Chactonbury Ring (Justin, Sharron and Belbury)

Due to my daytime employment I get the benefit of having most of the summer off (and 4 half terms) so at least once in the summer and Winter I take a walk up to the SouthDowns and onto Chactonbury Ring. The photo above was taken a couple of years ago in mid December. That day I never made it to the Ring, as the weather was so bad... and I mean really bad. The wind was vicious and the rain hurt; that was as close as I could get that day.
For those of you who might (and I mean might) not know, Chactombury Ring is situated on top of Chactonbury Hill in West Sussex. Originally it was a late Bronze Age Hill Fort. Legend has it that Chanctonbury Ring was created by The Devil and that he can be summoned by running around the clump of trees seven times anti-clockwise. If he appears he will then offer you a bowl of soup in exchange for your soul. I always take a flask of soup so I should be ok. There have been reports over the years of UFO sightings, Paranormal Activity and witchcraft. The Writer and Author Robert McFarlaine writes about a night spent at Chactonbury Ring in his book The Old Ways; were he is woken up in the night after hearing chilling cries outside his tent.
So imagine my excitement when Mr Jupp from Belbury sent me a copy of the new GhostBox release Chactonbury Rings by Justin Hopper Sharron Kraus with Belbury Poly (Release Date 21st June 2019)
A spoken word and music project by writer Justin Hopper and folk musician Sharron Kraus. It also features Ghost Box's own Belbury Poly. Based on live performances of Hopper's 2017 book The Old Weird Albion (publ. Penned in the Margins), it’s a poetical, autobiographical and psychogeographical account of his experiences at Chanctonbury Ring on the West Sussex Downs.
(Ghostbox Records)
At times reminiscent of the David Cain and Ronald Duncan’s The Seasons. This is a beautiful and perfect sounding album (All Music by Sharron Kraus except Chactonbury Rings by Jim Jupp and Slow Air by Sharron Kraus and Richard Heacock)  Sharron Kraus's voice/vocals on Wanderer are haunting and soothing while Justin Hoppers narration is composed calming and untroubled. He takes us on a wonderful spoken journey which we have to follow through from start to finish.

26th October Cafe Oto

Folk Horror at The British Museum A Fine Day Out

 

On Sunday 16th Oct I got up very very early (5pm) and caught a coach to London. The reason for this is because I had a ticket for The Folk Horror Revival at The British Museum.

What a fine day it was indeed, despite the fact that a few days before I came down with a rather grim cold but thanks to some heavy duty cold and flu tablets and huge amount of throat lozenges I got through the day (should not have gone for drink the night before) Guest Speakers for the day were Andy Paciorek, Darren Charles, Eamon Byers, Iain Sinclair, Adam Scovell, James Riley and Gary Lachman. Also present and speaking at the Q & A was Shirley Collins. We were also very lucky to be present at the 1st Public Screening of Death and the Lady by Shirley Collins. Compare for the day was Chris Lambert (Songs from the Black Meadow)

Sadly I had to leave early to make a dash for my Coach so I missed most of the Q & A session where Jim Peters Darren Charles Andy Paciorek Sharron Kraus & Shirley Collins were joined onstage for this end session by Reece Shearsmith. I had a fine informative and wonderful day despite feeling grotty for the most of it.