Chelford's Big
Idea started with a conversation about the
magnificent view of the distant hills from Pat
Higginbotham’s studio and led to some simple
questions. Why is Chelford where it is? What made
people decide to live here? What has made people
stay here?
Over thousands of years, people have placed themselves into the landscape in ways that secure how they live; the land itself has dictated why we live where we do. As communities formed, hunted, farmed, traded so routes between them were made and these long-established routes also gave rise to further communities. The routes are important for more than just trading; they are the ways along which ideas and news travelled, making them central to the development of a society.
Chelford sits on the Cheshire plain and to the east are the hills of the southern Pennines which are both a boundary and a threshold. From the east of our village, we can see the great sweep of these hills. It’s also possible to see the major ways of crossing the hills and several of these routes pass through or near to our village. This vista could be a vast, natural sculpture with man-made additions.
It was this notion of journeys, ideas and sculpture that gave rise to our thinking about a village project. The crossing of the threshold symbolises a journey of discovery in the physical, intellectual and spiritual sense. The purpose of the project would be to form ideas about our place in the landscape and work together to express these ideas. OK, that’s the grandiose, woolly bit out of the way, but what will we do?
We have drawn up a route from north to south along the hills that form our eastern threshold. Between May and October, we invite you to travel along some or all of the route in any way you choose. We intend to organise some group outings to do this. You could join us on one of these; you could travel alone or with friends; you might choose to drive between some of the more accessible places; you might even decide to picnic on one of the summits. The choice is yours.
We would like all of you who travel along the ‘threshold’, to ‘collect’ things to represent your experience of the journey and to bring these back to Chelford where we will join them together to build the story of all of our various journeys. What you collect could be objects found along the way (a leaf, a twig, a discarded feather) or photos, sketches, sounds, a word, a poem, a thought. Any contribution will be welcome as long as it represents your journey.
Why bother? There’s much to discover in ourselves, our friends and neighbours and our landscape and the ‘Threshold’ could be an enjoyable means of doing this. It is also a way to express ourselves as a thriving, forward-looking, inclusive community with a real sense of place.
Andy Gildon, Pat Higginbotham, John Reader, Kath Gildon
Over thousands of years, people have placed themselves into the landscape in ways that secure how they live; the land itself has dictated why we live where we do. As communities formed, hunted, farmed, traded so routes between them were made and these long-established routes also gave rise to further communities. The routes are important for more than just trading; they are the ways along which ideas and news travelled, making them central to the development of a society.
Chelford sits on the Cheshire plain and to the east are the hills of the southern Pennines which are both a boundary and a threshold. From the east of our village, we can see the great sweep of these hills. It’s also possible to see the major ways of crossing the hills and several of these routes pass through or near to our village. This vista could be a vast, natural sculpture with man-made additions.
It was this notion of journeys, ideas and sculpture that gave rise to our thinking about a village project. The crossing of the threshold symbolises a journey of discovery in the physical, intellectual and spiritual sense. The purpose of the project would be to form ideas about our place in the landscape and work together to express these ideas. OK, that’s the grandiose, woolly bit out of the way, but what will we do?
We have drawn up a route from north to south along the hills that form our eastern threshold. Between May and October, we invite you to travel along some or all of the route in any way you choose. We intend to organise some group outings to do this. You could join us on one of these; you could travel alone or with friends; you might choose to drive between some of the more accessible places; you might even decide to picnic on one of the summits. The choice is yours.
We would like all of you who travel along the ‘threshold’, to ‘collect’ things to represent your experience of the journey and to bring these back to Chelford where we will join them together to build the story of all of our various journeys. What you collect could be objects found along the way (a leaf, a twig, a discarded feather) or photos, sketches, sounds, a word, a poem, a thought. Any contribution will be welcome as long as it represents your journey.
Why bother? There’s much to discover in ourselves, our friends and neighbours and our landscape and the ‘Threshold’ could be an enjoyable means of doing this. It is also a way to express ourselves as a thriving, forward-looking, inclusive community with a real sense of place.
Andy Gildon, Pat Higginbotham, John Reader, Kath Gildon
CHELFORD'S BIG IDEA
Chelford's Big
Idea is a community arts project which brings
together sculpture, people and the landscape. It is
a series of journeys of discovery from Chelford
across the boundary or ‘Threshold’ represented by
the hills visible from our village. Everyone in the
village is welcome to participate and contribute to
the project. No previous experience of art or fell
running is needed. The lasting output from
Chelford's Big Idea will be a collaborative
exhibition which expresses our individual and
collective experience of our journeys .
Chelford's Big Idea Events
School Expedition
to Shutlingsloe for Key Stage 2 children plus two
art sessions for the whole school with the renowned
Macclesfield artist, Jeff Teasdale.
A village picnic and rounders match on the route. An opportunity for people to walk or see some of the route and collect their own momentos for the art exhibition.
A run of some or all of the route in the company of local fell runners. The pace would be at that of the slowest and there would be many ‘collecting’ stops.
The close of the ‘journey’ part when Ian Ball’s pilgrims enter Chelford ending their walk from Salter’s Gate, Yorkshire, encompassing our route.
The ‘making’ phase when we will assemble our momentos with the help of Jeff Teasdale & Pat Higginbotham into an exhibition which will represent our journey of discovery of Chelford’s place in the landscape.
Display the exhibition at the school for everyone to share and enjoy
A village picnic and rounders match on the route. An opportunity for people to walk or see some of the route and collect their own momentos for the art exhibition.
A run of some or all of the route in the company of local fell runners. The pace would be at that of the slowest and there would be many ‘collecting’ stops.
The close of the ‘journey’ part when Ian Ball’s pilgrims enter Chelford ending their walk from Salter’s Gate, Yorkshire, encompassing our route.
The ‘making’ phase when we will assemble our momentos with the help of Jeff Teasdale & Pat Higginbotham into an exhibition which will represent our journey of discovery of Chelford’s place in the landscape.
Display the exhibition at the school for everyone to share and enjoy
7th July
31st Aug
31st Aug
29th Oct
Nov
22nd Nov
31st Aug
31st Aug
29th Oct
Nov
22nd Nov