Colchester - Colchester 101

Warcraft: The Beginning

29/05/2016colchester101

Once again our intrepid movie reviewer Andy Oliver brings you his take on the latest release at Colchester’s Odeon cinema. This time it’s the turn of Warcraft: The Beginning

There are people in the world that will absolutely adore director Duncan Jones’ Warcraft: The Beginning, a fantasy epic based on the best-selling video game, World of Warcraft, hard-core fans of which will revel in seeing the in-game world brought to cgi-rendered life, the rest of us may struggle to understand what on Earth that appeal may be, though. Whilst not being an out-and-out awful film, it’s certainly colourful and diverting enough, Warcraft is as lumbering and clumsy as the film’s ten-foot tall Orc protagonists and there’s more than a whiff of Disney’s epic-fail John Carter about it.

Set in the world of Azeroth, a medieval fantasy realm pulled wholesale from the minds of a million Dungeons and Dragons players, Warcraft centres around a clash-of-worlds plot device as Orcs, fleeing their dying home-world, come into conflict with the world of man. The portal through which the Orcs escape is powered by the dark magic of sorcerer, Gul’dan (Daniel Wu) and relies on human souls to keep it open. Learning that many of his fortresses have fallen to a new threat, the king of Stormwind (Dominic Cooper) Sends Commander Lothar (Travis Fimmel), Guardian Medivh (Ben Foster) and novice magician, Khadgar (Ben Schnetzer) to investigate. Meanwhile, Orc chieftain Durotan (Toby Kebbell) is beginning to suspect that Gul’dan’s magic may be responsible for the death of their home-world.

Whether Warcraft’s world building works or not for you will depend a lot on your experience with the game, I only ever dipped a toe in and, therefore, I found myself scratching my head for much of the film’s opening scenes. Jones is not aiming for the great fantasy epics like Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones with his movie, rather Warcraft is more Conan the Destroyer or The Beastmaster in all their goofy glory. Coming from a background of smaller, character-led films (Moon and Source Code), this is his first foray into blockbuster epic territory and, unfortunately, it shows, the action and battle set-pieces feel at times confusing and blurred and the stakes never feel like they are escalating as it moves forward.

With its mixture of cgi and real characters the acting tends to lack consistency, some of the tones and choices seeming occasionally at odds with the narrative and attempted feel of the movie. The cgi characters often feel more emotionally realised than the hammy, at times over the top and, at times, annoyingly quirky performances of the human actors.

Warcraft: The Beginning is one of those rainy day kind of movies that, I suspect, people will opt for because there’s nothing else on. It’s the kind of film that many people will pick up in a three-for-two deal on dvd, watch once or twice and then leave on the shelf to gather dust next to John Carter and Wild, Wild West.

Andy Oliver

Are we nice in Colchester?

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Scott Everest takes another look at Colchester’s tourism and where we might be going wrong?

Are we nice in Colchester?

Make no mistake about it, tourism is at the apex of the hospitality industry. A town’s reputation as a desired destination can be made through all the encounters a tourist or a visitor experiences throughout their stay occasion.

A difficult challenge you may say, as all attractions and associated business have their own way of doing things, especially with regards to customer service.

So why is it important for tourists to have a good experience, or to expand further why is it important when tourists have a bad experience for it to be resolved to their satisfaction?

In 1999 a company called TARP research conducted a study and it stated that only 1 person in every 26 unhappy customers will make a formal complaint about their experience.

The others will simply take their business elsewhere and will not return. But here is the kicker. Each unhappy customer will tell an average of 10 people of the experience who in turn will tell another 5 people.

This means that the 26 complaints will influence 1300 people, (Rises to 1560 if is a formal complaint) to not come and visit Colchester. How much does that small section cost Colchester’s local businesses and attractions?

The silent majority are the scariest type of customer out there, the ones who just go elsewhere.

However, there was a second part to the Tarp research which was also very interesting. For every complaint you resolve then 82% of people will return if you resolve the complaint quickly.

It pays to resolve complaints or have a forum to do so. Unfortunately any attraction that does not have this facility runs the risk of the only ‘vented’ outlet being a review site on the Internet.

I guarantee you an internet based negative review will increase that Customer Complaint Iceberg formula exponentially.

To be serious about Customer / Visitors / Tourists you have to provide a facility to gather Customer Feedback, good, neutral or negative in a simple way, as otherwise you will never improve.

A good tool to use would be The Harvard University devised measurement called the Net Promoter Score (NPS) a sliding scale to rate your experience.

A Detractor is someone who has had a negative experience, and the lower the score the less likely they are to recommend. The Passives are always discounted as they have no loyalty either way. Promoters are seen as a ‘Raving Fan’ who sings your praises.

It is said that to be ‘World Class’ you would have a Net Promoter Score of around 50%

Naturally you would need free text to capture customers verbatim, or use a problem tree to ascertain finitely what the problem is.

So to be serious, and to be a standout destination which takes honest unfiltered feedback, you need to be fully open to comments. The worst that can happen is you learn what people really enjoy (and keep doing it) and what people do not like (and fix it).

Thus keeping some reviews from public forums, if you resolve in a timely manner.

All of which is useless unless you know how to be hospitable in the first instance, and know how to successfully resolve complaints.

