LeftLion Magazine - October 2020 - Issue 130

#130 October 2020

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These people #SupportLeftLion Al O’Ween Alan Gilby alan.gilby@leftlion.co.uk

Editor-in-Chief Jared Wilson jared.wilson@leftlion.co.uk

Designer Natalie Owen natalie.owen@leftlion.co.uk

Assistant Editor Emily Thursfield emily.thursfield@leftlion.co.uk

Editor Ashley Carter ashley.carter@leftlion.co.uk

Sales and Marketing Manager Adam Pickering adam.pickering@leftlion.co.uk

Events and Food Editor Eve Smallman eve.smallman@leftlion.co.uk

Web Developer Tom Errington tom.errington@leftlion.co.uk

Creative Digital Assistant Curtis Powell curtis.powell@leftlion.co.uk

Music Co-Editor Eileen Pegg eileen.pegg@leftlion.co.uk

Web Developer Hamza Hussain hamza.hussain@leftlion.co.uk

Music Co-Editor Becky Timmins becky.timmins@leftlion.co.uk

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Screen Co-Editor Jamie Morris jamie.morris@leftlion.co.uk

Literature Editor Kate Hewett kate.hewett@leftlion.co.uk

Rob Arthur, Bob Allison Âû, Rachel Ayrton, Sue Barsby, Nicola Baumber, Anthony Blane, Jon Blyth, Julian Bower, Kaye Brennan, Jordan Bright, NottingJam Orchestra, Angela Brown, Frances & Garry Bryan, Wolfgang Buttress, Siobhán Cannon-Brownlie, Sarah Colborne, Nigel Cooke, Ashley Cooper, Andrew Cooper, MinorOak Coworking, Alan Dawson, Mark, The Sultan, Al Draper, Kiki Dee the Cat, Clare Foyle, Kim Fuller, Anthony Gariff, Barrie the Lurcher, Kay Gilby, Richard Goodwin, Alison Gove-Humphries, Mighty Lightweights, Nick G (real living wage rocks), House of Pain Wrestling Academy, Rachel Hancorn, Alison Harviek, John Haslam, Ant Haywood, Alison Hedley, Helen Hemstock, Claire Henson, Friday Club Presents, Leanne Hoban, Heather Hodkinson, Ankunda, Stuart Jones, Nigel King, David Knight, Alison Knox, D Lawson, Ben Lester, Tracy Lowe, Ben Lucas, Dan Lyons, Roy Manterfield, Sarah Manton, Luke and Flo, Jayne McCormack, James Medd, Sarah Moore, Barbara Morgan, Rachel Morton, Ron Mure, Sam Nahirny, Reg & Lynette, Tracey Newton, Livi & Jacob Nieri, Claire Novak, Ellen O’Hara, Erika Diaz Petersen, Alan Phelan, Dr Lesley Prince, Dawn Pritchard, Sue Reader, Mathew Riches, Mark Rippey, Sarah Roach, roastinghouse. co.uk, Chris Rogers, Betty Rose Bakes, Jason Rozkalns, Katherine Sanders, @jaychatspodcast, Lizzy and Margot, In memory of Jenny Smith, Jed Southgate, Spicer, Steve Stickley Storyteller, Ivy House Environmental, Nigel Tamplin, Helena Tyce, Alison Wale, Alan Walker, Steve Wallace, Nikki Williams, Martin, James Wright

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Stage Co-Editor Rebecca Buck rebecca.buck@leftlion.co.uk

Art Co-Editor Laura-Jade Vaughan laura-jade.vaughan@leftlion.co.uk

Art Co-Editor Rachel Willcocks rachel.willcocks@leftlion.co.uk

Photography Co-Editor Fabrice Gagos fabrice.gagos@leftlion.co.uk Cover Kate Sharp Sub-Editor Lauren Carter-Cooke Writers Dani Bacon Caroline Barry Bassey Rachel Halaburda Kelly Holmes Charlotte Jopling

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Stage Co-Editor Dom Henry dom.henry@leftlion.co.uk

Jenny Joss Sam Nahirny Jagoda Polanowska Georgianna Scurfield Etienne Stott MBE Alex Stubbs Nadia Whittome

Fashion Editor Anna Murphy anna.murphy@leftlion.co.uk

Photography Co-Editor Tom Quigley tom.quigley@leftlion.co.uk Photographers Alice Ashley Dani Bacon Matt Crockett Jack Green René Himpe Charlotte Jopling Helen Louise Justin Roe Tobias Ross Georgianna Scurfield Matthew Wayman

Illustrators Raphael Achache K Kamminga Anna Keomegi Kasia Kozakiewicz Agnes Papp Ali Taylor-Perry Carmel Ward

Featured Contributor K Kamminga K Kamminga, better known as Smugcomputer Illustration, is a Nottingham-based illustrator currently starting off their career. As well as running an online store, K is looking for any kind of illustration work, especially artwork for magazines. Food, plants, and cute animals are a big influence throughout their art. In their spare time, K likes to cook, bake and play video games, as well as being an enthusiast of old computers and computing history.

You can find Smugcomputer Illustration on Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr and browse their Etsy store all under the username 'smugcomputer'.

You can see K Kamminga’s illustration on page 30

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Contents 14

History of the Goose Fair

8

Nadia Whittome’s New Column

28

10

Notts Shots

29

Hog Wild

13

A Paranormal Investigator in Notts

32

Living with COVID

17

Where the Wild Things Are

33

23

The Witching Hour

35

Back to School

25

Que Sara

46

Out of Time

COVID may have put a stop to ol’ Goosey this year, but we’ve taken a trip back through eight centuries of Notts’ iconic annual fair

18

Have You Met Miss Jones?

Caroline Barry takes a sneak preview of Grace Before Jones, Nottingham Contemporary’s new, multifaceted exhibition of the iconic singer

The MP for Nottingham East Nadia Whittome launches her brand new monthly LeftLion column with a look at the climate crisis

We’ve rounded up the best of Nottingham’s photography talent for a new and extended collection of snaps from the month of September

Ghosts. Haunted houses. Ouija boards. EMF detectors. It’s all just part of the job for our Paranormal Investigator in Notts

Fashion Editor Anna Murphy speaks to Shaun Hoolan, the new owner of Broad Street’s legendary vintage clothing store, Wild

Wingshan Smith talks Tender Coven, the community and subscription spell box that merges wxtchcraft with support for emerging artists

Comedian, writer, actress and podcaster Sara Pascoe talks lockdown, stand up and singing backing vocals for Robbie Williams’ dad

20

Old Haunts

One editorial team, one empty National Justice Museum and one episode of Most Haunted. What could possibly go wrong?

Cocaine Anonymous

We talk to one of the people involved with the Nottingham branch of Cocaine Anonymous, the meet-up aimed to helping people get clean

We get the story behind Hogs of War, the new tabletop miniatures game from Sherwood-based Stone Sword Games

Having been diagnosed at the end of July, Dani Bacon describes the struggles of having COVID as a healthy 28-year-old woman

Ctrl + Alt + Deviate

Anna Dobson talks to us about Tech Nottingham, the group that hosts events aimed at improving the city as a place to live and work in tech

Twelve-year-old Jagoda Polanksa-Brown explains what it’s like to return back to school in the midst of a global pandemic

From staged exorcisms to murderous conspiracies, we take a look back at the history of witchcraft in Nottingham

Editorial At some point just after restrictions had been lifted, us lot got together to have a bit of a post-lockdown strategy meeting. Not one of those goofy “let’s fly some ideas up the fl agpole and see who salutes” type of deals though. It was still pretty cool, promise. But one of the main questions we asked ourselves was: what is the point of LeftLion?

I’m aware that’s essentially an open-goal of a question to some of you enchanting Twitter detractors, but it’s an important question to ask now and again, especially after the six-month whirlwind of diarrhea lockdown threw our way. The answer was, in essence, to provide a platform to showcase the very best talent Nottingham has to offer.

a generation of local young people than anyone in my living memory. It’s genuinely an honour to have someone as passionate about the city of Nottingham writing for us.

Like a student frantically running a vacuum around his fl at before his Nan comes round to visit, we took Nadia’s arrival as an opportunity to give the mag a bit of a spruce up, and have made a few design and editorial changes that we hope you’ll like. The pages might look a bit different, but the focus remains the same.

Until the next one...

With that in mind, who better to announce as our brand new regular columnist than Nadia Whittome who, in just ten months as the elected MP for Nottingham East, has done more to inspire

Ashley Carter, Editor ashley.carter@leftlion.co.uk leftlion.co.uk/issue130 5

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Notts Goss

‘

words and photo: Georgianna Scurfield

with Jenny Joss Want the scoop?

I’m not one for wicked whispers, but you hens haven’t half got me clucking. This 10pm curfew has pressed fast-forward on the days, with 7pm being the new midnight. Broads glammed up to the nines, staggering around on the cobbles.

Chumps duking it out in daylight hours. It’s less ‘paint the town red’ and more ‘paint the town sicky green’. I live to see it. Though, let’s make sure we’re being sensible. While no fines were issued or venues forced to close, the first Saturday saw the night end with the coppers peeling a “drunk and disorderly” teacher off the tram tracks. He did hail from Derby though, so that explains a lot.

I’d now like to take a moment to give my twopence on the biggest scandal of the month – those no-good ankle-biters in Lenton who landed a fine of 10,000 big ones for having the audacity to think they’re above the law, hosting a bash for over fifty of their contemporaries. In this darling’s opinion, their “grovelling” handwritten apology letter to their neighbours offered a distinct lack of remorse, and has a certain aroma of entitlement

– obviously one must throw the party of the century to celebrate a 21st birthday, even in the midst of a global pandemic. Unfortunately we’re all in this together, kiddos, and that’s no way to treat the local community. Even 10K can’t buy you respect.

And finally, the news that made this doll’s quill pause mid-air in sheer shock. There’s a long list of things this city needs – more protection for our dedicated key workers, a green-space on the Broadmarsh site, a decent Mexican restaurant.

The one thing we didn’t need? The Vic Centre to open up a car valet service. And yes, I ain’t kiddin’.

Even a columnist as inspired as myself couldn't make this drivel up.

Right, I’m off to deliver a knuckle-sandwich to all those gammons who dared say a word against my best girl Nadia Whittome after the announcement of her new LeftLion column. Cheer up fellas – being a Negative Nancy is so not cute.

Remember lovers – keep your lips loose, your ears to the ground and your eyes on the goss.

JJ x

illustration: Carmel Ward

I’m from the University of Lincoln, and I’m in Notts to present to a UniDays client, but also here to check out the shops and just have a bit of a look around. My course is in creative advertising, so I come up with ads, films, everything really.

I’m really into art. My favourite artist is Jean-Michel Basquiat, who is my idol. I just love everything about him, and I even have some tattoos of his. He was a black artist in the eighties, and was a pioneer of graff iti and conceptual art. He broke down racial barriers and got involved in political movements. He was a real fi gurehead.

I went to one of Basquiat’s exhibitions at the Barbican in London and after that I was so inspired by him that I started creating my own stuff.

He’s been a catalyst of what I’ve wanted to do since then. His work just moved me so much, and helped me find myself. That was definitely a turning point in my life. My room at home is covered in graff iti, and I’ve created some big paid graff iti murals.

I’m from Essex, so I only really get to see exhibitions in London. I’d like to travel to Europe and America to see more, but I don’t have the money at the moment. But there’s lots of time for that in the future.

I’m hoping to go into advertising and become a creative director in London. I just want to get into the creative world. It’s what I love doing.

Art just makes me so excited.

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Nottingham’s most opinionated grocers on...

US Presidential Elections We don’t really know who Joe Biden is, but it sounds like he might be a better bet than Trump. Why did Obama leave in the first place? (LeftLion explains the two-term limit). It’s a shame that only Americans get to vote for who their president is because it ends up having an effect on the whole world. Isn’t it about time they got someone back in who wasn’t a pensioner? Look to the future and all of that.

Birthdays It’s this Saturday (3 October). So it will have probably passed by the time most of your readers see this. We’re going to work during the day and we’ll have a bottle of champagne between us in the evening.

We’re not going out to dinner as all of that seems a bit too much faff at the moment. All our lives, people have bought us joint presents. One year we got the Colditz board game and it was so complicated we never actually learned how to play it.

Christmas Trees We went up to the forest in Carlisle this year to have a nosey at the Christmas trees we’ll be stocking in a month or so. We pay them a visit every year and they’re looking very good. It was a fun trip too – when we got to Doncaster we saw some people riding Vincent Black Knight motorbikes. They were fantastic, with these tiny thin wheels bombing along the motorway at 80mph. Glorious! leftlion.co.uk/issue130 7

Nadia on...

The Climate Crisis Hello and welcome to my first LeftLion column. My name is Nadia, I am the Member of Parliament for Nottingham East and, at 24, Britain’s youngest MP. In my monthly columns, I will be updating you on the issues I’m working on and trying to demystify Westminster, as well as reflecting on what’s happening in Nottingham. Today, I would like to focus on one of my top priorities: the climate crisis.

On September 1, when children were returning to schools, MPs returned to Parliament after recess. On my first day back, together with Extinction Rebellion Nottingham, I joined a rally in London in support of the Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill. The bill, which I was among the first MPs to back, would substantially strengthen our environmental commitments and force the UK to take responsibility for the carbon emissions it generates not only within our borders but also abroad. If it becomes law, it would be an important step towards treating climate change with the seriousness it deserves.

Over the past year, the climate emergency has regularly made the news. We’ve seen images of lonely polar bears fi ghting for their lives while ice around them melts, horrifying videos of last winter’s bushfires in Australia, or the recent apocalyptic-looking photos of red skies in Oregon. The science is clear: if we don’t act fast, our future looks bleak.

Pick Six photo: Fabrice Gagos

This month, we task Olympic gold medal winning slalom canoeist and climate activist Etienne Stott MBE with picking a few of his favourite things...

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In the past, climate activism has often focused on individual actions: like telling people to turn off the lights or shop organic. The bad news is that we won’t even begin to meet the scale on the challenge by focusing on personal choices. For instance, despite many of our lifestyles changing drastically during lockdown, the 2020 drop in carbon emissions is estimated to be between 4 and 7%.

Meanwhile, studies show that to prevent an irreversible climate catastrophe, global emissions need to fall by 8% *each year* of this decade.

So telling people to buy or travel less won’t cut it. What solutions, then, are we left with?

We need deep, structural changes on a scale far greater than any of us individually can achieve. But here comes the better news: a greener economy could, in many ways, be a more people-friendly one too. I like to imagine the current moment not just as a crisis, but also an opportunity to think of better ways we can live together as a society.

Take one example: investing in a modern, affordable and environmentally friendly network of public transport could massively reduce the need for cars and flights, while making our lives easier and more enjoyable. There is no reason why getting a train from Nottingham to London should cost more than flying to Sicily, and I’m sure many car owners would happily give up the pleasure of standing

in traff ic if they could hop on a fast and reliable bus.

Similarly, a serious programme of building and retrofitting energy-eff icient homes would both reduce emissions and bring down our monthly bills. Meanwhile, as the Covid recession threatens to bring about mass unemployment, investment in much-needed green infrastructure could create hundreds of thousands of jobs.

Despair is easy, often comforting and, when we look at the scale of the problem, can seem justified. But despair won’t save us. That’s why I want to encourage some unfashionable, defiant hope. As we recover from lockdown, let’s do it with a positive vision for what our economy could look like so that it works for people while protecting the planet.

What gives me hope is the people I meet: the student climate activists I’ve been working with, some too young to even vote; Nottingham’s XR group and the Decolonise, Decarbonise initiative which links climate with global justice; the conversations I’ve had with local entrepreneurs like Mimm and Nottingham Street Food Club.

These are the people whose voices I want to represent in Parliament – and next time XR are demonstrating, come join us in the streets! nadiawhittome.org

Film - Forrest Gump I just love Forrest Gump. The way they tell the story by linking him into all these historical moments is just so cool. I am always moved and a bit emotional as I watch it. I also love the soundtrack.

Book - Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates Tom Robbins’ book is funny, deep, thought-provoking, daft, serious and clever. There is a famous scene with a parrot in it that I won't spoil, but it has stayed with me since I read it.

Song - Kashmir, Led Zeppelin In another life I would have have been a drummer in a rock band, preferably Led Zeppelin!

Kashmir is just an epic track with an incredible energy and sound.

Sadly I wasn't around to do the drums when they recorded it…

Notts Spot - National Water Sports Centre I spent so much of my life there, training and racing and there's just so much to do there. I think it's a bit of a hidden gem and everyone in Nottingham should go and check it out!

Meal - Vegan Desserts I have to be honest and say that I'm all about desserts and I'm not really that fussy (although I am a vegan). So as long as it's plant-based, involves sugar and hopefully chocolate, I'd skip mains and be happy!

Holiday - Scotland I just love Scotland, particularly the area around where I used to race in Perthshire. It's a wild land and you can roam around, explore and it is simply beautiful – even in the foul weather that happens there sometimes! @etiennestott

Notts Shots

Place in the sun Tobias Ross - @turgay_gue

Web and flow Helen Louise - @hell0uise

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

Love is Love Matthew Wayman - @__________amw

Rule of six Justin Roe - @justinroe99

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Across the pond Jack Green - @jackphilipgreen

Bulb fiction Alice Ashley - aliceashley.co.uk

Peek-a-boo René Himpe - @renemarchimpe

Skate mates Tom Quigley - tomquigley.co.uk

That’s a cute angle Justin Roe - @justinroe99

Train in vain Tobias Ross - @turgay_gue leftlion.co.uk/issue130 11

A Paranormal Investigator in Notts I’ve been an extremely open-minded person ever since I was little. My mind has always been about that sense of hope and possibility – I guess I’m a bit of a fairy like that. I grew up wanting to believe witches and vampires were real – I wanted to be a Ghostbuster, a Lost Boy or one of the Goonies. I’ve always believed to some degree, but I’ve been on a journey during the last ten years that has provided me with so many different experiences, and I’ve come to realise that there are many different ways in which spirits present themselves to us. It doesn’t always have to be an apparition or a Ouija board message.

that there’s something for everyone, from the skeptic to the full-believer.

