BLOG 29 - End of Term
What a busy and successful term it's been and how I'm looking forward to a holiday so I can refresh myself ready for the coming term!
Sessions are coming to an end this week and we're awaiting news of funding so that we can confirm what activities we will be putting on in September so watch this space, there's sure to be something of interest - if not for you then for people you work with, live near or know of. We appreciate the word of mouth publicity that is most frequently the way people find out about our offerings.
Would you believe that just this academic year...
We have worked in the following areas of Bolton:
Deane
Ladybridge
Great Lever
Breightmet
Tonge Moor
Halliwell
Johnson Fold
Oldhams Estate
Sharples
Central Bolton
Smithills
have facilitated the following activities:
Parent and Toddler activities
Volunteering development
Waiting to Learn workshops
Social and Local history
Parenting sessions
IT-based sessions
Book groups
ESOL
Cookery
Creative Hands
Crafts
Share family learning
Photography
Literacy support
Knitting
Activity afternoons
We have enrolled 500 learners on the above activities
We have had 7,892 hits on www.boltonliteracytrust.org.uk
We have had 2561 hits on www.learningrevolution4bolton.org.uk
And have engaged with many via Facebook and Twitter
Have you checked out the People's Museum online yet? If not, click here now to look at some special photos and listen to some local people talking about what is special to them.
The BLT manager, Sue Hoey has been star of Bolton FM on Andrew Dickson's Drive Time programme enabling her to promote all the good work of the Trust - well done Sue. Also, happy birthday to Sue who is celebrating a special birthday this week.
See you in September!
BLOG 28 - Winning ways!
It has been a week of wins at Great Lever Family Learning Centre - I'm delighted to share the following news with you...
Firstly, Peter Consterdine and Paul Carroll - the two caretakers at ESSA Academy who tirelessly work to maintain the school grounds and who are always happy to help Bolton Literacy Trust and Great Lever User Group at the family learning centre were the deserved recipients of a national award for 'Outstanding Support Team of the Year' sponsored by the Times Educational Suppliment. Well done boys! We salute you.
Secondly, The UK Internet Service Providers Association officially revealed the winners of its 12th awards last night at a black tie dinner in the Grosvenor Marriott Hotel, London.
Bolton Literacy Trust had been shortlisted in the category 'Digital Inclusion'. The award's aim is to recognise "an individual, organisation, project or company that has gone the extra mile to engage with the millions of people in this country who have never used the internet."
The shortlisted finalists in our category were: us - Bolton Literacy Trust, Kingston Communications, NHS Choices, South West Internet CIC and Westminster City Council.
The winner was recognised as:
• Having an impact on digital inclusion
• Being a beacon for others to learn and develop from
• Being able to raise awareness and provide skills & learning
• Being able to use innovation and creativity - such as use of resources and funding
We were proud to have been nominated and are even more proud to announce that WE WON! Well done us and thank you to our funders who enable us to be what we are and do what we do.
BLOG 27 - Time Banking
Hello again.
Well, boo-hoo, England are out of the World Cup and people's allegiances are changing as the teams dwindle but, as I type, Murray's still in with a chance at Wimbledon so let's cross our fingers for some sporting success over the weekend!
So, what news more locally?
Great Lever User Group (GLUG) held a productive meeting on Monday and community members came up with an array of suggestions for how money coming into Great Lever should be spent - thanks to all who attended. Let's home some of our ideas come to fruition.
I went along to a Time Banking event on Thursday 1st July. Bolton's Time Bank is relatively new but is already thriving under the leadership of non-other than our ex-colleague, Barbara Kerks. There are currently time bank communities in Halliwell, Dean and Farnworth.
Time banks link people locally to share their time and skills. Everyone's time is equal: one hour of your time earns you one time credit to spend when you need. The idea is that a time bank member 'deposits' their time in the bank by giving practical help and support to others and are able to 'withdraw' their time when they need something done themselves. People can help each other out with everything from making phone calls to sharing meals and giving lifts to the shops - anything that brings them together. For more info, contact Nexus Community Links on 01204 529558. It seems like a fab scheme to be involved in. Another point to mention is that if you volunteer in any capacity, you can bank an hour in the time bank for each hour that you volunteer.
BLOG 26 - Get up to speed!
Well, it's been a couple of weeks so, as suggested by the title of this BLOG, I'll try to get you up to speed with just some of the happenings at BLT since I last blogged!
Great Lever User Group (GLUG) held a massively successful pamper afternoon at the Great Lever Family Learning Centre as part of their NLDC project. The attendees enjoyed getting their eye-brows and nails done and the taster session has been followed by a three week free course for ladies wishing to do more in this area.
BLT's project working in partnership with Great Lever Neighbourhood Management in local schools made an excellent start at Sunning Hill School at the end of May. Local organisations have been granted money to work in 12 local schools to deliver workshops with a 'community cohesion' focus. As part of this, BLT is providing a poetry, drama and participation workshop exploring prejudice and discrimination. The children came up with some marvellously interesting points for discussion and produced some thoroughly thought-provoking poetry. Watch out for the booklet of poems that will be produced at the end of the project when all school have had a chance to participate.
BLT have begun working in partnership with Oldhams UCAN centre to deliver classes to improve digital inclusion for people local to the Oldhams estate. The sessions are currently on Monday afternoons at the UCAN centre. Contact Margaret on 01204 332851 for more information.
The ladies learning ESOL at the Nightingale centre have been busy doing exams. We wish them the best of luck as the await their results.
If you come along to any IT sessions at the Great Lever Family Learning Centre, you might bump into Will. Will works administrating BLT's book appeal and is spreading his wings at the minute to support some IT sessions.
Sessions in schools and at the centre including, parents and toddler sessions, parenting, computer sessions, English, reading groups and local history are all going well as we head towards the finishing post for the academic year and the cookery class has reached its conclusion already. Don't worry though, classes and activities will resume in September so please spread the word.
I took part in a webinar about learning with technologies last week and picked up some really interesting information. Can I point anyone interested in learning or teaching using technology to a fabulous resources: www.ialsupport.org.uk . This home page has 6 groups with bags of useful information, tips and resources. Watch out, if you come to a session with BLT you might encounter hot potatoes, moodle, etherpads or dimdim!!
If you live, work or play in the Great Lever / Morris Green areas of Bolton, you are invited to come along to GLUG's next meeting on Monday 28th June at 10am at the Great Lever Family Learning Centre. This is your chance to have a say about what you think money coming into the area should be spent on.
BLOG 25 - Thank you volunteers
1-7th June is National Volunteer Week and Bolton Literacy Trust wouldl like to take this opportunity to say a big THANK YOU to all our wonderful volunteers - we couldn't do it without you. :)
If you are interested in volunteering for the Trust, contact Sue on 01204 332760. There are a number of ways in which you could help.
