In Sapa, Vietnam

In Sapa, Vietnam

About Me

My photo
Sharing time between Southampton and Noyal-Muzillac in southern Brittany. Sports coach, gardener, hockey player, cyclist and traveller. I studied an MA in Management and Organisational Dynamics at Essex University in 2016-17. Formerly an Operations Manager with NEC Technologies (UK) Ltd.

Thursday 24 March 2016

Not another Sunset

No, it's not.

This time it's a sunrise taken over the Potager:


One of the great things about walking or cycling at the same time every day as we do is that the seasons unfold around you. So in December and January it's dark when we go out and still dark when we get back; February means dark out, light by the time we get back (and a spectacular sunrise over the ridge if we are lucky) but by March it's light when we go out and by the end of the month the sun is up before we go out.

Took this picture on Wednesday as we were leaving.

Tuesday 8 March 2016

A fitting tribute after 80 years



On the end wall of our barn hang three watercolour impressions of French scenes, two are of Caen in Normandy and the other is the Place d'Armes in Calais. They are accurate, well-rendered and warm pictures. Not outstanding art perhaps but very competently painted.

The 1931 painting of Caen Cathedral (which was entirely destroyed during Operation Overlord after the D-Day landings) was bought by a young Barbara at a jumble sale for 2s 6d, the other two I purchased at auction in 2008 for Barbara's birthday.

They were painted by a British artist from North Shields near Newcastle called Victor Noble Rainbird and I've been interested in his life and work since I first came across his pictures. He was a prolific artist and lots of people in his local area seem to have a "Rainbird" on the wall.


Impression Caen 1931 - Victor Noble Rainbird
Hanging at La Basse Cour



Rainbird was talented artist before the Great War and joined up and served in the Northumberland Fusiliers, there's an excellent article about his war service produced by Tyne and Wear Museums at this link.

After the war Rainbird picked up his artistic career and his pictures were exhibited at the Laing Museum in Newcastle, the Walker in Liverpool and the RA in London. He visited Holland and, several times, France and our trio are from his French trips.

It appears that Rainbird used his paintings to pay his way through life and often seems to have produced paintings to settle bar bills or pay for his supper. He died in 1936 at the age of 49 and was buried in an unmarked grave, his estate having insufficient money for a memorial. And there his story rested for 77 years.



Impression of Caen Normandy undated - Victor Noble Rainbird
Hanging at La Basse Cour


Inspired by Rainbird's work a small group led by Dave Young set up the Friends of Victor Noble Rainbird to attempt to provide a permanent memorial to the artist at his burial place in Preston Cemetery. I made a small donation early on to this group but the breakthrough came in 2015 with a popular and successful exhibition of Rainbird's paintings at the Old Low Light Heritage centre in North Shields, donations and profits from sales of prints took the fund past the £5000 target. So, on a cold but sunny day on 8th March, 2016 - eighty years to the day after his death - the permanent memorial to Victor Noble Rainbird was unveiled with appropriate military pomp including the playing of The Last Post.






The Last Post






Chapeau Mr Young! - A good job well done.

All photos credited to Linda M. Kay



Read more here:

The Friends of Victor Noble Rainbird: http://www.victornoblerainbird.com/ 
Victor Noble Rainbird Wiki page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Noble_Rainbird
From Dark to Light, VNR exhibition at the Old Low Light: http://oldlowlight.co.uk/from-dark-to-light-victor-noble-rainbird/
More about the production of the memorial on Alison Spedding Photography's page: https://speddinga.wordpress.com/

Friday 4 March 2016

New York - 15 of the best

..... pictures from our visit:

Ground Zero - The base of one of the Twin Towers is now a perpetual waterfall

Snow on the walkway by the Hudson River

Hot pretzels in the snow in Central Park

The entrance hall at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

View from the Empire State Building - Hudson River and the West Midtown area of Manhattan

Night view from the Empire State Building looking south to Manhattan


Cable tracery on the Brooklyn Bridge

Central Park and North Manhattan from the Rockefellar Plaza Building

Adam and Charlotte at the top of the Rockefeller Plaza

Walking the HighLine path in Greenwich Village


No caption needed!

The Manhattan skyline from the water

Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges on the East River

The atrium at Grand Central Station

Central Park Zoo