I’ve always been interested in the paranormal, witchcraft, aliens… anything and everything to do with the supernatural. I’m a paranormal investigator at heart, and that involves a lot of things, including running my own paranormal events company. It started when I went on a ghost hunt with my partner ten years ago and we were instantly hooked. I was scared, but I immediately wanted to know more. Very soon after that we started working for a paranormal events company, before eventually starting our own around six years ago.

Ouija boards are like Facebook for the dead – you might think you’re talking to an eighteen-year-old blonde girl, when it’s actually some sixtyyear-old bloke

One evening at an underground bunker, my partner and I were working in different areas of the location when I saw him come into the room. I called his name but he just ignored me. I was with a few other people, and we all saw him start walking towards us, but it was dark so I couldn’t see him clearly. Then I realised it wasn’t my partner at all, but a shadowy black figure which then walked straight through a wall. We all screamed and ran away, and were too scared to go back. Since then, we’ve had that exact experience happen in the same location on four separate occasions. We’ve even caught it on camera where you see it walking away across the room. That was our Holy Grail.

Another big change has come with people’s expectations – some people turn up thinking they’re going to have a five-hour conversation with Henry VIII. There are a lot more paranormal events companies out there now, which is great because we’re all doing what we love, but it’s raised the standard for everyone.

Sometimes you go out for the night and nothing happens, and I’d much rather that be the case, and they go home knowing it was a genuine experience, rather than them thinking we were faking it. And even when that is the case, people still have fun. We like to think of ourselves as the Carry On version of the ghost world. I guess you can’t please everyone, can you? All you can do is try.

On a normal weekend we have around thirty to fifty guests, and we’ll split into small groups to investigate different areas within the location. We have traditional elements, like Ouija boards, table-tipping glasses, divination, planchettes, trigger objects, and then we have the more scientific equipment approach. This involves things like detecting white noise, EMF meters and Rem Pods, which are really cool. There are a lot of elements, and we try and incorporate everything so

Predominantly it’s women who do all the booking, and they then drag their boyfriends along. Boys tend not to be into it initially, but we need that balance to keep it real. Not everything we experience is paranormal – we have to make sure that we keep our scientific heads on, and try and debunk things. Sometimes a creaky floorboard is just a creaky floorboard.

The technological aspect of paranormal investigation has changed so much over the last ten years, but I love the traditional elements – that feeling of a glass moving across a Ouija board when you know you’re not the one moving it is just fantastic. However, you always need to be prepared to debunk things, and the tech side has helped with that massively. There are so many new pieces of kit and equipment being made.

The most memorable moments come when you get personal messages from people’s loved ones. You ask questions and get answers that there’s no way anyone else would know. To me, that’s such definitive proof, and makes you realise that it’s not all scary – some of it is really beautiful. It’s one of the most priceless experiences you can have in this life.

There are so many theories about the paranormal, that’s what makes it such a fascinating subject, and is why we do what we do. We want to know more. Do we pass on? Do we stay around for a while? Do we evolve to another level of spiritual being? That’s why we keep investigating, because hopefully one day we’ll find out.

The only element of the job that I don’t like is the tiredness. I permanently feel like the Cryptkeeper, I’m just exhausted all of the time. I genuinely think it’s how I’m going to die. I work Monday to Friday, and get up at 6am, but I don’t usually go to bed until about 1am because there’s so much to do. Then at the weekend when we have an event I won’t go to bed until 5am. In the space of a week you’re losing a full night of sleep along the way, so it’s really worth it once you see how much people enjoy themselves, even if it does hit you like a ton of bricks the next day.

I’m really fascinated by the darker sides of the paranormal, even the religious elements, like exorcisms and possessions. I’ve done more Ouija séances than I can remember – at one point I had a personal collection of over fifty boards, I kept them upstairs with all my haunted dolls. Some people are reluctant to get involved with them because of the potential dangers, but at the end of the day a Ouija board is a bit of wood with letters on it. The only danger comes from the people using them, because they ask stupid questions thinking they’re talking to their grandma or whoever. But if you just happen to have a spirit there with you and feel that glass move, you might find that spirit thinking, ‘All right, I’ll pretend to be your grandma for the next twenty minutes.’

Ouija boards are like Facebook for the dead – you might think you’re talking to an eighteen-year-old blonde girl, when it’s actually some sixty-year-old bloke. It’s like I always say: how you are in life is how you are in death.

illustration: Kasia Kozakiewicz

THE HISTORY OF THE GOOSE FAIR If 2020 hadn’t been enough of a stinker, this year’s Goose Fair has officially been cancelled for only the third time in its long history. In recent years, nearly half a million of us have flocked down to Forest Rec for both peas and prizes, and while both a reduced capacity or a longer ten-day run were considered, it was not meant to be. While we mourn the fate of all the pennies we could have wasted on the Waltzers, we did some investigating into the fair’s colourful history, and discovered twelve things you didn’t know about Goose Fair…

It’s one of the longest British fairs in history… although nobody is actually sure when it started

Most historians can agree that the Goose Fair began just after 1282, as a charter from King Edward referred to city fairs in Nottingham taking place at that time. The event was originally held on September 21 as a celebration of St Matthew’s Day – the patron saint of... tax collectors. The earliest reference to this “St Matthew’s Day” market comes from Anglo Saxon times – it’s common knowledge that the Danes had a settlement in Nottingham, so it’s not out of the realms of possibility that their market included a fair too.

We’re not exactly certain on the origins of the name, either…

At some point in time, the fair lost its St Matt’s moniker and became known to locals as Goosey.

The first reference to a ‘Goose Fair’ can be found in the Nottingham Borough records of 1541, in an account by John Truswell, steward of Wollaton Hall (this being the old hall by the church, not the present day building we know as Batman's Gaff ).

On that particular ‘Goose Fair Day’, John had managed to purchase a pair of breaches for 1s10d.

We’re pretty sure that the reference to the fowl is down to the fact that up to 20,000 geese were driven fifty miles or so to the fair from Lincoln, Cambridge and Norfolk to be sold and stuffed

words: Emily Thursfield illustration: Agnes Papp photo: Fabrice Gagos

for a traditional Michaelmas dish, celebrated in late September. The poor bird's feet were coated in a mixture of tar and sand for the journey, and the geese were driven up through Hockley along Goose Gate to the Market Square, home to the fair at the time.

The first cancellation came in 1646 with the outbreak of the bubonic plague, and celebrations were again postponed during the entirety of WWI There was a tense rivalry between Goosey and the Lenton Fair…

In 1164, a charter by King Henry II granted Lenton Priory permission to hold an annual Martinmas Fair beginning on 11 November, which would take priority over and forbid any other fair to take place in the Nottingham district. This rule was overturned by King Edward I a century later, when he authorised the St Matthew’s Day event to run from the eve of the feast of St Edmund and twelve days following.

So how did Goosey end up in October? This move came in 1572 due to a revision of the British

calendar – finally ready to adopt the Gregorian calendar and align with the rest of Western Europe, eleven days were omitted from the month of September, pushing the fair later into the Autumn.

Before this year, Goose Fair has only been cancelled twice…

The first cancellation came in 1646 with the outbreak of the bubonic plague, and celebrations were again postponed during the entirety of WWI. However, though ‘off icially’ cancelled during the duration of WWII, the fair was held for a week during daylight hours in July 1943 and again in August 1944, as the event was of incredible economical importance to the city.

Originally for the trading of goods, fairground rides slowly began to take over…

As transport links to the city began to improve, there became less of a need for an autumnal fair in which townsfolk could stock up on produce from travelling merchants before the winter. But residents still enjoyed a jaunt around the stalls and the eccentricity of it all. By the end of the 19th century, the fair had grown exponentially and now included various gondola rides and gallopers, switchback horses, bikes, yachts, a tunnel railway and animal side shows. The development of steam power then gave the gohead for even bigger attractions to pitch up, such as the helter skelter, the Big Wheel, roundabouts

and motor cars. The Theatre Royal scheduled special performances to attract fairgoers, and the local railways put on extra services to deal with the crowds.

bizarre acts was the Globe (or Wall) of Death, where it wasn’t unusual to see a lion be taken onto the wall in the sidecar of a motorbike.

By this point, Goose Fair had garnered a reputation as an excuse for a good time, something the town’s people weren’t all chuffed about. In 1877, members of the Nottingham Town and Social Guild rallied together and held an unoff icial inquiry into the “moral, social, sanitary and commercial effects” of the fair, arguing its eight-day run was far too much for something which had become largely a pleasure festival. The group – made up of individuals with no authority or power – argued that the working class were being most affected, and criticised it as being dirty, noisy and full of pickpockets, beggars and prostitutes. The Council’s response? Basically to jog on – no matter the state of affairs, it made the city over 702.11d in rent, something they could not pass up.

The other slightly disturbing rumour is that wife-selling could have taken place at Goose Fair during the late eighteenth century. As divorce was only obtainable by private Act of Parliament until 1857, ordinary men could only afford to ‘sell’ their other half. After parading her around with a halter on her neck, arm, or waist, the husband would auction her to the highest bidder. This tradition was a regular occurrence in Weyhill Fair in Wessex, and there is record of at least one Nottingham man selling both his wife and children in the Market Place in 1779 for the sum of 27/6.

The fairground has seen some sights over the years…

While the garish lights and booming music still don’t quite scream ‘understated’, our modern day Goosey seems to be tame in comparison to accounts of the fair’s history. Possibly the most outlandish of these comes in October 1888 when, as part of the year’s attractions, it is rumoured that the aeronaut, pioneer balloonist and U.S. Army major Professor Thomas Scott Baldwin made the first parachute jump in Nottingham from a balloon hovering over Wollaton Park, to a crowd of thrilled spectators below. Five years later, Professor England’s Royal Exhibition of Performing Fleas, pitched up for the first time.

Taken from the memoirs of Mr G. C. A. Austin – Nottingham’s Clerk of the Markets from 1907 to 1944 – a description of Goose Fair includes a passage about tiny brushes known as ‘ticklers’ and rubber balls which squired water, which both became popular accessories to those in the crowds, adding so much excitement to the point where they were banned for becoming such a nuisance. Austin’s favourite attractions, however, were the ‘Emma’s’ – rows of grotesque fi gures which were to be knocked backwards using a wooden ball – and the dancing girls, clowns and jugglers who gave free entertainment to the punters.

It was also known to be a host of certain ‘oddities’...

From freak animals – a fi ve-footed sheep and a twoheaded horse – to freak shows – including babies in bottles, armless women and Polly O’Gracious, the fat woman show – the Goose Fair attractions we know and love today are a far cry from what you’d find just over a century ago. One of the most popular was Wombwell’s Menageries, which took over a sizeable portion of the Market Square with over 7,000 birds and animals, and 53 employees to keep everything in order, and it’s even rumoured that the legendary Madame Tussaud herself arrived to showcase her wax sculptures in both 1819 and 1829. But perhaps one of the most dangerous and

attend and read out a proclamation for the beginning of the fair, a tradition which began in 1634. The silver bells in question – which are still used today – were created

by Tom ‘The Silver King’ Normal, a ‘talent’ manager for acts such as The Balloon Headed Baby, Mary Anne Bevan (The World’s Ugliest Woman) and Leonine the Lion-Faced Lady. Once the ceremony concluded, the Sheriff then reserved the right to have first dibs on whatever he pleased from the stalls.

Goose Fair moved from the Market Square to Forest Recreation Ground in 1928... but people weren’t happy about it…

One of the most dangerous and bizarre acts was the Globe of Death, where it wasn’t unusual to see a lion be taken onto the wall in the sidecar of a motorbike

In what was regarded as a highly controversial decision at the time, during the 1920s the City Council had plans to develop the Market Square area, but had not considered how these changes would affect the beloved Goose Fair. On the Sunday evening before the final fair in the marketplace, 12,000 people gathered to protest the proposed move to the Forest Recreation Ground, with speakers including Pat Collins, President of the Showman’s Guide. Despite the noise, the Council stood its ground and went ahead with the move. Soon after, people’s mindset shifted when they realised that the relocation now meant the fair could get even bigger and better…

Goose Fair also had a reputation for its cheese...

It’s one of three fairs in the country to carry the name…

After Goose-stuff ing had finally petered out, the fair gained a reputation for its high quality cheeses, with people travelling far and wide to grab a wheel of what historians liken to Red Leicester. In 1766, Notts had just been through a building boom, and more people had moved to the city to find work. Unfortunately for them, food prices had also risen sharply due to a poor harvest.

On the evening of 18 October, a fi ght broke out between a trader and some Lincolnshire lads, who had purchased a large wheel of cheese and were intending to sell it in their home county. Because of the food shortage, folk were anxious that foodstuffs be kept in their local area, so a group of ‘rude lads’ demanded the cheese to be shared out to the Notts populace instead. Violence soon broke out, and so began the infamous Nottingham Cheese Riot – shop windows were broken, hundreds of wheels of cheese were rolled through the city and multiple rioters were injured, with one apparent death too. But perhaps the most amusing part of this whole story is the moment the Mayor tried to restore peace, only to be knocked down by a great wheel of the stinky stuff.

Each year, the fair is opened by a ceremonial ringing of a pair of silver bells by the Lord Mayor of Nottingham…

When he wasn’t being bowled over with brie, the Mayor, Sheriff and Aldermen were all asked to formally

The others being the smaller Goose Fair in Tavistock, Devon, and the even smaller Michaelmas Goose Fair in Colyford, East Devon.

Goosey has made appearances in popular arts and culture…

Even D.H. Lawrence wasn’t opposed to a ride on the Waltzers. While living in London between 1908 and 1912, the writer would return home each year just to visit the fair, even penning a short story named Goose Fair in 1910. A few decades later, Goose Fair would again be the subject of a written account in English Journey by J. B. Priestley, a book chronicling the author’s travels around England. Priestly had a slightly more scathing opinion of our beloved bonanza, describing it as a “crushing mass of gaping and sweating humanity… contrived to attract the largest number of pennies in the shortest possible time.”

Can’t say we disagree with you there, Priestley. But will we continue emptying our pockets with its (hopeful) return in 2021? Of course we will.

wwhere tthe Wwild Tthingss Aare interview: Anna Murphy

Wild Clothing first opened its doors in 1983 and, when its original owners decided to retire recently, word spread that the legendary location would be shutting its doors for good. But this couldn’t be further from the truth: our fashion editor, Anna Murphy, chats to Wild’s new owner, Shaun Hoolan, about his passion for this iconic Nottingham store and his plans for the future.

Congratulations on taking on Wild Clothing! Is this a new venture or is your background in retail?

I initially worked in the motor trade for Rolls Royce for twenty years, but I’d always been interested in barbering. I did my barbers training when I was still at Rolls Royce, then I took on one of my friend’s barber shops as a franchise; it had an empty shop next door and I put in a vintage shop, Dandy Gent in Derby.

I’ve known Robin from Wild for years – I’ve been shopping at Wild since 1985. Although I’m from Derby I’ve always gone shopping in Nottingham – there’s no point going to Derby when this is twenty minutes down the road! I came into Wild one Saturday afternoon and was moaning to Robin about it and he said, “Why don’t you take this off me?

We’re planning to retire anyway but if we knew we had someone to take it, it might allow us to retire a bit earlier.” Hopefully they felt it was going to the right person.

It must have been a difficult decision for Robin and Mary to leave Wild after 37 years...

The shop was their life and they were very proud of it. I don’t blame them – it’s got a fantastic reputation and it’s an iconic shop. When they told me they were retiring, my first thought was, ‘that’ll leave a huge hole in Hockley’. It never crossed my mind that they’d consider selling it to me – it never entered my head until that conversation with Robin that Saturday afternoon about fifteen months ago.

So it’s been quite a while getting everything to this point?

We had a good plan, everything was going well, we thought nothing could go wrong…

I guess taking over a retail business during a pandemic isn’t great timing. Are you concerned?

Not really, no. I mean, it really took the shine off everything – I was so looking forward to it and so excited about taking over. But there was no way I was going to pull out of the deal – it was too good an opportunity to miss. It might still be a struggle and I do expect it to have quiet times, but I’ve taken over at our busiest trading season (August to Christmas) and you’ve got to just try your best.

If it was in Derby, then I’d be seriously worried but Nottingham is a totally different city.

Wild Clothing is such an iconic part of Nottingham’s independent business and clothing scene, and most people can remember the first thing they bought there (I know I can!). It opened doors for other Hockley independents like Braderie, Cow, Rough Trade, Cobden Chambers, even Ark Clothing (RIP). Despite all of the changes to the city centre, Hockley has clung onto its identity. Have you seen people turn to local businesses even more during the pandemic?

Absolutely. Robin used to say that the corporates would like to be us. All the big names are having problems and, while they have their place on the high street, hopefully people are having that mindset and supporting independents, too.

When you go to a new city, the first thing you do is go and look for interesting shops and nice places to eat and drink. Not “oh, let’s go to M&S” – they’re all the same.

It’s individuality, isn’t it? Even if something’s only five years old, the chances of someone finding it in a shop or having it in a wardrobe is rare. It’s a throwaway culture now So, what are your plans for Wild?

We’ve stepped up the social media big time. I don’t think Robin and Mary used it to its full advantage but I’m just happy to get all the staff involved and give them some input into the business. I’ve got a good bunch here and I’m interested in what they suggest.

We’ve got a new website: it’s still a bit clunky, but we want to get that loaded up soon.

We started doing Instagram selling too. We put this old school blazer up that was like a boating jacket and someone bought it in LA. The postage cost more than the jacket!

That’s incredible! Where do you source your clothes from?

It all comes from a wholesaler in America. We’re weighing up the best way to get stock in moving forward, but we’ll still be getting American stock – that’s what Wild is built on. Although we’re also looking at buying in other vintage, such as Fred Perry, Converse, North Face, Patagonia – all second hand, all in great condition.

What are your bestsellers?

I think, in Nottingham, you could put anything in this shop and there’d be someone who would buy it! We sell a lot of printed t-shirts, especially ones that are eye-catching and colourful. Fred Perry always sells and branded stuff like Carhartt and Dickies always does well. This morning, I’ve just bought loads of Billabong and Element, so we’ll give that a try.

I always find it interesting that some people have such strong aversions to wearing secondhand. In your opinion, why should people do it?

It’s individuality, isn’t it? Even if something’s only five years old, the chances of someone finding it in a shop or having it in a wardrobe is rare. It’s a throwaway culture now: it’s unusual that people will wear something for more than one or two seasons.

