Wandering the Fairholm Route down to the Green Bridge with Ruby Pester.
Make Your Way explored and highlighted access routes into Chatelherault County Park, going from Hamilton, Larkhall and Quarter. Six artists were given the chance to undertake residencies with local groups groups including: Hamilton Ramblers, Larkhall and District Volunteers, Universal Connections Larkhall, Quarter Primary School, Clydesdale Colts and Blantyre Cubs. The artists' work culminated in Celebration of the Land events held across Chatelherault and the surrounding area.
Artist, Ruby Pester, worked with young people from Larkhall Universal Connections to imagine a soundscape for a walk down to the Green Bridge access route into Chatelherault Country Park from Larkhall. Ruby and the young participants came up with key words for describing the route and created instruments to sound out the route. From the whistles of the wind to the sound of the river, the young people played games and tried out different sounds, acting as foley artists - making sounds for the route.
This focus on sound led to Ruby's Symphony for the Land event - part of the Make Your Way artists' Celebration of the Land on the 24th and 25th February. Ruby also designed the brilliant promotional material for all the events, and for her event she and participants made improvised instruments from all manner of objects: creating home made drums, horns and rattles and more - and walked across the Green Bridge, in a mini-march to bring in the spring (on one of the sunniest days so far this year!).
The Make Your Way team developed Ruby's work with Universal Connections, taking the key words that inspired a sense of sound, feel, and the sense of the routes - and working these into pavement poems installed along access routes into Chatelherault. Some of these words and phrases were also developed from Nadia Rossi's engagement with Quarter Primary School.
Make Your Way connects communities in Hamilton, Larkhall and Quarter with Chatelherault Country Park. It is supported by The Scottish Government, Paths for All and Transport Scotland Smarter Choices Smarter Places grant, and South Lanarkshire Council LEADER and Heritage Lottery Fund Scotland supported Clyde and Avon Valley - CAVLP. It was delivered by Happy N Healthy Community Trust and icecream architecture.