Museum treasures spark stories galore

For the last six weeks a total of 20 writers from across the region and beyond have been working on a project which has resulted in a book titled ‘Undiscovered Treasures’.
Project leader Vivien Jones from Powfoot said: “I’ve just shared the master document with the writers, and they’re just one and all so proud of themselves because of what we’ve made together.
“And it’s been very much a group project — that’s my thrust in all these things.”
The project has been funded by The Scottish Book Trust Live Literature scheme, the Wigtown Festival Company and and with the support of Dumfries and Galloway Museums’ access officer Fiona Wilson.
Vivien formed small groups of writers to act as peer groups, sharing their work and constructive criticism as they produced a a spread of new writing styles in poems and stories.
Objects from the museum were chosen as the focus of the work, but Vivien said: “The projects that I did before said, ‘No — don’t choose something, because you’ll choose something you already know about’.
“The idea was that we just drew objects out of a hat, almost, so that people would be given a whole fresh thing, and something they never thought about before, which is great.”
‘Undiscovered Treasures’ is being launched at Annan Museum next Thursday October 13 at 6.30 pm.
Extract from ‘Oblivious’ by Daniel Gillespie
…Stuck in time,
the day grey and done.
Crows circle overhead.
Are we hiding from tomorrow and unlimited sorrow?
Dark and silent.
The blade rotting away in a routine of isolation; erosion at work…