At exactly the same time Stephen was running a workshop on Orkney, his sometime helper, Matthew, organised two workshops 700 miles away for the London Diaspora to be given a chance to contribute. The nearest underground station was aptly named ‘Caledonian Road’ and they painted away happily in a smart refurbished church hall. Matthew was concerned that a lot of the 300,000 Scots living in London were going to turn up at the same moment but, in the event, numbers were manageable because of the complete shutdown of the Piccadilly line for both workshops! Hardy Burns enthusiasts, not put off by such an inconvenience, used buses and the resulting paintings were really creative, many making it into the final artwork.
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