In their highest boughs the world rustles, their roots rest in infinity’
Herman Hesse Trees: Reflections and Poems
A meditation on the changing environment of Bellsdyke hospital, read by patients and staff, inspired by recollections and a landscape architects ‘tree survey’ of the former Bellsdyke Estate.
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Field and voice recordings made in and around the grounds of Bellsdyke Hospital, combined with the sounds of the area’s forgotten industries.
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Mrs Robb’s Conversation is a collaborative sound collage for radio intervention by Sharon Quigley and Robert Baldock with text read by Occupational Therapists at Bellsdyke Hospital and visual artists Elaine Rutherford and Linda Downie.
In February 2014, as part of my residency research, I volunteered to clean the patients case books, archiving enclosures. My task involved the removal of all loose material, mainly correspondence, notes and clinical charts, recording page numbers and marking where items were removed from. All pins, staples and paper clips had be carefully removed.
By the assistance of letters the memory of past things is preserved
Digital print
2015
In the years between 1906 and 1911 teachers, excise officers, soldiers, clerks of court and foundry workers were amongst the hundreds of patients entering Stirling District Asylum for treatment and care.The breadth of these occupations indicates the indiscriminate nature of mental ill health but also reflects a long gone industrial and agricultural heritage, within which the former Bellsdyke Hospital and grounds were set. Many of these occupations no longer exist and the industry which once set this area out as Scotland’s industrial heartland, has gone.
From 6.30pm – 10pm on Saturday 16 January, Robert Baldock and Sharon Quigley will be presenting the second staging of their improvised audio/visual piece which uses imagery from the archive as is source material. These images are processed and modulated using the sounds of some of the industries represented in the list of patients’ occupations which can be seen here.
Bangour first opened in 1906 as Edinburgh District Asylum, to meet the demands of an ever-growing population in need of asylum care and treatment within the district. One of the first village-plan psychiatric units in Scotland, the site is situated 14 miles west of Edinburgh, and covers a vast 600 acres
Dr George M Robertson – a champion of non-restraint and women nurses on men’s wards.
The British Journal of Nursing, May 19th 1906 Continue reading
Staring at the Ceiling Looking at the Stars 
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