If you would like more information about National Volunteer Week 2010, visit this website: http://www.volunteersweek.org.uk/
BLOG 24 - Surfing and learning together
It has been a busy busy week here at Bolton Literacy Trust. I hope it's not escaped you that it has been national adult learners' week and we have been doing lots of activities to promote adult learning; trying to illustrate how much fun can be gained from trying new skills, socialising whilst learning, improving existing skills or event just getting out of the house.
Carole's been at YMCA and the Nightingale centre, Sandra's been at Johnson Fold Hope Centre, The Oaks primary school and St Peter's Smithills Dean Primary School, I've been at Breightmet library and Sue's been at Mill View nursing home and, with Fehmida, at St Bede's Primary school. Of course we've all also been at our main centre in Great Lever, along with Karl, where we've held a couple of special events to compliment our regular weekly activity.
Today, Friday 21st May, was a brilliant example of adults getting together to learn in a friendly environment. We had a cookery class, a 'Silver Surfer' computer taster session and a 'People's Museum' project all running alongside each other and the Great Lever Family Learning Centre was buzzing with activity, with chat, with people of different cultures and with ideas. We have some excellent photos of the event on our Facebook page - why not have a look by checking out our profile or adding us as a friend: Bolton LiteracyTrust.
BLOG 23 - Radio Ga Ga
Hello again!
On Wednesday, Carole and I went to Bolton FM to be interviewed to promote a special day we are holding on 21st May. It was a great experience to be interviewed at a professional radio station and see the hive of activity in the offices above the market. If you're ever walking around Bolton Market, turn your head skyward and you will notice a galleried landing where a number of local organisations are based. Maybe one of them would be of interest to you? If you've never listened to Bolton FM, why not give it a try - 96.5FM - you can listen online here: Bolton FM
As I type, Sandra is interviewing candidates for the role of Book Appeal admin assistant for the Trust. How many readers out there have bookshelves filled with books that won't get read again - collecting dust maybe, cluttering your dining room perhaps, filling your spare room possibly? Bolton Literacy Trust collects books from local people and use many of them in our projects. Those that we can't use, we sell on Amazon Marketplace to make money for valuable activities in Bolton. Why not think about having a clear out and donating your unwanted books to us? Click here to view the books we currently have for sale on Amazon.
Sandra started sessions at The Oaks primary school (Sharples) this week. 'Words & Pictures' was well attended by parents and carers with their little ones. Each week they will explore a different letter of the alphabet through stories, crafts, snacks and play.
Sue has been training in Leeds so that the Trust can begin to deliver accredited AQA awards from the Autumn Term and work with a younger age group during some sessions. We are looking forward to linking with Connexions and starting some new activities.
At a recent NLDC project meeting I heard about lots of free learning activities that are going on around the borough for adults -planting flowers, knitting, English, computers, sewing and credit crunch cookery to name but a few. The people of Bolton are very lucky to have the opportunity to partake in such an array of activities for free. On that subject, If you or anyone you know is interested in participating in a free level 2 (equivalent to GCSE/O'level) food hygiene course, there are two opportunities coming up: Wednesday 26th May at New Bury Community Centre 10-4 (Tel 01204 907860) and Saturday 12th June at Sunnyside Community Centre (Tel 01204 907880).
Our online collaborative poem is progressing (see BLOG 22 below for details). Did you have time to add a line? Thanks to those who did and, to those who didn't - why not check it again now that there are more lines to - you never know you could surprise yourself. And to finish, why not listen to the Trust's patron Terry Caffrey read one of his poems 'Snap!' - it'll brighten up your day and perhaps inspire you.
BLOG 22 - a spot of collaborative poetry
How do you fancy getting involved in Bolton Literacy Trust's accumulative online poem?!? BLT's inspirational patron, Terry Caffrey, gave us the first line for a poem and the idea is that anyone else can now contribute. To do so, when you've finished reading this blog, click the link: ONLINE POEM. to have a look at how the poem currently stands. Then, fill in the simple form to make your contribution and keep checking back to see how the poem is progressing.
Special events, in addition to BLT's usual weekly activities are now listed on the BLT website - silver surfers day, our people's history project, a ladies pampering event (all free) are some to note in your diary. Click here for further details. If you're a Bolton FM listener (96.5 FM), tune in next Wednesday at 1pm (12th May 2010) to hear BLT staff members Jen and Carole nervously promoting the events listed above!
BLOG 21 - jobs and volcanoes
Well, it's been a while! Following the Easter break two members of Bolton Literacy Trust were stuck abroad due to the Icelandic volcano eruption having grounded aeroplanes all over the world: one in Madrid and one in Lanzarote. The other staff held the fort magnificently and I'm happy to report that all staff are once more present and correct! I hope you're okay too.
BLT's classes across Bolton have resumed and people are getting back into the swing of their studies. There are currently places available in the IT sessions at the Family Learning Centre - so if you know anyone who needs to face an online fear or learn about emailing or search for a job online - direct them to us with pleasure.
A new computer class has started up at St Bede's primary school in Morris Green on Monday mornings so if you are a parent/grandparent/carer of a child at that school and wish to learn or improve any IT skills, please get in touch!
The people's history project is well under way now. Carole is enjoying collecting people's memories and chatting about special objects. If you would like to be involved in this project or find out more details, why not pop along to our People's Museum event on Friday 21st May 2010 (10am-12 noon at the Great Lever Family Learning Centre) to find out more. The idea is that BLT will work with groups and individuals in the local area to develop a collection of artefacts, memories, photos and sound bites that are special to them for one reason or another. Once collated, a display will be viewable at local venues and also online.
Also on that morning, as part of Silver Surfers weeks, there will be a 'Face Your Fears' interactive computer taster available for anyone wishing to face an online fear.
As you may be aware, BLT runs a successful second-hand book appeal. We receive donated books and use any that we can in our various projects across the borough. The remaining books we sell via Amazon Marketplace and this is proving to be a good source of sustainable income for our charity. So much so that we are now looking to employ someone for nine hours per week (minimum wage rates) to work on the appeal. Duties will include wrapping up books that have been ordered and addressing packages, inputting details of books on to a database and finding books that have been ordered from stock. We require someone who is hard-working and efficient and can work on their own initiative to meet targets. We also require the successful candidate to be literate and have good IT skills - full training will be given of course. If you know anyone who is looking for 9 hours paid work in Bolton town centre (hours to be worked before 3pm on Monday, Wednesday and Friday - 3 hours per day) please direct them to call Sandra on 01204 332760 or to email Sandra on Sandra.telleck@boltonliteracytrust.org.uk.
BLOG 20 - enjoy your break
Well Easter is fast approaching and we can report that it has been a very busy term here at Great Lever Family Learning Centre. A great outcome from this term is the amount of people we've helped to become active community volunteers, enter into further education and manage to secure part time jobs. That's the beauty of informal adult education - the doors it can open in a person's mind, socially and educationally.
This week we've been busy conducting some research on behalf of NIACE - finding out why people are out of work, education and training. We've found out more about how entering into informal learning can boost self-confidence and get people onto the first rung of what can sometimes be a lovely long learning ladder.
