One of the largest ever children’s processions to be seen in the North Highlands of Scotland will take place in Wick this Saturday 11 September from 7.30pm to celebrate the completion of the first community public art project for the area.

Spearheaded by Wick Youth Club, over 200 local children will dance, march and drum their way through the the Pulteneytown area of Wick, which was created by the famous engineer Thomas Telford early in the 19th century and became one of the most well-known fishing stations in the world. 

The community artworks form part of the major Townscape Heritage Initiative Lower Pulteneytown Regeneration Programme and consist of:

• Two permanent New Media sites built into the £1.6 million heritage development which converted the area’s former gutting and curing stations into Pentland Housing Association flats and houses. This will be a public platform to show DVD films on data projector and an LCD screen built into loft and void spaces in facades. These systems will be automatically switched on for three hours every evening after dusk through the year.

• Current films – ‘Statsigoe Crabbies’ and ‘View From My Window’ - created by the young people from Wick Youth Club and pupils from Wick High School assisted by New Media artist Tamsin Williams and trainee Jonny Broad are. Passers by will be able to watch both ten-minute films on an LCD screen built into a window void space on Miller Street. ‘Statisgoe Crabbies’ is a film based on underwater footage of Wick’s surrounding coastal waters created with the help of Far North Aqua Club who trained seven young people to qualify for their open sea diving certificates. ‘View from my Window’ will be projected from a data projector housed inside Telford Street loft space onto the loft’s glass screen and is a ten-minute film based on the young people’s outlook of their surrounding social environment.

The lantern procession includes two professional fire twirlers who have just completed a stint at the Edinburgh festival.  The procession’s route will follow the harbour quaysides taking the coastal path to South Head Quarry. Artwork has also been created along the way by Dornoch artist Sally Orr in the form of  way-markers to identify important historical sites, such as Stevenson’s breakwater.

At the quarry the final static artwork will be displayed - three-life size herring barrels built from Caithness Flagstone including back-lit iconic images sandblasted onto industrial glass which sits inside each barrel. Created by artists Fin MacRae and Brodie Nairn with assistance from ILM Highland.

The evening will culminate in a ‘low level’ fire display at the quarry created by performance artist Kay Smith, who ran all the lanterns workshops, as a finale of the evening’s procession.

For more information contact Sue Jane Taylor, Lead Artist, Lower Pulteneytown Regeneration project. Tel: 07761 283913. Email: sue@cataibh.fsnet.co.uk  or Carol Smith, Wick Development Officer. Tel:01955 605858. Email: carol.smith2@highland.gov.uk