I’ve said it before; Repro; copying and reproduction of documents and printed material. Graphics; creating imagery and visual material to communicate significance.
From postcards to large format posters, cake-toppers to wall-wraps. I have more than 30 years experience of working in print ‘here’.
As part of the graphic design I provide supporting teaching and learning at Leicester’s Castle Mead Academy, I was asked if I might create a graphic that visualises “Two Thousand Years of History within ten minutes walk of Castle Mead Academy”.
I’ve recently completed educational graphic timelines for History, Computer Science and Art.
Castle Mead Academy is situated in the heart of Leicester, as you can see history is on its doorstep; from the Jewry Wall Roman remains through to remains of the 19th Century Leicester’s Central Railway Station.
Two Thousand Years of History within ten minutes walk of Castle Mead Academy
Thanks to Colin for the concept idea and the content.
Leicester City Council has compiled a wealth of images and information in their Story of Leicester project here: story-of-leicester Their Heritage Panel Trail brings Leicester’s 2,000 years of history to life with now 350 colourful information panels now installed on the city’s streets, more info here: heritage-panel-trail
Two Thousand Years of History within ten minutes walk of Castle Mead Academy.
Two Thousand Years of History within ten minutes walk of Castle Mead Academy
Before the Romans before 47AD Leicester was the primary dwelling of the Corieltauvi tribe who lived around the River Soar in the area that is today beneath St Nicholas Circle, Jubilee Square and Bath Lane. The Romans 47 – 500 AD Although we can’t see it, the Roman forum was under St Nicholas Circle. What we can see at the Jewry Wall is the remains of the main bath house in Roman Leicester. After the Romans 500 – 1066 AD St Nicholas Church was consecrated in 879and contains Roman tiles in its tower. The Normans 1066 – 1154 AD The castle motte was built in 1068 and is the huge mound that the Normans built to support a wooden castle soon after they invaded in 1066.The Castle Area contains the Norman motte, the Great Hall/Leicester Castle 1150, St Mary de Castro Church 1107,and the Turret Gateway 1423. Medieval Leicester 1066 – 1714 AD Bow Bridge, the original bridge, shaped a bit like a bow, was built c.1350. The Newarkes contains Trinity Hospital founded in 1330,The Newarke Houses Museum c1511 and 1583, the Magazine c.1400. Wygeston’s House comprises a timber hall of around 1490; a brick block of 1796 which replaced an earlier timber shop and chamber;and a Victorian (1800s) wing standing on the site of the medieval kitchen.Leicester Cathedral which dates from 1086, and the Guildhall which was built in 1390. Georgian Leicester 1714- 1837 AD Castle Mead and the Rally Park are built on the site of the Leicester and Swannington Railway (L&SR). This was one of England’s first railways, built to bring coal from West Leicestershire collieries to Leicester, where there was great industrial demand for coal. The line opened in 1832. The canal was completed in 1794 and Friars Mill, one of the earliest factories in Leicester, was built in the same year. Victorian Leicester 1837 – 1901 AD The site of West Bridge Station, was part of the Leicester-Swannington Railway. There was no platform at the original station and passengers had to climb aboard using steps and handrails attached to carriages. A narrow passenger platform was eventually created in 1876. By 1893 a new purpose-built station had been constructed next to Tudor Road. The streets to the west of Castle Mead around Tewkesbury Street were built through the 1880s to the 1900s. There is a KingRichard III theme to several of the street names, such as Tudor Road. Leicester Central Railway Station was built in 1899 and is now Lane7. The station was part of the Great Central Railway’s London Extension linking Nottingham with Marylebone in London.
There’s an ‘around the block’ video, made from a cycle helmet cam here:
I struggle with noise… be it cultural capitalist clatter or anxious apprehensive self-abuse…
It’s oh so quiet… Under the tree… in the shade, sheltered from the heat of the midday sun… We agreed “no-one can take this away from us.” I sat with my wife and daughters and just took in the moment. The cicadas sang in the nearby trees, the mountains bathed as though sleeping in the heat. Rugged escarpments carved the bluest blue sky. The brightest flowers decorated the greenest foliage in a small valley that played in to the a small Turkish Mediterranean bay.
It’s hard to explain. It’s taken a week of tempering to reach a state of heat induced contentment. It’s hard to explain, but it’s possible to forget, ignore, or perhaps swallow the worries and annoyances of the world and just be grateful for the moment. To breathe in the mountains, breathing in blue jasmine, breath in the olive tree, breath in the sweaty forehead, breath in the clutter of life that chatters around us…
We returned to the UK… Oh… it’s oh so quiet… No cicadas, tinnitus returns. The sizzle is replaced with an English tranquility. A verdant pleasant land. The ubiquitous cloud decorates the horizon. The land and humanity is reorganised… It’s still possible to forget, ignore or perhaps swallow the worries and annoyances of the world and just be grateful for the moment.
