I can only apologise in advance for the length of this post, since my last post however my weeks have left me with hardly a minute when something new and exciting wasn’t happening; at this moment in time a small part of me considers that I may have taken on more than I can chew however the greater part considers that with regard to the differing timescales of each of the new project time allows for an acceptable level of headway along my journey.I have just returned from The Combat Stress Residence, they are the charity that provides me with the care and support I need to help me along this step of my journey, they only have 3 such places throughout the uk leaving me feeling so lucky to manage to get a placement as there are so many veterans needing this kind of help as to provide for a lengthy waiting list.
My arrival in Scotland was greeted by the news that a Burns Supper was planned for that evening, apart from it being the birthdate of Burns himself for me, the evening was a celebration that not only another chapter in my life had been reached in a most gratifying manner but also that it included all aspects of my life, the highlite being the successful exhibition of my most significant work thus far.
The entire nite was in gaelic, although understanding many of the words I was more reliant upon the expressions borne of passion, nomoresoe than the delivery of the Tam O’ Shanter, (sincerest apologies for spelling errors) a 3000 word poem by a young lass who could not have been more than 13, word perfect to mine ears and with such expression that I was easily able to recognise the story with such finite accuracy that my laughter and expressions of pain were as honest had they been borne of my own tongue.
That evening I met a remarkable man called AlanBrunton, a man so spiritually aware that it was of his character, a gifted artist even at the very step of finding himself, his enthusiasm and vibrancy was so contagious that I was truly able to appreciate, not only his achievements but also the significance of my earlier thoughts toward personal celebration, if that were not enough a friend I had yet to meet entered the room in the form of Tom, the Film maker who, like myself had been introduced to each other through Alan Harpur, a mutual friend and great fisherman of his rivers,
Over the course of the next two days Tom and I spent much time sharing both our personal lives and our professional aspirations with regard to Dog Tag Media to a point that such frankness and mutual respect at that level seems rarely to exist amongst mankind, I have little doubt that over a good period of time each of that which we expect to achieve on behalf of the veterans of our armed forces will be satisfied, still leaving ample time for our personal lives to continue to grow with debt of gratitude repaid and nought but healthy respect remaining; it is strange how guilt can sometimes lead to the greatest humility and how only from that point are we able to grow as human beings.From this point on my trip simply improved, I had met a young lady called Anna who was transporting the veterans to the gardening leave project.
The Gardening Leave Project the innovation of Anna Baker Cresswell, a North East lass who has a personal understanding of the plight of Veterans. Just outside of Ayr sit the grounds of Auchincruive Estate, a beautiful and tranquil place encompassing the River Ayr beside which sits the ornamental gardens of the Gardening Leave Project.
It is here where veterans of a particular nature are truly able to be themselves surrounded, not only by a creation borne of love and understanding but also amongst others who are in essence their brothers, attached by inclination and shared experiences, for these veterans a world outside of these grounds just does not exist, in essence; a garden of Eden; it came of no surprise when one of the men told me of the existence of a ley line that ran through the garden.
Within the walled grounds, I found a Jewel, it was here that Anna managed to catch up with me and told me the story. At 85 metres a wall of mirrors sat resting against massive heated walls in the fashion of a lean-too, before me a reflection of every part of the world in which I stood, though not as a single mirror but as a mosaic, each square minutely offset and brilliantly lit as to capture in each a different picture of beauty itself, my immediate panic was that the work Anna was telling me about was going to absoulutely destroy something that was so perfect that any change would have destroyed that forever.The more I listened however the more I was able to realise that indeed this building was held in such high esteem as that which I felt myself and felt comfortable that any and all changes would be so completely sympathetic as to merely enhance it and bring it back to its perfect former glory, I had no choice other than to want to capture every aspect of this beautiful building before it was returned to ‘brand new’
Remaining for the entire day rather than the half day planned I found myself so attached to this glass house that I had to return the next day and on the following day of my departure home enforced with the loss of my mobile phone, a small price to pay just to visit both the glass house and the veterans that were working there.
Now, I find myself working on several projects, the corporate identity of Dog Tag Media, an archive to build of the restoration of the glasshouse in Auchincruive, a steep learning curve with some film software, to finalise my week another opportunity to create something for the Royal British Legion.
