Tim Abbott

AoF at Colchester Arts Centre

 In a change to our tradition of having a barbecue and bouncy castle in the garden for Dan's birthday, this year we hosted a party and gig at Colchester Arts Centre.

Headlining were Academy of Funk, in their second gig of the revised line-up of which Dan is their new drummer. As well as a gig and birthday party the evening was also an opportunity to raise money for the History Maker Foundation, a new charity set up by the Pancaldi family in memory of their son Joe who died in a hill walking accident in Scotland two years ago. The aim of the charity is to offer bursaries to disadvantaged young people so that they can benefit from a week away doing the kind of climbing and hill walking activities that Joe was passionate about sharing with young people.

The evening kicked off with a set of songs from Charity Pancaldi accompanied by Tony which concluded with an interview with Charity about the History Maker Foundation and an invitation for people to give.

After a short break for conversation and a top up from the bar, the mood changed with the intro music for AoF and dimmed lighting. Dan emerged from the back of the stage, bowed briefly and took to the drums carving out the rhythm kicking off the song "Richard Chandler" (much developed from the downloadable album version!), followed by each member of the band in turn picking up the song. There followed a fast paced set that held everyone's attention, uplifted and slightly stunned, to the end. AoF bounce and drive with musical energy and skill that carries the audience along with them. Just before the last song the band gave Dan an unexpected present of a Cajon. Finally came "Lost", ending in an extended drum outro. The audience appealed for an encore. There were no more tunes to play!

The evening concluded with birthday cake (thanks Sue!) and much conversation. It had all been so much more fun than a barbecue and a bouncy castle. Which was a good thing, as it had been raining most of the evening.

There's a photo set of AoF in action here

Latitude - Thom Yorke, Editors & Nick Cave

Tom Smith, originally uploaded by timabbott.

On Sunday Joel and I went to the Latitude Festival in Suffolk.

As well as soaking up the general festival ambience, dodging the showers and taking in a few acts and artists that we wouldn't normally have encountered, our main focus of attention was three acts on the main stage in the Obelisk arena.

Thom Yorke, frontman of Radiohead, performed a rare solo set during the middle of the day to a packed arena, a daunting prospect for any artist. With a minimum of fuss, and a little gentle banter with the audience, Thom delivered a moving and compelling performance that held the crowd right to the end, including an encore; the only encore of the day.

In the afternoon we went our separate ways, enjoying snippets of sets by various bands. In my wanderings I happened across the Samphire Band in the Film and Music Arena - one of those golden moments when I got caught up in something that would normally be off my music radar. Joel and I met up later at the poetry tent before finding food and heading back to the main arena.

In the now warm and sunny evening we settled in for Editors who performed a well balanced set of somgs that included material from their forthcoming third album as well as plenty of old favourites. Tom Smith certainly knows how to command a whole stage and the audience with an energetic performance that you won't be able to imagine from just listening to their albums.

Finally, the band we'd principally come to see - Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds. A band that includes two drummers, a power chord playing violinist and often five vocals at a time is bound to be huge, but this is as nothing compared to Cave's overwhelming presence and passion. Over the blues / post punk foundation of The Bad Seeds Cave fulminates like an Old Testament prophet, lamenting the tragedies of this world and daring to challenge God for answers in songs of passion and faith and doubt and poetic insight. His songs will undoubtedly disturb the comfortable, even as they frequently comfort the disturbed.

All in all a great day and well worth the money.

Horse drawn timber extraction

Jeton extracting timber, originally uploaded by timabbott.

I spent Sunday with my sister, Frankie, and a few others in some ancient woodland in Kent. She was there as part of the forestry management programme which involved extracting several tons of timber using her horses Jeton and Yser. The timber was being sawn into planks on site.

The whole approach is both cost effective and has minimal environmental impact. Horses can work between trees, in soft ground or on slopes in a way that no machinery can match.

I'm immensely proud of my 'little sister' and all that she's achieved in becoming one of this country's leading horse loggers.

A great day out in wonderful surroundings with some very special people.

The influence of TV

The all pervasive influence of TV has claimed another victim.

My 19 year old beer connoisseur son has been watching back to back episodes of Frasier and has thus been inspired to start drinking sherry. As a responsible father I have felt it necessary to help him in his research.

