2011

Lake Odyssey was a Heritage Lottery Funded project exploring local history through the arts with a particular focus on the 1950’s, when Chew Valley Lake was made. This was a major local event. The town of Moreton was fl ooded to make way for a reservoir supplying water to South Bristol and the Queen visited the area to offi cially open and inaugurate the lake in 1956. The Lake Odyssey 2011 project gave pupils at Chew Valley School and their cluster of primary schools a chance to explore the history of their community in a fun and creative way. Pupils took part in various workshops throughout the spring and summer of 2011 to produce the content for the fi nal Lake Odyssey event day on Saturday 16th July 2011, which saw the local community come together for a day of celebration and performance at Chew Valley Lake.

Balloon Launch

The Lake Odyssey 2011 project offi cially launched on Friday 4th March with a balloon re- lease. Year seven and eight pupils released the balloons to mark and celebrate the occasion. A logo competition had been running within the primary cluster and Chew Valley School to fi nd a design for the Lake Odyssey logo. The winners were announced by Heritage Lottery representative Cherry Ann Knott. The lucky winners were Bea Tucker from East Harptree Pri- mary School and Hazel Stockwell-Cooke from Chew Valley School, whose designs featured in all publicity for the Lake Odyssey 2011 project.

Bishop Sutton Songwriting

Swallow class from Bishop Sutton Primary School took part in a song writing workshop, com- posing their own song from scratch with Leo Holloway. Pupils wrote lyrics infl uenced by their experiences of Chew Valley Lake and then composed a melody to accompany these. The whole class contributed to the content of the song and all pupils then recorded their vocals. The song was performed at the Lake Odyssey event day and also features as the music on the video documentation for the day.

Ubley Performance Poetry

Ubley Primary School took part in a poetry workshop day with The Poetry Slam’s Glenn Car- micheal. Pupils thought about their experiences of Chew Valley Lake and worked in groups to turn these ideas into poems. They were encouraged to think about what the lake is like throughout the seasons and to think about all fi ve senses when composing their poems. However, this wasn’t just a writing exercise. Pupils then had to think about how they would perform their poems to an audience and took part in a ‘poetry slam’, performing poems to the rest of their class.

East Harptree First Light Film Making

Years three, four, fi ve and six took part in a fi lm making workshop with First Light InThe Classroom. Years fi ve and six developed a storyboard combining two local stories. The fi rst story was that of Catherine Brown, the ghost who supposedly drowned in the moat of a house in Moreton, the village that is now under Chew Valley Lake. Catherine has been seen many times crossing a road towards the lake, appearing to be soaking wet. The other story was that of Nobby the snail man, a man of no fi xed abode who wandered the Chew Valley area collect- ing snails to sell at posh restaurants in Bristol. Pupils from years three and four took on the job of becoming the characters from the story whilst years fi ve and six continued to develop the script and take on production roles including director, camera operator, sound engineer and boom operator. Pupils worked with fi lm director Chris Kemp of Suited and Booted to fi lm their stories.

Pensford First Light Film Making

Years three, four, fi ve, and six all contributed in a fi lm making workshop with First Light In The Classroom and Chris Kemp. Years fi ve and six came up with ideas for a time travel based fi lm where pupils from 2011 would travel back in time to Pensford in the 1950’s. They then produced a storyboard for their fi lm and came up with a script. Years fi ve and six were then responsible for the fi lm’s production taking on roles such as camera operator, sound engi- neer, director, and boom operator. Four pupils took on the roles of the main characters and years three and four took on the characters of a band and dancers for the main scene of the fi lm, choreographing a dance for the rest of the class.

Ubley Circus Skills

Ubley Primary School worked with the Chew Valley School Circus Club headed up by Lou Pope, to spend the day learning circus skills. Pupils had the opportunity to try their hand at a range of circus practices such as the Diablo, plate spinning, hula hooping, and rola bola amongst others. The members of the CVS Circus Club must be praised for their hard work throughout the whole day, sharing their skills and experience and engaging pupils of Ubley Primary School. The CVS Circus Club and Ubley Primary School were also at the Lake Odyssey Event day to help visitors try their hand at circus skills.

