little Bentley hall waterways and garden show

Little Bentley Hall Waterways & Garden Show takes place again 1st & 2nd June, at Little Bentley, CO7 8SD.


Last held in 2014 we raised £85,000 in the weekend for local Essex Charities, and had 8,000 visitors to the Palmer Tomkinsons Private Gardens considered 'One of the the finest Private Gardens in East Anglia' which only ever opens for this event.


There will be an ART SHOW so any local artists do contact us for Entry Form. 


We will have 6 Show Gardens ( 3 already booked) so if you know any Garden Designers that would like to create a Show Garden up to Chelsea standards get them to contact us. There will be 60 Plant and Craft Stands, we have just a few still available to book so be quick if your interested. Brass Bands , Hot and Cold Food will be available all weekend. The event starts with a Private Invitation only Gale Preview Evening on Friday 31st May for 6-9pm with a Military Band, Wine and Canapes .If you would like an invitation please contact - nigel@garden-shows.com.. 

Change in Charcoal

Valerie Irwin Archive Project

An artist's response to the demolition and construction at Cranfield's Flour Mill at the Ipswich Dock between 2004 and 2009.

This powerful piece of art amounts to 4,050 drawings and 25 sketchbooks. Many of these were quick responses, gestural, action and multi-layered as well as observational drawings.

The Valerie Irwin Archive Project charity intends to raise funds to ensure public access to the collection through the including:

  • Costs involved involved in preservation of the drawings
  • Purchase of archive suitable storage files and boxes
  • Cost of digitising particular selections and sequences of drawings which would be of particular interest to the public.

All work with cataloguing, packing, oral history compilation and organisation will be conducted by volunteers under the guidance of the Suffolk Record Office.

Below are a few images from the collection showing a mixture of  construction and demolition. 


For further information and to contribute to this archive visit www.valerieirwinarchiveproject.co.uk

Ipswich Art Society member Mark Beesley has won the prestigious Hugh Casson Drawing Prize at this year's Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, for his drawing 'Mock Tudor'.

The Summer Exhibition, now in its 250th year, is open to professional and amateur artists who, if successful, get to see their work hung alongside that of Royal Academicians like David Hockney, Peter Blake and Tracy Emin. This year around 20,000 works were submitted, of which less than 1000 were hung; they were selected by a jury of RA members under the overall direction of Grayson Perry. 


There are 10 prizes awarded for works in different categories; the Hugh Casson prize is for £5000. Sir Hugh Casson was an eminent architect who co-ordinated the Festival of Britain in 1951 and was also a well-known illustrator and President of the Royal Academy.