Families invited on an outdoor adventure around Mount Oswald’s green spaces

Families and residents on and around the Mount Oswald estate in Durham City are being invited on an outdoor Easter adventure which could help to shape the future of their surrounding environment.

Community arts company Creativity Works has partnered with Mount Oswald’s developer the Banks Group and The Story, Durham History Centre and Register Office to run the new Playful Paths project, which will see families exploring the landscape, following trails and taking on creative challenges on the green spaces around and behind The Story.

The events will take place on four days during the Easter school holidays and will be led by local illustrator and mural artist Nocciola The Drawer, who has worked on a wide range of public art installations both across and outside the North East.

Using an interactive, adaptable scavenger hunt framework, it will invite participants to co-create playful routes, temporary installations and imaginative interventions across the landscape, using natural and low-impact materials such as sticks, leaves, pebbles and biodegradable string to mark out new ways through the landscape.

The Playful Paths project is part of the Wild Imagining project, a creative programme being delivered by Creativity Works under the Durham City PLACE Lab scheme.

It also forms part of Durham County Council’s Into The Light initiative, which is funded by Arts Council England and of the Community Engagement work at The Story, which is funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund .

It is designed to create new insights into how local green spaces can support creativity and environmental learning, and to co-create a prototype map of potential playful routes that could be used as a future template for future projects or physical interventions.

It also builds on the work that Banks has carried out with the Mount Oswald Residents’ Association to get local people’s ideas on how the 1.75-hectare area of land behind The Story ought to look and what facilities it might feature.

A masterplan has been created for the site which includes new play equipment for primary school-aged children, wildflower areas and meadows, a new herb garden, new paths being laid around the area and more trees being planted.

Jane Shaw, director of Creativity Works, says: “Playful Paths is open to anyone and has been specially designed to give local residents, families and students the chance to dream up future possibilities for The Story’s fantastic outdoor spaces 

“Nocciola The Drawer’s boundless imagination and enthusiasm make her the perfect choice to lead this fun-filled adventure through a springtime environment that will be bursting back into life, and we’d love to see lots of local families coming along to share their impressions and inspiration.”

Kate Culverhouse, community relations manager at the Banks Group, adds: “We’ve carried out lots of work to enhance the biodiversity and natural environment around the Mount Oswald site over more than a decade and are working to do even more.

“This project gives local people a great opportunity to get to know new parts of their local environment and we’re excited to see what ideas might come out of their explorations.”

Ruth Chittenden, community engagement officer at The Story, says: “We are thrilled to be partnering with Creativity Works and the Banks Group on this creative and imaginative project, and are excited to see how the activities develop and how local residents respond to them.

“We are keen to expand the ways in which we use our green spaces and to continue to develop relationships with our neighbours around Mount Oswald.”

To register your interest on the Playful Paths project, please visit https://creativityworks.uk/upcoming/