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​Human Ploughing Match
2007
Woodend Barn
Banchory, Aberdeenshire

​A participatory event that brought together 10 community teams to compete against one another to draw the straightest furrow. The friendly competition took place in a stubble field adjacent to Woodend Barn in Banchory, Aberdeenshire. Each team comprised of a ploughman and ten individuals who were harnessed to an old wooden plough donated by Alford Heritage Centre for the performance. The plough itself and the 'horses' each carried microphones during the performance and this audio narrative is captured in the film soundtrack. Throughout the day, over one hundred people joined together to pull the plough in celebratory remembrance of seasonal and communal land workings in the North East of Scotland. Godspeed! The Human Plough.

Teams included The Banchory Rugby Team; The Banchory Orienteering`Club; Gray's School of Art Team A + B; The Knockespoch Estate Team amongst several others. The straightness of the furrow was judged by The Head of Painting at Gray's School of Art, Keith Grant.
Following the labour, everyone enjoyed a ploughman's lunch in the warm September air outside Woodend Barn. Medals, rosettes and wooden spoons were presented to mark the occasion. 

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Filmed by Garry Williams; Edited by David Blyth.
​The project was funded by Scottish Arts Council.
Thanks to Woodend Barn, Buchanan's Food, ​Alford Heritage Centre, All participants and contributors to the event.