Pensford Puppets

Reception, year one and year two pupils from Pensford Primary School spent the day with Tallulah Swirls’ Amy Lloyd Jones. Amy gave a presentation of her latest puppet show before giving pupils the chance to make their own dancing marionettes. These marionettes were then displayed to music where they jiggled wonderfully as dancing figures.

Cameley Puppet Making

Pupils from Cameley Primary School spent the week working with Alex Hykel of Puppets and Pandemonium and Christy Grimes to try out puppet making. Alex presented his puppet shows to pupils before they got to create their own show. The end result was a great show featuring a giant puppet of Elvis who apparently had a hand in creating Chew Valley Lake!

Chew Stoke Rainbow Choir

Chew Stoke Primary School worked with vocal tutor Tim Parker over a number of weeks to learn several songs for the Lake Odyssey event. The songs had a 1950’s theme and all pupils at the school were involved in the workshops. The final result saw all ages coming together for a fantastic performance, with pupils wearing a range of colourful tops to create a rainbow effect.

Winford Dance Workshops

Pupils from Winford Primary School took part in dance workshops with Chew Valley School dance teacher Rachael Cooke. Pupils performed to a 1950’s soundtrack and experimented with rock and roll dance techniques to create a brilliant ensemble piece.

Chew Magna Puppets

Chew Magna Primary School worked alongside Puppets and Pandemonium’s Alex Hykel to make their own puppets and puppet show.

Year 6 Sculpture Day

Year six pupils from nine primary schools in the cluster came together for a sculpture mak- ing workshop with artists from No Added Sugar. Toni and Gordon Dickinson led the session, showing pupils how to create their own sculpture of a figure from a 1950’s dancehall. Two schools made members of the band with saxophonists, guitar players, singers and drummers. The other seven schools produced the dancers making a range of figures in motion, with most leaning at seemingly impossible angles! Year 7 and 8 Pinhole Photography

Pupils from years seven and eight came together to work with renowned pinhole photogra- pher Justin Quinell to learn about the process of pinhole photography. Pupils created their own cameras using old aluminium cans and tried their hand at pinhole photography, taking photographs of themselves with old cameras from the 1950’s. Students then developed their images in the darkroom to see what they had made. The photographs were then scanned into a computer so that the colours could be inverted as when pinhole photographs are devel- oped initially, the image is a negative.

Year 10 Boys Dance

Male pupils from year ten came together to create a dance piece for the Lake Odyssey event. Using the ideas of Chew Valley Lake and the 1950’s, students worked with dance teacher Ra- chael Cooke to create a fun and dynamic choreography. Dance practitioner Matt from dance company Just 4 Funk also contributed to the dance, coming into Chew Valley School to run a dance workshop looking at break dance techniques to extend the skills that pupils had al- ready learned.

Year 7 and 9 Rock and Roll Dance

Two groups of pupils from Chew Valley School took part in a 1950’s rock and roll dance workshop with dance practitioner Carolyn Savidge. Students from year 7 and year 9 learned rock and roll dance techniques and used these, along with their own ideas, to create a 1950’s inspired dance piece from scratch. Year 9 Contemporary Dance

Year nine pupils from Chew Valley School worked with dance practitioner Carolyn Savidge to create a piece of contemporary dance. Pupils explored the site of Chew Valley Lake and used this to inspire their piece. They also used the story of the ghost of Catherine Brown who has been seen crossing a road towards the lake, appearing to be soaking wet, dressed in white. This became a strong image used throughout the dance, with all dancers dressed in white, covered in a net material.

Year 7 Flag Making

Pupils from year seven worked alongside drama teacher Elizabeth Bainbridge to create fl ags which were displayed at the Lake Odyssey event. Pupils used the ideas of Chew Valley Lake, what could be found at the lake and the theme of water as inspiration for their fl ag designs. The end result was a colourful array of fl ags which decorated the site beautifully.

Year 7 and 10 theatre piece, ‘An Odyssey’

Chew Valley School pupils from years seven and ten came together with drama teacher Eliza- beth Bainbridge to create a theatre piece entitled ‘An Odyssey’. Students explored themes of Chew Valley Lake and local legends to create a water themed piece. The piece was visually striking with masks being used throughout to tell the story.

