The seeds for “The Unwritten Letters Project” were sown in conversation between Stephen, my late music partner, and myself. Influenced by The Proclaimer’s song “Letter from America”, we were talking one day about the ‘clearance’ of land and industry to which the song refers. And we got to wondering, in a world where winners write the history, what might those denied power and possibility have said if only they’d been given opportunity.

With so many people moving and migrating around the world still our question felt to be burning. What is the lived experience of those in-migrants who call this country home? What stories can be read between the red-topped lines, the reports of “swarms on our streets”, the command to “halt the asylum tide”?

These questions soon turned into a project, the aim of which was to draw together artists, storytellers and musicians from near and far, with the intent to give voice to stories not yet heard, letters not yet written. There were exhibitions by Ian Collins (“Transient Landscapes”), Rhoda Meek (“A’ Tilleadhh”/”Returning”) and local schoolchildren (“Dear…”), music by Syrian classical guitarist, Ayman Jarjour and songs from my album “Skin over bone”, storytelling by Rosa Idziak MacPherson (“A Bit of Twig”), Brian MacLeod (“Where I eat my bread”) and Professor James Hunter (“We were migrants once”), and worship built around the theme “All of us belong”.

I would be delighted to hear from anyone wishing to host similar gatherings where they are.