The Five Maidens

Ideas for the development of this new Wildart Trail Feature

Five oak trees revealed in a newly created clearing providing new opportunities:

Encouraging Natural Play By installing five stumps at slightly varying heights and linking ropes between each stump to create a low level climbing frame.

stumps arranged in the same foot print shape as the five maidens

Encouraging Natural Play This feature could be placed at the entrance on the existing path, to make some kind of ‘entry for play’. Possibly placed in the ditch and either side of the wooden bridge already in place. Visitors would need to walk through or past the feature to reach the Oaks if they were going to explore or play in the area

area developed for Natural Play

‘entry for play’

Encouraging Natural Play Logs, sticks, building blocks, to create towers or log cabins A climbing feature in the area in front of the five oaks trees could start the development of the area for natural play. The bench on the other side of the path provides a controlled stopping point where parents can sit and children play. The Y shaped path creates a self contained area, where logs and sticks can be placed for moving around and climbing on. A considerable number of smaller disks and blocks could be cut, using a chain saw to a provide a woodland building area. I see this as the equivalent of a woodland sand pit.

Developing the Five Maidens idea: Professional story tellers or performance artists could develop the Five Maidens story with local schools. This can be done to create new characters describing who, how and why the Five Maidens come to be in the position they are in? Possibly the Heron in the nearby tree plays a part in this tale. Tree models, masks , drawings may all form part of this process

Story recorded onto push button post

existing bench

When completed, the whole tale recorded onto a speaking post, read by Joanna Lumley and installed near the bench opposite the site. This may inspire children to play in the area opposite

Developing the Five Maidens idea: Reach new audiences with links from the Kent Wildlife Trust website, slide shows on flickr is an example I have uploaded a slide show to flickr called; ‘A walk around the Wildart Trail’.

owl mask

To view click here or click on the circular drawing on the right.

The material generated in the story telling workshops, photos, puppets, drawings, models, masks and the story created about the Five Maidens can be documented digitally and presented on a web-site with a link from the Kent Wildlife Trust web-site. Photos , videos can be uploaded to the existing Wildart Trail blog as well. A short film of the story being read with accompanying visual slide show and uploaded onto youtube / vimeo etc.

Developing the Five Maidens idea: Working in schools to develop ideas around the Five Maidens models

drawings

Activities in schools could include writing stories, drawings, making masks and model characters. It could be possible animate these or even perform the Five Maidens storey.

This Five Maidens feature perhaps provides the opportunity to deliver some of the aims and objectives we discussed right at the start of the project, and have not been able to deliver yet!

tree mask

rob

turner