Diary Thursday 2nd July To Monday 6th July 2026
Thursday 2nd July
A trip to the pub for the weekly quiz though it was cancelled through no fault of the pub as too few turned up, thanks to the football of the World Cup. I had a nice night out chatting with staff and customers and reading with a few beers.
Friday 3rd July
Disappointed to see that my concerns over an offer to perform movie themed poetry at a film festival later this year remains in Limbo nearly eight months after being submitted. I initially raised the proposal online in a message to the Festival Of Fantastic Films https://fantastic-films.uk/, naturally expecting it to reach the main organising committee. The initial reply told me that it couldn’t be used in the October 2025 event, but would be considered for 2026. I fully expected this as it was only weeks before the 25 event when I suggested it, and I always had the 2016 Festival in mind anyway, but as we hit May 26, I had to remind the FFF of my proposal as events and guests were being promoted with no mention of my 15-20 minute poetry slot offer, for which I haven’t even asked for payment. The reply that came back was exactly the same as that sent to me in 25. I was too late but I’d be considered for 27. This raised multiple alarm bells. 1/. The festival is still six months away and much programming still in the air. The Delta Films submissions window remains open for example. 2/. The cut & paste reply could be simply teased at me cruelly every year, possibly for the remainder of my life. (‘We can’t use it this year, but we might be able to use it in 2047’) 3/. There has been zero consideration of my proposal to base any rejection or acceptance on at all. 4/. Forwarding my concerns to multiple known members of the committee I found that none of them knew anything of my proposal at all. The secretary, Stephen Witkowski replies with the royal ‘We’ in the messages putting me on indefinite hold, but there is in reality no ‘we’, just ‘he’. Other members of the committee have now promised to consider my offer, though no date is set for this other than ’soon’.
I have served on committees. I know how they are supposed to operate. I was elected secretary of a Humanism Society for ten years (1992 to 2002) No committee secretary should ever operate with such total autonomy as stown by Mr Witowski. Incoming queries other than requests for factual information like website addresses or the dates of public events, should be discussed with the other committee members who then collectively decide democratically how to reply. Stephen has acted alone on me, giving the impression misleadingly that it was a collective decision, when he has in reality bi-passed the whole point of the committee’s existence. All rather horribly rude and insensitive, given my anxiety levels due to my bowel cancer generated permanent stoma disabilities. Given my support over the years for their activity I expected more respect than this. I wonder how many other queries or offers of support for FFF activities have only been addressed by the secretary with zero consultation being passed on from him to any/all other committee members. Many small societies fail because no one offers assistance or suggest new ideas, but in this case, ideas is being suppressed without serious consideration. I fear one day a body like the FFF folding thinking no one is coming forward with anything for them to do, while some options they could have considered lie buried undisclosed on the whims of the secretary who leads to the activity/event/suggestion proposers thinking the society as a whole shared in the response that he threw back their way.
Saturday 4th July - While Americans celebrated Independence Day, I went to a meet up with local short film makers at the Ribble Pilot pub on Preston’s Riverside. It was a lovely gathering. The pub has a disappointing lack of real ale choice though. With four cask pumps, only one was on, dispensing Wainwright Gold, good when it was a Thwaites’s Ale, but reduced in quality since being taken over by Marston’s.
Sunday 5th July – Live poetry show, S Word made its monthly return to Vinyl Tap, and I was among several performers there. Huge thanks to the bar staff and Becca (Screwpes) Sharples for hosting the event and manager Sean Keefe for his terrific full English Breakfast service.
Films I watched during this time period.
Films marked * are available for free download on Youtube at the time of writing.
*All Day On The Sands (1979) https://letterboxd.com/arthurchappell/film/all-day-on-the-sands/
*Come Back Little Sheba (1977) https://letterboxd.com/arthurchappell/film/come-back-little-sheba-1977/
*Doggone Tired (1949) https://letterboxd.com/arthurchappell/film/doggone-tired/
*Food (1992) https://letterboxd.com/arthurchappell/film/food/
*Foli (2010) https://letterboxd.com/arthurchappell/film/foli/
*For My Crushed Right Eye https://letterboxd.com/arthurchappell/film/for-my-crushed-right-eye/
*Frankenweenie (1984) https://letterboxd.com/arthurchappell/film/frankenweenie/
*The Galaxy (1973) https://letterboxd.com/arthurchappell/film/the-galaxy/
*The Garden (2016) https://letterboxd.com/arthurchappell/film/the-garden-2016/
*The Garden Of Earthly Delights (1981) https://letterboxd.com/arthurchappell/film/the-garden-of-earthly-delights-1981/
*Ghost Dogs (2020) https://letterboxd.com/arthurchappell/film/ghost-dogs/
*Glass (1958) https://letterboxd.com/arthurchappell/film/glass-1958/
*The Good Time Girls (2017) https://letterboxd.com/arthurchappell/film/the-good-time-girls/
*Groundhog Day For A Black Man (2016) https://letterboxd.com/arthurchappell/film/groundhog-day-for-a-black-man/
*Haulout (2022) https://letterboxd.com/arthurchappell/film/haulout/
*One Fine Day (1979) https://letterboxd.com/arthurchappell/film/one-fine-day-1979/
*Two Distant Strangers (2020) https://letterboxd.com/arthurchappell/film/two-distant-strangers/
*The Water Rises (Year unknown) https://letterboxd.com/arthurchappell/film/the-water-rises/
Photos taken by me unless otherwise stated.
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