‘End of the Game’ commemorates the sound of the last game at Milton Road and provides a catalyst with which to celebrate the new community at Michams Park.

 

The sound of the crowd who came to watch Cambridge City play at the Milton Road Ground, was identified by the KickstART project as important to the surrounding community and so the idea of commissioning a 'site memory |  sound response' came about and Frances Crow of Liminal was commissioned to consider the response.

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The sound of the football crowd is a ‘soundmark’ that defined the area every Saturday. Following Cambridge City Football Club’s move to a new ground, this ‘soundmark’ is now only a memory.

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This lost soundmark signified the coming together of a community, whether they watched the game or only heard it from a distance. At 3pm every Saturday, on ‘the whistle,’ play began. Now only those people, who lived around the ground when the game was played at Milton Road, remember the sound.

 

An engraved brass whistle has been hung discreetly in each new home  built on the site of the old football ground. The whistle remains silent except for once, annually, when it may be blown at 3pm within a 90-minute period, on the Saturday closest to the date of the last Cambridge City game held at the Milton Road football ground.

 

Each brass whistle is encased in a small timber and Perspex box. A clause inserted into the property deeds describes the whistle; when it can be blown and what happens to it when the property is sold again. Each of the whistles is engraved with the name of the project on one side of the barrel and on the other side the edition number. The whistles have been given out in order of each property sale. A publication of seven commemorative cards is stored at the back of the box which outline the wider project and the use of whistle. The design of the cards are influenced by memorabilia from the Cambridge City Football Club.

 

Liminal is an award winning collaborative arts practice, comprising architect Frances Crow and sound artist David Prior. Their work focuses on exploring the relationship between sound, listening and culture. www.liminal.org.uk