Brightening from the East by Ken Worpole
Living across the country, in South Wales, the Essex landscape seems very alien to me. From the hills and mountains which surround much of my local area, Essex is (in contrast) something completely different, where the landscape is far more accessible to the viewer, being far more horizontal than the constant uphill clamberings I’m very used to here in my home town.
As such, I was rather intrigued by Brightening from the East by Ken Worpole, who delivers a personal perspective on the Essex landscape, opening up this region to a wider audience, and very welcome it is too.
From the opening pages of Brightening from the East, we feel this is very much a book of the heart, belonging to an area that is not just an area the author grew up in, but fond remembrances from the heady days from promoting Rock ‘n’ Roll bands in local clubs, the post-war growth which transformed not just the Essex region, but also much of the landscape across the UK to smoked kippers Worpole’s retelling of not just his own history brings to life an area where new ideas flourished, from immigrant settlers, to the sculptured gardenscapes by figures such as Capability Brown.
For me, this was the most fundamental attraction to Brightening from the East, as living across the other side of the country, much of this was very familiar to me and, I imagine, would be for many others who live in such areas. Having grown up in an area where we had our own music and art scene in the mid-1990s, and surrounded by areas of outstanding natural beauty, and where immigration has immeasurably contributed to the lives we live today, I found many of these essays resonated personally.
In Brightening from the East, Ken Worpole not only celebrates the ever-changing Essex landscape, but also brings closer to home our own reason to celebrate our own landscapes and those who help change them for future generations, making our understanding of them ever-important in today’s Britain.
- Brightening from the East by Ken Worpole is published by Little Toller Books (£16.00). To order a copy, go to www.littletoller.co.uk
