Fiona Hyslop, SNP Candidate for Linlithgow has praised the work of Broxburn born visual communicator, Shirley Anne Murdoch and local artists and musicians from Broxburn, Uphall and Livingston when she attended the launch of the Shale People Project at the Strathbrock Centre on Saturday.

Commenting after the launch Fiona said,

“The aim of this project was to reconnect the current local communities with those of the original ‘Shale People’ community and in seeing the wonderful turnout for Saturday’s launch it is clear that the efforts made have paid off. Andrew Crummy’s mural at Uphall and Mike Inglis life-size figures are very striking.

“Shale oil is an important part of our industrial heritage, so it is right that the community are remembered and acknowledged in this way.

“I am proud to have attended this important and memorable event and hopefully we shall see other projects like this across the vibrant communities in West Lothian.”

At midday, outside the Oatridge Hotel, the Broxburn and Livingston Brass Band played a great array of rousing music.

Artist Andrew Crummy followed as he told the stories of his ‘Homage to The Shale People’ mural and included the members of the community now who had informed him of their stories as he produced the work over six weeks in the town.

Mike Inglis passionately described the concepts and creative process behind  his ‘Shale People Trail’ figures. It was great that many of the band members featured in his artworks were also there (having just finished their music set). Following a short photo session, the crowd then headed to Strathbrock Partnership Centre for the next event (info and pics to follow)….

The December weather had also put paid to the planned Christmas Event in Broxburn and Uphall. This was re-scheduled as an Easter Event and we’ve been asked to replace Santa and his reindeer as the major crowd-puller for this year.

The following A4 promotional poster says it all. Looking forward to it!!!

What a week! Following the shock of the stolen and damaged artworks, thought I’d post an update- although the situation seems to change day on day at the moment. The local Press did us proud- with The West Lothian Courier, Herald & Post, Evening News and Daily Record covering the story in a bid to get information or artworks returned. By Tuesday I’d had over twenty calls- mainly good-hearted folks telling they’d found artworks- only to realise that they were either referring to the damaged ‘conductor’ at the Masonic hall vennel or the woman at Glen Lowe’s Butchers Lane who were  very definately still in position and hadn’t been stolen in the first place! However, young Dean Cairney of Uphall called to state that he and his mates had found all of the Aldo’s figures dumped at Uphall bus stop around one o’clock on Saturday morning- and that he had them in his house! Retrieved. then Mrs McDonnell of East Main Street in Broxburn had found an abandoned ‘laughing boy’ in her lane. Retrieved. Unfortunately all artworks returned were so torn or buckled in the process of removal that they were deemed of no use for re-positioning.

Just as ‘The Courier’ hit the streets on Thursday, I received a call from artist Mike Inglis (currently busy developing new artworks up in Inverness) to say that The Sign Co./AE Marketing had re-produced the complete set of figures and were installing them back onto the streets- this time with many additional screws through the body of the figures for maximum security.

Confused? Press reports of missing artworks that were already back in place… Mike and myself met last night to inspect the new installations. All great- except for the fact that the ‘leaning girl’ (produced using a stick-on pre-printed pvc) positioned on the Easter Road fire door at Broxburn Swimming Pool had been stolen again! I’m waiting until tomorrow to get the Press up to speed as the story unfolds… and nervously wait to inspect the artworks to see if they’ve survived the weekend.

Only 36 hours after the installation of  The Shale People Trail we’re faced with the fact that a very, very small minority of the community saw fit to destroy or steal the works that Mike Inglis has spent months creating with members of Broxburn and Livingston Brass Band- who have never had a chance to enjoy the experience of seeing themselves as artworks on the streets of Broxburn and Uphall. All involved in the project have worked fingers to the bone to bring this ambitious series of public artworks to the community on a very limited budget- we’re now in a position that we simply can’t afford to replace these stolen or damaged works- and plans for a positive Project Launch (intended for early March) are now cancelled until we can find a resolution. Meanwhile, we can only hope that some of these figures find their way back to us in one piece.