AS I WALKED OUT

Merlin and archie get home

2010-08-25T21:12:00.000+01:00

Thighs

2010-08-18T12:09:00.001+01:00

Thigh emergency. , surely 8 weeks walking would have done a beyonce ?
Sadly not
Am sat in Kent bored stupid missing donkeys and worrying about swine flu
Discovered that luke has got it in hospital
Am now regretting whipping my mask off and kissing him ( nice though
it was) it is probably time for a drink 12.08 pm

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Merlin looking out of trailer

2010-08-16T17:24:00.001+01:00

Lucy , donkey whisperer

2010-08-16T17:23:00.003+01:00

Chester taking part in an art workshop

2010-08-16T17:23:00.001+01:00

Archie with ridiculous ears

2010-08-16T17:22:00.001+01:00

Concentration

2010-08-16T17:21:00.003+01:00

Wooden donkey in the making

2010-08-16T17:21:00.001+01:00

Deborahs donkey sculpture workshop millers farm

2010-08-16T17:20:00.001+01:00

Zoe art workshop millers farm

2010-08-16T17:19:00.000+01:00

Geoff hale outside his shed in the pludds

2010-08-16T17:18:00.000+01:00

Home in the garden

2010-08-16T17:17:00.001+01:00

Monday pm have just mowed the really long grass back in my garden
I feel calm and not as bleak as I thought I might
Need to recap the last week just so I can remember for posterity
The last few days became a bit of a blur as more and more people
joined us
We stayed at the fountain inn in parkend and it was packed with people
camping and walking with us
I could feel myself retreating and wanting solitary time to share with
just me and the beasts
Utterly selfish but true
The last day was quite an adventure
Sue whose small holding we were staying on for the final weekend came
and walked with us said she knew a lovely route to the farm
It was lovely and rocky and a bit dangerous and long and up and down
and through amazing forest and rutted tracks , exciting and
challenging, lots of pushing and shoving , pulling the cart and archie
our amazing cart donkey pulled like he had never pulled
Head down, heavy breath and always stoic.
We got in late and then piers toby and I had to go and see molly in a
show
Crazy evening

The last day was wet but fine
Zoe and deborah both did brilliant workshops which were really well
attended
I had wondered what Deborah would do with the chair
Fantastic
A group workshop with people taking it in turn to sit on the chair and
others to offer suggestions as to what they needed to feel at home
We then talked collectively that night around the fire to our visitors
about our jounrney
The next day was achingly sad
Loading the donkeys not easy at all
Vehicles breaking down and a reminder of how unreliable mechanical
things are! The donkeys never broke down!
I am so proud that we did it
No accidents, no injuries, no sick donkeys
There are so many things that I want to record and not forget
Bullet point again:
Toby taking me to a river spot that he found on the last day , skinny
dipping with me and admitting that he would miss the trip and the
walking
Cooking on a fire
Sleeping out and feeling the weight and sheer majesty of the night sky
Walking all day next to an animal
Seeing a group of people walk in rhythm with the donkey and a peace
and tranquility descend on all
The sound of the leather panniers creaking
Living outside
All I need packed up and on the donkeys
The simplicity

So my last blog, I've enjoyed tapping my funny little phone quite a lot
I weighed my self today
10 stone
I sort of didn't care which is pretty unusual,
Thanks to all who made it possible there are so many
My family have been pretty amazing
But special thanks to the donkeys
I'm sad to end this blog as it means the trip is over
Would like to write something very meaningful but unfortunately can't
think of anything
Bye blog , bye project, bye donkeys, bye artists
Thankyou all xxxx

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home

2010-08-16T10:01:00.001+01:00

am sat at my computer

jasper is barking outside so the neighbours will know we are at home woops

realise that I have writeen so fairly bleak last day thoughts and possibly am sounding like an emotional spolit wreck

will write proper a little bit later

but you know what

it was bloody bloody bloody brilliant

every bit, every ached, every hate of my husband, every love of my husband every thing

every step

xxxxxxxxx

happy to be alivexxxx

Packing up

2010-08-15T10:25:00.001+01:00

Sundayvmorning sat next to the hull of my tent , everything everywhere
we have all had a huge last breakfast and we are all trying not to
face the inevitable
The final pack
Everything is suddenly very important and heavy with meaning
The saddles and panniers look sad and reproachful and in can't bear
the thought of them rotting in a garage
The camp yesterday was great
So many people for workshops
The workshops were brilliant
Sally Hampson week two artist came back which was lovely
Will write up a good account or yesterday but just need to record now
Am overwhelmed already with feeling of loss
And can't really look at the donkeys
Particularly merlin and archie who will go back to Somerset and we may
never see them again
I have secretly fallen innlive with both of them
Archie for his stoicism, bravery and quiet ability to pull the cart
through whatever he was presented with and rise to the challenge
Merlin for his sleek beauty, his doleful eyes, his blackness and his
soft as velevt patch between his front legs
Merlin who is sensual and loves a scratch , a stroke , will push other
donkeys out of the way to get more attention
Merlin I have fallen for you and do not want to say goodbye

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All over

2010-08-14T11:21:00.000+01:00

I am sat in the van in the co op p
Car park in lydney about to do a shop for the weekend camp and last
night
Have a dark feeling in my belly like a hangover but not
Feeling of confusion , a need to cry and a sense of " what now?"
Also small forays into the world make me wonder what did we create
When did we lose ourselves and a grip on reality
Who invented plastic and why is there so much of it
Will write up yesterdays journey as it was pretty mega with some
fairly big near misses in it
Now o need to enter the co op
It was raining badly this morning which hasn't done much to lift my mood

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Finished

2010-08-14T09:42:00.000+01:00

Finished out phone not working properly

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Artist chair , grandmother, granddaughter