To breathe in the ancient pathway, breathe in the hedgerow, breath in the flying swans, breath in that unique evening light, breath in the clutter of life that chatters loudly around us… It’s hard to explain, because it is oh so quiet, amongst the noise…
You know when you take a roast chicken out of the oven… ? That’s what it’s like walking out the door… 38° 🇹🇷… As with a roast chicken, I am thankful for a small dose of Mediterranean heat.
Tempering is a process of heating and cooling metals to achieve greater strength by decreasing the hardness, an increase in flexibility, and decreasing brittleness.
Eucalyptus avenue
Over the last week it’s been a process of heat, cool, and repeat… you could call it tempering. You can’t fight it, you just have to be. A tall iced mango juice helps. Again I am thankful.
Let’s pretend we’re closer to heaven.
Floating in a bay surrounded by pine tree lined mountains, the bluest of blue skies backdrop a razor-sharp escarpment reaching to the skies … salty lips and a big deep breath… the view seems clearer.
Blue jasmine
Breathe, forget the challenges ahead for just a moment…
Take away the percussive beat of stuff that needs sorting, questions unanswered, annoyances and indecisions…
What we perceive is what it is.
My wife is the catalyst, and again we venture to the Mediterranean. Thankfully. I’d return to France, Spain, or the British National Parks or coast again and again, but under my wife’s suggestion, over the years we’ve stretched further, Cyprus, Corfu, Greece, and this year Turkey. I am infinitely grateful for the opportunities to experience such places.
But what is sold to us is quite separate from what is free, the treasures right in front of us..
On previous visits to the Mediterranean weve found the extreme heat is ubiquitous. The climate intensifies colours, smells, taste; life gets slower, more fervent, the view seems clearer.
As with any capitalist environment, we are sold stuff, we are sold pretentious dreams, we are sold processed products; extra-cheesy Crax, all-seeing eyes, Anatolian fizz cocktails, parascending, fish pedicures, etc. A percussive beat of celebrated pop jazz hip cool, with salt and/or cheese…
Don’t get me wrong, a cold local beer by the sea is a heavenly delight. Mediterranean food by the sea is exceptional. And a little pop-funk Lady Gaga helps keeps one young.
What is essentially more tangible in such holiday destinations is stark nature and hothoused humanity.
People come to soak up the intensified energy. Culture is the dressing on the cake of humanity and is weird and wonderful, but behind the sunbaked sales the essence of what is free is humanity and nature.
Muğla market
Human nature is behind the Turkish kofta, as much as it’s behind the Staffordshire oatcake.
What’s magnified by the Mediterranean climate is human pleasure. Take away the magnifyer and we still have humanity. Alexander is a father to two young children and businessman who’s very proud of his restaurant in the village of Icmeler.
Omar, proud of his Muğla homeland, genuinely wanted to share it’s delights, but is also keen to discover England. Just as much, Joyce loves Stoke-on-Trent, her dog, and her weekend trips to Buxton and the Peak District hills.
The treasures right in front of us…
I don’t think we need to pretend we’re closer to heaven.
Take away the percussion of cultural trappings and what do we have?
What we perceive is what it is.
Sometimes it’s clearer, it is what it is.
Rest…
When it’s not clear, I hope you can find a way to decrease hardness, increase in flexibility, decrease brittleness and hopefully find delight in something somewhere right in front of us.
Let’s pretend we’re closer to heaven. Floating in a bay surrounded by pine-tree lined mountains, the bluest of blue skies backdrops a razor-sharp escarpment reaching to the skies … salty lips and a big deep breath… the view seems clearer. Breathe, forget the challenges ahead for just a moment… distant cicadas… Take away the percussive beat of stuff that needs sorting, questions unanswered, worries and indecision… What we perceive is what it is.
A wise friend once wrote…”What we are must always come before what we do, for how we are defines our world. …what we do is almost irrelevant, it’s why we do things that reveals all.”Simon Parke, ‘The Journey Home’. “…for how we are, defines our world.” I might add, our heart defines our world.
This week I had to give a colleague a lift to work, and so after more than 10 years cycling, I was back using a car for five days – I was not looking forward to it. But to my surprise the car commutes were ok*. The drives were ok… but… unremarkable.