People that shop here do that because they don’t want to shop in Primark. Our stuff is dearer than Primark but it’s better made and no two are the same. You can confidently buy something and be the only person in it.

So, can you remember your first purchase from Wild?

It would definitely have been a fifties bowling shirt.

They used to have loads in here and they’re really hard to get now. We still sell them and I still love them.

It’s brilliant hearing your passion for this shop, especially as it’s so iconic to so many people.

Here’s to the future!

Thank you. Hopefully I’m the right man for the job. wildclothing.co.uk @wildclothingnotts

leftlion.co.uk/issue130 17

Have You Met Miss Jones?

It’s hard to sum up someone like Grace Jones in a single word. Singer, model, actress, songwriter, record producer. Icon. With a life as eclectic as it was iconic, it’s only fitting that she’s the subject of the expansive, multimodal new exhibition, Grace Before Jones: Camera, Disco, Studio at Nottingham Contemporary.

Caroline Barry headed there for a sneak preview to find out more...

It’s hard to have a favourite image of Grace Jones. There are so many truly iconic shots in a world where legends are leaving us, and they don’t make ‘em like they used to. With this in mind, Nottingham Contemporary have opened their part-portrait, part-stage show, part telling of cultural history exhibition of singer, model and muse, Grace Jones.

At a time where we ask that Black lives matter and that transgender rights be recognised as human rights, the selection of an artist known for challenging gender stereotypes, embracing the gay community and for being a proud black woman feels culturally of the moment. It’s juxtaposed against an art world where we are still asking as women, do you need to be naked and white to get into the Met? It is, quite frankly, about damn time there were exhibitions like this.

The delight and disco is something we could truly all use, as is the defiant celebration of being truly yourself, be that queer, black, singer, muse or model.

Grace Before Jones: Camera, Disco, Studio charts the incredible ability of Jones to reinvent herself from disco queen of Studio 54 to androgynous muse to part-woman, part-machine. As a queer non-binary person, the sight of Jones unapologetically staring straight at the viewer in sharp men’s tailoring, a buzzcut and a cigarette means something to me. That combined with Bowie in a playsuit, Annie Lennox with a neon buzz and Prince in a crop top inspired me to not always play by the gender playbook that insists I must be sugar and spice and all things nice at all times.

The show curators, Cédric Fauq and Olivia Aherne, explained that the exhibition was born out of previous ideas, “Grace Jones is the embodiment of many topics that Nottingham Contemporary has been exploring in recent years: black image-making; gender and performance; and the production of popular culture. These subjects have always been important for us to interrogate, and Grace Jones allows us to address the nuances and overlaps that are at the forefront of many conversations today.”

All too often gallery space isn’t dedicated to the type of art being made by the underground. This includes art by the gay community, artists of colour and those making types of art considered too new for the current style of the time. The white walls of the Contemporary have all but vanished in what feels like a very stage-like setting of wooden beams, photography sitting on flight cases and at any second you feel like you are going to be called for curtain up. It feels intimate and real in a way that makes me feel like I am backstage at a show, be it art, fashion, or music.

This is deliberate. “We collaborated with a local architect, Borja Vélez who came back to us with an incredibly perceptive and ambitious proposal, in which the design and material choice echoed some of the key themes of the show; performativity, visibility and an interest in threshold spaces,” Aherne explains. “The exhibition uses theatre flats as dividers and walls, which have a DIY aesthetic and convey the idea of the ‘backstage’ as a space of trial, rehearsal and experimentation.”

Interview magazines, with artist Keith Haring painting Grace before a show and ‘Antonio’s girls’.

I rounded the corner into Gallery 2 in time for the music starting, and immediately felt that I had wandered into Studio 54; my camp gay heart screamed in delight as I sang along to The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow. For a second, no matter how pandemic-heavy my heart had become, I truly believed it. I also realised it had been a few months since I had stood in an actual nightclub.

Jones collaborated with many of the most legendary artists that went on to define art genres and styles of their era, including Andy Warhol, Keith Haring and Robert Mapplethorpe. She appeared in art, music, fashion, design, and cinema spanning decades of creative work. All of this has been meticulously documented in the many eclectic sections of the show.

I was genuinely thrilled to see the work of Antonio Lopez, whose illustrations and classical eighties style drawings of ‘his girls’ have been a favourite of mine for years. Not to mention the stunning floor length, no doubt custom-made, Azzedine Alaïa dress that hung from the ceiling.

Another beautiful touch to the exhibition is the brochure that accompanies the list of art. A collectible, and free to anyone who attends the show, it provides attendees with a keepsake of an immersive exhibition that explains the areas of Jones’ life from proto disco to pills. But it is the end of the show that has a sober note and one that, in a pandemic, is a touch close to home.

It’s sad to note that a lot of the art in the gallery is made by a ‘lost’ generation of young artists wiped out by the AIDS crisis of the eighties.

While there is no end of Jones, the gallery has made reference to the loss of life within the fashion, art and creative communities that contributed to the legend of Jones. The AIDS-era ushered in a silence and a feeling of absence in the art and fashion world when artists such as Robert Mapplethorpe, Antonio Lopez and Tseng Kwong all passed away from the disease. The final section of the exhibition prominently displays a black and white ACT UP poster for a benefit that Jones appeared in to raise awareness. It cannot have been easy to watch a generation of talent, creativity and indeed, friends, pass away.

While it ends on a sober note, the exhibition itself is a triumph for the Contemporary. I found myself queuing for more and going back round the exhibit a second time to make sure I hadn’t missed anything. The delight and disco is something we could truly all use, as is the defiant celebration of being truly yourself, be that queer, black, singer, muse or model.

Curators Fauq and Aherne, and the Contemporary, hope this will leave a lasting legacy. “Oddly enough, no one has staged a project exploring Grace Jones’ life, career, and collaborations in this way before, revealing the truly expansive influence and legacy. 3he exhibition presents itself as an alternative way to write and tell art history, and we hope it shines a light on the very construction of an identity and how that construction has developed and multiplied over time.”

You can see Grace Before Jones: Camera, Disco, Studio at Nottingham Contemporary between 26 September 2020 and 3 January 2021

Culturally, it captures moments in time that are starting to be lost to younger generations. This is encapsulated in the covers of legendary

words: Caroline Barry images: Anthony Barboza, Richard Bernstein and Angelo Colon

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leftlion.co.uk/issue130

nottinghamcontemporary.org

old haunts We should do something Halloween-y for our October issue. Yeah, okay. How about with the National Justice Museum?

Good shout. But what? I dunno. They made an episode of Most Haunted there, you know. Really? Yeah it’s on Amazon Prime. Imagine if we went over there and watched it in the dark where they spotted the ghosts. Do you think they’ll let us? We can ask...

There’s an old saying: ‘what seems like a good idea in the LeftLion off ice, feels less great once you’re questioning your entire life in a pitch black haunted courtroom two weeks later.’ It might not be an actual saying, but it should be. I don’t deal with ghostly stuff very well at all. I’m a coward – it’s something I’ve grown to accept about myself in later life – so I tend to avoid horror films, haunted houses and anything even vaguely paranormal whenever I can. As this was Emily’s idea, I assumed she’d embrace watching the episode of Most Haunted filmed at the National Justice Museum (then the Galleries of Justice) at the venue itself, by ourselves, in the dark. I was quite incorrect.

Look, I didn’t think the NJM would actually agree to my ridiculous suggestion. I enjoy the concept of ghosts – growing up a fan of Harry Potter, I’d have loved nothing more than to learn our world was as paranormal as Voldemort’s, and I’m fascinated by people’s tales of ghost-hunting too. While the scientific side of my brain acknowledges they’re unlikely to be true, I just think there are too many people out there to have claimed to be witness to paranormal activity for this all to be an elaborate hoax. I just wanted to experience it for myself. But, having now put my adult-self out there in a few frightening situations – including attending the NJM’s Terror Tour night, where I thought I was going to break my housemate’s hand from squeezing it too hard – I’ve come to realise I’m somewhat of a scaredy-cat, and the reality of what we were about to do dawned on me way too late.

Like every half-baked idea we pitch, the good folks at the NJM were only too happy to oblige, and we were met on those iconic steps by the lovely Jessica, their Social Media and Marketing Off icer, who also used to lead the ghost tours there.

Once the great big wooden door slammed closed behind us, Jessica asked if we’d like the lights in the building turned on or off. As Ash had left me to go and empty his bladder – probably a smart decision – it was up to me to decide our fate. “Umm… urrr… maybe… um… off ?” And with that, we were plunged into darkness.

Jessica led us through to our first location, and where the Most Haunted episode began – the Court Room.

Dating back to the fourteenth century, the majestic chamber had been rebuilt multiple times, and has seen countless criminals tried, sentenced and even executed.

Once we’d felt our way to the front benches, Jessica made us aware of the ghostly apparitions which both staff and visitors regularly experience in there. There’s been multiple reports of fi gures roaming around on the balcony or perched in the judge’s chair, and if you dare to linger in the dock, you might feel an overwhelming sense of dread wash over you. It’s even got so spooky that the NJM cleaner refuses to step foot in there alone.

With shaky hands, I set my MacBook up on an old, gnarled table that Jessica informed us had been used to dissect executed criminals in the past. Enchanting.

Ash

words: Ashley Carter & Emily Thursfield illustration: Ali Taylor-Perry

In all the haunted hullaballoo, I’d somehow forgotten why we were there: to watch Most Haunted visit the site seventeen years before us. For the uninitiated, Most Haunted was an inexplicably popular ghost hunting TV show that aired on Living TV between 2002 and 2010.

Like many houses in Britain, it was as much a staple of our viewing schedules as Come Dine With Me and The Generation Game. Watching host Yvette Fielding – with her perfectly quaffed Pavel Nedved circa Euro ’96 barnet – talk with such relentless sincerity about ghosts was like popping an old pair of slippers on. She’s joined by her stern sidekick, Nottingham’s own Phil Wyman, looking like the fifth Inbetweener, and the real star of the show: the late, great Derek Acorah. Oozing class and pizazz in equal measure with his Mum’s-mate-wholives-next-door hair complimented by a single diamond stud earring, the paranormal psychic (along with his spirit-guide Sam) became something of a cult fi gure after the show’s initial success. Such was the hype in my household that we actually paid to see him live at the Theatre Royal. Sure, he got heckled to the point that he had to personally guarantee refunds from the stage, and didn’t successfully identify a single ghost, but I still get to say I saw the great man live.

The early-noughties greentinged graphics and eerie music of the credits was almost laughable, but the chills soon began to get the better of both of us Once Jessica left the room, Ash and I shared a moment of ‘What the hell are we doing here?’ before finally pressing play on the episode. The early-noughties green-tinged graphics and eerie music of the credits was almost laughable, but the chills soon began to get the better of both of us.

I expected the episode to be the catalyst for frights during this experience, but at fifteen minutes in I realised the opposite was true. The building is genuinely terrifying, and when stripped of light and the presence of the public and staff, hosts a really creepy atmosphere. It feels like it holds the weight of all of the horrible things that have happened there. The broken lives, the pleas for mercy, the desperate last moments. Even Acorah can’t come close to that. The MH team relocate to the laundry and bathhouse one level down, and we decide to do the same. Derek Acorah is trying his best, but he’s bombing, and I think he knows it. He looks a bit sweatier and more desperate than I remember, and every time he gets asked a specific question, he tactfully avoids it with another well-timed interruption from Sam. Time and again he names a ghost whose presence he can feel, only for the on-

screen graphic to let us know that there isn’t anyone linked to the building’s history with that name.

With just fifteen minutes of the episode left to go, and no ghostly fi gures spotted, we moved along to our final location: the dark cells. Jessica had shared some of her own paranormal encounters with us during our tour, but it was the tale of the ghostly fi gure that had come to sit next to her on the concrete bed in one of these cells which had chilled me to the bone. As we were led into the cave, I heard a distinct clattering sound, similar to chains, from the room to the right. ‘You heard that too… right?” I said to Jessica. “Yeah,” she said, peering her head around the corner into a dark, narrow hallway, “and that’s exactly where you’re going.”

Beyond petrified at this point, I refused to turn the torch off on my phone in case the friendly ghoul wished to pay us a visit too. We began to bicker, and after Ash accused me of “ruining” the experience, I put on my best spoilt-brat voice and accidentally shouted ‘SAM!’... it’s possible for a moment I’d embodied the spirit of Acorah’s trusty sidekick, but much more likely I’d referred to Ash by my partner’s name, for whom I frequently use that same exasperated tone. Slightly embarrassed and breathing heavily, we spent the final fifteen minutes – which followed three of the crew members communicating with evil spirits and a dustlike orb floating across the screen – in silence, both on the edges of our seat.

Taking a big breath of fake confidence, I ask Emily to turn off the torch one more time, just for a minute. I want to experience the feeling of being in that tiny room, in the dark, just like so many condemned men would have been before me. But it’s no good, all I can think about is Acorah, and whether spirit-guide Sam is still wandering around looking for a new master. Maybe they’re together now. That would be nice. It’s sad that his time on the show ended so badly, after he was given the boot for making stuff up. Apparently someone fed him the names ‘Rik Eedles’ and ‘Kreed Kafer’, which he claimed to be ghosts, not realising they were just anagrams of ‘Derek Lies’ and ‘Derek Faker’. I don’t want to speak ill of the dead but, well, he made a living out of it.

As we exited the cell, physically unscathed but mentally exhausted, we found ourselves in the courtyard outside, with bricks inscribed with names of ex-prisoners, plus the gravestones of the fi ve criminals who had been executed and buried on the grounds of the museum.

It was a stark reminder that, while we laughed at the possibility of Yvette and the gang being visited by the spirits of unhappy ghosties, the National Justice Museum was once home to some really rotten people, who spent the worst of their days locked inside those four walls. Was the experience enough to make me believe in ghosts? I’m undecided. Will I be looking to do it again anytime soon? Dream on. nationaljusticemuseum.org.uk

Emily

The National Justice Museum might be the most haunted location in Nottingham, but there are plenty more creepy spots to try your hand at ghost hunting. So grab a torch, a brave mate and a spare pair of kecks, and check out some of the following supposedly haunted Notts spots…

WOLLATON

HALL

By day, the beautiful Elizabethan mansion is the prime spot for picnics, dog walks and trying to grab a quick deer snap on your lunch break. But by night, Wollaton Hall gets properly spooky, and is said to be home to a cavalcade of ghostly fi gures. As perhaps the most famous phantom resident, Lady Middleton – who lived in the hall after being paralysed in a fall – is said to roam the rear of the property, freaking out anyone brave enough to walk there alone. Plenty of visitors have also reported the feeling of being watched, hearing distant voices screaming and even being grabbed by icecold hands. They’ve either got a groundskeeper that needs reigning in, or a serious ghost problem.

Bestwood Lodge In what might just be the greatest Tripadvisor review ever written, one irked guest said of Bestwood Lodge, “the showers are weak, rubbish breakfast and it’s haunted.” We can’t attest to the first two accusations, but there’s plenty of anecdotal evidence for the latter. The old love nest of Nell Gwynn, the orange seller and actress who served as King Charles II’s bit on the side, much of the spooky activity at this imposing venue stems back to her. Reports of a strong smell of oranges whenever kids stay in the rooms are common, and staff have spoken of seeing fi gures walk the halls, only to disappear into thin air. Disembodied voices have also been heard in the cellar, where bodies are said to be buried. We’ll grab an Airbnb if it’s all the same.

Nottingham Castle With so many ghost stories languishing in vagaries, it’s nice to have a proper historical fi gure haunting one of Notts’ most iconic locations. Roger Mortimer was king in all but name, after teaming up with his lover Queen Isabella to have Edward II murdered back in the 14th century. It backfired, as the late-King’s son, seventeen-year-old Edward III, captured Roger during a daring raid at Nottingham Castle, and later had him executed, despite his mother’s pleas for mercy. The decision clearly irked Rog, whose ghost apparently still hangs around the new Notts Castle, anxiously pacing back and forth, probably trying to fi gure out whether Isabella was worth the trouble. He’s not alone, at least, because her voice has been heard desperately pleading for his life. Who knew treason could be so romantic?

Newstead Abbey With enough ghostly characters to justify a Scooby Doo reboot, Newstead Abbey is home to, among others, the Black Friar, the Goblin Friar, the Rose Lady, the White Lady and a flock of haunted rooks containing the souls of old monks. Okay, so their method of naming ghosts stinks, but the stories behind them all are pretty chilling. Our favourite haunted happening is easily that of Lord Byron’s ancestor, Sir John Byron, whose big, beardy presence would emerge from his own oil painting and scare residents. The painting was lost for 160 years before being rediscovered in 2015. It remains to be seen whether his ghostly presence has returned with it…

Clifton Hall

For most people, a ghost story is just that: a story. We all like getting scared, and tales of haunted houses, unquiet spirits and goofy ghosts do just the trick. But for millionaire businessman Anwar Rashid, paranormal activity legitimately tried to ruin his life. After purchasing the 52-room Clifton Hall, his family began to feel terrorized by a supernatural presence that they felt was trying to get rid of them. Comparing his experiences to the film The Others, it started with strange noises, mysterious male voices and sightings of grey fi gures, before the unexplained discovery of blood spots on his 18-month-old son’s clothes. Rashid wisely packed up his family and high-tailed it, giving the keys back to the bank just eight months after moving in.

the city of caves As if being pitch black and centuries old wasn’t freaky enough, Notts’ subterranean cave network is apparently home to any number of unsettled spirits and spectres. Having at various times been used as a tannery, public house, Victorian slum and World War II air shelter, it’s fair to say that those sandstone walls have got some stories to tell. Unfortunately for us, they choose to tell them by way of unexplained sounds of explosions, disembodied voices, dark apparitions and shadowy fi gures. One reported sighting even described a woman, dressed in Victorian-era clothing, wandering lost while loudly crying. Whether she’s an unsettled spirit from the era of the old slums is anyone’s guess, but we’ll leave the investigating to you lot and stay safely above ground, if you don’t mind.