We're back!

Feluccas at sunset, originally uploaded by timabbott.

Diana and I are back from a holiday in Egypt, staying in Luxor and managing a two day trip to Cairo to meet friends.
Here are some of the things people said to us on the streets of Luxor. I'll leave you to work out how much you believe them!

"Welcome to Alaska"
"You walk like an Egyptian"
"Where are you from?" "England" "I'm from Scotland!"
"I have friends in London / Birmingham / Liverpool / Manchester"
"My girlfriend / wife is English"
"Can I show you the market; it's only open today"

As ever, there are a load of photos on Flickr

Saint Helena, and a wedding anniversary

Today is the feast day of Saint Helena, mother of Constantine, who, on becoming Emperor, declared Rome a Christian city. Saint Helena is the patron saint of Colchester, so we marked the day with a morning communion service at the site of what is believed to be the earliest church building in Britain (320AD). After 1600 years, the church site is now bordered by a new police station and a roundabout.
Leaders from over 30 churches gathered in the morning sunshine, and we worshipped, prayed and shared bread and wine against a background of traffic noise and the siren of a police car weaving through rush hour traffic.
I'm glad to be a part of these things, but I sometimes wonder what they say to the watching world, especially in such a public place with people walking past on their way into town, police coming and going and drivers and passengers catching a glance on their way past.
Later I learned that when staff came to collect a man from the cells to take him to court they found him in tears. The sound of worship songs being sung outside had profoundly moved him and brought back past memories.

Diana and I were there partly because it seemed like an appropriately odd way to start the day of our 25th wedding anniversary! We spent the evening at a fabulous restaurant with friends and one of our sons, Dan, who paid the great sacrifice of missing the Man U / Chelsea Champions League match, though at the end of the meal he and a couple of friends popped into a local pub to watch the end of the match in extra time - he's a Man U supporter, so a good result.

Psalm Drummers in Colchester

Last  night was the first gathering of Psalm Drummers here in Colchester. It was organised by Dan and Michelle and attracted 43 drummers from all over the area.

Terl Bryant, the man behind Psalm Drummers, led the evening, getting everyone there involved in an improv piece of massed percussion. With over 30 djembi's and Dan on his floor tom the sound was awesome and Terl directed things through a series of different rhythms and dynamics to create what can only be described as worship. The evening included an overview of the role of drums in worship and the vision for Psalm Drummers and went into a time of percussion as intercession. Finally, Terl and his team prayed for Dan and Michelle as they carry this group forward and develop this remarkable ministry in the Colchester area.

As well as being a great evening, it was a bit of a "proud dad" moment for me seeing Dan in such a clear leadership role, following the calling that's on his life and inspiring so many others.

Summer break

The early summer holiday was marked by the now traditional visit of a bouncy castle and about 30 friends to celebrate Dan's birthday. A truly fab night.



However, over a week later the bouncy castle is still with us (we're sorting it) and looking very deflated, something of a metaphor for how I've been feeling for the last couple of weeks. Nothing in particular, just exhausted I think. So inspiration for deep thought, blogging or other creative activities has been in very short supply and I've simply been glad of the opportunity to do less.

There's some good stuff about to happen this autumn but for now this is just a quick mid-holiday post to prove I'm still here and to pop up unexpectedly in your RSS reader. And while I'm about it, I thought it's time for a new theme, including reverting to a fixed width layout. A bit of a change is always nice...!

Back soon.

Half term

It's half term, so Dan and I are off to Wales for three days.
Back late Friday night, then off to Tom's Superhero party. Not sure what to go as... one has to be careful about revealing one's superpowers...
Promotional Church visits Sunday morning and evening.

Anniversaries

Today is our wedding anniversary (24 years!!), so Diana and I went out for a meal together at The Lemon Tree, a highly recommended restaurant in Colchester. (For the history buffs, one inside wall is part of the original Roman town wall.) I'd like to say a big thank you to Diana for coping with me for all these years and for still loving me.

Today is also the anniversary of this blog which kicked off on 21st May 2006, but I'm not taking it out for a meal. I'd like to say thank you to all those people I've got to know (in a bloggy kind of way) who have inspired me or interacted with this blog. Cheers.