Jim is an advocate for the environment and social justice. If you would like Jim to take part in an event or discussion contact him here
Jim also writes as a citizen journalist, specialising in investigative stories on marine issues, politics and UK Freeports. Lots of people are very kind about Jim, for which he is very grateful and continually worried he won't measure up!
“Jim is one of the best citizen journalists I have come across,” George Monbiot
You can read some of Jim’s articles here www.westcountryvoices.com/author/jimfunnell/
Here's some more info on Jim - exploring Films, Poetry and Protest in the context of his book Brixham Chimes
Jim is an art historian who has worked in the visual arts, communication and education for over 25 years. In between teaching, writing fiction, journalism and poetry, he has made films, commercials and TV programmes. He produced Sky Atlantic’s ‘Fish Town’ which featured life in Brixham over ten 1 hour episodes. Jim has worked with Griff Rhys Jones, Gordon Ramsay, Eddie Izzard, Minnie Driver and Peter O’Toole. Jim has travelled the Indian Railways with John Sergeant, and highlights of his professional film career include breaking Minnie Driver’s winnebago, teaching Peter O’Toole how to use a video camera around Soho, and only being able to provide a hypothermic Griff Rhys-Jones with a face flannel after he swam the Mersey (he expected a towel robe- it had gone missing).
Brixham Chimes is an ambitious project, long in the making, and born from his love of the sea and this town
“When I made the Sky Atlantic series ‘Fish Town’ I always felt something was unresolved. Despite the incredible Romantic beauty of the sea, making the series left me with more questions that answers. The town's modern relationship with the sea was a myth. I realised the great natural resource of the deep was being ruthlessly exploited by industrial fishing, and we were all eventually going to suffer because of it, not least the town itself.
I came across the quote ‘The fishermen catch the fish, they don’t own the sea’. It is a particularly resonant idea in this time of climate and nature crisis when the oceans are under threat like never before - from rising temperatures, acidification, pollution and extreme over fishing. How can we stand by and allow the oceans that once nurtured the origins of Life be trashed? The health state of our oceans is essential to our lives on this planet: regulating and driving our climate, carbon sequestration and providing food - so we won‘t survive it if that happens.
Beam Trawling, industrial Bottom Trawling, Dredging and other industrial fishing is occurring on a global scale. But its also happening right here - in Brixham and ports around the UK. Boats are now equipped with technology that not only sweeps an area clean, but also destroys the seabed and nursing grounds of tomorrow’s fish. This is swiftly robbing future generations of a biodiverse sea, stripped bare of its once teeming life. It's a corrosive situation that benefits just the few, robbing the many of an invaluable resource. And- as is so often the case- the lower impact, local inshore fishers on whom Brixham and other coastal communities were originally built- suffer and lose out at the hands of industrial exploitation.”
Why Brixham and why fish?
“Brixham is important to me because of my filming connection - it's a beautiful, fascinating place. But Brixham is also a strategically important fishing port with over £50,000,000 in value of fish passing through it every year. And much of that is fished using destructive means.
What happens at Brixham really matters. If we don’t consider our ocean resources in Brixham, our backyard, there is no hope. This isn’t a case of someone else’s problem: this is an issue we need to discuss and debate, right here, right now, on our doorstep. If we turn a blind eye now, we’ll all suffer in the very near future.
The truth is that this story could be set anywhere around the British Isles. 'Brixham Chimes' is a universal story- with universal issues and call for a better way forward. Despite being a modern nation, our heritage is entwined with our coasts and seas.”
There can be a better way
We all hold the power to change our relationship with the sea
ABOUT THE COMPOSER - TIM HARRIS
Breathing beauty & sadness into verse
Tim has led an exciting life as musician and sound engineer for many famous bands, eventually settling in South Devon. An accomplished musician, Tim performed his composition in a single live take, adding minimal overdubs. For the Brixham Chimes project Tim used multiple guitar tunings and an array of vintage and modern effects pedals to create an evocative and beautiful soundtrack for the poem. Listen to him discuss his work on the Brixham Chimes soundtrack below.