Celebrating Winter Light

It had been a strange week of hard frosts and heavy rain but the day of our installation arrived with fair weather and blue skies. Having made about 100 torches, all that remained was to install them in the Kings Wood and wait for Friends of the Kings Wood, walkers and participants to find us! 

The Winterlight Team getting ready

Sophie Cullinan supervising the installation

Kate Dyer's epic pan of apple and parsnip soup

Lorraine Dziarkowska doing a spot of documentation

Torches tied to a tree

Light fading

replaced by a

mysterious blue glow.

We were joined by a lovely group of people, some whom had been involved in the making, others who had just stumbled upon us by chance 'Come and join us for hot soup and a marvellous slide show of fungi found in these very woods!" we cried, and they did!

It was a lovely way to explore the woods and feel connected to it's ancient roots and branches. At 5.00pm we took everything away, not one of us had thought to bring an actual torch to light our way out of the woods again, so we edged our cautious way through mud and puddles, laughing as we went. On the pavement by our cars, saying our farewells till next meeting a light drizzle of rain misted us, windscreens and tarmac.

Sweet Treats

There has been lots of activity and public engagement in and around the Cube in Corby just recently. On the 24th of July I was one of a host of volunteers handing out postcards, badges and jelly beans in exchange for memories or stories connected with the town. The postcards were images taken from the Our Corby photographic archive and are part of a larger Our Corby project and Corby's Cultural Olympiad. We were out in glorious sunshine and people seemed more than happy to share their stories, they also didn't seem to mind being approached by a strangely dishevelled woman wearing a a bright yellow T shirt with the Our Corby logo as a skirt.

The space outside the Cube is rather lovely, although one gentleman recalled that the land had originally belonged to a farmer who was bemused by the plans to build the first new town centre on the land as it was the windiest spot in Corby! That afternoon the breeze was welcome, but it's tendency to blow our postcards out of our hands wasn't! There was a real air of celebration plus a brass band, drama in the form of a specially commissioned play Heritage, poetry from Writer in Residence Joel Stickley and Kevin Fegan and the second screening of the film 24 Hour Corby

This week there is a rather gorgeous vintage Airstream caravan parked outside the Cube, which has been converted into The Knowledge Emporium where sweets are traded for knowledge recorded in the Big Book of Everything We Know. As I was working in my studio today I couldn't resist taking a peep inside this beautiful machine, it's well worth a visit. On Saturday there will be readings from the book.

The interior has a magical quality, there's a circular table with curved seating and brightly coloured cushions at the rear of the van and from there you can see a tantalising array of classic penny sweets.

Once seated you are invited to write in the Big Book of Everything We Know, have a chat with the lovely hosts and then you can choose your bag of goodies.

As schools are closed for the summer and the Cube is so close to the swimming pool, the canny children are making the van a regular stopping point, but this isn't just for children, adults will be warmly welcomed too.