Meeting the Greens

Some of you will recognise the chap in the blue shirt from our last post about the Bridge Podcast. His name is Steve Keevil and he’s running for election as a councillor in River ward.

Steve invited Medway Eyes (that’s Rew and Anna on the left) to meet Keith Taylor, the Green MEP for the South East (foot on stump) and members of the Medway Green Party to talk about the new bus station that is to be built on the Paddock.  Trees have already been felled in preparation for this, despite reports that only 360 of Medway’s 250,000 population have actually been consulted about this (and even then, 69% of those canvassed didn’t want the station to be built on the Paddock). We discussed this lack of consultation and the environmental impact of the project.  We were surprised to learn that Medway Renaissance and SEEDA are no more (something that we hadn’t seen in the local press) and pleased to discover how Brussels can sometimes help to bring councils to account.

We took the Greens for a walk along Desolation Row to discuss our ongoing multimedia project, the area’s history, empty shops and the tragedy of the Theatre Royal. There was general agreement that what we were walking through didn’t feel like a city, and we went on to discuss the individual character of each of Medway’s distinct towns.

It was interesting to discover how much we all had in common, something that party politics will never quite be able to grasp – at least not while infantile point scoring, careerism and ideology are deemed more important than dialogue.

One last note:  At no point did the Greens ever preach policy at us or ask if they could count on our votes, and we – not being party political – found that very refreshing.

Retro Post #5: May 2009 – Tidal Flow

Tidal Flow was the second collaborative exhibition from Medway Eyes. Initially invited to the Riverside Country Park for two weeks, the Tidal Flow exhibition proved so popular that it was extended. Twice. The opening was more family orientated than is usual for a photography exhibition, and we swapped our berets and cigarette holders for a picnic and some champagne in a plastic pint pot (courtesy of Mukkjoy).
The exhibition itself was inspired by the river. All photographs were taken along the Medway from Allington Lock, downstream as far as the mouth of the Medway at Garrison point, and east along the Swale, past Faversham Creek and as far as Seasalter.

You can see slideshows of the whole exhibition and the accompanying gig at the Barge on our website.