Patch's Place

In 1999 I got asked by Chris Ragg to help him make a set for his children's puppet TV show Patch's Place.

Having never designed or worked on a film set, I visited the Court Theatre Workshop and asked if I could do a few days work experience to get an idea where to start. Brian was the Workshop Manager at the time and he said yes with a big grin. After a week of helping I was offered a part time job as the Engineer doing all the metal bits. But that's another story...

So with a bit more confidence under my belt, I made a small model of the house in Patch's Place and showed it to Chris. Chris liked the design, so I went ahead and made it in my home workshop out of bits of customwood, old sacking, paint and plaster. It was made to come apart easily for shifting and putting in storage when not filming.

Chris had done these wonderfuly expressive drawings of creature puppets for the series. He made the creatures himself, found friends and family to write the script and help crew. I got roped in to be on 3rd camera.

It was a marvelous effort. Later on Chris went to Australia with a great show reel to break into the industry.

Anthony Jarrett was immortalised

In 1987 I found this fantastic newspaper picture of Anthony Jarrett winning a race. He has this amazing expression on his face. So I made this small 1/4 life scale marquette one afternoon. It was done in clay and was drying out rapidly. Got some photos before it dried out. It's one I would love to have another go at sometime.

It's the commons

Wow - I got to hear this song today in Cathedral Square. It was written and sung by David Rovics who is currently touring New Zealand. He said it perfectly.

The Commons, a song by David Rovics

First you told us only through you could we know God
And if we dared to question, then He wouldn't spare the rod
For you we worked the soil, for you we dug the moors
For you we shed our blood and fought so many pointless wars
And now you build your fences and you say there's nothing we can do
You say the world around us belongs fairly to the few
But about six billion people, no doubt will agree
This world is our home, not your property

It's the commons, our right of birth
And you who would enclose the land all around the Earth
Our future is your downfall, when we cut this ball and chain
You who'd sacrifice the public good for your private gain

With our sweat we built the railroads, built cities on these shores
But because you own the money, you say that it's all yours
We laid the phone lines and the pipelines and then right before our eyes
You say the things our taxes paid for you now will privatize
Privatize the hospitals, privatize the schools
Privatize the prisons for all those who break your rules
And preparing for the day, when all the wells run dry
You say you own the very rain that falls down from the sky

But it's the commons, our right of birth
And you who'd own the water all around the Earth
Our future is your downfall, when we cut this ball and chain
You who'd sacrifice the public good for your private gain

You claim to own the harvest with your terminator seeds
You claim to own the genomes of every animal that breeds
You claim to own our culture and the music that we play
And with each song that we download to your coffers we must pay
You would even own my name and you say it's for the best
Maybe you'll let us on your radio if our songs can pass your test
You own country, you own western, you say you've given us a choice
You may own the airwaves but you'll never own my voice

It's the commons, our right of birth
And you who'd own the music all around the Earth
Our future is your downfall, when we cut this ball and chain
You who'd sacrifice the public good for your private gain