The Jotter - issue 24
"A new idea is delicate. It can be killed by a sneer or a yawn; it can be stabbed to death by a joke, or worried to death by a frown on the right person’s brow.”
Charles Brower
Hello good people
I had an idea on a dog walk one morning last November.
I was thinking how Bradford on Avon, like all great towns, continually changes. How new generations of interesting people arrive - injecting a new energy and a new approach, and building on what has been before.
I was pondering how the town feels like it is entering a new phase.
Some background…
About 30 years ago the big factory in town closed. Its derelict remnants dominated the centre when I moved here 15 years ago.
I was part of a wave of self-employed people who arrived at a similar time and used the flexibility of the online world to start new businesses. However, there were few places for us to work in town. We worked from home or journeyed elsewhere to rent space.
To today…
In the last couple of years a new wave of businesses have transformed old buildings into creative spaces. An old bank now hosts an advertising agency. A neglected Vintners and an empty 60's office block host two co-working spaces - Studio Bacchus and Cassia Collective - filled with communities of talented, creative people.
I was musing about these changes when the idea came to me. Now felt like a good time to mix up these waves of arrivals, share ideas and see what develops.
I mentioned this idea for a ‘day of ideas’ to a few people.
None of them frowned, sneered or yawned, or stabbed the idea to death with a joke.
Instead I discovered that they had all had a similar idea and were equally enthusiastic to make it happen.
So I am happy to share the news that Anna Sabine, Giles Turnbull, Kim Youdan, Ritka Carr and myself are organising the first Beyond Curious event at Cassia in Bradford on Avon on Friday 13th May. It will be a celebration of interesting ideas, new curiosities and people getting to know each other better.
The website and tickets will be launched in the next few days. We can’t wait.
Onwards
Andrew
01, A brilliant idea
Sending birthday books instead of birthday cards is a wonderful idea which Caitlin Moran happily copied from someone else.
02, Searching for Italy
Heart-warming TV in the company of the effusive and charming Stanley Tucci. Accurately described by Fi Glover (from one of my favourite podcasts, Fortunately), as “the human equivalent of a well-pressed linen shirt.”
03, In praise of pottering
Thank you Will Johnston for giving us permission to arrange nothing.
04, Aerial Photos
No thanks to Paul Bloomfield for tweeting a link to Historic England’s archive of aerial photos. You will have to accept your to-do list will take a back seat today.
05, Are iPhone cameras too smart?
Is a question posed in The New Yorker.
“They are coldly crisp and vaguely inhuman, caught in the uncanny valley where creative expression meets machine learning.”
06, The boring brown line of continuity
How much has Covid really changed consumer behaviour? Perhaps not as much as you think.
“Consumer attention spans are not reducing. Marketing is not changing more this year than in the five preceding years. And Covid has not created giant ruptures with the past that will turn everything we knew to ash.”
“We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next 10.”
Bill Gates
07, Work.
This month we launched a new website for BoA Hub which runs a foodbank, helps people apply for jobs, advises on welfare benefits and much more.
A landing page has been launched for The Female Edge (the full website will be launched in the next few days). The Female Edge are on a mission to get more women running their own businesses.
Finally a website for the Child Psychotherapy Council which has been set up to protect standards and ethics in child psychotherapy.
Thank you for reading the March Jotter. The next one will alight on Friday 29th April at 11am. In the meantime, enjoy the lighter evenings and walking across spring meadows to a nearby pub.
Onwards
Andrew
“When burdened by the feeling that there are too many photographs in the world, I ask myself if there are too many flowers.”