2010-08-12T07:14:00.000+01:00

Journey past forest window

2010-08-12T07:13:00.002+01:00

Forest window

2010-08-12T07:13:00.001+01:00

Coming to an end

2010-08-12T07:11:00.001+01:00

Haven't written for days as the events have rather overtaken
everything else
Briefly:
Radio four were great, maggie Ayre and clare balding
Realise jn hindsight that clare is an icon to many people but as none
of us watch any sport none ofnus realised
Dad couldn't belive it , i love clare balding he kept saying
Well so did we and her producer was lush
Started to rain quite seriously after she went and we were staying in
a field behind speech houise in the forest
Piers and I decidednto go on a date as the group fairly small and
wehavw hardly done anything romantic for weeks
Just as our main course arrived my phone rings
It is luke extremely old friend of mine and piers , Tobys godfather ,
hebhad been out walking with us near the start and was heading to
Australia to emigrate.
Very quickly he told me that his leukimia which he had had a bone
marrow transplant for had returned , he was sorry to bother us as he
knew that we only had a week left but unforunately so did he
potentially only have a week left
Unbelievable
We left our meal and returned to the camp
Things went from bad to worse as Scott got his knickers in a twist
about a conversation with piers , he had had too many beers and
basically tried to pick a fight
Piers had to call me from my tent as he thought there may be a child
protection issue
Oh god oh god , I was really angry as actually piers and I had enough
yo deal with
We all walked on weds
Scott refusing to speak
Me and piers gutted about luke
It rained much of the day
Scott tried to get me to arrange for him to go home
I refused until he spoke to piers and sorted it out
For gods sake it was the last thing that weneeded
Piers was brilliant and it was sorted
I went to London yesterday to see my darling luke
The camp and donkeys rested
The artists pleased to have a day to work
Heavenly place in the pludds
Views for miles, across to wales and over the forest
Can still see may hill
Surreal on the train, felt calm, had washed and even shaved my legs
Got there early so ended up buying a dress out if sheer nerves and not
knowing what to do
Went to the hospital
My beautiful , honest, old soul friend who is one of the true real
loves in my life is dying
Had to wear a stupid mask which didn't go with my dress, he
appreciated the dress and the shaved legs
Spent four hours on and off with him
He is calm and totally accepting so I will be too
Want moments to hang on forever and somehow say the most meaningful
thing but of course neither is possible
Took my mask off at the end , threw the other visitors out and climbed
on to the bed and clungon to my dear friend.
Luke , you have been everything to me and my family and friends
We kissed and I wanted to bundle him into my bag and bring him back to
the forest and lay him down by the fire and see the shooting stars

Came back , the ever brilliant jez picked me up , toby was there and
cried to hear how ill luke was
And so we have two days left , a long day today with friends joining
and other walkers
You will be in my head and heart luke

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Toshers tipple and archie

2010-08-09T07:20:00.000+01:00

Teddy modelling jos knitwear

2010-08-09T07:18:00.000+01:00

Forest and toshers tipple

2010-08-09T07:16:00.000+01:00

Gorgeous day, walked up from newnham , a total gaggle of us 26 of us
ranging from 1-74
Stopped at the top of newnham hill to see "the best view in
Gloucestershire" certainly was, snaking river, saw for miles, clear
sky , really stunning
Almost as stunning was meeting " tosher" Nina went to the nearest
house to ask for water and out came tosher, he loved the donkeys , so
much so that he gave us two crates of his " toshers tipple" forest
scrumpy
Oh dear! Totally delicious , we all cracked one open straight away
Arrived at camp , gorgeous soudley on the playing field , perfectly
manicured football pitch .
Slept out again under the stars
Zoe our other artist has arrived we have a huge crew here this week
Felt overwhelmed in the evening, we have gone from 8 to 23
People happy to help but still feels like much more work and pretty
boring to keep asking people
Radio four coming out today so must try not to keep shouting at jasper

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Homemade tarts

2010-08-07T16:24:00.001+01:00

Oakland park jam tarts and plum pies

2010-08-07T16:23:00.003+01:00

Brian asleep in the forest

2010-08-07T16:23:00.001+01:00

Entering the forest

2010-08-07T16:22:00.001+01:00

Bad day

2010-08-07T16:19:00.001+01:00

Started off well although we were all tired after night of frolics
with escaping donkeys
We entered the forest
Quite a monumental moment, with the
Key from the forestry commission then aaaagh, started to rain again
and then how many tracks?
Looking back we went wrong almost immediately but we didn't know
Had a wet lunch spirits high met a great guy , head of the commoners
association from the forestry commission who thought we were mad (we
are) but told us how to get there
We even wrote it down still went wrong
Piers and brian both trying to be alpha male re the map Reading
Me trying to be alpha female re map Reading (that is a joke as I am
renouned for my apalling geography skills)
at least an hour spent trying to work out where we were
Lucy and I offer to scout back
Think I can run, reAlise I can't anymore
Try and make i phone be more useful
Work out where north is
Not sure why as doesn't help
We find track hurray
Lucy tells us it is not suitable
Piers and brian don't really believe her
We go down track
Very unsuitable
It is now late
Toby crying
Everyone looks a bit grey
We decide to ditch the Cart and go ahead with the donkeys
Track is a death track
Donkeys are heroes
It is rutted , marshy, muddy, overgrown, in fact not a track
I lead
Many Girly screams, think teddy has broken his legs for a moment
Finally we make it to camp
Me brian piers and Deborah (artist who is walking with chair
strapped to back) drive back in the Fairgame van which luckily jez
dropped off yesterday to pick up brians landrover from where we
started then back to the forest to find the cart
We tow cart back up from the bottom which involves brian towing and me
piers and Deborah holding the cart
It is a long way up
Piers and I row whilst doing it
I want to hurt him
Get cart to the top
Deborah says it has bern a really exciting day
Unload van which is at the top
Load cart into van
Re load van
Drive back
Am completely knackered
Not speaking to husband
Sleep really well
Thank god for day off
Many people arriving tonight Sent from my iPhone

