Award for Achi Baba Graphic Novel

We are delighted to be able to say that Achi Baba - Gallipoli 1915, our graphic novel about the Gallipoli campaign, has won a national award for innovation from the Community Archives and Heritage Group, part of the Archives and Records Association.

Achi Baba was supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund Scotland, through the First World War - Then and Now programme.

The CAHG judges commented:

“Magic Torch has been helping create a record of important local events in an easily-accessible and highly-innovative comic-book format; eg, the experiences of a locally-based regiment during the First World War. The group has taken this format into local schools; it clearly has the potential to spark ideas in other groups… and fills a gap in presenting the past in a digestible format to the difficult-to-reach senior schools audience.”

You can read all about the awards and other award winners on the CAHG website.

You can read a digital version of the book online for free on our Magic Torch Comics website, and also via ISSUU. Our original run of print copies have been distributed, but we printed a short run second edition, which you can also purchase on our website.

Achi Baba was a challenging project to work on, however since then, we have been able to expand our comics and graphic novel work, within schools, but also with community groups. We're looking forward to sharing our new projects with you soon.

Every town has a story to tell, find out how Magic Torch Comics can help you tell yours...

You can read our progress / process blogs for the Achi Baba project here.

Tales of the Oak - Comic Making

With Tales of the Oak, we are trying to interest different audiences in local folklore. Unlike Wee Nasties, or our other books, here we have specifically concentrated on the slightly darker stories, so if it were a film, I think the comic would be rated 12A for "scenes of terror and fantasy violence". The original Tales from the Crypt comics we have based the project on were of course banned altogether, so we were careful not to go too far...

A page from one of the original EC horror comics,
we have tried to use a similar style for Tales of the Oak

The process for us, was to research some local folk tales and then turn them into comic stories. People script comics in all sorts of different ways, this is a page of one of our scripts...

The scripts were then passed to Andy Lee, who worked in two different styles - the pages were either pencilled, inked, scanned in and then coloured...

Or created from scratch digitally

Then evil genius Pete typeset, designed, swore at, reset and generally magicked the pages into the finished article. (which by the way is available exclusively at The Dutch Gable House this weekend for FREE)

A few pages we tried in different ways, so to go with the "silent movie" theme of Night of the Comet, Andy tried colouring the pages. It was really cool, but somehow the blood seemed a bit...bloodier. So we opted for eerie unearthly green instead.

Months and months of time and effort has gone into producing the publication, including lots of time from volunteers, and for Andy in particular it has been something he has worked on almost every day since last October. We hope you'll enjoy it.

We've shared this vid before, but it really is a tremendous overview of the history of the EC Comics...

Inverclydes Great War - McLean Museum

McLean Museum

Your museum needs you: WWI poster collection to go online

The country’s largest collection of world war one posters will be given a new lease of life online.
For, thanks to a heritage lottery fund (HLF) grant of £51,300, the collection at Inverclyde Council’s McLean Museum will be preserved and published online through a new website.

The collection of over 300 posters from the First World War includes recruitment posters from the Great War encouraging civilians to sign up and serve in the conflict. It also includes propaganda posters encouraging those at home to buy war bonds and there’s a large collection of German occupation posters used by the military during their occupation of foreign countries.

The digital poster collection will be a key element of Scotland’s commemoration of WWI next year.
Inverclyde’s communities vice-convener, Councillor James McColgan, said: “Next year the entire country will remember the 100 years since the beginning of one of the bloodiest conflicts in history. Communities in Inverclyde, like many parts of Scotland were torn apart by the war with generations of families changed forever.
“The commemorations of the centenary next year give communities across the country the chance to remember the sacrifices made and the impact those sacrifices had on the shape of our country today.
“The poster which stands out in many people’s memories is the famous image of Lord Kitchener with the legend: Your country needs you. However this incredible collection of posters show the vast range of messages being promoted in the lead up to and during the conflict.
“There are recruitment posters urging men to sign up to join the battles, there are promotional posters urging locals to help fund the war through war bonds. There’s even a collection of rare German propaganda posters. The artwork and message of these posters reflect a different time and by being able to make them available online we can share this fascinating glimpse into that conflict with generations to come.”
The project will digitise the collection of over 300 posters. A collection of local newspapers from that period is also set to be digitised. A blue heritage plaque will be placed at the site of the Greenock headquarters of the 1/5th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. Inverclyde was traditionally an important recruiting area for the regiment.

