ROCK AND ROLL THATCHING | part 1

by

“Wet sacks, misfit carrots, mis-shaped potatoes, crafty otters, bastard magpies, and yellowhammer chicks shouting for grub…”

“I might go and grab an oil drum…”

Blustering wind and railing sun, the flatlands, a spring day, 23 April 2014. Carting-in 480 bundles of water-reed on the Norfolk Broads – one of the mad and beautiful preliminary stages of the thatching process.

A film by :
Julian Simmons – camera / editing / incidental music.

Featuring :
Wally Mason – traditional Norfolk reed cutter.
Dominic Meek – thatcher and chairman of the East Anglia Master Thatchers Association.

Having heard about the one-and-only Wally Mason, stories of brawls, hard men and knocked-out teeth, I grabbed the most inconspicuous, rough-and-ready camera I could muster! As it turned out Wally’s tough talk was more of an armour, bloke-banter for blokes. He was well turned out – as folk who work with the land are in these parts, sporting quite a dandy jumper. At heart, Wally was an ol’ romantic, he knew about all of nature …mating on the wing, and the heavenly ‘golden-hour’.

As for Dom, well he is Suffolk’s rock & roll thatcher. Fully immersed in the capers and shenanigans in the Kingdom of the East Angles, and also chairman of East Anglia Master Thatchers Association. For details of his field-to-roof artisanship, dmthatching

 

rock-and-roll-thatching-wally-mason-dom-meek-julian-simmons-1 rock-and-roll-thatching-wally-mason-dom-meek-julian-simmons-2
rock-and-roll-thatching-wally-mason-dom-meek-julian-simmons-5 rock-and-roll-thatching-wally-mason-dom-meek-julian-simmons-6
rock-and-roll-thatching-wally-mason-dom-meek-julian-simmons-4 rock-and-roll-thatching-wally-mason-dom-meek-julian-simmons-7
rock-and-roll-thatching-wally-mason-dom-meek-julian-simmons-8 rock-and-roll-thatching-wally-mason-dom-meek-julian-simmons-3
rock-and-roll-thatching-wally-mason-dom-meek-julian-simmons-12 rock-and-roll-thatching-wally-mason-dom-meek-julian-simmons-9
rock-and-roll-thatching-wally-mason-dom-meek-julian-simmons-10 rock-and-roll-thatching-wally-mason-dom-meek-julian-simmons-11

 

Credits :

Wally Mason  [dandy diamond pullover]
Luke Mason  [red T-shirt]
Dominic Meek  [Rebel 8]
Freddie Willows  [Os Mutantes]
Diesel / chief ratter  [coarse ginger fur]