Chew Valley Dance Company

Pupils from Chew Valley Dance Company, a lunchtime and after school club run by dance teacher Rachael Cooke, created a dance inspired by the themes of water and Chew Valley Lake.

Chew Valley Youth Theatre

Chew Valley Youth Theatre worked with Lucy Cassidy and Jasmine Loveys to create a piece of theatre informed by the history of the Chew Valley area and local legends. Pupils undertook a lengthy research and development period as part of the devising process. A visit to Radstock Library saw students doing extensive research into the history of the local area, particularly looking at newspaper articles of the 1950’s. This visit uncovered stories such as the legend of the Stanton Drew stone circle, accounts of the Queen coming to open Chew Valley Lake, the story of the ghost of Catherine Brown, accounts of what the village of Moreton was like before it was flooded to make Chew Valley Lake, records of what the local view points on the flooding of Moreton were, information about the construction of Chew Valley Lake and gen- eral accounts of life in the 1950’s with regards to fashion, domestic life, industry, and local or national events of that time. Another large part of the research process was conducting oral history interviews with members of the local community who could give accounts of the area during the 1950’s. Students devised a series of questions around the things that they were interested in learning more about. These oral history interviews were vital in the devising process because they gave a personal account of the history of the Chew Valley area.

Students then focused on two different stories for their final piece of work. They chose to look at the opening of Chew Valley Lake and the story of the Stanton Drew stone circle. Legend has it that the Stanton Drew stone circle came in to existence because of a wedding party. The wedding took place on a Saturday on the site of the stones. As time progressed towards midnight, the musician who had been playing at the wedding refused to continue to play as the day crossed from Saturday to Sunday, the holy day. The wedding party were said to be disappointed, with the bride said to be particularly angered. She allegedly declared that she would go to hell and back to find a piper to carry on playing for them. With that, a mysterious piper appeared and agreed to play. He played, getting faster and faster. The wed- ding party were unable to stop dancing and became more and more frantic until finally, the piper had danced them to death. When local farmers came to the site the next morning, all that was left of the wedding party were the Stanton Drew stones. Students began their piece on the day of the opening of the lake as the Chew Valley Players and then retold the Stanton Drew story before returning to the day of the opening of the lake.

Lake Odyssey 2011!

The Lake Odyssey event day took place on Saturday 16th July 2011. As the Chew Valley area woke to a rather showery morning, a busy team were making the fi nal preparations for Lake Odyssey 2011. As midday approached, a crowd gathered at Chew Valley Lake for the start of the event.

The main stage saw a variety of performances take place throughout the day, from dance to theatre to puppet shows to musical performances. The acoustic tent saw performances from the Chew Valley School Folk group and Mandelinky as well as hosting performance poetry from Ubley Primary School, dancing marionettes from Pensford Primary School, and the de- but screenings of fi lms from East Harptree, Pensford, and Bishop Sutton Primary School. The art tent held an exhibition of artwork from various schools including the year six sculptures, an amazing ten metre artwork showing the journey of a river from Ubley Primary School, silk batiks from Bishop Sutton Primary School, and Jackson Pollock infl uenced artwork from East Harptree Primary School. The arts and crafts tent saw various hands on workshops taking place with Megan Clark-Bagnall and Robert Thumpston including badge making, 1950’s toy making, postcards from Chew Valley, and a map drawing project. Lettuce and Lovage ran a barbecue for the day and the Stoke Inn ran the site bar. The newly established Community Farm were also onsite to tell people about the recent developments at the farm. Many thanks must also go to Bristol Water for generously allowing us use of the Chew Valley Lake site, and for their continued support.

No event like this has been run by the school before and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. The day was an absolute success and many would like to see it return as an annual event! Lake Odyssey Launch. Photo by Simon O’Connell.

Chew Valley Youth Theatre Performance. Photo by Dennis Emmitt.

Year 7 Rock & Roll Dance. Photo by Dennis Emmitt.

Year 9 Contemporary Dance Performance. Photo by Dennis Emmitt.

Year 9 Contemporary Dance Performance. Photo by Dennis Emmitt.

Year 9 Rock & Roll Dance. Photo by Dennis Emmitt.

Chew Valley Swing Band. Photo by Dennis Emmitt.

Chew Valley Youth Theatre Performance. Photo by Dennis Emmitt.