I’ve been involved in some willow weaving projects in the past but not on the scale of the structure we recently created for Mount Carmel Primary School in Kilmarnock!
Actually, this story goes further back than last week as the project has been at the mercy of botched deliveries: the Glasgow Mid Week Group turned up on Monday 26th of January all raring to go but the willow didn’t get delivered on time or even to the right address – it had been mistakenly sent down the M6 to Yorkshire!
The plan was to create two 3 metre diameter willow domes linked by a tunnel. Luckily it hadn’t snowed (yet!) and all we could do on our first day on site was measure out the foundations then dig up the turf before flipping it upside down and covering it in black Mipex to stop the weeds growing (willow doesn’t get on well with weeds apparently).
Inserting the holes for the willow uprights round the turf/Mipex foundations
By the time the Glasgow MWG got back on site on the 2nd February the ground was frozen and covered in snow but with a lot of hard work (and a heavy pinch bar!) we were able to make the holes ready for the willow uprights.
Some of the school children helping insert the willow uprights
I was really impressed by how quickly the team managed to get the uprights in place round the whole structure ready for the cross weaving the following day.
Uprights all in place and the team begin to weave the connecting tunnel
I think everyone was amazed at how quickly the structures started to take shape as we planted the cross weaves……
….. and it wasn’t long before we finished and could line up in front of our beautiful living structure!
This project shows that although we had a challenging and frustrating start, some great teamwork produced a structure that the pupils will enjoy exploring – a small group of children came out in the afternoon to test it out and described it as “awesome”! And, amazingly, what looks like a lot of dead sticks in the ground now, will soon start to grow – I’m really looking forward to seeing it again when that happens!