Colin McLean, Head of HLF Scotland, said “Saving our historic archives is important as they provide such a valuable resource for anyone wanting to explore their past. This First World War collection is bursting with images that give us clues about what life was like and how that has shaped us into what we are today.”Workshops will be arranged and there’ll also be displays in Inverclyde’s McLean Museum in Greenock.
 
A play based on the letters sent back home from soldiers serving in the Battle of Gallipoli will be produced and performed in the museum and in local community centres. There will also be a leaflet produced and special tour programme created of the WWI graves.

 As well as the large collection of posters, the online website will also include muster rolls and residents will also be able to upload their own memories and photographs to add to the collection.
Inverclyde Council’s McLean Museum is based in Greenock.

You can get regular updates from the project on their facebook page.

About the Heritage Lottery Fund
Using money raised through the National Lottery, the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) sustains and transforms a wide range of heritage for present and future generations to take part in, learn from and enjoy. From museums, parks and historic places to archaeology, natural environment and cultural traditions, we invest in every part of our diverse heritage. To date it has invested over £500 million in Scotland’s heritage. Website: www.hlf.org.uk

Dismembered Cats and Other Stories...

We're swotting away reading lots of interesting books and picking out things to visit at this months Storytelling Festival in Glasgow and Edinburgh, so meantime, here's a few wee folk snippets...


Cowboys!
Readers may know that Buffalo Bill's Wild West rodeo show visited Greenock on it's tour of Scotland. The show featured genuine "cowboys 'n indians" of the time, including Annie Oakley. The book "Your Fathers The Ghosts" tells the story of the Wild West troupes genuine misadventures in Scotland, and now award winning filmmaker Alan Knight is looking for support to make it into a film. From 5pm today, you can assist this impressive effort via their crowdfunding site.

Photos!
The first-ever HLF Scotland photography competition has been launched. For your chance to win a place on a weekend wildlife photography course or an annual subscription to a photography magazine, send your best photos of an HLF project.

HLF want photos that show the huge diversity of everything they fund - from bumblebees to steam trains, and people engaging with their local heritage. Whatever the project is, HLF want to see it.

Find out how to apply in the terms and conditions attached – make sure your photos reach HLF by 5pm on 2 November 2012.


There's been a murder!
And finally...Greenock, a town on the verge of being unshockable, was upset and dismayed today by the symbolic murder of the Greenock Morton mascot "Cappie the Cat" in what looks suspiciously like a gangland hit. Parts of the mascot have still to be recovered. Local gossip already suggests a disgruntled former mascot Mortonosaurus may be involved. Meanwhile security has been stepped up around Greenock Waterfront mascot Polo Bear. Sadly, there are many folk precedents for violence involving sports mascots, as this insensitive slideshow proves. And also this video. We genuinely hope that those involved are caught and brought to justice.

Cappie in happier times

Tales of the Oak : Stories...Twice Told

Magic Torch are delighted to reveal that we have received funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund "Your Heritage" programme to deliver a new project - "Tales of the Oak", which over the next 18 months will create a new storytelling club and publish two new books.

The new project will include

- opportunities to be trained by the Scottish Storytelling Centre on how to use oral tradition to celebrate local heritage

- new research in local and national archives to collect supernatural tales and local folk stories

- publication of a fully illustrated "scary storybook" retelling local legends and stories for children 4-8 years old

- publication of a 1950s style "terror comic" featuring scary stories and retellings inspired by local legends and ghost stories

- a new storytelling club, with sessions running Winter 2012, Spring / Summer 2013 and again in Winter 2013

- a chance for local schools to be involved in a Scary History competition; pupils will be asked to submit their own scary story with the winning entry included in the childrens book or illustrated for the comic.

