The 2011 Festival was opened on Thursday 8th September by Sir Christopher Ondaatje. Sir Christopher spoke about his new book, The Last Colonial: Curious Adventures and Stories from a Vanishing World, the result of a lifetime of studying and appreciating the art of short story writing. His talk also included a spine-tingling reading about his midnight encounter with a black leopard whilst on a trek to find the source of the Nile. Following his talk Sir Christopher introduced Stanley Johnson who, amongst other witty tales, talked about his recent climbs up Mt Kilimanjaro and Mt Kinabalu to raise funds to help save gorillas in Africa.
The evening culminated in a lively and entertaining question and answer session, with questions not only from audience members but also from each other! Cheese and wine was served afterwards and the audience had a chance to buy books from Waterstone's and to have them signed by their author.
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On Friday night the Village Hall hosted the New Scorpion Band, a group of virtuoso musicians performing a programme of songs, readings and folk drama about farming and the land. It was a magical evening, with a near-capacity crowd gripped by the performers' breathtaking versatility, thrilling vocal harmonies and engaging humour. The band wove an atmospheric spell with a musical evocation of a now-vanished world that held the audience in thrall and led many to comment that it was one of the best performances they had seen. Porlock will remember the evening (and especially the appearance of the Derby Ram!) for a long time.
During the day on Saturday 40 local writers of a range of genres gathered in the Village Hall to meet with the public to talk about their work and inspirations, and to sell their books. In addition to the array of books there was a display of poetry by the children of St Dubricius School - the result of a poetry workshop run by the Festival during their summer term. The display included a DVD of the children reading their poems, and an anthology of their work which is available to buy from Porlock Visitor Centre.
Saturday also saw the Poetry Picnic take place. Owing to the unpredictable, blustery showers this is the first year since the Festival began that it had to take place indoors rather than in the beautiful garden behind the Visitor Centre. At short notice the event was fortunate enough to be able to benefit from the hospitality of the Top Ship skittle alley.
This year the Poetry Picnic attracted poets from as far afield as Cornwall, Wales and London to read their work and listen to that of others; always a mix of a variety of styles from the more traditional to the linguistically innovative. The day culminated with the long established Harry Guest whose reading included poems on his experiences in Japan, and about his daughter.
On Saturday afternoon Sir Christopher Ondaatje, a keen supporter of the Arts Festival, once again kindly hosted an event in his literary museum. Visitors were taken to Glenthorne by minibus where they were shown into the museum and given a copy of Sir Michael Holroyd's book, A Book of Secrets - Illegitimate Daughters, Absent Fathers. Sir Michael gave a very entertaining talk about aspects of his life and this book in particular. Visitors were then able to tour the museum, enjoy delicious refreshments and wander about the garden. The warm welcome and hospitality that Sir Christopher and Lady Velda always give were, as usual, much appreciated by all.
Despite the last-minute loss of Philip Hensher from our Saturday evening line-up of contemporary authors, Ali Smith and Jackie Kay simply adjusted their performances to bridge the gap and gave us a great evening. Both writers had the audience chuckling during the first half as they read with great verve and humour from their most recent books - Ali Smith's There But for The and Jackie Kay's The Red Dust Road. In the second half Ali moved us further along in her novel (but without spoiling the story or the ending!) whilst Jackie moved on to her poetry, much of it in Scottish dialect, some of which she translated! The evening finished with an engaging and enlightening question and answer session giving the audience an insight into the minds of these exceptional writers.
Early on the bright and breezy Sunday morning almost 40 people, including several children from St Dubricius School, came along to Porlock's Methodist Hall to take part in Singing Allowed! - a fun and friendly singing workshop run by local teacher, performer and choir leader Sarah-Jane Cross. As the choir grew in confidence, they performed a wide range of songs and rounds, and produced some beautiful harmony singing, particularly in the short piece Da Pace Domine. Everyone involved thoroughly enjoyed themselves, with many commenting on the warm and welcoming atmosphere.
Ballroom dancers from all over West Somerset strutted their stuff to the excellent music of the Regal Rhythm Showband during the Sunday afternoon Tea Dance. With the dance steps prompted or guided by teachers Suzanne Blake and Ray Wheeler from Minehead, the dance floor was full for every song, hardly a person in the hall not giving it a go! Afternoon tea was provided by Porlock Ladies who worked their magic to sustain the dancers with sandwiches, scones, tea and cake! Rarely has Porlock seen a dance floor so well used and the comments from the dancers regarding both the band and the tea were complimentary in the extreme!
The final event of the Festival was the Arts-themed Quiz. We failed to attract many quizzers this year but rustled up a couple of extra teams from the bar stewards and unsuspecting guests and a good time was had by all. The quizzers had to work hard under the strict eye of Quizmaster Andy Short, but eventually the Artful Bodgers were named winners and the Three Degrees enthusiastic losers! And the raffle prizes were so numerous that almost everyone won something!
We hope that all of you who attended any of the events enjoyed them and if you would like to send us some feedback we would value your input. Email us at info@porlockfestival.org or write to us c/o Porlock Visitor Centre, West End, Porlock, Somerset, TA24 8QD.
The dates for the next Festival are 13th-16th September 2012.
