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Norway House

At the beginning of the month, The Stove turned into Norway House as part of a project with research and design collective Lateral North. Over the course of three days, the Stove turned into a temporary house exploring Dumfries’ Norwegian Connection.

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Norway House at the Stove became a place for exchange and conversation, for storytelling and remembering.

We had a lot of people coming in who remembered the excitement of the Norwegians arriving from when they were children of 7 or 8.  That they would sometimes offer lift to the kids on their way back to where they were staying, which was various places around Dumfries but mostly the Troqueer Mills, there was a farm on the outskirts of Dumfries towards Lincluden, where the horses were kept.

We had a lady come in whose husband had lived in a house at address at 7 Nellieville Terrace when he was a boy and whose front room was used as the Norwegian Bank.  He remembers the King visiting his home and often talked about the Norwegians visit,  They had wanted to record or share his memories before he died but never managed it, I will now pass her detail onto Beverly Thom, who is writing a book of these stories so that it can hopefully be recorded.

The manager of the Greyston Rovers come in, they have been playing Norway regularly since 1951 when they were the first team to go play in Europe after the end of the war, keeping up the connection.

Norway House is part of an ongoing project, Cultural Wayfinding which looks at alternative ways of looking at and explore Dumfries’ culture and history, and hopes to build new connections with Norway into the future.

If you would like to stay in touch with the project as it develops, or would like to add your story to our growing Norway House project, please get in touch with [email protected]

Supported by:
cultwayfunderlogossmall

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Lateral North and the Norway Connection

You are invited to share ideas and contribute to our Cultural Wayfinding event on 5th – 7th November with Lateral North and The Stove Network.

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Town Centers are a hot topic throughout Scotland at the moment and how people might once again populate them. Initiatives have been established by the Scottish government and partnership organisations with the likes of Scotland Can Do Towns and Scottish Towns Partnership leading the way and working with communities throughout Scotland. Discussions, conferences, ideas and innovative project proposals are increasing as we try to connect communities to their local shops and town centers.

Dumfries is one such place taking an extremely innovative approach where art and design takes centre stage to provide innovative solutions for their town centre. Arts resource, The Stove Network, have been working on a variety of projects to regenerate the town centre, residing in one such building no longer in use and turning it into a hub of creative thinking and out of-the-box design.

The Stove Network have teamed up with Lateral North, an architecture, research and design collective based in Glasgow but with strong connections to Dumfries, to work on an exciting, dynamic and innovative project reflecting on the culture, heritage and built environment of Dumfries town centre which has been forgotten or is not particularly highlighted.

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Their Cultural Wayfinding project aims to establish a series of opportunities, which would not only increase tourism but also act as an economic catalyst for new jobs and opportunities for local people based around art and design showing how it can highlight the culture of this historic town.

The first of these initiatives aims to showcase Dumfries’ relationship with Norway and in particular the buildings which lie hidden within our town centre which once hosted the Norwegian army in exile and provided them with a space to hold meetings and gave them places to live throughout World War II.

Norway-House

Lateral North and The Stove Network will host a 3 day workshop between 5-7th of November where they invite the public along to contribute their ideas to a public art installation which will highlight the building used as Headquarters and Cultural Centre by Norwegians from 1940: Norway House at 8 Church Street. The building currently lies empty, and with extortionate retail rates probably will for some time to come, however, this project will highlight the creative opportunities which could happen within such a space allowing communities to bring tourists into their town centers and create economic activity through their existing built environment.

Graham Hogg of Lateral North who was brought up in Dumfries said “I’ve watched Dumfries town centre slowly lose more and more of its local shops with vacant shops popping up. It’s had a detremental effect on the town as a whole and I believe it is fantastic that Stove is leading this exciting project. To be part of it is a real honour and hopefully through the Norway House project we can create an exciting and innovative model which can be applied throughout Dumfries town centre in the future but also be adopted throughout the rest of Scotland.”

To attend the workshop please email Ellen at the Stove Network: [email protected]

NB There are paid opportunities for Stove Network members to assist with the project on 5, 6 and 7th November. To find out more please contact [email protected]

Supported by:
cultwayfunderlogossmall

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