Northern Sites For anyone who grew up in the city and its suburbs, north Nottinghamshire was either where you sometimes ventured to feed the ducks in Rufford, or to perhaps explore the patchy remains of Sherwood Forest, communing with Robin and his Merry Men. In fact, to many city-dwellers, it is defined by its coalfield status, an imaginary wasteland of former mining towns. But North Nottinghamshire, centred around Worksop and Retford, has always had more to offer and, lately, is undergoing a renaissance. The 2020 pandemic-induced rediscovery of the day trip or overnight stay close to home make this the perfect time to venture up the M1...

Newcomers to the city, like students, will still be told by many natives that there’s not much point heading north. Why not go west to the Peak District instead? But they’re mistaken. Whether you seek the refined heritage of a country estate, the folklore of Robin Hood and the Green Man, or wish to journey back to the Ice Age artists who left their mark here, North Notts is a place of stories, a place to imagine. And it’s less than an hour’s drive from the city centre. George Buchanan is the Chair of the North Notts Place Board, a collaboration of local organisations created to breathe new life into the north of the county, as well as owner and project manager at Hodsock Priory, a beautiful wedding venue known for its February display of snowdrops. In his mind North Notts is “the perfect day out.”

Forget the coal mines for a moment, this area, a good chunk of it known as ‘the Dukeries’ due to the presence of several ducal estates, used to be a “billionaire’s playground, where visitors can be Dukes and Duchesses for the day.” It is, George confirms, “a romantic landscape.”

Nicola Doughty, who looks after PR and comms for the Welbeck Estate, one of those ducal estates that so defined the area in the past, describes the region as “home to some of the best artisan food producers, great art, history and museums.” Sherwood Forest may be diminished (although don’t overlook the RSPB visitor centre) but there is a lot more to this part of the county. Welbeck itself, seat of the Dukes of Portland, is home to an artisan food community and a thriving group of artists and makers. There are regular high profile art exhibitions in The Harley Gallery, and historical treasures on display in The Portland Collection Museum. The Harley Shop sells a wide range of handcrafted pieces made on the estate, or if it’s food or drink that lures you, you can take world-class courses at The School of Artisan Food, which scooped the title of Best British Cookery School in the Food and Drink Awards. You’ll also find Welbeck Bakehouse, Welbeck Abbey Brewery and Stichelton Dairy on the estate – and their products available in Welbeck Farm Shop. Welbeck has even opened cottages and barns on the estate as holiday rentals, if you fancy a night away.

If you’re not looking to cook your own supper, George Buchanan can recommend several great pubs. The Sun Inn at Everton near Retford, The Greendale Oak near Cuckney and The Boat at Hayton are all high on the list. Maybe break away from the traditional pubs and try Piccolo Espresso Bar in Worksop, or perhaps one of three ice cream parlours – long established Thaymar or newcomers Cow Shack and Manor Farm. At Manor Farm you’ll also find Airbnb accommodation, or, at Holbeck, you’ll find Browns, a stunning boutique bed and breakfast and holder of a 5 star Gold Award from Visit England.

If history and heritage are your thing, this is the perfect place. Rufford Abbey and Clumber Park both offer aristocratic histories in beautiful

parkland. If you want to travel back further in time, Creswell Crags, an unexpectedly stunning limestone gorge right on the Derbyshire border, is honeycombed with caves which were once home to prehistoric hunter gatherers, who left behind Britain’s only Ice Age cave art, over 12,000 years old. The engravings can be seen on cave tours at the site, which also has a cave full of mysterious post-medieval Witch Marks, put there to ward against unknown evils, and a museum of artefacts found on the site including hyena skulls, flint tools, and hippo jaws.

North Notts is not just about days out to museums and parks, and pub lunches in the countryside. There are some brilliant retail therapy opportunities. In Retford, The Barrister in Wonderland is an independent children’s bookshop featuring an upside-down tea party on the ceiling; a step through the door is a leap into a world of magic and imagination, making the shop a worthy destination in its own right, just one of many independent shops in this busy market town. Over in Worksop, one highlight is Carlton House Vintage, a three-storey emporium of arts, crafts, vintage clothing and jewellery, a tea room, traditional sweet shop, salvaged furniture and more, all in a Grade II listed building right near the station. It is also home to the Vegan Friendly Soap Shop, a brilliant independent business selling planet-, skin-and-nose-friendly soap products that look good enough to eat.

Helen Saville, owner of The Barrister in Wonderland, loves Retford. It is, she says “a pretty and welcoming market town, with great places to eat, the majestic King’s Park, and gorgeous canal walks.” Indeed, many locals were once visitors, who discovered the area and chose not to leave.

George Buchanan sums it up: It’s a place of “breathing space, with friendly people, where it’s easy to park and everything is great value.”

He describes one of its qualities as “manoeuvrability.” He says “it’s not overcrowded like Cornwall but a day trip, or short break, here can rival any in Europe.”

There is a very long list of ‘things to do in North Notts’ that merit research before you hop on a train. Mentions should also go to Bassetlaw Museum, Mr Straw’s House, Mattersey Priory ruins, and the profoundly moving National Holocaust Centre and Museum. You can walk the Robin Hood Way, experience a host of exciting outdoor activities and hide in the trees like Will Scarlett and Little John at Sherwood Pines, or relax at Ye Olde Bell Hotel and Spa. And more.

There really is something for everyone, and it’ll take you less than an hour to get there.

words: Rebecca Buck illustration: K Kamminga

Que Sara Stand-up comedian, actor, presenter, author, podcast host. There aren’t many things in the world of entertainment that Sara Pascoe can’t do. Ahead of her return to Nottingham to play Just the Tonic this month, we caught up with the popular comic to talk lockdown, her two new TV projects and being a backing singer for Robbie Williams’ dad…

Sorry to start with the obvious, but what has the last six months been like for someone working in the entertainment industry?

It’s been unusual for any profession really.

Every time you think something is going to happen, it doesn’t. But live comedy is starting to come back with new rules, and it’s all pretty different. Stand-ups are performing for people outdoors, or to an audience of cars, so winter is going to be a lot harder.

But some really big venues are able to have audiences socially distancing in a very safe way. People are being very cautious, and we obviously don’t want anyone to be in danger.

But at the same time we’re going to shrivel up and die if we don’t do anything!

How have you found the return to performing in front of audiences?

It’s been brilliant, and the audiences have been great. A year ago, if someone said, ‘Hey, do you want to do a gig in a pub garden in front of thirty people in the rain?’ I’d have said absolutely not. But stand-ups have all missed it so much that you just feel giddy to be gigging and feeling happy again. I think it’s the same for audiences, too. They haven’t seen anything live for a long time, so they’re similarly pleased that you’re there. There’s a sense that it’s something we’ve maybe taken for granted, and now, having not been able to see anything live, we appreciate it more and can look forward to the future. That’s been really heartwarming.

You started out as a dramatic actor – what was the catalyst to start performing stand-up?

It wasn’t a decision, it was an experiment. I was living in London when someone told me you could do open mic nights as a character.

So to start off with I wasn’t a straight stand-up. I’d write monologues and perform them in character, which for me was much more about acting than writing. And then I realised you could get a lot more gigs if you did straight stand-up, so I started doing the same material, but as me, and I enjoyed it so much. I started entering competitions and was gigging every night when I realised that it was what I really, really wanted to do. I love that you can do it every day – that aspect of it is really creatively satisfying.

I recently heard a comic in the US say that stand-up comedy is unique in that everyone who does it is obsessed with it, but ultimately want to move on to something else like having their own TV show or a film career. Have you found a similar sentiment in the UK? I haven’t been to America and can’t speak for comics there, but I have heard people say that before. It’s interesting because they have these improv courses in LA and Chicago that teach you how to write sketch comedy for TV as an ultimate aim. In the UK the standup circuit can be very rough, it’s not an easy place to be creative. You really have to want to be here, and that creates a real sense of camaraderie between comics because you all know that you’ve put the work in to get

to where you are. There aren’t any shortcuts to success, and because it takes you a long time to develop the appropriate tools, you wouldn’t want any. You don’t want to be put straight on TV, because you have to learn how to cope and communicate, and that’s a slow process. Like if you were learning to play the guitar, you wouldn’t expect to have a gig straight away because you’ve learnt three chords. It’s a constant learning process, and that learning curve is what attracts a lot of people. Even when you do feel accomplished and polished, you still have to do new material and the whole process starts over again.

They offered me a job either in the house from Noel’s House Party, or with Robbie Williams’ dad.

I remember getting the train back to London and thinking, ‘Either way, I’m in there now. This is the beginning of the big time!’

There’s been a spotlight on British comedy in recent years in terms of addressing the gender imbalance, and the BBC decision to ensure that there are no more all-male panel shows. Have you noticed a change in the comedy atmosphere?

I think the thing that’s not useful with conversations about representation in comedy, whatever type that is, is that once it’s been had openly it can look like people have been given their place at the table out of a sense of moral duty. Quite often what happened was that viewers were complaining about all-male panel shows, because half of the viewers were women who might have been out to a comedy club and seen Katherine Ryan doing a set, only to turn on the TV and think, ‘Hang on, where are the women? I know that they’re performing’. So I don’t know how much the atmosphere has changed, I just think that there’s more awareness, and I think that’s positive. Comedy only flourishes if you hear people with a diverse set of opinions, beliefs and backgrounds. The same-ness of comedy before that was actually pretty dull.

You’ve got two new television projects launching this month with game show Guessable and sitcom Out of Her Mind. Can you tell us a bit about them?

Guessable is starting this month [Monday 5 October, 9pm on Comedy Central], and is a really wonderful and satisfying job to have. Comedy Central wanted to change their approach to comedy and make familyfriendly, warm, open-hearted shows, and when they pitched the idea I loved everything they were saying. It was a lot of fun to film,

because some of the games, like having to draw something in three seconds, make the guests look like idiots in a really fun way. We had these amazing guests, like Claire Balding and Debbie McGee, and just laughed all of the time. Alan Davies is one of the team captains, and he’s such a lovely man. There are lots of panel shows that are focused on being topical or clever so, to me, Guessable is like an antidote to everything that’s going on in the world right now – it’s the perfect time to make shows that are just silly.

And Out of Her Mind is my baby. For years and years I’ve been doing stand-up and researching human evolution, things like pair bonding and alchemy, and whether they’re natural. Out of my stand-up I wrote a book called Animal, which was part-scientific, part-autobiographical, but still funny. When the BBC asked if I was interested in writing a show, and I suggested making it scientific, they weren’t freaked out. They’ve let me do what I did in Animal, and I’ve made a sitcom that explores what’s happening on a chemical level behind the emotion. I was very, very lucky in getting my dream cast, like Adrian Edmondson and Juliet Stevenson, who I wrote this really long letter to.

And as you’re coming to Nottingham this month, I really want to finish by asking whether something I read online was true or not… Did you once live here while working as a backing singer for Robbie Williams’ Dad? Oh yes, I did! It was a place called Thoresby Hall. I lived there for four months in 2001 working as a backing singer for Pete Conway, who is Robbie Williams’ dad.

I’m going to need some more context on that one I’m afraid…

It’s something I’ve been thinking about recently actually. It was a company that provided holidays for older people who liked cruise-style entertainment, but didn't want to leave the country. They go on holidays to places like Thoresby Hall and get everything from food to entertainment every night. I auditioned because I was doing that sort of hotel entertainment work at the time, and they offered me a job either in the house from Noel’s House Party, or with Robbie Williams’ dad. I remember getting the train back to London and thinking, ‘Either way, I’m in there now. This is the beginning of the big time!’

Everyone was always so excited about Pete and there were constantly rumours that Robbie was going to turn up in a helicopter.

The last time I did Never Mind the Buzzcocks they got me to stand in the line-up with a t-shirt saying ‘I’m Sara Pascoe’ and got Pete Conway to sit in my seat to see if he remembered me.

I’ve still got the t-shirt!

Sara Pascoe is performing at Just the Tonic comedy club on Saturday 10 October justthetonic.com sarapascoe.co.uk

interview: Ashley Carter photo: Matt Crockett

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Road to recovery With the hospitality industry in the most precarious state it’s been in for a generation, we catch up with five of Nottingham’s most popular venues and organisations to find out they’re thoughts on the ever-changing Government policies, adapting to life post-lockdown and the important role the Nottingham Business Improvement District has played in supporting the sector

Annie’s burger shack annie sPaZiano We have had to endure enormous changes to our circumstances due to lockdown. Loss of trade, lowering the amount of seating inside, staff numbers reduced to low levels, closing on weekdays and an overall reduction of our working hours. There have also been stock issues with getting ingredients, which at times has been complicated, as some of the ingredients, like our maple syrup, comes from America.

Eat Out to Help Out was a double-edged sword for us. On one hand it helped with getting more people in at the beginning of the week – we had a huge surge in demand to book throughout the month, peaking on Bank Holiday Monday. We ended up having to turn thousands of people away. However, we still had to keep our staff levels low, as we couldn’t return additional staff from furlough too early without knowing what the demand would be after EOTHO. Our bookings team had great diff iculty in trying to get to everyone.

In the long run, changes to consumer preferences of going to city centres may impact businesses in town. We need to keep

positive to meet these changes, but it is diff icult to predict what we can or cannot do due to constantly adapting to the crisis. This could take years to repair. We are offering call-and-collect and deliveries to hold ourselves up, but we don’t particularly like doing that as we are a destination restaurant and usually cater to large groups of up to thirty people.

Getting Best Bar None accreditation let’s people know that we are a safe bar. The BID helped us out, and worked with other bars in the city by visiting us regularly and making sure we were kept up to date. The impact of that is that we are one of the safest bars in the city, and that networking has had a positive impact. The process was also easy to follow.

We have had good support from Nottingham BID. They’ve promoted our past events, tied us in with other festivals and stopped by to talk to our staff. We were really thankful for the arrow stickers and helpful tips they gave us. They made us feel like we were part of the city as a collective and supported during this unprecedented time.

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ye olde salutation inn Rae TalboT It’s very diff icult to put into words the effect the past six months has had on our business and the mounting pressure to keep our heads above water. With the pub now working at half capacity, losing 25 hours of serving time per week and, of course, finding it diff icult to hold live music and events, it is only thanks to our amazing and supportive customers that we are still here holding the fort.

I’m incredibly worried for the future of the hospitality trade. With venues permanently closing all around Nottingham, and more and more hospitality staff becoming unemployed, the future is unclear. There simply aren’t enough venues to support the increasing number of unemployed people in the trade, especially now that they are having to cut opening hours and, as a result, staff ’s hours and shifts. I hope that once we’ve all braved the storm, and things are safer, new venues will open to provide more jobs and help keep the industry alive.

I agree with some of the Government’s policies, such as the wearing of face masks, although that really should have been the case from the start. Also, having table service only – both inside

and outside – makes sense, as it keeps groups of people seated together in their ‘bubbles’. However, I don’t understand the new 10pm curfew. It doesn’t seem logical, and I don’t see the health benefits. For example, before the new rules, we would open from 10am-3am on a Saturday. During that time we’d get day drinkers, evening drinkers and night drinkers, and most of those people would never cross paths with one another. Now, with our new opening hours of 10am-10pm, all of the people who usually drink later in the evening are coming in earlier. That’s not even to mention the fact that every pub in Nottingham now has the same closing time, so at 10pm the streets are horrendously busy, busses are full and people are queuing for transport. I just think this will eventually put more pressure on the emergency services and, in turn, create more issues than it solves.

Nottingham BID has been exceptional at helping us through these times with everything from event ideas to signage. Their help is invaluable to keeping Nottingham venues safe and in business.

During these times there is not much help out there and, even if it's just advice, Nottingham BID are always there to help.

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andY cRawfoRd Having built a strong business up over 25 years, turning over in excess of £20m and being responsible for over 500 employees, it is frightening to see how fragile the hospitality industry is at the moment. I always thought that the pub would be indestructible in my lifetime but COVID-19 has really tested those thoughts. The Government imposed a closure of our whole pub estate with six hours notice. We were having a management meeting in my off ice working out plans if it did happen, when someone burst in and said, “he’s done it!” It felt like being notified the country had been invaded.

While the past six months have been challenging, I still remain positive about the pub businesses we operate. They are quality pubs in communities or towns that generally target a quality customer base, operated by excellent people.

I think long term, so long as the virus is combated with an effective impact, the hospitality industry will adapt like a pond that eventually calms after a large rock has been thrown into it.

I actually think that the drive towards supporting independent businesses will grow and brands will have to be extremely thoughtful in maintaining their position. The customer is much more likely to seek quality over price. We

are positioned well to take advantage of that as we promote our pubs as independent outlets supporting local suppliers, especially microbrewers. We deal with over 100 different small brewers in the East Midlands and South Yorkshire.

The Government seems to be in permanent crisis mode rather than intelligent strategy thinking. Last month it was Eat Out To Help Out, this month it is Don’t Go Out. It is diff icult to believe that they could not predict closing all licensed premises at the same time would result in a crowd of people on the streets, all trying to get taxis or buses and standing around in the type of crowding the Government does not want.

We are a great supporter of the Nottingham BID. Having such an organised entity in the city providing direction, guidance and leadership for the different business sectors has enabled Nottingham to stay ahead of other cities in terms of how well the licensed businesses are managed. Tactically, the BID is excellent in providing solid print support, social media messaging and ambassadors giving moral support to operators. They are also excellent in bringing together other support bodies like the Police, Pub Watch and the Council so that any coordinated responses work very effectively. Other cities do not have that.

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The Maharaja’s retreat suRaJ dhaliwal Having to close for three months due to lockdown has had a huge impact on us as a business. On top of that, trying to resume things with the ‘new normality’ has been diff icult. The hospitality industry is not what it was, and there has been a huge drop in the number of people eating out.

The Government’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme was helpful in bringing people to dine with us, and we noticed a big increase in the amount of new customers coming through our door, which created a lot of word-of-mouth attention.

We worked really closely with Nottingham BID before lockdown, and they brought a lot to the city in terms of events and helping local businesses. Since lockdown, they’ve been helpful in terms of getting PPE and keeping the surrounding areas clean.

It’s diff icult to judge what the hospitality industry will be like moving forward. The industry relies a lot on income taken during the Christmas period, and if we don’t see that sort of rush this year I anticipate a lot of local businesses will be closed permanently by January. A lot of businesses simply won’t be able to afford the city centre rents in the current environment.

