Month: October 2018

I am sitting here listening to the Clarion Call that is being played twice a day over the Waterfront and out to the town. This is an installation to commemorate women’s role in the First World War, which celebrates (??) the one hundredth anniversary of the end of that terrible conflict. The anniversary falls next Sunday when the ending of the war is marked at 11AM on 11th November (11th month).

Full details can be found on the SPILL Festival web site. That web site gives more details:

“Clarion Call stands as an ephemeral monument to the aftermath of wars past, present and future. But instead of unifying us in grief, a composition of reimagined melodies provide a moment in time for a community to come together in hope and reflection.”

It is quite eerie but, if you give it a little while for personal reflection, it is very moving.

Pioneer is an Essex fishing smack and comes into the Ipswich Marina on an occasional basis. You can read all about her on the Pioneer + web site.

It was a lovely morning this morning but the smack was in shadow caused by Capstan House so I had to wait as it passed slowly in the sunshine. It was worth the wait but, using my iPhone camera, it lost a bit of colour from the hull. Still, as that was the only camera on me, then at least I got the picture.

I love the little dinghy tied up to the stern. Although it has an outboard, it still has its mast in place.

It’s that time of year again, when the Wet Dock fills up with tall ships – 21 this time. University students are the focus of this year’s crews rather than”young professionals” in previous years. It started with Artemis arriving. Then a quick look at FleetMon showed the Orwell full of ships coming into the Wet Dock.

I did my usual roll along the quays and took some random shots.

The crowds here are all of the crews having a chat and a drink. This took place on the Friday afternoon. Lucky that the weather was beautiful for the occasion.

I understand that complaints were raised about the noise levels on Thursday night and the Environmental Health had to ask them to tone it down. That’s a pity as it is only once a year and the noise was much less than the evenings of theMaritime Weekend or even of the Aurora on a summer Saturday night.

On the Friday afternoon there were some of the crews messing around on skateboards and a few working with drones. The wide expanse of the Wet Dock is ideal for such things. In fact, I caught a drone on camera when taking a photo of the new university car park, which has been turned into a giant marquee for graduation day.

On Saturday morning, on my jaunt to the local pharmacy, I took a photo of the board outside the Lightship. This might tempt a few of you to come and visit. I would like see the Pirate Radio exhibition if I could scramble abroad. Some of my favourite memories of the 60’s were”Kenny and Cash on London” – the jingle for Kenny Everett and Dave Cash on their afternoon show on Radio London – great stuff. I even remember some of their jokes, but not now.

Lastly, back to normal, because all of the Dutch boats went during the night leaving the Wet Dock nice and peaceful for Saturday – just when lots of Ipswich residents could come down to see them – shame. Nice to see Queen Galadriel is back in the marina, though.