Projects

Return to main projects page

'Taking Stock' a CRP Book

A Celebration of Young People Projects

And Positive Partnerships

Project

The project was be in the form of a book produced by a mixed abilities ‘editorial steering group’ of young people from Sandown High School with Island 2000 and ‘Making Space’ publishing to celebrate the projects completed so far through the CRP.

Outputs

• It was be led by the young people who have predominantly worked on these projects setting up a ‘steering group’ with representatives from each project to collate the project information from those who took part and decide how to best put the publication together.
• It will involved 10 workshops with the designer, Island 2000 and the editor to discuss timelines, format and the desired end result.
• The finished free publication has been distributed through the participating Schools and organisations who have helped deliver these projects, sharing best practice whilst empowering those who have taken part from the schools and the community.  

The book included the following projects with images and editorial from the young people from start to delivery.

• The Rail Trail
• Environmental Project; Sandown Station Isle of Wight Improvements to the disabled access
• Art in the Community ‘On Track’
• TravelSafe Poster Campaign
• Carisbrooke TravelSafe Group
• TravelSafe DVD
• The Medina Centre Building - Growing - Planting
• Line Guide
• The book project itself

Numbers

Numbers for this project were 80 of mixed ages and abilities

What they will achieve

The young people achieved 4 out of the five outcomes of every child matters;

• Stay Safe – this was through revisiting TravelSafe ethos for those who worked on the project  and enabling those who were not involved to learn through the process of workshop research for the book, whilst being safe and engaged.
• Enjoy and Achieve - Through outside agency workshops, partnership working and the steering group set up a ‘community structure’ which enabled the young people to follow a sensible process to see the end result. With working off timetable for the workshops outside school time, it meant a commitment from a team to make the project happen with the added benefits of educational achievement.
• Making a Positive Contribution – The production of this book celebrates the young peoples work whilst also sharing best practice for other schools and organisations who may want to deliver similar projects in their area. The book has raised the profile of projects delivered, whilst engaging future partners the CRP want to facilitate projects for Sandown High, C of E and in the future Sandham and Lake, which in turn will lead to achieving Economic Well Being where the young people had a positive work ethic enabling them to maximise their employment opportunities.

What the cluster will achieve

This predominantly out of school hours project as all of the projects the CRP have sought to deliver helps deliver LAA targets and objectives. In securing funding for this book to be delivered the CRP is actively encouraging partnership working to support;

• Safer and Stronger Communities,
• Children and Young People,
• Healthier Communities,
• Economic and Development Enterprise.

Costs

The costs with the breakdown of fees from outside agencies was £12,750k and funding has been secured from Extended Services, the Designated Community Rail Development Fund (DCRDF) from DfT/ACoRP/NR, the CRP and the High School.

It is also felt that with this free publication distributed around Island and mainland schools in the New Forest the CRP will raise its profile whilst potentially attracting new funders, partners and organisations to share best practice and achieve their objectives.

The money will be used to provide the following;

Printers:                      Sebright Printers, Stokes Croft, Bristol

Quantity:                     1000     

Materials:                     350gsm Silk Cover, 170gsm Silk Text

Size:                           225mm x 240mm Landscape, Cover 480mm x 225mm

Extent:                       72 Pages plus 4 Page Cover (folded and gathered to text)

Ink Colours:                 4/4

Repro:                        Disk Supplied

Finishing:                    Matt Laminate Cover, Thread Sewn, Trim & Pack,

Delivery:                     Not included                                                                                                                                  

Print Costing:              £5300

Design:                      £1950 (10 days @ £195)

Editorial:                    £1000 (5 days @ £200)

Workshops:                £4000 (2 people for 10 days @ £200 per day)

Co-ordination:             £500 (Island 2000 standard fee - 2 days @ £250 per day)

Total:                        £12,750

Timescales

February 2009

Part of the workshops included the planning of an official launch of the book, followed by presentations by the young people in other local schools to the corridor.

This in turn will be covered by local radio, press and Meridian Television.

A press release was included in ACoRP’s Train Times, as well as ‘Emotion’ from South West Trains.

Photographs and editorial will be included at any CRP days as well as included in presentations to other groups and organisations given by the RDO.

Breakdown of costs

• £5,000 Extended Schools
• £5,000 DfT
• £1,375 Community Rail Partnership
• £1,375 Sandown High School

START!!!

Project update from Editor; Jonathan Ward 25th February

The 13th went very well. The day was split into 2 parts with the first session involving the students being split into groups and being tasked with aspects of interviewing, notetaking, photographic recording, speedy layout planning and writing-up of notes.

This was based around myself interviewing Ian Boyd from Island 2000, who played the part of the world champion paper-plane flyer and resulted in all the students taking on a number of recording roles, which were changed when we ran through the interview a second time.

