The latest blog update from Sarah Perry, our Saltscape Trainee.
The start of summer has seen the Saltscape staff out and about around Cheshire! We have been busy attending events, running heritage skills workshops and entertaining the crowds with different traditional activities.
My first taste of a salt styled event was running an interactive information stand at Northwich Town’s annual Pedal Power race. Although the day faired as a typical British summer day does (rain, and lots of it!) we braved the best of British weather to meet a whole host of people who turned out to get muddy along the cycle ways and enjoy the fun activities and music laid on in the town centre by a variety of organisations. There were over 600 cyclists who took part in the race and we engaged with many of the families who were supporting the cyclists or even taking part themselves.
Mid-June found us enlisting members of the community to make their mark on Middlewich through a stone carving activity on the Salinea Field at the 2015 Folk and Boat Festival. Saltscape commissioned a 3 tonne piece of sandstone to be hoisted down from the Cumbrian countryside to the salt fields of Middlewich where it was worked on over the festival weekend by event-goers, young and old alike! A slice of salt history has been etched onto the face of the ancient rock that will stand in place forever. Over the next two years the remaining rock faces will be carved leaving a fitting tribute to the long standing salt legacy and people’s heritage of the area!
I gave green wood-working my best shot at the Cheshire show, and although I’m not a seasoned pro, I managed to at least get some conversations with the community started through their puzzlement at “what I was trying to achieve using the draw knife so badly!?” We had a great couple of days reaching out to a really varied audience which included school groups, families and practical skilled folk. A huge amount of interest was invested in Flycatcher – a canoe hand carved out of wood by our Project Officer, Saul, it really added the wow factor and got lots of people interested in our heritage skills courses.
