Nolitex, Black Pigs and a Pumping Station

Well, weekend saw us away again in Nottingham.  My friend Liz had once again taken part in the Nolitex exhibition.  Sadly because of her being ill she had not made quite the same amount of things as in previous times but nevertheless she was a part of it.

We were lucky as Sunday was a lovely day and the sun came out for us and the dancers.  But I get ahead of myself.  We were at Papplewick Pumping Station.  The Nolitex exhibition is only open on "Steam Days" and we thought we were going to have to wait until the end of August but I saw something on Facebook which said they were open this weekend.

Chas went for the "Steam", I went for the "art side" of things and got more than I bargained for.  

Some pieces from the Nolitex exhibition:

I think the one above is Liz's - as the exhibition was up two flights of narrow stairs I could not manage to go and see it so I have had to rely on photographs by Chas.  Sad but at least I got some photos.

These last two were from Liz and Judith, above a flag tag book and below a secret message box - you can only see the message by looking through the mirror.

The pumping room itself was very ornate and I was fascinated by the metalwork on the pillars and the lovely central lamp

everything ties in to "water"

Some of the big machines used to pump the water

The Winding Engines

Beam Engines

I will upload some more pictures another day but now I guess you are all wondering about the Black Pigs ... well here is a taster.

Only one of 28 photos I took - I so enjoyed watching and listening to them.  The outfits were fantastic - seeing them made my day with my not being able to see the exhibition.  Here's some blurb I picked up:

  

And here are some of my photographs.  There were the musicians

and there were the dancers

and what great music and a great time the dancers had

The big ferocious looking guy coming down between two of the male dancers seemed to be the leader or shouter.  He entertained us with a quick (rude) rhyme to begin with.  I just loved the costumes.  Apparently they make their own tail coats and decorate their hats as they want, no direction given so it was flowers, feathers and anything else.

This was taken before the performance.  When they were resting?  I use a questioning tone there because they actually were playing instruments at varying times.  The guy in the red made a bee lilne for me after one of the dances as he wanted to sit on my stroller - as he said "this is a game for the young ones" but that was after several energetic dances smashing one another's sticks.

and lastly, my favourite coat - dia de los Muertos

 love the boots too!