Are you a bridge builder of Newcastle-under-Lyme?

Are you a bridge builder? Have you made new and perhaps unexpected connections with friends, neighbours, and strangers on your doorstep or in far-flung lands?

Appetite is working with Imagineer Productions to gather local experiences of bridge building. We’re on the hunt for your stories, of times where you have bridged divides, “bridge-built” or connected with others despite differences. This could be a personal experience or one you’ve had with others in the area, it could be a stand out moment or a part of everything you do.

Imagineer is an internationally recognised Coventry-based company who make large scale outdoor and site specific work at the intersection of art, engineering and social activism.

We want to hear from Newcastle residents about what bridges you have built, why and how – what spurred you on, and what differences did you make? If it’s not you, maybe you know someone with a great story we should hear, share and celebrate – pass it on to them!

We’re looking to uncover stories of the ordinary people in the area who do extraordinary things. Examples could be: supporting a neighbour, signing up as a volunteer, writing to people across the world, working within communities here or further afield, ending a family feud, resolving conflicts at home or at work, and extending welcome to strangers.

We also know burning bridges can be just as powerful and important as building bridges so would be interested in hearing those too if you’ve got a juicy story you’re happy to share.

We hope to use some of these stories to create a series of podcasts where we can celebrate people from the area.

To take part please contact us on the details below. We’ll ask you to come along to an online workshop and will explain more about how we can record your story. We’re looking for participants throughout March with a view to your stories being turned into a podcast and transcript for our website at the end of April.

Get in touch by emailing sammyb@appetitestoke.co.uk or call Sammy, our Community Participation Co-ordinator, on 07951357389.

Ian Mood’s Newcastle Common Diary #4

The peculiar thing about being as artist (specifically a painter) is that although it’s a solitary professional – long hours working alone in the studio – you are always surrounded by friends. Treasured friends who’ve tried, and succeeded, and sometimes failed before you. Some long gone and some still working away with brush and paint. Friends like Lowry, Rembrandt, Hockey, Corot, and friends who’ve painted these very streets before like Arthur Berry, Reg Haggar and Jack Simcock. So the time comes when you look to the painters of the past, aware that you’re just adding another small page to a story they began.

Above are some of the images I’m exploring and drawing on as I begin document the people of Newcastle today. Many of the images I’m sharing here are hanging in The Brampton or The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery. As the museums and galleries begin to open up again we need to go and support them – and see ourselves on their walls.