Why We Want To Do This Project
Above are mind maps that highlight elements of the project that will need thinking about before we start. Below you will find videos and testimonials from BlueJam’s Young People that have helped us put together the proposal for the Young Roots Heritage Lottery Project.
Ideas from the group
“Looking at that picture with the stone it has drawings on it – the drawings represent the past – making the circle is the present – and the fact that is lasts – that is the future.
“The room unlocks the past – the film adds atmosphere and the element of the unknown – like the bit with the stone – who is dropping the stone? What’s the story behind it.”
“You could have a film about an imagined ceremony”“It is mysterious and exciting – we don’t know what it was like, so the film poses questions and we have to imagine the answers. I’d like to make the soundtrack – thinking about what the music they made might have been like – with drums and voices – but also representing a sound picture of what it might have been like”
“The sound of bone on flint is really evocative.”“I know about Long Meg but have hardly heard about the others so I’d be interested in finding out more. When the project is completed you know more about the places that are around you and you link your everyday knowledge with what you have learnt.”
“You could use all the different sites as different elements and then link them up in your films and songs. For instance places we think of as empty were once places where people lived so really different from now.”
"Stone Meets Sky - memories of belonging"“Many stone axes were laid to rest in rivers and lakes at the end of their lives – this would be great to be filmed – and to find out where rivers were – will the course of the rivers have changed?”
“This project could act as a catalyst to get people interested in the landscape and way people have shaped it through the ages.”
“It would be a good idea to avoid being overly romantic – this is about people’s everyday lives as well as about the significant ceremonies and places of worship and gathering.”
“The power and effect of prehistoric monuments is to trigger memories of belonging
the circles on the rocks and the stone circles is the way in to writing a piece of music.”“The idea is to try to communicate with the music the sense of the monuments being unique and specifying this is our home. Very homely and very grand.”
“This project could act as a catalyst to get people interested in the landscape and way people have shaped it through the ages.”“Why is this a heritage project and not just an art project? From this looking…it is asking where do we fit in with all of this? How can we make something that lasts?
How can we be part of the past as well as the future?”
Josh and Helen present the proposal
"We know what it is, but not what it is for"
"it opens eyes to a completely different world"
“Long Meg: its an amazing place to start for inspiration because there is so much about it that nobody knows – it is like a blank page – we know what it is but not what it is for. The little that we do know is accurate, what it is made out of, the effort that went into it – more effort than it would take to build a skyscraper today – everyone has their own theory about what it really is. Mystery always interests, especially primary school children – it gets into our heads – not just music getting younger children into heritage, but heritage getting them into music as well.
Surrounding people with a musical environment and then giving them a bit of inspiration, you never know what will happen, really!
It would have effect on both heritage and the arts”
"a completely different view in a museum context"
“From the heritage side of this project it would be a way of linking the mythology of this area with other things like music, a way of getting involved with the area – I don’t really know much about around here, because I’ve not been interested but it would be a way of linking the stuff I am interested in with the history of this place and what it is about.”
“Its interesting for adults to see the point of view of a younger person – from a different angle – it is a point of view that is understandable once it has been explained – it opens eyes to a completely different world that you also have been in. Like in my work with younger children (in the summer camps) I’ve been in that situation before in a way and you sort of forget what you used to be like and then you see it from that angle again and its quite exciting and gets you interested in stuff. It helps you to understand yourself in a way. With this project you never really know where it would take people, but it will definitely take people somewhere.”
"Museums At Night"
"A completely different view"
“(Our exhibit) – Its a really strange sort of exhibit, especially for museums around here – its not like “this is a piece of flint, it’s amazing, let’s move on now” – it will be interesting to see a completely different view but in a museum context, that there is a different way to show things – it just shows the world from a different angle really, exhibiting stuff in a contemporary way.”
“The project would be a way to show everybody, rather than what Long Meg is or what it was for, what it has become in the minds of people and what it inspires in young people especially, round here, and the effect it has on the area as well, because whatever it was, it has become something.
It will probably get younger children involved, even if they weren’t involved in the actual project, (as) seeing the exhibit might involve them at a later point or get them more involved in heritage stuff, seeing museums as a bit less of the dusty sort of stuff that’s not really interesting and there’s much better things to be doing.”