I am delighted to announce that two more re-mastered recordings by The Secret Method have now been added to the music section of www.blackriverhouse.com. As ever I am indebted to the work of Mitch Bell for bringing these compositions to their current state and for once more allowing the work of The Secret Method to be heard as, we believe, it was intended.

The tracks in question have been added to the Demo Recordings page of the music section, as it was felt by all at www.blackriverhouse.com that this section was most fitting for them. One of the compositions is an instrumental which strongly features a musical phrase from "Silent Film", a song which can be found in the Band Recordings section of the site. It is assumed that this piece was intended as an alternative version of the existing composition, and although it is incomplete and without lyrics, it seemed prudent to place it in the demo recordings section rather than the Instrumental Pieces page, as we already know of a full, existing set of lyrics for this song.

The second piece, which once more is untitled, has also been added to the demo recordings section. This composition was not accompanied by any explanatory notes and as such it seems a sensible deduction, given the recording quality, to assume that the piece is a demonstration recording. For the sake of ensuring that the piece does not go unnamed, my good friend and benefactor of www.blackriverhouse.com, Geoff Gibson, has given the piece the working title of "Black Waltz".

As ever, we are indebted to the loyal support and interest which continues to be demonstrated in the work of www.blackriverhouse.com and in the music of The Secret Method. Work continues on the restoration of the recovered music (dependant on Mitch Bell's increasingly tight schedule) and I can only hope that these recordings are as gratifying for you as they are for us. Whilst www.blackriverhouse.com may function as a voice for the sadly unknown work of these talented musicians, without ears to listen the work becomes redundant. Your help and support is most gratefully received and your attention ensures that the music of the Secret Method continues to be heard and appreciated.

With warmest wishes,

The exciting news has come to my attention in recent days that a track recorded by The Secret Method has been included on a local Crystal Palace based music magazine. “The Crystal Palazine” is a bi-monthly Compact Disc and magazine package put together by Antenna Studios of Upper Norwood which features compositions and written contributions by local artists and musicians.

Many of you will of course be aware that the song in question “The Thoughts of Yesterday” is already available to download from www.blackriverhouse.com. The tapes recovered from Black River House in 1996 are to the best of our knowledge entirely in the possession of this website and indeed after meeting those involved with the publication this is where the track was taken from.

Both the Crystal Palace Fanzine team and all at Black River House believe that it is a touching and fitting gesture to include The Secret Method in an issue since the band of course hail from the Crystal Palace area. Not only will this publication help to raise awareness and spread the music of The Secret Method throughout their native land but it is also hoped that some copies of the CD might find their way further afield

Crystal Palazine		Crystal Palazine (close up)

With this in mind Antenna Studios have kindly donated five copies of this publication which will be received at no cost by the first five visitors to www.blackriverhouse.com to request them. Once more although the Secret Method track featured on the CD is already available on this website, this is still a wonderful keepsake as well as an interesting snapshot of the current musical output of the area which gave birth to The Secret Method.

If you would like one of the CDs please send your name and address to peter@blackriverhouse.com. Naturally, since we have only five copies to give away this will be carried out on a first come first served basis. In the meantime please click on the image below to pay a visit to the Antenna Studios website.

As ever, my warmest wishes

Hello everyone,

Firstly please allow me to wish the American members of the community a very happy (if slightly belated) Thanksgiving. I have been fortunate enough to experience the festival a number of times with my American relatives and I have grown very fond of the occasion over the years.

I am pleased to announce, as detailed in the previous communication, a series of updates to the Black River House website, which I will list below.