The Rhythm FX guys are wrapping up their music technology course - the participants really have enjoyed learning more about different aspects of music and have even worked towards an AQA, coming in for more sessions than they had ever planned.
Sandra had a lovely visit to Smithills Farm on Tuesday where the parents and children from Johnson Fold Hope Centre interacted marvellously with the animals and adored the Spring babies that they saw. Sandra 'David Bailey' Telleck took some gorgeous photos of the visit and I have put one online here. Farm visit
BLT said goodbye to Yasmin Ahmed this week. Yasmin worked with the Trust on a three year mentoring project and, since then, has worked on a casual basis for the Trust facilitating some classes. We will be sad to let Yasmin go but wish her well in all her new ventures both professionally and personally.
The plans for the Summer 2010 term are looking good. We have some classes and sessions fixed already and are looking forward to working with parents living in the Great Lever/Morris Green/Daubhill areas in partnership with ECM5. At the Great Lever Family Learning centre, we will be facilitating IT, job skills, ESOL, reading, local history and cookery and at the Nightingale centre we will be continuing out knitting and ESOL classes - as we will at the YMCA. Our popular parent and toddler session at Johnson Fold Hope Centre and Bright Meadows Children centre are set to continue too.
Please click here for more class information and, if you are lucky enough to have a break over the Easter period, do enjoy yourself and keep safe.
BLOG 19 - Growing and Learning
Hello - what a lovely week it's been weather-wise! It's been a sunny week here at BLT too.
This week we enjoyed having a volunteer from BT working with us for the day. More and more large companies seem to be releasing their staff for the odd day so that they can work with community groups and charities and make a difference to local communities. Paul Newman was a pleasure to have at the Great Lever Family Learning Centre. Father of four and BT business director, Paul, helped out with a range of tasks, gave professional advice and interacted with staff and learners excellently. Long may this acquaintance continue.
Earlier this week, Sue enjoyed a visit with local author Will Hadcroft who has written a book for children which is set in Farnworth - Ann Droid. Will is willing to go into schools/community settings to work with groups. Contact Sue Hoey for details.
Last Thursday at Clarendon Primary school, the Share group enjoyed a session on the theme of growing. Share is a course aimed at assisting parents/carers to learn about how best to help their children develop. The ladies at this session planted some broad beans to share a growing experience with their nursery-aged children - click here to view a photo.
The Nightingale Knitters are soon going to be more famous than they already are! A professional photographer went along to thier session this week so that this diverse and popular group could feature in a national NIACE publication. NIACE stands for National Institute of Adult Continuing Education and the organisation aims to encourage all adults to engage in learning of all kinds. Visit their website for more information: NIACE
I do wonder how many people read this BLOG. The indicators are that it is read by quite a few of you so I hope you feel duly informed by its ramblings. Do let us know on boltonliteracytrust@yahoo.co.uk if you have any feedback. Bye for now!
BLOG 18 - Two New Babies!
Using money from a grant from the LSC (Learning & Skills Council) and UK Online Centres, BLT is delighted to have been able to purchase an interactive whiteboard (the first of the new babies from this week's title!). This week the board was installed in our classroom. It looks marvellous and will be a high-quality resource for teaching and learning. Carole was the lucky lady to have first use of it in her ESOL class and she reports that the students got the hang of it quickly and that it was an excellent tool for learning. Fancy a go? Come along to any IT session at Great Lever Family Learning Centre.
If you live, work or play in the Great Lever/Morris Green area and are interested in learning more about its past, you might want to think about joining the local history group. They meet at 1pm on Wednesdays at the Great Lever Family Learning Centre and, as well completing their own research, they arrange local visits and talks. On Monday 15th March, the group will be leading a local history walk. If you would like to take part, meet at Sunnyside Community Centre (on Sunnyside Park) at 10am. The walk will be for approximately 30 minutes and you are guaranteed to learn something about the history of the park.
We would like to welcome Simon Ward and Helen Armstrong to our team of valuable volunteers at Great Lever Family Learning Centre this week. If you pop in to the centre to get online or learn more about computers, you might see Simon about. His past experience with computers is going to be a great asset to the Trust. Helen will be assisting in ESOL sessions and has just the right skills and personality for this.
Carole's 'People's History' project is progressing well and a visit to Mill View nursing home to talk about the project was a fantastic way of getting people to talk about what is special to them.
I had a good meeting this week with three ladies at IQRA for women. IQRA stands for Information, Qualifications, Resources and Activities and is a not-for-profit organisation that promotes those things locally. The ladies are working very hard and achieving great things already. Why not pop in and see them and what they are up to this week. They have premises opposite ASDA at Burden Park.
And to finish, our second new baby - this time a real one! At Bright Meadows Children's centre on Wednesday, Sandra and Yasmin were delighted to report that they enrolled one of BLT's youngest ever participants in a session. A ten day old baby boy accompanied his mummy to Words & Pictures and sat on Sandra's lap during nursery rhyme time. Now now Sandra, don't start getting broody again!
BLOG 17 - Supermarket Sweep!
Bolton Literacy Trust would like to start this Blog by saying a great big thank you to Bolton Rotary Daybreak who donated money to us this week. The generous donation enabled the Trust to provide parents and toddlers at the Johnson Fold Hope Centre 'R-Place' group with a range of beautiful books to be enjoyed at home. The recipients were all so pleased and grateful. The money also went towards the Trust making bookmarks to accompany the books to mark the passing of World Book Day 2010.
One of our adult book groups which takes place at the Farnworth Age Concern centre on Monday mornings enjoyed a session with a difference this week. The group have decided they will read the books short-listed for the Bolton Children's Book Award and decide on their own winner. They did a similar thing last year too and came up with the same winner as the children across Bolton - let's see if the different generations agree again this year.
Bolton Literacy Trust is a member of the 'UK Online Centres' network and, as such are part funded by them to provide free online support and access at our centre in Great Lever. This morning, staff from BLT have spent a couple of hours in Bolton Sainsbury's promoting our informal leaning opportunities and encouraging people to get online and try new things. We engaged lots of potential learners who were interested to find out more about opportunities in Bolton and thirty people wanted to be signed up for MyGuide - a free online learning resource which people can use to learn more about how helpful the internet can really be.
To end this week, I am pleased to announce that BLT has secured some funding for working in schools in Great Lever in the near future. The money will help us to deliver an array of courses to help parents in Great Lever, as well as work on a community cohesion project with children in the area in conjunction with Great Lever Neighbourhood Management. We are really looking forward to getting to know even more local people through this project.
BLOG 16 - Books and cooks!
Mmmmm...as I type I can smell the wonderful odours coming from this week's cookery session at the Great Lever Family Learning Centre...'Stuffed Chicken Roast' followed by 'Lumberjack Cake'. It smells delicious. Every Friday I am lucky enough to savour such amazing aromas and I sometimes even get chance to have a taste too. (It's always delectable). If you would like to join the cookery class and taste the wonderful food, come along any Friday at 10am to join Farzandah's class.
