Art Gallery tries a hand at Animal Rescue!
It's a tale of high drama, of battling against the elements, of passionate endeavour, loss and finally an unlikely happily ever after, plus possibly the cutest picture of ducks you'll ever see in your life.
Yes duck, ducks! When Andrew Branscombe and David Bethell the curators of AirSpace, Stoke on Trent's new contemporary art gallery, received the news that they could finally take official occupancy of no.4 Broad Street, Hanley, they were unprepared for the heart rending experience that was about to unfold. Preoccupied as they were with the negotiations of Dizzy Heights, AirSpace's next exhibition, it was only by pure chance that they noticed a small mother duck who had set up her nursery in a disused out-house behind the new gallery. Although the past year of running the gallery in a disused factory at the edge of town had taught Andrew and David how to cope with the most taxing and bizarre of situations, still they were astonished to suddenly find themselves in the role of carers to a mother to be.
There were concerns of what would happen to the chicks once they were born as the nearest water was over half a mile away and across many busy roads. But more intense concerns were raised when despite vigilant observation it was discovered one morning that mummy duck had vanished. Was she attacked by an urban fox which had been seen in the vicinity or perhaps a city cat or stray dog? Whatever it was, she had fled leaving her unborn chicks to their fate.
Operation ‘Rescue' started as David and Andrew hatched a plan. The remaining nine eggs were collected into Andrew's jumper and nestled into a cardboard box in front of a heater in the Gallery Space. The eggs were then carefully relocated to an incubator at Andrew's house and three days later immersed in the organisation of gallery events David received a text message from Andrew: ‘Might be a bit late today Dude, 9 eggs went in a 9 ducklings came out.' And sure enough 9 beautiful ducklings were hatched and squeaking for attention.
But now what? How were they to look after the new arrivals? They had no pond!
Several phone calls later and we are delighted to report that a new foster home has been found for the little uns at a bird sanctuary near Uttoxeter. All are doing well and will be released in to the wild later in the year. A happy fairy tale ending for the Stoke on Trent ducks.
