Remembering Together Midlothian comes to an end

Photo credit: Craig Maclean Photography for YWL Studios

Yvonne Weighand Lyle, Lead Artist, Remembering Together Midlothian reflects on the project as it comes to a close.

Our beautiful Covid memorial benches for Midlothian, each co-designed by local folk, were finally installed in green spaces across the county earlier this month. The memorials feature sculptural benches and fruiting trees and are located at Easthouses Park, Rosewell Park and Angle Park, Penicuik.  

It’s been a long but inspiring process to realise these designs over the past year! We began by organising a series of creative papercraft workshops with local community groups and organisations, some of whom had been involved in the project previously and some who were participating for the first time. During the workshops, people cut out creative paper motifs, some thinking about everyday activities they had done during lockdown, such as baking and walking the dog. Folk were also very mindful of missing loved ones, remembering difficulties experienced and thinking of others, such as care workers and those who continue to experience loss or difficulty and these thoughtful reflections were often a starting point for our co- created designs.

We also thought about what makes Midlothian a special place to live, and how we could include Midlothian itself conceptually in our artwork. All the people who came along to the workshops were so talented and crafted a wide variety of delicate motifs, including: a coal mining pit wheel, beautiful farmland countryside, views of the river Esk, wild garlic, local wildlife, ancient trees and the Pentland hills.

As a result, we had a rich tapestry of design ideas to include in our benches. Our memorial bench artwork is symbolic of Midlothian and has a real sense of the county, reflecting our rich cultural heritage and landscape. The individual artworks designed by residents from primary schoolers to pensioners fit together beautifully and now we have 3 completely unique benches co-designed by over 100 local people to enjoy together.

The final beautiful Memorial sculptural benches have now been permanently installed in three of our local parks, alongside a selection of fruiting trees, including apples and plums, which were planted with the help of local community gardening groups.

It has been a privilege to meet everyone during the course of the project and I am very thankful to all who have given of their time, taken part or shown their support. These memorials tangibly represent something good and positive emerging from what was a dreadful experience during the pandemic and symbolise our communities’ resilience.

I am so delighted that this project has allowed us to create beautiful new sculptural artworks together. Our benches form the centrepieces of new public spaces and now provide local people with new places to sit, reflect and remember.