In 2007 I was lucky to be part of the 2012 Olympic Accommodation Committee, and being one of the chosen Hotel Managers to host dignitaries, staff and competition winners, was a great honour.

However, being an experienced Manager in the hospitality sector I thought that there was nothing I did not know. I have seen lots of things and own many of the t-shirts.

However the 2012 Olympics was known as the ‘Friendly Games’, which surprised the UK if we are to be truly honest with ourselves, as we are known for being quite a reserved bunch.

This was of course down to great leadership, vision and expense, but at the core of everything was something quite wonderful.

Not a lot of people may know about the mandatory training that we all had to undertake and in the lead up did not see the value, however what happened next blew me away.

The program we went on was called ‘World Host’ a specially developed program that was first used at the Winter Olympics and used to train and inspire the ‘Hosts’ on how to manage a large event and give excellent and memorable customer service.

This profoundly changed the way I managed, and the core principles stuck with me on how I managed Customer Service from that point forward.

This was also used for the Glasgow Commonwealth Games and will be used for the upcoming Euro 2016 Football Championship and the Rio Olympics 2016.

So Colchester, for an investment of £80 per person for a World Host one day Course for people who work directly in tourism is a worthwhile investment.

Is this aspirational enough for us to take this seriously for Colchester?

To finish, let me use this hypothetical formula;

26 People have a negative experience as a Tourist in Colchester each week

10 People each hear about that experience

5 people additionally from the 10 people also learn about that experience

1300 people could each week receive negative reviews about Colchester

£25 is the average spend per visitor

£32,500 is lost in potential sales per week

So to calculate for the year would equate to £1,690,00 in lost potential sales

The scarier figure is that is 67,600 people will have had a negative view of Colchester last year, and every year. That is nearly 1/3 of the population of Colchester Borough.

Hang on a minute, what if that hypothetical figure of tourists having a negative experience in Colchester is more than 26 people per week?

P.S An urgent priority before the summer would be to de-brand the old Visitor Centre.

Scott Everest works as Special Projects Manager for a European based Hotel Group. His experience includes working for Pontins Holidays, CentreParcs, Disneyland Paris and Travelodge in various senior management positions across the UK. He has also attended committee meetings and briefings for the 2012 Olympic committee, and Government Department for Culture and Sport for hospitality representing the budget hotel chains. He has also consulted for Norfolk County Council and Blackpool Fylde Council in aspects of Leisure and inbound Tourism.

It is not easy to be a tourist in Colchester

19/05/2016colchester101

It is not easy to be a tourist in our Town, in fact it initially requires a huge leap of faith to come to visit in the first instance, and even more to actually get into the town centre.

Let us start with the train station. It may surprise you but you cannot get a bus to the town centre from the bus rank outside the station.

You never get a second chance to make a good first impression, although you can get to Wivenhoe on numerous buses, which is great for the university but not so for a visitor to the historic centre.

If you ever get a chance, sit by the bus rank and watch people for 30 minutes or so, and also the behaviour of the bus drivers.

This can be summed up with the regular site of a hand written notice placed in windows of stationary buses stating ‘We don’t go to the town centre’

Can you imagine that the demand for this and countless questions that has pushed many a bus driver to the point to do this?

I guess the first biggest opportunity would be a shuttle bus from the Station to Town Centre and back again.

*To increase customer sentiment first impressions count, and creating a great first impression enhances the customers intention to recommend to a friend or family Colchester as a destination

Another interesting idea is what they do between Cardiff Bay and Cardiff Town centre, they have an overground train which continuously shuttles back and forth all day with single journeys for £1.90. We could actually do this from platform 5 at North Station.

The current price to do this is £2.40 per single journey, and is woefully under promoted and also not many travellers realise that if you purchase an All Stations ticket that this could be used to go to the Colchester Town Station.

Our transport system is a great opportunity to promote our town, and something that Cardiff does well is use bus stops very effectively.

Being clear on locations and details of all attractions this way takes advantage of how we make decisions. I worked in Hotels for many years and one thing I learnt was that when you changed a poster for a food menu item in a lift, sales of that item increased around 11%. This is because lifts become a key place where we make decisions as we are captive to the surroundings.

Using bus stops in this way will create awareness.

And create the ultimate goal, a ‘Colchester Card’. This is not a new idea but there is a purpose to it with all retailers involved.

The example below is from Cardiff and costs £4, for a tourist its an opportunity to save money on key attractions and also put local businesses in mind for a residual purchase.

www.visitcardiff.com

The card is available to purchase and hold virtually on your smart phone and is available to purchase at all tourist destinations. Amsterdam and Berlin have similar successful schemes which are well received by visitors.

This was brought about by having a detailed Destination Marketing Plan. Relationship marketing is very important with regards to loyalty and the retention of customers so it is a worthwhile investment.

However, this is all works when you have an anchor Tourist Information Centre.

Let us look at Colchester.

If you follow the signage, this is what you will find, not a great first impression but when you walk to the main entrance you soon find the location of the replacement.

I did joke earlier about the buses and the hand written notes concerning that buses do not go to the town centre, but the theme has been carried on.

So as per instruction ‘Look behind you’.

I did approach however it was clear that this was not the entrance, especially for the disabled so followed the arrow into Castle Park.

It was at this point that I noticed the information sign and noticed that it was not sign posted, but approached Castle Park anyway. I saw that the entrance is in the Park, so I followed the arrows.

