PAST PROJECTS
Each year sharing memories works on five or six different projects in schools, at our base at Hope Bank Works and out and about in the community.
The Museum of curiosities project.
This project is a celebration of ‘The Holmfirth Technical Collage’.
Exploring the history of ‘The Tech’ we found out that a museum of curiosities once resided within. Inspired by this and all the fabulous community groups who are & have made use of this wonderful building over the years, we developed this project to celebrate this community.
Sharing Memories group worked alongside the wonderful adults from Enfield Down Honley and Bridgewood Trust and the marvellous children from Nabb School Holmfirth, to bring this project to life.
Working with the people at Enfield Down we created and decorated our own percussion instruments and with help from Katie Mallard & The Valley Beats we developed our own exotic and captivating rhythms.
Working with all three groups, we created this curious exhibition. Which includes the beautiful and intricate story globes. The shocking and scandalous tapestries depicting the secret life of sheep and some very curious painted stones.
The extraordinary children from -The children’s art school have, also crafted some of the curiosities exhibited.
Also last but by no means least, sharing memories group worked with Enfield Down and Dan Price from the Soul Choir to write a sensational song.
This project was funded by Creative minds, Enfield Down and the Sharing Memories group.
The Well Dressing Project
The well Dressing project was an exploration of the ancient craft of well dressing.
Thanks to National Lottery players, Holmfirth has seen the return to Well Dressing traditions in the town for the first time since 1991. The floral design appeared in the Methodist Church gardens as part of this year’s Holmfirth Arts Festival celebrations June 2019.
Members of Sharing Memories, working with children from Holmfirth Junior, Infant and Nursery School designed a Well Dressing on the Festival theme of landscape. The project was
supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and One Community Foundation.
Well Dressing is an ancient form of decoration, usually placed near natural sources of water. Also known as well flowering, it is a tradition practised in some parts of rural England in which wells, springs and other water sources are decorated with designs created from flower petals. The custom is most closely associated with the Peak District of Derbyshire and Staffordshire.
Sharing Memories Project Manager, Sally Brown, said:
“We’ve been having great fun teaching the school children how to make mini Well Dressings and they are so excited to be part of this project."
“Most of the pupils have never seen anything like this so we hope it will inspire future flower decorations in the town.”
The Sharing Memories Well Dressing was unveiled on Friday 14th June and the children processed down from their school in flower costumes made with the help of The Children’s Art School, and led by fiddle player Eddie Armitage. The unveiling included entertainment by Andy Burton of Satellite Arts and members of Xylosound, a group of adults with learning disabilities.
MAKE YOURSELF AT HOME
A sharing memories project working with adults from Enfield Down and Bridgewood Trust to explore ideas about home through the medium of print.
We worked with people to explore the meaning of 'Home' to each of us, though symbols and images. For example a tea pot or a pair of slippers.We then used these images to create our own printing tools.
STICKLEBACKS AND SWINGBOATS
A celebration of the history of Hope Bank Pleasure Grounds using drama, singing and visual art. We explored the history of Hope Bank Pleasure Grounds near Honley and staged a performance, with the help of Chol Theatre company.
We also worked with songwriter Jenny Goodman and wrote four brand new songs about Hope Bank, in collaboration with an adult choir and children from Honley J&I and Southgate Special School. Members of Sharing Memories and Amazing Acapella created the most incredible painted backdrop for our show which was called Sticklebacks and Swingboats. Over 160 people took part in this project ranging from Clem, aged just seven to Kenneth who is 93, severely visually impaired, hard of hearing and lives alone. Two members of Sharing Memories, Cath and Tommy took part in both the drama and the singing – something they had never done before – they loved it and their daughters were amazed!
