Silhouettesman

Well, we've been a bit quiet recently at Silhouettesman Towers as a little bit of normality resumed for a couple of months anyway. We have some ideas for when times get a bit 'lockydowny' again and are looking forward to putting these wheels in motion.

It was great that some of the team were out to put up the nativity again at St Andrew's Parish Church West Linton which is still looking fantastic and with the amazing Christmas lights in West Linton are there to put us all in the mood for Christmas.

We wanted to post a photograph of the nativity again, but unfortunately, the weather has been a bit, erm... .dreich. So we were very delighted when Fiona Jayne Hall posted her Christmas Card painting of the scene on West Linton this afternoon. It's a stunning picture!

It's been a long tough year for most, so we hope you're able to press pause, even just for a day or two, and catch some 'me time'.

We know we've not been out in all weathers, chasing Mary, Joseph, camels and sheep around the district, but if you are minded to do so, it would be great if you can put a couple of quid on our JustGiving page created last year. It's incredible. You have raised more than £4,200 for Shelter since the page went live!

Here's the link below:
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/silhouettesmannativity

and don't forget to have a look at to see more fantastic art works.

Wishing you all a restful Christmas and all the very best for 2022.

A big shout out also to the various individuals and companies who supported the installation through the supply of materials either for free or at cost.

Brian Hewite BHC Building Merchants
Andy Barr St Andrews Timber and Building Supplies Ltd
Alan Stewart Building Services
Andy Johnson from MGM Timber Ltd

That was a lot of material and without it, we wouldn't have been able to make the 'horse blanks' for you all to so creatively paint/ colour/ glue/ stick etc.

Silhouettesman has been blown away by the response to the latest project with our horse parade on the Lower Green, forming the Virtual Rideout for Whipman 2021.

We would like to thank team Silhouettesman who have been incredible in giving up their time over the last couple of months for meetings, cutting out a large number of horses and riders as well as getting these delivered and collected from all of our talented artists in West Linton.

We also had a new ‘top secret’ lair at South Slipperfield where we were given plenty of space to come and go as we needed. Thanks to the D***s family for our temporary housing.

A massive thanks to everyone who took the time to paint, decorate and customise their horses (and unicorns) to create such a fabulous display on the Lower Green. It really has added a dimension to the Lower Green walk around the two bridges.

Shaz was a great help in collecting the names and payments for WHipman funds from the artists for the larger horses. He also commissioned the Duke of Wellington, complete with a traffic cone on his head to welcome everyone to the display.

Finally, thanks to the Whipman committee for being so supportive of our idea and lending us some ex-whipman to help make the horses. This has been a fun collaboration.

I think you’ll all agree, it has been well worth it. Might we ask something in return?

Last year we used our installations to raise considerable funds for the mental health charity ‘Tiny Changes’ and also for ‘Shelter Scotland’. With the horse parade, we’re keen to raise money again for another worthwhile cause.

The discussion in our group as to which cause to raise money for went back and forth before an absolutely unanimous decision that The Brain Tumour Charity be supported by us for this project.
Brain tumours are the biggest cancer killer of children and adults under 40 and in recent times, sadly too many people in West Linton are aware of the devastating affect a brain tumour can have on an individual, family and their community.

The Brain Tumour Charity is fighting to defeat brain tumours through many different initiatives from funding research to helping those suffering with tumours to have an improved quality of life. You can read more about the charity and the work they do here: https://www.thebraintumourcharity.org

So, in the hope that we can assist them with their goals, we have set up a new JustGiving page to help raise funds for this incredible charity and the work they do. We are aware this has been a tough year for everyone, but if you can spare a few pounds to put onto our page, that would be very gratefully appreciated.
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/silhouettesmanhorseparade
We have more ideas for future projects in the pipeline. Thank you again for your support.
SM.

Silhouettes's West Linton Horse Parade Silhouettesman/ Whipman 2021 Help Silhouettes Man raise money to support The Brain Tumour Charity

A massive thanks to team Silhouettesman for knocking it out of the park last night by knocking around 120 stakes into the Lower Green and putting up all your horses by headtorch. We're pretty sure it was starting to get light again by the time we finished!

What a beautiful display of local talent and creativity to celebrate our Whipman and Lass.

We even had time to build a special commission for Shaz. Silhouettesman's contribution to the Lower Green parade and a welcome bit of humour to what has been a very challenging year.

We hope you enjoy walking around the bridges loop. It'll be a slow start for us today but we're looking forward to seeing you all down there later on.

Please share your photos and tag them and . We'll be posting more here over the next few days.

That's a lot of horses now varnished and stabled up ready for showing themselves off at the on Saturday. We have about forty fillies eager to parade themselves on the Lower Green.

We guarantee you are going to love it! We have been overwhelmed by the effort and skill put into these fine animals and their riders.