To be fair, the Visitor Centre is in a beautiful building and really compliments our heritage. Having been in there quite a few times I can state that they do a wonderful job and the team are very warm and welcoming and a credit to our Town.

The Visitor Information Centre is a powerful thing as is a focal point for Tourism and Heritage. I would like to see additional hubs, with ones at the empty shop in Colchester North Station, Firstsite and Colchester Zoo.

However, going down the route of using Take One Media is not recommended. These are the stands which provide leaflets about tourist attractions, but not normally the ones in your area.

As a Hotel Manager in London they used to be the bane of my life these used to be full of leaflets to Edinburgh, Paris, Cotswolds and nothing on London, which really frustrated visitors.

In summary then, visitors should be able to find information about the town centre on bus stops then get a bus from the station to the town centre, once there to be able to find the Visitor Information Centre and all attractions and local business to promote Colchester by selling ‘Colchester Cards’.

A Destination Marketing Plan would cover all of these aspects and, in my eyes, Colchester still is the ancient capital of Britain.

P.S An urgent priority before the summer would be to de-brand the old Visitor Centre.

Scott Everest

Colchester: A Vision (Part 3)

27/04/201627/04/2016colchester101

Part three of Scott Everest’s look at what could be done to help Colchester achieve its tourism potential.

I would like to thank you all for the feedback from the last blog. It is good to see so many people interested in tourism and the potential of Colchester.

In part 3 it would be prudent to see what would happen if we are on the right track, the tipping point to success.

This is obvious as we would start to see street vendors.

There is nothing in this world smarter than those who can see an opportunity, a good retailer can sniff out an upturn in trade and footfall and take full advantage.

You may gasp in horror as people set up mobile stands to capture tourists in the heaviest footfall sites and it would be viewed by many as both anti-social and akin to begging.

Let me tell you how they do it.

This is taken from a true story from a vendor outside York Minster, whom I interviewed over 15 years ago.

A gentleman named Abid was a refugee who escaped from Afghanistan in the late 1990’s due to being persecuted for being a Christian Convert.

His Father was educated in York University in the 1960’s and upon returning liberated in mind he preached about the tolerance in Britain. In there house pride of place was a Snow Globe and inside was the impressive York Minster.

Abid loved the snow globe and to him represented a dream to live and prosper in Britain.

To cut a long story short he come to England and headed to the place of his dreams, York.

He found it difficult as first, as anyone would and found himself in a situation of Poverty and living hand to mouth.

Everyday he would visit York Minster, pray inside and just spend hours looking at its splendour. He observed that York was developing and more and more people were visiting.

The boardwalk was very clear and he noticed that not many people were taking gifts home and he wanted everyone to have the same experience as him with a souvenir to cherish.

He spent the next few weeks with blocks of wood that were discarded from a local shop that was being fitted and proceeded to whittle down with a pen knife a 3D image of York Minster.

This took many attempts but slowly and surely he created something that resembled York Minster.

His next step was to create a mould, so he melted down plastic and wrapped around his effigy. This took many attempts until he managed to get a workable mould.

Then with a mixture of mud, old newspapers and boiled sugar water he made a paste and poured into his mould. This with a lot of trial and error ended being successful.

Obviously the item needed to be decorated. He liberated an old tin of emulsion that had around 2 inches of old paint inside, he added water stirred and painted 36 freshly dried casts of York Minster.

The final decoration of all the colours and was a mixture of puddle water, blood, Argos pen ink and sealed with clear nail varnish.

That very next morning Abid with his bed blanket spread outside the thoroughfare of York Minster sold 17 York Minster Souvenirs at £3.00 each.

A business was born, tourists had a souvenir from their trip and Abid was part of what we call an innovator of Tourism based retail.

York is a great example of what Colchester can be and we are on a journey to make this happen.

Abid is what you call an innovator or better term for it is a lone nut. He was out there by himself day after day.

Then people started to notice (early adopters) other likewise minded individuals all started to create and sell there souvenirs all across York.

You cannot underestimate the power of souvenirs it is a physical reminder of a place visited that when you see it brings back the experience and memory. You purchase for friends and family who also become intrigued to visit the place from where it came.

It took a while but the local shops and the attractions saw an opportunity and became the early majority.

Then everybody saw the opportunity, to get the tourists into the shops they had to offer the same as everyone else. I took a long while but they made it in the end but they were the late majority.

Then there are the laggards or as I like to call them, CAVE dwellers (Citizens Against Virtually Everything) these are the people who said it would never work and created a lot of barriers with some of them in positions of power and influence.

There are lessons to be learnt but we are lucky in Colchester that everyone wants the same thing.

So when you see someone outside Colchester Castle selling a home made souvenir then it is safe to say we are doing something right.

Do not move him on, as I want his story and my picture taken with him as he is an innovator and we need more of them in our town.

As for Abid, it seems he never forgot our meeting and he found me by chance on Facebook in 2005, we chatted and he was still in York but was thinking about moving to London.

I had just started a job as a Hotel Manager in Covent Garden and without hesitation offer him a position to start immediately.

On his first day of work I gave him a snow globe of Saint Paul’s Cathedral.

I really want to buy my daughter a snow globe of Colchester as to me it’s a symbolic of my beliefs around tourism.

