Curating the town: Walking Wet in Wellingborough

Not put off by the considerably wet weather, our Light Walks team gathered at Wellingborough Castle for our September Light Walk.

We had set aside our original plans for this walk due to the persistent rain, and opted for a more urban walk this time.

We started our walk in the art gallery space upstairs, where we laid down our challenge for the Light Walkers: could they look at the town of Wellingborough as an art gallery?

Jo gave each of the Light Walkers red dots and asked them to find "artworks" on the walk that they would like to "buy" and stick their red dot sticker next to that, to show it was "sold".

Since we had not planned this walk, Jo then introduced the team to the ideas of the Situationists and the concept of the dérive, and suggested that we take a walk driven by chance. Carole then explained how this would work, using a "fortune teller" she had made up from a map. The fortune teller dictated the direction of the walk.

And so we set off West, as directed by the fortune teller. It didn't take long before we started finding "artworks" to buy.

As we continued on our walk, we 'spotted' the following artworks on our way, and we feel this is a great exhibition created by the town of Wellingborough and curated by our Light Walks team. We hope you enjoy it!

 Curated by Carolyn

Curated by Michael

Curated by John

Curated by Carole

Curated by Pete

Curated by Pete

Curated by John and Curtis

Curated by Carole

Curated by Michael

Curated by Carolyn

 Curated by Jo

 Curated by John

 Curated by John

 Curated by John

 Curated by Carolyn

 Curated by Curtis

 Curated by Curtis

 Curated by Pete

 Curated by Carole

Curated by John

 Curated by Jo

 Curated by Jo

 Curated by Jo

 Curated by Michael

We ended the day exploring the terrific Museum; here's John playing on their pianola!

We have one more Light Walk to do in October, followed by a celebratory exhibition. The venue is still to be decided (but contact us if you have any suggestions!), so check back soon for confirmation  - we would love you to come along for our final celebration of a year of walking!

Back at the Green Patch

After a short break from our Green Patch project 

we were glad to be back during the past week.

We were happy to find the sunflowers

 ice plant

peonies, evening primrose, wild strawberries

 verbascum and begonias are all doing well in their up-cycled planters.

The signs got their first coat of varnish

We spent time making a bird mobile

to install in one of the trees.

We also had time to work on our Weather Installation

Our second day was rainy but we couldn't stop smiling as we find the Green Patch, working in the fresh air , watching the seasons change, totally inspiring.

Busy cooks and foraged fare

With all the foraged food gathered over the last week, it was the perfect time to do a big cook-up with the Light Walks team!

We had the use of a big kitchen at a church hall in Rushden, so we set to work.

We had elderberries, damsons, apples, and other things homegrown:

rhubarb, onions, tomatoes, we were all very impressed with the lovely potatoes that Carole had grown...

 

 very soon, the kitchen was full of busy cooks chopping and peeling...

John striking his pose as he starts on the apples!

Ingredients for a chutney into the big pan...

 

wonderful flavours and fresh food started coming together...

once on the boil, the smell was amazing! Ginger filled the air, and damsons bubbled with a rich berry taste...

then for the straining...

...and finally bottling and spooning into jars.

We had around 40 jars and bottles of chutneys, jams and sauces, as well as a delicious soup.

The team were rewarded for their hard work with a feast prepared by Carolyn, 

and all sat together in the church hall to eat.

Tired but content, we had a little rest before we got stuck into the cleaning up! Which took longer than we thought, but we think it was worth the effort. In the spirit of Light Walks for Dark Days, we had taken flavours from the summer and stored them up for eating in the darker months. And there's nothing as satisfying as good, tasty food cooked by your own efforts!

The Light Walks team will be doing another walk on Monday, with a twist! So visit this blog again soon for more reports.