Last Friday morning, legendary designers Gerardine and Wayne Hemingway were to be found at the Totland Parish Council offices. An unlikely place perhaps, but the reason for their presence on the Wight will soon become clear.
Inside the buzzy Parish Council offices a meeting was taking place to discuss the regeneration of some open spaces in Totland. Sat around the table were representatives from the IW Council, the Parish Council, public artists – Ecclestone George, Craig Antony Ratcliffe Gardens and Kate Sanger (furniture maker).
For those who haven’t been to the area, there is a wonderful expanse of recreation ground running behind The Broadway all the way down to Colwell – currently under utilised and in need of a face lift.
Gerardine and Wayne, who came to public attention with their fashion label ‘Red or Dead,’ now have a successful design agency, Hemingway Design, get involved in a broad spectrum of design, but given Wayne’s background of training as a town planner and Gerardine’s love of landscaping, have increasingly found themselves taking on quite a bit of urban design. Looking at their portfolio, we can see why they are in such high demand.
How they got involved
The Hemingways were invited to be involved in this rural project to revive the rec ground by Jim Fawcett, the Island’s very own Green King! With the family home in nearby Chichester, Wayne told us that that he comes over to the Island quite often with his son on cycling trips.
(He had a thing or two to say about the state of our roads, but we’ll save that for another time)
So, when asked to be involved, Wayne and Gerardine were happy to join the team. In fact because of Wayne’s love of the Wight, they’ve even agreed to do the work at a significantly reduced rate.
What’s there already
The meeting of minds started with a visit to the site to check out the lay of the land. Currently, there’s a large open area where the young people play football, but there’s no specifically designated area or permanent goal posts for this.
Also missing from this important amenity area are benches or places for the public to sit and enjoy the surroundings, so this is also something that will also need to be taken into account. The public lavs are now closed as they’ve fallen into disrepair and are unsafe to use, so new ones are on the cards. The list goes on.
Back at the Parish Council offices the needs of the community were discussed by all around the table, with some great ideas and considerations coming out of the talks.
Photos from around the world
Through their travels around the world, the Hemingways have collected snap shots of some fantastic ideas for community areas and took us on a journey from the UK to Holland to Australia and even the US. The photos illustrated some interesting and creative ways of providing amenity facilities without the standard brightly coloured plastic equipment most playgrounds have.
The vision that the Hemingway’s have for the recreation area is organic and all inclusive. Use of natural materials and local craftsmen was high on the list. They felt it was important to have areas designed for football, petanque and wildlife. There should be space for activities to inspire and educate young people and adults alike. A shared allotment area was enthused about, with permanent picnic benches that could transform into table tops for monthly sales of the produce grown.
Thanks to Utility Films, we had a video camera on loan and filmed interviews with Wayne afterwards, as well as John Howe of Parish Totland Council. Look out on the blog over the next couple of days for those.
Having seen their enthusiasm, we’re looking forward to the return journey of the Hemingways already.
