The Trebuchet Time Machine?

Link to David Pollock's piece in The Independent - here

The Michty Helen

The first bit of video has surfaced from Saturdays's NothingAboutUs event. Colin Speir's fine short film of the GalGael trebuchet in action is here

A Very Fine Day

'LadyFish' made by Glasgow Artists Studio - one of the winners in the 'People's Choice' category...displayed by tsBeall during the judging of The Govan Armada (photo Colin Tennant)

The sun shone, the river glistened, the trebuchet fired, the choir sang, the flags fluttered, the human megaphone announced, the cups were strung, the stories were telt, the languages were heard.......but most of people came, smiled and enjoyed being by the Clyde in Govan. Thank you to everyone who came and to everyone who has been involved in creating NothingAboutUs.....it has been immense!

A new public space by the river has been brought to life and many new working relationships and friendships have begun....Glorious Govan indeed!

Some photos are already coming in and we'd love to see yours and hear any thoughts that NothingAboutUs sparked in you:

Please email us at: aboutuswithoutus@gmail.com

Posting photos:

FB: GloriousGovan

Twitter: @GovanBeacon #GovanGI

Flickr: tag 'GovanGI'

We'll post some photos on the blog when we get our breath back....in the meantime Lizzie Freer from Fablevision has posted a set of photos on Facebook - here

Moment of the Day

The Trebuchet team see Colin Begg's Charm Offensive ammunition for the first time and talk 'deep payload'

Something about 'Nothing' in the Evening Times

'Nothing about us...' was featured in this article by Deborah Anderson in the Evening Times yesterday (that's our trebuchet in the background!)

"A Govan Armada will be taking over the River Clyde this weekend as part of a major public art event. Events will be held to link up both sides of the river and get communities involved in their heritage. Govan will be bombed with messages delivered by two medieval siege catapaults, or trebuchets. St. Kilda mailboats and a soundscape of sea shanties will also be some of the attractions at Saturday's event.  Even extracts from Upper Clyde Shipbuilder's hero Jimm Reid's speeches will be broadcast across the water."

Trebuchet

Calculation is the order of the day in Trebuchet World at the moment....the finger belongs to Grant Leckie our trebuchet expert and the man who put the 'art in artillery' (via Tam McGarvey)

Rico our main man on the trebuchet build is sounding confident about the prospects of a test firing on Tuesday....good news

Trebuchet Rising

The GalGael's mighty machine is taking shape in Fairley Street

The 13 foot main beam is made from laminated elm and will be rounded down and tapered

Govan Charm Projectiles

Drawing by Colin Begg of early designs for the projectiles to be fired by one of the Govan Trebuchets as part of the 'Charm Offensive'

The Govan Charm Offensive

The part of NothingAboutUs that uses the Trebuchets (see here) and the post below is called the Charm Offensive - the projectiles that will be launched by the Trebuchet are being designed and constructed by artist Colin Begg and Belinda Gilbert-Scott. Colin and Bel are based at the Kinning Park Complex along Paisley Road West from Govan and are working with other users of KP to make the project

More tomorrow on the composition of the projectiles...

About Trebuchets

We are noticing that the mere mention of the word Trebuchet is enough to cause a childlike glint in many eyes. But how do these mythical objects work....check out the basic physics here and the experimentally minded can design their own online machine here

The first images of the Govan Trebuchet taking shape are here

And here is a monster from Caerlaverock near Dumfries:

The Real Thing

Mark, Ricco and Tam talk size

Whether it be a ship or a mediaeval siege catapult there is a special kind of energy that is generated by the building of something big and out of the ordinary. The NothingAboutUs Trebuchet is taking shape at the GalGael in Govan........

Meanwhile in other corners of the workshop it is business as usual:

Colin Macleod's carvings watch over proceedings

proceedings

Committed people discuss and test techniques

NothingAboutUs - between 'Curious', a jumble sale and '13 truths'.....here we stand