the story, Torry?
What’s the Story, Torry?
Saturday 15th June 2024,
A Breakfast & Creative Writing workshop at Tullos Community Centre.
This workshop was part of the GO TORRY day of workshops and activities, including the launch of the new outdoor classroom in St Fittick’s Park.
Coming from Torry and across Aberdeen to explore the responses to Torry. We used two methods of writing: A collective Poem writing game called Exquisite Corpse where each person could write a line each, and free writing to explore the prompts provided.
We came from many places, and were of many ages, Torry residents, people of Aberdeen Ethnic Minority Women’s Group, Friends of St Fitticks Park, Friends of the Earth Scotland, and NESCAN.
We responded to prompts about Torry, whether we lived there all our lives, or were visiting for the first time.
We collaged images of home.
This is a collection of poetry, writing and images created by people in the workshop to explore what Torry means to them.
We hope you enjoy it.
Chapter 1: Impressions of Torry
Prompt 1: Write a line or a page of text about your impression of Torry: living here, visiting, news, good, bad or ugly.
Fish smells delicious, Everyday Torry hey, Hey, everybody sings in Torry right?
In Torry people say hello to each other.
Torry you are an old soul with a very wide green grass,
Grass as green sheet with flowers,
Nature and fresh air is such a pool for people,
Here are very kinds and nice to meet and learn from.
It is a beautiful place which suffered,
Being bad mouths quenched with gallons of drinks,
Drink, drink is not required to get high.
Dreams like feathers to fly,
Fly as high as high as you,
Can dreams be the real life fates...
My front door is brown trees,
Brown mud when it rains all the time,
Moving slowly and fast, I run,
Fast move the birds in the sky and cars, Nightime,
I play at nightime,
The quiet around the park,
The birds now sleep at nightime.
Chapter 2: I Can See
Prompt 2:
Go outside and find something you can see.
One thing: a postbox, a lamppost, a poster, a building, a sky, a tree.
It can be something in the distance or something close by
Then come back, you’re going to write!
The first thing I saw,
A great big slug.
I’ve seen a lot of change, Promises stand abandoned, Whilst Torry looks on,
Moments of old Torry,
Taking the kids to the fog horn,
A trip on Sunday in the car for a day out, Out and about, Exploring and discovering new things,
Everything changes, Harbour and boats bring the flocks, People need to flock together, To support our community, And love eachother, Be heard...kick back, And say what we want, And live with and be happy.
Oh Torry
Where the sea meets the sky,
Where lovers dream like seagulls fly,
A shiny hidden gem in Scotland’s crown,
Where stories whisper all around,
Oh Torry, where the sea meets the sky,
Where air is clean in the town,
The stars above begin to glow,
And shine their light on those below.
Torry and its friends.
Tory green and blue,,
Blue from the lack, Green with love, Torry there is community,
The buildings sing with stories,
Roads are full of journeys,
Some who were poor,
Have gone in search of gold,
The island days forgotten,
Where many boys and girls grew,
Now the men who left me with,
They reminisce the old times,
But do they have the heart,
To give back to a home they outgrew...
Sky blue ground is filled with kids, kids are the mini grown ups.
A city that longs for love,
Love the green here,
Here filled with warmth and calmness in the place of community.
Bird whispers sounds that fill the zone immersed with kindness,
Kindness good company... children’s voices...deeper voices... sunshine,
Sunshine sunny weather giving me shivers of the ocean to calm my thoughts,
In this moment among welcoming strangers,
Sranger’s love was worth it.
Sleek it landed,
Bright but black colour,
It’s the colour of a car,
Very fast cars past the road in front of the school,
A playpark shines bright like the faces of happy children,
Children shouting for the ball,
As adults work on a bright blue day in Torry,
Torry will continue to bat off its would be enemies,
With allies in the fields of green.
A multicultural community filled with calmness,
Bird whispers warm weather,
A nice individual longing for acceptance.
I wish to be heard... seen...loved.
Have you asked what’s wrong before?
So don’t judge me.
A place of heart and of soul.
Chapter 3: Anonymous Identities
Prompt 3: How would you describe yourself?
I am ginger headed and freckle faced
I am a girl, I’m ten, I like drawing, I’m from China.
My favourite sport is basketball, My name is Cathy, I like winter and I’m good at math.
I’m representing Aberdeen Ethnic Minority Women’s Group.
A social enterprise, we are trying to empower minority women through supporting them professionally and personally.
I am an author and I will be showing my books on an e-commerce website promoting “buying minority women made.”
Monkeys eat bananas, Yellow bananas, I like bananas, Some Bananas are green, Like the leaves on the trees.
Trees are green with a bit of brown in them, They have green inside trees, With five vitamins in them.
I am a tree, I am solid and hard to resist the storm, I can provide without losing my form, I stretch my branches as shelter arm, I keep my children safe and warm.
I am a father of two girls, I play with them very often.
They are happy when I am playing with them.
I want to be more patient.
I want to know more recipes to cook a meal,
I want to learn more so that I can prepare a good meal for my two daughters.
I’m open minded, Lover of nature, I love to cook, I love to dance, I love to listen to music, I love singing and reading, I love lawn tennis and table tennis games.
I like dinosaurs very much, I love naughty like a monkey, I am not naughty like a monkey,
Chapter 4:
Dreams for the future.
Prompt 4:
What would you like to see in the future for your home?
For your local community?
For torry?
For Aberdeen? It can be big. It can be small
With thanks to: All contributors to the workshop and zine, especially Aberdeen Ethnic Minority Women’s Group, Friends of St Fitticks Park, Friends of the Earth Scotland, and NESCAN, Torry Peoples Assembly, Open Source.
Workshop led by: Emer Morris and Scott Herrett.
Zine design: Will Herrmann Links.
Aberdeen Ethnic Minority Women’s Group CIC https://www.abdn-emwomen.org.uk/
Friends of Saint Fitticks Park https://saintfittickstorry.com/
Friends of the Earth Scotland https://foe.scot/ NESCAN https://www.nescan.org/
Torry People’s Assembly https://www.torryassembly.net/
