Dean Jackson with Current Swell, Sylva Faye and Bearded Theory festival live. 
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E-mail Richard Spurr
richard.spurr@bbc.co.uk
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Richard Spurr with the Nottingham Knights Scooter Club
Nottingham Knights Scooter Club -
Richard with Glynn Hopkins and Paul Norton, period re-enactors
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Craig Deegan as 'Sylvia Jubilee'
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Richard 'kitted up' with firefighters Lee Newbold and Dave Needham
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Richard & The Ladyboys of Bangkok
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Studio Pics
Photographer Doug Chinnery popped in for a chat and took a few snaps of Richard at work.
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Studio Pics
Photographer Doug Chinnery popped in for a chat and took a few snaps of Richard at work.
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Studio Pics
Photographer Doug Chinnery popped in for a chat and took a few snaps of Richard at work.
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Studio Pics
Photographer Doug Chinnery popped in for a chat and took a few snaps of Richard at work.
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Wednesday 18 Aug - Beach extravaganza!
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Chris and Margaret Edge's Honey Recipes
APPLE STRUPER (APPLE JELLY WITH HONEY)
2 lb COOKING OR CRAB APPLES
SUGAR AND HONEY
Wash the apples. Slice into a pan with just enough water to cover them
Simmer until pulpy.
Strain through a jelly bag (or honey filtering cloth)
To each pint of juice add 3/4 lb sugar and 4oz honey
Simmer until setting point is reached stirring occasionally.
Pour into clean hot jars.
N.B. Spices can be added e.g. cinnamon or mixed spice.
1/2 level tsp per pint of juice and put in at the same time as the sugar and honey.
HONEY AND CHERRY CAKE
6oz BUTTER OR MARGE
3oz CASTOR SUGAR
3 tblspns RUNNY HONEY
3 EGGS
8oz SELF RAISING FLOUR
4oz GLACE CHERRIES, quartered
Drop of milk if needed
Method
Cream together the butter, sugar and honey
Beat in the eggs
Sift the flour and fold in but retain a little to flour the cherries
Add the cherries and mix in well adding a drop of milk if needed
Bake at 350 F gas 4 for around 1 hr in the middle of the oven
This will make one 2lb loaf tin or 2 1lb tins. Watch the cake as honey cakes burn easily (Don’t we know!) When the top is set place some foil on top until the cake is done and/or turn the temp down a little.
Store in an airtight tin. Best kept a few days before eating.
APPLE AND HONEY CRUMBLE serves two
8 oz SELF RAISING FLOUR
4oz COLD BLOCK MARGARINE OR BUTTER
Approx 4 des spns SUGAR (Demerara or granulated)
1 med. to large COOKING APPLE
Approx 1 des spn RUNNY HONEY
Method
Peel apple and slice into a microwavable ovenproof dish (Pyrex or ceramic)
just large enough to hold all the apple leaving room for the crumble topping.
Drizzle the honey over the apple.
Microwave on full for two minutes, chop and stir the mixture with a spoon then microwave for 1 more minute or until all the apple is cooked.
Make the crumble by rubbing together the flour, butter and sugar until it resembles breadcrumbs.
Spoon some of the crumble mix on top of the apple and cook in a medium oven (gas 4 or 5) until the crumble is golden brown. (15-20 mins) Serve with cream or custard or ice cream or plain yoghurt or Greek yoghurt etc.
NB The apple could be spiced up with a pinch of cinnamon or a handful of raisins before adding the crumble. There should be some crumble mix left. This can be stored in an air-tight container and kept in the salad drawer of the fridge for future use.
YOGHURT AND HONEY SCONES
8oz SELF RAISING FLOUR
1/2 tsp SALT
2oz COLD BUTTER OR BLOCK MARGARINE
1/4 pt PLAIN UNSWEETENED YOGHURT
3 tbl spns RUNNY HONEY
MILK TO GLAZE
Method
Rub together the flour, salt and butter until it resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in the honey and yoghurt and mix into a dough. Roll out on a floured board and cut into rounds approx 3/4’’ thick. Place on a greased baking tray. Brush with milk and sprinkle with Demerara sugar.
