Remembering Together East Lothian is coming to a close

Lead Artists Barbara Rowell and Sophie Ferguson mapped a series of 6 walking trails across East Lothian in consultation with the community, with the aim to co-create a space for reflection, remembrance, hope and healing. The walking trails encourage the community to come together and connect socially with the healing qualities of nature, echoing the daily walking practice that many people adopted during lockdown.

An accessible county-wide map was produced for all six walking and wheeling routes, in digital and print versions to promote the trails and showcase the community involvement. A graphic designer was appointed to create the vision for the maps and interpretation panels and to produce the detailed technical specifications required for all planning applications.

Over July and August 2024 all six routes were waymarked with discs, stickers and posts where appropriate. All routes were finally launched as part of Walkfest 2024 towards the end of August/beginning of September. Barbara and Sophie have also created a digital archive at the John Gray Centre in Haddington, of the stories and experiences of community members they worked with.

In May 2024, artist Gill White was appointed to create the focal points of reflection for each of the six  waking trails. Gill proposed a series of curved silver feathers that would be placed in the landscape of each trail walk. Each perched feather’s spine would be curved upwards to the sun, as if just resting after flowing through the air, lightly touching, resting making contact with a sea wall, a seat, stream or rock. Gill has created a supporting short film A Feather in Time showcasing the feathers journey drifting and travelling through the landscape of each walk, accompanied by music and a spoken word performance.

For more information about Remembering Together East Lothian contact East Lothian Council