Knitted fish

This reminded me of a community project I participated in a while ago. It was called follow the herring. For almost 100 years, women from fishing communities in the north east and Scotland followed the herring fleets down the coast, meeting the catch and gutting, salting and barrelling the fish.

Now, the back-breaking work of the “herring lassies” or “fisher girls” and the traditions which grew up around them, have been commemorated with a nationwide project of performance, song and visual arts, launched at South Shields.

Follow the Herring – a collaboration between The Customs House Arts Centre in South Shields and the North East-based Guild of Lillians Theatre Company and supported by Arts Council England – has re-traced the women’s journey, from Scotland down to Yarmouth, in a three-month tour of 12 coastal towns.

People knitted fish and an huge art exhibition was made with a boat, nets and loads of fish in the net. My contribution was very modest. I made a bit of seaweed and knitted a bit of net on massive knitting needles.

The tour went well. This fish reminded me of the knitted herring.