Lost

2010-08-06T16:40:00.001+01:00

We are lost in the forest of dean it is nearly 5 o clock

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Fri morning

2010-08-06T07:24:00.001+01:00

We are sleeping out , it is 7.10 am , it is raining a bit but we are
in the forest do sort of sheltered .our only wild night of camping ,
great spot by st Anthony well in flaxley . Natural spring and a plunge
pool . Left dickcwhittington centre yesterday am, very generous they
let all the kids play for free on the toys
Everyone very tired yesterday. I went for a quiet cry in a field ,
thank god for a glass of red wine .
fadia and family came for supper , jez came and put a break on the carg
Jez you are our silent hero and have been amazing.
Drama of the night Brian woke us at aporox 5 am to say the donkeys are
out
Shit
Panicked that they'd got into the asha centre which we are camping
close to
They are having a wedding there this weekend :the lawn is immaculate ,
and the rose garden reminds me of alice in wonderland , coupled with
the fact that we weren't able to stay at the asha centre and j know
the owners in a professional context and it hasn't always been the
easiest relationship thank god or st Anthony that they went the other
way
A good half hour of examining tracks and touching poo on the road to
see if it was warm, I'd make a great detective ! And brian found them
Long walk today , through the forest , hope we don't get lost

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Tired foot

2010-08-04T19:32:00.000+01:00

Longhope jez's grampy birth place ( we think)

2010-08-04T19:31:00.000+01:00

Scott and his pinhole camera image

2010-08-04T08:14:00.000+01:00

Artist on chair rather than chair on artist

2010-08-04T08:13:00.000+01:00

Huntley

2010-08-04T08:12:00.001+01:00

Family from Huntley

2010-08-04T08:12:00.000+01:00

Arran and I having a moment with some stolen balls

2010-08-04T08:09:00.000+01:00

The tribe

2010-08-04T07:59:00.001+01:00

The pied piper effect has hit, we are a tribe now , many of us
Guiltily I wonder if it us too many and our campspot hosts groan when
they see us.
The success/ problem is so many children under the age of 8 .
We have a strict rota for who can ride on the cart and for how long .
This has caused some screaming tantrums but I think we are managing.
We have a few young people with special needs , a few on the autistic
spectrum .
I feel chuffed (most of the time) that it works, we all pitch in, and
at times we create a space that I hope Is really inclusive .
Instead of an online community , an on road community .
We camped at Huntley village hall in the playing field.
Again brought gifts and made to feel welcome apart from one man who
shouted " the audacity " and then almost hit me with his stick when I
tried to explain what we are doing
Our artist arrived ,deborah, she is walking with a chair strapped to
her back as a representation of home I think!
Anyway ended up having very heated discussions about travellers,
race , identity
A lush journey the day before , stopped in a good lunch spot, brought
tea by one lovely lady and great conversations with john
My quote of the week:
" there wasn't enough hairy men around , the ones that were were
useless , luckily he had a hairy wife!"
We had a family join us from Huntley and walk with us, some other
villagers as well , perfect

Manic walk, in and out of the cart , laughter , screams ,
Then the dreaded call that our campspot hadn't been sorted
Shit
More mad calls , sorted
Got here
Then almost moment of the trip a walk up may hill
Awesome awesome
Wild horses , views , bracken, will spend my life going back there
when I can
Long walk today
Nine days walking left
I know that the tribe will continue to grow
Gulp
Hurray
( will never get back to starting weight let alone target )

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2010-08-01T22:12:00.000+01:00

Week six and getting political

2010-08-01T22:08:00.001+01:00

Week six was challenging :
We lost two of our staff members(due to end of contract not walking
out) so the pressure has really been on for myself and piers to manage
the whole circus ( not necessarily the best thing for ones marriage !)
Louisa Fairclough has been our artist this week , she has been making
pinhole cameras and taking many pictures by the light of the full
moon.she has taken some beautiful images and run great workshops.
I have really enjoyed the countryside around hartbury, ashleworth and
highnam. It has a really old feel and the landscape feels worked and
real.
We have had lots of visitors walking with us and news of the outside
world has started to filter through and burst our bubble community .
Cuts, cuts, cuts , is what I hear and it feels that the world has
changed even within the short time we have been on our journey.
I have also heard rumours that this project has caused a certain
amount of discussion "donkeys and art ,what a luxury, over the top "
It makes me feel sad , the value of art , nature , animals and I hope
what we are doing is hard to measure and evaluate in purely monetary
terms but in a world where the future can seem uncertain and bleak
there has to be a place for the arts, a value on a project that
encorages the public to walk in their own landscape and a recognition
of the therapeutic value of what we are trying to achieve. In a
nutshell ( I have said this so many times now !) we are delivering a
public arts project , a continous 8 week journey through the six
districts of the county on foot with four donkeys who carry our kit.
We have a cart with a solar panel so we make our own energy . Our
artists run free public art workshops based on their experiences of
the landscape . We endeveour to leave no trace when we leave our
camspots each morning . we welcome anyone to join us at any time and
walk.
In hard statistical terms we have provided employment for 18 people
over the course of the project , delivered workshops in 8 primary
schools , run 8 public workshops and 6 public camps , walked into
Cirencester Gloucester Cheltenham Tewkesbury with four donkeys and
reminded people of how we used to live and travel and how we could
still if we took some time.
I cannot even begin to quantify the people who have stopped us ,
followed us to find out what we are doing, walked with us, waved at
us, brought us water , carrots, pies , pints , tea , kind words or
stories of their own donkeys and childhoods. This project has no
social boundaries , we have met and walked with people from all
backgrounds and ages.
I understand that we are living in financially difficult times and
that hard decisions have to be made, I don't know how you decide what
to cut or what is worthy nor would I want too..... But ....... Without
sounding pretentious art, animals, landscape , walking are worth
funding and the more of us that do it maybe our emotional well being ,
not to mention our physical well being might be considerably better.
Back to more daily issues
We head off to the forest tomorrow . Our gang is growing , people are
joining us and the word is spreading .
The stars of the show are still the donkeys
All the donkeys have seen a farrier last week and they are all ready
for the last district.
If you see us do slow down , wave , don't beep your horn , even better
get out and walk with us for a bit.
.
T

