SOME perfectly respectable folk are planning a revolution in Merkinch - a community arts revolution to celebrate the heritage, culture and creative talent in the area.

Various people from Merkinch and others with an interest in the arts first met in Eden Court in late September at the instigation of Project Officer Brian Macleod to discuss the potential of various ideas that would enhance the environment, express the spirit of the area and help develop the creative skills of those who live here.
Among the subjects discussed were the South Kessock dolphin centre’s possibilities, and various ideas such as interpretive boards and a sculpture trail were shared.
The long-term potential of the Welfare Hall was touched on, and the various activities at the Community Centre and at mp33 were also outlined. It was agreed by all those present that there was a strong case for a pulling together of all the different streams within the community.
Whether this should take the form of a formal federation or a loose informal association was aired at another meeting, held last month to start getting down to the nitty-gritty.
It was agreed that the challenge was to find the right approach to nurture the numerous activities already taking place and to find ways to further them.

The singing group, which was the main driving force behind the Christmas concert planned in December, was congratulated.

The huge paper dragon being built for this year’s City Bonfire event follows the success of last year’s Phoenix. People are being invited to come along on Saturday 1st November at 11am and help with its creation - dress warmly, advised Claire Crowle of Eden Court Outreach department who has been collaborating with mp33 youngsters on the project.
A number of ideas for extending the Gala Day into a week-long event with an expansion of the parade to possibly include floats were discussed, and a closer relationship with the Inverness Local History Forum explored.

The Ossian exhibition, which was on recently at Inverness Museum, had already sparked off a project at mp33 and there was a media opportunity for a young person in the New Dynamics project which followed on from Ossian.

The possibility of staging a theatrical event - a play or pageant-type - involving various strands of existing organisations was looked into, though it was agreed that this would take around a year to get together.
It was decided to ask the Merkinch public for their input of ideas in the next few weeks, and to involve more people than “the usual suspects”. The group meets again next month.