The Oban Bay External Audio Interpretation Project 2009
U-Turn 1 takes the brunt of the Scottish seas in the Oban Bay Interpretation Project. The U-Turn 1 was installed in late 2009 and features Gaelic songs performed by Oban Gaelic Choir.
Here is a slightly windy bit of video footage showing the U-Turn in action.
The U-Turn is now it its third generation and can be viewed here
Via differentiasp
The Oban Bay interpretation project has been underway for around 3 years, but it was only last year that Oban Community Council obtained funding from Scottish Natural Heritage, Argyll and the Islands LEADER and the Oban Common Good Fund, and the work which has been carried out by Differentia Design is now complete. One of the panels was jointly unveiled on Friday 16 October on the Esplanade in front of the Corran Halls by Archie MacGill, one of Obans oldest residents, and Calum McLuckie aged 6.
The project involved the design of 7 interpretation panels and Enamelled Stoneware was chosen as their base for its hard-wearing and quite simply gorgeous look. Most of the panels have been installed on the railings right on the sea front – so they face the hazards of sea, salt, wind, high intensity light, herring gulls and frost. The traditional approach would not last the course and Oban Community Council wanted something special for Oban, so they opted to use a unique but traditional method of signage. The panels are made from a natural and recyclable material – enamelled stoneware tiles – basically big tiles! This is the first time such materials have been used for this purpose in Britain.
Three of the panels are on lecterns with the one in front of the Corran Halls incorporating a wind-up MP3 player with Gaelic songs by Oban Gaelic Choir, Capercaillie and others, tunes by leading musicians such as Aidan ORourke, and poems.
The first panel is situated near the Station and South Pier and is titled Oban, Open to the World with themes including the founding of Oban, McCaigs Tower and Open to the Islands like nearby Kerrera and Lismore. It also shows the location of the other six panels.
The second panel, titled They Too Were Here, is situated on the railings in front of George Street and tells the story of the earliest inhabitants of the area, how Kings came to Kerrera and Oban has been visited by many famous artists like Scott, Mendelssohn, Turner and Wordsworth.
The third panel is called The Water of Life and features information about the Firth of Lorn, the Black Lynn, Lochavullin, Oban Distillery and the North Pier near which it is situated. It also has lovely drawings of bottle-nose dolphins and a mute swan.
The fourth panel A Gaelic Sea in front of the Corran Halls provides information about the Oban fishing fleet, lighthouses in the area, and Gaelic language and culture, and has a wind-up MP3 player with Gaelic songs, tunes and poems.
The fifth panel On The Wing on the railings at Wellpark has beautiful illustrations of the many different kinds of birds to be found in Oban Bay along with information about them.
The sixth panel in the gardens below the War Memorial is called Stone Voices and provides information about the geology of the area, Fingals Dog Stone, Dunollie Castle and Dunollie House.
The final panel at Ganavan Sands is called Sands of Time and through illustrations, photographs and text provides information about the rich biodiversity of that part of the coast and how flying boats were stationed there in World War Two.
Most of the panels feature poems written by Isle of Luing poet Norman Bissell, one by local author Mhairi Ross, and one has an extract from an Iain Crichton Smith poem. Most of these have been translated into Gaelic, and Gaelic language and culture feature throughout the panels.
The next project for Kenny Macintyre and his team at Oban Community Council is the Oban Circle website where visitors will be able to plan their walks around Oban, download children’s trails and quizzes, listen to Gaelic song and poetry, and download prints of the Oban Circle Panels.
