Sharing Stories

On April 10th I was invited by the organisation Inspire to run a workshop around the theme of memory and objects as part of their Sharing Stories Project. This particular Inspire project is centred around the village of Weston Colville in Cambridgeshire and aims to encourage 'a shared understanding and celebration of people’s lives, past and present and to record this for future generations.'

Visual memories

I was born in Weston Colville and in spite of my family moving away when I was fifteen, I maintained a strong link with the place and its people through my Grandmother who lived the entire 102 years of her life in the village.

Growing up in this small, rural Cambridgeshire village undoubtedly had an impact on me and I have strong visual memories of growing up as a child in this environment in the 1960s. From the wonders of nature - the catkins in bloom, flat, stark snowbound landscapes, the housemartins nesting in the roof eaves, seas of bluebells in the woods - to the dark, low-beamed cottages, the orderly village shop, carnivals and fetes on the cricket meadow and the richly adorned homes of some of the villagers, it seemed there was always something around to stimulate the senses.

As an artist who works primarily with found objects, I asked the people of the village to bring along something that for them summed up life in Weston Colville, whether past or present. There is inevitably always a memory associated with any object – that old knitted Teddy that can never be thrown out; that Bible, in a total state of disrepair, given to you at Sunday School when you were nine years old – life's accumulated clutter, things you're attached to and for some reason or other find it impossible to let go of.

Nana's cabinet

The cabinet that stood in my Nana's living room for some 70 years captured for me the very essence of a lifetime of collections and accumulations; a cabinet stuffed full of things, many of them brought to her from far off places by family and friends.

It contained a fantastic hotchpotch of objects from all walks of life – china animals, brass bells, the cake decorations from numerous family weddings and christenings, novelty cruet sets, grandchildren's first pieces of pottery and tacky seaside souvenirs sat alongside the finest bone china crockery reserved for high tea and visits from the Reverend.

Personal and historical

The cabinet I brought to Weston Colville was a smaller version of the one my Nana had in her home. And more significantly, it was empty. I brought it to the Reading Room in the hope that together the villagers would refill it, bring it to life again and create a kind of miniature Museum of Weston Colville.

The photos below show how this unfolded on the afternoon of the workshop and how together, we talked through both the personal and historical significance of the objects that were brought along. Labelled and placed in the cabinet, each piece seemed to take on a more revered status and so the creation of Weston Colville's mini Museum had begun.

Poet Clare Crossman and artist Susie Turner are planning further workshops in May when the cabinet's contents will be explored through creative writing and printmaking. I am fascinated by what more in-depth examination of the objects brings and look forward to the cabinet's story continuing through poetry, prose and print.

Many thanks to all who participated and special thanks to artists Jane Pryor and Penny Lutoslawska for organising the day.

To find about more about the Sharing Stories project click here

Inspire helps people to transform their lives, through direct engagement in the arts, especially people disadvantaged by chronic ill health, disabilities or mental health difficulties; to find out more about Inspire click here