Have you heard of the new government initiative 'Home Access' scheme?
It is a scheme which gives some parents and carers the entitlement to apply for a free laptop and free accessories and even free home internet access for a year. Obviously, as with all these things, there are eligibility criteria which parents/cares have to meet. As a carer you might be eligible if your foster children are in years one to thirteen. If you are a parent, you might be eligible if your children are in years three to nine and you receive a government benefit. You can look at this website www.homeaccess.org.uk for more details and, if you think you are eligible, you can come to our centre in Great Lever for help with the application form. Please pass this information on so we help more people get online and using the internet for educational purposes.
It's World Book Day next Thursday (4th March) so Sandra will be giving away books at her parent & toddler sessions as well as reading lovely stories. Will you mark the passing of World Book Day? My son's school have asked all staff and pupils to dress up as a character from a book so I have been assembling a pirate costume so, mi hearties, he can be Pirate Pete from one of his favourite stories. Maybe you could have a good sort out of your own books and donate any you no longer want to our book appeal.
Books are so important to children's development for many reasons and here are just 5 of them:
1. Books help children develop vital language skills.
2. Reading can open up new worlds and enrich children's lives.
3. Reading can enhance children's social skills.
4. Reading can improve hand-eye coordination.
5. Reading can provide children with plenty of good, clean fun!
So, to finish this week, here are ten tips for choosing children's books:
1. Let children choose their own books
2. Find the children's section of your local library; get to know the librarian.
3. Choose books that reflect your child's interests.
4. Ask other people for a good recommendation. (Here's mine for this week - Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak)
5. Reading is a fun sharing time. If your child does not like a book you are reading together, put it away.
6. Let children choose the same book over and over if that's what they want.
7. Look for books that you will like reading aloud. Your enjoyment will shine through and become contagious.
8. Read with your child - bedtime is a good idea and remember, a good ten minutes is better than a difficult half hour.
9. Try out different kinds of books to see what appeals to your children.
10. Have fun! Show your children the joy of reading and how it can open up a brand new world!
And what about some literacy-based games for you and your children to try this week? Check out this link:
Games
Until next time...enjoy reading!
BLOG 15 - Knitting inspiration
As the February half term approaches we have loads to report! We've had such a busy half-term packed with new and exciting activities, new learners, new staff and new volunteers and we've seen lots of participants learn, build confidence and develop skills. In the informal learning sector, no two days are the same and boy do they fly by! I hope you've enjoyed reading about just some of what we've been up to even if you've not been able to join us.
What would you do if you found yourself in a country where you could not understand the language, you couldn't read the alphabet, you were not able to read basic road signs or notices from your child's school? Perhaps you might not be confident enough to join a formal class at the community college - or maybe, as is the case at Bolton Community College, there's a waiting list as long as your arm for such classes?
For people in that situation in Bolton, we have started a new group. Our ESOL (English for speakers of Other Languages) reading group is happening on Wednesday afternoons, 1 until 2.30pm and it is intended to give people some of the skills and confidence needed to get going with learning English. The group started last week and is already well-attended - if you know anyone who might benefit, please direct them to us at Great Lever Family Learning Centre.
As you will be aware, we don't only help those hailing from distant lands. Another of our reading groups is held at Mill View Nursing home where, with Sue's preparation and encouragement, residents enjoy reading together and chatting about books. One of the attendees of that group also participates in our knitting group (Thursday mornings at the Nightingale Centre) and that brings me to a remarkable story... The stair-lift at the Nightingale
Centre was unavoidably out of action last week. The lady in question is wheel-chair bound and, therefore, couldn't participate. Her eagerness to attend the group, improve her knitting and socialise with her new friends was enough motivation to get her up and walking - just a few steps but enough to get her up 5 steps ensuring she didn't miss the group again. What an achievement. That knitting group must be good!
Our JAM! Music sessions are going well and some of the young adults taking part are going to work towards AQA awards - gaining a qualification whilst they enjoy themselves - it can't be bad. Anyone is welcome at these sessions and can join in anytime. (Thursdays 1-3 at the Family Learning Centre in Great Lever).
Another staff member is currently facilitating a 'SHARE family learning' group at Clarendon school with parents of the children in the nursery. Rama, who has many language skills, was this week able to entice a lady from Tamil into the group and, with interpretation skills, help her to access the activities and join in with the other mums. The language barrier has put this particular lady off so much before. Good old Rama.
The local history group had a grave adventure this week. No really - they went on a site visit to St. Michael's graveyard to further their research! If you fancy learning more about Great Lever, Morris Green or people who used to live in these areas, you know what to do!
Bolton Literacy Trust has gained some new computer equipment this week. We now have more and better computers for community use at our centre in Great Lever. If you want to just drop-in and use a computer, you are more than welcome anytime. If you want to book a 30/60 minute slot to assure your time, you are also welcome. If you can't use a computer...hang on, how are you reading this...! If you KNOW someone who can't use a computer, we can sort that out too. Just take down our phone number and ask them to give us a call! 01204 332760
As I said when I started this epistle, it's half term next week so many adults will be looking for things to do with their children or grand children to keep them active and out of trouble. Why not try one of these websites I've recently come across:
www.begrand.net is a site for grand parents with all sorts of ideas, information and advice for grandparents.
www.familyfriendly.org.uk is a site with lots of information about things to do with families and children in our area.
www.lifecheckers.co.uk is an NHS site where teenagers, those with babies or those approaching (or in!) mid-life can run a health MOT on themselves by answering a few simple questions.
If you or your children are into reading I recommend you get into the Bolton Children's Book Award. Bolton Literacy Trust is currently an active partner in this prestigious annual event. If you've not heard of it before here's a quick summary...the idea is that secondary schools across Bolton get their lower-school children to read a list of specially selected exciting books and then vote to pick the best one! The authors are then invited to a lovely ceremony at the Town Hall and the winner is announced. It's a great opportunity for people - young and old alike - to meet authors and chat about writing stories. Of course a lot of background work goes on as well - staff from the Literacy Trust spend evening after evening reading recently published children's novels to get a very loooong list down to a short one - it's a good job books for teenagers these days are so gripping! The award is run as a partnership between Bolton Literacy Trust, Bolton University, Page Nation the school library service. The reason I mention it this week is that the short-list has just been announced! The books look fantastic and definitely worth checking-out.
A bientot!
BLOG 14 - Get Jamming!
We welcomed Karl to our team this week. Karl is on a six month placement and, during this time, he will be helping with BLT's administration and IT sessions as well as with our valuable book appeal. He's already more than earned his keep doing a marvellous job in his first four days with us- it's great to have you Karl!
For all you budding DJs, a new development this week has been the setting up of digital and acoustic based music workshops at Great Lever Family Learning Centre. On Thursday afternoons from 1 until 3pm, participants can learn how to use DJ equipment, mix CDs, create website to showcase music or record poetry over a backing track. Doesn't this sound tempting! If you or anyone you know would like to give it a try, come along next Thursday - the session are completely free.
