On Wednesday 17 September (at the somewhat awkwardly timed slot of 2 to 4 pm that had been allocated to us) we had the opportunity to collaborate with the Association for Art History and Goldsmiths, University of London by taking part in the Association’s Art History Festival.

The week long festival offered free events in various locations around the UK, that introduced general audiences to different aspects of art history. The festival theme was “Art and Nature” which made an event in the Green focused around our labyrinth a great fit.

We had seven attendees. Not many, but it made for a relaxed and friendly session. The focus was practical – we began and ended with labyrinth walks and enjoyed doing this in groups. As one person put it: “It was good to walk around the labyrinth with others. An entirely different experience.”  But I also brought along my archive of labyrinth images for people to look through. We discussed examples that particularly captured people’s imaginations and talked about their histories. Here, for example, is one of the earliest known examples of the same (7-circuit classical) labyrinth design we have on the Green. It is a petroglyph found in Galicia, Spain and is over 4,000 years old.

Preparatory to the event – at the Saturday 13 September volunteer workday on the Green – we did another round of labyrinth repair, including weeding, and reshaping where necessary, and adding a fresh layer of gravel and shingle to the labyrinth path. Many thanks to Travis Perkins in Forest Hill for delivering the materials at short notice.