as part of the enterprising britain presentation i told the story of us moving here to scarborough at a time when the town’s reputation was pretty much at an all time low. ‘why scarborough?’ is a question i get asked almost once a week anyway. to be honest we thought scarborough still had a lot of charm five years ago, albeit of the faded victorian glory variety. but we had got an inkling of a cultural renaissance happening.
and that was because i’d previously worked with site specific artist trudi entwistle who in 2002 was commissioned to ‘green’ the street that runs right through the centre of town past the royal hotel and town hall. this was the first renaissance happening after the initial community planning weekend and here in scarborough it’s cited as being the point when people started to think afresh about what was possible in the town.
back in leeds where i was doing some consultancy work at leeds met university and catching up with trudi who was teaching, i got the impression that something must be happening in scarborough. i think that helped cement the idea of moving for us. it created a buzz about the town amongst the people i knew in west yorks. it’s fascinating what an impact a piece of art can have, even something as temporary as this [it was in situ for one weekend] in changing people’s perceptions.
checkout trudi’s website here. and please do – there’s some amazing work.
