One for the Rook
A welcome from King Harry, Diddleton Frank, Gowk, Gled, Frenchman, Kitty Coot, Cob, Doo, Billy Wix, Jenny Wren, Betsy, Bob Robin, Mavis, Jeremy Joy, Tot o’er the Seas and Bumbarrels.
The out of the ordinary is under your nose.
One for the Rook, a collaboration with Charlotte Arculus, Mary Lovett, Hugh Lupton and Liz McGowan will be a trail like none other. It takes place over ten days in September – 8th-12th and 22nd-26th.
Tickets are now on sale and available from https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/one-for-the-rook-tickets-154528632299. Be sure to book early as tickets are strictly limited.
Full details can be found on BACAT’s website here: https://bacat2021.wixsite.com/bacat/one-for-the-rook
This ancient land is a palimpsest of tracks written by paw, claw and hoof. Swallows and swifts weave the clear air into pathways as they swoop and soar as intricate as Celtic knots and larks gild it with song. We have stitched a new track trodden by shoe and boot and conjured from song and story, music and memory, film and thought, it is marked by runes. Walk it in silence, listen with the ears of an owl, see with hawk sharp eyes. Walk it as a charm, a summoning to fox, owl, snail and wild flower, all those outlawed by a human fear of the wild. ‘One for the Rook ‘ is a call to arms to remember we humans are but a part of life on Earth.
‘One for the Rook’ is an acknowledgement and celebration of the wild world around us, the creatures, plants and insects which are our ‘neighbours’. We follow in the footsteps of those beautiful and influential books, ‘Lost Words’ and ‘Lost Spells’ written by Robert Macfarlane and illustrated by Jackie Morris. Although ‘following’ it is very much our own pathway we have created.
The event is a ‘trail’ of about 1 ½ miles in the countryside around the village of Bergh Apton. There are a dozen ‘stop, look and listen’ places, some with music and words to enjoy. The ‘trail’ opens in the church porch which becomes a tiny theatre and then, the intrepid ‘travellers’ go off to be interested, intrigued and inspired and, to keep wits sharp, there is a puzzle full of trickery to solve. The trail finishes in the body of the church where there is music and readings to listen to, lanterns to admire and a CD to buy! This is no ordinary CD, it has been made by one of us and the covers designed, painted and printed by us.
The ‘One for the Rook’ trail is quiet, contemplative and can be walked as a meditation. Do come.
Creative peace in a spaceship
“For a while there I didn’t think I’d be able to get my spaceship to work.” I said to Maisie.
This of course implied that I had, in the end, gotten my spaceship to work… and indeed I had. How pleasing!
I had attended the lantern making workshop arranged by BACAT and facilitated by Kate Munro, who charmingly enthused us about the task at hand. Fifteen people were welcomed with a cup of coffee and a place at a table covered in plastic sheet.
Those who had expressed an interest had been asked to think of something to make at the workshop, and after Kate explained the technique of bending the willow twigs that she had bought along (pre-soaked); we set to our plans.
A quiet buzz of activity consumed the room, in the same way that a room falls silent of conversation at the start of a good meal. Silent apart from the chink of cutlery and china; or in this case the sound of ripping masking tape. Occasional muttered apologies could also be heard as the springy willow inadvertently clips your neighbour around the ear.
We all did our thing, in studied concentration, punctuated by brief words of encouragement by Kate or the other er luminaries.
Around lunch time we reluctantly left our work to eat a baked spud, some cheeses and an inventive salad including nuts and berries. Delicious!
More peace and quiet while we worked on our projects and then tea and a sticky bun.
Then time to go… five hours had whizzed past and we were able to pack our, mostly finished, slightly sticky lanterns into our cars. They were bigger than planned – so some of us had to walk home.
If you haven’t attended one of the many workshops organised by BACAT, I encourage you to do so. From a personal perspective; approaching the day it seemed like a lot of time away from getting necessary chores done. At the end of the day I felt tired, peaceful and satisfied… which is pretty much as good as it gets.
…And the plans for a flying saucer space ship had worked!