		Simon Cloney has been working extensively on the website in recent weeks and has now provided the facility to offer a Black River House newsletter. The letters will not be a regular event as such; rather they will be dispatched every time news updates are placed on the site or to notify the community of important developments online or otherwise. You will be able to sign up to receive the newsletter, should you wish, by submitting the form which can now be found on the website and on our myspace page at www.myspace.com/blackriverhouse. In keeping with this development Simon has also begun to make use of our "blog" page at myspace, which he will update to coincide with news items posted at www.blackriverhouse.com.
		You may also notice a new video clip on our myspace page which Simon has assembled at my request. The clip has also been submitted to Youtube in an attempt to broaden the circulation of our message. This is the first time that genuine footage of Black River House has appeared anywhere on the internet outside www.blackriverhouse.com. I am naturally a little apprehensive but we have come to the conclusion that such a measure is necessary in order to keep our research alive. The clip is the result of lengthy negotiations with the Irish authorities and as ever we are subjected to certain parameters within which we can operate. However the footage featured in the clip is taken from my first visit to the house.
		Finally, for the time being, I am delighted to finally be able to present a series of as yet unheard recordings by the Secret Method recovered from the house in March 1996. I am, as ever, indebted to the work of sound engineer and Black River House benefactor Mitch Bell for his work in restoring the original recordings and preparing them for digital download. As you will most probably already be aware the recordings which came into my possession varied greatly in terms of completion and recording quality but through Mitch’s work, we are now able to hear for the first time four demo recordings by the band members during their time in the house. In addition, due to repeated requests, we have now made the instrumental pieces, once more some of which are unfinished, available for download. These beautiful compositions recorded by The Secret Method already feature on pages throughout the site, but they are now available to download in as complete a form possible in the music section. Since these recordings remain, to the best of our knowledge, untitled, Mitch Bell suggested the very moving notion of inviting visitors to the site to suggest titles for them. I was at first a little hesitant to pursue this idea since it may appear to be rather presumptuous. However, I have opened the suggestion to all at www.blackriverhouse.com and the general sentiment is that this would provide a most fitting way to name these compositions. As a result we would welcome any suggestions you may wish to offer. Please send your ideas to peter@blackriverhouse.com and, if interest is sufficient, we will devise a system whereby visitors may vote for their preferred suggestions.

I will be posting more news items in the coming weeks as several more developments are still in progress. However, I am thrilled to be able to report the current updates to the site. Our key concerns as ever are to raise awareness of the cases detailed within the pages of the site and if humanly possible, to trace the missing members of The Secret Method. In the meantime our goal is to ensure that, as far as we are able, their work is allowed to be heard and appreciated as was their intention.

My thanks as ever for your continued interest and support,

With warmest wishes on behalf of myself and all at www.blackriverhouse.com

Hello all,

Firstly, I must offer my apologies for the absence of news items in the last few months. The lack of updates has been the result of a number of factors which will be explained below.

To begin with, I have taken the opportunity over the last few months to resume my efforts towards gaining my PhD. which I put “on hold” some years ago. As many of you will already be aware I have been consistently frustrated with the lack of communication from a number of bodies who could contribute more openly to the work of Black River House, and as a result it was suggested to me that it may be beneficial to divert my attentions if only for a few months to other matters.

I am pleased and relieved therefore to have finally completed my thesis, entitled:

I have now submitted the fruits of my labour and await the outcome with baited breath.

Whilst this has little to do with Black River House, it has nonetheless been a process of catharsis for me allowing me to attend to unfinished business as it were, whilst recharging myself to approach the work of this web site with renewed vigour.

I have also been a little lost without the expertise of Simon Cloney who has recently returned from a commendable period of volunteer work in Ghana . Simon has been working with the Foundation for Contemporary Art to develop a workshop and meeting place for local artists.

However, our absence has not been for entirely selfish reasons! In the last few months Simon and I have been working to promote the Black River House page at “myspace” which is beginning to flourish and spread the search for the missing members of The Secret Method yet further. Once more we are overjoyed with the levels of support and concern which we continue to receive. The page can be reached at the URL below:

www.myspace.com/blackriverhouse

In addition, Simon has also added a form to the web site which you will find at various locations throughout its pages, allowing you to forward details of Black River House to friends or relatives. Below is a link to the contact page where you will find one instance of this device.

www.blackriverhouse.com/contact.htm

Finally, and most exciting for me, I will be able in the next week or so to upload another selection of as yet unheard recordings by The Secret Method. Once more the compositions are drawn from the material recovered from the house in March 1996. Whilst the sound quality of these “demos” is inferior to many of the tracks already on the music pages these recordings are nonetheless valid additions to the music page and offer a moving insight into the members of the band during the creative process.

Over the next few weeks we will be making various updates to the site and providing details of one or two exciting developments, which fingers crossed, should come to fruition in the coming months.

In the meantime, as always my sincere thanks on behalf of all at www.blackriverhouse.com for your continued support.

With very best wishes