Cluaran Heritage Project
(Nov. the 30th)
Final preparations are underway!
We will be setting up in the Loreburn Centre on Saturday. Come and drop in to say hi and make something!
More info here
https://www.cluaranhaven.org.uk/making-christmas-2024/
It’s all go for “Making Christmas“!
That is the site visit complete and access routes are scouted out. After the next blacksmithing session in Whithorn it will be all go getting ready. We are excited.
Our programme will be:
With a chance to make things every week and special themed activities each week.
Visit the main page on the Cluaran website to get involved.
You could think of it as training to become an elf, if that helps. Whether that is an elf from Greenwood the great, Valinor, Alfheim, Svartheim, Finland, Faerie, or somewhere like the Sword Coast can be discussed.
Or simply drop in and say hi and to have a go !
There may be stories …
The Isle of Man is in the centre of a Viking era highway. This pdf book give insights into some of the stories told, crosses carved and ways in which the people living there remembered their dead.
Wordsmith Crafts is moving into the Loreburn centre in Dumfries. We will occupy a space to help you make space for making. The costs of this have been covered so you won’t need cash. Craft cool gifts using recycled and donated materials, help make materials available for others to use.
Like a floating monastery we have collected relics from the history of these islands. Come and sit in the storytelling tent and hear stories that are older than Scotland. Escape the present for a moment and let your imagination take you on an adventure.
We will be open on Saturdays 10 – 4
Sign up to help on the Making Christmas 2024 page
In Dumfries and Galloway there are two weeks of school holidays in October. Traditionally this was to free up young people to help howk the tatties from the fields. For Cluaran it meant that we could run a story and crafts session for kids on hokiday at Annan museum. It also meant that we could be joined by Kate for a school visit in Oban, taking time off from being a teacher to volunteer at a school! Perhaps it continues the time of from work to work of the Holidays.
Then it was off even further north to tell stories of St Columba on the shores of Loch Ness with History Matters. Cathbad joined a collection of historical characters in the orchard of castle Urqhuart. We helped visitors catch a glimpse of the past in a stunning setting.
Perhaps one year we will bring the boat! But until then we will continue to give people the opportunity to find a fragment of the past and hear the story that goes with it.
Hopefully this will act as an appetiser, and they will seek to find a place at the table where the feast is in full swing.
Blacksmithing is a traditional skill. An essential art for sensible things like tool making, fences, … gates.
OR THIS
amazing.
We have been experimenting with boat building and watercraft for a good few years now. Perhaps it is time to attempt the “Nith Descent” challenge?
The challenge is following the river Nith from Auldgirth to Dumfries rowing club. It is a grade 1 or 2 run depending on the water level.
Anyone interested?
This is a pre-enactment project. Trad skills meeting modern materials, and scavenging …
There will be two sessions a week.
Thursday evening 19.00 to 21.00
and
Monday afternoons from 14.00 to 17.00
As usual this is a club not a led workshop. Please bring your own materials and projects, or try something new with the donated materials and tools we have accumulated.
That said, some evenings will have a theme where regulars are willing to share their skills rather than simply use the time for their own projects.
We ask for £5 a time to cover overheads, or you can contribute in kind.
| Monday 2 till 5 | Thursday 19.00 to 21.00 |
| 9th Rube Goldberg Machines 16th 23rd 30th | 5th Coracles and Smithing 12th Rube Goldberg Machines 19th Leatherworking tbc 26th |
If you’d like to support what’s going on in a more regular pattern then you could become a Cluaran member.
Cluaran will be rowed up the river Nith by representatives from the union of river animals. (Find out more about the artist behind this on this post).
We will be practicing in the evenings on on Thursday the 15th and 22nd. Assemble at Wordsmithcrafts Workshop at 6pm.
Sign up to join the crew here:
Want to become a river animal yourself?
Then sign up here to be put in touch with the Dumfries Coastal Rowing Club which is coming into existence. We will be building a Nith Skiff. You could also get in touch directly by e-mailing nithskiff@gmail.com
We will be rowing as part of the Nithraid River Festival in 2024, but not as part of the race. We will be travelling in time and mind …
Cluaran has always used the phrase “The sea connects” and has enjoyed an eclectic selection of events. We challenge peoples assumption that water is a barrier by building boats. We build boats from scrap and gathered natural materials to demonstrate how simple it can be to get on the water. We use imagination and performance to immerse people in experiences of other times, and tell stories where mythological truths can be contemplated.
At the 2023 Nithraid we collected a crew of time travellers. They brought stories from the past, present, and future to help people think about their relationship to the river. Follow the link to read about Ola who travelled back in time to warn about a possible future
In 2024 we are transporting visiting artist Graham Bell Tornado. We are looking forward to finding out what this will involve. If you are curious, why not take a look at their list of Queer Ecology projects?
http://www.grahambelltornado.com/queer-ecology/the-natural-hysteria-project
We are getting cluaran ready and practicing rowing on Thursday evenings leading up to the event. If you are interested in joining, please sign up here:
As well as our regulars, our crew will have an international flavour as we are joined by Cille Anglevik an artist from Norway. (I can assure you she is not a cat)