Why do I cycle? It’s about heart…
I was going to trope on about the benefits of cycling but I don’t think that’s the important thing.
It’s the heartful things that some of our automated auto-mobile world misses out on. With home-delivery we might miss the experience of mixing with people in the market place. With text messages we miss the voice in a phone call. With music streaming we miss that uncelebrated album track. With facetime we miss out on the tactile. With social media we miss the nuances of the handshake, look, or hug… with the automobile we miss out on some essential facets of our environment and community.
On a cycle in last week, the word ‘exhilarating’ came to mind as reflected in a mid-commute social post… as I occasionally do. I don’t think the drive would have conjured similar.
Word of the day: exhilaration (n.) “act of enlivening or cheering; state of being enlivened or cheerful,” …stem of exhilarare “gladden, cheer,” from ex “out, out of; thoroughly”
I think the main take-away this week was that although the drives were relatively easy going they were unremarkable. Automated. The cocooned conveyor of cars was… unremarkable. Rightly they are called ‘auto’mobiles.
This week highlighted the hearty extras I experience when I ride a bicycle: breathing, energy, elements, endorphins, people, animals, community, tangible animation… not so auto mobile.
Commute captures…
That’s partly why I ride a bike. It’s remarkable. It creates more cognitive, emotional and spiritual stimulation.
…how we are defines our world.
Our heart defines our world.
*For the record: The 7.5miles drives took about 25-30mins*. The traffic was fine going in at 7.30am The traffic returning at 4.30pm was ok, a bit stop-start, but still 30mins. I could get used to this, I thought.. Why did I cycle?! A perfectly reasonable question. The drive was relatively hassle free. The 7.5 bike ride takes about 30-35mins.
One thing that did give me a pang was on Thursday when I had to top-up the car’s fuel, £20. Five days would be 75miles, @ 7.5mpl, £1.45p/litre, that’s £14.50/week. £60/month. Cycling’s fuel is a banana a day.
The article below the stars, written a few years back, will soon be redundant, as Microsoft announced the end of its Publisher trinket. But this leaves us without Publishers unique hyper-useful asset!
Yes, graphics are not a problem and better on many other softwares but … here’s a challenge…
The big big loss, that no other software does in the same hyper easy useful way is print multiple pages per sheet. Publisher allows you to create bespoke page sizes and print multiple pages (mail merged and or double-sided) sheets. This is so so useful for tickets, cards, passes, slips etc.
To date there’s NO other software that offers print bespoke page sizes multiple pages per sheet!
Challenge find an alternative! ?
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Saving money, paper & time… by using MS Publisher* (“shock horror”) to create smaller sized documents that use all of the paper. Ask me!
I have been in the print industry for more than 30 years. I have lived scalpels, pixels, lick & stick, copy & paste, raster & vector… and I’ve experienced numerous graphics-for-print software platforms. While Adobe Creative Suite and the like are still the print craftsperson‘s go-to tool, I now surprise myself by recommending a more domestic tool for easy print and copy projects. People in industries such as education don’t necessarily have access to professional tools such as Adobe Creative Suite. Teachers and educators have better things to do with their teaching and learning time than play with toolboxes and layers. They tend to stick to Microsoft’s Word† (it’s good at word processing) and PowerPoint† (because the screen is their primary communication tool).
“Eeeeek!”
However, I am often sent documents with boxed items on them; to be printed multiple times, and to be trimmed out into cards or batched sets. This is fine if you want one set, but it does waste paper. If you want a dozen or more, this wastes a lot of paper… and the guillotining and sorting takes ages to avoid mixing sets up. This uneconomical unproductivity can be easily sorted – saving money**, with zero paper wastage, more print per sheet, and easy guillotining and set sorting – and we can make it look good! For the layman, I’m recommending more use of software like Microsoft Publisher*, yes MS Publisher can be a versatile tool for the non-professional user when planning for multiple batch printing. Or for simply printing economically. Your Word or PowerPoint creations can usually be transferred to Publisher, but I suggest using it as a default tool for print-based projects. Revision Flash Cards, Study Aids, Card Sortsetc.
Let’s say you want ~20 different small cards. What you could ask for is 20 A7 cards. (A7 is 8 to a sheet of A4. You could have any size card, as long as it multiples into an A4 page) So, we set one Publisher page at the desired size, see below, Duplicate a master, and create our ~20 different pages. With Publisher we can then print this on A4 as a stack of sets that can be easily electronically guillotined and banded. It’s versatile, can look great, and it saves time and paper**. You end up with multiple batches (quantity per sheet) of the set of ~20.
