City Bank 2

City Bank

The area known as City Bank in the South East part of Cirencester forms a band of land that runs alongside the West bank of the river. It is an area characterized by a combination green open space natural regeneration, allotments and recreational playing fields. As I explored the river I became more and more interested in this area (This also showed up as one of the richest Water Vole habitats along the river). The City Bank area proved itself to be rich in heritage, wildlife, social interaction and cultural interest, the video installation at the Lido introduced me to a number of people who lived there including Jaqui Stearn, who gave me a rainy day time guided tour and cup of tea.

The City Bank area also features heavily in the first draft of Cotswold District Council document 'Towards a Vision for Cirencester Town Center'- First Draft 2007. This highlights the local group 'City Bank Tales', as well as consultation with local schools who have been consulted over potential visions for the area.

Cotswold District Council Town Center plan

As an experiment I organised a night time walk along the river between the abbey gate and City Bank. The purpose of this event was to explore the potential of this area, whilst opening the possibilities for dialogue with local people. On cold rainy night (beset with vehicle problems) we gathered a small group of intrepid walkers and took off along a preplanned route laid out with fire cans. During the walk we were treated to some excellent history and childhood tales from local amateur historian Nigel Mott. Images of adjacent corn field (now houses), childhood minnow dipping and swimming along sections of the Churn (now quite overgrown and litter strewn) filled our imaginations in the darkness.

After visiting the site on a number of occasions I started to envisage a number of projects, social interventions, exhibition and other events that could take place along this section of the river.

See Proposals for potential outcomes