As part of the celebrations of Highland 2007- year of culture, Castletown Heritage is organising a series of workshops featuring traditional skills once practised in the village and district. These will include rope and basket making, dry-stone dyking, Caithness chair-making , croft crafts for example rag-rug making, crowdie and bannock making, spinning ,weaving and darning . A visit from the Scottish Lime Trust road show is planned for later in the year, offering demonstrations in lime mortar pointing, vital for the maintenance of traditional stone buildings. An october finale will showcase the results of the workshops and feature seasonal story telling by young and old. All events will take place in the newly refurbished Castlehill Centre.

The first workshop scheduled for April is perhaps the most exciting .Two experienced artist/ craft workers from opposite ends of the country will work with a group of around twelve participants over four days .Tim Johnson, basket weaver and creative rope maker from the Isle of Wight and Dunnet based paper maker, Joanne Kaar will help the group to interpret the heritage of the area by using local natural materials in creative ways.

Tim, whose work is well-known throughout Britain and beyond, is keen to encourage participants to bring their own interpretive ideas and also their own skills to the project — knitting, weaving, collage, crochet, and patch-work. Tim’s inspiration comes from his observation and knowledge of diverse styles of basket and rope making from many countries, often dictated by the vegetation available locally.

Joanne ‘s work has a distinct maritime flavour. Brought up in Brough, she lives and works overlooking Dunnet Bay. After graduating in Manchester, her career as a fibre artist took her to Taiwan for a five month spell as artist in residence. Joanne produces unique paper and fabric, incorporating materials such as herbs, seeds, plant fibres, which add scent, texture and colour to the product. The resulting fabric or paper can then be used in a variety of ways.

Bookings are now being taken for all work-shops. For further information contact: Muriel Murray: tel 01847 821 204
or email castletown.heritage@talk21.com  www.caithness.org  and our website: www.castletownheritage.co.uk  will contain updated information on all Castletown Heritage events.