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malt cross Joel lYdamoRe The pandemic has hit all hospitality venues hard with restrictions and closures over the summer. At Malt Cross, we are surrounded by the best and most hardworking team who are helping transform this unknown journey into a positive experience for our customers. As a former Victorian music hall with a rich history to preserve for our community, we have also been very lucky to secure £49K COVID support funding from the National Lottery’s Emergency Heritage Fund to help us weather the storm and facilitate everything from PPE, staff ing support and health and safety measures to taking the steps needed to reintroduce our beloved heritage tours to the gradeII listed venue.

As a community-centric charity, nurturing our venue as a lynchpin for people in Nottingham to come together in celebration of good company, good food and supporting local talent is always a key motivator. The Malt Cross is now working to diversify and widen our gaze with plans to restart Street Pastors and expand our community offerings for local people.

Plans range from developing our historical workshop spaces into a thriving social hub for discussing and realising social change to offering training opportunities for NEET individuals (Not in Employment, Education or Training) at the venue.

Being recognised by the Best Bar None scheme is a real honour as we pride ourselves on delivering a diverse, caring and most importantly safe haven for people to indulge a night out experience in Nottingham whereby their wellbeing is the top priority. We firmly champion corporate social responsibility with our café bar spaces operating a strong responsible drinking ethos.

Nottingham BID has been a fantastic support and collaborator for many years, operating as a valued driving force for bringing together local businesses under the umbrella of community prioritisation. Their support has been great during the pandemic, particularly as we participated in their ingenious ‘Art Out To Help Out’ local equivalent to the government ‘Eat Out To Help Out’ campaign, which has warmly engaged customers who are on a mission to collect all forty hand-designed postcards from iconic café/bar venues around the city. As anyone who has visited the Malt Cross will know, we love stylised artwork, and in addition to facilitating the relationship between our music hall and the local arts scene, this has been an excellent opportunity to celebrate the creativity taking place at the heart of Nottingham.

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illustration: Raphael Achache

They offered me a job either in the house from Noel’s House Party, or with Robbie Williams’ dad. I remember getting the train back to London and thinking, ‘Either way, I’m in there now.

This is the beginning of the big time!’

No matter how far into addiction you may be, it’s not too late. We talk to one of the members of the Nottingham branch of Cocaine Anonymous, who wishes to remain nameless, about addiction and his own personal road to recovery...

Can you tell us a bit about Cocaine Anonymous?

Cocaine Anonymous is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and the hope that they may solve their common problem, and help others recover from their addiction too. The best way to reach someone is to speak to them on a common level. The members of C.A. are all recovering addicts who maintain their individual sobriety by working with others. We come from various social, ethnic, economic and religious backgrounds, but what we have in common is addiction. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop using cocaine and all other mind-altering substances.

What are the main differences between using cocaine recreationally and becoming addicted?

With alcohol and drugs, most people can take them or leave them. They have little trouble in giving it up entirely if they have a good reason for it. An addict is a person who has lost the power of choice over drink or drugs. I know that this sounds odd, but when I was in active addiction I could not stay away from drugs/ alcohol even if I wanted to. I would try to stay away and be ‘good’, but sooner rather than later I would find myself wasted again. Usually I’d have some ‘reason’ in my head to justify it, but it didn’t really make sense to me even when I was living it. It’s a difficult thing to explain as it makes little sense and doesn’t match how non-addicted people can choose to use alcohol or drugs. This was a terrifying prospect to admit when I came into recovery.

How does cocaine addiction differ from addictions to other drugs or alcohol?

In some ways they can seem totally different and not similar at all. But for people trying to get or remain clean and sober, the problems resulting from them are exactly the same. Of course, there are some physical, medical and social differences in addictions. Being addicted to any drug isn’t cheap but being addicted to cocaine can cause financial hardship quicker than others. It can be tempting to find ways and means to fund the habit which may or may not be legal. This can lead to more isolation and feelings of helplessness.

But the end result, regardless of the substance, is that a person is unable to stop and their lives generally go to pot. We welcome everyone in Cocaine Anonymous, the twelve-step method that we use is the same for all substances and is equally effective for any substance addiction.

Cocaine Anonymous in Nottingham was established in April 2014 – how have things changed since then?

Cocaine Anonymous has grown a lot since 2014. We started out with one group meeting every Tuesday and now – or rather before COVID hit – we have five weekly meetings. So there has been a big influx of people and a lot of people have recovered from their addictions. Families have been reunited and lives have been improved. It’s a wonderful thing to be a part of. As we’ve grown we’ve become more effective in helping people coming into Cocaine Anonymous for the first time. A couple of Christmases ago we had an

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event here in Nottingham where members of Cocaine Anonymous from all over the Midlands came here and met up with some great food and laughs so that was awesome.

As to the problem of addiction, I shy away from saying whether it has gotten worse or not purely because I don’t know. Mankind has had problems with substances ever since the first coca leaf was chewed or the first rotten fruit was eaten and people liked the buzz. Some of us become addicted, not through our own choice, and some don’t.

I had wet the bed so often that there was a crust of dried urine on the bottom of the mattress What is your own personal involvement with C.A? I went to my first Cocaine Anonymous meeting in London in around 2010, I loved the energy and how full of life people were. They weren’t moaning or feeling sorry for themselves, they were happy within themselves and wanted to help others. I got involved with Nottingham Cocaine Anonymous in 2014. It was the third meeting of Cocaine Anonymous here and there were only a few people present. I started to help out and over time the meetings grew and new meetings were started. I continue to attend meetings to try to help others (and through that I’ve helped myself) and it’s a lovely part of my life today. The friendships that are made and the understanding that we have with each other is very special.

Can you tell us a bit about your own experiences with recovery?

Towards the end of my active addiction I was sitting alone in my room in a shared house drinking 7.5% cider (industrial produced fizzy liquid, it has never seen an apple in its life.) This was how I spent most of my evenings, drinking alone. I was 31 and hoping to become a nurse after spending my twenties being a salesman and wanting to do something more meaningful. I couldn’t turn up for class half the time because I was still drunk and was struggling with my mental health. Worse than that, I had an all pervading idea in the back of my head that I would mess up and never become a nurse.

The room permanently had the curtains drawn and was usually always messy. On the floor by my computer desk, where I spent most of my time, were empty cider bottles on one side and full ones on the other.

I was too lazy/scared to venture out of my room to the bathroom so sometimes the empty ones became full again. On occasion, my system of left side for full ones and right side for the empty (or refilled) bottles would get confused and I would drink my own urine.

There wasn’t much difference in taste. I would get to

my room, close the door, put my phone on silent, watch movies with my headphones on so no one would think that I was home. And drink. I had wet the bed so often that there was a crust of dried urine on the bottom of the mattress.

By this time, I wasn’t a very good catch for any woman so I was single. Most of my close friends thought twice about calling or visiting me because it was too upsetting for them to see how I was. I would call my Mum and Nan when I had had enough to drink but not too much, or at least that was how I saw it. I used to hold them hostage on the phone talking drunkenly and probably not remembering too much about it afterwards.

The worst part about it was my mental headspace.

I called it the ‘Doom Cloud’ – it would come and settle on me with a chill. It brought feelings of fear, impotence, a lot of self-hatred and, most of all, guilt.

Guilt for the things I had done, guilt for things I hadn’t even done or guilt for the things that I had thought.

It was at one of these times I had the sanest, most logical thought I had had for a long time: there must be more to life than this.

Then, I realised that I had had enough. In time, I got help. I was lucky to have lots of help available to me. I started to attend twelve-step meetings. I met people in the same boat as me. I didn’t feel alone any more.

I started to get a framework for living and thinking which guarantees my continued sobriety called the twelve steps. It is a long process and undoubtedly the most satisfying thing I have ever accomplished. It has given me a whole load more than just abstinence from alcohol and drugs.

Fast forward a few years and all of my relationships are vastly improved. I am now happily married and have a job which is of benefit to society. I have good and meaningful friendships. My health has improved but the best thing is that I haven’t felt the Doom Cloud for a long, long time.

How can people get involved with C.A? Currently, we have one physical meeting a week and a wide array of online meetings. Everyone is welcome to come along to the meeting every Sunday at 6.30pm - 8pm at St John’s Church. You can also call us and someone who has had a problem themselves can talk to you. If you think that you might have a problem, please get in touch. You’ve got nothing to lose and your life to regain. It might just be the best thing that you ever do!

0800 612 0225 meetings.cocaineanonymous.org.uk 1 Chestnut Grove, NG3 5AD

The Witching Hour

Alex Stubbs catches up with artist, curator and educator Wingshan Smith to discuss Tender Coven, an online community and monthly subscription spell box that merges wxtchcraft with support for emerging artists...

Youth programme co-ordinator. One-third of Nottinghambased Soft Estate. Founder of Tender Coven. These are the labels and achievements that are attached to Wingshan Smith, an interdisciplinary artist, curator, and educator based in Nottingham, though they aren’t what define her completely. Politically, Smith makes it clear that the label of “wxtch” is something she thoroughly embraces: “Being a wxtch is inherently subversive and this is one of the last things I’d want to change. I identify as a wxtch politically first and foremost.” For Smith, being a wxtch means taking a stand against “everything that is currently wrong with society and any society throughout the ages.” These are values that she takes with her into her artistic practice, and which build the foundations of the educational and curatorial work she does with Tender Coven, an online coven community and monthly subscription spell box curated to “merge wxtchcraft with support for emerging artists.”

Education, public programming, and curation are “are all ways to connect with and to share art,” according to Smith who, through her work as the Youth Programmer at Nottingham Contemporary, helps to run 1525 Collective, a programme that encourages young people to connect and collaborate with each other across multi-disciplinary channels. Tender Coven, Smith’s latest project, brings together education, curation, and public programming through the creation of an “online coven community.”

Through Tender Coven, Smith educates through the zine, produces a public programme through events and workshops, and uses her curatorial skill to feature new artists and objects each month. Speaking with Smith about the project, which offers users a monthly zine and subscription box as well as online live tarot readings, it becomes clear that building a sense of community is something she feels a strong aff inity towards and which is fundamental to Tender Coven’s aims. “I am drawn to the subjective ways culture can impact people on deep social, emotional, and spiritual aspects of life,” Smith notes, going on to say that choosing between separate practices brings with it complications that misunderstand the fact that they all “feed into the same pot.”

interview: Alex Stubbs photo: photo: Charlotte Jopling words: Alex Stubbs

Emerging out of the circumstances of a global pandemic, Tender Coven was initially conceived as a ritual performance commissioned for Mansions of the Future.

But, with a nationwide lockdown making in-person performances impossible, Smith reimagined the piece through video. By sending out materials to participants and conducting the performance virtually, the piece became “part-tutorial, part-spell” that could be experienced “in your own time, space, and pace.” The increased distance may have been a diff icult barrier for others to overcome, but it doesn’t appear to have slowed Smith down. “I found a new way to connect with people through my craft at a distance,” she says, noting how the term “coven” represents a “declaration of solidarity,” a sense that being part of it means navigating the world collectively. “Tender” represents a certain pensiveness and reflection: “[it] is a melancholic word which embraces a misty understanding of care, conjuring feelings of a remembered pain that is gently soothed but might still linger.” In Tender Coven, solidarity and mutuality are paired together to create a place that offers acceptance and guidance equally through light as it does through darkness.

I am drawn to the subjective ways culture can impact people on deep social, emotional, and spiritual aspects of life Fostering a sense of community is at the heart of what Smith does. Community functions as “a cornerstone of my work and something I actively pursue,” she says, but it doesn’t come without a sense of reservation and criticisms of exactly what is meant when we say “community.” Talking about the community-driven aspect of Tender Coven, as well as Soft Estate’s latest work engaging with the history of a nineteenth-century asylum that stood in King Edward Park in Sneinton, there is the feeling that Smith is attempting to actively reconfi gure our conceptions of

community. For Smith, there is an exploitative industry surrounding self-care and community that “emphasises the responsibility of the individual and does little to hold society accountable.” Her artistic practice does a lot to combat this, with focus placed directly on “building relationships with people to call on for help but also to be that help or collaborate with.” Through her work with 1525 Collective, Smith highlights the importance placed on “checking in, and talking about issues young people want to talk about,” while Tender Coven functions, in part, as Smith’s platform to give exposure to artists she is excited about.

There’s an ethical side to all of this, too. The artists that are featured in Tender Coven receive a share of the profits – “paying your artists is important!” Smith declares – a proactive way of supporting the collaboration between curator and artist. Whether supporting communities economically, or establishing relationships through collaborative and supportive programmes, Smith places ethics at the forefront of her work in a unique and encouraging way.

As an esoteric practice, Tender Coven is rooted firmly in its celebration of wxtches and wxtchcraft. “On a foundational level, wxtchcraft is meditation with props. It’s a playful tool to engage all your senses and bring intention into your life,” says Smith, positioning Tender Coven as an outlet “accessible to the widest range of beliefs to suit the most secular of casual wxtches to the most traditional and dedicated.” Accessibility is key to Tender Coven’s success, with each subscription box curated in such a way that newcomers are able to engage with the materials through Smith’s guidance and tutorials. Smith has, quite impressively, managed to marry intriguing elements of wxtchcraft with a desire to celebrate the artists that, as she puts it, “share some sort of mysterious aff inity to the esoteric.”

As Smith says, “art, after all, is a kind of magic,” and certainly there is a fascinating magical quality to be found in her work. tendercoven.com

hog wild There’s an element of risk in launching any crowdfunding campaign. If you don’t reach an audience, the failure can hang around the neck of a project like an albatross. But get it right, and the rewards can be limitless. The latter situation is one that Sherwood-based Stone Sword Games found themselves in recently, when their Kickstarter campaign for a miniatures version of classic PS1 game Hogs of War smashed through £90,000 in just two days. We caught up with co-owner Paul Allen to find out more...

For the uninitiated, tell us a bit about Hogs of War… Hogs Of War is very much a cult classic Playstation 1 video game, released in 2000, which sticks in a lot of people’s minds due to the late, great Rik Mayall adding his talent to the voice work.

I have recently tried to sell it to a friend as ‘Imagine Worms but in 3D mixed with some PGA Golf and a big sprinkle of Blackadder Goes Forth and that classic British tongue-in-cheek-humour’.

What was it about the original PS1 game that made you want to continue the legacy with a tabletop miniatures adaptation?

I remember renting it from Blockbuster Video twenty years ago. My friend and I picked up Silent Hill and found Hogs of War next to it and thought, ‘this will do for his little sister’. We got back and tried to smash Silent Hill in one night (we succeeded), but I remember getting up in the morning and my friend’s kid sister was still playing Hogs of War. I asked to play the next mission and by the same afternoon I had bought myself a copy.

There is something very special about the game, it has a large mix of elements; there’s a RPG aspect of levelling up and naming your hogs, turn-based and real-time action, a large inventory of goofy weapons and a narrative set over a campaign map that looked like a pig.

What was behind the decision to launch a Kickstarter campaign?

The concept came about in March last year; my girlfriend and I were having a sneaky drink before going to my brother’s birthday. We randomly spoke about our love of Hogs of War, and I managed to scribble down some ideas and concepts on a

receipt. Just under eight months later I had tracked down the owner of the license and with my business partner, James Faulkner, we had launched our first Kickstarter, Hogs of War: The Card Game. This was in November 2019, and it raised over £19,500. James and I had always thought it could be a bigger game so we decided to grow it and develop a tabletop miniatures game with more flavours and much closer to the incredible PS1 title.

You must be pretty happy with the success of the new Kickstarter so far…

It’s been fantastic! Watching the number of backers increasing and the funding goal smashed in under ninety minutes was ridiculous. We didn’t expect to reach this number in our 23 day campaign, never mind making £90,000 in just the first two days – it has truly blown us away with the love and support for this game.

What sort of perks can backers get?

We really want to reward our loyal backers; so we filled Hogs with tons of gorgeous ‘hoggified’ miniatures (big tanks, planes and those hogs!) and of course we have our Rik Mayall tribute ‘Lord Flashhog’ miniature, a glorious mix of Lord Flashheart (Rik Mayall’s amazing Blackadder character) and a Hog. We have smashed through ten stretch goals in our first three days, and are releasing more amazing miniatures, including the Aqua-Tank from the original PS1 game.

What sort of audience is the game aimed at?

I have been playing tabletop and video games for over 35 years and lecture Games Design at Confetti and NTU, and James is an incredible war-gaming fanatic, who has played in tournaments for years and has a house full of Games Workshop miniatures.

We have designed a game that is simple but has a huge depth of strategy, blending a ‘war-game’ –

think Warhammer – with a more stripped down board game Risk-level of complexity.

Do you think there has been a surge in popularity in tabletop gaming recently?

It has been steadily increasing for several years, and Kickstarter has added an incredible element to purchasing unique games with a huge focus on community. Games like Exploding Kittens and Cards Against Humanity certainly made games a little cooler, and you regularly see them being played in bars.

Since this year’s lockdown, searches for “board game” rocketed by 300%, I think the social aspect of tabletop games has really played a part in this.

Can you tell us a bit about Stone Sword Games?

We are a very young company. Myself and my business partner James met a little over two years ago and found out we work really well together with an engine and rudder approach that very much complement each other’s strengths.

Nottingham is home to some great board game cafes and venues – what is the community here like?

It’s incredible, there is such an amazing and beautiful gaming community here. James and I have made a lot of great friends through the local gaming cafe and escape room industry.

Games Workshop/Warhammer World has centralised tabletop gaming within Notts. The amount of gaming companies attached, or previously attached, to that £3,000,000,000 juggernaut means we have more board game cafés in Nottingham than the whole of New York.

The Hogs of War Kickstarter campaign runs until Thursday 15 October facebook.com/Hogsofwarcardgame

Watching the number of backers increasing and the funding goal smashed in under ninety minutes was ridiculous

words and photos: Dani Bacon

Living with Covid

If you think that being young is protection enough from COVID, think again. 28-year-old writer and photographer Dani Bacon, who had no pre-existing health conditions, recounts her ongoing battle with the virus she contacted back in late July...

Before I fell victim to coronavirus, I was a healthy 28-year-old woman. Now, following my experience I can’t help but feel frustrated at the people insisting that the pandemic is a hoax. However, I try to look at it another way - most people aren’t fully aware of the variations of COVID and that it can affect anyone at any age. So, I wanted to share my story, just one person’s ongoing nightmare of living with COVID-19.

