Key People
The following people are working on the Interpretation Management Plan.
Key PeopleKey People
Q. Norman Bissell: author profile/CV
Norman Bissell writes poetry, essays and reviews which have been widely published in literary journals, books and newspapers. He is also a very experienced teacher and lecturer.
His poems have appeared in The Scotsman, Cencrastus, Classwork, island, Luing Newsletter, Open World and Scottish Book Collector, the booklet Circles and Lines and the books The Reckoning, Making Soup in a Storm (New Writing Scotland 24) and The Dynamics of Balsa (New Writing Scotland 25).
His first poetry collection Slate, Sea and Sky, A Journey from Glasgow to the Isle of Luing, accompanied by photographs by Oscar Marzaroli, was published by Luath Press in January 2008. It received daily national press and radio news coverage and has been critically acclaimed by the Director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival and other poets.
His articles on cultural issues and book and music reviews have been published in The Herald, The Scotsman, the Scottish Educational Journal, The Keelie, Cencrastus, Chapman, Edinburgh Review, island, Northwords, West Coast, Classwork, the Luing Newsletter, in the books The Reckoning and Grounding a World: Essays on the work of Kenneth White, and in the papers of the Scottish Trade Union Research Network.
He has featured at many festivals and cultural events including Celtic Connections, Changin’ Scotland, the Nairn Book and Arts Festival, Aye Write Book Festival, Edinburgh’s Ceilidh Culture and the forthcoming Edinburgh International Book Festival.
His interest in geopoetics and the work of Kenneth White led him to found and lead the Open World Poetics group from 1989 to 1999 and to become the director of the Scottish Centre for Geopoetics from August 2002 until the present. He is currently researching and writing a biography of Oscar Marzaroli.
He has an MA (Honours) degree in philosophy and history from the University of Glasgow, was principal teacher of history at Braidhurst High School in Motherwell and a former member of the Scottish Examination Board history panel. He has given lectures to undergraduate and post-graduate student teachers at the former St Andrew’s College of Education and the University of Glasgow, and at the University of Edinburgh Office of Lifelong Learning. From 1996 until 2007 he was a full-time EIS Area Officer providing advice, representation, and training to EIS members working in nursery, primary, secondary and further education in much of west central Scotland.
He now concentrates on writing full-time from his home on the Isle of Luing in Argyll where he is a director of the Isle of Luing Community Trust and Chairman of the Luing Horticultural Society. His other interests include ecology, natural history, walking and chess, having once played for junior Scotland in the Glorney Cup.
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Q. Steve Pardue: Designer and interpretator
My experience, I suppose, is one of working at the hard edge of advertising, for agencies such as Redheads, Moss and Design Group. The type of work in those days was typically drawn from industries such as house builders (Bellway), development agencies (Cameron Hall, English Estates) and retail (Metrocentre).
For the last twenty or so years I have worked on my own focusing on the kind of work that interests me and have developed my company Differentia around this work.
Such work includes environmental and work that has a social benefit. In recent years, this has taken me to the west coast of Scotland working on interpretation projects on Islands and small communities in Fort William and Oban. These projects include designing and managing the production of interpretation panels as well as writing management plans for cycle paths.
Other projects that are nearer to home include working with local authorities and organisations producing education packs, information booklets, branding projects and websites.
My interest in social enterprises and community projects has brought to the Blue Card Project. This is a project working with a group of adults with learning difficulties in a branding project. This involves design/art/writing/business development. The ultimate aim is to leave the project as a sustainable project with a suite of publicity material that the group can take forward and use to develop their business and their own skills.
The background that I have in Advertising and knowledge of branding and marketing and the specialist knowledge of interpretation allows us to add to the mix a whole range of services allowing our clients to draw upon that expertise as and when.
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Q. Carol Collis
Carol Collis is a Chartered Landscape Architect, and has lived and worked on Seil, just south of Oban, for the last twenty years, after spending time working for private practices in Glasgow, Bristol and Bath.
She has worked on a variety of landscape projects including Environmental Improvement Studies in both rural and urban areas, on mainland Argyll and the islands, and the Implementation of subsequent schemes. Other work includes the Landscape Visual Assessment for development projects, garden design, ornamental and native planting schemes, contemporary design interventions, associated with Listed or Historic Building and their settings, and the design of outdoor furniture and other decorative elements such as pedestrian bridges, and boardwalks in metal and wood.
In addition to her work as a Landscape Architect, she has been involved in the practical repair and conservation of Historic Buildings, as part of the team working for specialist conservation contractors on stonework repairs and re-pointing of Gylen Castle on Kerrera, and harling and lime-washing the Great Hall of Stirling Castle.
In recent years she has had a close working association with the North Argyll Community Trust. This involves close working with Voluntary Sector, Community Groups, and Funding Bodies, on a number of projects including, Equine Facilitated Learning in Kilmelford, Making Taynuilt Plastic Bag Free, a Green Space Audit for Oban, and work with Appin Strategy Group on new walks and interpretation in the area.
Outside work, her other interests include cycle touring, mountain biking and sea kayaking, and bee-keeping. She was a founder member of the Oban Mountain Rescue Team, and is still the Hon Secretary.
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