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Pinhole camera workshop

2010-08-01T10:17:00.000+01:00

Merlin laden with flowers

2010-08-01T10:16:00.000+01:00

Sitting in car

2010-08-01T10:15:00.001+01:00

I feel a bit melancholy and cabin fevered
We have been at over farm for too long now and I want to move off
We have had acreally good few days here ( sort of)
I am feeling weary of being the hostess at all times,
Someone said that it
Was a bit like the Katie price and peter Andre programme , out walking
with a family aaaaaagh
Piers and I agreed this morning to not disagree publically !
So many things to report , will have to bullet point
Walked into gloucester park via the dual carriageway , donkeys
exempleary
Workshops in the park , a bit fraught but donkeys success
Walked back , nearly bad accident , lot of swearing
Public camp supposed to be that evening
No one arrives
Realise that molly can now drive , piers has taught her, watch my 14
year old daughter driving very well around the field
Not sure how I feel about this
Pat Roberts and friends turn up to do music
Very good !
Wake up again , groundhog day feeling
People turn up early from kingfisher care home for workshops,
I am still in my pyjamas
Donald turns up to give a walk
I am still in my pyjamas , what is going on, no one here for anything ,
Group of cyclists turn up
Realise that we are advertised in the Gloucester festival brochure and
people are going to drop in all day
I get dressed
Lots of people drop in
Pinhole camera workshops very good
We leave for the night to see giffords circus
It is great
Full length mirrors not so great
Return to camp
The next two weeks are going to be really busy , many people walking

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Husband

2010-07-31T17:26:00.001+01:00

We have esacped the madness for a few hours to see my mother in law
and the circus , piers has had a shower and has a nice shirt on ,
looking good x

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Children on the cart

2010-07-30T08:59:00.003+01:00

Merlons beautiful eye

2010-07-30T08:59:00.001+01:00

Tarmac man

2010-07-30T08:58:00.000+01:00

Thistle breakfast

2010-07-30T08:57:00.001+01:00

Sleeping beauty

2010-07-30T08:57:00.000+01:00

Decorated dinnerctable

2010-07-30T08:56:00.001+01:00

Discussions with Tarmac man

2010-07-30T08:56:00.000+01:00

Lush parents and dog

2010-07-30T08:54:00.000+01:00

Hassle

2010-07-30T08:53:00.001+01:00

In a nutshell as so many things happened:
Parents came and walked
7 other people came and walked , Jo, vicky, andy, torin, Sarah, sam,
lush baby
Merlin wouldn't leave the place that we had bean staying in as he was
scared of the water mill
Nearly killed me by walking backwards and impaling me on the shafts of
the cart and the not moving
Everyone from the b and b tried to push him out
Piers and I not speaking to each other
Finally ( half an hour ) merlin leaves the premises
Serious roadworks on the road
Dad swears at the road men ( I think he did anyway)
Road man swears at us ( fuck off donkeys)
Very large tail back
Turn off road to small road , surprising number of lorries all the
same make
Discover that tiny road is being tarmacced
Walk over quite hot Tarmac
Teddy nearly bolts with my dad holding on to him due to loud
motorbikes driven by teenagers
Piers and I still not speaking
Interesting to see my parents in such an alternative situation
Piers says this is black thursday
Get back onto busy road
Very large tail back
Finally arrive at over farm
Phew!
Louisa our artist has dilemma, she needs at least 50 empty beer cans
for her workshop to make pinhole cameras
I feel scared at the challenge, we do however make a good attempt
Good supper , parents stay
Mum goes wooding,
Parents pretty lush
Piers and I sort of make up
Sleep outside, now wish I had done so every night the nicest thing I
have done for a very long time
Children doing great x

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Marriage

2010-07-29T08:08:00.000+01:00

Not sure that being my husbands manager is the best thing for our
relationship Thursday am on tgexway to over
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Bliss

2010-07-28T08:58:00.000+01:00

I was in a foul mood yesterday morning , found piers intensely
annoying and stillnot sure wheter it was me just being too touchy or
whether or not he was being irritating!
Anyway we finally finally set off, seemed to take forever which annoys
me!
Had a few donkey adventures yesterday , cows in field either side
flanking us down a very narrow road for quite some time. Wax exciting
just felt that the donkeys might go at any point. Walked a very
circular route and ended up at an old rectory for lunch . Anna and
James joined us (old friends) my mood was restored and they brought
lots if cheese for lunch hurray .
The heavens thenopened and we spent 20 mins sheltering under trees.
Arrived at Colchester farm , gorgeous old farm. , started to walk
through , field with a massive horse , horses started to go mental ,
jasper winding situation up, we all a bit nervous , then it jumps the
bloody fence and is in the field with us
Moments silence, James looks quite scared, horse runs into next
field . Wow!
Farmer and family very chill about it, we set up camp in a lush old
orchard, raid the excellently stocked village shop in ashleworth , too
many if us in the shop
Have been planning a dry week , decided percieved thigh gain is down
to beer
Artist this week needs us to drink 100 beers over the week so she can
use them for pinhole cameras
For gods sake!
Lovely night round the fire, donkey anna returned! Louisa ( artist)
did pinhole photography , great food , ned who is mollys friend
entertained us brilliantly with stories of ferreting and loud burping
on demand,
Kids slept out by the fire , starry night, all is well

