This September, I rolled* out of bed and walked less than 2 minutes to work. Through the working morning of Paignton dawn, I walked round 3 corners and into a magical creative space. This definitely needs celebrating! In the centre of a grockle holiday-maker heaven, there is a plane of glass dividing the business-as-usual from radical arts, creative community and workshop. It is up to Filament/WideOpen to find a link to ensure these two worlds communicate, but there is also another world in this mix. Maybe the most important to the organisations mentioned, the people, the locals, the community of Torbay. We live, sleep, play and work in our UNESCO Geo-park** – the rock around us speaks to us, it is our culture – I  am part of this community, we are here all year round, not just cheap summer deals for a break away from where ever city folk want to escape from.

We did it, we did it! I cannot describe just how ecstatic Jen and I were when reading the ACE outcome letter – elevated even more when we phoned Squeeze Box artists to let them know this fantastic news. The sense of relief was quickly washed over by utter excitement. The simple fact that we can dream again rather than wade through engagement numbers, quality assurance, buzz words in character culls, etc, is one of the best feelings in the world. Maybe to help paint the image of why my smile did not leave my face all evening, let me take you through the agonising moments of receiving the email saying a decision was made, to me having to log on to Grantium to get the actual outcome. We were going to break for tea and I just happened to look back at my desktop to see the email pop up and we both.... froze.... looked at each other. back to the screen... Jen’s excitement, my panic, our trepidation, my disappointment, Jen’s exhilaration, our terror.... back to the screen. All thoughts of hunger had truly left us! In the intervening time from finding out there was outcome to finding out what the result was, I was muttering: “at least we will know that we haven’t got the funding”, “we can start planning another application in earnest now”, “I will feel happier knowing for sure that we didn’t get the funding rather than hoping – it’s hope that kills you” … that is how utterly convinced I was that we weren’t going to be awarded the grant! We had to open it there and then and screams and squeals of delight followed by happy tears, hugs, thanks and some very high-pitched phone calls……………