The Stove Network
The Stove Network’s Trading Journeys began with artist Alice Francis and her fine friend Douglas setting off for Wigtown
HAPPY DAYS!
Photography by: Kim Ayres, Matt Baker, Colin Hattersley, Will Marshall and Colin Tennant
Suffering from withdrawal symptoms from last weekends Nithraid? Never fear, there is another opportunity to join us as we make the journey to Wigtown Book Festival on Saturday, 27th of September. And we’re not just taking the A75 from Dumfries. Stove members are each making their own journeys the the former county town with its inheritance of martyrdom in Covenanting times and its modern booktown status, once the central crossroads in trading routes and pilgrimage routes through the West of the region.
First off Mark Zygadlo will be hoping for a little more wind than on Nithraid day as he and a flotilla of intrepid sailors make the journey across the Cree from the Ferry Bell at Creetown across the water to the old Wigtown Harbour. This flotilla is being kept to small numbers for safety reasons but if you wish to join the sailors there may still be an additional space left, please get in touch asap to Mark: [email protected]
Each boat will carry a small cargo of charcoal made at Creetown Primary School with the help of Phoebe and Will Marshall. This will be used to power Uula Jero’s pedal-powered foundry… but more on that later!
For more details on the stove network’s Trading Journeys, head across to our project page here
Trading Journeys has been created as part of the Wigtown Book Festival
Exciting things are happening in Creetown…
We have teamed up with Roddie Mathieson, who runs The Mobile Foundry, to create a bronze bell, which will form the centrepiece of the new sculpture. This is taking place next Saturday and will be open for everyone to come and witness.
‘This is an opportunity to see the casting process in action,’ says Roddie. ‘We will make moulds of the bell and clapper and pour them as part of a public demonstration. It is quite a spectacle and really exciting to watch.’
We will also be holding an all-day casting session at Creetown Primary School for pupils to get a chance to try their hand at the casting process. They will use moulds to make sculptures and will then use a charcoal furnace with bellows to cast them.
Exciting events are unfolding next week; we look forward to seeing everyone there!
A school girl has become Britain’s youngest town crier – at the tender age of eight.
Evie Cloy found herself with an opportunity when she turned up to a contest to find the next ‘bellman’ for the seaside town of Creetown in Dumfries. The town has been without a crier since 1962, when WW1 veteran James Blake died at the age of 74 after 33 years of service.
But not a single adult participated in the competition to find a successor, so Evie stepped up – with a very direct bid for the job. Looking the judges straight in the eye, she took a breath and yelled, “My name is Evie Cloy and I want to be the next town crier of Creetown.”
One of the panel, Allan Lowden, the town crier from nearby Gatehouse, said, “Evie might have been the smallest contestant but she definitely had the biggest voice.” The youngster, who has been given a handmade ceremonial jacket and will be appearing in the town over the next few months, said, “I’m really pleased. There hasn’t been a town crier in Creetown for 51 years, so I love my new job. I was a bit nervous but once I started shouting, I felt better. I’m quite glad no adults wanted the job.”
Her proud father David, 45, said, “She’ll be making announcements at local events and fetes.”
“There were two categories in the competition, over-16s and under-16s, but nobody over 16 turned up. It seems like the younger participants were more interested. Evie’s very pleased. Her younger sister Katie, who’s five, was excited about the competition but too shy to participate.”
Organiser Will Levi Marshall said, “It’s great that Creetown finally has a town crier again after all these years, and we’re delighted that Evie will be doing the honours. Recently, we’ve been exploring different methods of communication throughout Creetown’s history, including flags, the ancient ferry route to Wigtown, flares, bell casting and, of course, reviving the tradition of the Town Crier.”
James Blake, Creetown’s last town crier, was something of a local legend. After his death in 1962, his obituary recorded that “as a bellman, he had few equals, his fine resonant voice often being heard a mile away, and visitors to Creetown often stared in amazement when they met him on his rounds.