WATERSHED

In the surreal world of The Shed supremo, the first-ever McDonald's restaurant can be found in Brawby, his home village near Malton. In the land of Thackray, giant Yorkshire puddings are paddled across Brawby pond and media from as far away as Germany come to record the moment.

And, most importantly, some of the biggest cult names in music and poetry come from all over the world to perform at Brawby Village Hall, which is a regular home to The Shed - as represented by Simon's shed door that sits on stage at every show.

"We're not looking to reinvent the wheel," says Simon, who is also a sculptor and painter. "But there's always the potential for that magical moment."

It has been an astonishing ten years since the first ever Shed gig took place at Kirby Misperton Church on June 10, 1992. Simon was organising a show for charity and tried, unsuccessfully, to book Labi Siffre. But, with the help of the singer's agent, he landed a Gambian musician who played a kind of lute called a kora - an appropriately bizarre way for The Shed to begin.

"It grew organically from there," observes Simon. "It was very much ad hoc one-offs in the beginning."

The Shed's first show at Brawby Village Hall took place on November 20, 1992 - which did feature Labi Siffre - but it wasn't until autumn 1993 that The Shed shows were no longer one-offs and had become component parts of a full programme of arts performances.

There have been some towering high points over the last ten years, none of which, of course, would ever have happened without the funding of Yorkshire Arts and Ryedale District Council. But Simon cautions: "Almost to mention any artist over and above another is to do an injustice to those that are not mentioned."

Nevertheless, he does pick out some of those "magical moments". Such as the arrival of Tony Benn MP at The Shed as part of a show about the history of dissent - "a privilege" to promote. "One moment, he (Benn) had the audience in tears of sadness and the next moment in tears of joy."

Then there was the first improvised "guided tour of Brawby" conducted by Ian McMillan, the Barnsley poet who is both a good friend and collaborator with Simon. It was during this that McMillan discovered the world's first-ever McDonald's restaurant in Brawby - as long as you are prepared to use your imagination a little, you might be able to find it!

The most recent guided tour, which involved musicians accompanying the improvisations of McMillan, attracted a crowd of 300 - over twice the population of Brawby.

There was also the performance by the Liverpool poet Brian Patten. On that particular summer's evening, it was incredibly hot in Brawby and the door of the venue had to be kept open.

"In between the lines of his poems," Simon remembers, "we could hear sheep bleating."

Patten went on to tell an enraptured audience about a aeroplane ride he had taken with the legendary poet Stevie Smith and the correspondence that Patten kept up with the sculptor Henry Moore.

A group of Inuit throat singers were among the more unusual artists to play The Shed, while the venue has hosted such famous names as Tom Robinson, The Stranglers' Hugh Cornwell and the poet Simon Armitage.

From the outside, it is perhaps difficult to see how these people have been attracted to perform at a remote 70-seat village hall. Simply, though, Simon has used the telephone, asked them and they have agreed. Or he has managed to form links with other artists who have been able to point him in the right direction. Others, though, have contacted him to request a gig at a venue which has aroused interest because of sheer uniqueness.

After all, The Shed was behind the Yorkshire Pudding Boat Race. Of everything Simon Thackray has done, this has attracted the most media attention. After conceiving the idea, he bought a frozen Yorkshire pudding from Kirkbymoorside, coated it with polyurethane and floated it in his bath. It was then he knew that the idea would work.

The feeling at the time of "bringing something into being" was "almost intoxicating", Simon enthuses. "My wife thinks I'm mad when I say that," he laughs.

After the first giant Yorkshire pudding was created (making Simon feel like he had become "one of The Borrowers") and the day of sailing on Brawby pond arrived, the amount of media attention was staggering. Simon knows a lot of the ins and outs of the media, but this he never expected. He remembers particularly a Sky News truck parked in Brawby main street.

"It was beaming images of Yorkshire pudding boats across the world, amongst news items to do with Bosnia and John Major's son's wedding," he says slowly, as if still trying to get his head around it. "It was utterly cuckoo."

The event received national television, radio and newspaper coverage and even attracted a film crew from Germany. Simon and Ian McMillan ended up appearing on the Channel Four show The Big Breakfast and floated a giant Yorkshire pudding on the pond behind the house where the show was filmed.

Since the first Yorkshire Pudding Boat Race in 1999, it has become something of an annual tradition. But just to keep everyone on their toes, Simon decided not to organise one this year.

It is stories such as these that make you realise what Simon has achieved in Brawby over the last ten years - he has brought the tiny community in the middle of nowhere, which has been home to his family for 200 years, to the world's attention.

Simon was born in the village in 1960 and initially worked at the family business in Brawby, J Thackray and Sons, of which he was a co-director. But he says: "My persuasion has always been art and that way of life."

Most recently, The Shed has recently brought the music and poetry show Hat to the world - a typically surreal affair, which is dedicated to the art of knitting. The show, on which Simon has collaborated with Ian McMillan and blues musician Billy Jenkins among others, is about to receive its London premiere.

There is even talk of Hat "going across the pond" - not Brawby pond this time, mind. Simon gleefully points out that knitting is big news in America. Russell Crowe, Julia Roberts and Madonna are all apparently dab hands with a couple of needles and a ball of yarn.

Further in the future, Simon is hoping to open a gallery and "do the same with contemporary art as I do with music".

Though the future of The Shed looks more secure than ever, its days at Brawby Village Hall may be coming to an end. Quite simply, Simon is coming up "against the buffers of space". After all, the inside of the village hall measures only 22 feet by 26 feet and seats just 70 people. The performers get changed in the toilets.

"It has lost its novelty," he sighs. "I would like in the future to build my own space that would be special, intimate and contain some modern facilities."

Fittingly, though, Simon is not looking to move away from the village which has been home to generations of Thackrays and which he, in turn, has presented to the world. He is hopeful that the space he needs will be found in Brawby.

And what, one must ask, do the locals make of their village's most eccentric and most famous son?

"Several local people come regularly to the gigs," he says, before adding, with a grin: "As far as I am aware, people are tolerant."

Then he laughs: "If everyone in Brawby came, we'd have no room for anyone else."

The Shed's tenth anniversary season is already underway. For full details, visit www.theshed.co.uk or ring (01653) 668494. A taste of the Shed experience can be caught on Resonancefm.com this Sunday between noon and 2pm in a live webcast. Part of the experience will be the knitting of a hat live on air to promote the show Hat.

Updated: 10:43 Wednesday, October 02, 2002