That's wonderful news! I'd thought it had just been put into storage again. As soon as they let us travel again, Shildon here I come! Actually, where is Shildon?
Though I have never seen Rowland Emett's work ("things") in person, I have been fascinated with them ever since watching Chitty Chitty Bang Bang as a child. Today, I run the Roanoke Pinball Museum in Virginia keeping our fleet of electromechanical machines entertaining our guests from all over the world. I am happy to see that automata and kinetic art is still beloved by so many... especially in our modern "age of screens"!
Wonderful memories - I took my grandson and his friend to see this exhibition. They'd never met 'Emett' before, and two teenage boys were absolutely entranced by the pure unalloyed wonder of it. Indeed, I loved it so much I went back for a second helping and shot some film of my own. I don't think I have ever seen so happy a crowd of visitors on either day - everybody came out smiling.
Now I can enjoy a quiet afternoon in cloud cuckoo valley at any time of the day or night :) Btw, Basildon´s Eastgate Centre does have an Emett imagineered "Thing" that was commissioned in 1981 and known locally as the Cat´s Cradle Pussiewillow lll clock.
There is also a recently restored Emett clock in the Victoria centre in Nottingham, although it’s been moved to the back because the space it takes up was stopping them selling stuff..
Yes, the Emmett clock is still in Nottingham. I also had the delightful privilege of seeing the clock in Basildon shopping centre on numerous occasions as a child. Back then, we even had some Emmett wallpaper in our house for many years.
I'd query 'span around' I believe that current UK English would suggest 'spun around'. But I suppose I am a dinosaur, and the US/Microsoft syntax and grammar will sweep me, and my generation, away. Good to see Emett's work, that said!
Does anyone know what the music is in the background? I'm trying to find out what the music was that used to play with Emetts Featherstone-Kite (which used to be in the Merrion Centre Leeds) - that was harpsicord music too.
My online search for the Basildon Pussiewillow lll Clock mentioned that Nottingham´s Emett clock called The Time Fountain or The Aqua Horological Tintinnabulator, plays some harpsichord music by J P Rameau.
No, it isn't wrong. GEN 1E is a genuine, privately owned registration plate - what we used to call a 'cherished mark' in the days when I issued them for a living. No other car can thus have that number, so GEM 11 will be the nearest similar plate that this car's owner could get. Each is right for the vehicle to which it is attached.