00:00So we're here at Severn Hospice, Bicton Heath, and best in show, Bobby.
00:06Nice to meet you, Bobby. What type of dog is Bobby, then?
00:09Bobby's a cockapoo.
00:10Hello, Bobby. Come here, mate. Hello.
00:13Hello. And how's he feeling being best in show? What's he said about it?
00:18He's very, very tired as well. He needs a nap.
00:21Cool. So we've got some of the organisers here as well.
00:24So introduce yourselves, ladies. I should have started with that. Go on, girls.
00:27I'm Kay. I'm Head of Hospitality and Estates at the Hospice.
00:31And me and my team have organised this event.
00:34It's the first time we've ever done it at the Hospice.
00:36So it's very exciting. It's been a shame about the weather.
00:39But it seems to have been a success and people seem to have really enjoyed it.
00:43Well, yeah, there's loads of people bumping into it and having a nice time.
00:47So was it always a plan to have a marquee?
00:50Actually, no. That was a very last-minute decision.
00:54With some help from our friends at Tents and Marquees.
00:57I don't think it paid off.
00:59I was going to say, I think that saved the day, hasn't it?
01:01Yeah, definitely.
01:02So how many dogs do you reckon you've had come through the doors?
01:04We must have had a few, haven't we?
01:07Sixty, maybe?
01:08Yeah, yeah.
01:08Deventy, yeah.
01:09Cool. So despite the weather, do we think this might become an annual fixture?
01:13Definitely.
01:14Yeah.
01:15Definitely. It's definitely a good one for the community.
01:17Great stuff.
01:18Yeah, definitely.
01:19What do you think about that, Bobby?
01:20Bobby's very proud.
01:22But we need fancy dress next year.
01:24Yeah, definitely.
01:25We've just made up our next fancy dress costume.
01:29Great stuff. Well done.
01:32So we're here with artist, illustrator Mark Bartley.
01:35Hello, sir.
01:36Hi, good to see you.
01:37Cool. So, Mark, your world is kind of the world of animals, isn't it?
01:41It certainly is, yeah.
01:43And how did you get into this world then?
01:45Well, I've always loved animals, and I've always been involved in the arts.
01:49I've done some teaching, I've worked in the theatre, I've done all sorts of different things.
01:53But it's nice to sort of bring it all together.
01:56As a writer as well, I've written poetry for years, and the past decade or so, I've put the two things together, art and writing, and published some books of funny poetry.
02:05Well, yeah, we should mention, just talk us through this book here, Bloom Town.
02:10Now, Bloom Town, yeah, if you live in Shropshire, you might be interested in this.
02:13This was my lockdown project, and I found out there was a lot I didn't know about Shropshire.
02:18And each poem in the book is a place you can actually visit, so it's got a real sense of place.
02:27This is just 21, I think there's about 21 poems in this one.
02:30I wrote a lot more than that.
02:32Hopefully, we'll put out some more, but it's illustrated as well.
02:36I'm just trying to find a bit of an illustration that you can see.
02:39There's Flounder's Folly, for example, which is Craven Arms Direction, which has been restored recently.
02:44It's fabulous, well worth a visit.
02:46And you've got the poor old Forest Glen, which we used to remember at the foot of the Reakin and the Arco,
02:54which is now in the Ironbridge Gorge Museum, of course.
02:57And you can still visit it, and it's a restaurant again, which is well worth visiting.
03:02Cool, so, I'm always, when I'm out and about and I see a dog, you do occasionally see a dog,
03:07and they almost look like, I'm on about the scruffy grey ones,
03:11they almost look like they're made out of charcoal.
03:13They do.
03:13They're ripe for drawing.
03:14Do you get that yourself?
03:15Do you kind of, as you're going along, do you sometimes see a particular animal,
03:19and you go, that's got a face for a buckler?
03:21Because of what I do, I tend to walk along, look with my eyes down, look at the dogs, not the people.
03:26Yeah, yeah, yeah.
03:27And, yeah, if you're drawing dogs all the time, of course, you do that.
03:31Cool.
03:31So, it's great fun to draw dogs.
03:34They're lovely animals, and they're part of us, aren't they?
03:37Yeah.
03:37And we've made them into caricature.
03:39They're just wolves in caricature, really.
03:41Yeah.
03:41We've kind of done that to them, haven't we?
03:43Yeah, totally.
03:44Yeah.
03:44So, you were Shropshire man originally, Shrewsbury, Wellington area.
03:47That's right.
03:48Yeah, I grew up here, yeah.
03:49And today, you're doing caricatures, so people can ping you pictures.
03:53That's right.
03:54Can people do that kind of, not just for today, you know, onwards?
03:58Is that how it works?
03:58I do take commissions online as well, but if you want a half-priced caricature, done really
04:03quickly and on the spot, catch me at an event.
04:05Yeah, yeah.
04:06Great stuff.
04:06So, if people want to find out more about you, what do they put in the alt internet
04:10then?
04:11Mark Barnsley illustration.co.uk will find me.
04:14You can hashtag Mark Barnsley for Instagram.
04:17Great stuff.
04:18And that'll find me.
04:19Go and check it out, guys.
04:20So, we've got...
04:24Thina.
04:25Thina and dogs.
04:27Some dogs look like they're owners, so I've been told.
04:30Great stuff.
04:31Well, only on a weekend.
04:32Loving it, mate.
04:33Loving it.
04:34And how are you doing?
04:35How have you done in the show today?
04:37We've had a first and a second.
04:39Have you?
04:39What was your first for?
04:40First for, obviously, dog looks like it's owner.
04:42Yeah.
04:42And second in best rescue.
04:44Cool.
04:45So, who am I most likely to get bit boy?
04:47The owner or the dog?
04:48Well, I need the muzzle more than she does.
04:50Definitely.
04:51And we're actually well known for our fancy dress.
04:53Oh, yeah.
04:54But there was no fancy dress today, thank God.
04:56Well, we've heard on the grapevine that it might be next year.
05:00Might be some fancy rest of the world.
05:01Yeah, we do Dorothy and the Lion, Supergirl and Superdog.
05:03And we do Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey.
05:05And we now do Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey in a suit and a wedding dress.
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