SUE JANE TAYLOR and FIN MACRAE report on an event that brought the words of Caithness author Neil Gunn to literal life.

‘Wick, A light in the North’ (after the words of Caithness author Neil Gunn)

Herring Queen emblem pyrotechnic display (© Fin Macrae)

OVER A thousand people turned out to watch and follow a spectacular community procession through Pulteneytown to South Head Quarry, organised by Wick Youth Club and Lower Pulteneytown Townscape Heritage Initiative Management Committee. This procession marked the final stage in the permanent display of the Community Public Arts project, ‘New Media Meets Old’, in Telford Street with the switching on of two new media artworks created by commissioned artist Tamsin Williams and young people in Wick.

All summer young people aged from six years and upwards made over 100 willow candle-lit lanterns assisted by performance artist Kay Smith, who was based at Wick Youth Club. Drummer Stuart Dinwoodie and dance instructor Carol Webster worked with all four primary schools preparing the children for their part in the procession.All summer young people aged from six years and upwards made over 100 willow candle-lit lanterns assisted by performance artist Kay Smith, who was based at Wick Youth Club. Drummer Stuart Dinwoodie and dance instructor Carol Webster worked with all four primary schools preparing the children for their part in the procession.

Two professional fire twirlers from Canada led the procession, followed by over 250 children walking along the streets lined with flags and people. As the procession grew nearer to the South Head Quarry small fires lit the route of the newly improved coastal path leading to the quarry, which supplied all the stone for the construction of Lower Pulteneytown in the nineteenth century (Famous engineer Thomas Telford was the brains behind the creation of what was the world’s first industrial estate, serving the herring fishing industry).

A fantastic pyrotechnic display, a burning Herring Queen emblem created by Kay Smith and her team, lit the mild night sky accompanied by a firework spectacle as the finale.

The night also marked the completion of phase one of South Head Quarry Path, funded by Forward Scotland and carried out by ILM (the intermediate labour market training organisation) with artworks by Sally Orr. At the quarry the final static artwork was displayed – three-life size herring barrels built from Caithness Flagstone, including back-lit iconic images sandblasted onto industrial glass which sit inside each of the barrels created by photographic artist Fin MacRae from Tain, and glass artist Brodie Nairn from Lybster.

Sue Jane Taylor is the Lead Artist in the THI Lower Pulteneytown Regeneration Project. All photographs are by Fin Macrae.

© Sue Jane Taylor and Fin Macrae, 2004