SEAMS

Seams began as a geopoetics (walking and creative practice) workshop entitled, ‘Memories of Mining’. This was held at Silverdale Country Park in Autumn 2016 to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Aberfan Disaster, in which a colliery spoil tip collapsed on Pantglas Junior School, killing 144 people.The workshop aimed to pay tribute not only to those affected by the Disaster, but also to mining communities everywhere.

The site of a former colliery, Silverdale Country Park was an ideal venue. Following the workshop, several of the participants produced poems, short stories, photographs, and music. These were exhibited at Silverdale Community Library in Autumn 2017, alongside quotations from informal interviews with Silverdale residents and members of the local mining community who had also taken part in the workshop.

In June 2018, some of the texts from the exhibition formed the basis of a collaboration with Restoke, with readings stitched together with dance and music composed specifically for the show.

Seams was performed in Keele Chapel to a full house on June 11, 2018. The readers (members of a walking-reading, walking-writing group called the Dawdlers) were joined by 3 professional performers and 16 community volunteers aged between 14 and 78.

• Keele Academic Lead: Professor Ceri Morgan
• Methods used: Geopoetics, dance, music, performance
• Lead partner: Restoke