In a week of so much horrible news, I start with something very positive – the waterwheel turning at Hele Mill in the video above. Rosie and I visited Hele, just east of Ilfracombe, to deliver leaflets for Cllr Sara Wilson, the splendid Green Party candidate in the county elections on 1 May.
Hele Mill was runner up in the heritage section of the Northern Devon Cultural Awards I wrote about in an earlier blog. It has been a superb effort – saving and refurbishing a lovely building and its fascinating machinery, as well as researching its history. The flour ground here is used in the delicious food served. We shall return en famille.
The bad news includes the lawlessness of the Trump administration. Last Sunday’s The World at One on BBCR4 included an interview with someone from the ultra right-wing Heritage Foundation. He said that a survey by the foundation revealed that the majority of Americans had very different views from university communities on a variety of topics, including climate change.
The Heritage Foundation man concluded from this that university teachers and graduates were out of step with the general public and needed to be brought into line via defunding. The BBC presenter, Jonny Dimond, made no attempt to question this outrageous position, or point out that the US is an outlier in a world where most countries are taking action on the climate change. (Trump’s remark that ‘climate change is a Chinese hoax’ is nonsensical).
The World at One on Thursday was also deeply unsatisfactory. After airing harrowing testimony from the killing fields of Gaza, the programme should have asked a British government minister to explain why the UK is doing nothing to stop the genocide. It is not good enough for Foreign Minister Lammy to announce from time to time that an Israeli outrage is ‘unacceptable’.
The government needs serious interrogation. North Devon Palestine Solidarity Campaign held its 5pm Wednesday vigil in Barnstaple High Street for the 75th week. Vigils are also held in Exeter and Tavistock.
Sometimes reminders of my career at the V&A (1970-2004) arrive unexpectedly. On BBCR4’s This Cultural Life on Saturday 12 April the novelist Maggie O’Farrell spoke about the impact of seeing David Hockney’s The Scrabble Game, 1 January 1983 in an exhibition at Tate Liverpool.
I bought this ‘joiner’ for the V&A in 1983 and it was in an exhibition of contemporary British photographs that I curated for Tate Liverpool. I also worked with David Hockney on an exhibition of his photographs shown in London in 1984. I’m tempted to go to Paris to see the much-lauded Hockney retrospective that has just opened there.
On Good Friday morning 60 or so humans and a good number of dogs braved the rain to take part in the annual Procession of the Cross from Swimbridge churchyard to the top of Hooda Hill, followed by hot cross buns in church afterwards. It is a tradition that began in the 1960s and was a special occasion as always. Gratitude to all involved.
Thanks for reading.
Mark