In a couple of weeks time, I will be making my way to stay with my Mum in Robin Hoods Bay. When I'm away for too long I get that familiar feeling that I cannot explain, joy, excitement, nostalgia..I'm not sure but perodically this tiny village where I grew up heals something in me.
No other place on earth makes me feel so safe and encased as Robin Hoods Bay does, time seems to stop there. The same old Yorkshire fisherman sit in the same spot in the local pub playing cards, they seems to have been doing that since I was eight years old, there is a certain comfort in that.
Here is me and my sister on the one hundred and ninety nine steps in Whitby, the nearest town a few miles from Robin Hoods Bay. She is kissing me and I'm sulking for some reason. The one next to it is my lovely Mum, its the winter of 2005 I think, cant be sure but the hills looked so beautiful in the village that year.
And this is the Georgian church at the top of the village where I had my first exhibition, it was such a special experience. The church was always filled with lilies and the smell will always remind me of my time there. My exhibition was a combination of my textiles and poetry. My poems are still in the church now to help raise funds for the church, buy one if you're ever passing : )
I feel so lucky to have grown up in such a unique place, Robin Hoods Bay always gives me something when I go back and constantly fuels my creativity. My Mum lives at the top of the bank and Christmas especially is one of my favourite times of year there. I will be taking a lot of photographs when I go back this time for the new canvas' I'm doing, the autumnal colours of the fields and rock pools on the beach are the perfect source of inspiration for any artist. This place has given to me in many ways and know it will throughout my whole life. Some places, but very few, never change.
I feel the same in so many ways although there is a huge amount of sadness as well as beauty and security tied up in my feelings about Bay. It feels like, as my family relinquishes its physical links to the place, everyone is reminding me how connected I feel to it. Of course its just a sensitivity I have at the moment.
ReplyDeleteI can only cope with the thought of losing my home there by focusing and being certain that it is the place and the people that matter and though my physical relationship to Robin Hood's Bay will change, my emotional entanglement with it will not. Thank you for your reflections, from a fellow child of Bay
Although the house will no longer be yours the Bay always will, it never leaves ya ; )like I said, some things never change x
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