I could hear the clang of steel against rail, coal loading on the boat, the call of the fish girls on the whale-lit Quayside as Charlie Hardwick’s lyrical Geordie reading skimmed across the turning tides of the Tyne. She was reading from ”Paint Your Town Red” a manifesto for a tried and tested model of community wealth building, The Preston Model.
Ross Millard of The Futureheads accompaniment on guitar foretold an increasing sense of doom in this reading of a story in which we already know where we’re being led: to an existential crisis predicated by a rise of the Far Right across the West, European war, world food shortages and a global pandemic.
Jamie Driscoll’s plan for the future
The tone was set to platform North of Tyne Mayor, Jamie Driscoll’s plan to secure a different future for this region. Presenting his five pillars in line with the principles of community wealth building and concrete examples of projects in action, this was indeed an opportunity for him to showcase the advantages made possible through regional devolution and planning to mitigate the impact of a freefalling freemarket economy, promoting community built on shared ownership of the economy, fair employment, just labour markets and socially just use of land and property. With ambition for everyone, we better our chances of bettering all our lives.
The Preston Model
The Q&A with architect of The Preston Model, Matthew Brown and Rhian E Jones who co-authored “Paint Your Town Red” may have jumped too soon into discussion without a clear explanation of examples of actions taken for the uninitiated into how it works and failed to mention the key selling point, that people in Preston have more cash in their pocket.
That there were so few questions asked affirmed to me the success of a Conservative non-participatory agenda that does ‘for’ us and not ‘with’ us, combined with education cuts and the starvation of funds from arts and creative activities, leading to a reduction in creative thinking and diminishing skills to question and challenge.
The value of storytelling
The final question from one of the theatre board, on the vehicle of storytelling as a powerful way to introduce new ideas and to challenge thinking, asked about the possibility of taking a version of this event on the road, to which the panel hadn’t thought. A question well posed but in an audience who were already reached and already converted. I would pose a response that story is indeed powerful and it connects us as individuals to our past and to our communities. A regionalised version therefore, with local accents speaking truth to metaphor, could indeed reach out to convert more to the prospect that a better way forward is possible, that there is a point in hope..
Four Models in Bright Hats
The evening’s performance was preceded by four young women reading Preti Taneja’s script “Four Models In Bright Hats”, and whose misplaced stress and emphasis pronounced their unawareness of the cultural references therein. Unknown to them the groundbreaking, opinion-shifting advertising campaigns of Benetton or the sense of adventure and discovery that Lonely Planet once afforded on a budget in a time before google and instant access to other worlds through a click of the mouse, and the opportunity and wonder such a gift would once have engendered.
New Model Island and Me Lost Me
The main event built to Toby Young reading from local writer, Alex Niven’s ‘New Model Island’, a redistribution of power and a reclaiming of Englishness as an identity.
My companion really enjoyed the talented Me Lost Me, who interspersed sections with live music in voice and technology. I found her though, a distraction between her pieces, fidgeting, unable to stand still.
Listening to Toby read was a pleasure and so much better in person than a story read on the radio – where we could see, feel and hear his expression, an added depth and tone being read to in presence. I relaxed into his voice, but I willed for the end to come.
I found myself bored. The extended metaphor of characteristics to be learned in the history of Alton Towers, of being hidden, trapped and in chains, with the present a well of exploitation, went on and on and on. Bored.
The concluding line “We must plan for a future beyond England, that is, in effect, already here” spoke to me of a wasted evening. What was the point in this event? What was it trying to say and to whom? In a post-Brexit world and with Europe on fire, I don’t think anything moved on for me. And like the extended metaphor that wasn’t answered, the circle wasn’t squared.
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The final question from one of the theatre board, on the vehicle of storytelling as a powerful way to introduce new ideas and to challenge thinking, asked about the possibility of taking a version of this event on the road, to which the panel hadn’t thought. A question well posed but in an audience who were already reached and already converted. I would pose a response that story is indeed powerful and it connects us as individuals to our past and to our communities. A regionalised version therefore, with local accents speaking truth to metaphor, could indeed reach out to convert more to the prospect that a better way forward is possible, that there is a point in hope..
Four Models in Bright Hats
The evening’s performance was preceded by four young women reading a script by Preti Taneja’s “Four Models In Bright Hats”, and whose misplaced stress and emphasis pronounced their unawareness of the cultural references therein. Unknown to them the groundbreaking, opinion-shifting advertising campaigns of Benetton or the sense of adventure and discovery that Lonely Planet once afforded on a budget in a time before google and instant access to other worlds through a click of the mouse, and the opportunity and wonder such a gift would once have engendered.
New Model Island and Me Lost Me
The main event built to Toby Young reading from local writer, Alex Niven’s ‘New Model Island’, a redistribution of power and a reclaiming of Englishness as an identity.
My companion really enjoyed the talented Me Lost Me, who interspersed sections with live music in voice and technology. I found her though, a distraction between her pieces, fidgeting, unable to stand still.
Listening to Toby read was a pleasure and so much better in person than a story read on the radio – where we could see, feel and hear his expression, an added depth and tone being read to in presence. I relaxed into his voice, but I willed for the end to come.
I found myself bored. The extended metaphor of characteristics to be learned in the history of Alton Towers, of being hidden, trapped and in chains, with the present a well of exploitation, went on and on and on. Bored.
The concluding line “We must plan for a future beyond England, that is, in effect, already here” spoke to me of a wasted evening. What was the point in this event? What was it trying to say and to whom? In a post-Brexit world and with Europe on fire, I don’t think anything moved on for me. And like the extended metaphor that wasn’t answered, the circle wasn’t squared.
We need your help! The press in our country is dominated by billionaire-owned media, many offshore and avoiding paying tax. We are a citizen journalism publication but still have significant costs. If you believe in what we do, please consider subscribing to the Bylines Gazette 🙏
