An award winning blog 
for ‘the blog that brightens our day’!
‘Finding my feet in Brighton’ – has news, views, things happening in Brighton. visits to London – poetry in progress, home spun philosophy, reflections on life as a new age oldie and what is now known as a silver surfer!
Blogging is brilliant, after all there is only so much knitting one can do in retirement and I don’t knit. But if you think of retirement as a couple walking into the sunset, as they did on those old life insurance ads, with my blog you’ll have to forget it!
If you want to blog do get some help to get you started. I muddled through and made every mistake under the sun e.g there are too many categories but at least you can see what you are getting!
Readers comments - ’Great blog, it’s like a magazine without having to pop to the shops to buy one in the rain.’ ‘Love the blog especially the bits about the wisdom or not of retiring to the sea!’
I steadfastly try to avoid ‘what I had for breakfast’ and most entries are mercifully short.
I add new posts at least once a week, please click on the link http://annperrin.wordpress.com/finding-my-feet-in-later-life/ for the latest one, or read about my poetry, creative enterprises, or watch one of my tiny films first
‘Don’t Throw Away the Daisies’ 
John McCullough is a local modern poet who teaches at Sussex University, his latest book is called ‘The Frost Fairs’ is available on Amazon.
‘Don’t Throw Away the Daisies’ Kiersty Boon – This collection of poems, fully illustrated by the author, is a wonderful journey from a magical childhood of puppets and seaside towns, through to the complexities and joys of everyday life, before coming full circle to enjoy fairy stories and the seaside with grandchildren. As well as personal thoughts on growing older. The delicacy of the difficult stages and memories experienced are offset with humorous anecdotes and magical tales for the young and old alike.
Kiersty Boon Author of ‘Writing on Chalk’
‘Don’t Throw Away the Daises’ Please ask for it at Serendipity the gift shop in Rottingdean High Street or in The Open Art Cafe gift wrapped and all for £6.00. Or from Lulu, Amazon in b/w colour or as an eBook.
1. Click here for the black and white version.
2. Click here for the colour version.
watercolour – oil Robin - print
Available as an eBook from Lulu 
Or in print from Amazon. Black and White Edition 
Colour Edition One of the pictures above is the Pier ballroom.
Our family did the puppetry for the feature film ‘Oh What a Lovely War’ in the 60s on its worn wooden boards, our marionettes being directed by the great Lord Attenborough no less. When the pier was burning down, I rushed down from London to sit in silence with hundreds of others.
One or two years later I spent two days watching the clearance of the site see ’The Dance of Destruction of the West Pier’ on youtube.
In 2010 I wrote a poem ‘The Fall of the West Pier’ so it has been a sort of love affair.
Please click on arrow in centre of the film to watch it.
‘The old dry stone wall’ was once a picture book. 
It jumped over several hurdles at the Oxford University Press, but a year later an editor changed and they didn’t proceed. So now it’s a poem for children in my book.
I don’t think it’s so much about who you know, more about being committed to your ideas and being in the right place at the right time, commonly known as luck!
Please click on arrow on centre of the film to watch it.
I have always been a writer, mainly freelance journalism. I once surprised myself by having an article published in the ‘Sunday Times’ supplement. I photocopied the cheque and framed it and my play ‘Travelling Nowhere’ was performed at the Young Vic.
All about writing my blog
A roller coaster into retirement really, or in truth, a pictorial diary of a nobody. However I love writing, and in later life it is very therapeutic. It is also a relief that I no longer have to join the fray in order to get published.
I was advised by those that know about these things, to make my blog look as professional as possible which is really hard because my punctuation was never very good and my schooling spasmodic.
I like proof readers and editors which I was lucky enough to have for my book, but here one is on one’s own, so mistakes do slip through. I have a purge from time to time and go over several early posts and do my best to correct them.
My blog inevitably reflects who I am, a Londoner, puppeteer, single parent, late start academic, tutor, artist, writer, part time most things, carer twice and grandmother to three grandsons. There are no blueprints for retirement I guess we all just muddle through.
I moved with my long-term partner to the south coast four years ago. I think we were heading for Hove, but had no sat nav and are both rubbish at map reading.
The move came after caring for my mother, who had died, giving up my job and selling the tiny house that I had lived in for 30 years. My partner sold his house too and we decided to start a new life.
House hunting and moving was no fun at all! We found a house, lost it, found another one, lost it, lived in our campervan for 3 weeks in the rain, found another house and finally carted everything out of storage.
As soon as we had settled in, I joined things, too many things, reading groups, writing groups, art classes, the gym and felt utterly confused. I knew I had to assess this new life a bit better, so took time out to make a London cottage garden out of our rather overgrown patch at the seaside. Well sort of!
I gave up trying to ‘fit in’ in, went for walks on the beach, gathered up my poetry, wrote some new poems and published my book. Then I discovered something I had often thought about trying stand up comedy!
