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The South Cliff Gardens with Scarborough Young Carers and The Early Onset Dementia Group

South Cliff Gardens with Scarborough Young CarersSarah Dew with poet Charlotte Oliver
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A Walk Through the Gardens with the Early Onset Dementia GroupMusic by Sarah Dew with lyrics by Charlotte Oliver
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Sarah is Composer In Residence at Scarborough's South Cliff Gardens.

In Autumn 2021, musician Sarah Dew and writer Charlotte Oliver led a group of Young Carers with their families on a community ‘Wild Walk’ through Scarborough’s South Cliff Gardens. 

During the walk Sarah took audio recordings of comments of the participants, along with sounds of the gardens and surrounding area. 

Guided by Charlotte, the families composed lines of poetry which Charlotte later collated into a beautiful sensory poem, ‘From the Star Map to the Italian Gardens’.

Sarah then blended delicate melodies with the recorded poem and field recordings, to create an ambient piece of audio reflective of the community and space in and around the Italian Gardens. 

The audio work was premiered during the opening of the community hub 'Beeforth's Hive' in February 2023, along with an exhibition of Charlotte's community postcard project: 'Dear South Cliff Gardens', with accompanying poetry. 

In Autumn 2022, Sarah and Charlotte accompanied Scarborough's Early Onset Dementia Group on a walk through the South Cliff Gardens, along the accessible route and down to the Spa, where dolphins were spotted! Sarah captured recordings of ambient sounds and of the members of the group discussing their sensory impressions and surroundings as they walked. Charlotte then arranged the words of the group into song lyrics. Sarah wrote a song to contain the words, which then became part of the larger audio. It was a special afternoon of wild waves seaward; crunchy leaves underfoot; much joy and many laughs with a fabulous group of people.

 

Writer/poet/performer Charlotte trained in Theatre at Hope St Actors' Centre and National Youth Theatre. Commissions include BBC Radio York, on which she broadcast her weekly column, Home Sweet Home, over 2020/2021. She has written for Yorkshire Life and Dalesman. Her poetry collection, How To Be A Dressing Gown (Dreich), is out now. She has recently worked with Sarah on a collaborative radio ballad (‘The Dark Store’), supported by Arts Council England.

Twitter @charlotteolivr

Insta @charlotteoliverpoet

website www.charlotteoliver.com

Image of Sarah by Tony Bartholomew.

Background image with thanks from Pixabay by 'Mabel Amber who will one day.' 

Birds of Heart and Sky came about through a love of birds. It is a radio ballad: a collection of emotive audio works, songs, compositions and field recordings celebrating a selection of birds currently on the Red List of most vulnerable birds in the UK. This audio installation was created to help raise awareness and promote more public support to help increase bird populations. It is a suite of songs illuminating puffins, turtle doves, curlews, skylarks and cuckoos; linked by sound art, field recordings and spoken word. It includes printed text to give further information on the birds, also enabling hearing impaired audience members to fully access the lyrics.

Music, lyrics and sounds are composed, recorded and produced by me,  Scarborough composer/songwriter Sarah Dew with recorded contributions from guest singers and other field recordists. 
The project is approved by the RSPB.


The project was installed at Hull University as part of ‘This Is Hull’ week.
In July, 2024, it received great acclaim when it was installed with dramatic and atmospheric lighting at St Mary’s Church, Scarborough as part of Scarborough Art.


 

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