ARTS, CULTURE, CUSTOM & CHURCH

CHESTNUTS AND OLD SPANISH CUSTOMS All Saints Day in Spain (Todos Los Santos) takes place on November 1st. It is a very important national public holiday throughout Spain, when people, from all over the country, return to their town or village…

ROCHDALE LITERATURE & IDEAS FESTIVAL 2019

LITERATURE AND IDEAS IN ROCHDALE The title of the festival reflects the wishes of the benefactors who, a few years ago, left a significant bequest to the borough library services. It also reflects the fact that history reminds that at least…

UNFORGETTABLE FESTIVALS

FESTIVALS I HAVE KNOWN AND LOVED I felt enormously privileged to serve as host of The Annual Literature and Ideas Festival in my home town of Rochdale during the first four years of the festival before I ´retired´ over here to Lanzarote.…

ARE FIREWORK DISPLAYS AN ART FORM?

SKY ROCKETS IN FLIGHT The worlds of art and technology are moving ever closer towards each other. If you have already listened to my audio file interview with Evelin Toledano you will have heard us contemplating whether or not graphic design…

LOOKING FOR LAUGHS? THE CHASE IS ON !

At all across the arts we often speak of the synergy between poetry and comedy as one art form often feeds the other. We were pretty amazed though when we discovered more links in the chain:  general knowledge and quizzing skills. We…

PLAYING CUCKOO ON TH´EDGE

A ´playing out scheme´ recently devised by Alice (not Alex) Ferguson, a young mother, who wanted her own children to be able to play outdoors has produced benefits that surely should not surprise us. Now the scheme has been studied by…

TINY TOMMY TROTTER AND THE MOUNTAIN OF DEBT

His name is Tiny Tommy Trotter and he is my new Bolton Wanderers FC mascot sitting here on my all across the arts desk as I write this issue of Sidetracks and Detours. He is the first guy I speak to each morning and we usually end up bemoaning…

The River is Oblivious

Over a period of forty years Rochdale was my home town, but for sixty three years Tadcaster has always been my place of birth. Now Rochdale, in the Lancashire foothills of the Pennines will always be inextricably linked with my North Yorkshire…