Photo - Steve Tanner
I am now able to share with you my project “Hope in a Jam Jar” which was created as part of Kneehigh Theatre’s Random Acts of Art or RAA!
My act of art was based on my Granny’s memory of the Winter of 1933. Granny was nine years old and from her bedroom window witnessed an original act of art - the curate of Nanpean Church, The Reverend Ralph Perry-Gore collecting candles in jam jars and ice skating on the frozen clay pit behind her house. This happened against the backdrop of the great depression. Granny recalls queues of men outside the Methodist Sunday School who were queuing to go onto the dole and miners from ‘down west’ coming up at Christmas to sing carols to collect anything they could to ease their situation.
Mona Whitford (Trethewey) aged nine in 1933.
I worked with Kneehigh Theatre and in particular Anna Murphy who linked me up with Automata maker Tony Crosby to create a moving model of Rvd. Perry-Gore which I would be able to take through the village singing a song I wrote for the project. As you can see from the photo, he did a fantastic job - the level of detail is fantastic and it was exactly what I pictured in my head when we first talked about the idea.
Automata maker Tony Crosby - photo by Steve Tanner
On Sunday the 16th of May I took the automata, safely mounted on it’s cart, my violin and the beautiful soundtrack created by Freya Jonas and Dave Harbottle and processed through the village singing the song for anyone who chanced to see and hear it. It was such a moving experience meeting many of the villagers and passing on this wonderful story. The most moving moment of the night and one I will never forget was reaching the millennium memorial in the village and being able to sing the story to my Granny 88 years after she witnessed the original moment of magic. Her story now lives in the minds of many other children of the village who perhaps will tell their grandchildren of this night one day.
Mona Trethewey (97) - Photo by Steve Tanner
Alongside my Random Act of Art I was thrilled that The Story Republic wanted to work on this beautiful story and create a video bringing this wonderful night to life. The brilliant Connie Crosby and Neal Megaw had a very similar vision of how this story could be brought to life and with the help of writer Olivia Lowry and Jon Turner we all convened at the playing fields in Nanpean, the site of the old clay pit and shot this gorgeous video, so beautifully directed and filmed by Connie and Neal.
Photo - Steve Tanner
This has been a wonderful project to be involved in and one I am extremely proud of. I would like to thank the staff of Nanpean School who were very helpful and welcomed me in to speak to Year 2 about this story and who are going to display the automata to allow the children to get further inspired by this wonderful story.
Pictured with pupils from Prosper Class, Nanpean School
Giving Prosper Class at Nanpean School a sneak preview of my Random Act of Art
I am also already following up some exciting leads to come out of this project and have some fledgling ideas for what could be next for Rvd Perry-Gore.
Richard