Scott Everest works as Special Projects Manager for a European based Hotel Group. His experience includes working for Pontins Holidays, CentreParcs, Disneyland Paris and Travelodge in various senior management positions across the UK. He has also attended committee meetings and briefings for the 2012 Olympic committee, and Goverment Department for Culture and Sport for hospitality representing the budget hotel chains. He has also consulted for Norfolk County Council and Blackpool Fylde Council in aspects of Leisure and inbound Tourism.

Scott Everest

Colchester Classics – Classical Music Picks for April & May

20/04/201620/04/2016colchester101

OUR CLASSICAL MUSIC COLUMNIST LIZ LEATHERDALE, FOUNDER AND OWNER OF COLCHESTER CLASSICS, BRINGS YOU HER PICK OF APRIL AND MAY’S CLASSICAL MUSIC EVENTS IN, AND AROUND, COLCHESTER.

Brahms’ German Requiem
Brahms’ German Requiem is not primarily a Mass for the dead but is rather intended as comfort for those who mourn and who feel pain at the death of others. This beautiful choral work will be heard Saturday 23 April at 3pm in Frinton in Frinton Parish Church performed by the Stour Choral Society plus a selection of songs for St George’s Day.

Tickets: £10 on the door (01206 271291)

The Colchester Waits

The Colchester Waits perform on reproductions of early wind instruments popular in the 15^th century. This unique sound, along with dancing from the Colchester Historical Dance group, is on offer at a celebration of music and texts from Shakespeare’s time on Sunday 24 April at 2.30pm in St Andrew’s Church, Marks Tey.

Tickets: £8 on the door

Brush Up Your Shakespeare

The Pimlott Foundation presents ‘Brush Up Your Shakespeare’ with songs, sonnets and scenes associated with the Bard performed by soprano Daniela Bechly, pianist Christiane Behn and actors including Anthony Roberts. Sunday 24 April at 6pm.

Tickets: £10. Old House Barn, Old House Road, Great Horkesley. CO6 4EQ (01206 271291)

The Magic of Music

Also on Sunday 24 April, the Clacton Concert Orchestra presents a concert entitled “The Magic of Music” including both of Bizet’s L’Arlesienne Suites, and Gabriel’s Oboe, the haunting and evocative theme by Morricone from the 1986 film The Mission. Sunday 24 April at 3pm in St Bartholomew’s Church, Holland on Sea.

Tickets: £8.00 (01255 223455)

Vivaldi’s Gloria in D

On 30 April Vivaldi’s most famous choral work, his Gloria in D, will be performed in two contrasting performances. The work is popular because of its distinctive rhythms, joyful choral writing, especially for the altos in ‘Domine Fili unigenite’ and bright orchestral accompaniment showcasing the Piccolo Trumpet and Oboe.

The Kelvedon Singers celebrate their 50^th anniversary, plus significant birthdays for two long-standing altos, with a concert including the Gloria. This chamber choir, now based in Coggeshall, was founded by the Rev. Peter Elers, then the Vicar of Kelvedon. Other joyous works by Schubert, Britten and Mozart will be performed by the choir and accompanied by a chamber orchestra.

Tickets: £10 – £12 (01376 561719). Saturday 30 April at 7.30pm at St Peter’s ad Vincula, Coggeshall

In contrast with the above, the large University of Essex Choir performs Vivaldi’s Gloria and Haydn’s ‘Nelson Mass’ accompanied by the London Mozart Players, no less.

Tickets: £8 – £24. www.universityofessexchoir.org Saturday 30 April at 7pm. Snape Maltings Concert Hall, Suffolk

Ashley Grote

The first anniversary series celebrating the renovation of the majestic Edwardian Organ housed in Colchester’s Town Hall begins this month with Ashley Grote (Master of Music at Norwich Cathedral). Thursday, May 26 at 7pm. Moot Hall, Colchester.

Tickets: £15 (01206 272908)

If you have a forthcoming concert of classical music, you would like previewed, contact Liz Leatherdale on 0800 999 6994.

Start your love affair with Classical Music at www.colchesterclassics.co.uk and take a minute to watch their company video:

Liz Leatherdale

Colchester: A Vision (Part 2)

19/04/201627/04/2016colchester101

Part two of Scott Everest’s look at what could be done to help Colchester achieve its tourism potential.

This is the second part to my blog about Tourism in Colchester and was overwhelmed by the reaction and support.

It was heart-warming to see action being taken, with local political manifestos highlighting heritage and the importance of tourism, and the announcement of investment in the Roman Chariot Track.

Everyone has great ideas and all needs to be captured in a professional Destination Marketing Program (DMP) which is both inclusive and apolitical.

To give you an example and benefits of what a vibrant DMP can do we will do a case study on our town’s Unique Selling Point (USP) Colchester Castle.

We need to begin by choosing a medium to measure and for this purpose will use TripAdvisor as it captures sentiment acutely. It also gives us numbers of votes which we can benchmark against each other.

The next steps are to create a list of comparative USP’s and by type (Castles) from other Towns.

The following Castles are as follows;

Colchester Castle, Dover Castle, Leeds Castle, Hever Castle, Warwick Castle, Skipton Castle, Tintagel Castle & Rochester Castle

The first thing we want to look at is ratings per Castle. This is the volume of people who chose to rate the castle regardless of sentiment of experience.

