the new normal
The Holly Ebony Band Great Lawn Sessions on September 3 photo by Craig Whyte
Live music brings us all together
Forest school for young people
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HE benefits of outdoor play are well known, Reconnect has been extolling the virtues of inspiring in young people a fascination, understanding and empathy for the natural world. Due to these turbulent times organising outdoor activities has been made more complicated, which is why Richard Scofield of Totnes’ Wild Embers has seen his team change how they usually run their forest school to meet government guidelines. Wild Embers has been running a successful holiday Forest School for the past three years. Richard founded the school in 2017 after he graduated from Dartington’s School for Social Entrepreneurs and completing his Level 3 Forest School Leader qualification at Bridgwater College. Richard, who also has 14 years experience working in care, support and intervention, has been running smaller groups with a maximum of 6 children (usually it is 8-10). The changes have meant Wild Embers are able continue their mission to hold a creative and safe outdoor space, where people can connect to nature, themselves and each other so they can boldly journey into life. Wild Embers are at present running their third round of Boys Fires. A project that was set up to support boys journeying through adolescence; this has been made possible by a strong group of local men volunteering their time and energy. Richard said: “Along with the holiday Forest School this summer Wild Embers ran an Outdoor Provision bringing nature connection and education, in partnership with Inspire Interventions, a Buckfastleigh based company who do amazing work supporting vulnerable young people across Devon. “Wild Embers is very excited to be starting its Outdoor Experimental Learning (OEL) days this autumn! We will be running these in collaboration with Cedarwood Montessori.” The Wild Embers boss is also proud to be launching their Outdoor Intervention Service this year that will bring Nature Connection and positive role modelling, using the Forest School ethos to inform these sessions supporting struggling young people. The Forest School has been well received with Kerry, a parent of one of the children saying: “Wild Embers was a wonderful experience for my child. He was ecstatically happy each time I collected him and felt so safe and included in the group. I felt very reassured leaving him with such warm, caring people too. We look forward to more Wild Embers in the near future (please!).” The team at Wild Embers is working hard to help build its growing network of volunteers, local connections and partnerships that will aid in delivering more Community Days, Men’s Fire Circles and the bigger vision. l Stay in touch and subscribe to their newsletter to find out the latest news at www.wildembers.org and join them in “putting the fire back into the heart of community.”
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CHRISTIAN Murison founder of The Black Bird Collective who organise local handcrafted alternative-music gigs tells us about finally putting on live music after lockdown. RINGING people together to enjoy live music and each other’s company is what I love doing most. It’s what I’ve been doing for over 20 years. It’s in my blood. Music brings us all together and there is nothing in this world we need more than unity. So, what happened when I was forced to postpone and cancel shows back in March of this year when lockdown kicked in? No gigs, no festivals, no gatherings... An unplanned pause, one that gave me time to rest, reflect, recharge and rethink everything. After months of no live music, a glimmer of hope came in the form of an email from the team at Dartington asking if myself and my amazing friend and fellow live music promoter Katie Whitehouse could help curate a series of outdoor live gigs. We soon had four dates in August booked with amazing bands eager to play and The Great Lawn Sessions were born. Almost 5 months to the day after their last live gig, Harbottle and Jonas opened the Great Lawn Sessions at Dartington on Thursday August 6. Katie recalls “People sat, spellbound - on rugs and camping chairs - while Devon’s emerging folk stars the Harbottle & Jonas Trio played their unique mix of concertina, harmonium, banjo, stomp box, acoustic guitar, fiddle and cittern with their beautiful and closely intertwined vocal harmonies, telling stories in song from the demise of Hallsands to love in Liverpool.” Working alongside Katie
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Whitehouse on these shows has been amazing and we’ve been working closely with Dartington to fine tune everything about these outdoor gigs as we’ve gone along. There is plenty of space on the lawn for people to space themselves out as much as they need to, the bar is open and delicious menus are dreamed up by the team at the White Hart and served from 6pm. Every event has been very well attended and locals have given some great feedback: “It was a magical event, impeccably organised, by people whose concern is to rescue the arts where possible for the benefit of others.” Katie explained: “The next step for local live music will be to move back indoors. There are clear guidelines for indoor gigs; the main problem going forwards is of course that operating with a limited capacity means that artists, technicians and everyone involved in the live music industry is receiving less money, after a long stretch of little to no income.” Katie: “I’m excited to see how it goes. We’ve all missed live music so much. It’s such an important part of our community, it’s been a joy to help bring it back, alongside Christian. We plan to do everything we can to keep this going and build it until it’s thriving again.” l Christian Murison runs The Black Bird Collective, who have also started putting on live bands outdoors at The New Lion Brewery at Shinners Bridge, Webbers Yard, Dartington. l Katie Whitehouse runs FromtheWhitehouse and has also started organising live indoor gigs for the first time in months at the fabulous Ashburton Arts Centre. l Check out www.blackbirdcollective. co.uk and www.fromthewhitehouse. com and for the Great Lawn Sessions and more events at Dartington see https://www.dartington.org/whats-on/
Harbottle & Jonas Trio at the opening Great Lawn Sessions on August 6 photo by Rupert Davies
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