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Photo: Porl Medlock
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From wild wolves to terraced houses, seven crosses to smoking chimneys, the end of a street to new homes and new connections... Come on a journey through the stories of St Mary's, told in a performance, songs, a film and five carved stones.
Projects come and go, but some dates stick in the mind for the significant moment they are attached to. 26th October is one of those. Two years ago today, right now in the hours leading up to 5.30pm, our Cornerstones project team - Lucy, Adam, Dan, Chris, me - and several helpers were on the final dash towards the project's finale. In the chilly October wind we wrapped, tied, cabled, tested, litter-picked, rehearsed and cross-checked, breaking off only to remind passers-by about the start time and urge the ever-present, ever-enthusiastic hordes of kids to make sure they brought their mums, dads, friends and neighbours back at the appointed time. Over the past several months, as we'd explored the history of the Poppy Road site (location for a brand new housing development) and surrounding streets, gathered family stories, run design and photography workshops and sought contributors for a community performance, enlisting the willing participation of youngsters had been a pretty straightforward challenge. Drawing in the grown-ups had been somewhat more taxing - a phrase containing the words 'teeth' and 'pulling' springs to mind, in fact. This evening would be a test of how well we'd built the relationships, become accepted as a bunch of outsiders, and spread the messages about what the project was all for. And it would prove whether, in the weeks running up to the event itself, we had captured people's imaginations and pricked their curiosity enough to compete with a cosy Sunday evening's TV viewing. The carved stone seats had been in position for several days and had already been seen and sat on by many, so their unveiling was to be purely a matter of ceremonial ritual, but the content of the film and performance was known only to those who had been involved in putting them together - they needed a receptive audience to turn them into a community celebration of St Mary's past, present and future.
It's a great feeling when an event plan comes together in a magical spectacle; even more so when people (of all ages!) turn out in significant numbers to watch, laugh, clap and mingle together in a way they normally don't. It's great to be able to see, and feel, that connections have indeed been built through a process of painstaking creative engagement that felt at times as though it was floating right over people's heads but turns out to have been appropriately pitched for the time, place and circumstances; to know that some new seeds for the future have been sown; and to realise that people have somehow moved from a place of apprehension and disinterest to one of appreciation, enjoyment, participation and even ownership. It's a great feeling - and the memory of the moment still makes me tingle.
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