Like most of you, I was under the impression that coronavirus was predominantly an issue for the elderly and vulnerable. But I still took precautions, followed guidelines and kept my distance throughout lockdown.

Once restrictions had eased, I returned to work in my office as an editor for a small local Nottingham newspaper, wore my mask, washed my hands and tried to be careful.

Day 1 On the evening of Tuesday 28 July, I developed an awful headache. The next morning, I woke with a migraine coupled with vomiting, I was hopelessly dizzy and couldn’t stand up properly. By Friday I felt better but extremely hot and lightheaded.

Day 5 Saturday 1 August felt like a Jägerbomb hangover. I felt immensely dizzy, hopelessly thirsty, tired and my heart rate was abnormally high. I called 111 who advised that I was likely anaemic. By that evening, I could barely walk up 3 steps before my heart began rapidly beating and I felt that I couldn’t breathe, it was terrifying. My family called a paramedic who ran some tests and took me to hospital. I spent 7 hours in A&E and after some blood tests and an ECG, I was told that I was slightly anaemic and probably anxious, and I was sent home.

the worst. By 4am, the doctors informed me that they were worried I either had a blood clot in my lungs or worse, cancer. They gave me a blood thinning injection to my tummy (for the potential blood clot), booked me in for a VQ scan of my lungs in a couple days, and sent me home terrified and exhausted.

Day 7 The next day was a blur, I remember feeling like I was in and out of consciousness and that I was hopelessly exhausted but scared of sleeping. I was disorientated, my head felt fuzzy, I couldn’t breathe, and my heart raced when turning over in bed.

I started to cry because I just wanted to know what was wrong with me and if it wasn’t COVID, what was it? I was in limbo Day 8 On Tuesday 4 August I had the VQ scan at QMC, it wasn’t pleasant but by this point I just wanted answers.

The scan came back that afternoon all clear. I remember the doctors asking me, “You’ve had a coronavirus test, right?” – I hadn’t. So, they swabbed me.

Day 9 I was woken up early by a text, “Your COVID-19 swab is Negative.” I started to cry because I just wanted to know what was wrong with me and if it wasn’t COVID, what was it? I was in limbo.

they had confirmed COVID. She also mentioned that the COVID-19 swab test is only reliable if you take it within the first four days of symptoms… I took mine on day eight.

Day 26 On 21 August my blood tests returned indicating that I could still have a blood clot, so I needed to have an urgent CT scan on my chest which is more detailed than the original VQ scan. I was sent straight to the COVID wing at Queens Medical Centre. Once again, my lungs were clear. By this point the doctors had finally acknowledged that I had presumed COVID. There isn’t much knowledge on the virus yet, no one knew my symptoms were related to COVID until it was too late to take the test. The doctors had no advice to send me home with besides, “If you feel worse, call 111 again.”

Day 63 As I write this, it’s 27 September, almost ten weeks since my first symptoms. I am still suffering with the virus, I still have daily issues with heart racing, palpitations, dizziness, disorientation and extreme fatigue. But I am improving slowly, I’ve been working from home and can manage one walk a week, each day I can manage that little bit more.

During my ordeal I did some research and discovered ‘Long Haul Coronavirus’. I joined a Facebook group of sufferers with 22,000 members of all ages from all over the world. Many of which were having the same issues as me, however some people have had much worse experiences, with symptoms relapsing months after initial infection plus suffering permanent damage to their organs.

Day 6 I woke up feeling slightly better. By that evening, I started having hot and cold sweats, I was shaking, my chest was tight and the skin on my limbs went numb, I thought I was having a heart attack. After calling 111, they advised me to go to A&E straight away.

After speaking to a doctor who, after reviewing my records, said that I must have a ‘respiratory virus’ and that I should be better in a week or so. A week came and went, I still struggled to walk, I developed a dry cough, my chest was tight, my taste kept changing, my hair started falling out, I was dizzy and had to take two naps a day.

A full list of my COVID-19 symptoms include migraine, sickness, dizziness, disorientation, brain fog, extreme thirst, loss of appetite, numb and tingling limbs, hot and cold flushes, dry cough, loss of taste, tight chest, vision changes, heart racing and palpitations, short of breath, confusion, clammy hands, shaking, insomnia, hair loss, pale hands and feet, tinnitus and loss of hearing, headaches, head pressure and sharp head pains.

I arrived at 8pm at Queens Medical Centre. I endured many tests, including a blood test, another ECG and a chest x-ray. By 11pm I was in a separate ward surrounded by people in beds. I wasn’t entirely sure what was going on, but my anxiety was through the roof, I was fearing

Day 22 Monday 17 August: Utterly fed up, I called the doctors who organised my third set of blood tests. This particular doctor said that she had seen a couple of patients who were going through something similar and

If you find yourself with COVID, you may have no symptoms, you may have a cough and be ill for two weeks, you may end up with Long COVID, not to mention the worst-case scenario, loss of life. The virus is real, please wear a mask and look after each other. @danijuliette

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CTRL + ALT + DEVIATE

With a focus on improving the city as a place to live and work in technology, Tech Nottingham has been hosting events to an ever-increasing audience since 2014. With a string of exciting online events coming up, we catch up with Director of Projects Anna Dodson to find out more...

Can you tell us a bit about Tech Nottingham?

Tech Nottingham is an organisation dedicated to improving Nottingham as a place to live and work in technology. For seven years it’s been running wildly popular events like Tech Nottingham and Women in Tech, and we host a large and very active online community.

There’s now six of us working on the events and projects we run.

We also run a number of initiatives, including our student outreach programme which brings Nottingham's students into the tech community and encourages them to stay once they’ve graduated. We do this by connecting them with others working in tech and introducing them to the many tech companies that are hiring. We also provide startup support by connecting local tech businesses with advice, mentorship and funding and we advocate for the city, letting the world know about Nottingham's booming tech industry. Tech Nottingham really has been a place where people have shared and learned, friendships have been formed, business ventures have been hatched and new career paths have been forged.

Can you tell us a bit about the two monthly meetups, Tech Nottingham and Women in Tech?

Our flagship event is Nottingham’s biggest monthly meetup. Tech Nottingham is focused on software development featuring talks and, before COVID times, food and drink. We always have a great atmosphere and an audience of brilliant people working together to get better at what they do.

Our growth meant that we moved to a larger venue in May 2019, and Women in Tech is a monthly meetup that celebrates the women and gender minorities in our tech scene. These events are open to everyone – whether you’re working as a software developer, designer, project manager or a student, hobbyist or just an interested passer by. We know the importance of representation so we only allow women and gender minority speakers at WiT and we encourage networking and friend making by running what we call facilitated fun activities which helps people meet others and have fun in a relaxed, safe environment.

How have they been affected during lockdown?

Previously all our events have been in person so, like so many other groups, we moved online. Despite this

being an incredibly difficult time, hosting our events remotely has allowed people to join who otherwise might not be able to, either from geography or childcare and the social interaction has been invaluable to some throughout lockdown. We also found some unexpected ways we could help the wider community and the city. In April when there was a shortage of PPE, we coordinated the members of our community in the 3D printing and delivery of over 1600 COVID-19 face shields for local frontline workers at doctors surgeries and care homes.

Our Folding@Home team has also been donating computer processing power to the scientific projects working to develop treatments for COVID-19, and is one of the top 1500 teams in the world out of 350,000.

Women are still in the minority with only 16% in technical roles in the UK, and women and gender minorities can face loneliness and feeling like they don’t belong What problems do women face when entering the tech industry?

Women are still in the minority with only 16% in technical roles in the UK, and women and gender minorities can face loneliness and feeling like they don’t belong. They can be the victims of unconscious bias and be overlooked for promotion and underpaid. Facing these issues and feeling alone leads to women leaving the tech industry at more than double the rate of men. But having friends and finding companies that support diversity and actively work on their inclusion policies makes a huge difference keeping and encouraging more minorities into tech.

We recently hosted our first workshop to help women negotiate for better jobs, pay and benefits. People who have read Caroline Criado Perez’s book Invisible Women, know that the workplace was not built for women and that can hold people back – our workshop aims to help redress that balance by educating and helping women and gender minorities. When young people don’t see

themselves in careers, it’s harder for them to get into that field, we try and be as visible as possible for young girls and students considering careers in tech.

What is the tech industry like in Nottingham?

We’re very lucky, as it’s thriving. Nottingham builds software that’s powering healthcare, banking, government, HR, ecommerce, biotech, green energy and AAA video games. We have small startups to huge organisations and everything in between who have brought their technology operations to the city.

Nottingham’s tech industry is uniquely interconnected, those working in tech in the city actively communicate, share knowledge and support one another. This network of people attracts brilliant people and the companies who benefit from their talent.

Can you tell us a bit about the planned Black Women Speak event?

We’re partnering up with Coding Black Females – a fantastic group started by Charlene Hunter who aim to provide opportunities for Black female developers to progress, meet familiar faces, network, receive support and build relationships through having regular meetups.

On 5 November, Coding Black Females are partnering with WiT Notts and presenting five short talks on a range of different topics. We can’t wait. If you’d like to join us, check our website before the event for the link to join.

What else have you got planned for the future?

We’ve just announced our Autumn season of events – three months with nine online events with local and national speakers. As well as the Coding Black Females takeover, we have local game developer Rosanna Nichols speaking about what’s in a game at Women in Tech and Gary Short is explaining the data science behind how to steal an election in the run up to the American elections at Tech Nottingham in November.

We have an upcoming project to provide financial and logistical support to minorities in our community who want to attend conferences and learning events they might not otherwise be able to attend. We’re also proud to continue to sponsor and support Project Function, a team of incredible people giving free coding lessons to support and encourage minorities to get into tech. technottingham.com

illustration: Anna Keomegi

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Back to School

With all the talk of politicians, parents and teachers, it’s easy to forget those most affected by the decision to reopen schools after lockdown: the students. Twelve-year-old Jagoda Brown-Polanowska lets us know what returning to school in the midst of a global pandemic is really like...

I have now started school again after lockdown. Most other children are happy to go back to school but I am not one of them. Generally I’m not someone who likes school, I never was. I enjoy not having to wake up early, catch two buses every morning and wear a school uniform. I prefer teachers not telling you to stop talking or sit up straight, and being able to eat or go to the toilet when I want to. It was fun for the first week at school because I was seeing my friends after a long break and the teachers weren’t setting much homework. But things have changed now. One tiny part of me wants us to go back to home schooling but another part doesn’t.

I prefer teachers not telling you to stop talking or sit up straight, and being able to eat or go to the toilet when I want to Enough talking about school, I wanted to tell you a bit about my holidays...

I went to Poland. Luckily we weren't one of those people who had to cancel their holiday due to the coronavirus restrictions. First we drove by car to Harwich and then got on the ferry. It wasn’t really that different than before COVID – although the soft play area was closed and you weren’t allowed to walk around the shops. The next day we got off the ferry and drove through the continent. After a long drive we arrived at my grandma’s in the middle of the Polish countryside.

It was great fun to be at my grandma’s, after being ‘locked down’ in Nottingham I was free to run around. Luckily for me, there was no quarantine there. I could go to the local woods, to my friends’ houses and play in their garden and pool or go to the shops and the post office – although I still had to wear a face mask. There were also loads of animals like cows, chickens, ducks, swifts, and many cats and dogs living on the farms which I enjoyed being around.

Most importantly there was a proper summer – unlike in England. It was always over thirty degrees with hardly any rain. I often would go to the local lake that was only ten minutes away by bike, and the sea was half an hour away by car.

I love climbing, so my mum took me to a place where they had ropes, planks of wood and other obstacles in the crown of pine trees. I don’t want to sound full of myself but I’m good at climbing, so I went on the hardest obstacle that some grown-ups and older teenagers couldn’t do.

After I came back to Nottingham I had to go back to school, which felt very weird. We are starting at our usual time but finishing earlier to limit the contact with other children. All years have been divided into three bubbles, with each bubble starting and finishing their day at different times. I’m very glad I finish earlier and my day is shorter. My mum says that all my lessons must be shorter too, but it doesn’t feel like it to me.

Travelling on the bus is different too. Before I used to catch the school bus with children from all the years but now we do not travel together. I prefer to use the public bus now anyway as it means I don’t have to wait around.

The first week was quite hard because my mum and I had to learn a new bus routine. On the first day we went to the L12 bus stop but the bus never came, so we had to rush and catch a different one.

I find it quite annoying to have to wear your mask almost all the time and it’s quite uncomfortable. When my friends and I were playing dob at break it was very hard to run in masks – it’s only while eating food at lunch we can take them off. We had water fountains before but now they are all turned off and plastic bags are put over them so no one can drink out of them.

Everything is weird now at school, on the buses, in the shops and everywhere really, but one thing I am glad about is that the days at school are shorter. Maybe they could stay shorter forever.

words: Jagoda Brown-Polanowska illustration: Carmel Ward leftlion.co.uk/issue130 35

food Review: baR ibeRico Stepping back into Bar Iberico after a lockdownshaped hiatus, I wasn’t really sure how I was going to feel. After the initial scanning of the QR code, adjusting to the regular staff wearing visors, it was like, well, popping my favourite jumper on – it was proper comfy and I knew it wouldn’t make me feel too bloated. The relaxed atmosphere that they have nailed so perfectly has not in any way been affected by adapting for the global pandemic that we are all so very bored of talking about, so I immediately felt at home.

The food at Bar Iberico is a much more interesting talking point. My co-diner was a first timer, so I coaxed her into going for the Menu Rapido; £12.95 for two tapas and fresh sourdough bread.

You may be tempted into ordering more, but go steady, the portions are a good size and you’d do well to measure the size of your eyes against the size of your belly before ordering too much.

hoT sTuff words: Eve Smallman

Hot sauce can be an uncomfortable condiment to eat. I like a bit of spice, but the hot stuff generally doesn’t bring me much joy. However, D7 Sauce’s Scarlett’s Hot Sauce, with its bright packaging and promises of flavour made me want to give it a bash. Minutes before I was set to interview its owner and creator Mark Walsh, I did just that. My mouth imploded with the gorgeous rich, smokiness of the sauce – and then boom, I was hit with that signature hot kick. My senses were sizzling and I was fired up for a chat. And thankfully the tongue-tingling subsided just before we were set to begin...

Stamped proudly on the Scarlett’s Hot Sauce is ‘Est. Dublin 2018’, as the D7 Sauce story starts in the Irish capital. Mark was a keen dabbler in homemade hot sauce making, having struggled to find ones in the shops that gave him everything he wanted. “They’re usually too hot to have with a meal or have a nice taste but don’t give a good kick,” he tells me. “I also like the chipotle fl avour, so I bought my own and roasted them, cooked them fresh, and developed the taste of my own hot sauce over time.”

However, it became more than just a hobby when his friend opened up a cafe and wanted some local hot sauce rather than importing it. “He tried my homemade one, loved it and asked if we could put it in bottles so they could put them on the shelves. After that, we did little markets but we hadn’t thought about it properly as a business.”

Then a year and a half ago Mark moved 260 miles to Nottingham, with thoughts of the sauce still bubbling away. But it wasn’t until lockdown hit and he was made redundant from his city-centre bar job that a fire was lit under him and he decided to give it a full whack.

Mark said: “We just thought now was the time to get the design together, get everything really professional, and start a company.”

food foR ThouGhT

With Nottingham having such a thriving food scene with lots of small food sellers, they decided to get stuck into the local community and start gaging a

New Restaurant - Casa Italian The owners of Venezia in Bingham are opening a fine-dining Italian restaurant in the city centre.

They promise traditional fl avours and Italian hospitality, as well as specialising in seafood.

Squids in. @CasaItalian

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reaction on their signature Scarlett’s Hot Sauce.

“Everyone that we’ve given it to has just raved about it – people don't lie and they’ll tell you if they like it. They won't say anything if they don't – but we've always heard back.”

In terms of D7 Sauce setting themselves apart from competitors, Mark believes the key to it taste-wise is their slow-cooked, full fl avours made with fresh ingredients. Their branding is also an important element, as they want to make it clear that anyone can give their sauces a go. “Many hot sauces have macho branding with ‘blow your ass off ’ or ‘make you cry’, so we went with really strong, female characters for the brand that would invite people in and not scare people off,” Mark tells me.

Right now they’re focusing on launching their Scarlett’s sauce, but they have plans in the pipeline for more fl avours and have even experimented with a spicy chutney, which they hope to have perfected

by Christmas. He smiles, “I've been doing tests on this with family and friends and jars didn't last longer than a couple of days.” Mark finishes by saying, “We’re going to expand as we go, finding the right kind of people to collaborate with, the right kind of shops to stock in and finding the right kind of customer.” A fiery spark has clearly been lit on the Nottingham sauce scene, and if you’re in need of some tasty hot stuff in your mouth… their sauce is sure to satisfy.

D7sauce.com

Special Offers - Taco Tuesdays at The Embankment Pop on those sombreros – it’s taco time. From 5pm you can nab yourself three tantalising tacos for a tenner. Wash that down with a pint and you’re in business, baby. castlerockbrewery.co.uk

My companion ordered from the vegan menu going for the baked vegan blue cheese dish along with the aubergine and green almond tapas. I dove in headfirst to wood-fired gambas with dollops of delicious burnt garlic, as well as the delectable swordfish pinchos. I didn’t heed my own advice and decided we absolutely needed one more dish to share – it was a toss-up between the iceberg salad with nashi pear or the crispy cauliflower with chilli, ginger and smoked almond. The cauliflower won, and it was as delicious as the first time I tried it.

The one thing you can expect from Bar Iberico is consistency – they do what they do incredibly well and deserve the loyal following of foodies that have cemented them as a stalwart of the Nottingham restaurant scene. I’m always enthralled by their amazing food and service, and I guarantee if you visit you won’t be disappointed.

Kelly Holmes Carlton Street, NG1 1NL @bariberico

Must-Try - Breakfast Wrap at Cloughie’s Cob Stop For a hangover cure or greasy goodness fix, Cloughie’s breakfast wrap is the absolute king.

Slap on the footie, tuck in and it’ll almost feel like matchday at The City Ground. @1cloughiescobstop

food review: rikshaws Autumn hasn’t yet made up its mind on whether it’s going to be hot or cold, and I often find it tricky to eat during this climate. I want cosy indulgent food but don’t fancy the hefty portions that come with it. Enter Rikshaw Urban Indian Kitchen in Sherwood, which specialise in Indian street food. They have an enormous menu, but I’ll be honest – I went really basic girl because I just fancied some naan bread (£3.95) and samosas (£3.95), which I got alongside a pakora chaat (£5.95)and a mango lassi (£2.50).