As you can see Colchester Castle has had the lowest engagement and ratings of all the Castles in our Comparative Set.

This would suggest that the majority of visitors are local or school groups.

The next part of this case study is to look at sentiment, how people felt about the experience. In my industry the focus is to get to 4.5 stars, and you then would be rewarded as such on the website with a certificate of excellence which you can display in the premises.

There is a value of revenue attached to this and in the hotel industry it is worth a minimum 5% extra on rate alone.

It is interesting that Colchester Castle only reached 4 stars and missed out on achieving a certificate of excellence. So let us get a snapshot of what visitors are saying.

It is clear that no concession for OAPs is a standout issue with price, and reading through the negative verbatim it seems that there is an inclusivity issue.

To give a perspective of balance there are some excellent reviews on the site, the point being that versus any other Castle the level of physical reviews are low.

However the real issue is potential, and want to look at what Colchester could be so will remove the rest of the comparative set and just rank against Leeds Castle.

In 2010 there were 560,000 people who visited Leeds Castle compared with 110,000 from Colchester Castle. This is a huge difference.

Let us be realistic and state that Colchester was to achieve 200,000 visitor numbers, how much would the local economy would have benefited with 90,000 extra visitors.

A look at what one attraction could bring into the community with additional focus of a DMP.

Colchester Castle	£
Extra Visitor Numbers per annum	90,000
Average Entrance Cost SPH (Based on 2 Adult & 2 Child)	6.175
Gifts SPH (Based on Association of independent Museums average spend)	1.50
Sustenance SPH (Based on average cost of sandwich v’s families who bring own lunch)	2.31
Parking SPH (Based on 2 adult & 2 Child on £3.50 per day parking)	0.875
	977,400

If you could imagine scaling this up for all the attractions in Colchester then you can see the potential. In essence one attraction alone would bring in close to additional £1 million in revenue alone per annum.

Having a Destination Marketing Plan that everyone is committed to would make a huge difference.

To look at a blue sky scenario, if Colchester Castle reached the same visitor numbers as Leeds Castle, the additional revenue would be worth £4,887,000 per annum.

I would even be so brave to say that Colchester would sell an additional £1 million in ice cream alone in the Summer Months.

If ⅓ of these extra visitors came by train then Greater Abellio would make an additional £13,550,000 in revenue per year.

It is in everyone’s interests for this to happen.

So the next steps would be to take the Destination Marketing Plan seriously, invest in its production and make it apolitical with the development of Colchester in mind.

As someone wise once said ‘A goal without a plan, is just a dream’

Dare we dream Colchester? I plan on it…

Scott Everest works as Special Projects Manager for a European based Hotel Group. His experience includes working for Pontins Holidays, CentreParcs, Disneyland Paris and Travelodge in various senior management positions across the UK. He has also attended committee meetings and briefings for the 2012 Olympic committee, and Goverment Department for Culture and Sport for hospitality representing the budget hotel chains. He has also consulted for Norfolk County Council and Blackpool Fylde Council in aspects of Leisure and inbound Tourism.

Scott Everest

The Jungle Book

17/04/2016colchester101

Colchester 101’s very own movie critic Andy Oliver has taken himself along to the town’s Odeon cinema to see Jon Favreau’s live-action/computer-animated fantasy adventure The Jungle Book to bring you this review. We suspect he rather liked it!

The Jungle Book (BBFC PG)

For myself and many people of my generation – post-baby boomer/pre-generation X – Disney’s animated classic, The Jungle Book, holds a very special place in our hearts. For many of us it would have been one of our first visits to the cinema and the continually played soundtrack (the Frozen of its day) would have driven many a parent to distraction. With the advent of home video and streaming media The Jungle Book has become an all-timer, one of the most enduring and beloved movies for children of all ages and many will know the songs (written by Richard and Robert Sherman with the exception of the Oscar nominated The Bare Necessities, written by Terry Gilkyson) without ever having seen the movie. The voices of Phil Harris (Baloo), Sebastian Cabot (Bagheera), jazz man Louie Prima (King Louie) and menacingly bass upper-class of George Sanders (Shere Khan) are as familiar to us as many of our own family. It is a movie that has not only stood the test of time but straddled decades; is passed on to subsequent generations like some cherished and beloved heirloom and lights the faces of all who see it (I defy anyone to watch it and still feel morose or miserable after its enchanting 89 minutes are over); and holds a special place in the history of Disney (it was the last project Walt Disney took charge of). So why, one wonders, would that same studio risk millions of dollars on a flashy new version of Rudyard Kipling’s famous story when it is so much more cost effective just to live off the back of one of its classics? And is it possible to create something new and wondrous from a tale everyone knows and loves?

It is almost impossible to take your seat for director John Favreau’s new adaptation of The Jungle Book without some feelings of trepidation, the feeling that, somehow, this new version will sully your memories and muddy the reputation of one of your first loves. Let me put your fears to rest straight away: The Jungle Book is an absolute joy, a theatrical experience that adds to, rather than subtracts from, your love of the animated classic. It’s like discovering a new perspective of an old friend that makes you realise how deep and rich that person is in ways you’d never thought about before. And, believe me, no one is happier than myself to report this.