I gave a targeted talk on layout design using a number of printed examples and also a short workshop in dynamic photography. This first session lasted 3.5 hours and finished at lunchtime during which the students were tasked (in 2 different teams) to generate questions for Boris and Mikhael, two Russian trapeze artists who had a terrible secret that they had to discover by interviewing us.

The afternoon session, being only 1 hour long, meant they had to  condense what they had learnt in the morning and deliver a written piece from notes and a collection of planned photos according to their layout ideas.

They managed all of this admirably. The students all said that they felt more relaxed about and better prepared for the interview tasks ahead.

I'm looking forward to the first real mission on Friday.

Trip 1

27th February Sandown C of E Primary School and Sandown Station............

Di Christopher, the lovely Head of Sandown C of E Primary

The students headed off to both locations after a swift briefing on the Rail Trail and On Track CRP projects. At Sandown C of E Primary School they were faced with a lively roomful of Year 4 pupils who as Year 3’s had contributed their imagery to the creation of a series of relief sculptures that now adorn the rear entrance to Sandown Station. The questions asked were pertinent and wide-ranging, covering topics as wide ranging as hand-prints and mechanical sheep. Four of the team, who were not going table to table interviewing the pupils, took photographs of the process that not only captured the discussions but also the atmosphere of the room.

Editor Jonathan Ward

Kathy Ball, teacher of this class last year (08)

The Students then headed to Sandown Station where they photographed the build-up of passengers on the platform as the schools emptied at the end of the day.

Sean Feaney..........one of the RDO first 'volunteers' and big help for the landscaping project, now taller than the RDO!

They proceeded to interview Tony Dickinson the Station Manager about the impact of the sculptures on the station in terms of safety, accessibility and vandalism. Mr Dickinson felt it had been a positive experience all round and expressed a wish to further develop the station in the future.

Standing next to his work, the sculptor Nigel George faced a good humoured barrage of questions on the processes involved in creating the impressive stretch of relief murals at Sandown Station.

The much improved disabled access

Everything from the multi-age creative relationships, to the subtleties of mixing his materials was aired, noted and responded to.

Dave Stocking, Inclusion Unit Manager and CRP's RDO Bobby Lock over the IoW CRP logo.

Home time!

The interview ended with a posed photo-shoot of Nigel laid enticingly across the top of his sculpture.

As the first foray into the real world of interviewing people and photographically recording that process, the results were impressive. The ability of the students to receive a briefing, compose questions and launch themselves into the practicalities of interviewing and recording, shows great promise for future trips.

Trip 2

March 6th Hovertravel........................

Task: Hovertravel Ryde to interview representatives of Island travel companies about the Travelsafe project, as run by the CRP.

The students travelled to Ryde via the Islandline train from Sandown before meeting at the Hovertravel offices for a swift briefing about the Travelsafe project. They were given a short time to formulate questions for the assembled travel companies who were and are partners in the CRP project. The students were then split into three groups and tasked with interviewing two people each before engaging in a panel discussion on the central issues concerning the project.

Questions ranged from the practicalities of co-ordinating the project to the wider implications on the travel network on the Island. Key points such as green credentials and the awareness of safety issues were tackled, with the interviewees engaging in lively exchanges and in depth discussions with the students.

The entire day was captured by a film team from the Carisbrooke TravelSafe Group, a partnership between Isle of Wight College, Carisbrooke High School and Christ the King College students working with The Knowledge Zone film company from Cowes. They had a busy job weaving themselves in and out of the groups of interviewing teams in an attempt to capture the interactions between the students and their interviewees. This all added to the atmosphere of the event as the voices and heat in the room built to a bubbling crescendo.

Once the Hovertravel landing area had cleared, the interviewees were ushered outside for a photoshoot that had them posing on the steps of a Hovercraft like a triumphant sports-team and casually re-enacting the Reservoir Dogs line-up shot. This ended the day on a light and humorous note, filling the sea air with a spirit of bonhomie and laughter.

Trip 3

March 20th The Medina Centre.........................

In a timely gesture from Mother Nature, the sun bathed the greenhouse, polytunnel, and assembled students, in a warming light. The aim of this session was to interview the organisers and deliverers of a CRP project responsible for generating planters and hanging basket displays, distributed around the Island’s stations.

All the participants were there, either making planters, potting-on annuals or organising the latest floral displays. The students were lead through each process and visited the two key areas of production, interviewing people as they went. Questions ranged between the purely practical issues of making to the wider impact the project has had on the participants at the Medina Centre and the Island’s travelling public.

The Medina Centre offered a great photographic opportunity with its specific areas of activity and the colourful nature of a project based around flowers. Indoors, a planter was being constructed by two woodworkers with gusto and good humour, as their every move was observed and recorded for the CRP publication.

The students were struck by the open and warm atmosphere of the Centre, the enthusiasm for the project and the importance laid on appreciating people’s capabilities, rather than any perceived handicaps or disabilities. They enjoyed the opportunity to see an idea in its process of creation and to meet so many people involved in progressing the project around the Island this year.