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If i had a Twitter account

2010-07-27T11:12:00.000+01:00

If I had a Twitter account I would write that right now my husband is
annoying me

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Molly at the festival

2010-07-26T22:37:00.000+01:00

Molly sleeping out

2010-07-26T22:36:00.000+01:00

Week six

2010-07-26T22:27:00.000+01:00

Aaaaagh week six fourth public camp done shit shit shit going so
quickly that I want it to slow down
Recap
Thursday: rewrite grant application Thursday am horrid horrid being at
home,
Pick up john Hegley
Parents arrive, nice to see them
Go shopping with dad, come back to find molly driving around the field
on her own rather well, not too happy about that
Friday, walk to Gloucester cathederal , meet rather attractive artist
in residence, David, good public relations at the cathederal lots of
interest
Walk back past gypsy camp again, whole camp cones out to see us , get
called pykies which I enjoy

Sat: camp
Many people john does brilliant workshop , 52 people attend, martha
tilston and maggie Boyle come to play lush lush evening
I feel quite tearful listening to the music , really beautiful
Have to go to Trowbridge next day to pick up molly from festival, bit
of a culutyre shock but quite fun
Swim a lot in the river at the festival , bikini tight, molly tells me
that I have put on weight and she will stop biting her nails if I will
eat less !
Shit, tried not to have a beer this eveni g but failed miserably

Donkeys great, I am in love with archie, he is an amazing donkey, just
so solid

Louisa ( artist ) and Helen have joined us and anna and Adrian have
gone
So far all good, teddy a bit naughty without anna
We called in to see john and tilly today
two faieground people that we met years ago
They loved it, reminded john of travelling with horse drawn fairground
rides
Feel tired today and a bit emotional .
Want to write something witty but not feeling it
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Fwd: What is art if not a donkey ?

2010-07-26T08:56:00.001+01:00

Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

From: Sarah <bleurs@aol.com>
Date: 26 July 2010 08:56:03 GMT+01:00
To: "sue.smith@stroudnewsandjournal.co.uk" <sue.smith@stroudnewsandjournal.co.uk>, "tamash.lal@stroudnewsandjournal.co.uk" <tamash.lal@stroudnewsandjournal.co.uk>, "ashley.loveridge@stroudnewsandjournal.co.uk" <ashley.loveridge@stroudnewsandjournal.co.uk>, Lucy Heywood <lucyheywood@hotmail.com>, chris gardner <phscg@tiscali.co.uk>, "jo.bousfield@gloucestershire.gov.uk" <jo.bousfield@gloucestershire.gov.uk>
Subject: What is art if not a donkey ?

I recieved an interesting email this week asking me to write less about myself the weather and the donkeys and more about art and the artists that are walking with us on out trip. Initially I felt quite affronted that what I had been writing was not considered art, then it led me to reflect on the many conversations that I have had with the artists on our journey.
One of the points of our journey with the donkeys has been to provide a reflective space for artists to think about their work and hopefully be inspired by our gorgeous landscape, the donkeys and as this is England the weather.
Because of the nature of our journey , the sheer physicality of what we are doing I have not seen much "art". What I have come to understand though from discussions with our artists is that they have had to drop any preconcieved ideas of their art, what they hoped to create and achieve because what we are doing is do utterly consuming. Many of our artists have said ( and managed to not sound pretentious !) that the art is the whole experience, ie: the donkeys, the landscape, the walking , the weather and the opportunity to take z sideways step from our increasingly frantic, competitive and critical lifestyle has been really inspiring .
We have had a pretty cool week as far as artists go , john hegley walked with us and managed to write whilst walking
He ran a brilliant public workshop for 52 people ( no mean feat ) and entertained us royally around the fire . The beautiful martha tilston and maggie Boyle also came to sit by the fire and sing , I tell you it was truly wonderful .
Donkey walking: by john Hegley
Archie, merlin Chester teddy
The lord Was once upon your like
We are set and hiking ready
Moving hooves and tails a sway
Three are brown and one is grey
Down to Gloucester on our way
Nowwhere near to eton bray

Walking on at quite a rate
In the lanes with manes us straight
Bearing up beneath the weight
When they're done and free of freight
They eat grass til very late
And when the grass is down to stubble
My hand is grand with night time nibble
Archie Chester teddy merlin
You dint want your toes a curlin
If one don't apply the clipper
You can get aladdins slipper
With mandolin upon my back
As tomorrows getting black
In Gloucestershire and in July
Man and beast see eye to eye

So back to me the weather and the donkeys,
I continue to pray for sun although today is looking slightly ominous , the donkeys continue to be the star turn wherever we go and are awe inspiring in what they do, personally I am still loving every second of this and invite you to come and enjoy our journey . We will be at over farm in gloucester on Friday night details on the website www.asiiwalkedout.com
Sarah blowers

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John hegley returning his high visibility jacket after walking with the donkeys