In case you didn’t know the story (unlikely), The Jungle Book tells of the adventures of a young boy, Mowgli (played with genuine charm and boyish intelligence by newcomer Neel Sethi) abandoned in the jungles of India, rescued by the avuncular panther, Bagheera (voiced by Sir Ben Kingsley) and raised by a wolf pack led by Akela (Breaking Bad’s Giancarlo Esposito) and his mate, Raksha (12 Years A Slave Oscar winner, Lupita Nyong’o). When the safety of the pack is threatened by the arrival of the damaged and vengeful tiger, Shere Khan (Idris Elba), it is decided that Mowgli should be returned to his own kind. So begins a journey in which the man-cub will meet such diverse and occasionally dangerous characters as the snake, Kaa (voiced here as exotically seductive by Scarlett Johansson rather than the comically sibilant Sterling Holloway), the power hungry King Louie (a giant Orangutan, or rather Gigantopithecus(?), played with Goodfella guile by Christopher Walken) and the blissfully mellow Sloth Bear, Baloo (a perfectly cast Bill Murray). There’s also a wonderful voice cameo by the recently deceased and much missed comedian, Garry Shandling as a porcupine with obvious obsessive compulsive desires.

Jon Favreau brings fun, wonder, thrills and joy to the table and it’s easy to see why the director of Elf and Iron Man was hired, there are the best elements of both in The Jungle Book. Favreau understands not only that this should be a cinematic event but, also, a children’s tale that even the oldest child will find touches their heart. This could have been a horrible mis-step by trying to bring the movie up to date with darker, more adult themes and action (I’m looking at you, Batman V Superman), but The Jungle Book understands the difference between adventure and action. The set pieces are incredible, such as Mowgli’s escape from Shere Khan during a water buffalo stampede and the climactic forest fire showdown, but there are quiet moments and sequences full of fun and warm humour that stick in the mind just as well.

The script (by Justin Marks) is deceptively simple, what appears to be a straightforward adventure story contains deep and complex themes and motivations especially when it comes to the villains. Railing against those story beats and characters that are dropped from the animated version, such as the “Scouser” vultures, would be petty when there is so much great stuff added such as the Water Truce and the primal, almost force-of-nature significance of the elephants. The Jungle Book breaks the constraints of being a word-for-word remake which allows it to breath freely and this is one of its many strengths.

Yes, there are a few scary and intense scenes that may not be suitable for pre-school children but that’s a judgement call parents should make, obviously many parents will know better than I what upsets their kids, just a nudge in case your little ones are a touch sensitive.

At times it is hard to believe that the entire film was shot in a warehouse somewhere in Los Angeles and that those aren’t real and really dangerous animals, such is the craftsmanship and technical know-how on show. It’s a beautiful, beautiful film and everything on show is a feast for the eyes and ears. The animals are most definitely animals, rather than anthropomorphised caricatures, they move and behave exactly as animals (despite the fact that they talk, obviously) and take the photo-realism of Life of Pi to the next level. Every one of them is there to move the story forward rather than to dryly showcase the technical know-how of the animators.

The Jungle Book is a theatrical experience writ large and you’ll want to see it on the largest and best screen available, you don’t want to be watching on your telly in six month’s-time wishing you’d gone to the cinema (I also wonder if the downscaling of the experience will reveal the film’s episodic nature to its detriment). Also, if you choose to watch in 3-D (a tricksy, gimmicky format I’m usually opposed to except for, maybe, Gravity) you’ll experience an incredible depth of field and beauty to the digitally created landscapes rather than the usual stick-poking gags and things flying out of the screen. You’re not looking at a jungle, you’re in a jungle.

If you only visit the cinema once this year, make sure you spend your hard-earned sheckles wisely and go see The Jungle Book. Forget about your worries and your strife.

Andy Oliver

Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice

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Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice (BBFC 12A)

If you are planning a trip to Colchester’s Odeon cinema to see Zach Snyder’s much anticipated clash of the superheroes then you’ll want to read Colchester 101’s very own resident reviewer Andy Oliver’s thoughts first.

Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice (hereafter referred to as BvS, for the sake of brevity AND because I really hate that Dawn of Justice coda) is a broken movie. It just doesn’t work. It’s a member of that movie club that makes bazillions of dollars because of their subject matter and not because they’re any good (see Jurassic World, pretty much all of the Pirates of the Caribbean sequels and ALL of the Transformers movies).

BvS sits awkwardly as a sequel because it treats Man of Steel as almost a prologue to the main story arc that this is trying to set up (non-comic book fans may not understand that the “Justice” bit of the title refers to a superhero team: Justice League of America*). So, although you don’t necessarily have had to have seen Man of Steel, BvS assumes you did.

BvS kicks off with a flashback to Man of Steel’s climactic battle that all but destroyed the centre of Metropolis, but this time we are watching it from ground level, from the perspective of the citizenry demoted to merely collateral damage. More specifically we follow Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) as he races to evacuate his employees from the Wayne Enterprises Building that stands amidst the super-powered carnage. It is this event that convinces Wayne that Superman (Henry Cavill) is a threat to humanity, not its saviour and that a world without Superman would be a safer place for hard working, ordinary people and so begins to plan (as his alter ego, Batman) to take the last son of Krypton out of the picture.

Skip to eighteen months later and whilst Batman is looking for a way to take Superman down, Clark Kent (Superman’s alter ego) in his capacity as a reporter for The Daily Planet is trying to launch a campaign against The Dark Knight whom he sees as an overly violent vigilante with no regard for the law.

