Thor of Thurcroft
Thor the Guardian Troll of Thurcroft, has heeded the call from the young people of the village.
They have been working with the artists Lenny and Whale, and by using art and other creative activities, the young people realised that Thurcroft needed an environmental champion, and Thor soon followed. Thor has taken up residence on the green field in the middle of the village, known as ‘the rec’.
With the help of storyteller Rob Young, some young people in the village recorded some of Thor’s recent adventures, and they have been collected into a book for every child in the village to read. We are certain that more adventures will be written in the coming years as more people get to know Thor and capture more of his daring adventures.
We know he is planning on planting some lovely wildflowers where he is staying in the spring and maybe some other environmentally friendly things will appear around him.
Thor would like to thank everyone who has welcomed him to Thurcroft, and he can not wait to meet you.
Audiobooks read by local artist Chris Bilton
Thor Books
Acknowledgements:
A huge thank you needs to be said to a great many people and organisations that have been working together over the last four years to see the installation of Thor completed.
This has been a co-created project, which means no one knew what the outcome would be at the start, and we had to have faith in the creative process, which has not always been easy.
Lots of people and organisations were invited to from the Thurcroft Creatives group, to encourage as a wide a representation from people working to the improvement of Thurcroft as possible, and this included young people.
After a period of consultation, three themes emerged, and were presented at the village fair for the residents to vote for. A clear favourite, with more votes than the other two proposals combined, was something for young children and families to engage with, a focal point for picnics.
An artists brief was developed and the Thurcroft Creatives group selected the artists to carry out the research through creative workshops with young people, and that is how the idea of Thor came about. We were all very surprised, but ultimately delighted with this idea.
While Thor was being ‘born’ we were able to secure extra funding to help bring him to life through stories, which we hope will continue on as an annual event.
There is a great deal of work for Thor to do, he will not be idle, and he may even attract some his friends to help out, keeping the village green and beautiful.
None of this work would have been possible without the support of the RMBC Neighbourhood Team, who have been absolutely fantastic all the way through, which required a leap of faith and a lot of toil in the background.
The funding for Thor came through money secured from the Sawn Moor housing development planning Section 106, and the storytelling funding came through the RMBC Building Safer Communities initiatives, the printing of the book to ensure every child in the village could receive a copy, was supported through local donations- all listed in the publication itself.
The Thurcroft Creatives includes representation from, the Youth Club, The Hub, Thurcroft Parish Council, Big Local, local Councillors, Thurcroft Junior School, RMBC neighbourhoods and different individuals over the duration of the project.