As the nights grow longer and the festive season approaches, join us in the beautiful Upper Dove Valley for an afternoon of making…there will be paper for drawing and patterns for cutting – festoon your house, or maybe yourself, with your own Christmas cut-outs, or make a glowing lantern to light those dark winter nights
Materials provided but please bring a plastic bottle if you can – 500ml – 2 litre all work well
Free
No booking needed
Access: as far as possible, we’ll park people down by the centre itself but if we get busy you might find a sign on the gate asking you to park there and walk down the hill (a picturesque 5 minutes!)
If you have any especial concerns about access, please get in touch: stoneandwater@btinternet.com
Dove Valley Centre
This is the first of a busy weekend of Wintry light events for Stone and Water…..details for the others will follow but…
Friday 7th:when we finish at the Centre, we’re heading over to the Christmas Fayre at St Bartholomews Primary School in Longnor to do a similar activity there (5 – 7 pm) before joining the village for their Lights Switch On that evening
Saturday 8th: improvising some Victorian Lanterns at Wincles Primary School as aprt of their Victorian Christmas Fete from 3pm
Sunday 9th:Warslow: Winter Lights activity at Manifold Primary School, 1 – 4 pm – details to follow
These are the last of the Summer Excitements! event, a project supported by the South West Peak and the Bingham Trust
Join the Stone and Water team at the Dove Valley Centre for a relaxed session making the most of late summer sunshine (we hope!)
early for apples maybe…
At this beautiful setting in the Upper Dove Valley, there will be time to walk if you want to, and wander if you will, to look at flowers, hope for butterflies, watch the ravens wheeling overhead, examine the apples ripening in the orchard and draw, write, scribble, print or sew the things you have discovered.
There will be artists to help but this will be a relaxed day without lots of formal teaching. Bring a picnic and spend a day on the farm.
butterflies still on the nettles?
Where: Dove Valley Centre, Under Whitle, Sheen, nr Longnor, SK17 0PR
When: Tuesday 4th September
Times: 11am – 3pm
What to bring: your own picnic, a raincoat (just in case – there is indoor space as well!), a smile
What we’ll provide: art resources and helpful artists, friendly people to talk to, warm spaces, refreshments and a wonderful location!
Finding DVC: the centre is signposted on the road between Sheen and Longnor/ Postcode: SK17 0PR
Parking: the track down the hill is steep but drive down to dale floor (past the farm and keep going)
Or park just inside the gate off the Sheen road and have a gentle stroll down to join us!
Cost: the event is free and no booking is needed – but it would help us a lot if we know you are coming!
Contact: if you have any questions, contact Gordon at stoneandwater@btinternet.com
There were bones, and teeth, there were skulls and even the fragmented paw of a cave lion. And there was time to look, to handle , turn over, touch, test a fingertip against a crocodile’s tooth.
the buffalo skull was very popular
Time to talk, wonder, ask and ask again and say, “No!” and “What’s a hyrax?” and
“This is a porpoise?”
“Where is the elephant’s trunk?”
“Can I pick this up? Oh. Can I pick that up? Good”
There were beautiful replica skulls for the slightly squeamish and gloves for the bolder – or for anyone who just wanted to look sort-of-scientific like they were on some police procedural drama
For British Science Week, in a collaboration between Stone and Water, Buxton Museum’s Collections in the Landscape project and Creeping Toad, we ran a series of “Bone Detectives” workshops. These set out to introduce people to some basic skull features to look for and understand the clues they can give us about the original animal. The thought was that this would encourage people to look – to really open their eyes when they are out or maybe even to set off and do the hopeful walk they wouldn’t have done before
Skulls, skeletons or bits often turn up on walks over the moors of the Peak District, or perhaps are found by someone strolling in a casually acquisitive manner along a beach. We were looking for the questions (and their answers) that would set some inspired investigation in motion. We concentrated mostly on British mammal skulls – given time and the scope of vertebrate anatomy we had to draw some lines somewhere. But there were extension opportunities and as confidence grew, participants could move onto British bird skulls, a few exotic extras – a crocodile, assorted horns, replica hyrax, lynx and wallaby and a wide selection of shells including a spread of annoying cone shells (this one? That one? No, the other one? Why would you call something a geographical cone, for goodness sake”. There was even a d-i-y snake spine
The workshops were a delight: from keenly questioning WATCH members to the surprise of casual visitors, workshops invite participation and challenged preconceptions. “But it’s so small! “ (same comment applied to rabbit, rat and squirrel skulls). People brought their own puzzles with them: beautfully delicate mouse and hedgehog skulls, a mysterious jaw bone (probably sheep), the museum added some mind-boggling teeth: woolly rhino and hyena.
