Tour Blog 10: NCEM, York

Day 10 began in a wet and autumnal Cockermouth. After a quick jaunt to the wool shop, and back to the guest house, where I had once again left something in my room, we headed for the Cumberland Pencil Museum. As a portrait artist, James Budden is a pencil enthusiast, and was keen to learn even more about pencils. I learnt that pencils are made from graphite which comes from bits of the Lake District. I also learnt that the ends of coloured pencils are dipped in paint to show what colour they are. We all saw the worlds largest pencil, and watched a film about the making of pencils which was followed by an extract from Raymond Brigg’s ‘The Snowman’. After a drawn out length of time spent in the gift shop, James bought a biro with ‘The Cumberland Pencil Museum’ on it. In hindsight, I wish I’d been more insistent that we should then go to the ‘World of Beatrix Potter’ in Windermere. My request was dismissed by the rest of the band, so clutching our pencils, we headed for York. Our support for the York gig was duo, Katriona Gilmore and Jamie Roberts, who I hadn’t seen before but had heard great things about. Their set and the level of their musical proficiency was captivating. I found their song writing very moving, and they seemed to cast a spell over the audience. Post gig I had an interview with Alan Wilkinson and the band played a round of ‘hide Scott’s laptop’, before heading back to the guest house.