There have been a couple of other changes to the timetable at the Family Learning Centre so, check out our upto date current classes link.
Sandra was a really busy bee on Wednesday morning at her first session of Words & Pictures at Bright Meadow's Children's Centre in Breightmet this week. With 42 attendees all eager to try new activities and join in with the fun, the session was a great success. Long may this continue!
We've been having a look at ways in which, over the almost eight years of our existence, we've been trying to improve digital inclusion. This means how we've worked towards getting people online and what we've done to keep people up to date with new technologies.
TTFN!
BLOG 13 - Back into the swing!
Despite the slippery pavements and chilly wind, dedicated learners have been coming to Great Lever Family Learning Centre for their classes this week! Bolton Literacy Trust staff are back into the swing of sessions and look forward to seeing more people in attendance next week.
Do you fancy learning more about the Great Lever/Morris Green area and its history? Why not join the local history group on Wednesday afternoons - you'd be surprised what used to be where your house is now!
Or what about a spot of craft or photography? No previous skills necessary - just a willingness to give things a go and have a bit of fun.
Of course if you have a toddler at home, you could always pop along to the fun-filled parent & toddler session which give you the opportunity to talk to other parents and join your child playing with others and listening to stories and songs.
Check out our current classes to have a look if anything takes your fancy.
How about another competition? BLT's current competition is open to anyone. If you can design a good poster on A4 paper (hand-drawn or made using a computer) you are in with a chance. Just think of somewhere in/around Bolton that is a good place to go with a family. Make this into a poster with all the facts any other family would need. The winning entry will win a paid day out at the attraction noted on the winning poster! If it's a free attraction, we'll give your family some spending money for the day!
Have you heard about BLT's 'People's Museum'? We are starting a project that will bring together photos and objects that really mean something to local people - from their past, from their home country, from their family. We will be working with learners in sessions on this project but anyone is welcome to contribute. Do you have a special object, photo or memory that is special to you? Would you mind sharing it with others to celebrate the rich diversity of Bolton? The items will be featured online and in a gallery in Bolton (venue tbc). Pass it on.
BOOKS! Have you got any books that are on good/reasonable condition but you no longer want? New Year is always a good time for clear out! Bolton Literacy Trust is always looking for good quality second hand books for local projects and for our book appeal. Books can be dropped off at Great Lever Family Learning Centre or MMM (town centre). See the Book Appeal link for further details.
More next week! TTFN!
BLOG 12 - ...and it doesn't show signs of stopping...
Well, what a snowy time we're all having.
As may be the case for you and yours, we and ours have had school closures and are unable to get to our offices due to the hazardous road conditions. Thankfully (I think!), due to this modern age of the internet and technology, we can all work from our homes planning and preparing and keeping up with administration for all our projects...and writing blogs!
Of course, with the children off school, we have also made sure we can schedule in some marvellous snow-play: snowmen, snow angels, snow bears, snow dogs, snowball fights, igloos, sledging - the fun we've all been having!
So anyway, happy new year to you dear reader! I hope it's been a good start for you. Blimey 2010! Now come on, admit it, who - as a child - thought we'd all be wearing silver suits, package-holidaying to the moon and floating to work by 2010!?!
Well, Bolton Literacy Trust finished 2009 with a great celebration event at Great Lever Family Learning Centre. We had food and quizzes, crafts and performances and everyone had a really good time. The highlight was definitely the captivating performance by the Trust's patron, Terry Caffrey, who read from his new book "It wasn't me miss!". Thanks Terry.
Did you enter the photography competition we recently held? It was a tight run thing but Sue Hoey, the Trust's manager and the photo editor of the Bolton News exchanged views before Christmas and came up with a winner. Classes start again on Monday 11th January and our timetable is looking great. Why not join us this year - a new year, a new hobby perhaps? Could I tempt you with photography, cookery, crafts, literacy, computers, English, parenting, reading...?
Until next time...let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!
BLOG 11 - donkeys and sprouts...
Seasons greetings one and all! Thanks for tuning in at this busy time of year when I'm sure you've got other more pressing things to do...wrapping gifts, writing cards, buying your turkey and so on...hey come back, it'll not take you long to digest this...
Talking of seasonal things: a donkey...
Sandra has particularly enjoyed a term working with parents and toddlers at Jonson Fold on Tuesday mornings. Along with other staff and volunteers, Sandra has led the story & songs session at the Hope Centre 'R-Place' and the word is that there is a real life donkey making an appearance today as part of a Nativity story. I hope it behaves! The last time I took my son on a donkey the highlight, and what he always mentions to others, is that it passed wind rather loudly when they set off! I'm sure Mary would have understood.
Talking of understanding: English classes...
Carole has been busy delivering ESOL classes at the YMCA and the Nightingale Centre as well as at our home centre - Great Lever Family Learning Centre. The ladies and gentlemen attending have really developed their English skills since the start of the term whilst making friends into the bargain. If you know anyone whose first language is not English but who might be interested in improving in this area, classes will be back up and running from January 11th in the New Year.
Talking of the New Year: new activities for 2010...
Much of our timetable of activity has been finalised... Check out what we'll be up to in January and beyond. Bolton Literacy Trust Jan 2010 So, if you fancy a spot craft or computers, reading or photography, come down and see us soon!
Talking of photography: our recent competition...
The deadline for Bolton Literacy Trust's "Every Picture Tells a Story" competition was this week and the judging will be taking place on Thursday. Sue Hoey (BLT manager) and the editor of the Bolton News will put their heads together to look through the photos and decide upon a worthy winner. Watch this space.
Talking of Sue Hoey: book groups...
Did you know that, as part of the Learning Revolution project, BLT is facilitating books groups in Bolton? Sandra's been busy with a group of parents at Beaumont School and Sue's been leading a group made up of residents at Mill View Nursing home. They have both reported that the groups have been going well with participants never short of a story or two of their own. Book groups are a great way of getting to know people as well as developing reading skills and knowledge of literature. Why not set up your own with a group of friends or neighbours. Or, why not contact us to get you going with some ideas. We're sure you'd enjoy one.
Enough from me...you better go and get your sprouts on; only 10 days to go until the big day!!
Don't forget our Winter Celebration event - everyone is welcome - Wednesday 16th December 11am until 1pm. FREE FOOD AND DRINKS!
BLOG 10 - mince pies and chocolates...
Well, Barbara's gone and Bolton Literacy Trust (BLT) and Great Lever User Group (GLUG) will miss her dearly but, as the old saying goes, the show (or the BLOG in this case) must go on!
So here I am - Jen! Hello! I'm not sure I can keep you quite as entertained as Barbara did, but here's trying...
Have you ever logged on to You Tube? It's a website dedicated to streaming videos - anyone can upload a video and, with many mobile phones now having video recoding facilities, it's a very popular pastime in this modern age. Well, BLT are now featured on the site in three videos filmed by box.tv as part of our Learning Revolution project. Why not check them out for yourself? Go to www.youtube.com and in the search box type 'Bolton Literacy Trust' - and there we are!
