Wolverhampton Literature Festival: Cummings Your Way - review
Cummings Your Way: Cummings Up for Air (Or a Black Country-Centric View of Regional Nostalgia), Wolverhampton Art Gallery.
For the as-yet uninitiated, Cummings Your Way is a series of amusing online travelogues.
The ‘blurb’ states Cummings Your Way is 'a series of highly subjective and frequently inaccurate ramblings around the byways of England.’
The ramblings largely seem to be that of Stourbridge-born presenter Dan Cummings rather than walking some distance for fun.
So how was this online production going to work as a presentation at the city art gallery for the Wolverhampton Literature Festival?
Quite simply, Black Country trio Cummings, Lee David Harris and Martin Davies took the audience on a journey both on screen and with their own anecdotes and observations to the places where they grew up.
Harris took us back to his years growing up as ‘Wodensfelder’ thinking everywhere had to begin with the letter W – such as Willenhall and Walsall - and happy days Scouting by ‘the cut’.
Davies regaled all with details of life in the Moxley bubble, eighties discos at the local church and how during his time working in a local bakery he would secretly add extra jam to the doughnuts in the hope of showering some unsuspecting cake lover.
Listening to these tales was like sitting in a pub sharing memories of school days and yesteryear with old chums.
The audience nodded in agreement at references to eighties bands and childhood adventures such as night-time Ninja antics.
Always, when you enjoy such get-togethers, there is one entertaining friend who will dominate with their lively story telling, amusing memories and comic digressions.
Enter Dan Cummings – who is the main face of the videos but for the festival provided the link between the films as well as taking us to the palatial gates of Mary Stevens Park and his time in Stourbridge – the ‘audacious aristocrat’ of manufacturing with its glass heritage.
But his musings are not restricted to memories of the Black Country and his childhood years.
His humorous digressions ramble along from Ewan McGregor providing the voice of the Mander Centre to Dennis Taylor’s glasses to buying Eccles cakes in Liverpool.
He is clearly a man who enjoys language and words although relies on Davies to ‘shave away the superfluity of my discourse’.
Like any good night out with friends, there is every chance a song will break out at any time.
The Cummings Your Way team treated us to an East 17 ‘classic’, Careless Whisper by George Michael and a very impressive Wham Rap! duet.
These three friends shared their memories, their stories and their evening with us - a good night was had by all.
To see their films visit www.youtube.com/cummingsyourway