Cook for approx 15 mins on gas mark 6 until golden.
These scones are best eaten the same day but can be revived by putting in a warm oven for a few minutes.
GOLDEN HONEY AND GINGER CAKE
275g / 10oz PLAIN FLOUR
100g / 4oz BLOCK MARGARINE
100g / 4oz DEMERARA SUGAR
227g / 8oz GOLDEN SYRUP
100g / 4oz DARK OR CARAMELISED HONEY
2 tsp GROUND GINGER
1 tsp BICARB.
2 MEDIUM EGGS
150ml / 1/4 PINT HOT WATER
Gas 4 / 180°C middle shelf
Place the margarine, sugar, syrup and honey in a pan on a low heat to melt.
Line a 30cm x 23cm (12”x 9” ) roasting tin with tin foil.
Sift the flour, ginger and bicarb into a large mixing bowl.
Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the melted ingredients.
Beat well until combined. An electric food mixer is best.
Beat in the eggs then thoroughly mix in the hot water until it makes a smooth batter.
Pour into the tin. Bake for approx 45 mins or until the top springs back when pressed. Do not over cook or it could be too dry.
When cool wrap in foil for a few days before cutting into chunks.
Lovely warmed up with some custard.
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MEAD
Using 4lb of the dark or caramelised honey boil 6 pints of water, pour into a wine– making bucket (or similar with lid) leave to cool for a short while. While the water is still warm add the honey and stir to dissolve. If the honey has not yet been filtered it is easier to do it at this stage. Add 1/4 pint of strong tea (for the tannin) and the juice of 1 lemon (for the citric acid)
When the liquid is blood temp, stir in 1tsp wine making yeast (this has the nutrients already added) Champagne yeast is best if you can get it. When vigorous fermentation has ceased put the liquid in to a demi-john and fit the air lock. Keep in a warm room away from direct sun for at least a year then bottle. Don’t forget to check that the air lock does not dry out.
This will be a medium to sweet mead. -
Richard's Mum's Lemon Drizzle Cake Recipe
LEMON CAKE
6 oz (175 g) flour
6 oz (175 g) butter
6 oz (175 g) caster sugar
3 large eggs
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
Grated zest of one lemon plus 1 dessertspoon of the juice
Filling:
Jar of good quality lemon curd
Icing:
Zest of 1 lemon
2 oz Icing sugar
2-3 teaspoons lemon juice
Pre-heat the oven(170c/325f/Gas Mark 3)
Lightly grease two 7 inch tins and line their bases with greaseproof paper.
Take a large mixing bowl and sift flour and baking powder into it. Then add all the other ingredients, including the zest and juice to the bowl and whisk, preferably with an electric hand whisk until thoroughly combined. If the mixture doesn’t drop off a wooden spoon easily when tapped on the side of the bowl, then add 1 or 2 teaspoonfuls of tap-warm water and whisk again.
Divide mixture between the two prepared tins, level off and bake in the centre of the oven for about 30 minutes (20 minutes if fan assisted).
When the cakes are cold, slice each one carefully in half horizontally and sandwich the layers together with lemon curd. If you don’t want to make four layers, you can just sandwich the two cakes together with a slightly thicker layer of lemon curd.
To make the icing, first remove the zest from the lemon – if you have a zester you can get long, curly strips but if not just grate it and keep zest to one side for decoration.
Sift icing sugar into a bowl and gradually stir in the lemon juice until you have a soft, runny consistency. Allow the icing to stand for 5 minutes before spreading it on top of the cake with a knife, spread almost to the edges and it’s fine for it to run down the sides of the cake. Then scatter the lemon zest over the top and leave it for half an hour for the icing to firm up. -
Pudsey helps in the kitchen
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The BBC Children in Need Bake Off Cakes
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BBC Children in Need Bake Off Judges
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The BBC Children in Need Bake Off
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Pete Bridgwood’s Top Tips for Winter Landscapes
1) Take lots of pictures
The wonderful thing about digital photography is that it’s free. It doesn’t cost any more to take 100 photographs than a single photograph, and the more photographs you take, the more chance there is that you will get that beautiful photograph you’re aiming for. Don’t be afraid to snap away.
