Inspired by a post about the colour red from Kilbarchan NWR group, we chose to explore the colour blue.
As always, members had garnered fascinating information on all manner of blue-themed items: We learnt about the blue paint used in the paintings of Johannes Vermeer and others, arduously created from a paste of ground lapis lazuli;
the mining of Blue John stone, found nowhere in the world but amongst the rocks of Treak Cliff Hill, Castleton in the Peak District;
the origins and creation of Bristol Blue glass in the 1700s;
blue food (yes, really! – blue caviar anyone?);
blue Monday on the 3rd Monday in January, said to be the most depressing day of the year according to travel company, Sky Travel, in a 2005 advertising campaign;
the Blue Lagoon in Iceland, how it was created in the 1980s, how it gets its incredible colour (silica), and whether you can still get there (yes, at the time of writing);
the origins of blue denim (said to be serge de Nîmes in France) and the creation of blue jeans by Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis in the late 19th century, as well as how to prolong the life of your jeans and buy ‘greener’ denim;
the range of emotions associated with blue and its many hundreds of shades;
why many uniforms are blue;
and, to finish, a wonderful story by Mick Inkpen called The Blue Balloon read to us, Jackanory-style, by one of our members.