Friday 29th July 2011 to Sunday 11th September 2011

The ‘Loavelly Sisters’ is a story that has been present in Charlotte Johannes’ life from as far back as she can remember. The dark, disturbing tale of the twins who live in the house in Freshwater, on the road that leads to Compton Bay, was told to her by family friend Robyn Hitchcock.

On family holidays the story became more elaborate and evidence of the existence of the characters led Charlotte to believe fully that the story was real; the wedding car crushed in the garage, the old woman stood at the window…

She spent the last year of her degree in illustration trying to portray the characters she had known throughout her life, so ethereal and yet real they felt like distant relatives. Charlotte felt that just as the character representation was important so was the depiction of the mood of the story. She had to portray the horror of the catastrophic consequence of the actions of a malignant man Mr. Hoops, and the grief of the jilted twins and the feeling it evoked has never left Charlotte since childhood.

Haunts in the book include the Red Lion pub and All Saints Church in Freshwater.

On Sunday 21st August singer-songwriter and guitarist Robyn Hitchcock (formally of the ‘Soft Boys’, 1970) will be performing his version of the ‘Loavelly Sisters’ as well as other characterisations of English eccentrics and melancholy depictions of everyday life - Robyn a former resident of Yarmouth is revered for his melodic and intensely humorous song writing.

His fans adore him primarily for the performance of his songs. During his engaging concerts, Robyn takes the audience on a joyride of sinister humour and spell-binding melody. The evening will be dedicated to the memory of Julia Darling, the late poet and author who was born on August 21st in 1956.

The intimate concert will be held at Dimbola from 7pm. Tickets for the concert are £10.00 each and can be booked by phoning 01983-730930.

The illustrated book ‘The Loavelly Sisters’ by Robyn Hitchcock and Charlotte Johannes is on sale at Dimbola Museum & Galleries for £14.99.