Alongside my usual working duties, I've been out and about a bit this week promoting BLT and GLUG and some of the great things we do...
Last week, many local schools were happy to take posters to promote the fact that, at Great Lever Family Learning Centre (GLFLC), we provide free online access and IT support twice a week. Then, on Monday afternoon, The Great Lever Community Involvement team (CIT) who meet at the Slaterfield Centre were very welcoming and happy to take on board information and promised to try their best to promote two local events on our behalf.
Perhaps you'd like to hear about them too?!
We held a Christmas-themed event at GLFLC on Tuesday afternoon. Despite the poor weather, seven of us ate mince pies and chocolates (yum), reminisced about school Nativity plays and tried to name Santa's 9 reindeer (according to popular literature). We enjoyed seasonal quizzes, crafts, discussions and poetry and tried to remember the gifts in "The 12 Days of Christmas" - having a good old sing-song into the bargain! If you didn't make it, you missed a treat! However, never fear as another exciting Winter event is looming...
We are hosting a Winter Celebration & Open Day at GLFLC on Wednesday 16th December (11am until 1pm). It looks like it will be an exciting occasion packed with FREE activities for all the family: face-painting, crafts, poetry-readings (by professional poet and Patron of the Trust Terry Caffrey), a free lunch and free prize drawer to name but a few! The event will also give local people the opportunity to find out about BLT's plan of action for the New Year! Can you believe it's December 4th already?!? Eeee, it'll soon be Easter at this rate, I don't know where the year is going! TTFN. Jen.
P.S. In case you're interested: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen (from the poem 'Twas the night before Christmas' also called 'A Visit from St. Nicholas' by Clement Clarke Moore and, of course, Rudolf!
P.P.S. In case you're even more curious: "On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me: 12 drummers drumming, 11 pipers piping, 10 lords a-leaping, 9 ladies dancing, 8 maids a-milking, 7 swans a-swimming, 6 geese a-laying, 5 GO-OLD RINGS! 4 calling birds, 3 French hens, 2 turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree!"
BLOG 9 - Bye Bye Barbara x
I'm going to deviate from the usual stream of news this week and get all thoughtful as this will be my final blog for BLT and the Learning Revolution. I'm casting myself adrift from teaching and heading out into the uncharted waters of Connected Care and Time Banking. Exciting times to come, I'm sure, but first I have to get over leaving the safe haven of the Family Learning Centre.
Partings inevitably bring to mind meetings and I was thinking today about my early days with the Trust when I clattered up the stairs in the old building to attend the digital photography course as a student. I liked what I saw; people who were making a difference to the community, a friendly welcoming space and tutors who worked hard but still had all the time in the world for somebody who needed a chat or a kind word. Before long, I was volunteering in Mo's ESOL class, using my long-forgotten qualifications to teach students who wanted to be taught, who brought food for us to try, or presented us with small gifts at Christmas, at Eid - almost every week there was something to show their appreciation.
Then came the early morning phone call - Mo was stranded in France, would I take over the class? Yes, I certainly would. And I didn't look back, my City and Guilds certificates were updated to a PGCE and I was off on a whole new career.
I've done so much with the Trust, ESOL, crafts, creative writing, family learning, KIT, IT, admin, workshops and projects to name but a few activities. I've worked in places so cold that I had to teach in my coat and gloves or so hot that I needed continual drinks of water to keep going. I've been fed so well that I've put on over two stones in weight and met so many kind, interesting and entertaining people that my address book bulges with their numbers. My youngest 'student' was a few weeks old and my oldest turned ninety in the summer. I've encountered people who have never left Bolton in all their long lives and others who have come from countries I had to look up on the map. I've worked with people whose academic qualifications would put mine to shame and a grandmother from the Ivory Coast who had never held a pen in her life until I placed one between her fingers.
Wonderful memories.
And of course life goes on after me. Jen will be hitting the keyboard from next week and she'll have plenty to tell you about. Besides tales of Sue's new reading group at Mill View Nursing home, where she enrolled our oldest ever student - Gertie, a lively ninety seven years old, there will soon be details available of the new timetable for 2010 and the second phase of our Learning Revolution project. I'm making sure I get the weekly update on everything that goes on at the Family Learning Centre.
I just have to clear my desk now and pick up my bag. I'm taking so many fantastic experiences with me, but leaving a little piece of my heart in Great Lever. Thank you for having me BLT and GLUG, it's been fun.
BLOG 8 - New faces & great resources!
We've got another new face at the centre this week - Sam, who's going to be delivering some classes for BLT as part of her degree course. She's already qualified as a teacher so we're all sure she'll settle in very quickly. She's taking over the Tuesday morning parent and toddler slot from me, starting a new Stay and Play session at Great Lever UCAN centre and may also be able to rekindle our popular Books for Babies sessions at the local health centres, which have been much missed since Alex left the Trust.
Sam's not the only one to be starting classes at the UCAN. Jen will be doing an IT session there on Thursday mornings and Yasmin will be setting up a craft group. It will be great to have a BLT presence further into Great Lever and exciting to be involved in the UCAN from the very start.
Talking of new starts, I thought that I should take Sam to the Play Resource Centre on Leonard Street to show her an excellent place to gather materials for her classes. We duly trotted down on Wednesday afternoon and after seeing all the boxes of goodies on offer, Sam declared, 'I think I've died and gone to heaven!' Every aisle had something that made her jump up and down with joy. She took home lots of ideas plus an application form for joining as a member herself. I've been going there for around fifteen years and sometimes forget what a treasure trove we have in the heart of Great Lever, but Sam reminded me how lucky we are.
BLOG 7 - Leaks and parenting!
Christmas has started to rear its tinselled head at the Family Learning Centre in spite of it only just being November. Planning for special Christmas occasions always takes a time and already we're sharing pop-up Santa worksheets and deciding whether we have a coffee morning, a lunch, certificates or not at the Centre's winter celebration.
Sandra is well underway with her plans. She's got her big day on December 15th at the Hope Centre well under control apart from needing a real donkey to complete the proceedings. A real donkey!!! If you happen to have one hanging around your back garden, do let Sandra know...........
The reason why she's ahead of most of us is that she has a lot of new classes coming up over the rest of the term. As I write she's delivering a new course, Parents as Learners, at Firwood School. It's an interactive programme for parents using new ways to explore learning and sounds a lot of fun.
Tomorrow she's launching our first Care to Read group at Beaumont School. She and a group of parents will be looking at all kinds of types of text over the next five weeks, from the classics, to magazines, to children's fiction. Hopefully she'll broaden the reading tastes of the committed readers and entice the reluctant parents to pick up a book and enjoy it.
Sue will be leading our second reading group at Millview Nursing Home from next week. It's the largest residential home in the country apparently, so I'm sure she'll have plenty of interest. The ladies who come from the Millview to the Nightingale Knitters have enjoyed their time, so much so that their weekly outing is advertised in the in-house bulletin.
