The 2nd Open Art Exhibition at Luton Hoo

Preparations are well under way for this year’s Open Art Exhibition being held in the The Conservatory, a semi-permanent Marquee within the Walled Garden at Luton Hoo. The exhibition opens on the 18th March, and continues till 20th. Full details can be found at: http://www.lhwg.org.uk
I went along to the gardens and to the former Mushroom House, but there was less activity in these areas than normal, partly due to my somewhat late arrival, and also the weather was far from conducive. Work upon the Boiler-House drains was being undertaken by two keen lady volunteers at the front, where the grilles above what I soon realised were windows from the cellar, were being cleared of several wheelbarrow loads of soil and stones! At the rear two men were at work trying to clear a sump at the bottom of the stairs, of several years’ worth of oily sludge.
Out in the gardens a lone female was later to be seen tilling the soil with a hoe.

In the marquee were numerous people hanging paintings, assembling the bar area, up ladders attending to the spotlighting, whilst around the schools exhibits children, their parents and teachers were putting the finishing touches to their chefs d’oeuvres. I have tried to capture the overall picture of the displays and some of those beavering away to make the show a success.

I look forward to taking a closer look in the evening at the Preview to which I have been invited.

Jarvis and Toureen Mangan Harpenden – Bricks & Blocks

The Foresters Development must have many righteous working on site, since despite the forecast for drizzle and clouds, the sun was out quite often for my visit today.

The most obvious work to be seen on site this visit was brickwork and blockwork, the slabs appear to be complete, but iron reinforcing for staircases are still being prepared, and many of the drain services are to be seen sprouting from beneath areas of concrete, or close to concrete sumps.

It was interesting to capture artistic drips of concrete, the repetitive pattern formed from black plastic drain pipes, and the initials of the Groundworks company from items of building material hardware, spotted whilst moving around the site covering the ongoing work.