Light Walks Further Afield: the Night Walk

A Night Walk along the River Dove to Mill Dale.

Not everyone in the group is sure footed and nimble and Carole had particular concerns about walking down a steep, grassy  incline but happily her walking pole gave her more confidence and it was good for others to see her conquering her fears and making the twilight walk. In fact, no one wanted to miss out of the adventure!

Michael trying out his headtorch for size

The path from the hostel to the hill took us through some magical countryside

which was made more atmospheric by the haze of mist

Carolyn striding confidently down the hill

At the bottom we crossed a wooden bridge, pausing to listen to the clear, rushing water. We saw deep pink hawthorn blossom, water snails moved lazily across the  Butterbur leaves edging the path. The leaves had been used to wrap butter being transported by canal in Victorian times. As the light fell we passed through a valley marked by the passage of glaciers, marvelling at the steep ridged sides so evocative of the passage of time and the weight of nature.

Some Lightwalkers need to stretch their legs, walk at a cracking pace, get to wherever we were headed, whist others were happily to stay at the rear, taking time to hang their luminous tape labels on the branches of trees.

Before and after tag at bay!

The reflective tape on the backs of our rucksacks

At the halfway point we stopped on a bridge to create a glowball installation, much to the surprise of passing drivers! We must have looked fairly strange sitting on the bridge with our red head torch lights glowing, but everyone seemed to take our presence in good part. The night was beautiful and strange, walking in darkness made our senses sharper and the beaming head torches picked out small details on the road or in the hedgerows.

The walk home was hilly and a little humid, we made sure we carried our glowballs away with us, especially as they gave us extra visibility. At the Welcome to Staffordshire sign Carole began to dream of Staffordshire oatcakes but contented herself with a good slug of water to help the journey home. As we walked our songs, jokes, shared thoughts and conversations punctuated the inky darkness helping our tired legs carry us home.

Light Walks Further Afield: Memories of Alstonefield

In June our team of Light Walkers went to the Peak District for three days.

We walked through meadows, villages, narrow paths, up and down steep hills and even across a river. The following posts record our adventures in pictures.

Day one: around the village of Alstonefield.

Back at base, we got creative, preparing small art works that we could use as interventions in the landscape on the next walks.

Next week we'll post images from  the Night Walk!

Light Walks Further Afield

The beautiful Peak District

We are delighted to confirm that we will be going on a new adventure with our Light Walkers!

Thanks to support from the Rotary Club of Kettering Huxloe and the Northamptonshire Community Foundation, as well as the ongoing support from N-STEP, we will be setting off to the Peak District for three days of walking, creating and discovering in June.

The outing will extend the challenge for the Light Walkers - we'll be walking bigger hills and longer distances, probably in all weathers and at all times of day and night! It will be a great adventure and, of course, we will document the trip on this blog for you all to enjoy with us.
 

The Light Walks Shop Installation

The final event for our Light Walks For Dark Days project took place in the Bee Inspired Studio in the Mews, Kettering and was a great success. We were able to share our walks and interventions with the community and had a marvellous time reviewing our year. Carole and Jo have both written their thoughts about the project on their personal blogs which can be read here Reflection, contemplation, light and dark and here Light Thoughts

Light Walkers preparing Glow Balls 

for the Shop Installation Opening

Michael describing some of the things we did during our walks

John showing guests images from the walks

As Finedon featured in two of our walks  and one began in the church yard, we were delighted when the Reverend Richard Coles,  Vicar of Or Lady the Virgin Finedon, kindly agreed to add his voice and thoughts on the importance of walking to our Light Walks Film. 

Watching the Light Walks for Dark Days Film

Having a mini indoor picnic during the opening

Pea shoots in December

our hopes for future growth, walks and creative adventures.

An Invitation

 

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Green Patch Celebration

Goodbye Green Patch

Our Green Patch project has now come to an end, all the artworks are installed and the celebratory evening was wonderful. We were delighted to see and hear all the happy faces and great comments about our Residency at the Green Patch, one of the nicest being "I love all the things you have added to the site and you have both become such a part of the Green Patch family". 

Many thanks to the members of the community who took part, all the wonderful volunteers who helped us, to The Green Patch and Groundworks team, especially Lucy, Allison, Nigel, Nikki, Caroline for providing the barbecue and Halloween decorations, Northamptonshire Community Foundation and the Community Development Foundation.

To see all the artworks created during the project please follow the link to our Flickr Sets which includes the Summer House Weather Installation, Rare Flowers sculpture, the pond sculpture, our large printed images around the office and stores, a bird mobile made from plastic bottles and work made with the community including signs and bunting! Lots of colour to keep the Green Patch bright and cheery into the winter months.

The work is staying permanently at the site, so do visit when you are in the area.

Thank you Green Patch, we had a lovely time! We won't forget you.

A view from the Weather Installation

The community gathering for the celebration by the polytunnels

A ray of light (inside the weather installation)

A shower of rain (inside the weather installation)

A fabulous end to a fabulous Residency!

Light Creations for a Dark Day

Our last walk for the series Light Walks for Dark Days lived up to its name. A grey, misty and damp day with little contrast or colour.

This did not deter our Light Walkers however, seeing the greyness as a perfect opportunity to play with lights and flourescence - how could we introduce colour and light into the perfect backdrop of a foggy October day?

Armed with glow-sticks we set off to find dark spaces around the lake at Sywell Country Park.

There were many small gems to spot in the mist on the way.

It was great to have us all walking in a group together again, although sadly for the last time for this series of walks.

Autumn brought its colours to interrupt the greyness of the day.

Nipping into a gap in the hedge, we sneaked off the path and into the woodland. A beautiful hawthorn tree stood, its trunk in the dark and a low canopy spreading. We set to work to dress the dark space with flourescence.

Our sculptural light creations glowed quietly amongst the dark tangle of branches, appearing like floating aliens against the green.

We tried out our creations in other dark space, a natural fence in the hedgerow:

and an installation in the bird hide, the sun illuminating the colours as it caught them through the viewing slit.

It was nearly 4 o'clock when we finished circumnavigating the lake, and darker still. All the way round we had been searching for a perfect place of dark water, but had not found it. Carolyn was particularly determined to find the right place for our final installation of the day, and as we made our way back to the car park we suddenly found it! The Sheepwash running along the side of the car park took the water under trees where it was decidedly dark and made the perfect place for our final installation, floating lanterns.



Serenely bobbing along, they rode the current gently and gathered together at the root of a tree before we set them free again. Flames flared and died, turning from orange to blue.

We watched them for some time, then retrieved them from the water with bamboo canes, and left, leaving no trace but keeping our memories.

Our exhibition of the project will open on Thursday 20th December and run until 6th January at Market Street Mews, Kettering. Watch this blog for more details - we hope to see you there!