(2) ‘Compensate’ when photographing snowy scenes
Modern cameras are incredibly advanced and have very clever microprocessors controlling the exposure. Most of the time, they will produce perfect exposures, but one scenario that can fool the exposure metering system is snow. When you half-press the shutter release and the camera focuses on your intended scene, in an instant, the camera makes a number of calculations. Of course, the camera doesn’t know that you’re taking a picture of a brilliant white and bright snowy scene. The camera sees a very brightly lit scene and then tries to make the overall brightness of the image average gray. When it’s snowy and bright, this will tend to produce a gray underexposed image of the snow, not very pleasant. While it’s true that in many cases you can correct such incorrect exposure using your computer, it is definitely better to get things right at the picture taking stage. If your camera has an exposure compensation control, you should dial in some extra exposure of +1 to +2 to obtain a final image that renders the snow white and more naturally.
(3) Keep your camera cold
If you move your camera from a cold environment to a warm one, like when you’re getting back into the car to drive to a different location, then condensation might form inside it. On very cold days like we have been experiencing recently, it pays to keep the car cold when out looking for pictures. Also, when you get home, take the memory card out of the camera before you go inside. Keep your cold camera inside the camera bag when you bring it indoors to allow it to warm up slowly for an hour before you take it out.
(4) Keep your batteries warm
Unlike cameras, batteries like to be warm. There’s nothing that saps the power of a camera battery more than the cold. So keep a spare battery in your pocket, close to your skin to keep it warm. You can also use a hand-warmer to help this process.
(5) Try to see like a camera ‘sees’
When you are surveying the scene, try to mentally frame various parts of it with rectangles or squares, as thought you were looking at the scene through a letter-box. Although very difficult to do, if you can develop this skill, it will pay huge dividends. Also, try to think about how your scene will look when it’s compressed into a two dimensional photograph. When thinking about composition, it often helps to look at the scene through half-closed eye-lids. Try to think about the simple geometry of the scene, the balance of light and dark shapes within the frame. All these skills are what photographers call ‘visualisation’, the ability to clearly imagine what your final image will look like before you actually take the photograph.
(6) Make the most of fog and mist
Fog has the wonderful effect of de-cluttering backgrounds. Foreground objects sitting in usually cluttered scenarios are suddenly given centre-stage. Mist and fog can also create a mysterious atmosphere, and adding a sense of mystery is often a powerful way of creating more compelling landscape photographs.
(7) Make the most of ice and frost
On exceptionally cold nights, when atmospheric conditions allow, hoar frost will coat trees at dawn. The whole vista takes on a very magical winter wonderland appearance with all the branches looking brilliant pearly white. Don’t forget your camera when there is a hoar frost, it doesn’t get better than this !
(8) Make the most of the snow
If you can get out before dawn, you can catch the best of the freshly fallen snow before everyone christens it with footprints. Snow also has a transformative effect on the landscape. When everything gets a covering of the white-stuff, it lifts main subjects like trees and fences and offers them a brilliant white back-drop creating a homogenous white background for your photographs. This can be great for minimalist style images like a lonely tree on a hill covered with snow or more close-up pictures of reeds emerging from snow covered ground. Don’t be afraid to experiment and remember the words of Andy Warhol who said “art is whatever you can get away with”.
Above all, have fun. Photography is a wonderful and creative thing to do, it’s good for the soul. Modern cameras are capable of producing images of extremely high quality, so why not go out and see if you can create an image to frame for your wall. Enjoy !
Pete Bridgwood
www.petebridgwood.com
