Composed by Paul Englishby ‘Fireworks’ commemorates and celebrates the Combe Down Stone Mines project. It comprises a suite of musical works based on the four elements found in nature: fire, earth, air and earth. 'Fire', 'Stone', 'Song' and 'Waterways' loosely refer to the mining and engineering history of Combe Down. Each is played as an individual performance before culminating in a final performance which brings the four elements together as 'Fireworks'.
The world premier of ‘Fireworks’ was performed at Combe Down on 26 September 2009 by the Ralph Allen School band and Choir (FIRE), Combe Down Primary School Percussion Group (STONE), Combe Down Residents Choir (SONG), and Combe Down Chamber Ensemble (WATERWAYS). The musical director was Mike Smith. Musicians and singers were recruited on a voluntary basis, and either live or work in the village, eventually numbering over 80. The groups worked alongside renowned professionals including Saxophonist Nick Moss, Percussionist Corinna Silvester, Bassist Thad Kelly, Harpist Emily Mullins and Trombonist Chris Traves over a six month development and rehearsal period. This led to a recording of the work during the performance on 26 September.
Paul is a prolific film and theatre composer and has written many film scores including ‘Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day’ and ‘An Education’ and scores for the Royal Shakespeare Company. As orchestrator, conductor and pianist Paul has worked with some of the country's leading ensembles.
Neville Gabie was the first artist to be appointed to document and record the underground mines experience before the tunnels were filled with foamed concrete. A concertina leaflet of ‘joiner’ images highlights some of the photographs from his residency at Combe Down, as will large scale light boxes in various locations around the village of Combe Down.
“The first time I went underground one of the miners told me you could hear the sound of cars and lawnmowers just above our heads. He said you could even smell the fresh cut grass which might have been an exaggeration. But what was extraordinary is the extreme difference between the domesticity of the small Bath village above and the heavy industrial world below. I was fascinated by that idea. In fact there were parts of the mine where the physical distance between these two worlds was only six feet of stone and earth. From that simple thought developed a concept of juxtaposing photographs from below ground with what was directly above. I wanted to make visible the daily activity of the mine, its dark, dramatic, noisy, dirty, and for a visitor like me, exciting interior and place them next to the everyday routine of domestic life in the village above.” Neville Gabie 2009
Chris Tipping's commission culminated in a map of 788 bone china dinner plates – entitled ‘1479 plates’ – which explores the relationship between present day engineering and mining technology, stone mines heritage, natural history, and two 18th century entrepreneurs Ralph Allen and Josiah Wedgwood. The work was created in collaboration with Autonomatic - 3D Digital Research Cluster at University College Falmouth, Oxford Archaeology, Hydrock, Scott Wilson and the project team, and was manufactured by Digital Ceramic Systems of Staffordshire. 691 households affected by the stabilisation works will be gifted a ceramic plate – one small part of the map – representing not only the individual household but the mining underworld beneath it. The original 788 dinner plates will form a large-scale permanent installation in Combe Down village.
Chris worked with staff and pupils at Ralph Allen Primary School during which time 400 individual ceramic figures of miners were sculpted by pupils, then glazed and fired. These figures were displayed at the Octagon in Bath before being placed in a permanent location in Combe Down.
Simon Whittaker’s film ‘Unfinished Nature’ documents the Combe Down Stone Mines public art project and follows the commissioned artists in and around Combe Down and above and below ground, as they work with the Combe Down residents and the community. Filmed and edited by Simon over seven months, the film includes footage of the mines, coverage of the artists' fact-finding visits, formal interviews, extracts from the CELEBRATE! event and the work of Oxford Archaelogy. Simon is based in Combe Down and is a freelance documentary film-maker and TV producer/director. This short film can be viewed at the Interpretation Centre in Combe Down.
A collection of poems and an historical pageant were just two outcomes from Andy Croft’s residency at Combe Down. Time in the Shape of a Mine: Poems from Combe Down brings together poems by Combe Down Primary and Ralph Allen school children, Combe Down residents and miners and Andy himself. Combe Down: The Hole Story - an historical pageant by Andy tells the story of the village from the Romans through to the 21st century. Both publications are available for sale.
Some of the children’s poems were performed at a Poetry Picnic held at Combe Down Primary School in June 2009.
Reflecting on Time in the Shape of a Mine: Poems from Combe Down Andy Croft comments “Some of these poems are serious, some are funny, some are beautiful and some are sad. But every one of them succeeds in making the past come to life and speak to us. They show us people whose lives seem both strange and strangely familiar, close enough to touch and yet always out of reach.”
Andy’s work includes writing poems for ‘Poetry Pie’ on Children's BBC.