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Fran Walker - My LHI Story
Fascinating facts about Somerset's Willow
Kate Lynch - my LHI story
Willow - exhibition of paintings & drawings
Willow - Kate Lynch's Book
from Thatch magazine
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Kate Lynch - my LHI story
Location: Somerset
Kate Lynch is an artist whose own work originally inspired LHI to celebrate Somerset’s willow. She is also a trained teacher, and worked with children in schools’ workshops as part of the project.
LHI is a really important source of funding, because it responds directly to people within the community who want to protect and celebrate what’s important to them locally. And that includes encouraging and inspiring the children so that they will feel really interested and involved in their own heritage.
When we moved to this part of Somerset, I took my sketch book down to the Levels and started to talk to willow workers, and asked if I could draw them while they were working.
When I realised that I was building up quite a log of local craftspeople, I started to take my tape recorder with me and record what they were telling me. Then I heard there was an oral history archive at the Somerset Rural Life Museum, and I suggested that they might like to include the willow workers in their recordings.
Later I had several meetings with Richard Bradford at the Levels and Moors Partnership and he identified three ways in which LAMP could celebrate the willow industry, and that became the basis of the LHI project.
First there were two Willow Days, so that people would have a chance to find out about it. Then taking workshops into local schools seemed really exciting - there’s something very appealing about using charcoal that’s made out of locally-grown willow to make drawings of the willow workers. It sort of brings it full circle. And thirdly there’s a leaflet to give people more information about why willow is such an important local industry.
As a result of all this, the willow growers have all been brought together again for the first time in many years. A directory is being produced, and there’s talk of starting up a Willow Growers’ Association again.
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