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The Herdwicks are coming

A public art trail next year will see 50 decorated Herdwick sheep appear in unexpected places in the heart of the Lake District. In place for about six months,

the trail will raise funds for a £1.3 million Calvert Trust project WORDS MICHAELA ROBINSON-TATE PHOTOGRAPHY LINDA BUSSEY

Calvert Trust

ART TRAIL

The Herdwicks are coming - and it’s all for a good cause.

A flock of 50 decorated Herdwick ewes will be appearing in the Lake District next year as part of a fundraising drive by a much-valued Cumbrian charity.

The project, named Go Herdwick, has been devised by the Lake District Calvert Trust, which

specialises in providing challenging outdoor adventure holidays and experiences for people with disabilities. The charity, which welcomes more than 3,000 people each year to its residential centre overlooking Bassenthwaite Lake, is 40 next year and Go Herdwick is an opportunity to fundraise for a new project.

The 50 ewes, supplied by community interest company Art at the Edge, are to be decorated by different artists and sponsored - by individuals, companies and organisations - before beingplaced at their locations on the trail next Easter.

The ewes will be sited at accessible public spaces and outside business premises, forming a trail through the centre of the Lake District. Following the approximate route of the 555 bus service, the trail will include locations in Keswick, Grasmere, Rydal, Ambleside and Windermere.

An art trail map, posters and brochures will be printed and Herdwick spotting is expected to catch on among visitors and locals. The flock will eventually be rounded up for a grand gala auction next autumn.

The design of the ewes has been approved by members of the Herdwick Sheep Breeders’ Association - who suggested a few tweaks - and who have given the project their backing.

Chairman Will Rawling said: “Anything that supports the Calvert Trust has got to be a good idea.”

The sheep farmer, author of the bestselling The Shepherd’s Life and Herdwick Shepherd Twitter star James Rebanks has agreed to be patron of Go Herdwick.

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The ewes arrive at the Calvert Trust’s Riding School at Old Windebrowe on the edge of Keswick. The trust hopes to redevelop the farmhouse and barn there with funds raised by the Go Herdwick project

Conrad is known for his conceptual art; below: some of the 50 ewes arrive at Old Windebrowe

A golden opportunity - Cumbria Life’s Herdwick

Cumbria Life, media partner for the Go Herdwick project, invited internationally renowned conceptual artist Conrad Atkinson to transform a blank ewe into a piece of his distinctive art.

Conrad, who has homes near the Solway and in California, chose to draw attention to the importance of wool in the history of world trade. His golden sheep, with ruby slippers and a globe fixed on her head, stands on a red plinth - a reference to the red woolsack on which the Lord Chancellor originally sat to symbolise the huge value of wool to England in the Middle Ages.

Conrad said that wool has been central to myths and world economies, from Jason and the Argonauts’ pursuit of the Golden Fleece to the woolsack.

“The slightly awkward juxtaposition of the globe and the sheep obliquely refers to the role wool played in both the world’s economy and the growth of empire,” he said.

Conrad, who was born in Cleator Moor, has exhibited all over the world and won numerous awards. He said he agreed to create the sheep as a favour to Cumbria Life, knowing that it was to go towards a good cause.

Artist Conrad Atkinson at work on The Golden Fleece in his studio on the Solway Coast

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James told guests at the Trust’s annual fundraising ball, held at Low Wood Bay hotel on Windermere on September 11, that he’d visited the charity’s centre with his family. He’d seen the joy experienced by parents and children with disabilities as they were able to take part in activities together, perhaps for the first time. “I came away slightly humbled to be a patron of this, if I’m absolutely honest, because what these guys do is amazing,” he said.

The money from the project - for which Cumbria Life is the official media partner - will go towards the £1.3 million redevelopment of Old Windebrowe at Keswick, the trust’s 16th-century Grade II-listed farmhouse and tithe barn. Once home to William Wordsworth, the historic property will be redeveloped to provide six apartments suitable for people recover-ing from strokes or who have acquired brain injuries. A communal area will be available for occupational therapy and rehabilitation and visitors will be able to take part in the Trust’s outdoor activities.

The Calvert Trust charity ball, when Go Herdwick was officially launched, included a grand auction with an opportunity to bid for sponsorship of an undecorat-ed ewe. The winning bidder was Paul Wensley, MD of Wensley Mackay of Cockermouth, which he set up with his wife, Jayne, to help people run their own pension schemes. They were applauded by fellow guests for their successful bid of £1,250. Jayne said she and a friend had taken part in carriage driving with the Calvert Trust and they were keen to support the appeal.

Other sponsors so far announced include George Fisher, The Cumberland Pencil Museum and Newlands Adventure Centre, all in Keswick and Hayes Garden World in Ambleside.

Calvert Trust chairman of trustees Giles Mounsey-Heysham said the money raised by Go Herdwick would provide vital working capital to help get the Old Windebrowe project underway. He said he hoped Go Herdwick would capture the imagination of the whole county: “It’s a wonderful and very exciting project; I know it’s going to be a huge success.”

Local businesses are invited to sponsor a blank Herdwick and have it transformed to reflect their activities and values or just to create a piece of eyecatch-ing art. Artists are also encouraged to take part.

To find out more call 017687 72255 or see www.goherdwick.co.uk.

Art trail

Art for everyoneWhether it’s Shaun the Sheep on the streets of Bristol and London, Pigs in Bath or Paddington Bears in London, public art trails have become a popular way of promoting a good cause.

Go Herdwick was conceived by Justin Braithwaite, the MD of Art at the Edge, a community interest company based in Somerset which was set up to deliver art to a wider audience. Justin, a retired business executive, has already run two similar art trails - King Baldud’s pigs in Bath and hares in Cirencester. He suggested the Herdwick trail might be a good way of raising funds for the Calvert Trust.

Public art trails are believed to have originated with the Swiss Cow Parade in 1998 and have taken off all over the world.

“It’s a very interesting formula,”

said Justin. “It’s unbelievably popular across the generations and brings together tourists and residents, because the tourists are perplexed by it and say, ‘What’s all this about?’ and then the residents take great pride in being able to explain.”

Grandparents and grandchildren follow the trail together while some people attempt to spot all the animals on a trail, taking a photograph of each one.

Art on the Edge associate Alan Dun

designed the fibreglass Herdwicks and the first completed ewe was painted by another collaborator, Somerset-based artist Jane Veveris Callan. Jane’s Star Grazer was inspired by a Cumbrian meadow and designed to highlight the importance of sheep in helping to re-seed meadows by trampling the seeds into the earth.

‘It’s a wonderful and very exciting project; I know it’s going to be a huge success’

Justin Farnan, the Calvert Trust’s business manager, with Star Grazer, painted by artist Jane Veveris Callan

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