I wondered if I still had any stage presence left, especially as Brighton is a tough place for new acts. However, I had done a short course at the City Lit. two years previously, so I took the bull by the horns and signed up with the inspirational Jill Edwards for her comedy course in Brighton.
The group attracted people of all ages, who were creative and funny. It was now a question of writing material in a different way, trying it out with one’s peers, getting feedback from Jill. She was both encouraging and a very tough task master. The last hurdle was trying to find a place to perform.
See post ’Standup comedy as a career for oldies.’ The course was hard work but loads of fun. It is is also mainly a young person’s activity and attracts more men than women. I won’t stay in the comedy game, but it gave me renewed energy.
Ann’s gig at The Greys in Hanover. It’s about ageing and all that jazz! Please click on the arrow in the centre of the film to watch it.
Alan, my partner, returned to his musical interests and started calling his violin a fiddle.
Alan’s new found fiddle skills -’A flurry of seagulls’ click on the arrow in centre of film to watch. It lasts a whole minute.
Or Alan on banjo, Paul on whistle and admiring goats. Another minute!
Other pages on this blog.
Light verse -(please click on title on header) they are what they are!
‘The Bus Pass’ and ’The contents of my handbag’ etc. I have recently discovered the world of performance poetry and these events have poems of all kinds. I am currently juggling with my poetry, writing new material and trying to decide what on what is suitable for performance poetry.
Poems and notes -(please click on title on header)
Someone suggested some poem can benefit from notes, so I started to do this, but the three poems that follow are without explanation.
Beachcombing
Where a solitary seafull flew.
hopeful of any unexpected catch
an old man moved along
the deserted seashore.
glancing skywards.
as it to ward off new invaders.
He kept his gaze low,
pausing then pouncing,
hands sifting piles of slippery pebbles,
“Makes a good walk” he called,
digging to retrieve his bounty -
two battered 20p coins.
“Like poetry?”
he called, I nodded,
so with one hand cupped
to the side of his mouth,
warding off competiton
from the roar of the wind
on the incoming tide,
he launched into a sonnet.
His words swooped, soared,
glided past present reality
and far out to sea,
I clapped respectfully
as he continued to work the beach
as any showman might
reaping his due rewards for such
a powerful performance.
———————-
Weaving Spells
He was a magician to us
weaving spells with wood and clay
Other people’s dads went to work
and reappeared for supper.
Ours spent his days
and most nights
carving marionettes
in his cluttered workshop
He was always engrossed
kneading clay or carving wood.
The music of Glen Miller blaring
from a battered radio
We would clink through the chaos
with mother’s homemade cakes
the smell mingling with the stench of glue
boiling on an ancient cooker.
Our faces shone with shy smiles
as his hand took the teacup.
He had been whisked away to war
we barely knew him.
We lived at Gran’s
and discovered him one day
in the hallway
with a battered trunk
A soldier
in a coarse khaki uniform
a clarinet in a case
and chocolate in his pockets.
—————————-
Reconciliation
Seeds take flight with softest blow
on dandelion clocks you know.
Forever?
How long can that be?
And who’s in charge of time. Tell me?
Twin spirits drift and sometimes fly?
but cannot separate for die
Distance is all in the mind,
a word for space I think you’ll find.
Alienation is a choice.
but takes an angry tone of voice.
Despite the walls. the gates, the locks,
think of seeds around the clock.
They drift, they fly. they find some ground,
and safely grow until they’re found.
Youtube update – (please click on title on header)
Many of my films on youtube are about our marionettes, because I sought out camera and editing skills to make them. But some of the others have been been made just for fun. One or two have won awards in small competiions.
Virginia Woolf”s Garden is one of the latest films and one of my favourites.
Monet’s Garden is another.
Puppethouse Mayhem (please click on title on header)
This page is an update for puppethouse. http://www.puppethouse.co.uk/ which is a dedicated website that has been in existence for about 15 years and is about our marionette/puppet history from 1946 to the present day.
It was conceived in order to celebrate the work of Ron and Joan Field’s my parents Marionette Company ( I too joined the family business). Our family were one of the first touring puppet companies after the war.
I hope that their work continues to be recognised for its contribution to the world of puppetry.
The film I am most proud to have made with my mother, only eight years before she died, is ‘The story of our magical marionettes’
We often included the White Rabbit as a musical number in our shows, but bigger scenes from ‘Alice in Wonderland’ were always part of our full scale marionette productions both in Blackpool and Scarborough in the 50s and 60s.
The film that follows is based on elements of our performances.
It took forever… filmed in London, partly in my garden and partly in my loft. (my mother clambered up the ladder to the loft well into her seventies).
When I was 18 my mother and I had different cabaret acts and we sometimes performed in Variety in theatres on opposite sides of the country. Later in life as far as careers were concerned we went our separate ways.
Filming our marionettes a few years ago was a chance for my mother and I to create something new out of the chaos our lives. We both regarded it as a labour of love.
