The future’s bright… the future’s purple

Reporter: Catherine Smyth
Date online: 02 July 2010

BIG businesses sometimes have an empty chair at board meetings to symbolise the customer but in Rossendale things are different. 

Bacup-based charity REAL uses a purple blob to symbolise the people they are working for and now they are looking for other groups to sign up to the initiative 

Development officer Pat Smith said: “It sounds silly but the purple blob has a very serious point. When I came working here there was this blob in the middle of the table and people would place their hand on it during a meeting. “Then it was explained to me and it all started making sense. It is easy to forget when you are talking money or power or all the other things that get in your way that the person that matters in any organisation is the ordinary everyday person. “We all need to check what we are doing really does help people and the purple blob is our way of doing it.” 

Pat is an environmental artist and creates sculptures from live willow; she was part of the Littoral team that created the Concorde in Turn. She used her skills to weave a huge purple blob in time for Bacup and Stacksteads Carnival. “When I started with the willow sticks they were brittle on their own, but when I sculpted the ball and wove the sticks together the more I worked it the stronger it became,” said Pat. 

“It was exactly how people are, alone they often can’t make much of a difference but together they become a real force for the community and gain strength. “So we are offering to help groups become purple blob organisations. We are having the blobs manufactured and we have a pack that explains how it works.” 

At the carnival people were asked to write about their feelings about Rossendale and attach them to the willow ball. Many said how much they loved the area and didn’t want to leave, how beautiful it was. Several families had moved in and were amazed at the community spirit. 

Pat added: “I did not know what people would write but it was clear that there is a lot of community spirit in Rossendale and people found it a positive way of expressing their feelings. Other groups asked to use it for their organisations.” 

The purple willow blob will be in on show in the window of REAL in St James Street in the autumn.
Anyone wanting to find out more can contact Pat on 01706 871730.