Click click, tap tap, and it arrived at my door within the hour.

I cannot express how much I was wowed by the pakora chaat. Tangy and sweet, explosions of flavours, spicy and creamy, utterly delightful.

Every mouthful was something new taste-wise and texturally, and mopped up with garlic and cheese naan bread it was dreamy.

Tastes of autumn Autumn days (when the grass is jewelled…) are just made for sipping on a spicy and/or fruity beverage, and these bad boys will give you all of the cosy vibes required...

Apple Pie Shake - Cookieshake The season is ripe for apple-picking, but if you want that fruity taste without the faff of getting your hands dirty, this shake will give you all the sugar and all the flavour. Dunk one of their thick, gooey cookies into it and you’re onto heaven business. @cookieshakeuk Blackberry and Violet Martini - Alto The brambles are bubbling with bountiful berries, and this dark and fruity cocktail is a sumptuous celebration of that. Gin, violet liqueur and fresh blackberries are muddled together, topped with lemon juice and lemonade for an extra bit of bite. @altonottingham Chilli Dipper Martini - Tilt Spice up your regular cocktail order with this twist on James Bond’s former favourite drink. Chilli and lemongrass infused vodka is shaken together with Pomme Verte and apple juice, which makes for a proper fancy nose-tickling tipple. @tiltbar

When I first opened the naan bread I was a bit confused as there was no cheese on top, but as I munched in I realised the cheese was a thin layer inside the dough. A lot of places just slap it on, but having it inside made it a delight to sink my teeth into.

The samosas were the correct size – aka the size of my hand. No small and soggy samosas here, my friends. Crisp, just the right amount of grease, and packed with potatoes and veg. All of this was washed down with the mango lassi, which was beautifully sweet, more fruit than yoghurt which made it gorgeous.

This was my first time ordering from Rikshaw, but you can be sure that I’ll be ordering again.

With such a huge variety for meat eaters and veggie folk alike, there is bound to be something to tickle your tastebuds.

Eve Smallman Mansfield Road, Sherwood, NG5 2FW @rikshawindiankitchen

Dirty Chai - 200 Degrees A warm seasonal frothy drink with a caffeine kick?

Yes please. All the beautiful spices from a chai latte are blended with 200 Degrees’ signature coffee, for the ultimate wake-me-up drink. We recommend pairing it with oat milk for an extra sweetness and earthiness. @200degs The Moonlight Cauldron - Hockley Arts Club Hubble bubble, toil and trouble… well, you’ll only be in trouble if you drink this sharing cocktail all to yourself. This cocktail promises to cast a spell on you, with spicy smatterings of allspice and ginger, as well as a deadly good combo of vodka and amaretto. @thehockleyartsclub Spiced Pumpkin Latte - Bird & Blend For a cosy cup of autumn, this drink is tea-riffic. You can either buy it as a latte and crunch through the city centre leaves with a warm palm, or buy your own loose leaf Spiced Pumpkin Chai tea to take home, which even has cute little pumpkin sprinkles in it. D’aw. @birdandblendtea

To Follow - Tea and Sympathy Their elegant platters are seriously satisfying to scroll through on the ‘gram and you can even have their afternoon teas delivered to your door. We won’t judge if you order one just for yourself. @tea_and_sympathy_nottingham leftlion.co.uk/issue130 37

Knall Scharf Some Time in the House (Album) Part-ambient music, part-cinematic soundscape, electronic producer Knall Scarf’s latest work is truly the product of his environment. Made at home, when not working or taking care of his three month old daughter, the ten tracks aim to capture the moods of the year so far. A highly personal album, with samples of toddler toys and babbles fitting beautifully alongside warm synths and piano echoes, with names such as Today We Waved and Clapped, it’s a hazy yet touching memento from a father, welcoming his child into this strange new world. EIleen Pegg

FLVZ / Various Artists Pangea (EP)

Gabriela Eternal Life (Single)

This collaborative ‘unity’ themed charity EP is the brainchild of Nottingham-born artist Ashley Tendekai, who produces music under his alias FLVZ. Teaming up with fellow musicians Juskarma, Kenzola, Brett Sinclair, Kudi Israel, Kay, Rukus, Moak, and Issaka, complete with artwork designed by Jonathan Mukholi, it offers a positive and uplifting soundtrack to give us hope through lockdown. Throughout September, download sales raised funds for four chosen charities, making it a real community-focussed effort. Bassey

This freshly-baked new track is the ultimate balance between modern pop and christian music. Gabriela artfully gets across her message following her spiritual beliefs and not fearing the unknown, while also bringing us a catchy single that people just can’t seem to get out of their heads. The music video is also definitely worth checking out, it is both creative and entertaining, telling a great story through song and visual form.

Rachael Halaburda

Rosie Abbott Magnified (Album)

George Gretton Floods (EP)

Rosie Abbott is a singer-songwriter, producer and multiinstrumentalist from Chesterfield and, if you’ve never heard her work before, it’s time to pay attention. Her third album Magnified presents a mighty sixteen tracks that span many genres and moods, including folk, indie, country and soul. Regardless of each song’s influences, Rosie's strong vocals and creative songwriting hold the album together as one wonderful, creative project. Listen, and go on a journey that will not be forgotten. Bassey

Floods is a grown up alt-pop masterpiece, and might be George’s most exciting release yet. Catchy enough to stick in your head all day with unique touches that confirm its leftfield status. Expect soulful vocals, plenty of distortion and creative samples layering up each self-produced track. Fans may have spotted him performing at a real-life gig last month too – playing a well deserved part in this landmark moment for the local music scene. Eileen Pegg

If you’re from Nottingham and want to get added to our music writers list, or get your tunes reviewed, hit us up at music@leftlion.co.uk

NUSIC BOX

Your new Notts music tip sheet, as compiled by Nusic’s Sam Nahirny. Want more? Check out the fortnightly podcasts and live sessions on the Nusic website.

Chloe Rodgers You’ll probably recognise Chloe as being one of those artists that has put the work in over the past fi ve years or so, gigging left right and centre, and bringing busking joy to the city centre. Well – she’s gone and had a bit of a rebrand, dyed her hair blue, and released an absolute monster of a debut single.

A Delphian Lullaby is majestic, haunting and epic. All words that means it sounds absolutely bloody massive, and the kind of thing Bon Iver should pay her lots and lots of money to feature on. instagram.com/chloe.rodgers.music

Digital Analogue Hotel The new project from RUBIX – the Notts lad who’s basically travelled the world with his big boy house bangers. Well now he’s made a new project with a mate on quite a different musical tip.

Old school UKG vibes, paired with a production sheen that could have easily been recorded in a LA penthouse with Artful Dodger.

With a debut album already out, DAH is knocking the two-step anthems out like nobody’s business. While we wait for them clubs to re-open, sofa skank it is. instagram.com/digitalanaloghotel

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UNDER COVER ARTIST Local artist and LeftLion regular Kate Sharp was kind enough to take a crack at our October cover, and I’m sure you’ll agree that she did a beautiful job. Here’s what inspired it...

Tell us a bit about yourself…

I’m an illustrator and children’s book maker from Nottingham who loves to draw animals, especially goats! I create my work using a brush pen and fineliners. I then create textures using a range of materials and scan it all in and create my illustrations.

My dream is to have one of my books published but I’d also love to own a shop one day.

What was the inspiration behind the cover?

Autumn! It’s my favourite time of year.

Everything about it is great: the colours, the sounds of the leaves under your feet and even the feel of a crisp morning.

How does it compare with some other projects you’ve worked on?

I’ve never done a magazine cover so it was pretty exciting. I like to include a narrative in my illustrations wherever possible and I tried to do this with the fox peering over the pumpkin at the mouse and hedgehog.

What was the biggest challenge that you faced in creating the piece?

Creating textures that would work on the leaves. To make this texture I scrunched up a piece of paper then flattened it out and painted on it to make the dried leaf effect .

Tell us about some projects you’ve worked on in the past…

My first self-published children’s book Lions Hate Pigeons is a story about Nottingham’s favourite lions getting their own back on the pesky pigeons. My most recent children’s book was written for my newborn sister and it was called Florence’s First Friend. I had bought her a dragon toy and the story was about how the dragon and Florence first met and how they grew to love each other.

What have you got planned for the future?

I’m currently in the early stages of creating a new children’s book about two friends who are unable to see each other but learn to connect through writing letters. I plan to keep adding to my Etsy shop and also do my first craft fair around Christmas time if possible.

Is there anything else you’d like to tell the LeftLion readers?

Welcome back to all the students! I hope you can enjoy this year despite it being pretty different from previous years. @kate.r.sharp katersharp.co.uk etsy.com/shop/katersharp

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Art

The Near Room

words: Laura-Jade Vaughan

Muhammad Ali described “The Near Room” as a mental space he would enter during a boxing match – an otherworldly state where you are accutley aware of your own mortality. Sophie Cundale’s new moving-image work, The Near Room (2020), gives substance to this imagined space. Set in a vivid hallucination in the mind of a disorientated boxer, The Near Room muddles historic references with the fantastical and supernatural.

The Near Room opens with a serious tone, centred on the intense focus of the protagonist boxer in the lead up to a fight. Once in the ring, and after the referee has counted to three, the video work takes an unexpected turn to represent the delirious state of the still knocked-out boxer. The boxer’s reality becomes entangled with a tale of a queen with a rare neurological condition – Cotard Delusion, where the sufferer believes they are the walking dead, experiencing the sensation of their body decomposing.

Through a shift to a theatrical acting style, within a visibly constructed stage set, and with themes of mad nobility and violent conflict, alongside absurd comedic moments – the work feels almost Shakespearean.

There are certainly gory moments. It’s a film that gets under your skin and makes you more aware of the breath in your lungs and blood in your veins – it makes life seem more fragile. It succeeds in telling a compelling, entertaining, fastpaced tale (the running time is only 32 minutes) and, if you are like me, it draws you in to repeat viewings to contemplate the many possible interpretations.

Sophie Cundale: The Near Room Bonington Gallery, Sat 3 Oct 2020 - Sat 21 Nov 2020

Featured Galleries

The Harley Open

Lost Stories

Set in the historic Welbeck Estate, The Harley Gallery in North Nottinghamshire presents a regularlychanging programme of contemporary art exhibitions, alongside a permanent collection of historic decorative and fine art.

This cross-cultural collaborative exhibition brings together the art and perspectives of four women to engage with a diverse range of social and political context.

Their current show, The Harley Open exhibition, features over 120 artworks by upward of 100 both amateur and professional artists – all of whom live within 100 miles of the gallery including: Linda Wallis, whose Woodland Sketch coloured pencil drawing reduces the landscape to a dreamlike cluster of organic shapes, and a figurative painting by William Gregory MacArthur, who captures rawness and spontaneity through his fast-paced approach to painting. LauraJade Vaughan The Harley Gallery Runs until 1 November

Nigerian-American artist, Arit Emmanuela Etukudo challenges representations of the black body, drawing on ideas from Afrofuturism. Themes of loss, memory and belonging amid the civil war in former Yugoslavia, are central to the work of Serbo-Croatian artist, Ivana Puskas.

The exhibition comprises two-dimensional works, sculptural pieces and multimedia installations.

Although each artist draws from their own lived experiences, explorations of identity, heritage, and the power of cultural imagination, span across place and time.

Laura-Jade Vaughan Surface Gallery 3-10 October

Katharina Fitz: When Seams Become Audible After winning the One Thoresby Street Production Award as part of New Art Exchange’s NAE Open 2019, in which she participated with her work ‘Mise en Abyme – Collapse’, Katharina Fitz opens her first solo show, When Seams Become Audible.

Expect art that prompts you to rethink the making of objects and imports studio arrangements into the gallery in order to bring the intimacy of the artist studio.

The turned, pushed, pulled and suspended art forms work as a reactivation of their surroundings, beginning to interact with the architecture and challenging our understanding of how we experience space. Rachel Willcocks

One Thoresby Street 11-31 October

film

The licenGoons

words: George White interview: Jamie Morris

Our Screen co-editor Jamie Morris speaks to the stars of The Licengoons, Miles Anthony and Alex Greensmith, about their hilariously punchy new short film…

In August, the BBC doubled-down on its decision to scrap the universal free TV license for over-75s, but many continue to speak out against this controversial move. 23-year-old filmmaker Miles Anthony has voiced his dissent in the form of a nineteen-minute dark comedy shot on the streets of Notts that pulls no punches in its criticism of the license fee and enforcement off icers.

Miles and Alex consulted cast members Evadne Fisher (Sybil) and Mike Newbold (the off icers’ superior) to accurately recreate 1970s Notts, as well as looking to the set designers for advice on shooting locations, which included the red phone box by Nottingham Castle and a suburb in Arnold to obscure any modern influence.

The new short begins with a visit from off icer Reith Trethowan (played by NTU graduate Alex Greensmith) to the home of an elderly license fee dodger named Sybil. When Reith’s mildmannered approach doesn’t get the job done, the Beeb sends in the big guns: “license goon” John Null, portrayed by Miles himself.

“We didn't really have the budget to do what you see in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, where they built the whole street,” Miles laughed.

“They had to have Brad Pitt constantly driving in his car just to show off the set.”

“We needed these guys to resemble the two faces of the BBC,” Miles told us. “You've got Reith who represents Doctor Who [and] the amazing achievements the corporation has accomplished; the BBC they want you to see. John is the underbelly of that – Operation Yewtree, Savile, the TV licensing – all the nasty stuff they don't want you to know.”

The Licengoons takes place in the seventies, primarily to increase the plausibility of the film’s story, in case audiences would be skeptical of something like this happening today. Ironically, the climax is inspired by a 2011 incident in which a license off icer sexually assaulted a woman in her home, so a change of setting also helped the crew to create some distance from this real-life case and avoid being disrespectful.

“It’s a little bit of hyperbole over what actually happened,” said Alex. “The viewer wouldn't be necessarily left feeling sad, but wondering the questions that we want to be asked about this, like the safety for the over-75s and the purpose of the TV license off icer.”

Quentin Tarantino is an easy comparison to make with Miles’ style; with the use of dramatic zooms and title cards, The Licengoons features the same visual fl airs popularised by the Pulp Fiction director. But Miles explained that his influences mainly come from video games rather than film, citing the No More Heroes creator Goichi Suda as a key inspiration.

“In a game, because it's animated, you get some really unique shots in there, so it was really quite fun to try and emulate that,” he elaborated. “It wasn't super fun for the cinematographer because we were on a tight budget, but it was fun for me.”

Plans for Miles’ next project aren’t yet set in stone, but he suggested his first feature film could be on the horizon – and Alex is interested, too. “You hear all these bad things about the film industry about how it’s horrible and cliquey,” the latter said.

“Maybe that could be the case in the more structured corporate side, but in an indie film I've certainly had a blast and I'd love to do it again, especially with Miles.”

The Licengoons is available now on YouTube

@thelicengoons

After months without a new blockbuster release, Tenet finally christened the return of cinema in the most mind-bending, Nolanesque way imaginable. But did the big screen really come back with a bang? Well, sort of.

Despite making only £5.5 million in the UK in its opening weekend – just under £5 million less than Nolan’s previous movie, Dunkirk – Tenet’s box off ice performance boosted overall UK-Ireland revenue fi gures by an estimated 354%, and was seen by many as a big step for British movie theatres.

A well-needed distraction in what is a sad and eventful 2020 The Evening Standard’s Harry Fletcher summed up the general feeling after the film’s release, saying, “The numbers show a clear upturn for cinemas after a diff icult lockdown, with many theatres pinning their hopes on the blockbuster encouraging film lovers back.”

Yet even with these promising signs, major studios still seem reluctant to bring their biggest titles to the silver screen – especially while the United States continues to pretend the pandemic doesn’t exist.

shoRT Reels

Last month, Warner Bros announced that they were pushing Wonder Woman 1984 back to December, making it about the 1,984th time its release date has changed. This follows Disney’s decision to make Mulan available for Disney+ customers only, undercutting a massive source of revenue for cinemas across the country.

Film Event - Mayhem Film Festival Nottingham’s famous Mayhem Film Festival returns to Broadway this month, despite the mayhem (sorry) caused by the pandemic.

Over a “condensed” four-day schedule, horror fans will get the chance to watch thrilling new releases including Boys from County Hell and The Oak Room, with each showing introduced by the festival’s co-directors Chris Cooke and Steven Sheil.

Broadway Cinema, 15 - 18 October

Film Anniversary - (Control 2007)

Film Follow - Jeanie Finlay

The BAFTA-nominated Joy Division biopic was released thirteen years ago this month. Director Anton Corbijn – who spent years as the band’s photographer – shot at multiple locations across Nottingham, including The Boulevard pub in Radford, Bestwood Social Club and the Marcus Garvey Centre.

Legendary Nottingham documentary filmmaker, director of films like Orion: The Man who Would be King, Seahorse, The Great Hip Hop Hoax and Game of Thrones: The Last Watch, Jeanie Finlay is well worth a follow.

As well as posting behind-thescenes shots from film sets and festivals, Jeanie supplies a steady stream of quality Notts shots and, most importantly, cute cat pictures. What more could you want?

Stars Samantha Morton and Toby Kebbell also studied at the city’s Television Workshop, where Morton is now a patron.

For the Savoy’s General Manager, Paul Scotton, these are worrying times for Nottingham cinemas.

“Tenet has done a great job at bringing our customers back and allowing us to re-open but the lack of other new releases is really concerning,” he says. “The studios keep moving their big releases and without those it’s going to be very diff icult to continue to get people to come back to the cinema.”

Tenet gave it a good go, but until studios realise there is a world outside of the US, the future of many British movie theatres continues to look uncertain.

@jeaniefinlay leftlion.co.uk/issue130 41

Back in the Day

words: Jared Wilson

BOOK REVIEW

We delve through the archives of LeftLion and Overall There is a Smell of Fried Onions to let you know what was happening in Nottingham on this month many years ago…

Twenty Nine ago From the pages of Overall...

