Common Ground Scotland comes to earth in Dundee

Those of us who have endured the travels of the Common Ground Scotland Summer Schools over the last couple of years in particular, have been duly rewarded by its coming to rest in Dundee. Not only that but we can begin to believe that we have found a home at West Park. Home, as in a place where you feel welcome, where you can rest your weary head, where excellent food is served with a smile and there is ample accommodation for the many rich and varied activities on offer.

There is a Chinese proverb that says “Only he that has travelled the road knows where the holes are deep” and Pete Heywood and his faithful sidekick Colin McNab, through the most dogged of persistence, could map a whole series of pitfalls and very deep holes from Ayrshire, via Dumfriesshire to Dundee. They have every right to savour the sweet taste of success, however transient these things are in the final financial reckoning of a venture that will, if there is any justice in this world, reap rewards in future years. If, as they say, happiness is not a station you arrive at, but a manner of travelling, then the continuing Common Ground journey towards fulfilment of its mission, is entering a new phase with a renewed sense of purpose and hope.

The Sunday night got off to a flying start with a Tutors’ Concert that left everyone bewildered by the choice of activities on offer from the most talented and accessible fellow travellers. Whether they fell into the new, newer or down right familiar categories, their longer term contribution to developing Pete Heywood’s long held dream of blurring the edges between teacher and learner is beginning to emerge. The very familiar, like Eddie Walker, Pete Clark and Neil Paterson on the music side and Helen and Don Elmes and Kirti Mandir on the Arts side, continue to make a significant and distinctive contribution because they bought into the concept years ago.

Heather Heywood bounced back into action to again prove, beyond any reasonable doubt, that the whole remains greater than the sum of its parts, by gelling the most improbably unstereotypical group into a vibrantly effervescent Gospel Choir which blew the audience away at Thursday night’s concert. If there is an activity that defines what Common Ground is all about it is the Gospel Choir and Heather’s ability to engage people in a demanding but thoroughly rewarding, fulfilling and hugely enjoyable exercise.

The Monday was a ‘Welcome to Scotland’ concert with Pete Clark and Nigel Gatherer whose claim to having had only the briefest of practices produced an outstanding set which showcased both their individual and collective talents. Critically, it also demonstrated that deeper shared affinity for their common tradition that blossomed in the spontaneity of the occasion. Neil Paterson then paraded a group of friends who would get him a headlining gig anywhere on the traditional music scene. Tuesday’s ‘Visitors Concert’ offered a stage to locally based Pete Shepherd, Arthur Watson and Alex Clarke who brought a refreshing sample of hitherto untapped talent with a distinct North East flavour into view.

Wednesday’s concert, by way of a complete contrast, saw the emergence of new friends who will most certainly be back by popular acclaim. Two Scottish Bluegrass bands Goldrush and New Redwing, in tandem with old friend Eddie Walker, provided one of the memorable Common Ground concerts that would have graced any stage. As you would imagine the material was all American with Eddie, in his own infectious and inimitable style, parading his interpretation of the music of Mississippi John Hurt and the like to great effect. Our Bluegrass friends, some of whom were resident for most of the week, slotted in with all the ease of a match made in heaven and seamlessly offered an extra dimension and music whose (common) roots were all too visible.

All this music, while in the quieter corners water-colourists, photographers, sculptors and spinners and weavers were beavering away, many doubling up and/or juggling their artistic and musical interests and sessions.

While, in even quieter corners, Common Ground’s Dialogue sessions enjoyed a vintage year having established itself in the post lunch slot. The initial input from Jon Bennett and his unique insights into the Afghanistan situation got the week off to a sobering but stimulating start to be followed by our young friends Alasdair and Ayliffe’s description of their work within deprived communities in Belgium under the banner of ADT Fourth World. Their common message of working with people and not against them, really established the credentials of this year’s Dialogue as an integral and enduring part of Common Ground Scotland. Don and Ellen Elmes’ tribute to their recently deceased friend and mentor Ira Zepp was a moving and telling reminder of the civil rights struggles in the USA which was instrumental in the rationale behind Common Ground in that country. Pete Clark’s dedicated composition, a very moving slow air, will remain in the memory as the most fitting tribute to a remarkable man whose spirit imbued what we were about this week.

The spirit of the American experience which I feel confident we are now tapping into in our UK, 21st Century context, is beautifully summed up by Maya Angelou, no stranger to suffering for what she was, “Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends.” We can confidently add that, having arrived, abundant opportunities for shared enjoyment, gratefully received, has much the same effect.

There is every reason to believe that old and new friendships will be renewed next August at West Park in Dundee when the next part of the Common Ground journey is rejoined on an onwards and upwards trajectory. The French novelist Marcel Proust has said, “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.”

It is amazing what such a week can do to one’s perception of the potential of such a gathering to lift up the heart.

Willie Slavin