Visit to Clober Nursery

Kirsty has been working on a whole range of workshops across East Dunbartonshire nurseries as part of Trails and Tales, using music and art to take very young participants on a journey through heritage. It’s amazing to watch Kirsty at work. She draws on experience and understanding of wide ranging processes to engage and excite even the very youngest in ideas about heritage. From the Kirkintilloch foundries to the George Bennie Railplane I watched as new soundscapes were imagined and created conjured up by imagining the noises of the past. Kirsty not only uses music and sound to engage but hands on experiences of printing and casting to let everyone pick up and feel a piece of coal or cast metal on your hands and see something of the magic of those processes. In Kirsty’s hands, the traditional song of Katie Bairdie evolves into something new as the words change to include the names and imaginative ideas of all those taking part. As well as a song, Kate Bairdie comes along in the form of a brightly coloured doll that Kirsty brings to help encourage the young participants – and the teachers and visitors! – to follow Katie through her heritage journey and it works amazingly. Kirsty packs so much into her sessions – literally – carrying examples of heritage objects some borrowed from the Museums collections and others found and recycled. You can find out more about Kirsty’s work and the projects she’s undertaking for Trails and Tales here.