Mary Whitehouse Experience Adorning the cover of this month’s Overall magazine were the fresh-faced Rob Newman and David Baddiel, two of the quartet from TV’s The Mary Whitehouse Experience. They gigged Trent Poly on Sunday 27 October 1991 with material that would eventually form the basis of Newman and Baddiel in Pieces, which aired on BBC Two a couple of years later. This was five years before Baddiel became synonymous with Frank Skinner, football and that Three Lions song, and before Newman retreated into life as an author. Overall excitedly claimed that they would do for the nineties what “Monty Python did for the seventies and The Young Ones did for the eighties.”

MGM There was much excitement about a new nightclub on Greyfriar Gate, a venue these days known as Ocean and before this known as Barry Noble’s Astoria. Overall said: “Apart from boasting the biggest dance floor in the Midlands the rest of the club is carpeted in a pile of welcoming Wilton. Although you might be tempted to lie on it, get on one of the hundred or so sofas, including genuine leather Chesterfields, soft and sumptuous.” We’re not convinced you’d want to lie on that carpet these days. It’s probably not been changed since.

Connections Nottingham Trent University's MA Creative Writing Anthology

Film Releases - Night On Earth (dir. Jim Jarmusch) - House Party 2 (dir. George Jackson and Doug McHenry) - Suburban Commando (dir. Burt Kennedy)

Twelve years ago From the pages of LeftLion Issue 25...

Film Releases

Late of the Pier Remember the noughties nu-rave era? Those days when glowstick-wielding twentysomethings dominated both our nightclubs and the charts. Notts’ own Late of the Pier were one of the primary exponents of that and were flying high on a slew of festival appearances and the release of their debut album Fantasy Black Channel. There was much excitement about this band as we interviewed them but unfortunately this would be both their first and last release. Frontman Sam Eastgate still releases music though (under the moniker LA Priest) and Sam Potter co-wrote tracks on Franz Ferdinand's 2018 album Always Ascending.

- RockNRolla (dir. Guy Ritchie)

- The Wrestler (dir. Darren Aronofsky)

Des Coleman Most local TV weather presenters wouldn’t even make us raise an eyebrow, but Des Coleman was a bit different to the norm. At the time of this interview he was part of BBC’s East Midlands Today crew, but he’d also spent three years in the late nineties playing wideboy Lenny Wallace in Eastenders. We grilled him about working with Ian Beale and whether he wore mascara or not. A couple of years later he was arrested (and subsequently acquitted) of charges of possessing a firearm. He’s now back telling us if it’s going to chuck it down on ITV.

- Synecdoche, New York (dir. Charlie Kaufman)

The imagery is representative of the need to move away from our over-reliance on digital interaction, and back to making genuine personal connections in the real world.

The anthology takes a somber but fitting look at death, hospitals and the digital afterlife. My favourite piece came with the Black Mirror-esque Eternal Life by David Belbin. This short story focuses, as the name suggests, on a digital afterlife but in its relation to social issues that we are facing on a global scale rather than immortality. Many short stories in the anthology take a fresh and inviting look into the home – the tales are funny and, at times, a little absurd, such as Erika Davies' There's a Dragon on the Toilet. This charming short story is well placed in the anthology, and brings a smile to the reader, whether they’re an adult or a young person.

Reading it warmly reminded me of the many times I enjoyed J.Kerr’s A Tiger Who Came To Tea as a child.

Eight years ago From the pages of LeftLion Issue 49...

Game of Thrones’ Joe Dempsie HBO’s drama series about warring families and dragons might still be fresh in the memory, but it had only been on our screens for a year at the time of publication. We were buzzing because Joe Dempsie, a lad we knew from Television Workshop, had been cast in it as Gendry. He told us about how he initially auditioned for the part of Jon Snow and about his days playing Chris in Skins. Little did we know he’d be one of the few to survive til the very end, albeit having spent four years of that rowing a boat.

Connections, the new anthology from Nottingham Trent University's MA Creative Writing course, is fitting in name and content for this post-normal life we are all currently living. Before you even get to the title, the beautiful cover image of a young person making a flower chain lets you know that this collection is going to be about making a connection. The imagery is representative of the need to move away from our over-reliance on digital interaction, and back to making genuine personal connections in the real world.

Although the digital world kept us all connected with friends, loved ones and the planet, it’s refreshing to be able to think about a world that is safe enough to be able to connect without a screen.

Jon Ronson One of our favourite journalists was coming to Nottingham to make an appearance at Broadway Cinema and thus he agreed to grace our pages. At this point he was touring his latest book Lost At Sea, but he was also well known for The Men Who Stare At Goats and The Psychopath Test. He spoke to us about UFO hunters, New York and a screamy meeting with a drunken Ray Gosling.

Film Releases - Argo (dir. Ben Affleck) - Cloud Atlas (dir. Tom Tykwer and the Wachowskis) - Seven Psychopaths (dir. Martin McDonagh)

Fancy a bit more Nottstalgia? If so, head over to read these issues in their entirety online at: leftlion.co.uk/magazine overallmag.com

Collections also boasts many fantastic works of poetry – one that particularly captured my attention is Jo Dixon’s Haida Chief. I was drawn in through its fascinating use of natural imagery, providing a refreshing respite from the digital world that is central to the overall book. This anthology is an entertaining and interesting read, one that is relevant to the reader but will also serve as a well-needed distraction in what is a sad and eventful 2020. Kate Hewett leftlion.co.uk/issue130 43

BEST OF AUGUST Grace Before Jones: Camera, Disco, Studio When: 26 September 2020 - 3 January 2021 Where: Nottingham Contemporary How much: Free Combining elements of fan-fiction, study and biography, Grace Before Jones: Camera, Disco, Studio departs from the iconic singer’s career and her collaborations with artists, designers, photographers and musicians to question black image-making and gender binarism as well as both performance and the performance of life.

Nick Helm at Just the Tonic When: Saturday 24 October, 5.45pm Where: Metronome How much: From £35.20 (for two) Live stand-up comedy is back with a bang as Just the Tonic welcome Nick Helm, Pat Cahill, Phil Ellis and an as-yet unannounced guest to Nottingham. If you’re a fan of Helm’s poetically ferocious rants on the likes of 8 out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, it’s not to be missed.

Unearthed by Corrina Rothwell When: Friday 2 - Wednesday 7 October Where: Nottingham Society of Artists How much: Free

Mimm x Street Food Club Sit Down Session When: Saturday 3 October, 5pm Where: Nottingham Street Food Club How much: Various

Corrina Rothwell, the artist behind old LeftLion favourite Blather, is hosting an exhibition of contemporary abstract paintings for fi ve days this month. If you fancy showing your support for a talented local artist and checking out some incredible work at the same time, you’re definitely in for a right treat.

Expect specialist burgers from 13th Element, healthy street snap

by Hunger Foods, Seoul Station’s traditional Korean street food and mind-blowing Mexican by Pellizco, all topped by a fully-stocked Wave Bar serving ice-cold pints, local craft beer, cocktails and more.

Foodie heaven.

Halloween Weekend at the Malt Cross When: Friday 30 - Saturday 31 October Where: The Malt Cross How much: Various The iconic St James’s Street venue is hosting two events to celebrate Halloween weekend, kicking things off with a spook-tacular Murder Mystery night of themed meals and drinks, followed by a Rocky Horror & Friends night of classically ghoulish live entertainment. Booking is required, and fancy dress is most definitely encouraged.

Bikes Love You Mega Sale When: Saturday 10 October, 10am Where: Sneinton Market How much: Prices start from £25, free basic bike checks The Sneinton-based bike experts follow up the success of their first mega sale with another event aiming to sort all of you cyclists out. As well as a huge range of bikes starting from just £25 and free bike checks, the How We Roll DJs will also be making an appearance. Get pumped.

Soul Buggin’ 16th Birthday Social Sit Down When: Saturday 3 October, 3pm Where: The Golden Fleece How much: Free

The Haunted Garden When: Monday 26 October Saturday 31 October Where: The Magic Garden How much: From £11.95

Given the current state of the world, Soul Buggin’ aren’t able to celebrate turning sweet sixteen with their usual swinging-fromthe-chandeliers gusto. But fear not, their plan B still looks ace, as they’re inviting you to a chilledout celebratory social sit-down.

Numbers are limited, so make sure you book ahead.

Anyone who has entered the enchanting world of The Magic Garden knows that they’re in for an immersive, visual treat this Halloween. With a range of dining and drinking options, including bottomless prosecco, a Halloween dining menu and colour-changing cocktails, you’re guaranteed a spook-tacular time.

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illustration: Natalie Owen words: Ashley Carter

While many of the best-known events of England’s seventeenth century witch-hunt came with ‘Witchfinder General’ Matthew Hopkins in East Anglia, Notts was home to several high profile incidents of witchcraft, possession and exorcisms of its own. From exposing fraudulent exorcists to framing innocent women of murder, we take a look back at the history of witchcraft in Nottingham…

The practice of witchcraft can be traced back as far as the ancient civilizations of Egypt and Mesopotamia, and references to witches can even be found in the Bible. In fact, the belief that a person harnessed the ability to cast spells and influence the world through the practice of black art – for good or bad – has been commonplace throughout much of human history. Now widely accepted as fair game for children’s TV shows, West End musicals or costumes in a fancy dress shop, there was a time that, owing to the advent of Christianity and the increasingly negative connotations associated with witchcraft, being labeled as a witch came with the threat of being ostracized, a prison sentence or, in many cases, a gruesome death sentence.

Whereas the pagan Saxons had their own witchlike female figures in the Valkyries, and Alfred the Great imposed the death penalty for those who used magic to kill in the ninth century, the

out of

contemporary perception of a witch – a female who harnesses dark powers to cast spells, control others or cause harm – was facilitated by the rise in dominance of Christianity. Between the thirteenth

It’s hard to imagine that events like this were not just momentary lapses of reason, but rather a sustained and all-consuming terror that gripped this country by its throat and didn’t let go for over three centuries

and fifteenth centuries there were very few popes who didn’t issue a papal bull against some aspect of witchcraft, and it was on 5 December 1484 that the ironically named Pope Innocent VIII made it legal to persecute those perceived to be witches.

Resentment against the practise continued to grow, reaching fever pitch between 1550-1650, when all of Europe was gripped in a murderous witchhunting craze.

All over the continent, women found themselves bound and burnt at the stake – the punishment chosen because of their perceived alliance with the Devil, and the believed ‘purification’ nature of fire – and few were exempt. There are records of the executions of children as young as two, pregnant women and even one group of forty-two females being ‘oven-roasted’ in Neisse, in modern day Poland, in 1651. One German village outside of Trier was wiped out entirely during one 1586 purge after all 368 women were burnt. Although unique in not

now and then

Old Market Square

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executing by fire, England was no different, and it’s believed over 100,000 people – mostly women – were executed for witchcraft in this country, with trials being recorded as late as 1717. Part fuelled by superstition, part by the mistrust of women in a male-dominated society and part by the rampant desire to root out all links to paganism and assert the dominance of Christianity, this lengthy witch-hunt was a national obsession for several turbulent generations.

Although the bulk of Britain’s witch-hunting during this time came with Matthew Hopkins – the ‘Witchfinder General’ – in East Anglia, Nottingham played its part with several prominent events taking place here during this period of insanity.

In 1597, Mansfield-born puritan preacher John Darrell could be found spewing his fire and brimstone rhetoric from the pulpit of St Mary’s Church in the Lace Market. The former lawyer and self-proclaimed exorcist told his congregation that the Devil had come to Nottingham, and had taken the form of, amongst other things, a newt, a cockerel and a group of Morris dancers. Whipping his crowd up into a frenzy, his words spread a sense of fear and anxiety throughout the city, and even the wealthiest of its residents became cautious of encountering Satan in one of his many forms. His career as an anti-Devil crusader began over a decade earlier, when the 21-year-old single-handedly exorcised a demon from the body of Katherine Wright, a girl from Derbyshire, and exposed Margaret Roper as the witch responsible. But having successfully brought Roper to trial, the local justice, Mr. Godfrey Foljambe, ruled against him, going as far as to threaten him with prison for wasting the court’s time.

Relocating to Bulwell, he returned to law until Foljambe had died, leaving him free to pick up his task once more. Despite having no formal qualifications, or having even been ordained, Darrell took on the title of Doctor of Divinity. He was called upon to cast out devils from fourteen-year-old Thomas Darling who had accused Alice Gooderidge of bewitching him.

Gooderidge was promptly arrested, and died while awaiting execution. Next, he travelled to Lancashire, where he exorcised seven members of the Starkie household. By now, his reputation was spreading, and his exploits had been the subject of several books.

At the invitation of the Mayor of Nottingham, Darrell returned to Nottingham to perform the exorcism of William Somers, a young apprentice, who was prone to seizures. Darrell performed his usual ritual, but warned that the Devil was likely to return, so severe was Somers’ possession. True to his word, the fits returned once Darrell had left.

Some time later, Somers was admitted to the workhouse, where he admitted to working under Darrell’s instructions. The Archbishop of Canterbury ordered a full investigation, which determined that out of all of the people he’d ‘exorcised’, only one had not been acting under his prior instructions. It was disastrous for Darrell, whose exposure as a charlatan meant an end to his days of battling the Devil. He was

Object Walk

The first thing I notice is the smell – it’s like peat. How old are these?

They don’t seem very old. Ah, they’re chess pieces! They look like they’ve been made with paint and a Sharpie.

imprisoned in disgrace, and died just two years after his release in 1602. The book written about his fall from grace, A Declaration of Egregious Popish Impostures, was widely distributed, and even read by Shakespeare, influencing elements of King Lear.

It was a time where the majority of the population were illiterate and, not only was life short and brutal, but it’s hardships remained mostly unexplained Less than two decades after Darrell’s exposure, three women took up employment at Belvoir Castle. The Earl and Countess of Rutland had needed additional staff owing to an expected visit from King James I (who himself was obsessed with witchcraft, and even published his own book on the subject) and Margaret and Phillipa Flower, along with their mother Joan, had gladly accepted the opportunity for work. Known to be ‘herbal healers’ who had fallen on hard times, the Flower women were immediately unpopular with the other staff at the castle, and were soon dismissed after accusations of theft and other misdemeanours.

Soon after dismissing the three new staff members, things started to go wrong for the Earl and Countess of Rutland. First, they became seriously ill with convulsions. Next, their son and heir, Henry, died and their two younger children, Francis and Katherine became similarly ill. It was after Francis died shortly after, leaving the Duke without a male heir, that the Flowers were arrested. Nine women had recently been hanged in Leicester for having bewitched a young boy in a case that bore a striking resemblance to the Rutland's own misfortune.

During their interrogation, Joan professed her innocence. But during the journey to Lincoln, where she was to be jailed and interrogated further, she requested a piece of bread to act as a substitute for the Eucharist. Despite not being a church-goer, her captors obliged and, so the legend goes, Joan exclaimed that something so blessed could never be consumed by a witch, before choking to death on her first bite.

With their mother dead, Phillipa and Margaret were left to face interrogation on their own. Margaret admitted that her mother had practised witchcraft, whereas Phillipa claimed all three of them had entered into communion with ‘familiar spirits’ – supernatural entities that assisted witches in their practise of magic – in their schemes. They even went as far as to name their mother’s cat, Rutterkin, as one of the familiars.

Both were found guilty, and hanged in Lincoln, although it has been said that Phillipa managed to either drug or bewitch her guard and escape, where she lived the rest of her days in Kent. The Earl and Countess remained so convinced that witches had

been responsible for their sons’ deaths that their monument in Bottesford church read: “In 1608 he married ye lady Cecila Hungerford, daughter to ye Honorable Knight Sir John Tufton, by whom he had two sons, both of which died in their infancy by wicked practises and sorcerye” In 2013, historian Tracey Borman put forward a theory that the Flowers had actually been the victims of an elaborate plot manifested by George Villiers, the Duke of Buckingham, a favourite of King James I. Planning to marry Katherine, the Duke and Countess’ daughter, the removal of both male heirs would leave him free to inherit the title. The theory put forward suggests that he had the sons poisoned, which could also explain why other members of the family also became ill, and used the presence of the notorious Flowers women as a smokescreen. After all three women had been executed, Villiers did in fact marry Katherine.

The reason men like Villiers were able to so easily demonise the Flowers, or any number of other women whose names are lost to history, but whose pain and suffering was real, is explained by how widespread the fear of witches was in England. Marks found at the prehistoric caves at Creswell Crags in North Nottinghamshire, previously thought to be graffiti, are now considered to be the work of local residents who feared that the caves acted as a gateway to Hell. The etchings were an apparent attempt to prevent witches, bad spirits and even the Devil himself from emerging.

It’s hard to imagine that events like this were not just momentary lapses of reason, but rather a sustained and all-consuming terror that gripped this country by its throat and didn’t let go for over three centuries.

The Age of Enlightenment heralded a new era where reason took prominence over superstition, and accusations of witchcraft slowly started to diminish. It was a time where the majority of the population were illiterate and, not only was life short and brutal, but its hardships remained mostly unexplained. When there is a lack of education and an excess of fear, stoked by the likes of John Darrell, it’s all too easy to ostracise and blame one particular group. Looking at how certain media outlets demonise immigrants coming to Britain in 2020, it doesn’t take much imagination to see how witches were persecuted to such a barbaric extent just four centuries ago.

Though many of the Acts against witchcraft were repealed in 1736, the practice still recorded some activity. An accused witch was found drowned in Essex in 1863, and in 1945 the body of an elderly farm laborer was found with his throat cut and his torso pierced with a pitchfork. His murder remains unsolved, although the man was known locally to practice black magic.

Despite the stories, these deaths might not have been linked to witchcraft at all, perhaps they were isolated anomalies, or maybe the witch-hunts never fully died out after all.

We’ve teamed up with the National Justice Museum to put objects from the past into the hands of people in the present. This month, we took a chess set made by an unknown prisoner at Wormwood Scrubs in 1978 to Dee Miller of the MinorOak Coworking

The little holes at the top make me think that they might have been used as a game of chess on a wall or something like that. That’s my guess.

They’re so nicely crafted.

Whoever made them used a straight edge knife. I’m guessing they’re from the fifties or sixties? Oh it was 1978?

I would have been nine years old when these were being used.

I can’t imagine that a prisoner would have had access to the tools to make these so accurately. I wonder if they had a supply of slates to use? Or did they have a workshop?