Hurray! Fangfest is back!

 Our arts and crafts festival held in the village every year (except last year) is going ahead this year. It is going to be held over the weekend of the 4th and 5th September and will be a good day out for everyone. 

So far there will be lots of craft stalls and demonstrations. There will be raku firings outside the pottery and throwing on the wheel inside... At the church there will be an archaeology based "local history"project. There will be a book stalls, and produce stalls . Around the village will be a scarecrow trail. You can have a go at archery or join in with some children's activities at the pottery. A display of vintage and veteran vehicles will be on the green, and Jubilee Park will be available to let off steam!

Come and see what our village has to offer and help support local businesses, charities and organisations.

An exhibition at Hull MInster

 Today members of the committee of East Riding Artists set up an exhibition at Hull Minster called "The Wild and The Natural". There are over 70 entries - mostly paintings but also some ceramics and jewellery. It runs from the 1st to the 26th July and is open on Wednesdays through to Saturdays- 10-4.

 

The Minster is well worth a visit - it is the largest brick built Parish church in England and dates back to the 12th Century. There is a little cafe inside too.

It was a great team effort - I produced the catalogue and posters, some did the signage, some provided the labels -all beautifully hand written and Heather Burton co-ordinated it. Not bad for a group of volunteers!

A lot has happened lately....

What a lot has happened in the last week. It was only last weekend that we were at Scone Palace doing a pottery festival called "Potfest". It seemed that everyone was glad to be out and about and we had a wonderful show.

 

We got a new shop placing an order for our pots. It is Crieff Tourist Information centre who want everyhting Scottish. It is amazing how many Scottish things we can make!!!!

 

 

We stayed a couple of extra days in Edinburgh to spend with our youngest grand daughter.

When we got back we received an order from the Jorvik Viking Centre, a gift shop called Earra Gael in Argyll and Roots farm shop near Northallerton. So we will be busy for a while. Is this a sign of things getting back to normal?

Coffin road...

 

When we were up in Todmorden, West Yorkshire, picking up our unsold pots from the Water Street Gallery, we went on a walk up on Bridestones Moor.

We hadn't gone far when we came across a coffin road. These stone walkways criss cross the moors and were built in Medieval times to carry coffins from one valley to another to enable the deceased to be buried in a church yard.

They are made from substantial stones and were well used (great for walking on now). Occasionally you come across a large flat stone which was used to put the coffin on while the coffin bearers had a rest!

Making dragons

 Yesterday we had the Copmanthorpe U3A (Universtiy of the Third Age) visit the pottery as part of a two session raku course.

Gerry gave them a quick tour of the pottery and then they set about making a bowl which will raku fire safely and a "more risky" dragon. We shall be welcoming them back at the end of the month to fire them in our raku kiln.

However, just to be on the safe side, Gerry will make a few wheel thrown pots which will definitely raku fire safely, so that everyone will have at least one good pot to take home!

First of the wild strawberries

 - and here they are! The first of my wild strawberries - all growing in the gaps between the block paving. They are being guarded by the garden gnome that my daughter made when studying for GCSE art -25 years ago. It's had a bit of damage over the years but is still standing!

A visit by East Riding Artists

 I am Vice chair for East Riding Artists - a group set up to encourage visual artists in East Yorkshire. I am trying to get the group more active - to arrange visits to other artist's studios and to participate in communal events. During Lockdown we had talks by artists via Zoom which were very popular.

So yesterday I arranged for them to come to Fangfoss to do some work in clay and some sketching around the village. Twenty people turned up for the afternoon and it was lovely to see everyone again after Lockdown. They had a short tour round the pottery, made some ceramic leaves and did some lovely art work.