The very bold in the museum went off to find the cave bear skull
We were pleased: these were sessions that maybe didn’t get quite the quiet, dedicated concentration we had imagined but they were sessions that got people handling material, talking, asking questions, feeling more confident.
Sources:
Just to be clear, the skulls and shells we sued were all found materials or were already in established collections. Nothing was killed for the sake of this project
Reproduction skulls came from a wonderful online shop: CrimsonRichDesire
We are very excited to announce some delightfully bony workshops happening in March. As part of British Science Week, we are working with Buxton Museum and Art Gallery and Creeping Toad to offer a series of events and workshops exploring skulls. Stone and Water was awarded a BSW grant to support these workshops.
Here are the clues that will help you identify the mysterious skull you found on the beach or the bones on the moor, or perhaps here is simply the skills to exercise a fascination with ancient remains, old bones and hidden histories. We will guide visitors through the wonders of animal teeth, and horn cores, the marvels of eye sockets and tympanic bullae. We’ll even introduce you to scroll bones and senses of smells
“There are so many bones in so many animals,”said Gordon from Creeping Toad, “that we had to focus on something. So we are starting with skulls, especially mammal skulls. We’d like to invite people to look more closely at the skulls of Peak District mammals ( I suspect some birds might sneak in as well, and possibly a selection of sea shells…) and understanding the signs to look for and the questions to ask that will help you find out what the animal is and something about its life”
For the Museum, this is part of the Collections in the Landscape project, aiming to both remind people about the museum and its collections but also to get people out there in the Peaks, looking, thinking and wondering about the history of the places we visit. There will be skulls to handle (we’ll supply gloves if you’d rather) and quality replicas if you really don’t want to touch the actual bone (it will all be clean!), other bones to look at, some shells for a bit of the exotic. We’ll hold and think, question, count and scribble. There will be useful guide sheets to take away and drawings to do to build up your own forensic notes. And we’ll do a mystery quiz at the end….
Events
Public event: Saturday 12th March 2016, Buxton Museum and Art Gallery : free public sessions: no booking needed just drop by and join in but give yourself 45 minutes for a good skeletal experience. Sessions 10 – 12 and 1 – 3
Youth group: we have one free workshop on offer for a group of young people in or around Buxton in the week of 12 – 20th March. Activity best suited for 8 – 12 year olds
A workshop introducing young people to exciting natural history forensics. If you are interested, please contact us at stoneandwater@btinternet.com
Venue and time: to suit you
Older group workshop:we will also be running a workshop with a limited number of places during the week. Date and time to follow. This will be a more formal session than the Saturday events, aimed at young people and adults. Details to follow
Our Leek: once, now and next project has been a great success. From a “Birthday Party for a Lost Abbey” to far more sensible history talks, embroidery and appliqué sessions and a pop-up street from the lost years of Leek, project ideas and activities have engaged and excited visitors
Now we have a few last sessions and a few opportunities for some more….
Come and join us!
eventful times in Leek: once
May 2015:
all month the spectacular Cope for a Lost Abbot will be on display in the foyer of The Green Man Gallery in Buxton (check out the Gallery’s website for opening times)*
23, 24, 25th May: our exhibition of work and activities from the project will join the Cope on display in the The Green Man Gallery. Beautiful photos reaching from Leek, once (ruins, memories, dreams) to Leek, now (visitors capturing their own ideas, participants working on projects) with opportunities for you to add your thoughts of Leek: next
Sunday 24th May: Princely Pennants and Princess Flags: 1 – 4pm, The Green Man Gallery: join us to design your own summer flag. Invent a Coat of Arms. Create monsters for brave knights and bold heroines. Add an image to our Wild Pennant. Free event: just drop by and join in but allow 30 minutes for your flagging. Children under 7, need to bring a grown-up with them. Materials provided. The mess you make yourself
once upon a time in the High Peak
Wednesday 27th May: The Lost Castles of Buxton; 10 -12, 1- 3, Buxton Museum. The Display will be up again in the museum and we’ll be inviting you to step back in time and make the house you think, hope, or worry, that you might have lived in when Dieulacres Abbey was at its height and Leek was the focal point for trade, travel and villainy across the Moorlands. Free event. No booking needed. Children under 7, need to bring a grown-up with them. Materials provided.
