Spalding Gentlemen’s Society celebrates launch of ARTeFACT trail project

A new trail of art installations that have been placed on buildings around Spalding has been officially launched.

It took place at Spalding Gentlemen’s Society Museum, Broad Street, on Saturday and the trail is aimed to encourage residents and visitors to appreciate the town’s heritage in the ARTeFACT project.

It is a collaboration between Spalding Gentlemen’s Society, Transported and artists Steven Hatton and Neil Baker from Electric Egg featuring eight etched brass pieces on building’s exteriors, with an interactive mobile phone app that brings the etchings to life.

Some 80 visitors descended upon the museum to see the final designs with the location of where to find them with many more taking shelter in the gazebo in Market Place due to the weather.

Eleanor Chadd, care of collections, Spalding Gentlemen’s Society, said: “There was a mix of adults and children and it was really nice to see people everywhere.

“Groups could go around and see the plaques with the companion app.

“The weather was showery with enormous hailstones but despite that it was good to get people learning about the heritage of Spalding.

“Spalding is a historic market town with a lot of history and this is a good way to introduce and see the plaques and interact with them in a different way with the animated aspect on the phone.”

Petronella Keeling, chair of the Gentlemen’s Society said: “This was in collaboration with the Arts Council’s Taking the Museum into the Town project.

“It creates interest in the museum and brass rubbings can also be taken from the plaques.”

Visit www.sgsoc.org for further information about the trail and society.

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