One last thing, on behalf of all the artists who used glitter on their horses, Silhouettesman thanks you. The Silhouettesmanmobile will never look quite the same again. Serves him right for driving with a car full of glittery horses with the windows down.

a Silhouettesman appeal! we're varnishing all your amazing horses to give them some protection against the elements. The horses are thirsty so we're going through a lot more than we thought. Has anyone got any tins of exterior grade varnish in their sheds? if so can you drop off outside the Village Centre this evening? Thank you.
UPDATE: we're good. Thanks for the offers.

We thought we'd share one last one that we've been sent by West Linton Early Learners! Another beautiful horse and rider for the virtual rideout.

We are going to be collecting the horses from Monday evening next week. Silhouettesman towers is going to be a busy place getting the horses varnished and stands made up ready for install next week.

Thanks
SM

Check this out! Another one of the smaller horses ready for the parade. This time from Westies. What a lot of colour!

We've also had a sneak preview of one of the larger horses. Oh my word! Are we in for a treat. A masterpiece!

We're getting very excited now for the virtual rideout. We hope you're getting well with your horses. Keeping them fed and watered.

Collections will be starting on Monday next week so not much time left. If you are having any issues, please let us know. We're here to help.

How is everyone getting on with their horses? Have you made friends yet?

We received this photo from the Tea and Tots group at Baddinsgill who apparently had a great time decorating their horse and rider. Why not give them a name too?

Well that was thirsty work! 20 horses and riders delivered this evening for lockdown Whipman 2021. Do you best people! Thankfully the Gordon Arms Hotel was serving cold beers.

Meet Colin. We've now finished cutting and building the large horses at Silhouettesman Towers (or is it a lair? a lair would be cool). We've a good number of Colins and a similar number of Rosies to be delivered later on today.
Thanks to the team for their time helping put these together. Soon it's going to be over to you to get the creative juices flowing and be inspired.
We can't wait to see these all around the Lower Green for the virtual rideout.

We had almost forgotten about this. Earlier this year we were interviewed for The People's Friend! Not only is it the world's longest running women's magazine, but it also has great articles on Silhouettes in West Linton. Pop into Shaz for your copy.

So here's the second part in our Silhouettesman/ Whipman announcement for lockdown Whipman 2021. Something for the big kids/ adults out there.

A limited number of these are available from Tuesday, so get your names down and good luck.

So, from Monday we're going to be delivering these along with some colouring in sheets to West Linton Primary School, pre-school, Newlands Primary School, Westies, The West Linton Nursery and Tea and Tots. There are enough for one per class.

Following some anonymous accusations this evening on one of our local pages, we would like to clear some things up.

Whilst creating and installing our silhouettes, we observed social distancing. We used our own designated hand, power tools and paint brushes. We sanitised. We wore masks. We only installed these within the allowances of the government guidelines at the time. In the process, we made a lot of people happy and raised a lot of money for two very important charities.

For someone to try and out us this evening on social media whilst firing a number of accusations regarding spreading COVID is unbelievable. If you have any issues or concerns with Silhouettesman please feel free to direct message us on our page.

Silhouettesman HQ has just received an email confirming you have helped us to be in the top 1% of fundraising projects for December on JustGiving! That is just incredible news.

We know, especially after today's announcement, that we are in very challenging times, so we would just like to extend a massive thank you to everyone who has donated, commented and shared our posts for the Silhouettesman nativity project.

We know Shelter Scotland will be equally as happy as we are with the current total of £4,145 raised for such a fantastic cause.

You can see our amazing total here:
https://justgiving.com/fundraising/silhouettesmannativity

Now into 2021, we have some ideas....watch this space

Silhouettesman had an early start this morning. We snuck out and quickly drew around Rudolph before Santa started his rounds.

He's on the Lower Green in West Linton if you'd like to go visit him.

Silhouettesman is off to enjoy a breakfast of black coffee, some burnt toast with black pudding now.

Have a great Christmas everybody and thanks for all your support this year for Tiny Changes and Shelter Scotland . It means a lot.

So how do you keep a global pandemic and Brexit off the front pages of a national newspaper? With some well placed silhouettes I guess.

Silhouettesman and our nativity project to raise funds for Shelter Scotland hits the front page of The Scotsman today.

Thanks to our local children who helped to brighten up the photograph for the papers. Seeing them enjoy the nativity certainly put us in the festive spirit. #

Please like and share our posts and the link to our JustGiving page: which is still going up! amazing.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/SilhouettesManNativity

West Linton nativity had a lot of young visitors this morning after we put our bat signal up for help.

We had short notice that agents for national press were visiting to take photos.

Hopefully this will result in more coverage for our Shelter Scotland fundraising efforts: www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Silhouettesmannativity

That was some journey! It all becomes clear.