June 2015 Sunday 7th June: The Big Bird, Beast and Botany Hunt,Dove Valley Centre, 12 – 4 pm. Our display and our artists head back into the Staffordshire Moorlands for an afternoon at the delicious Dove Valley Centre. Tucked into the Upper Dove Valley, the Centre welcomes visitors to the start of summer with wildflower meadows, an orchard, explorations of river wildlife and a generally lovely afternoon. We’ll be there with summer flags and stories, encouraging you to capture summer on a fluttering pennant or brand a story-hero or adventure-horror on a flag for yourself
Would you like a session?
We have a bit of water here at the bottom of the well to offer other groups. If you are interested in a session for your local group (Staffordshire Moorlands, High Peak, Derbyshire Dales), get in touch! We could come and do a lively “making” workshop, a careful sewing/applique/fabric painting session, tell stories or just talk to your group about what we have been doing.
Email Gordon at creepingtoad@btinternet.com or call on 07791 096857
* The display (and especially the Cope) features work by groups from our project partners Borderland Voices so if you would like to see some BV achievements, here is another reason to come and visit us!
In a companion trail to this year’s Grinlow Art And Storytelling Trail, we are inviting poets, scribblers, scrawlers and storywriters to submit pieces for a trail of words and wonders through Grinlow Woods
The Art Trail and its attendant activities were a great success last year, so we thought it would be good to add another strand to that creative woodland experience.
“We” are Stone and Water, the Buxton-based community group who celebrate the richness and creativity of the Peaks through projects like Exploring With Stories and Ancient Landscapes.
We are looking for pieces (poems or prose) that might
draw their inspiration from Buxton and the Peak District
provoke reflection about the area
use these landscapes to challenge reader’s own perceptions of themselves
or something like that
So we invite you to share your enjoyment, your passions, your delights and your despairs of, from or about the Peaks and send us your words for the Grinlow Poetry Trail
our Trail won’t venture into the caves but your poetry might
FINE DETAILS (and some small print)
What will be happening
On the weekend of the Art Trail (18, 19 July 2015), our poems and stories will be laminated and presented through Grinlow Woods in Buxton Country Park. The Poetry Trail will follow a similar route to the Art Trail (see below). There will also, hopefully, be storytellers performing, poetry/writing workshops, make your own woodland book activities and perhaps some poetry readings (let us know if you’d like to be involved in that)
Our trail will have its own map and possibly a booklet (available to buy) of all our juicy poems and stories
How long a piece can you submit?
We are allocating each writer the equivalent of 2 sides of A4 (so please, no monstrous tomes or Homeric epics!) and in a largish font, maybe 20pt, for ease of reading. If you’re not sure, just send your piece in and we’ll advise. Of course you don’t need to send in that much: if you compose precise and elegant single haiku or tanka, maybe just one will say exactly what you want. At the moment, we will only accept one submission (ie one longer piece or several short poems) from each poet. If space arises we might invite more contributions from existing Trailers
Where will the poems be?