The Great Lever UCAN Centre will also be hosting three BLT classes which we're very excited about. The centre only opened at the end of September and we are thrilled to be working with Irwell Valley Housing Association and manager, Maggie Hughes from day one. Jen will be teaching IT there, Yasmin will be doing crafts and Sam will be running Stay and Play parent and toddler sessions. I'm sure they'll all be popular classes.
Our own centre has been suffering a little from the bad weather this week. Some students have been staying at home because of the pouring rain and our classroom sprang a leak in its roof! It was perhaps for the best that there were a few gaps in the student seating as somebody could have got dripped on during ESOL class. Essa's wonderful caretakers are sorting the problem out for us and we hope that we'll be dry and well visited next week.
I've heard whispers of all kinds of new BLT projects that are bubbling under - multimedia productions, archives and a People's Museum (we don't think that means exhibiting the older members of staff in a glass case, but you never know). When I find out a bit more, you'll be the first to hear about it.
BLOG 6 - a bit of knitting and a cup of tea!
The half term holiday has whizzed by and we are all back in the swing of things, including our new administrative assistant, Mikayla, who joined us on Monday. It's great to have somebody sitting regularly in the receptionist's chair and I'm sure our many visitors will appreciate seeing a familiar friendly face.
Mikayla's encountered some interesting things in her first few days at the Family Learning Centre. Her interview took place at the same time as the cookery class which is the main room's busiest class in. What a baptism, coming to a new office and being greeted by teens of chattering students plus the smell of delicious food!
She encountered another lively group of visitors on Tuesday when GLUG hosted its first activity afternoon. Jen, Femida (the new chair of GLUG) and I planned an afternoon based around the theme of tea. It was quite nerve-wracking, watching the clock tick towards one as we had no way of knowing if our street learning strategies of handing out leaflets and puzzles around Great Lever would entice anybody down the hill to our Centre. Imagine how thrilled we were when we saw two ladies walking across the car park, then another three, and -great - we were in business!
We had organised a couple of competitions, which were taken very seriously, some tea-themed puzzles to solve, a singsong - all songs about tea and all sung with great gusto (when we knew the words), card making and lots of lovely different teas to taste with the cakes and biscuits that were on offer. Everybody thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon and we are looking forward to the next meeting on December first, which will have a Christmas theme.
A great benefit from the afternoon was meeting up with the ladies who organise the social events at Windsor Court. They were very keen to do some courses with us and we hope that we can soon be delivering IT classes and a reading group for their benefit.
It's our second good link with the older community in Great Lever in as many weeks. A couple of residents from the huge Millview Nursing Home have started to attend the popular Nightingale Knitters group for a regular Thursday morning fix of stitching, chatting and tea drinking. I'm sure they'll enjoy being with the other ladies and will love the friendly welcome that Pauline and Vivienne give to everybody.
Actually, I think the knitters may have to be renamed the Nightingale Gardeners for a short time in the future. Pauline spotted the 'Winter Warmer' grants that CVS are offering for the colder months and is hoping to win some money to decorate the Nightingale Centre with colourful pots and hanging baskets. If her bid is successful it will make a great difference to the entrance to the Centre and I know she'll have no end of volunteers to plant and hang baskets. Good Luck, Pauline, I've got my fingers crossed for you.
BLOG 5 - ...9 ladies dancing...!
Well, here we are right in the middle of our Week of Wonder and everything is going really well. At first organising such a major event seemed an enormous task, but somehow we did it and now it's actually happening!
Sue, Sandra, Jen and I have just returned to the office after a lunchtime session using the amazing Cyber Coach exercise machine. John Blackburn, BLT's Chair of Trustees, was giving a demonstration at the Nightingale Centre and we couldn't resist popping down to see what was happening. It's a bit like a physical karaoke where a virtual instructor carries out different dance moves and everybody tries to follow her. We had a good Bollywood workout - see the photos on the website - and then tucked into a super lunch provided by Shabnam Raja and her team of ladies from the Ethnic Minority Foundation. It was billed as a healthy lunch, but inevitably large plates of pakoras and somosas appeared amongst the salads. Delicious! We hijacked two ladies who had gone to the centre to visit the gym for the first time and got them to have a dance with us. They loved Cyber Coach and the meal, but we had to point out to them that it wasn't like this every Wednesday!
Chris and Francesca from Box TV have been shadowing our activities this week (but thankfully not the dancing) they visited the Creative Hands session to film us talking about the things in life that bug us and to watch some beautiful earrings being created. Francesca even stayed long enough to make herself some earrings, her first foray into hand crafted jewellery.
Box TV were also in attendance at the Hope Centre in Johnson Fold on Tuesday where Jen dressed up in hiking boots and bobble hat to read the story, 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt' and Sandra appeared as we've never seen her before, robed up as the Wicked Queen from Snow White, complete with basket of shiny red apples. Some of the helpers and children also dressed up to join in the fun of Family Book Festival morning.
As if appearing on film and TV wasn't enough, we were interviewed for the local radio station, Bolton FM. The Creative Hands class impressed the interviewer as it is a truly multicultural group and the participants were keen to stress to him how much gathering together over a piece of writing or some craft work had helped to break down barriers and give everybody an understanding of each other's cultures.
We've still got Get Online Day, a digital photography taster and a film workshop to look forward to as well as our usual end of the week activities, but one of the best things that has happened has been the arrival of new faces at our venues. It's worth all the shoe leather and petrol that we used to distribute our five thousand leaflets to hear somebody says, 'I'm new here, I saw your leaflet and I'd like to join in.'
BLOG 4 - Better than Prozac!
I can't believe how quickly the last week has passed. It doesn't seem two minutes since I last put fingers to keyboard, but as they say, time flies when you're having fun!
It's been a week of meetings one way and another, some of them civilised, like our team meeting, some of them rather more 'energetic'. On Monday, I had to sell the benefits of our Care to Read project to a group of mums whose reception-age offspring had just completed their first PE lesson and wanted to show Mummy everything they had learned. They adults all had the harassed look that the parents of little ones wear at 3.30 each day until I managed to shout above the cacophony of shrill voices - 'They say it's better than Prozac!' Six mothers signed up on the spot and promised to refer the course to their friends.
Yesterday was the NLDC Project Managers' monthly meeting. It was the Family Learning Centre's opportunity to host the gathering, so Jen kindly lugged the full geyser, cups, coffee, tea bags and of course, biscuits down to the classroom and we sat back to await the invasion of fellow beneficiaries, LSC reps, council employees and Community College staff. It was a busy meeting - thank goodness for a big room- and an ideal opportunity to learn what was going on in other parts of Bolton. We couldn't believe that NEARIS will soon cease to exist, but were happy to learn that NEARUS was rising from the ashes and the staff would continue the good works that we all know them for.
