Over 2023, Caught by the River will be sentencing writers to serve time in a tower in a far corner of these islands. Bill Drummond elaborates…
The Curfew Tower under Spaghetti Junction painted by The Elderly Gentleman
Photograph taken by Tracey Moberly
May 2023
Morning Folks,
What follows under this letter to you is a letter written late last year. This was during my time as The Elderly Gentleman. But The Elderly Gentleman’s letter was never sent. Many of the letters written by The Elderly Gentleman were never sent.
But…
All of what is written in the letter still stands. In fact the process is already underway – except the reality of the ‘large black book’. As in the book binder who had been commissioned to make the book went bust. Thus those serving time in The Curfew Tower have had rely on the more traditional method of writing in their laptop.
As for me, The Elderly Gentleman seems to be a thing of the past, I am now a local artist. But my locality seems to drift with the wind.
Yours,
a local artist
Tuesday the 6th of December 2022
Dear Reader,
We have all committed crimes against creation, even if you have never been judged and found guilty for your crimes.
Thus…
It is time to serve time for those crimes.
If you were to be sentenced to spend up to a month in a tower in a far corner of these islands for your crimes against creation…
And…
Part of your sentence was that you were to write an unspecified number of words about whatever you might think others might think natural history was…
And…
This unspecified number of words would have so be some of the best that you have ever written.
And…
If you did not get these words written, you would be sent to a detention centre called home…
And…
You would have to write the words long-hand using pencil in a large black book provided…
And…
You could never take that book away after you had been released from the tower…
Because…
The next person who will be serving a similar sentence to you, will have to write a further unspecified number of words in the same book.
And…
This would carry on until the book was full.
And this book would have the title The Natural History of Cushendall…
What would you write about?
As it happens, I have no interest in what you would write about until you have written it.
Yours Sincerely,
The Elderly Gentleman
Post Script:
The Curfew Tower is a tower in the centre of a small town called Cushendall on the Antrim Coast in northeast Ireland.
The Curfew Tower has history.
A dark history.
The Curfew Tower is a Wi-Fi free zone.
The Curfew Tower is difficult to get to unless you live in Cushendun or Waterfoot.
If you need to know more put “The Curfew Tower, Cushendall” into Google.
The Natural History of Selbourne is the name of another book written by the Reverend Gilbert White first published in 1789. The Natural History of Selbourne is one of the greatest books ever written.
The Natural History of Cushendall is the name of the book to be written by twelve different people, each of whom will be spending up to a month in The Curfew Tower in the year of 2023.
Caught by the River are to be the judge and jury as to who is to be sentenced to time in the Curfew Tower in 2023.
Caught by the River has history. If you are reading this you should know what some of that history is.