home office for a week

Okay, one thing is evident from this blog, which was last updated in August 2022 – I’m not a natural blogger. When I’m deep in a project I like to work on that project, to the neglect of everything else including my blog (and housework). I suppose this comes down to the fact that I reckon readers don’t want to know the detail of what’s going on in my life every week – if they are, snippets of activity can be found in my constantly updated Instagram account @moiramcpartlin

What this blog does do, however, is to chronicle significant happenings in my life. Last week I had a wonderful writing and life experience, and I just couldn’t let it go without blogging about it.

Cove Park Artists Centre first came on my radar in about 2007-08 when I drove there one day to visit Laura Hird, who was on a writer’s residency. I was astounded by the serenity and simplicity of the place and always had it as a goal to one day to apply for a residency of my own. I signed up to Cove’s mailing list and kept an eye open for suitable opportunities. At the beginning of this year I spotted a submission call for something called the Bridge Awards.

lichen covered wooden bridge

The Bridge Awards is a philanthropic organisation that provides funding for arts, community, healthcare and environmental projects. They fund individuals and organisations involved in the fields of literature, film, visual arts, theatre, dance and music. The 2024 Bridge Award was for artists and writers whose career had been impacted by a breast cancer diagnosis. I received treatment for breast cancer in 2016-2017 so qualified. I applied and was lucky enough to be accepted.

I arrived on Monday 20th May, a sunny afternoon that showed Cove Park at its best. Staff member, Karen showed me to my pod; a shipping container, craftily adapted into a fully equipped self-catering unit. Not only was the pod perfect for my living and writing needs for the week, but the glass wall looked out onto a small pond and beyond towards the west and the stunning hills of the Cowal Peninsula. I had planned to work on edits to my work in progress – A Thing So Delicate,* and I knew this was the perfect spot to do that.

Jacob’s Building, Cove Park

After I unpacked and made myself at home, I joined the other four awardees for a welcome drink in the Jacobs Building. In the interests of confidentiality, I won’t report any personal details about the others, only to say we immediately hit it off. A WhatsApp group was set up and we spent the week sharing our stories, our health experiences and most of all our working practices. We also had an opportunity to meet and get to know the other international writers and artists and learn about their work.

Park Director, the wonderful Alexia, hosted dinner for us on Tuesday night and we were joined by Lesley Howells, Maggie Cancer Care, Lead Psychologist. On Wednesday four members of the Scottish Ensemble joined us to deliver a wellbeing session. We assembled in a meeting room with fine acoustics and even finer views and as the musicians played they were accompanied by heavy rain and thunder which only added to the experience.

Four members of The Scottish Ensemble

Next day Lesley facilitated a stillness and internal dialogue workshop for us. I felt really pampered.

Although these events were optional it seemed a shame not to take full advantage of everything that was being offered by the Bridge Awards. I still had enough time to work on my own project and to take a forty-minute run in the surrounding countryside every day.

View from one of my runs

I would encourage all creatives, if you get a chance, to apply to Cove Park. The staff are amazing, friendly, helpful, engaged and caring. I would love to go back so will continue to receive their newsletter and scan for other opportunities to do just that.

Before leaving, we five Bridge Awardees had formed a special relationship which will carry forward into our own separate worlds.

Sunset view from my writing desk

* A Thing So Delicate – The Hidden Voices of Scotland’s Mass Concrete Viaducts

By Moira McPartlin and Colin Baird

‘A thing so delicate that the fairies might have built it’ JJ Bell, of the Glenfinnan Viaduct

A Thing So Delicate is a hybrid, high-concept project that tells the stories of Scotland’s major mass concrete viaducts built at the height of the Victorian railway mania. It is a creative and curated mix of nonfiction, social history, fiction, poetry, travel writing and fact files, as well as photographs. There are twenty mass concrete viaducts (plus many smaller arches) in Scotland, constructed between 1880 and 1904, in a bid to bring the railway and in turn prosperity to remote areas. The project is a collaboration between author, Moira McPartlin and her husband, civil engineer and photographer, Colin Baird.
@a_thing_so_delicate