Latest news with #Sanquhar
BBC News
10 hours ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Austitic teenager from Sanquhar dreams of big screen career
An autistic teenager from the south of Scotland is hoping to pursue a career in filmmaking after picking up a prize for his Ryan, 14, from Sanquhar, won the audience award at the recent Into Film event in received his honour from actor Andy Serkis and presenter Edith told BBC Scotland News he hoped to turn his passion for movie-making into a job in later life. Edward was born in Inverness and grew up in Forres but has lived in Sanquhar for almost a organisers of the awards described them as "celebration of talent" but also a "clear statement of intent".They said they wanted to show that the UK film industry "values, nurtures and believes in the voices of the next generation".Among those voices is Edward's. "I'd always loved making and building with Lego when I was younger and I wanted to make these Lego people and characters and things come to life," he said."So I then started to make stop-motion animations with these Lego characters and buildings and things like that, make little movies with them."Then I would then progress my skills with that and then get different equipment and better equipment."The Sanquhar Academy pupil was given a laptop by the local council for his school work which he started to use for making films and it has "progressed and progressed" from award-winning film - More Than One Way To Go Home - tells the story of a young autistic girl who has to find her own way home when her brother leaves her to fend for herself. He said winning the prize for his work was a special moment."It felt great, it was just overwhelming with all the support that I got from loads of people voting me for this award."It was just great. I am still in shock that I won."All the support from my community of Sanquhar, it's just been absolutely brilliant and I'm so grateful for all of it."It has fuelled his passion to pursue a life in cinema after he finishes his education. "I really want to go into the industry and hopefully become a director of photography," he said."That's my dream goal. So I'm hopefully just going to stick in and then go to college and university and just work my way up until I'm a director of photography and do what I want to do."His mother Jess said the whole family was "incredibly proud" of what Edward has achieved."He was a nominee in the best story category as well and even though he didn't win that prize it was still just an incredible achievement to be chosen," she said."That was a new category this year that the judges chose out of all the films that were entered."So it was an honour to know that he was chosen to be part of the best story category up against other filmmakers that were 18 or 19 years old.""We're just really, really proud of him and very thankful for the support the community gave him." She said the fact that he was autistic made it all the more remarkable."He's obviously had to overcome a lot of different challenges in his day to day life," she said."Filmmaking has been a way for him to express himself in ways that he has otherwise found difficult."It's been a really good outlet for him." She said she believed he could go further in the field where he has already started to thrive."We just feel proud and we just hope that he can continue on and achieve his goals and his dreams of one day being a director of photography," she said."I don't see why he can't, to be honest, he's got his sights set on the big screen."He's got a lot of hard work ahead of him, but he seems really enthusiastic for it."
BBC News
6 days ago
- Science
- BBC News
Crawick Multiverse: The coal mine which became a work of art
As relics of our industrial past go, the Crawick Multiverse is a pretty unusual an opencast coalmine in Upper Nithsdale in southern Scotland, it is now a landscape artwork created by the late Charles was officially opened 10 years ago on the longest day of the year, the summer solstice of 21 June hope was that it could attract international visitors and help boost businesses in nearby Sanquhar, Kelloholm and Kirkconnel. Materials found on the site - including 2,000 large boulders - were used to create the £1m project - funded by the Duke of Buccleuch on his own land - followed in the footsteps of other works by Mr Jencks including the Garden of Cosmic Speculation, also in Dumfries and artist - who died in 2019 - said at the time of the opening: "This former opencast coal site, nestled in a bowl of large rolling hills, never did produce enough black gold to keep digging."But it did, accidentally, create the bones of a marvellous ecology."This work of land art, created primarily from earth and boulders on the site, celebrates the surrounding Scottish countryside and its landmarks, looking outwards and back in time." The Duke of Buccleuch was delighted with the in 2015, he said the site had become a "brutal eyesore" and an "embarrassment".So when his "neighbour from down the road" - Mr Jencks - had offered to transform the area, they were "just over the moon".Reflecting on it today, he said he was still impressed with the final outcome. "The vision of Charles Jencks, which I supported, extended far beyond its original purpose of removing a derelict opencast mine eyesore to the creation of an internationally-recognised work of land art," he said."Charles's ambition to represent in artistic form elements of the vast cosmos in which our planet is but a minute speck, included galaxies, superclusters and the multiverse itself."He sought the input of the leading international scientists in the field including Lord Rees, the Astronomer Royal and won their admiration."He praised the work of the trust which now runs it and wished them all the best for their second decade. Ten years on, though, what has the impact been?Ronnie Bradford, community development officer at the nearby Sanquhar Enterprise Company, said it had brought "several benefits" to the area."The unique and inspired transformation of the former opencast coal mine has attracted visitors, supporting local businesses, increasing tourism in the area and raising the profile of Upper Nithsdale," he said."Local residents have been hired for roles at the site with local trades being engaged in developing the site, ensuring good community involvement in its operations."He said it also hosted school visits, community group trips and promoted affordable access for nearby residents."The open-air venue hosts festivals, performance art and music events, bringing large-scale entertainment and social opportunities to the region often at 'off season' times of the year." The site now attracts about 10,000 visitors a year and has seen improvements carried out over the past decade to upgrade visitor facilities.A 55-acre site requires plenty of maintenance with a team of four local young people in "front of house" roles, managed by operations manager Brian Johnson and supported by volunteer was also recently designated as a significantly important designed landscape by Historic Environment Scotland.A special celebration took place on Saturday to mark the solstice and also reflect on its first 10 Khosla, who chairs The Crawick Multiverse Trust, is proud of what has been achieved but also has an eye on the future."We stand on the shoulders of the artist and skilled workers who created and now develop this unique site, which has repurposed a derelict and depleted coal mine into an important asset for Upper Nithsdale," she said."A decade on from opening, now is the time to plan for the next decades to further develop our audiences and increase biodiversity."Our aim is to be sustainable, both environmentally and financially." She said that future could be shaped by others and they were open to ideas of how to develop the the meantime, they hope visitors will flock to their solstice celebrations and other summer events."Please continue to visit and share the magnificence of the Multiverse with your friends," she certainly appears to have left its past as an industrial eyesore a long way behind.
