moving on 2008 Lewes district primary schools annual ... - Viva Lewes

MYLEWES
I meet Jenny Mumford in the garden café at the back
of Lewes Patisserie, where with some irony, we can hear
drilling from the very developments (Baxters Printworks
and Lewes House) to which she has been drawing the
public’s attention with her Glenda Slagg ‘More development?
Aren’tcha sick of it?!’ cartoon.
Profession: I’m an artist and illustrator. After studying
fine art and graphics, I ended up on Fleet Street working
for a publishing firm, designing book jackets. One
lunchtime, a rep saw me doodling and asked me to illustrate
a series of Enid Blyton books. Then I went to
work for Decca records, designing record sleeves and
booklets for opera sets and classical albums. Twenty
years ago, I did a comic illustration of the fictitious Private
Eye figure Glenda Slagg to use during the Railway
Land dispute. She was up for a year, and we won. The
proposed supermarket and shops were never built. Private
Eye recently featured it following Lewes Council’s
attempt to prosecute me for putting it up again. But
she doesn’t only come out for protests. When The Kiss
came back to Lewes, Glenda’s speech bubble said: ‘Rodin
– don’tcha love him?! Give us a kiss sweetie!’
Are you local? What’s local? I’ve lived here for 36 years.
I grew up in West London, but my husband grew up
in Seaford. He used to eat shellfish off the beach and
signal to ships from the cliffs. My daughter, a cellist, has
been drawn back to living in Lewes after attending the
Guildhall.
How does she feel about your campaign? I suspect
she thinks ‘Mum’s mad’, but it’s better to have a mother
who does something than one who does nothing.
What do you like about Lewes? I like how compact it
is. It’s still a proper town with boundaries. And it’s beautiful.
I also love Bonfire. A neighbour once complained
about the noise of it, but for me, it is what makes Lewes,
Photograph: Katie Moorman
Lewes.
What do you dislike about it? The race for (over) development.
It felt significant that the rooks, for me an
essential symbol of the town, left Lewes House shortly
before the work began there.
Where’s your favourite landmark? Church Twitten
was one of the only twittens that was relatively untouched.
It was so beautiful, with trees lining both sides.
A quiet, secret passage with a breath of the country; it
did everything a twitten was supposed to do. Sections of
the walls will be demolished for access, then reinstated
with new arches. Also, the twitten will be overlooked by
three-storey flats.
What do you think about development in Lewes? It’s
over-development I’m against, not development. I like
good modern buildings. What I object to is when developments
are too high and too dense for their location,
or when they ruin beautiful places, like the twittens.
What’s your poison? Red wine or gin and tonic.
Which newspaper do you read? Independent, the Observer
and the Sussex Express. Although, amazingly, I’ve
never even met Steve Holloway!
What did you have for breakfast? Almond croissant
and Nescafe Alta Rica coffee.
How would you spend a perfect Sunday afternoon?
Walking in Sussex with friends, including several artists,
a poet and a barrister. We call ourselves the Antiques
Road Show and it’s more of a shamble than a ramble.
Can you recommend a good film? Jules et Jim, which
I last saw as a student in a little Richmond arts cinema.
I believe it’s recently been re-released. I’d never seen
anything like it. It’s unusual and charming, and the
music is beautiful. Given the First World War setting,
Jeanne Moreau’s character is a very modern, independent
woman. Interview by Emma Chaplin
V