AV News 186 - November 2011
N A V C - A T rib u te to P e te r C o le s
Peter Wylde ARPS
It was with, not a small amount, of trepidation, that
on Friday 16th September, the first evening of the
National AV Championships at Sutton Bonnington,
I took my seat to hear Colin Balls’ and Ron Davies’
tribute to Peter Coles.
I mean, - can you blame me? Then, trepidation
turned to alarm when there at the bottom of the
screen I saw a line of numbers 1-14. No, not the
Kings of both dry and, doom and gloom, being let
loose on 14 of Peter’s sequences! (a sharp intake of
breath with a long slow outlet) It had been a long
day. I’d had words with that fellow in the red box at
the gate, when I came in! --- communicating --- communicating, oh! and
here’s a tip. Don’t ever listen to that woman in the little shiny box on the
dashboard. She will get you into nothing else than trouble. “Enter the
roundabout, then take the 3rd exit. Recalculating---- Recalculating”.
So, need I have worried?, Not a bit (fingers crossed behind my back).
After an introduction that gave us an insight into Peter’s busy and varied life
outside AV, we were treated to some really funny accounts of the trio’s
adventures when attending continental festivals. I really missed the Saturday
matinee piano though.
The dialogue was interspersed with excerpts from Peter’s sequences,
from Motorway, - (to which Peter wrote the script) - to Sarah and beyond.
They brought to the fore, without sentiment, that beautiful warmth that Peter
felt for his fellowman, and which endeared him to everyone.
Let me just finish with Peter’s closing words in Motorway.
And yet, and yet,
I find
my mind
can’t quite forget
that each sequence
only has consequence
in the present tense,
and how
that NOW
has for a million years relied
upon our free ride,
today
along imagination’s motorway.
Thank you both Colin and Ron, it was as I always knew it would be - Superb.
P.S. I did miss that matinee piano though.
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