The storytelling club will be run from The Dutch Gable House, and you can find out more on how to be involved on Doors Open Day there on Saturday 8 September.

We are not looking for people to do a formal presentations, or give a performance; it’s not a book reading or a drama group. We want to draw inspiration from the tales that folk used to be tell around firesides. Those folk were not professional storytellers, neither are we. We want to help restore an old oral tradition by creating a new living tradition. 

We'll be sharing regular podcasts of stories from the club on our Soundcloud page and hopefully via itunes as well.

The blog will be the main way to follow what's going on in the project, so be sure to bookmark us, or subscribe via email / feedburner.

The entire project is volunteer run, with all the funding being used to pay for project outputs like storytelling training or the publications.

If you've been following the blog for awhile, you'll know that over winter we like sharing ghost stories. In fact, our first book, published in 2000 even included a few. We've had stories about cursed trees, sad tales of forgotten loves and over on my own blog Stramashed there's been the tale of The Duchal Well and some sugar sheds flash fiction based on the urban legend of The Catman

But there's always more to hear
- what's the story with the Arts Guild ghost, surely now lonelier than ever?
- any Cappielow Ghouls?
- any truth to the rumour of Roman legionnaires marching over the moorland behind Kilmacolm?
- is Ravenscraig haunted?

Project funders, Heritage Lottery Fund, are keen to hear from Inverclyde groups with other heritage project ideas. Interested groups can find out more from the website www.hlf.org.uk or by contacting Development Officer Louise Hastie directly on LouiseH@hlf.org.uk.

We love collecting and sharing stories, and this new project will let us do that in all new ways, we're looking forward to you getting involved. You can contact us at aulddunrod@gmail.com

For now, here's one we made earlier....

About the Heritage Lottery Fund

Using money raised through the National Lottery, the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) sustains and transforms a wide range of heritage for present and future generations to take part in, learn from and enjoy. From museums, parks and historic places to archaeology, natural environment and cultural traditions, we invest in every part of our diverse heritage. HLF has supported more than 26,000 projects, allocating over £4 billion across the UK and more than £1/2 billion across Scotland. www.hlf.org.uk

Identity - Graphic Novel

The Archivist...bet he knows a few stories....

As part of the Heritage Lottery Funded Identity project, the project team have worked with local schools to produce a graphic novel charting the heritage of the area. The project is focussed on migration, but there are a few wee folk tales that have been handed down which have been included in the graphic. The 64 page book will be released later in the year, and so far, it looks fantastic. Follow the Identity facebook page or blog for regular project updates.

Magic Torch got to provide a few pages based on the story of Minnie Dean, but this preview page below is a retelling of a Mermaid story we've always enjoyed...

We really like The Archivist from the graphic novel, but he is of course a fictional character. This week however, Inverclyde Council's real life Archivist played a bit of a blinder and uncovered a secret cupboard full of centuries old books. Hats off to you sir.

Sugar Sheds Event - Free Tickets!

Its been almost a year since the Tall Ships and we're delighted to see that there's still an interest in The Sugar Sheds...


The Heritage Lottery funded Identity project run by Inverclyde Community Development Trust has worked with Riverside Inverclyde, James Watt College and Inverclyde Council to secure permission for a one day event in the Sugar Sheds...a performance of a play written by pupils from Saint Columbas with support from scriptwriter Danny McCahon (Waterloo Road, Casualty, River City)

Tickets will be available from today (Wednesday the 20th), and they are free! Show times are 4 o'clock and again at 7 o'clock on Thursday the 28th of June. Tickets are limited and are on a first come first served basis, so rush down to 7 1/2 John Wood street as soon as possible to get yours reserved.

Attendees MUST ARRIVE VIA PROJECT'S PROVIDED TRANSPORT, it is also free, but once everyone claims a ticket they will choose a location suitable to them to be picked up via bus, and then returned to that location after the show.

For more information or any questions please e mail gemma.callan@the-trust.org.uk or phone 7 1/2 John Wood Street at 01475 806 760.

