First Weekend gig

Miles 150
Carbon Footprint 39 kg
Expenses 15 hardware, 20 food

I had to bring my young girls with me so we left home at 8.45 pm on Friday evening. It was really windy which is a bit nerve racking when I am driving the camper van as it kind of blows all over the road.

Anyway we arrived safely, though the girls were very nervous about the sound of the wind in the trees close by to where we had parked.

images from the evolving 'collection'

Opened up at about 8.30 and did some work setting up. I started work on the timeline which had previously been in the form of post-it notes and then set about putting up material. I had a few visitors including Anthony Collins, who was very proud to see his Miner's Helmet in the Nenagh Guardian! He had a great suggestion which was that I organise an evening of story, poem and song in the local pub. As he was talking a young man whom I had not seen before was looking at stuff; he turned out to be a documentary maker from Nenagh who is making a programme on Silvermines for TG4.

Quite a number of visitors throughout the day. At 3 pm we took off for Nenagh and did some shopping and various things, drove around the area showing Andrew some of the sights.

Sure enough, as predicted, cheap JigSaw turns out to be totally crap. Blade falls out immediately upon use.

I opened up again at 7pm and although there was a big crowd at 8 o clock mass just across the road, the rain had become a bit of a downpour by then so only one woman came by. It was good actually, because I spent the evening putting the threads in place which is an important aesthetic and conceptual addition to the display; it links material to different facts and dates within the 'annal' created by the timeline and obviously introduces physically the notion of 'drawing' meaning.

Sunday morning was quiet; Robin the documentary maker came back bringing two great gas masks that his dad had used during his time working in the Mogul mine. Things were relatively quiet until after lunch when there was a bit of a rush. In fact I didn't manage to close until 4 pm rather than 3 as I had planned.

I spoke to Tommy Hickey about the idea of the song night in the pub on the 18th as part of the closing event; he was totally enthusiastic. Robin Wallace will probably come and film that which will be fantastic.

Got home just after 6 pm.