Day 1 – The Patch, Riverside
A very safe distance to where we live lies The Patch, which is arguably not even in Maindee. However it is one of a handful of (probably two in total) accessible green/park areas that serve the local youth and dog walking wanderers. We set up our gazebo, fill it with relevant and opulent furnishings and then don our white all in one suits and pith helmets. “What are you doing?” we are asked almost immediately and we feel a sense of relief that we will not be ignored in this somewhat penned in and, initially quiet, park.
What are we doing? It’s not an easily answered question. We are simply being … observing, fielding questions, such as this one, and asking a lot more. We are occupying ourselves in this environment to… well… find Maindee… or at least its centre… or, possibly, its soul. Today the large mounted map became the focus for adults and the table, full of paper, pencils and pens, the work station for determined youngsters to illustrate the changes they would make to the locale. Creativity flows, as does conversation and opinion is rife. It is an interesting and slightly damp start to this process.
Interesting because this park holds an obvious release for its users and a number of fears. Fear seems prevalent at times today, fear of change, of drug users and drunk people, of incomers, of child snatchers, of big boys playing football where they shouldn’t, of gangs, of spongers, of bullies, of groups of youths and of bad language. There appears to be a discernible difference in attitude towards Maindee depending on the age of person you speak to, at least that’s the way it felt to me. These attitudes ranged from blind unbound optimism to withering rhetoric with casual contentment sandwiched in the middle. What is apparent is a sense of community but how real that sense is is yet to be fully explored… and fear, well that manifests itself in many misdiagnosed ways. Finally as the day drifts to evening we are left with the dampness, a present from the dark skies that intermittently drizzled on as if the cloud wanted to be friends but had a leaky valve that burst by the time it gets to Ringland.
Tomorrow another day… another location and another set of observations… maybe leading us to finding a bit more of Maindee and its essence.
Gareth
Finding Maindee is a commission from Maindee Festival supported by Arts Council Wales.
