Peace Camp 19th -22nd July 2012: NI2012 ‘Our Time, Our Place’ A Volunteer’s experience in setting up the Whitepark Bay Peace Camp.

Peace Camp 19^th -22^nd July 2012: NI2012 ‘Our Time, Our Place’ A Volunteer’s experience in setting up the Peace Camp.   

These gleaming encampments will bring a spiritual peace to all who visit the camps, with their dramatic lustrous tents, a profusion of love poetry and spectacular coastlines.

I volunteered at the Peace Camp installation at White Park Bay. It was an extraordinary experience. Instead of staring at my computer screen and googling everything under the sun, I was able to look out at the endless horizon and imagine sea myths, sea creatures and even mermaids. I saw a little fishing out and a man fishing in the middle of the grey billowy sea. Sea birds dipped into the water looking for fish. Maybe the birds were fulmars, which patrol the coastline in this area. Ringed plovers, white throats and meadow pipits are also commonly seen birds on the North Antrim coast.  I saw a herd of cows at the top of the beach. Such a change from my usual inner city landscape in Belfast.

The event is part of the London 2012 Festival.  This is a nationwide show and camps will appear in Cuckmere Haven, Seven Sisters, East Sussex, Cemaes Bay, Anglesey, Wales, Downhill Beach/Mussenden Temple, White Park Bay, Ford Fiddes, and Cliff Beach (Isle of Lewis) in Scotland, Dunstanburgh Castle, England and Godfrey, England.

The Peace Camp event was produced by Artichoke Trust as part of the Cultural Olympiad and London 2012 Festival. The events are funded by Arts Council England, Legacy Trust UK and the Olympic Lottery Distributor. The Artichoke Trust is responsible for producing large scale spectacular events. The idea of the peace camp was inspired by the tradition of calling a truce during the Olympic Games, so that the competitors could participate in a safe environment. Also in Ancient Greece, there were poetry and philosophy competitions running at the same time as the sports.

The encampments in White Park Bay and Downhill Bay/Mussenden Temple are part one of the Northern Ireland’s Our Time, Our Place’ campaign. These events are designed to raise the profile of Northern Ireland and to showcase it as a sought after destination to visit, to invest, and to work and study.  Ireland, which boasts four Nobel Prize winners for Literature is a goldmine of literary talent. Between 1923 -1995, W.B. Teats, G.B. Shaw, Samuel Beckett and Seamus Heaney have received this prestigious award.

Deborah Warner, one of UK’s most important theatre directors whose recent site-specific installations include, The St Pancras Project and The Tower Project, London, created the Peace Camp in collaboration with Fiona Shaw, whose stage credits included London Assurance, Mother Courage and Richard II at the National Theatre. The soundscape was created by Mel Mercier and John Del’Nero produced the sound design.

When I arrived at White Park Bay I met the other volunteers who were from a company called Small World. Gillian, the manager explained that we had to put up ninety eight tents. We were told to build them in pods, each consisting of seven tents.  The work was strenuous and at the beginning I was not quite sure how to erect them, but by lunch time I was an expert under the tutelage of Gillian and her experienced team. I met a few people who had been working on the Land of Giants show which took place recently in the Titanic Quarter.

By the end of the end we had erected fifty tents. It was amazing to see the installation taking shape. They looked like fifty translucent brides swaying in the wind.

On the second we carried the big heavy batteries from the portakabin at the entrance to the beach. The tent pegs were difficult to hammer in as there was a rock foundation underneath the sand. Sometime before we pegged them down they rolled over like big tumble weeds that you see in Western films.

On the second we carried the big heavy batteries from the portakabin at the entrance to the beach. They were extremely heavy. A battery (which resembled a car battery) went into each tent in order to generate the power for the light and the sound recording.  Andy, the sound technician had to install the equipment in each tent. He received training for this task in Wales.

I found the volunteering work an enjoyable experience in spite of the weather and the steep walk down to the beach. However my trip from the car park was not without its reward as I saw some very unusual flowers. Roger, one of the crew told me that one of the beautiful mauve coloured flowers was called a heath spotted orchid. After carrying out some research, I discovered that there are more than nine types of orchid in this area, including the common twayblade, early purple, early marsh, frog, lesser butterfly,  greater butterfly, bee and pyramidal orchids. I also noticed a bright blue flower, the meadow cranesbill, or the blue flower of Dunluce. It belongs to the geranium family. I also saw a few butterflies which may have been orange tip or the small copper. There is also a rare species of butterfly here known as the real’s wood white. Wood vetch, fragrant agrimony adder’s tongue, moonwort, smooth cat’s ear and thyme are to be seen in the hedgerows and I was intrigued by the biodiversity of wildflowers, herbs and ferns.

I am looking forward to the performances which will start on Thursday 19^th July.

 I have heard some of the recording and they sound amazing with the poets’ words floating across the sand, mingling with the crashing of the waves and sound of the wind.

Today I read a piece in the Daily Mail which featured an article on giving away time by researcher Cassie Mogliner. The research posits that giving away time boosts our sense of personal competence and efficiency and this stretches out time in our minds. I found this to be the case as I sometimes have to meet deadlines and there never seems to be enough hours in the day. But being away from my usual schedule helped me to get more perspective on my sense of time and I never felt anxious about timelines and getting the work finished.

By Brenda Liddy