{"id":9680,"date":"2019-05-02T16:59:15","date_gmt":"2019-05-02T16:59:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bathfestivals.org.uk\/the-bath-festival\/?p=9680"},"modified":"2019-05-08T15:32:31","modified_gmt":"2019-05-08T15:32:31","slug":"a-qa-with-bathiron-about-this-years-firefolk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bathfestivals.org.uk\/the-bath-festival\/a-qa-with-bathiron-about-this-years-firefolk\/","title":{"rendered":"A Q&A with BathIRON about this year’s FireFOLK"},"content":{"rendered":"

The new bandstand in Parade Gardens is up! We had a chat with the people behind the project: BathIRON who will be running sessions at Parade Gardens for Family Arts Day which will be followed by an evening of excellent live music for FireFOLK on Sunday 26 May.<\/p>\n

Q The bandstand in Parade Gardens holds a special place in Bathonians\u2019 hearts as so many of us recall hearing bands play there as small children. How did Ironart of Bath get involved with its restoration and how long has it taken?<\/strong><\/p>\n

From the outset the project was supported by the National Heritage Ironwork Group, catchy huh?! Let’s call them the NHIG…. Andy Thearle who also runs Ironart of Bath in Larkhall is the secretary of the NHIG which is a national charity whose aim is to raise awareness of heritage ironwork, which is everywhere if you look, if you re-tune your eyes to metalwork, especially in Bath. Here is a BathIRONwork walk we created for BathIRON Festival of Ironwork,\u00a0that leads people all around Bath to see ironwork dotted about the city.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/d\/u\/0\/viewer?mid=1PKGQi2tDFESBHO8SZSFdhob2ynqEB_qR&ll=51.38512677582995%2C-2.3582440000000133&z=15<\/a><\/p>\n

Andy, the brains behind the BathIRON project wanted to create a beautiful, bespoke piece of hand forged ironwork to inspire people and show them how these skills can be used to create wonderful things on buildings, in parks as furniture, inside and outside. The existing bandstand balustrade was as bit sad and far from inspiring so Andy decided to create a new one as the focus and heart of the BathIRON project. As it was a bandstand, music was an obvious theme so Andy set up a competition in partnership with Bath Spa Unversity to invite composers to create a piece of music to be hand forged in iron and form the basis of a new balustrade. Jake Garrett a student at Bath Spa Uni was the winner with his piece The Hammer and Anvil<\/em>.\u00a0 Over a period of about a year, blacksmiths from all over the UK gathered in forges up and down the country to forge the notes, treble clefs, rests that were needed to reproduce The Hammer and Anvil<\/em> in iron.<\/p>\n

Andy also sent a call out to Master blacksmiths for designs for eight music themed panels to sit at the centre of each of the five sides of the bandstand. Designs came flooding in and eight were selected. These designs were to be created by the designing Master and a selected team over two days at the BathIRON Festival of Ironwork held in Parade Gardens in June 2018. BathIRON was a spectacular event with an opportunity to see first-hand the heritage skills of blacksmithing at their most impressive. Gold medal winning blacksmiths worked alongside students who learned from the sharing of skills and expertise. All eight teams had to complete their designs in just two days, which created a sense of excitement and challenge. It has taken many thousands of hours for all the pieces of the balustrade to be completed and pieced together, but it is a truly beautiful legacy for Bath, its inhabitants and visitors and will be enjoyed for many, many years to come.<\/p>\n

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Q Tells us how local schoolchildren came to work with the forging process?<\/strong><\/p>\n

During BathIRON Festival of Ironwork we also\u00a0ran have-a-go sessions for schoolchildren, adults and young people. This was a brilliant opportunity for people to experience forging hot metal under the tutelage of skilled blacksmiths. The team contacted the Design and Technology departments in Bath schools and invited them to come and bring students to see what it was like and maybe get inspired. Students from the schools forged small treble clefs which have since been attached to a metal sphere which has had a beautiful forged finial attached to the top. Participating schools were Widcombe Juniors, Bathwick St Mary\u2019s, Oldfield Juniors, Bathampton Primary, Beechen Cliff, Ralph Allen and The Royal High. The sphere, with 120 treble clefs and finial has been gilded and has been hoisted and positioned on top of the bandstand to take its position in the Bath skyline. It is looking beautiful. It\u2019s such a wonderful legacy and all who had a hand in forging their part of it – 120 treble clefs in all, each made by two students – so that\u2019s 240 young people who can proudly say they had a part in making it.<\/p>\n

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Q Now that the bandstand is complete how are you planning to celebrate?<\/strong><\/p>\n

As the blacksmiths breathe a sigh of relief and the balustrade is finally finished, we are all looking forward to our Big Reveal Party in Parade Gardens, Bath on Sunday 26 May, which we\u2019d love people to attend.\u00a0 This celebration is called FireFOLK in recognition of all those hours spent forging the parts in the traditional way ‘in the fire’ and also because we have\u00a0a fresh line-up of talented local folk bands to help us celebrate.\u00a0We’ve handpicked some of the best local folk bands from Bath, Frome, the Mendips and Bristol to entertain us all.<\/p>\n

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Q If I buy tickets for FireFOLK what can I expect to see, hear and do? Is it a child-friendly event?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Earlier in the day on Sunday 26 May The Bath Festival is hosting a Family Arts Day in Parade Gardens. We have joined in with this and are bringing some heritage skills for kids to try their hands at, including:<\/p>\n