Dominique blogging today as its ‘my turn’! We started off the day with bacon barmcakes and cappuccino’s at Katsouris whilst admiring all the cakes on display and wondering if its possible all my red clothes might not fit me at the end of the month. After gazing longingly at amaretto biscuits for 10 minutes we headed to our stall to set up for the day. Once organised we began smiling and attempting to make eye contact with the people walking past. Its almost like sitting in the centre of a merry-go-round and when its busy with shoppers it sometimes make you feel sick! We had lots of interest and two ladies are keen on getting involved which is great and means that on our first 3 days on the market we have enlisted 15 people to participate; after 4 weeks who knows how many people we’ll have! We had the pleasure of meeting Bob, Bury’s town crier and we exchanged conversation about our project and what its like to be a town crier. What a lovely man along with everybody else we’ve met so far on the market, all very friendly people. He was very happy to have his photograph take outside of Carmina Bags before strolling off to the fish and meat market to shout his announcements. After lunch we spent the remainder of the day handing out more leaflets and creating more interest by just sitting there dressed in red. Most people comment on my red hat which is commonly agreed to be magnificent. Some people even want to try it on! Today, Trisha from Manchester modelled it superbly and it seemed an incentive to participate. On Tuesday we will be setting out to find more wonderful and unique hats which we can paint or dye red and add to our collection.
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Teresa here after another horrendous day, weather wise that is. We left home, Dominique without her purse (did she do that on purpose?) and the photographs; me without the tablecloth and with no money whatsoever, so at that point we were penniless but I did remember to bring the pencil sharpener – so not all was doom and gloom! When we finally arrived, after taking our lives into our hands and aquaplaning to Bury along the motorway, our gazebo was leaking and the table and A board were soaking wet and far from encouraging. It all seemed a bit bleak to say the least but Craig came to our rescue and moved our table inside the market to a nice warm and cosy spot next to the cooked meat and haberdashery stalls. I must say it was a far nicer atmosphere compared to the outside stall we occupied on Wednesday. The stallholders here were far more friendly and even entered into the spirit of our project by wearing Dom’s ‘magnificent’ hat (Jean, the owner of Bury Health Food Store) and a red beret (Pete from Bury Bacon Co Ltd), red, ha ha, which we took along in case the temperature dropped to freezing, which seemed distinctly possible when we embarked on our journey from Chorley. All in all it proved a much better day than we initially anticipated and we now have a grand total of 12 people from Bury wishing to participate in the ‘Red Day Out’ to take place on Saturday, 3 October. ps I do swear I wasn’t sloshed today just dazzled by the flash!
Dominique here. Today we began the second phase of our ‘Red’ project which will be taking place in Bury and Chorley. During our residency in the St. John’s Centre in Preston we aimed to encourage at least one person everyday to get dressed entirely in red and walk a set route around the city centre and stop for a coffee on the way. The project ended with a large group of people dressed in red walking the same route single file. In Bury and Chorley the project will be slightly different. The challenge is to gather as many people as possible in both market towns over the next 4 weeks to take part in a ‘Red Day Out’ where the people of each town are invited to visit the 2 seperate locations together as one group. A guided tour of each town will take lace and the performance will be videoed and photographed as documentation of the event.
We left at 7:30am to head to Bury with the aim of getting parked up and meeting Craig Allen, the manager of Bury’s famous market, at 8:30am in the market offices. Needless to say, we got stuck in traffic, couldn’t find the recommended car park, and when eventually we did, the ticket machine next to the car was broken so I made haste to the only other ticket machine which was of course miles away. The wind was blowing and the rain heavy and horizontal. Freezing cold and just about managing to carry all our equipment, we stuggled forward with our heads down and hair blowing in our faces to meet Craig. Despite all the hurdles we were only 10 minutes late.
Against all adversity, our first has been a success. We are situated in the centre of the market, outside of the fish and meat hall and right in the middle of all the activity. An excellent location with an endless steam of people passing by and taking interest in why we’re dressed in red. We have already recruited two gentlemen named Andrew and David Ballard, brothers, who were extremely enthusiastic about getting involved. They stayed quite as we discussed what would be happening on the day. Another man named Maurice, an artist himself, offered to paint my portrait for £2 and an interesting one it was. We are back in Bury on Friday and are hoping the sun will be shining for us.
The weather on Saturday morning couldn’t have been any worse but our event went ahead and despite the torrential rain, we had an excellent turn out. Everyone turned up prompt and the shop was thoroughly chaotic with hats of all sizes and styles being pulled from one head to the other. Scalves were in great demand and we only just had enough accessories to satisfy everybodies enthusiasm and creativity. The pound shop had lots of red umbrellas set to one side for us but we didn’t need them as the rain stopped minutes before we set off. Hooray!!
The 24 people dressed in red set off on the walk and together all walking single file, we stretched almost the full length of the market and Fishergate. We created such an impact that as we walked along, people stopped and stared in disbelief, took photographs, smiled and laughed, and one lady even joined the tail end of the walk and joked about her bum looking big on the video. We all sat at Mr Cappuccino and watched the people on the square watching us. Everyone chatted and laughed and shared the unique experience. It seems that a great time was enjoyed by all.
Thanks to everyone who came along as it made it spectacular, and thanks to Elaine, Phillippa, Charles and our lovely volunteers who were brilliant and Kevin for doing the video. We both really enjoyed every minute of working in the St John’s Centre and we start Bury on the 19th August after a well deserved rest!
