Go Herdwick.indd

Calvert
Trust
ART TRAIL
The Herdwicks
are coming
A public art trail next year will see 50 decorated Herdwick sheep appear in
unexpected places in the heart of the Lake District. In place for about six months,
the trail will raise funds for a £1.3 million Calvert Trust project
T
WORDS MICHAELA ROBINSON-TATE PHOTOGRAPHY LINDA BUSSEY
he Herdwicks are coming - and it’s all for a
good cause.
A flock of 50 decorated Herdwick ewes will
be appearing in the Lake District next year as
part of a fundraising drive by a much-valued
Cumbrian charity.
The project, named Go Herdwick, has been
devised by the Lake District Calvert Trust, which
specialises in providing challenging outdoor adventure holidays
and experiences for people with disabilities. The charity, which
welcomes more than 3,000 people each year to its residential
centre overlooking Bassenthwaite Lake, is 40 next year and Go
Herdwick is an opportunity to fundraise for a new project.
The 50 ewes, supplied by community interest company Art at
the Edge, are to be decorated by different artists and sponsored
- by individuals, companies and organisations - before being
placed at their locations on the trail next Easter.
The ewes will be sited at accessible public spaces and outside
business premises, forming a trail through the centre of the Lake
District. Following the approximate route of the 555 bus service,
the trail will include locations in Keswick, Grasmere, Rydal,
Ambleside and Windermere.
An art trail map, posters and brochures will be printed and
Herdwick spotting is expected to catch on among visitors and
locals. The flock will eventually be rounded up for a grand gala
auction next autumn.
The design of the ewes has been approved by members of the
Herdwick Sheep Breeders’ Association - who suggested a few
tweaks - and who have given the project their backing.
Chairman Will Rawling said: “Anything that supports the
Calvert Trust has got to be a good idea.”
The sheep farmer, author of the bestselling The Shepherd’s
Life and Herdwick Shepherd Twitter star James Rebanks has
agreed to be patron of Go Herdwick.
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PHOTOGRAPHY: DANNY FOWLER
Artist Conrad Atkinson at
work on The Golden
Fleece in his studio on
the Solway Coast
A golden opportunity
- Cumbria Life’s Herdwick
The ewes arrive at the Calvert Trust’s Riding
School at Old Windebrowe on the edge of
Keswick. The trust hopes to redevelop the
farmhouse and barn there with funds raised
by the Go Herdwick project
Cumbria Life, media partner for the
Go Herdwick project, invited
internationally renowned conceptual
artist Conrad Atkinson to transform a
blank ewe into a piece of his
distinctive art.
Conrad, who has homes near the
Solway and in California, chose to
draw attention to the importance of
wool in the history of world trade.
His golden sheep, with ruby slippers
and a globe fixed on her head,
stands on a red plinth - a reference
to the red woolsack on which the
Lord Chancellor originally sat to
symbolise the huge value of wool to
England in the Middle Ages.
Conrad said that wool has been
central to myths and world
economies, from Jason and the
Argonauts’ pursuit of the Golden
Fleece to the woolsack.
“The slightly awkward
juxtaposition of the globe and the
sheep obliquely refers to the role
wool played in both the world’s
economy and the growth of empire,”
he said.
Conrad, who was born in Cleator
Moor, has exhibited all over the
world and won numerous awards.
He said he agreed to create the
sheep as a favour to Cumbria Life,
knowing that it was to go towards a
good cause.
Conrad is known for his conceptual
art; below: some of the 50 ewes
arrive at Old Windebrowe
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Art trail
‘It’s a wonderful and very
exciting project; I know it’s
going to be a huge success’
James told guests at the Trust’s annual fundraising
ball, held at Low Wood Bay hotel on Windermere on
September 11, that he’d visited the charity’s centre
with his family. He’d seen the joy experienced by
parents and children with disabilities as they were
able to take part in activities together, perhaps for the
first time. “I came away slightly humbled to be a
patron of this, if I’m absolutely honest, because what
these guys do is amazing,” he said.
The money from the project - for which Cumbria
Life is the official media partner - will go towards the
£1.3 million redevelopment of Old Windebrowe at
Keswick, the trust’s 16th-century Grade II-listed
farmhouse and tithe barn. Once home to William
Wordsworth, the historic property will be redeveloped
to provide six apartments suitable for people recovering from strokes or who have acquired brain injuries.
A communal area will be available for occupational
therapy and rehabilitation and visitors will be able to
take part in the Trust’s outdoor activities.
The Calvert Trust charity ball, when Go Herdwick
was officially launched, included a grand auction with
an opportunity to bid for sponsorship of an undecorated ewe. The winning bidder was Paul Wensley, MD of
Wensley Mackay of Cockermouth, which he set up with
his wife, Jayne, to help people run their own pension
schemes. They were applauded by fellow guests for
their successful bid of £1,250. Jayne said she and a
friend had taken part in carriage driving with the
Calvert Trust and they were keen to support the appeal.
Other sponsors so far announced include George
Fisher, The Cumberland Pencil Museum and Newlands
Adventure Centre, all in Keswick and Hayes Garden
World in Ambleside.
Calvert Trust chairman of trustees Giles MounseyHeysham said the money raised by Go Herdwick
would provide vital working capital to help get the
Old Windebrowe project underway. He said he hoped
Go Herdwick would capture the imagination of the
whole county: “It’s a wonderful and very exciting
project; I know it’s going to be a huge success.”
Local businesses are invited to sponsor a blank
Herdwick and have it transformed to reflect their
activities and values or just to create a piece of eyecatching art. Artists are also encouraged to take part.
To find out more call 017687 72255 or see
www.goherdwick.co.uk.
Justin Farnan, the
Calvert Trust’s business
manager, with Star
Grazer, painted by artist
Jane Veveris Callan
Art for everyone
Whether it’s Shaun the Sheep on the
streets of Bristol and London, Pigs in
Bath or Paddington Bears in London,
public art trails have become a
popular way of promoting a good
cause.
Go Herdwick was conceived by
Justin Braithwaite, the MD
of Art at the Edge, a
community interest
company based in Somerset
which was set up to deliver
art to a wider audience.
Justin, a retired business
executive, has already run
two similar art trails - King
Baldud’s pigs in Bath and hares in
Cirencester. He suggested the
Herdwick trail might be a good way
of raising funds for the Calvert Trust.
Public art trails are believed to
have originated with the Swiss Cow
Parade in 1998 and have taken off
all over the world.
“It’s a very interesting formula,”
said Justin. “It’s unbelievably popular
across the generations and brings
together tourists and residents,
because the tourists are perplexed
by it and say, ‘What’s all this about?’
and then the residents take great
pride in being able to explain.”
Grandparents and
grandchildren follow the
trail together while some
people attempt to spot all
the animals on a trail,
taking a photograph of each
one.
Art on the Edge
associate Alan Dun
designed the fibreglass Herdwicks
and the first completed ewe was
painted by another collaborator,
Somerset-based artist Jane Veveris
Callan. Jane’s Star Grazer was inspired
by a Cumbrian meadow and designed
to highlight the importance of sheep
in helping to re-seed meadows by
trampling the seeds into the earth.
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