2010-07-26T08:41:00.000+01:00

Art pieces

2010-07-24T17:22:00.000+01:00

Nature in art

2010-07-24T17:21:00.000+01:00

John hegley art workshop

2010-07-24T17:20:00.000+01:00

Waiting in the q for tynchy stryder

2010-07-24T17:18:00.001+01:00

Merlin , the dean , Adrian Nina and archie Gloucester cathederal

2010-07-24T17:18:00.000+01:00

Dead duck , children made a shrine for it

2010-07-24T17:16:00.000+01:00

Sat at nature in art

2010-07-24T17:15:00.001+01:00

Have been slack and not written for days, time is slipping fast and
the weekend is here again ,in summary :
Pmt gone , managed not to bite peoples heads off
Good journeying this week
Again have not managed a dry week, probably the reason that I cannot
get below 10 stone
John hegley was with is for some of this week , lovely , dry ,don't
quite know what he made of us, think he may have thought me a bit
uncouth
Walked into Gloucester, parked up at the cathederal, good reception
Met the gypsies who shouted at us for not shoeing the donkeys and then
were great , called us pykies which I really enjoyed
Went to see tynchy stryder with piers toby and Scott
Ash performed, was all fairly grim although was proud of ash
Everyone stared at us , I looked fairly out of place , piers looked
Neanderthal toby looked like throwback 70,s child, suspect we did
nothing for ashs image in the rap world
I lied and said I was ashleys mother when he was performing so I could
push to the front
People didn't really believe me, not because I don't look old enough I
suspect but because I look so unlikely
Anna and Adrian finish this week, will miss them so much,
Nature in art awesome place to be,
John hegleys workshop pleasantly enjoyable, felt moved, inspired and
reminded that maybe I could like doing art
Feel I have a sore throat coming no no mo
Want to have a quick siesta
Maybe a drink would help
Martha tilston coming to play tonight

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Tynchy strider

2010-07-23T22:39:00.001+01:00

Sat watching tynchy stryder in a half empty hall feeling old and
missing my donkeys toby very excited
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Rapping

2010-07-23T19:37:00.001+01:00

Am in a q for a tynchy strider gig in Gloucester we all look very out
of place possibly like gypsies hope no one picks on us

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Anna and teddy

2010-07-21T09:26:00.000+01:00

Scott archie Sarah and piers

2010-07-21T09:25:00.001+01:00

Tewkesbury abbey

2010-07-21T09:25:00.000+01:00

Molly trying to coerce archie into Tewkesbury

2010-07-21T09:24:00.000+01:00

Tredington school

2010-07-21T09:23:00.000+01:00

Marieke with children at tredington

2010-07-21T09:22:00.001+01:00

Jasper at tredington

2010-07-21T09:22:00.000+01:00

Blue

2010-07-21T09:20:00.001+01:00

Have pmt so hard to know what is really annoying and what is my
hormones so will try and be objective:
Good things about yesterday:
Court farm at Stoke orchard, denise leanne, tricia, fred , boots the
dog and all the people who,s names I have forgottpn,
Nice, generous friendly interested lovely people , thankyou
Tredington school for letting us in to do an impromptu workshop and
proving that even today that schools can be spontaneous
Tewkesbury abbey for letting us in
Gupshill manor for letting us stay in their field
Bad things:
endless noisy road
Traffic all day
Motor way bridge
Pmt
Having to think about a bloody arts council application whilst running
this project
Only three weeks left
Have to go home tonight to write arts council apication
Three weeks is probably not enough to lose half a stone
Feeling tearful and knowing will have to try really hard to be nice
today as natural inclination today could be to be horrid
So, bit of a rant, hopefully walk will be lush today along the river
Realised the journey has become like a walking exhibition, engagement
is not just workshops or people walking with us but people stopping
and talking and looking. The pleasure that the donkeys bring in towns
is almost immeasureBle and though it is grim walking into a town it is
well worth it for the experience it brings.

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Outreach work in gothetington

2010-07-20T08:12:00.001+01:00

Pies and carrots

2010-07-20T08:12:00.000+01:00

Miles at the royal oak in gretton

2010-07-20T08:11:00.000+01:00

At the co op

2010-07-20T08:10:00.000+01:00

Postlip hall

2010-07-20T08:09:00.000+01:00

Rain

2010-07-20T08:08:00.000+01:00

I am hiding in my tent as the weather sounds grim and i think today
may be tricky . Need to recap yesterday though as there were sn many
good bits that it was almost funny :
1. It was hot and sunny
2. Lovely co-op (thanks barbara) gave us a food voucher for their
store in winchcombe , felt like I was on supermarket sweep
3.press came out and stopped traffic to take photos of us all
4. Walking near gretton and a nice man shouts " pull over at my pub
and I'll get you a drink"
The drink turned out to be a pint for everyone , bags of carrots for
the beasts and , and two enormous pies for us to take away , each pie
enough to feed us all at for supper
5.lastly another nice place to stay
Want today to be as good but think the weather may not hold, it is
raining as I tap my phone.

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Marieke speaks

2010-07-19T18:41:00.001+01:00

Well what a lovely day with the donkeys! I have done a full day of
walking and am now sat in a field in court farm in Stoke orchard, with
a lovely cup of tea. Highlights of the day include a photoshoot with
the donkeys in front of winchcombe's coop. Carrot heaven for the
donkeys and £50 voucher heaven for the humans
A beautiful encounter with Miles from
The royal oak, who offered us a free drink and gave us loads of pies;
gretton now officially has the most generous pub owner on the planet,
random chats with donkey lovers of all ages, offers of free eggs, the
most expensive cup of tea in the world and the kids setting a new
putting-up-the-tent-best time:5'23" . Now we're just hoping the storm
will hold off so that the tents won't blow away-toby,molly I hope you
didn't forget those pegs in your new record. Anyway I have two more
days of donkey heaven. You should all be here!!!

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woops

2010-07-18T13:28:00.001+01:00

have just realised that I have put up a job advert by mistake on the blog, am at home trying to re-write a grant application and thought I would look at the blog,

It is very hard to write a blog on an iphone , I am not quite as dyslexic as it may appear, must have pressed attach at some point as well hence the job application.