The Trail will wend its way up through Grinlow Woods from the Visitor Centre car park towards Solomon Temple (but will probably stop just short of the upper edge of the woods)
Until we see what is coming in, we can’t say where pieces will go. if you have a piece that definitely needs to be displayed by rocks, or a park bench or an oak tree, say, let us know
Complementing the Art Trail
Our poetry trail will run along a similar route to the Art Trail. Poems do not need to associate with artworks unless you want them to. We don’t really know what other art is going up until the last minute so we cannot advise you of what’s going to be around. If you know an exhibiting artist, why not scheme wildly with them, keep us in the loop, and it might all be wonderful when we display words and visuals together
Filthy Lucre
We are not planning this as a money-making activity but we would like to generate enough cash to design and print Poetry Trail maps and maybe produce that booklet of poems for sale. We are asking for a contribution of £10 for each submission (ie for each poet’s contribution not for each individual poem). Don’t send any money with your submission. We’ll contact you about money and other fine tuning when your contribution is accepted
Being organised and officious
And we’re sorry to say this but there will need to be a bit of editorial control here: please don’t send in anything offensive, or discriminatory. Our boundaries are very flexible but there are limits and we will reserve the right to simply say “no”. We’ll try not to, but that reservation needs to be there
First deadline: we need to have a working set of poems by 31st March 2015: enough for us to know the plan is viable
Second deadline: assuming we get enough poems to make the Poetry Trail viable, we’ll go on taking new submissions until the end of May
a very hasty set of images from some of our most recent activities in this project….more details will follow!
more Ruins of an Abbey Cakeafter the event, the beautiful birthday cake fell quickly into ruin, itselfold streets in Leek?New Cope on a Plastic Abbot!the new Cope in all its glory!Cutting the Abbey CAke!Helen and Gordon reading poems and stories form the Borderland Voices Birthday Card at “Birthday for a Lost Abbey”Tiny Abbey LanternsDetails of the new Cope, 2Details of the New Cope, 1some careful glueing on a tiny Abbey LanternAbbey Lanterns c/o Gateway Clubme – introducing the stories and poems inspired by the Abbey and its place in Leek – past, present and future
on Friday 17th October we had a lovely day of workshops in Silverdale Library that we featured in the previous post. We’ve just received these lovely pictures from one of the friends who was helping us on the day so thought we’d just post these comments and pictures together, offering a view of a workshop from someone else’s perspective!
a busy room, an exciting table!
I’d like to echo Gordon’s thanks to St Luke’s school and the library staff for the wonderful day at Silverdale Library last Friday!
Huge thanks to the Stone and Water arts team for coming to Silverdale and to the library staff Berni, Farida and Terry for arranging that the library would open especially for the school session and for providing all the refreshments.
The Y6 group were full of ideas during the story-telling and before we knew it pop-up cards had popped up everywhere! It was great to see the students listening so intently and inventing recipes for the giant with Gordon. Then they spread out and worked throughout the library on their pop-up cards. I was amazed by how quickly they were starting to tell their own stories about their cards — and several students began to have clever ideas for making the paper articulate further. The cards were becoming little theatres really. Gordon’s work with schools is legendary but well done to everyone at St Luke’s – wow!
Then we had the afternoon with the talented knitters and lace-makers of Silverdale who added textile motifs to the cope or community cloak. Again, people were full of brilliant ideas. What a friendly relaxed time.
The library is the perfect setting for all this creativity!
exploring the old streets of Silverdale…Stepping back in time to the days of Dieulacres Abbey in Leek, Silverdale children from St Luke’s Primary School visited the local library and unfurled the town of their imaginings where the river ran bright and glittering through the Silver Dale, past its castle, under its bridge and by the High Street of slightly wobbly houses
a row of houses
and later that day, the Lace Ladies, the Natters and Knitters (regular Library groups – go and join in!) and other interested folk joined our artists for Stitching Time and added more panels to our growing New Cope for a Lost Abbey. Medieval imagery mixes with modern iconography as the features of our moorland town are embedded in panels: Blackshaw Moor Caravan Park, Leek Market, and English Roses lie beside fleur-de-lis, coats-of-arms and the Butter Cross. The Cope in all its finery will be unfolded at the Birthday Party for a Lost Abbey on Saturday 25th October
Next event:
Thursday 23rd, Ladydale Well, the Leek Ladder and other marvels: a talk by archaeologist Mark Olly – exploring the more mysterious side of Leek
Time: 7.30 (finishing about 9 – 9.30), refreshments provided
Where: Quaker Meeting House, Overton Bank, Leek ST13 5ES
celebrating the people and wildlife of the Peak District
Stone and Water 