Evesham community get creative for innovative town lighting trail
Evesham residents have been getting creative over the summer in preparation for an innovative new project which will light up the town centre.
‘Enlighten’ is a permanent lighting trail which will use projection equipment and high-tech modern LED lights to illuminate iconic buildings. In phase one, this will include Evesham Bell Tower, the War Memorial in Abbey Park and the Almonry Museum.
The project will aim to create new connections between the parks and town centre, enhance the town’s built heritage, reveal and promote the town’s history and improve lighting to public areas.
Wychavon District Council’s Community Development Team has been busy over the summer engaging with the public with a range of workshops with people of different ages at The Almonry Museum, The Valley, The River Festival and The Battle of
Evesham.
Participants created collages based on the river, stained glass designs on acetate, coat of arms and students from the De Montfort School made an animation about Evesham.
Working with Gloucestershire based company, Creative Solutions, the project team worked on a WW1 sound and film installation where they asked the public at the War Memorial to write a letter to people who have died in the war. They also filmed local people from the British legion and local dementia café about their memories of family in the war.
With the help of Sixth Formers from Prince Henry’s School, the sound, film and physical installation at All Saints Church will be open to the public on 18 October until 28 November.
There will be four ‘live edit’ sessions where the public can come and contribute their thoughts and memories of family in World War One and other wars. These will be uploaded to the exhibition at intervals on 1, 12, 22, November from 12pm to 2pm at the bandstand, Abbey Park and 17 November from 5.30 to 7.30pm at All Saints Church.
The War Memorial lights will be switched on in the early evening of 11 November at the Abbey Park bandstand.
Enlighten has been made possible thanks to £112,000 of combined funding secured from Wychavon planning contributions, Evesham Town Council, The Bell Tower Appeal and from Worcestershire County Council.
Jenny Davis, Arts Development Officer at Wychavon District Council, said: “It has been a very busy few months engaging with the community on this amazing project and getting their creative ideas for our projection.
“Enlighten is a very exciting and challenging project but one that I think will add great value to the town and encourage families to visit, whilst bringing our historic buildings to life in a while new way for all to see.”
There will be a series of workshops coming up over the next few weeks including:
Animation Workshop for ages 7 to 14 at Garage Arts, Evesham on 19 September and 26 September from 4.30pm to 6pm. This workshop costs £8.
Creative Writing Workshops about Evesham’s History with Ourside Youth Centre, Evesham on 17 October and 24 October from 5.30pm. These workshops are free and there is no need to book.
An exhibition of the best community art work will be held at Evesham Library in November.
Contact Heather at heather@garageartgroup.com to book on to the Animation Workshops.
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