27th March Dinosaur Isle....................

The Line Guide

A day of truly green travel as the students used shanks’ pony to arrive at Dinosaur Isle, one of the partners involved in the Line Guide project initiated by the CRP. The aim of the project was to highlight the accessibility of a range of island attractions via the Island Line train service. The project generated a brochure that encouraged visitors to leave their cars behind and opt for a greener form of travel that supported the island economy. The students were keen to discover how successful the Line Guide has been and what reactions have been garnered from the public who have used it.

After a brisk walk from Sandown School via a sunny but blustery seafront, the students were ushered into the main exhibition space of Dinosaur Isle. Amongst the screech of pterodactyl and the roar of iguanadon, they interviewed staff member Trevor Price, who gave great insight into and passionate support for the project and its aims. He was aware of the increased awareness amongst the visitors to the attraction of the need for such initiatives.

This awareness comes from the nature of the Dinosaur Isle attraction, which encourages discussion and interaction with all of its staff. It also has a keen interest in education, which extends to the green issues that affect all individuals and organisations on the Isle of Wight.

Dinosaur Isle is the sort of venue that offers a rich photographic resource. The opportunity was happily grasped by the students, who generated a series of dino-graphic images for the publication. Next, to Havenstreet and the historic aspects of rail travel on the island, the memories of those who saw the demise of steam-trains and fought hard to restore those memories into purposeful reality.

April 2nd Havenstreet Railway.............

Blessed by a glorious day that bathed the railway in golden sunshine, our students made tracks for Havenstreet via Smallbrook Junction. We were met there by Sean Aita of the Forrest Forge Theatre Group, who accompanied us to Havenstreet while being interviewed about his role in training students from Sandown School in body-language and confidence building techniques. The training programme was part of the ‘On Track’ CRP project and helped the students with their interviewing and information gathering skills when engaging with the general public and pupils from the Sandown C of E Primary School. Sean was impressed with the results of the sculpture project at Sandown Station that resulted from the aforementioned interviews and was also struck by the sense of wider responsibility it encouraged amongst the students he taught.

After arriving at Havenstreet in a phish of steam, the students were introduced to three integral members of staff at the station including Jim Loe (Commercial Manager and Director) and Alan Doe (Operations Manager). They fielded a plethora of questions about their early memories of steam travel, the viability of Havenstreet beyond tourism, environmental issues and future plans for the rail system on the Isle of Wight. Indeed the questions were so in depth and demanding of further consideration that Jim Loe offered the possibility of a further visit to show the students a more comprehensive view of operations at Havenstreet.

Cameras continued to click through all stages of the day, capturing the process of interviewing and the rich variety of textures and content at Havenstreet Station and on the journeys to and fro. A visual flavour is growing for the book as the photography becomes more adventurous and oblique alongside the more documentary approach of recording each day’s events as they unfold.

3rd April Ryde St Johns Road Station......................

Purpose of visit:

1. See the restoration of units.
2. Photograph the restoration.
3. Interview the managers John Little and Jess Harper.

Owing to a number of factors out of our control including bad backs and half-term fever, I undertook the trip to Ryde St John’s on my own. I spent a very fruitful afternoon interviewing three members of the operating team and photographing everything I could  get my lens onto.

John Little (Operations Manager for South West Trains on the Isle of Wight) engaged in a very open discussion of the benefits of working with the CRP and Bobby Lock in particular. The relationship has proved to be extremely positive and John feels that there is an open and sympathetic route for communicating a variety of issues to the general public, schools and official organisations on the Island. He also feels the CRP has helped give the railway a face and personality and encouraged a more inclusive, family atmosphere. He even went so far as to say “…she (Bobby Lock) has made me less of a growling bulldog!” and that “…the railway has a soul, with people who care for and about it outside of the company.” John Little is looking forward to future projects with the CRP and celebrates the wider impact each of the projects has on the Island and its communities.

Inside the restoration yard and attached buildings I was introduced to Jess Harper, who in turn introduced me to the Starlight Express, train number 007, affectionately called the Grand Old Dame of the West End.

In underground service for over 70 years, its job was to ferry the late theatre-goers back home after the final curtain call. It now ploughs its overland routes on the Island and must, like all rolling stock, be dismantled, inspected and serviced every 150,000 miles. This a massive and involved task that requires the staff at Ryde St John’s to multi-skilled and talented. Each one of them is able and willing to take on jobs, that on the mainland would require specialist engineers with very specific skills-bases.

Walking round the yard, the enormity of what is required to keep rolling-stock running safely, sinks in. Fortunately, the engineer’s pit under the trains allows me to get close to the wheels and tracks, and with a little bit of motion to the camera the photo looks like I’m in the heat of the action as the train speeds past. Well, you know what I mean!

To be continued............

Launch 15th July at Quay Arts in Newport