We've also heard about another very interesting event hopefully happening in the Sheds sometime in the future. Cardboard Bay...find out a little more on Kim Simpson's blog.


And taking inspiration from the buildings a new local website has been set up to promote the Inverclyde music scene, listing everything from event management and recording services through to tutors and wedding bands. While they don't have any events scheduled in the Sugar Sheds at the moment, they will be running band nights at other venues across the area very soon. Check out The Sugar Sheds and a whole lot of local bands right here.

Heritage Lottery : All Our Stories....

The Heritage Lottery Fund has announced a special one-off funding programme, All Our Stories, for community heritage projects with grants ranging from £3,000 -£10,000.

This new programme will give everyone the chance to explore their heritage and share what they learn with others, from researching local historic landmarks,visiting museums, exploring local wild places, uncovering untold stories,learning more about customs and traditions, to delving into archives and finding out the origins of street and place names. 

Applications will be accepted from a wide range of organisations including community groups, heritage organisations and charities. The application process is straightforward,aimed to support first time applicants:  
·        Goto the All Our Stories programme page
·        Enter the details of your organisation
·        Answer a series of simple questions including, what you want to do, how you will do it and how much money you need.

Applications need to be submitted online by 31 July 2012 and you will receive a decision by the end of October 2012.

HLF has developed All Our Stories in support of the BBC’s The Great British Story – A People’s History. Presented by Michael Wood, the new series will be broadcast on BBC Two.

Heritage Lottery Fund development officer Louise Hastie is holding funding workshops on Thursday June 14 at the CVS Inverclyde offices.

The workshops will explore potential local heritage activities and run through a mock application. Louise will be available at the end of the session to answer specific project questions.

Please email Louise to register for the 11am - 1pm or 2pm – 4pm workshops.
Please book by Monday, June 11.

Louise Hastie
Development Officer

t: 0131 240 1583
post: 38 Thistle St, Edinburgh, EH2 1EN
website: www.hlf.org.uk
Follow HLF on Facebook

Elsewhere...

As well as writing stuff for this blog in spare moments, or running my own blog Stramashed, I'm lucky enough to actually to do a wee bit of heritage in my proper day job. Right now, that's a Heritage Lottery Scotland funded project called Identity, which also has its own blog and facebook page.

Here's a wee vid explaining what the project is all about...



The project will be launching a graphic novel later in the year, prepared by the project team and local schools - a couple of stories from the Tales of the Oak the blog have also been adapted. You can help decide the title of the graphic on the Identity blog.



The smashing wee video above really makes me want to watch classic 80s TV series Knightmare. Really looking forward to the graphic novel...and if we're extra lucky...the launch will be pretty special too.

For those who were also following the Sugar Sheds Campaign - which has been a bit quiet of late - we are hoping for a few interesting announcements there too over the next few weeks. Fingers crossed.

And back here on Tales of the Oak, we're busy preparing for May's annual Captain Kidd Month.

Hibernation over all round.

#AmWriting

the lovely folk of Greenock Writers Club

We had the pleasure of visiting the Greenock Writer's Club the other night to give a talk on the nicely broad theme of "Fantastic Fiction".

We have always tried to use local history and heritage as a jumping off point for fantastic stories; our original grandiose plan when we started collecting 13 years ago was to help create a mythology for the area, starting the story of Inverclyde hundreds of years before the arrival of the industries that we continue to mourn. 

It was a great opportunity for us to showcase some of the papers and stories of questionable local antiquarian Sir Douglas Rhodes, an avid collector of curios and "unusual" news items and stories. We have printed a few pieces on the blog over the last year, some directly quoted from his papers, others written by us, inspired by something from his collection. 

We read a few of Sir Glen's pieces out on the night, including this wee fragment which has actually just been adapted for a graphic novel being produced as part of the Heritage Lottery Scotland funded Identity project.