However to re-create the Puppet Circus was just hard work. Regrettably there was none of the repartee of the clowns that was part of its fame. But my father had died 12 years previously and although I have a sound recording of the show, it was one step too far to include it.
Ann and Eccles at GSPS event 2011
Eccles insisted on pulling the cord for the Goon Show Plaque.
——————————————————————————————
Yes, of course one of the joys in life is to be a mother and now a grandmother. But I seldom blog about them all as I do not want to invade their privacy. However my eldest son Robin Perrin is now a Sports injury and holistic masseur with a practice in Biggin Hill. My youngest son Paul has an IT company (he made our www.puppethouse website) but also took up Punch and Judy in his tea half hour a couple of years ago. See the highlights from his show on the terraces in Rottingdean 2011
For love of my allotment (please click on title on header)
Joy upon joy, something dear to my heart, a wonderful new allotment plot!
This page on the header is an almost weekly update about our new starter plot on The Weald in Hove, for the more detailed information ‘For love of my allotment’ please see link at the end of the page.
Please don’t forget to read my new posts.
To subscribe to this blog please click on link on th left to get email notifications of new posts.
And the best bit – for all those living in and around Rottingdean.
Cafe Poets ’Pop in and write a poem workshop’ from me to you and completely free! They take place on the first Wednesday morning of every month – (except July and August) at The Open Arts Cafe Nevill Road Rottingdean 10.30 to 12.30. Good if you can buy a tea or coffee to support the venue - inspiration, exercises, sharing, news of events in Brighton and competitions, but no crits.
I never mind if I write there on my own, but the workshop will always take place even if there is one other person (usually 6 or more) for aspiring or apprentice poets please. Prima donnas not allowed!
Oh and why not support all this enterprise and pop into the cafe for my poetry book?
Best wishes
Ann Perrin BA. M.Sc.
My other blogs -Starter Plot on the Weald – for love of my allotment - a small field with a leaky pond gets some tlc.
http://forloveofmyallotment.wordpress.com/ 
Posted in ann perrin | Tags: ann perrin poetry, creative writing, puppetry, youtube updates, light verse, art, standup comedy, irony, oldies fight back, finding my feet in Brighton – news and views, SAD, Saltdean, Rottingdean, The Weald Allotment. Out and about in London.
Ann, is it possible to get a copy of the illustrated version of an Old Dry Stone Wall?
Is it a book yet or just a Utube video?
Ann, lovely to find your blog, it is beautifully done, and you do not look –! It must be all your talents, and your child like persona which I loved at Lumb Bank. As you know I raced away on the Friday, thus escaping my cooking session (!) and got to Switzerland, god knows how, he directed me with his clever finger, at ten that evening..my beloved poet died the next morning at 7, ————I haven’t quite got over it, September 11th too. So haven’t written a poem since, not yet, I did take my partner’s ancestral clothes etc back to Jerusalem (he was Bishop there for 33 years in 1856) and spent four weeks as a Palestine activist documenting the terrible things the israelis do to these occupied people, so I guess I moved in another direction. Keep up the good work – much love (PS: just sold three of my poetry books on Amazon! That was something…)
Wow! What a story, hope you get back to your poetry eventually and make steady progress in recovering. Congrats on books. Love Ann
Lovely to meet you on Sunday at Kay’s workshop. So glad I noted down your blog. So much here to enjoy! I love the artwork and the poetry seems so warm and sincere to me.
I’ll be back for more reading but hope to see you at the next workshop in January. Let’s hope the weather is as kind.
Dear Ann,
Sitting between doing things feeling a bit SAD, some memories popped into my head. The Rotherhithe Workshop came up and how I pondered about the time I sent there, while not really understanding why I was there! Of course it was you who set this up after we met teaching (Lanfranc?). I did a search and was so pleased to find your website with all the wonderful creative stuff bursting out of it.
Great to get nice comments and yes loved Rotherhithe Workshops, my dad worked there too for a few years. After his death found a cutting from the Standard saying he had helped set up the Brunel museum over there. In our family we never knew what the other members of the family were up to half the time!
No idea where we met, but Lanfranc – How I loved the Head, great at supporting teachers as well as pupils.
Got a brill film on youtube about Sands Studio, well I like it.
Was not sure about the SAD page, only been up a month…but will keep it up.
Take care Ann
Just to jog your memory – we had many conversations in the staffroom, then you took me with you one afternoon to the gypsy unit where IKEA now is. A few months later you found me a job with Ron at Rotherhithe! My sister remembers meeting you at a party in Elmer’s Rd where she was transfixed by your involvement with Pelham Puppets (a great favourite of hers). The Puppethouse site and history is wonderful – I had no idea at the time that Ron was master puppet-maker and along with your mother had been such leading figures in their field (no pun intended).
Hi Ann
I loved ‘Weaving Spells’; I was there in the moment with you.
No wonder you are so creative it’s in the genes.
Sue Bartlett