Am re-writing this application and not sure as if the arts council may think I am losing my mind (which I might be) the really good news is that I have got my jeans on from home and they feel a bit loose!

"Cinderella and Prince Charming are old, the palace is bankrupt, and the ugly sisters are in a care home that they cannot afford to pay for.

Cinderella and Prince Charming leave the palace on a donkey cart and travel around Village halls with a 70's Karaoke machine powered by the solar panel on their cart. They are hoping to raise money for the ugly sister's care plan.

Throughout the evening Cinderella and Prince Charming re-tell their original story liberally peppered with anecdotes about donkeys and the people they have met along the way.

Audience involvement is key and with the help of the audience and the solar powered karaoke machine the night draws to a romantic end."

does it sound like I am on drugs, are the arts council going to laugh heartily at my expense?

lets hope that the donkeys can work their magic

Me back at postlip

2010-07-18T08:36:00.000+01:00

Evening camp

2010-07-18T08:35:00.000+01:00

Toby and jasper

2010-07-18T08:33:00.000+01:00

Cyanotypes in thexsun

2010-07-18T08:32:00.001+01:00

The blue monument

2010-07-18T08:32:00.000+01:00

Tobys monument

2010-07-18T08:31:00.000+01:00

Will Morris

2010-07-18T08:30:00.000+01:00

Childrenpainting postlip hall

2010-07-18T08:29:00.001+01:00

Cyanotype workshop post lip hall

2010-07-18T08:29:00.000+01:00

Writing workshop postlip hall

2010-07-18T08:28:00.000+01:00

Hollys tent at the race course not pushed over by jasper

2010-07-18T08:27:00.000+01:00

Still at postlip hall

2010-07-18T08:26:00.001+01:00

We had a great day yesterday for the public camp, kept muttering to
myself thank god were here and not at the race course. It really was
an idyllic setting and completely contained and sheltered. I went to
lidl to stock up for the weekend, momentarily lost my brain and bought
enough food for 40 people, no one seemed that hungry so i then ate
enough for 40 people. Workshops were great , toby wrote a great piece
if you ignore thr soelling and the writing, barney and lucy hung a
giant blur balloon in a tree and asked people to write what it was
toby said it was a monument to a giant bulberry which illuminated at
sun down each day which was different in the winter and summer ,
scarily Helen owen( county arts officer ) dropped in to see how it was
allgoing. Felt like the queen had come to visit, she was great and got
totally stuck in although I couldn't persuade her to ride a donkey.
Went for a short walk to cleeve common , piers and I fantasizes again
about moving here but realised that molly would kill us. Lush night
around the fire with music, slide show and short film which stand and
stare artcgroup hadmade, kids ruined or improved it deending on your
opinion by going behind the screen and inventing their own shadow play
at the same time . Havecwoken up this am and weather foul , Helen owen
blithely told me that it had rained on st swithins day, didn't know
what that meant now I do and feel a bit depressed. Weather is crap
this morning , what if she is right . Also I have to go home this week
and try and rewrite a bid for our autumn tour which I feel like doing
about as much as returning to the race course. We are half way through
and I am sad at the thought . Feels like my life in the real world has
changed during thiz thing and that the "real world ". has too, think
that tocarve a living as an artist will be even less likely when I
return.
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Next day

2010-07-16T22:51:00.001+01:00

We survived, woke upbto find mini storm raging but everything still intact , group jointly decide that the race course is not where we all want to be . A mixture of landscape, lorries, close to the rubbish, an uncomfortable feeling of distinctly inferior and nostalgia for all the lovely people and places who we have stayed with over the last month who have embraced us, the idea and particularly the donkeys, the race course didn't quite feel the same . Gorgeous lovely generous and quite brilliant postlip hall have allowed us back for the weekend .thank god .

Firstly we walked into chelt with the donkeys and Paul mckee chelt art officer . Great day , Paul a total laugh , donkeys behaved great, chelt folk loved them being right in the centre of town, only one poo to clear up . Really nice to have them in town, rural into urban , real big animals in the centre of a city, then back over cleeve common almost exactly the same way that we had come 24 hours before. The relief to walk back into postlip hall after the chelt and the race course was huge , to feel welcome is really important . am tucked up, warm ,well fed and relieved to be sAfe out of the rat race .
Sent from my iPhoneYAYW8 at Arnolfini, November 2010

TRANSIENT LIVING: 1625 INDEPENDENT PEOPLE COMMISSION

Commission Partners: Who we are

Groundwork South West

Groundwork South West is the regional body of Groundwork UK, a national environmental regeneration charity. We regularly commission socially-engaged practitioners to work with us and our partners in a diverse range of environments and on a broad range of issues. For Transient Living, we are commissioning in collaboration with 1625 Independent People.

Independent People is the leading provider of housing, support and advice to young homeless people aged between 16 and 25 in Bristol and South Gloucestershire. They exist to support young people to build independent lives, by helping people find (and keep) a safe and stable home and develop the skills and confidence to achieve positive outcomes in all areas of their lives.

YaYW

You and Your Work is an artist-led not-for-profit Bristol-based arts organisation, which seeks

to facilitate and provide a platform for innovative and socially engaged projects between artists,

communities and audiences. We aim to support high quality work from emerging

performance artists and link them to marginalized communities who are not primarily engaged in the arts. Since 2007 we've showcased seven performance platforms involving more than 80 artists, commissioned five artists and companies and engaged more than 1200 audience members. YaYW8 is the first platform event to take place at Arnolfini.

Arnolfini

Arnolfini is one of Europe's leading centres for the contemporary arts based at the heart of

Bristol's harbourside. As a multi disciplinary art centre Arnolfini has regular exhibitions, film,

live art, dance, music and literature programmes.

