Thirty people form a procession along Walcot Street, Bath. They are linked

hand-to-hand by a thick woollen thread. The thread has been spun into a ball over the previous 18 months by the artist Gail Barker. It is now half-a-mile long.

 

When the wool-linked line of peole reaches its destination, Walcot Chapel, Gail's fellow artists transfer the remaining thread - from a ball at the back of the procession to the front. Louise Sayarer is at the tail of the line, Eva Vikstrom at its head.

 

This act of threading a line of wool through the hands of the old, the young and the

in-between has a compelling effect on all the participants. Most of them find the experience strangely meditative and reassuring, as they discover themselves reflecting on the passing of time, on life moving towards the inevitability of death, on the solace of shared rituals and the helping hands of others. Only a few find themselves agitated and ill-at-ease.

 

In a final open conversation, on the grass of the Walcot Chapel graveyard,  most participants agree that this had been a surprisingly affirmative experience - and they look forward to getting together again soon - to perform the silent ritual again.