Meanwhile, Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) is also planning to destroy Superman, first by means of a lump of Kryptonite and then by reincarnating General Zod; there are senate hearings about bringing Superman under Government control that all come to hinge on a wheelchair and a jar or pee (I kid you not); a mysterious woman seems to be keeping tabs on Batman; Lois Lane (Amy Adams) keeps getting herself into situations only Superman can save her from and there’s a whole bunch of dream sequences that may or may not be some sort of reality in about fifteen movies’ time.

This all sets the scene for the showdown that the “Vs.” in the title alludes to, but you’ll have to wait about two gruelling hours of the film’s two and a half hour running time for it all to kick off. The last half hour is almost non-stop fighting as first the two heroes duke it out, then they have to come together to battle the reincarnated Zod (now mutated into an unstoppable killing machine called Doomsday and looking like a cross between a Lord of the Rings Cave-Troll and a Ferraro Rocher chocolate). The mysterious woman from earlier is revealed to be Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), who valiantly joins the fracas and – ta-dah – we have the core trinity of the Justice League of America.

It’s a pretty flimsy plot and, to be honest, it’s not very well told. There’s a heck of a lot of padding and time wasted on sub-plots that lead absolutely nowhere. The first hour, especially, feels thrown together willy-nilly with no effort made toward giving the film any pacing or narrative coherence, where the plot and dialogue should lead to the next scene the actual next scene is often a complete non-sequitur. Although this is an absolute bonus if you have a weak bladder, story-telling wise it’s a complete mess.

Director Zach Snyder seems more interested in recreating religious iconography and comic book panels than in actually telling a story, he’s a lot like (Transformers director) Michael Bay: he knows how to put an astonishing visual onto the screen, he just doesn’t know how to connect them into anything resembling an interesting and coherent story. He throws a lot of stuff into BvS that comic book geeks will love spotting but will leave a casual viewer scratching their head (yes, that is Robin’s costume, daubed with a taunt from The Joker, hanging in a cabinet in the bat-cave; yes, that’s the bit from Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns where the sunlight revives a skeletal Superman; yes, that graffiti did read “Who watches the watchmen?”, etc.). Even the cameos (in the form of short YouTube-like videos) from future JLA members The Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg are whiffed, they’re hinted at twice before we finally get to see them and when we finally do the sequence is thrown hap-hazardly into the middle of one of the action sequences, once again destroying the film’s pacing.

Snyder quite obviously either doesn’t understand Superman or actively hates him. Superman’s whole thing is that he wants to be a hero, he wants to help the people of his adopted planet, Snyder’s Superman is a reluctant, brooding and occasionally Quixotic emo whose only touchstones to humanity are Lois Lane and his adoptive mother, Martha Kent. Cavill is given little to do acting-wise and that’s a shame as he seems such a personable guy off-screen.

Ben Affleck makes for a much more human Bruce Wayne than any of the character’s previous incarnations, there’s a bit of the James Bond, playboy about him that works really well. As Batman he’s fine, he’s not “punch the air” great, but he’s, y’know, fine. And, at least, they’ve finally got a Bat-suit that seems flexible enough to actually move around in.

We don’t get to see enough of Wonder Woman to make a judgement call, really. What we do see looks pretty good, though, she’s every bit as powerful as Superman and there’s a glint in her eye when she’s fighting or flirting that makes me want to see more of her, she genuinely looks to be having fun when she’s doing either.

By far the worst thing in BvS though is Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor. I have no idea what movie Eisenberg thinks he’s in or who he thinks he’s playing, but I could quite happily live the rest of my life in happiness if I never see him again. Tonally, he’s all over the place, if Heath Ledger based the character of the Joker on Tom Waits then Eisenberg is basing his Luthor on Tommy Lee Jones’ Two-Face. He’s annoying and annoyingly played.

BvS is a frustrating experience, there are no character arcs that make any sense; characters take actions that make no sense; the whole third act hangs on a plot device that makes no sense; Snyder has no sense of pacing, story-telling or tension building; it’s incredibly dour with absolutely no sense of fun (the one joke appeared in the trailer and wasn’t that funny the first time I saw it) and, although it is not terrible it’s also not very good at all.

*The Justice League of America first appeared in 1960, today it sounds like something Donald Trump might rename the Republican party, sadly.

Andy Oliver

Colchester: A Vision

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Colchester is steeped in a rich history that many towns would be envious of, yet somehow we don’t seem to fulfil our potential and become the tourist destination we could be. Scott Everest takes a look at what could be done to change that and really put this town of ours on the map.

What is wrong with Colchester?

On the face of it nothing, there are only a handful of places in the United Kingdom that can boast the incredible heritage that our fair town has in abundance.

It has been noted that 42 million people visited the county of Essex in 2015.

Colchester Zoo does not subscribe to any of the industry measurements so is hard to understand its performance, however all other attractions in Colchester are down 11% on average (from the Government’s Case Tourism Data) with only Colchester Castle showing an upturn in visitors bucking the trend.

It is an assumption, but with Tourism we seem to be in regression.

There is £3 billion on the table from inbound tourism to the UK, but even with one of the most unique heritage portfolios in the region Colchester does not seem to have any advantage.

