Martin Newell revisits the Roman circus

Today (22nd April), well-known Wivenhoe poet and performer Martin Newell revisited the Roman circus centre. He came to our opening day on the 28th March, met our Boudicca re-enactor and had a nice cup of tea in our cafe. He then wrote a great review of the opening day and the circus centre, site and cafe in the East Anglian Daily Times, which was published on the 7th April: this is ‘Martin Newell’s Joy of Essex: A day out, a bit of history… and then a nice cup of tea and cake’, at www.eadt.co.uk/ea-life/martin_newell_s_joy_of_essex_a_day_out_a_bit_of_history_and_then_a_nice_cup_of_tea_and_cake_1_4024583 .

We invited Martin to come back and have a look round the circus centre on a quieter day, and he had another nice cup of tea in our cafe with Trust director Philip. Martin likes the Roman circus centre and also rather likes the large ground-floor room as a performance space – he even suggested that he would come back and perform here one evening with his band…

Martin has written about the heritage of Colchester and district before, in ‘Martin Newell’s Joy of Essex: Ah, Roman Essex. Fish, bears, and no radio spoiling the calm’, at www.eadt.co.uk/ea-life/martin_newell_s_joy_of_essex_ah_roman_essex_fish_bears_and_no_radio_spoiling_the_calm_1_3650561  and  ‘Martin Newell’s Joy of Essex: Shining a light on unmapped parts of fascinating Colchester’ at www.eadt.co.uk/ea-life/martin_newell_s_joy_of_essex_shining_a_light_on_unmapped_parts_of_fascinating_colchester_1_4038420 . Two books that he wrote with James Dodds, ‘The song of the Waterlily, the building of a boat’ and ‘Black Shuck’, are inspired by Essex history and folklore. He is currently working on his next book with James Dodds, ‘The green children’, which should be published in the autumn. Martin is a musician, singer, recording artist, writer and songwriter, poet, performer and columnist. You can see him perform at the annual Golden Afternoon and Xmas poetry bash events at Colchester Arts Centre. He recently performed ‘The song of the waterlily’ with the Hosepipe band in Wivenhoe, where he lives. Visit his web-site at www.martinnewell.co.uk/ .

With thanks to Martin for visiting the Roman circus centre and for the great review.

The images show Martin in conversation with Boudicca at the opening day (please write your own words for that encounter) and in our cafe, today, with a sustaining cup of tea.

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