Celebrating the Hebrides Time and Tide Bell

By Gregg Adams

“Land and the sea”

As part of a permanent coastal installation of 12 around Britain, Bosta beach will be the latest location to install a Time and Tide Bell.

At a ceremony this afternoon the bell will be inaugurated, followed by a celebration ceilidh this evening.

The Time and Tide bells work with the rise and fall of the tides, with the water at high tide moving the clapper to strike the bell. Played by the movement of the waves, the bell creates a constantly varying musical pattern.

The idea of the Time and Tide Bell is to create, celebrate, and reinforce connections, between different parts of the country, between the land and the sea, between the community and their environment.

“Physical structure”

Creator of the bells, sculpter Marcus Vergette explains the process of creating a unique installation in each location: “At each site I would encourage the host community to have a creative engagement with the bell, and through the bell to their own environment.

“The community will be invited to create an inscription to imprint their identity onto the bell, physically and symbolically.

Developing the text of this inscription would develop out of the process of consultation, to include talks, workshops, and public meetings.

“Additionally to the inscription there would be a process of consultation and discussions on the frequency of the ring, volume levels, and quality of the sound, so the bell says what those who experience it want it to say.

“Although the basic physical structure of the bell stays the same in each site, each bell will also be unique to its own site.”