Workshops
In addition to the activities and demonstrations during the Heritage Open Day event, we also ran a series of workshops and public engagement activities.
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Amanda Couch - Becoming With Wheat: March 2020 - September 2022
Amanda ran the ‘Becoming with Wheat Companions’ (BwWC), a monthly meet up which kicked off in March 2020 then after a Covid lockdown hiatus, continued from May 2021 to September 2022. BwWC was based around the raised beds where a group of volunteer gardeners grew wheat and then veg and other plants together and learnt from the plants and each other.
Amanda Couch - Anthotypes: 16 October 2021
Amanda Couch shared the Victorian non-toxic photographic process of the anthotype, where participants made plant emulsions from flowers, veg and fruits, that were then taken home to develop in sunlight. She also ran a condensed version for children of the ‘Becoming with Wheat Companions’.
Catherine Morland - Cordage: 19 March 2022
Catherine Morland explored the story of string and demonstrated how to make cordage with the materials used in her installations. including natural plant fibres and recycled plastic bags. Participants learnt how to make a cordage bracelet to take home with them.
Catherine also engaged with basket makers through an open call to make carriers for loaves that formed part of the display in the museum and presented bread for Heritage Open Day ‘Commons Feast’ and at the Gathering.
Selena Chandler bread basket made from rush and Lois Walpole bread basket made from plastic debris and materials washed up on the shores of the Shetland Isles.
Carl Gent - Dispersed Song: 19 March 2022
In Carl Gent’s ‘Dispersed Song’ workshop participants worked with a variety of English folk songs to create, perform and record new hybrid versions.
Grow Beer:
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We also initiated Grow Beer Reading in February 2020 as a community “patchwork farm” with local people growing hops in their back gardens, on their patios and balconies, in allotments and community gardens, with the goal of growing, harvesting and brewing a beer to enjoy communally.
Grow Beer was started by Helen Steer and Ann Bodkin in Brixton, London, after a conversation over a pint of beer in October 2011, wanting to celebrate beer and grow stuff in a fun way. Utilising Steer and Bodkin’s model and open-share resources, there are now over 22 groups across the UK who regularly grow beer.
Grow Beer Reading is now in its third season. Whilst we have lots of people successfully growing hops, owing to the Covid lockdowns the group has yet to reach the brewing stage. We hope that with the 2022 harvest we will collaborate with a brewer and the transformation into a green hops beer will happen.
