Update for week ending 23 Feb.

the weeks are so busy of late that it seems an age between each blog post, in reality it is barely 2weeks.
The survey of the castle continues as I work my way through my own programme of self perceived tasks of importance, being a project of faith I have little more to do really in firm belief that if the project is to happen all those necessary to its success will appear along the journey,; as the Buddist saying goes, when the student is ready, the teacher will appear.
the third video diary of that research is currently being edited with its narrative and will be posted on the Facebook  Site  ( Kendal Castle Poppy Bid ) as soon as this is finished
while waiting, here is a link to other video diaries from the castle project  Day I.mp4


Of most surprise to me was the number of military related charities who have joined the following some of which I had never heard of before as they were so new, charities such as Jimmy Jukes ukhomesfor heroes and    Soldiersoffthestreet Scotland , also very supportive through their commercial manager Graham O'Callaghan, who I met on Saturday last, have been Kendal Town Football Club  Kendal Town FC  , John Bateson the former Town Mayor, Sara Last, the Centre Manager at  Farfield Mill  Arts Centre and my own Legion, all of whom have offered  support of one kind or another to the Castle Bid.

The walk up the hill is continues to be too physically demanding to be able to make the journey on a daily basis which allows me much time to continue spreading the word, both by word of mouth and via the Facebook site , the site was set up around 9 days ago during which time it has attracted over 250 friends, the very nature of Facebooks viral nature is far greater than I had imagined with those 250 contacts bringing potential access to just over 100,000 people via their friends.

This week it seemed was media week, Lakeland Radio, The Bay radio station and the local gazette all picking up on the story, the fotographer from the gazette joined me yesterday at the castle, a frustrating but nonetheless an important interruption to the joy of work, she was not alone with several curious individuals obviously intrigued by my seeming unusual antics around their historical building, it all adds to help spread the word through their networks.

thats it for now, in the studio, I am getting a lot done in between the Castle works as I continue building on the Pollock inspired theme, more of that in another BLOG.
prayers to you all for a peaceful and worry free weekend
andrew.

Castle Update

Here are a few images of the Castle, preparation in part toward the survey and estimation of the number of Poppies needed to cloak the exterior walls, they are not of particular use for purpose as it was a bitter day and I was hungry and taxed by the walk up the hill, lack of preparation on my part, lesson learned, coffee and sandwiches!!!
05 February 2011

The work continues albeit slow, Oh so slow!  It is said that, many hands make light work however where a project of such immensity is concerned it is the many hands of involvement that stretch a project out into the years, organisations, manpower, permissions, funding applications and of course, the creative input, the thought of mounting 3million poppies single handedly is one best not imagined and likened to the single monk who created the 'Devils Bible' as it came to be called, Google it if you would like to know.

I have a very constructive meeting at the Studio yesterday with a Former Town Councellor and Mayor to discuss the castle project, all remained positive and he gave me some good pointers, not only of some of the individuals who could provide assistance but also those who, although having no direct input to the project, had a right to be informed, such as the Civic Society, we also touched briefly on funding options and time limitations, Health and Safety, I was glad to have done my Homework which made it so much easier to communicate without having to keep diving into books, pamphlets, paperwork and the computer.

Till next time, Spring is here, the trees have already started to take on a glow and the smell of the air is different, snowdrops are out and the sounds of the birds a little clearer, no doubt visits to the castle henceforth will be less arduous.

Kendal Castle Poppy Bid New Discussion Post

Kendal Castle Remembrance Poppy Bid

CLICK HEADING TO GO DIRECT TO POPPY BID Facebook Page

It is over a week since I last visited the castle, sitting within the grounds the enormity of both the structure and the project overall was somewhat numbing, it has taken me until this week to come to terms with the amount of work that must be done to cloak the castle with poppies; moreso, the number of poppies that will need to be woven into the netting that will hang over the side of the battlements to the ground, in some parts of the structure a distance in excess of 30 metres, only now, having come to terms with the sheer size of the building it is time to get back to start the survey in ernest firstly however a trip to the local library where there might already be records of earlier surveys.

Following up on a suggestion from Simon from CMU, the creative co-operative that is responsible for the promotional video currently being put together (completion scheduled for 17th March) I have spoken with Mark, a poet and singer/song writer who, I hope, will take on the task of putting together a Poppy Tribute song, I have not given him any brief as yet and only intend to give him some of the links to the Flanders Fields Poem and others, he has no military background as I would like the lyrics to be fresh and from someone not connected.

As far as finding a group to put their voices to the words I have written to the Chelsea Pensioners ( http://www.chelsea-pensioners.co.uk/men-in-scarlet ) who have had a huge success with their album ' Men in Scarlet ' that was released on 8th November 2010.

The Chelsea Pensioners Charity is based at The Royal Hospital Chelsea and was founded in 1682 by King Charles II, to provide a fitting home for retired soldiers and is now home to 310 ex servicemen and women.

The 'Men in Scarlet ' Group is formed from 7 of these Chelsea Pensioners and was borne of a desire to help the Chelsea Pensioners' Appeal raise funds to refurbish the old dormitories built by Sir Christopher Wren. each pensioner calls a 9ft x9ft wooden room with no windows home, and 36 men share 4 lavatories and 2 showers. he 7 men have a total age of 546, the oldest (John) being 88 and the youngest is (Michael) being 67 .

The album has been produced by Nick Patrick who produced last years double platinum album by the Soldiers. joining the men in their album is Dame Vera Lynn, Katherine Jenkins and Janey Cutler (from Britain’s Got Talent).

Anyway, that is the plan,, I await a reply from the Gentlemen with fingers crossed, primarily their cause is the Charity that they are part of but hopefully they might extend this to the Castle and the Poppy Tribute.

For now, I rest for a few days, I have a meeting with John, a friend of mine who has some knowledge and experience as to the inner workings of Local Town Council that I hope with my trip into that region of the unknown, a twilight zone for me that can only serve as another huge learning curve for future projects.