Arnolfini's live art programme has developed a reputation for taking innovative risks, showing

the most provocative and uncompromising work from emergent artists and practitioners

working on the edges of established art forms or criteria.

Each season all Arnolfini programme areas converge to consider a themed research area,

the current thematic is 'Old Media' which investigates technologies considered to be old or

redundant, and questions their relationship to a given place in time.

YaYW8 is produced by artists and YaYW curators/ producers Sylvia Rimat and Rhiannon Chaloner - in collaboration with Ray White, Cultural Programme Manager for Groundwork South West, a key partner over the last three platforms, and Sarah Warden, Assistant Producer (Live) at the Arnolfini.

Commission objectives

•

To make a new work with service users of Independent People.

•

To provide an opportunity for young people who have been homeless to express and develop their skills, abilities and shared experiences through the creative arts

•

To raise awareness of the issues of youth homelessness.

•

To highlight the responsibility we all share for ensuring that young homeless people receive the home and support they need to achieve their potential

•

To engage at least 10 service users from Independent People in the project

•

To consider ideas around neighbourhood and belonging. Shared identity, community, and location are strong themes in the overall 'Transient Living' programme and the selected artist(s) should have one of these at the heart of their proposal.

•

To open links between the art centre and the young people involved in the project.

•

For the selected artist to develop a project for public presentation at the Arnolfini in November 2010 with the support of Groundwork.

•

If possible we would be keen to see a piece of work which will be in such a form that it can have a continuing platform /presence for the public to experience - at a given location outside the Arnolfini.

•

For the selected artist to participate in one interim discussion/informal showing of

your project and in an online conversation with the other artists and curators involved

with the Transient Living project, which will endeavour to talk about experiences, ask

questions, and create links between the individual projects, approaches, and

research in the programme.

•

Potentially to respond to a wider research strand within Arnolfini's programme relating to the theme of Old Media: see Arnolfini section above.

The Community

The young people supported by Independent People have all been homeless people or are leaving authority care and form part of a wider community of young people in Bristol. Young people are supported by Independent People to build independent lives and aspirations. This project forms part of a programme to offer new opportunities for young homeless people to develop their aspirations, options and skills whilst expressing their experience through the creative arts.

Potential outcomes

At this stage we are open to all proposals or methods of approach to working with Independent People. We are interested in your practice and would like to hear your response to this

invitation. Outcomes could be site specific event based, performance, film, research based

but must sit within the live programme at Arnolfini for the YaYW8 Festival.

Availability

You should be available on the Event Date 13/11/2010. How you use your time to develop

the project and work with the community over the period leading up to November is your

decision. However artists not based in Bristol please take into account that travel expenses will not be refunded.

Resources

We will endeavour to accommodate artist's requirements with resources such as work space as the project is clarified.

November Event

The exact format and content of November's event is flexible, we will work with you to create

the right context for audiences to engage with your work /process.

The core Arnolfini spaces available for use will be: Dark Studio, Light Studio, Reading Room.

There is also the potential to use the Auditorium space. For more information and images of

facilities please see:http://www.arnolfini.org.uk/pages/hires/

The other communities selected for inclusion in this project include the Roma Community in

Bristol (commission led by YaYW), The Boat Dwelling community on the Harbourside in Bristol (commission led by Arnolfini) and a group consisting of primary school children and elderly people (commission led by YaYW).

In addition to the commissions, four performance art projects relating to 'Transient Living',

will be selected from an artist call out and presented at YaYW8 festival, as well as an

international writing project with previous YaYW artist Malcolm Whittaker and Performance Space, Sydney.

Proposal:

Please outline your ideas to this invitation on a max two sides A4. Please state:

• Why you are interested in the commission.

• Methods of working with the community in question.

• What potential outcomes you envisage ie. event based, film based etc

• How this commission would inform and relate to your wider practice

Fee

Commission fee: £1850, paid in installments

Materials budget: £150

A translator budget of £50 is available if required

Selectors

Ray White, Groundwork South West

Tom Dunn, Youth Involvement Worker 1625 Independent People

Pilar Garcia, Funding and Communications Officer, 1625 Independent People

Sarah Warden, Assistant Producer Live Art and Dance

Sylvia Rimat, Co-Producer / Director YaYW

Contact:

To have an informal conversation with Ray about this invitation please contact him on 01752 217721 extn 332

or email Ray.White@groundwork.org.uk

Proposals should be sent to:

Pilar Garcia
Funding and Communication Officer
1625 Independent People
Kingsley Hall, 59 Old Market Street
Bristol BS2 0ER

Deadline for submissions: 5pm, Monday 2nd August2010. Shortlisted candidates will be called for interview the week beginning 9th August. It is envisaged that the commission will start by the beginning of September, subject to agreement from all parties.

This artist(s) commissioned will be working with vulnerable young people, and for this reason an enhanced CRB check will be required/carried out.

Oh god

2010-07-15T22:55:00.001+01:00

Time 22.47
Venue : car park chelt race course
Weather : gale force winds
Mood: stiff upper lip
In brief: a shit day
Left the gorgeous idyllic postlip hall , got to coerce common donkeys
went wild and ram around scattering contents of their panniers
liberally , Marianne phoned to say arts council have said no to
funding application, I am now unemployed from sept onwards fairgames
fate dubious, went to a pub small boy walking with us had a stone wall
collapse on him ( he is ok). Arrive at the race course apparently we
are a day early , nit sure how that has happened but was nit a good
start , put up tents , force 10 gale begins , holly work experience
girl tent colapses , we have to move entire camp into car park, toby
and holly ( work experience ) sleep in car with dog , the drain next
to us is rising with what looks like sewage , am not even worried
about my weight just whether or not we will get through the night ,
tent has started to leak
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