Send You To Sleep With Ed Patrick Five Leaves Bookshop From £5, 7pm �� David Essex Theatre Royal and Royal Concert Hall From £35, 7.30pm �� Adore Delano Rescue Rooms £24.50, 7.30pm �� Pinch Points + Jeuce + Scene Killers JT Soar 7.30pm TUESDAY 6 SEPT �� Seed Talks: The Science of Psychedelics with Maria Balaet The Glee Club From £10.90, 6pm �� Writing for TV with James McDermott Nottingham Writers Studio From £60, 6.30pm �� Jess Kidd and Julie Walker In Conversation Waterstones Free £4, 6.30pm �� Enablers The Bodega £12, 7pm WEDNESDAY 7 SEPT �� Dave Hause And The Mermaid Rescue Rooms £18, 6.30pm �� Salt of the Earth Broadway Cinema From £5, 8pm THURSDAY 8 SEPT �� Jonny Pelham: Off-Limits The Glee Club £12, 6.30pm �� Machine Head + Amon Amarth Motorpoint Arena Nottingham From £27.18, 6.30pm �� Wild Love + Celestines + Drips Rough Trade Free, 7pm FRIDAY 9 SEPT �� Mark Your Mark: A Graffiti Workshop The National Justice Museum Free, 10am �� Mudhoney Rock City £19.50, 6.30pm �� Remy CB The Bodega £7, 7pm �� The Fox and Grapes’ 5th Birthday Party Celebrations Fox and Grapes Free SATURDAY 10 SEPT �� Flux Gourmet Preview + Q&A Broadway Cinema From £5, 5.30pm �� RAR Nottm: Steve Ignorant Rough Trade £10, 6.30pm �� Saturday Night Comedy The Glee Club From £10.25, 6.45pm �� Sherwood Estate Centenary Sherwood Community Centre Free, 7pm �� Nottingham Panthers vs Guildford Flames Motorpoint NottinghamArena From £12.40, 7pm �� Driving Miss Crazy The Lion at Basford Free, 9pm SUNDAY 11 JULY �� Heritage Open Day: The Trial of Eileen Casey The National Justice Museum Free, 10.30am �� Malt Cross Jazz Jam Malt Cross Free, 5pm �� Buena Vista Social Club (35MM) Broadway Cinema From £5, 5.30pm �� Jockstrap: Live PA + Signing Rough Trade £12.50, 6pm �� Vir Das: Wanted The Glee Club £22.50, 6.30pm �� Altered Images Rescue Rooms £20, 7.30pm �� Thunderian Summer The Lion at Basford Free, 9pm MONDAY 12 SEPT �� Simon & Garfunkel: Through the Years Theatre Royal and Royal Concert Hall From £26.50, 7.30pm �� Professor Brian Cox Motorpoint Arena Nottingham From £43.31, 7.30pm �� Tayce Rescue Rooms £12.50, 7.30pm TUESDAY 13 SEPT �� Starsailor Rescue Rooms £25, 6.30pm �� Doug Stanhope at Just the Tonic Metronome £35, 6.45pm �� Corella The Bodega £8, 7pm �� Bushrod Rough Trade £10, 7.30pm �� Legend: Music of Bob Marley Theatre Royal and Royal Concert Hall From £26.50, 7.30pm WEDNESDAY 14 SEPT �� Magnum Rock City £25, 6.30pm �� Nick Mulvey Metronome From £18, 7pm THURSDAY 15 SEPT �� Greek Myths: A New Retelling with Charlotte Higgins Five Leaves Bookshop From £3, 6pm �� Jessica Fostekew: Wench The Glee Club From £12, 6.30pm �� Professor Green Rock City £22.50, 6.30pm �� Cult Film Club presents... Police Story Works Social £10, 6.30pm �� The Amazons: Live + Signing Rough Trade £13.50, 7pm FRIDAY 16 SEPT �� Animation Cinema on an Umbrella Workshop The National Justice Museum Free, 10am �� itoldyouiwouldeatyou + awakebutstillinbed Rough Trade £8, 7pm SATURDAY 17 SEPT �� Pre-Code Double-Bill + Introduction Broadway Cinema From £8, 1pm �� Nottingham Panthers vs Coventry Blaze Motorpoint NottinghamArena From £12.40, 7pm �� Blood Wizard The Bodega £9, 7pm �� The Greatest Magician Nottingham Playhouse £18, 8pm �� Gladrags: LGBTQ+ Club Night & Drag Show Rough Trade £10, 9pm
51leftlion.co.uk/issue151leftlion.co.uk/issue145 51leftlion.co.uk/issue151 FOR THE FULL LEFTLION.CO.UK/LISTINGSVISITRUNDOWN, SUNDAY 18 SEPT �� Raleigh Cycle Tour Primary £5, 11am �� Kings of the Road Broadway Cinema From £5, 1.45pm �� Mark Peters: Live + Signing Rough Trade £13.50, 6pm �� Evergrey Rescue Rooms £20, 7.30pm �� The Jive Aces Peggy’s Skylight From £8, 7.30pm MONDAY 19 SEPT �� The House of Love Rescue Rooms £25, 7.30pm �� The Big Quiz Malt Cross 7.30pm �� Close Encounters of the Third Kind Savoy Cinema From £5, 8.30pm TUESDAY 20 SEPT �� Seed Talks: The Science of Psychedelics with Dr. Chris Timmerman The Glee Club From £10.90, 6pm �� Suede: Signing Rough Trade £15.50, 6pm �� Dance With The Dead Rescue Rooms £18, 6.30pm WEDNESDAY 21 SEPT �� Benjamin Dean Waterstones From £4, 6.30pm �� BBC Introducing in the East Midlands Metronome Free, 7pm �� Just Mustard The Bodega £14, 7pm �� Pub Quiz The