Don’t fret – send me the content, and given time I can create the .Pub doc for you. Just don’t spend your time in Word†, or heaven forbid Powerpoint†, trying to make it look nice.
If you need them – there are few Publisher “cards” and “label” template documents for you to download here:
*Horror, Yes, Publisher! When I first was prompted to use publisher, because the situation didn’t warrant the cost of the more professional options, I was horrified. For starters, its Microsoft, but my preconceptions about MS turned out to be a tad misplaced. Secondly, it initially looks like you’re using a child’s toy. But get over it! It’s a very versatile tool for simple multiple-page publishing needs. Projects can even look qood, if you use design elements created in Photoshop and Illustrator etc. †Word is a word processing program. PowerPoint is for creating screen presentations. **I the long-term, planning economically and productively can save an institution £1000s
Sick of being ‘the traffic’ (If you are stuck in traffic, you are the traffic), and mindful of the cost of fuel, I took the first step to discovering another way 13 years ago. I was to discover more about the real costs of our habits later*.
In February 2011 I pulled an old bike from under the ‘stuff in the garage’ and did the ‘never in a month of Sundays’ ride to work.
I remember reacting to the prospect of cycling to work once a week, I recall adamantly thinking ‘never in a month of Sundays’ it was seriously NOT an option. Never say never.
13 years since I started using a bike to get to and from work daily, what’s changed?
Roughly 40,000 miles later, I have learnt and unlearnt a few things. Perspectives have changed and the world has become quite a different place.
2024 fuel costs are similar to 2021: Driving ~7.5 miles @ 7.5mpl, £1.45p/litre, costs £1.45 each way, that’s £ 14.50/week. That means going by bike is saving me more than £55/month, just in fuel. I sold the family’s second car back in 2012.
Just to recap – if you are able to and you fancy ditching the car, give it a try!
Yes, I recognise that I’m lucky to be able to ride a bike to work, yes there are some jobs where it’s not possible, but there are a lot of jobs where IT IS POSSIBLE!
Never say never. But to date I’ve never looked back!
Main reactions: (i) I’d get wet and cold. (ii) I’d be a gibbering wreck when I got to work. (iii) I don’t fancy the ride home after a day at work. (iv) It’s too far. (v) It would take too long. (vi) The traffic would be a nightmare. (vii) I like my podcasts in the car.
Reality: (i) Inclement weather is much less frequent than you think! Weather is not often an issue if the right clothing is worn. Sit up and breathe (ii) You may discover the joy of being truly awake when you get to work. Just ‘ride a bike’, don’t look to become ‘a cyclist’ (iii) Take it from me, surprisingly the ride home is a great tonic! (iv) It’s not as far as you think. (v) In an average rush hour, by bike takes not much more than by car. Bus Bike Car… See here. (vi) Don’t be part of the traffic! Off road. (vii) Bone conduction headphones.
*The simple act of riding a bike is good for so many reasons – personally, socially, mentally, physically, community, interaction, pace, progress, ambition… all can be fed by a new way (an old way) of experiencing things.
I was referring to my 30+ year resonance with Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto.
concert (n.) agreement of two or more in design or plan; accord, harmony… bring into agreement.
Well, I have finally been and had the experience! My first classical music concert, AND Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, performed by Karen Gomyo and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, at the Victoria Hall, Stoke-on-Trent.
What can I say? A captivating performance by all! Well done all! Of course, Karen Gomyo’s violinic gymnastics were amazing.
For me, this piece has always been about the protagonists, that is, the violins and flutes, but seeing it and hearing it live, you get a sense of the other players (and non-players*). For me, all of the wind instruments stood out in an accompanying role. Specifically the oboe, clarinet, and bassoon, really played their parts and were noticeable as important elements in the composition. Of course, the French horns and other brass were triumphant also!
We all know it’s hard to put the experience of hearing and seeing (and hence feeling) live music into words. TVC was followed by Sibelius’ Swan of Tuonela; Wow! a different aesthetic.
“Music is really important… I always say to my kids music is a bit like food. You can have your sausage, burgers, and chips, and that’s fine. But there’s a lot more food out there, there’s food from other countries, there’s rich food, and music is a lot more than … Yeah, there are nice burgers, but there’s other stuff out there like TVC, like old stuff from Nina Simone, stuff from other countries… have a listen to Radio 6… and listen to Radio Three’s Late Junction.”
You can hear my 2017 Desert Island Discs, and ‘the bit where the solo violin “goes off on one’… here:
Jules P Richards 