PHOTO: SAM JOHNSON
My Peak Dis trict Mark Gwynne Jones
Poet, performer and recording artist Mark Gwynne Jones talks to Alison Riley about how the Peak District National Park has shaped his personal outlook and inspired his work. Mark Gwynne Jones is a poet and performer and is currently working on a project called ‘Voices from the Peak’ – capturing and recording the sounds of the Peak District landscape.
I
grew up during the 70s and early 80s, on a hill farm between Matlock and Chesterfield. We were turfed out in the morning and whistled back at teatime, after a day scrambling around woods and disused quarries. I also spent time being very quiet and learned to get close to animals without them knowing I was there. I learned to tickle trout and hunt rabbits. Then, in 1989, I became vegetarian on hearing how the Brazilian rainforest was being destroyed for meat production. But there is something to be said about finding your own food; it is very primal, we’re hunter
gatherers in our biological make-up, and it seems to be partly what is missing from modern life. Humans have a desire for nature and adventure and overcoming danger – the rise in extreme sports seems to be a reaction to how safety conscious our culture has become. Young people need to prove themselves to both themselves and their peers. Gang culture is partly a substitute for rites of passage that are no longer available or practised. Simple things like, as a kid, sleeping out in the woods on your own and facing fears of the dark and unfamiliar
The idea for Mark’s project came from a gate he heard vibrating as it closed. Pictured is The Great Ridge.
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www.peakdistrict.gov.uk
noises. Overcoming fears allows you to discover your inner strength and resource, and once you’ve found it, you can draw on it throughout your life. Our detachment from nature, and the challenges it throws at us, isn’t healthy. The Peak District’s landscape and its contrasting environments is what has kept me here. It is special because I know it intimately, and also because it’s bordered by Sheffield, Nottingham, Derby, Stoke and Manchester – my work often draws me to the cities, but its wild beauty will not let me move away. I find there’s a richer mix of people that live and work in and visit the Peak District than other National Parks. It has more real world connections,