Meanwhile, in the Cotswolds, 50,000 Japanese Tourists visit each year and spend £1.5 million in the local economy. The stay occasion was just to take pictures of the picturesque local villages. It is estimated that in 5 years’ time Chinese tourism will match that figure, producing a combined Asian input of £5 million into the local economy per annum.

Imagine what could happen if they knew what we have to offer. Just tapping into this tiny part of the market, the local economy would start to thrive.

So how could we enhance our heritage?

The Roman Chariot Track is very unique and its restoration is paramount. This, along with creating a living village experience with Roman Britain and the Iceni Tribe, would make Colchester an educational destination during the off peak seasons.

We also need to exploit the Witchfinder General – Mathew Hopkins’ infamy with Colchester Castle. York Dungeons is success with Dick Turpin shows there is potential locally. A purpose built experience could put Colchester on the leaflet with one of the most visited attractions in London, the London Dungeons.

A purpose built visitor centre in the same vein as the Jorvik Centre in York would be able to showcase our heritage from the Parliamentarians vs Roundheads during the English Civil War, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Humpty Dumpty, to the history of the British Army in the Town.

Imagine thinking even bigger, Colchester could be a destination instead of just a day trip with Constable Country on our doorstep.

The current council are starting to do a great job in lighting up our heritage, however that light needs to be shone brightly outwards to attract more visitors to our historic town.

So what must be done?

The job of promoting Colchester is simple and is not the problem. Any experienced Tourism specialist will do a great job with the correct support, providing there is no local political interference.

However, let us not be naïve with our ‘Field of Dreams’ ethos. The infrastructure needs to be in place so all visitors can have a positive experience. This is where Colchester Borough Council should focus.

The Park and Ride is actually perfect for local inbound visitors, however coach parties would need consideration without putting too much stress on local routes. (If only we had the old Bus Station)

So in summary we have something called ‘Potential’ which is nothing if we not do anything with it.

Scott Everest works as Special Projects Manager for a European based Hotel Group. His experience includes working for Pontins Holidays, CentreParcs, Disneyland Paris and Travelodge in various senior management positions across the UK. He has also attended committee meetings and briefings for the 2012 Olympic committee, and Goverment Department for Culture and Sport for hospitality representing the budget hotel chains. He has also consulted for Norfolk County Council and Blackpool Fylde Council in aspects of Leisure and inbound Tourism.

Scott Everest

Stop the artificial suppression of East Colchester and Hythe Station

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Colchester 101 is pleased to support the campaign for Hythe Station to be recognised as a Colchester station by operator Abellio to ensure the future growth and prosperity of the east side of the town.

Last year, campaigners successfully secured a ticket machine at Hythe Station which has already increased the useage of the station. Unfortunately, a problem still remains. Abellio does not currently list Hythe Station as a Colchester station. They consider that the Hythe is merely a suburb of Colchester and, when you search the ticketing websites for Colchester stations, the Hythe Station does not appear at all which is having a negative impact on attracting investment into East Colchester. It has been recognised that it is more profitable for Abellio not to recognise Hythe Station as a Colchester station. It unsatisfactory that a corporate entity should be allowed to suppress a community purely for monetary gain.

The Hythe Station Campaign started in early 2015 when, led by the Hythe Business Network, residents, businesses, councillors, and community groups in the Hythe recognised that Abellio’s stance on Hythe Station was detrimental to transport, safety, growth, and the regeneration of the Hythe. The Hythe Business Network began to correspond with Network Rail and Abellio and issued a press statement in the Gazette. Sir Bob Russell, Councillor Tim Young, and Will Quince promptly declared their support for the campaign and Councillor Julia Havis took a motion to Colchester Borough Council which was passed unanimously across party lines to lobby Abellio to have the Hythe Station regrouped as a Colchester Station and to be renamed Colchester Hythe Station. Will Quince has generously offered to help lead our group of petitioners and has committed to providing us with 4000+ petition letters and pre-paid envelopes that can be sent back to the House of Commons by anyone who is supporting our cause.

The benefits of Hythe Station being grouped as a Colchester Station

Increased use of Hythe Station as a direct result of increased passenger numbers

More business relocating to the Hythe and increased business investment as a result of higher passenger volumes

Improved safety and investment at Hythe Station as a result of increased use

Increased usage of Hythe as a commuter station, due to its direct rail link to London

Many more university students becoming aware of the station’s existence and using it to travel to Colchester

Reduced road congestion as more people travel by rail from Hythe Station

Better retention of residents and business as a result of better transport infrastructure in the Hythe

What’s next?

On the 20^th February 2016 a committed team of petitioners including Hythe residents, community groups, councillors, and businesses got together to increase the pressure on Abellio to convince them to acknowledge Hythe Station as a Colchester station and to have it renamed as Colchester Hythe so that East Colchester can start getting the investment it deserves to improve transport, safety, and infrastructure for all residents and commuters alike.

Members of the team who are already committed to the cause include: Hythe Business Network, Will Quince, local residents, Hythe Forward, Source Christian Community, The Hythe Community Centre, Theresa Higgins, Colchester in Bloom, Tim Young, Julia Havis, Colchester 101

Can you join us to help improve the Hythe? If yes, please email your name and contact number to info@hythebusinessnetwork.co.uk or call us on 01206 700 123. You can also search for us on Facebook “Hythe Colchester – Stay in the know”.

Let’s make East Colchester great again.