Lion at Basford £1, 8pm THURSDAY 22 SEPT �� Write a Sestina: A Poetry Workshop with Leanne Moden Nottingham Writers Studio From £12, 6.30pm �� Jason Byrne: Unlocked Metronome £21.45, 6.45pm �� Colin Hoult: The Death of Anna Mann The Glee Club £14, 7pm FRIDAY 23 SEPT �� Environmental Protest Clay Sculpture Workshop The National Justice Museum Free, 10am �� Exhibition Launch: Hollow Earth Nottingham Contemporary Free, 6.30pm �� Lonely the Brave Rescue Rooms £12.50, 6.30pm �� Electric Callboy Rock City £22.50, 6.30pm �� Sports Team: Live + Signing Rough Trade £16.50, 7pm �� Tayo Sound The Bodega £10, 7pm �� The George Michael Story Nottingham Arts Theatre £27, 7.30pm SATURDAY 24 SEPT �� Emeka Ejiofor Djanogly Art Gallery Free, 1pm �� Nottingham Panthers vs Sheffield Steelers - Challenge Cup Motorpoint Arena Nottingham From £10.40, 7pm �� Oh What a Night! Nottingham Arts Theatre £25, 7.30pm �� The Soundcarriers Nottingham Contemporary From £10, 7.30pm �� Acoustickle Present Indian Summer Nottingham Playhouse £12, 7.45pm SUNDAY 25 SEPT �� Clay Workshop Visual Arts Studio £8, 11am �� Jim McAllister Sings Sinatra with The Edgar Macías Quartet Peggy’s Skylight From £7, 1pm �� Irish Folk Music The Lion at Basford Free, 3pm �� Sunday Jazz Jam Peggy’s Skylight Free, 5pm �� Luke Kempner: Macho Macho Man The Glee Club £15, 6.30pm �� The American Friend (35MM) Broadway Cinema From £5, 7pm �� The Lounge Society The Bodega £10, 7pm �� Katy J Pearson Rescue Rooms £12.50, 7.30pm MONDAY 26 SEPT �� Matt Maltese Metronome £14, 7pm �� Obongjayar Rough Trade £13.75, 7pm �� The Big Quiz Malt Cross 7.30pm �� Inglorious Rescue Rooms £15, 7.30pm TUESDAY 27 SEPT �� Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls Rock City £30, 6pm �� Listening Session: Seeing Through Flames: The Strangeness of the Dub by Edward George Nottingham Contemporary Free, 6.30pm �� Lime Cordiale Rescue Rooms £18, 6.30pm WEDNESDAY 28 SEPT �� Kid Kapichi: Live + Signing Rough Trade £13.50, 6pm �� Holy Fawn The Bodega £14, 7pm �� Ne-Yo Motorpoint Arena Nottingham From £47.70, 7pm �� Giants of Soul Theatre Royal and Royal Concert Hall From £29.50, 7.30pm THURSDAY 29 SEPT �� Lissie: Acoustic + Signing Rough Trade £18.50, 6pm �� Dan Nightingale: Smasher! The Glee Club £14, 6.30pm �� Jay Electronica Rescue Rooms £20, 6.30pm �� Young Creative Awards Showcase Metronome Free, 7pm �� Ashbeck The Bodega £12, 7pm �� Bret McKenzie Theatre Royal and Royal Concert Hall From £27.50, 7.30pm FRIDAY 30 SEPT �� Print Fair Contemporary Nottingham Contemporary Free, 5pm �� All Them Witches Rescue Rooms £14, 6.30pm �� Marty Rough Trade £8, 7.30pm �� Mark Thomas: Black and White Lakeside Arts £18.50, 7.30pm �� Fishcat Nottingham Playhouse £12, 7.45pm �� An Evening with Stuart Pearce Nottingham Theatre Royal From £17.5, 8pm Scalarama, the nationwide celebration of cinema is back with a month-long festival of films. With more screenings still to be confirmed (including one more from your good friends at LeftLion), keep an eye out on the Scalarama Nottingham socials for more up-todate Thursdayinformation...1September, 7pm �� The Skin I Live In Jackie Treehorn Productions 25 Broad Street Friday 2 September, 7pm �� Drag-Along-A-But I’m A Cheerleader Fortune and Glory Nonsuch Studios Saturday 3 September, 6.45pm �� Horror Shorts Festival Huldra Notts Maize Friday 9 September, 6.30pm �� The Party Potting Shed Pictures Ruddington Thursday 15 September, 6.30pm �� Police Story Cult Film Club Works Social Friday 17 September, 2pm �� Bugsy Malone Kids Cult Film Club Works Social Tuesday 20 September, 7pm �� Once Upon a Time in the Midlands LeftLion Works Social @scalaramanottingham
Fox and Grapes’ Fifth Birthday When: Friday 9 September, 4pm onward Where: Fox and Grapes How much: Free We’re a bit biassed due to our regularity in the Fox and Grapes, but nonetheless, it’s fair to say that they’re one of the best pubs around. That’s why we’re so excited to wish them a very happy fifth birthday and to let you know about their big birthday bash. Happening on Friday 9 September, join Fox and Grapes - plus a whole host of breweries including Lenton Lane, Magpie Brewery and Bang the Elephant - as they reach half a decade.