Visiting the club reminded us as well just how many interesting and creative groups and people there are in the area, just getting on with doing what they enjoy. For lovers of old photos, there's the Inverclyde Old and New Blog or Greenock in Old Photos Facebook Page. If you like your old places even more ancient, check out Inverclyde Visual Archaeology Project. We hear there's a number of very interesting arts projects potentially lined up for Greenock Sugar Sheds, Absent Voices is one of them. Arts for Inverclyde gives a real flavour of just how many artists there are working in all fields across our community.

Sometimes groups are quite happy working the way they work, and that's great, but it's always worth remembering that there are support and funding opportunities out there if you are part of a group who would like to develop new ideas or involve even more people. CVS Inverclyde ran a funders fayre in Port Glasgow last week with funders along from a whole range of organisations including The Robertson Trust, Big Lottery, Heritage Lottery Scotland and Lloyds TSB Foundation, all keen to invest locally.

These funders don't just fund Inverclyde of course, there's opportunities for all, provided you can meet the criteria set by the funder, it's always really important to check out what funders will consider; however, in Inverclyde we do get less than our per-capita share of Lottery funding; that is, proportionately, we spend more on the gambling aspect of the Lottery than we get back in good cause funding. 

Maybe you've got an idea that could even up those odds...

arctic rope, yesterday

The Young Emigrant's Farewell

We've been cleaning out the old Magic Torch archive over the last few weeks (actually, archive sounds quite grand, its a battered old filing cabinet and some plastic boxes packed away in a disused boiler room) In doing so, we've discovered a few wee gems and pieces we had forgotten about ourselves which we'll be sharing with you over the month.

Last year, we made tracks from our Downriver CD available online; original copies of the CD had fourteen tracks, but we could not locate master copies for the two missing tracks...and we'd given all the original CDs away. However, we have now located the two missing tracks, and here is the first of them, "The Young Emigrant's Farewell"; rather appropriately, the only one of the tracks to be recorded "overseas" in Brisbane, Australia. You can read a transcription on the always wonderful broadside ballad site The Word On The Street.




If you are in the mood for tales of migration and are in Greenock this week, why not pop along to the Oak Mall from Friday 17 February - Tuesday 21 February to see some of the work that has been done so far by the Heritage Lottery Scotland funded Identity project. And if you are a local group with an idea for a heritage project yourself, then Grants Officers from Heritage Lottery Scotland will be in attendance to offer advice and support.

And, apropos of nothing other than just pleasantly sharing info, this Wednesday (15 February), Broomhill residents will have another opportunity to look at the historical images which will shortly be transferred to a wall on Ann Street, using a process known as "wall wrapping". From 12.30 – 2.30; the images chosen by the community will be on display at Prospecthill Church. The images are all part of the Eugene Mehat collection, used by permission of Inverclyde Council. The project has been undertaken in partnership with River Clyde Homes, Broomhill Tenants and Residents Association and The Trust.

The Mehat collection captures sixties Inverclyde, at a critical period of regeneration prior to major industrial decline...tenement closes sit alongside bombsite gaps, the stone walls caked with decades of smoke, roads are not yet clogged with cars and roundabouts, shops are still family run...a wonderful window onto our recent past.
So there ye go, now, here's the original broadside for "Young Emigrant's Farewell".

Something Wicked..

We're busy trying to compile and create a few new Ghost Stories for throughout December, but in the meantime, here's a few wee links to other stories and things we've been involved in over the last few weeks.

Over at Zuckerbeckers blog, you can read an excellent piece on one man coming to terms with what side Greenock took during the American Civil War. Hang on...are we the baddies?

On the Sugar Sheds blog, you can read about our journey into the heart of sugary darkness as we wander round the Sugar Sheds with psychic medium Joan Charles.

On TrustInverclydes Scribd page, you can download a copy of the Port Glasgow Social History book "Newark to Newark".

If you havent already, take a look at the Identity project blog...some good Galoshans video heading there soon.

And of no particular folkloric significance...I've been trying hard to work on National Novel Writing month. Here's a few chapters of my West of Scotland alien invasion story "Wasted", just to get them out there...

Now here's some Rik Mayall storytelling cheer....