Booking a ticket to this event is essential to secure a place as part of the community workshop
Pevensey prepares to welcome the University of Cambridge Museum of Zoology back to the locality with their Ocean Song Project.
The story of the finback whale, the biggest to be exhibited anywhere in the world, reaches a new stage with the participation of the village in a project that will see the story come back to life.
The Pevensey Whale, 71 foot long, the weight of eight double decker buses was beached in what we now call Norman’s Bay on 13 November 1865.
Some contemporary reports suggest that as many as 20,000 people came to see the Whale, many arriving on trains, ‘jumping down’ as the trains halted at what we now call the Norman’s Bay Halt.
The Pevensey Whale is to become the gateway exhibit to the new museum. It is due to open in Cambridge in the summer of 2016.
Links are now building between the locality and the team at the Museum of Zoology in Cambridge (the location of the new museum) as the launch of ‘Whale Hall’ in the summer of 2016, takes another step forward.
The team from the Museum came down to the locality two weeks ago (July 8-9) in preparation for the Ocean Song Project.
Curations Manager at the Museum, Mathew Lowe, comments as whale _whispers on his twitter feed. It is an interesting educational take on the curation of the whale in Cambridge as preparations continue. At the time he thanked local people for their welcome on behalf of the whale!!!!
The new museum, with a total price tag of £5.9 million, will see the Pevensey Whale skeleton exhibited over a two storey structure.
The state of the art ‘architectural hall’ will enable visitors to the museum to experience the skeleton of the whale in an engaging way that is a first in the country.
The immense skeleton is to be suspended. It is to be a kind of ‘walk through experience’, with the skeleton viewable from below and also from the side with a walkway positioned on the upper floor of the new structure.
There is a year to go before the museum opens its doors to the public and the excitement is beginning to build. The structure is currently comprised of the largest scaffolding project in Europe.
The Ocean Song project plans to add the dimension of sound to ‘the Whale Hall experience’.
Internationally renowned sound recordist Chris Watson (Life on Earth, David Attenborough), will be here in Pevensey to work with some of the team from the University of Cambridge to record, ‘the sound of the ocean’. He will also work with Choir Leader Rowena Whitehead to lead a special participatory workshop.
Local people are invited to add their voices to this unique sound installation. The event is suitable for ages from 8 upwards.
The event is to take place in the historic setting of the 800 year old St. Nicolas Church in Pevensey, between 3:00pm and 5:00pm on Sunday 23 August.
Talking to Bay Life yesterday (22 July), Tracy Biram, one of the marketing team behind the Whale Hall project described the location as ‘the perfect venue’.
This will be another historic moment in the story of Pevensey.
The voices of the community in Pevensey are to be included in the soundscape of Whale Hall when it opens in Cambridge in the summer of 2016.
People visiting the museum to see the Pevensey Whale will be greeted by the the sight of the extraordinary 71 foot ‘monster whale’ as they walk beneath the suspended skeleton. They will also be greeted by ‘the soundscape’.
The recording will embed the voice of the community in the story of the Pevensey Whale. The sound of Pevensey will be back where it belongs, beside the famous whale that was beached here 150 years ago.
Talking on behalf of the Pevensey Timeline Association, chair, Dianne Dear said, “The story of the Pevensey Whale is becoming of national significance in the establishment of this new kind of engaging experience in museums in the country. We are delighted to be playing a small part in the local research to accompany the development of the project”.
She added ‘the opportunity for people aged from 8 upwards from Pevensey and Pevensey Bay to participate in the Ocean Song Project, in the historic 800 year setting of St. Nicholas Church, is going to be something that the community is unlikely to forget. We would like to thank the Museum of Zoology in Cambridge for everything that it is doing to bring the story back to life here in the locality where it began’.
This is a ticket only event. You can apply for tickets here.
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NEXT WEEK ON BAY LIFE: In the weeks that lead up to the Day of the Ocean Song Project on Sunday 23 August, at St. Nicolas Church in Pevensey, various local plans are taking shape. We start on Monday 27 July with the story of the moment that marked the return of a part of the Pevensey Whale to the locality for the first time since 1865 and the plan to commemorate the event.