The star, the angels, Mary and Joseph with their donkey, the wise men and the shepherds: even Hamish the piper.

We have a Silhouettesman nativity scene at St Andrew's Parish Church West Linton.

It was a miserable, dark and rainy evening for their arrival but we hope they lift your spirits for Christmas 2020.

Thanks to everyone's generosity so far, our total has now exceeded our £2,020 target (£2,480 at last count) but we don't want to stop there! We have a few more days left until Christmas and Silhouettesman has a couple more surprises in store.

Please, if you haven't donated yet, please help Shelter Scotland continue their great work in 2021 by donating here: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/SilhouettesManNativity

If you're not able to donate, please like and share our posts.

We're calling weekend. Have a great Christmas week and we'll see you shortly for some more silhouettes antics.

well this is exciting. West Linton's silhouettes are in the news. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-55266179

The 'ghost' silhouettes popping up in a Scottish Borders village Residents of West Linton have seen all kinds of creatures appear since the Covid pandemic began.

You may have noticed today that our silhouettes are all beginning to congregate on the Lower Green in West Linton. They seem to have been guided there by something?

It was wonderful to see everyone, young and old, enjoying them today.

Following a door to door search for overnight accommodation in the village on Wednesday evening, we’re hoping the Mary, Joseph and donkey are going to find a roof over their heads soon.

We also have a wee treat in store for you next week as we follow some of their journey more closely.

Silhouettesman is undertaking this project with the support of St Andrew's Parish Church West Linton and we are raising money for Shelter Scotland. Their work is so important, especially following this tumultuous year. We have been provided with some statistics from Shelter Scotland regarding homelessness in Scotland and it is incredible reading given the times we are living in.

The figures for 2019/ 20 show that 31,333 households, 8,833 families and 15,711 children were made homeless in Scotland in this period. That’s one household every 17 minutes, one family every hour and a child for every 33 minutes of the year. Huge figures like these can be difficult to comprehend so we have some more detailed stories to share with you later.

West Linton has been so incredible so far helping our fundraising efforts and a special thanks to all the West Linton businesses that helped us with our project this week.

We are way over halfway to socking it to the monster that was 2020 by raising £2,020 for Shelter to help people. You can help us to help Shelter by donating some of your hard earned money to our JustGiving page here: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/SilhouettesManNativity

Startled by the West Linton hippos, the shepherds and their sheep have become separated somewhere in the middle of the village. Can you please be on the look out for the shepherds and their sheep tomorrow? If you see them, please share a photograph to West Linton page with a so we can find them again.

Our justgiving total for Shelter Scotland is already over half way to our £2,020 goal. If you are enjoying the nativity silhouettes, please put a couple of quid on there. It all makes a difference.

Thanks to St Andrew's Parish Church West Linton for their support on this project.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/SilhouettesManNativity

Bringing back for the run up to Christmas 2020 has been incredibly rewarding. 2020 has been a slog. For many it has been just difficult but for many others it has been one tragedy after another. It is just not a year to remember and it looks to be some time yet before we start to see normality resume.

Despite the truly awful events of 2020, a back to basics reset has also been a breath of fresh air for many: a time to pause and take stock of what is important to us; an opportunity to reassess how we live our lives; a return to family and community. is privileged to be part of the amazing family that is West Linton, and to see people’s reactions to the silhouettes first-hand and on Facebook, as well as hearing the stories surrounding their interactions are so uplifting.

This week, Silhouettesman had a Zoom call with a representative from the charity Shelter Scotland. We talked about how Silhouettesman had come about (born of a Last of the Summer Wine mentality, and a need for mischief) and how it had surprisingly developed into a release from stress and the impact it was having on our mental health, witnessing how it was helping others around us too.

It has been a joy.

Shelter Scotland loved the project and have given us their 100% support. Shelter were amazed at the supportive network we have in West Linton and agreed how lucky we are to have this. We will be providing more details about Shelter and the vital work they do over the coming week.

Supporting this charity that tackles homelessness and those in need of help with housing and mental health seems particularly poignant at this time of year, when Silhouettesman has been working with St Andrew's Parish Church West Linton. Silhouettesman was asked to help with the and we are starting to follow Mary and Joseph around the village in their search for shelter, and a roof over their heads.

Please keep an eye out for the Nativity characters and post and share your photos and thoughts when you see them with the tag (that’s with an ‘s’ in the middle- there’s some guy in Utah who is now aware of West Linton and Silhouettesman!).

A quick newsflash for the village as well, the BBC would like to run a gallery on their news site of the best Silhouettesman images, but that’s a story for another day.

Please keep sharing and donating to our Justgiving page. It’s already at £700 which is just amazing!

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/silhouettesmannativity

Silhouettesman updated their website address.