Professor Green When: Tuesday 15 September, 6.30pm Where: Rock City How much: £26 Celebrating the ten-year anniversary of his second studio album At Your Inconvenience, Professor Green is back on tour and making a stop at Nottingham’s Rock City. Part of a small four-date UK tour, other spots the artist will hit include Manchester, London and Birmingham, performing iconic tunes including Read All About It and the titular At Your Inconvenience With a discography boasting 3m sales in the UK alone, it’s going to be a good one.
An Evening with Stuart Pearce
Where: Royal Concert Hall How much: From £17.50 Stuart Pearce needs no real introduction for football fans. An absolutely legendary player for Nottingham Forest, and an inspiring coach following that, Pearce is now returning to Nottingham to take over the Royal Concert Hall and talk about his amazing career, including his time on the England national team. Promising to be truthful and entertaining, book yourself a ticket for a night of football reminiscence with one of the greats.
Greek Myths with Charlotte When:HigginsThursday 15 September, 6pm Where: Five Leaves Bookshop How much: £6 Enchanting, intriguing and full of mystery, Greek myths have lasted throughout time and history. But what if they were reimagined? That’s what Charlotte Higgins asked herself as she sat down to write Greek Myths: A New Retelling, the book in which female characters take centre stage in these wellestablished stories. Coming to Five Leaves Bookshop, book a chance to chat with the author and learn more about her new project.
leftlion.co.uk/issue15152 BEST SEPTEMBEROF
One of the best-selling fiction writers of all time, nobody can create a mystery quite like Agatha Christie. So why not experience one of her brilliant stories in person by heading over to the Theatre Royal for a production of The Mousetrap?
Nottingham Green Festival When: Sunday 11 September, 12pm Where: Nottingham Arboretum How much: Free Sick of seeing the planet go up in flames but not sure what to do about it? Nottingham Green Festival is a great place to start. Bringing together over 100 local businesses, food producers and voluntary groups with a focus on sustainability, this is the perfect afternoon for picking up new habits, finding new places to shop, and joining new causes - all helping to lower your carbon footprint and fight back against climate change.
BBC When:Introducing… Wednesday 21 September, 7pm Where: Metronome How much: Free (booking needed) Nottingham is jam-packed with local talent, hence us creating a whole magazine full of it. But one thing we’re particularly proud of is Nottingham’s contribution to the music scene. That’s why we’re so happy to see our local lot being celebrated by BBC Introducing at the Metronome. Recorded to be played on the radio and hosted by the iconic Dean Jackson, be amongst the first to enjoy up-and-coming artists including The Crying Violets, Vega Bay, Joey Collins and loads more.
The When:Mousetrap Tuesday 27 SeptemberSaturday 1 October Where: Theatre Royal How much: From £17.50
Zig Zag Raleigh Cycle Tour When: Sunday 18 September, 11am Where: Primary How much: £5 If this mag has piqued your interest in Raleigh, why not go for a more immersive cycling experience? Thanks to Zig Zag Tours, you can join other bike enthusiasts for a 9km ride exploring local history, Raleigh’s roots and more - taking you to places in the county that you might never have discovered before. More of a part-time cyclist than a Bryan Steel type? That’s fine too - this fascinating tour is open to people of all ages and abilities.
Following a group of seven strangers snowed into a remote countryside guesthouse, one of whom is the killer, it’s Christie at her best. Seventy years on from its first publication, it’ll still keep you on the edge of your seat.
When: Friday 30 September, 8pm