Tomorrow morning there's a GLUG meeting, another team meeting, then it's all systems go for the Learning Revolution Festival which starts next Monday. At the moment we're busy delivering our leaflets everywhere we can think of to tell people about the amazing things that are going on, not just at the Centre, but all over town. I must confess that I'm viewing next Monday with a degree of trepidation as my Creative Hands group will be filmed as part of the festival. We're supposed to be making jewellery, so I hope I don't drop my beads all over the place. At least if I'm scrabbling around under the table, I will be out of camera shot!
The closing date has now passed for applications for our Admin Assistant position and Sue and Sandra are working their way through the mountain of responses in an attempt to prepare a shortlist of names. It's quite thrilling, knowing that a new colleague's details are lying amongst the heap of papers on the table, but we'll have to contain our excitement for another week or two until somebody is appointed.
BLOG 3 - Locals accosted by soggy ladies!
Why would two normally sane and sensible ladies choose the wettest day for weeks to go wandering around Great Lever? Because Tuesday was the start of our Street Learning project. Jen and I occasionally take time off from our BLT duties to participate in Great Lever User Group projects and our latest idea is to connect with people we'd not normally see in the centre and try to engage them in literacy activities by stealth, in the form of crosswords, word-searches, poems and quizzes - all tailored to be relevant to Great Lever locals. It was quite daunting, approaching our first potential learner and he was a bit surprised to be accosted by two soggy women as he waited for his bus to town. Fortunately he was interested in doing a crossword while he waited for the 572 and was very interested in a monthly get-together with tea and biscuits.
Back in the warm and dry, I've had a good look at the Family Learning Week timetable, which is now complete and can be found at www.learningrevolution4bolton.co.uk. It's packed with classes and workshops, some very new to BLT. Who would imagine that you could do a jam session at the Family Learning Centre (and not the strawberry variety!) or take part in a dance and beauty event at the Nightingale centre? It just shows that learning can really be fun.
Anyway, that's in the future; the present is also very exciting. Each Monday, Jen sees new faces at her beginners IT class alongside her regular students. It's great to know that people are so keen to tackle the mysteries of the internet at such an early part of the week. We're in great danger of having more students than laptops if everybody on the register comes at once! It's a lovely problem to have and is usually solved by pinching staff laptops if they leave their desks for more than a minute. We don't mind, it's all in a good cause, some of these students may come back as volunteers in the future in the same way that I did.
We've actually been blessed with some new and very useful helpers recently. It seemed overly ambitious to distribute ten thousand leaflets throughout Great Lever and Morris Green, but the exercise has brought us Collette and Femida, both of whom are very talented and willing ladies. They are tackling the admin jobs that have built up since Alex left us and we are happily watching our pile of 'to-do' activities disappear before our eyes. We've also got Sam and Andrea on board too who apparently have innumerable talents between them - watch this space.
My family ESOL group is still small and had to be conducted in French this week as my tiny learner had no English at all. I thought it would be better to engage her in her own language as she was very wary of the strange English lady and since my French is on par with the language of a three year old, we got on famously.
In contrast, Sandra's Tuesday morning group at the Hope centre in Johnson Fold is big and busy. This week was a special morning, a Harvest celebration with Jenny the vicar in attendance. Parents got some tips on how to make a fruit smoothie and took away some recipe ideas. Next week it's back to Words and Pictures and the intricacies of the letter C. Sandra's also starting a sister group at the Bright Meadows Children's Centre in Breightmet AND a parenting group at Sharples School on Thursday afternoons, giving her a really full timetable.
We all sneaked a few minutes away from our work yesterday to rummage through a huge consignment of books donated by members of Birtenshaw Methodist Church, who had seen our book appeal and decided to donate us their book mountain. It's thrilling to see what people give us, some books are useful in our work and the rest are sold for our funds. This time, a publication entitled 'Write Your Own Life Story' has provided us with many excellent ideas to add to our 'My Story' project. Every donation is welcome, very often somebody's rubbish is our treasure.
BLOG 2 - stilettos and stories!
Classes are getting back into full swing now that Eid is over and we've had lots of familiar faces coming through the door together with many new ones. First sessions are always a leap into the unknown for both tutor and students. The tutor always wonders how many people will turn up and if we have enough resources (we always do), while the students will want to know what their teacher has planned for the term and who they will be sitting next to in class.
This week's Creative Hands class hosted five happy ladies busily putting a collage on file folders. We'd discussed the origins of shoes, what a cordwainer* does for a living, and the best way to store the stilettos. As if that wasn't enough, we've started looking at the BBC's new My Story project, where everybody is encouraged to put their life into words and I hope that next week the ladies will have a go at drafting their stories.
On the subject of My Story, Jen and I spent a day at the BBC last week, where we learned a lot more about the project and met some interesting people who were running the venture around the North West. Unfortunately we didn't see anybody famous while we were walking around the Oxford Road studios - apart from each other, of course!
Our other huge project, Learning Revolution, is now gathering momentum. We have started to put together a packed timetable for Family Learning Week which sees all sorts of activities, from a book festival to Bollywood dancing, taking place throughout the Borough. Family Learning Week runs from October 19th - 23rd - watch the BLT website (www.boltonliteracytrust.org.uk) for further details.
Tuesday morning saw a new venture for Bolton Literacy Trust; we started a class that combined ESOL with our popular Words & Pictures sessions. Parent and Toddler ESOL is designed for parents whose first language isn't English. Using songs, stories, craft and play activities the two generations can learn English together whilst getting the youngsters used to mixing with other children in readiness for playschool or nursery. We've started small, just two families, but I'm sure word will soon spread and we'll be busy with lots of little ones.
My own 'little one' has just flown the nest - Andrew has moved to Salford University to study history. In the way that nursery children bring home pictures to pin to the fridge, he sent me a souvenir of his first achievement at uni - a picture text message of a bacon and egg butty. Let's hope there might be a degree certificate winging its way back to Bolton in three years!
* it's a shoe-maker!
BLOG 1 - the start of the project
The beginning of a new academic year is always exciting and 2009/10 is proving to be no exception. We're right at the start of our Learning Revolution project which will provide us with funding for six months' worth of interesting and fun activities. Everybody is getting to grips with all the new activities we shall be delivering and I'm really looking forward to setting up a reading group later in October.
Another thing I'm enjoying is doing some research on the various groups who offer informal learning in Bolton. Once you get chatting to people, it seems like every church hall, scout hut or cricket pavilion is home to a wealth of talented people who are busy singing, knitting or painting. There are so many volunteers running these groups too, people who join with others because they enjoy sharing their talents.
Week one of Creative Hands went well. There were just two learners, but they both enjoyed the variety of activities in one class. I think a potpourri of activities is a good idea for students who want to explore their abilities. If they are unsure about writing, they don't have the full-on pressure of a creative writing group, or if they only have limited crafting abilities, the activities are short, simple and hopefully, engaging. I think there will be more attendees once Eid is over and everybody gets back to normal.
I'm off to Manchester on Wednesday with Jen to a 'My Story' workshop at the BBC, which is a real treat. I'm sure we'll come back fired up with lots of brilliant ideas for the coming months.