Timeless Stream • Walford Mill, Wimborne (2021)
Timeless Stream was the first part of WCT’s project: Our Rivers Run Through Us, based on over two-year’s research and the development of ideas by WCT members relating to a sense of what it means to live near the rivers Allen and Stour, and the importance of the river ecology in our lives.
Timeless Stream was a series of six watery events at Walford Mill, Wimborne, celebrating the River Allen, and the beauty and diversity of creatures and organisms living on and in the river, one of Europe’s finest chalk streams. It raised questions about how we manage our common environment, ‘Thinking globally, acting locally’.(Saturday, October 16 – Sunday, October 24, 2021)
1 Timeless Stream: A Celebration for World Rivers Day: A short celebratory ritual performance in praise of the river’s timeless stream, held on the riverbank at Walford Mill. As the audience stood on the riverbank they made wishes for the future health of the river:
- I wish people knew how precious you are
- I wish people would be educated on what lies around them
- Reduce run-off from farms and traffic
- May we prioritise nature before selfish wishes
- Encourage the community to keep our river clean! Put on this play in schools and elsewhere!
See the Full List of Wishes here
2 Undercurrents: a Multimedia Installation about the River Allen – a collection of river sounds and stories, poems and memories about the river Allen by members of Wimborne Community Theatre, students from Allenbourn School and local people gathered by WCT and collaged into a visual and sonic installation by Adrian Newton, Lynn Davy, Arthur Newton and David Rogers.
Watch Undercurrents 1
Watch Undercurrents 2
Watch Undercurrents 3
3 The Poet Fish of the River Allen: an animation film created for the Undercurrents Exhibition by Hannah and Clare Small
Read Hannah Small’s account of making the film
4 Relaxing by the River: Watch Millstream Theatre’s new Music Video Relaxing by the River – RESPECT,
produced for the Undercurrents Exhibition.
Written and sung by Millstream Theatre, composed by Helen Porter, filmed by Ed Bersey.
5 Sound Walk: Soundscape of river sounds and organisms living in the river Allen, which was accessed by people on their phones while walking along the river bank.
Created by Adrian Newton and David Rogers.
6 Message to COP26: A record of Timeless Stream: script, photographs and audience responses was sent to the organisers of COP26 in Glasgow in November 2021.
About the production
The River Allen is one of Europe’s finest chalk streams. Timeless Stream is WCT’s celebration of the beauty and diversity of creatures and organisms living on and in the river, and how interconnected we all are.
Over the last two years WCT members have researched ideas and stories about Wimborne’s rivers, Stour and Allen. During lockdown members made videos and wrote poems about living near the rivers. Students from Allenbourn School also shared memories and thoughts, as have many other local people. You can hear some in the audio-visual installation in Walford Mill and read them on WCT’s website.
Timeless Stream and other River Allen events held at Walford Mill during Wimborne’s Green Festival, form the first part of WCTs River project, a way of celebrating our local fauna and flora, raising key questions about how we manage our common environment. ‘Thinking globally, acting locally’. We plan to send the script, photographs and audience responses to the organisers of COP26 in Glasgow next month.
Photos
See photos of the Timeless Stream workshops run by Heidi Stellar
See photos of the exhibition Undercurrents curated by Adrian Newton and Lynn Davey
See photos of the production Timeless Stream
Video
View the video of the production filmed by Alistair Nesbit
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Programme
Creative Reflections by Members of WCT
Gathering River Stories from the Local Community
Why WCT decided to focus on our local rivers for this project:
- We asked ourselves: how much do we know about the river? How often do we stop and look? Who does look, and why?
- We talked about the beneficial sense we feel of being close to water, seeing birds and the wildlife of the river bank, of pausing to look, and of spending time close to nature, and the importance now of people thinking about ecological issues.
Members agreed that we would create a River production which:
- Reveals – what lies beneath the familiarity of our locality, in terms of history and ecology and explore threats to the East Dorset environment, & ‘to open people eyes and ears’ through performance and sound. We will explore how people with visual impairments will be able to explore this, through touch and hearing.
- Connects and Develops – an existing sense of community felt by many WCT members, that Wimborne town represents a ‘heart’ situated in an ancient location alongside the rivers, a place inhabited since Neolithic times – and to encourage involvement of people who may live outside ‘mainstream’ cultural activities.
- Explores some of the following issues:
- appearance of otters and how they bring joy to observers
- the sounds and behaviour of fish
- local voices
- making what we notice and prioritise accessible through theatre
- tensions and differences with regards changes to our environment
Acrostic River Poems
Visitors to the exhibition Undercurrents were invited to add a line to an acrostic poem using the letters of the word RIVER. The exhibition in October 2021 was held at Walford Mill on the banks of the River Allen, as part of WCT’s project on rivers and featured sound works by Adrian Newton.
River Allen timeless and forever?
I am soothed by sounds of water
Veering towards Wimborne
Engineered by Nature.
Running through our lives.
Read all the completed poems….
Jane Skellett, one of the cast, wrote a poem to mark the end of the production.
Sorting the Scarves reflects on her feelings as she packs away the multi-coloured scarves used in the production.
Research
The Bullhead Fish is sometimes known as the Miller’s Thumb. David Evans, a member of Wimborne Community Theatre, finds out why.
Read about the Bullhead Fish
Stewart Bullen has written a beautiful account of the journey of the silver eel (anguila anguila) through Wimborne.
In his second piece Metamorphosis he describes the journey from the Sargasso Sea.
Read The Silver Eel’s Journey and Metamorphosis by Stewart Bullen