City Voices and Age UK

City voices were delighted to welcome two members of the Age UK North Staffordshire, Goldenhill and Sandyford memories group. The group meets at Goldenhill community centre to talk about their memories of the area and to raise funds for good causes. The group is currently working on a book about the area and so sent Jim Dutton and Jenny Bell on a fact-finding mission to one of Stoke on Trent’s most popular writing groups based at the City Central Library, Hanley on September 23^rd to ask for help and advice, as well as poems and stories relating to Goldenhill.

The pair was then treated to poetry recitals from Paul Williamson, Tom Larvin and Derek Payne. There were also stories and comedy quips from local authors Stephen Harvey and Alan Barnett. To finish the session local short story writer and poet Lily Meigh sang a ditty that she had composed to the group and guests. City voices will be guests at the Goldenhill group in the following months so watch out for that one!!

Anyone interested in either group can contact:

Alan Barnett – City voices writers forum – 01782 814023

Jim Dutton – Goldenhill memories group – 01782 200729

http://www.cityvoices.co.uk/

Free School idea for Queens Theatre

The Queens Theatre Production Society writes:

I would like to announce the following on behalf of a charity which is about to get underway here in Burslem.

We have decided to take up the initiative laid down by this government to open a free school located in the Princes Rooms attached to the Theatre.  This will enable children to access performing arts, fine art, technical art, and all subjects of curriculum associated with state schools but on a greater level.

Many hands make light work!

From Jo Stanway in the regeneration team:

Cleaning and Greening Day

21st and 22nd October 2010

Dear All

Firstly, I believe that Amanda Bromley may have contacted some of you already with regard to this event.  In short, it is a city wide event organised with a long-term view to improving appearance of the city, encouraging the community to care about their local area, and to reduce litter by educating the participants – I am hoping that with your help, and support from the Environment Team, there will be sufficient support for Burslem to participate in this event and host its own Cleaning and Greening Day.

As such, I would really appreciate your help rounding up the troops.  Key sites have been earmarked; if, at the very least, we could get all the traders to sweep the section outside their premises, it would have a massive impact, but I really need your help spreading the word….

Many hands make light work!

If you are interested in being involved please let me know as soon as possible. Email jo.stanway @ stoke.gov.uk

In the meantime, the link below will give you more information regarding the success of the first event:

http://www.stoke.gov.uk/ccm/content/cc/news_releases/2010-press-releases/2010-09-september/313-10.en

 

Meet – Have fun – Eat food – Fund art

A fantastic recipe card to use community-driven financial support to support artmakers | Social Spaces.

An invitation: Travelling Pantry

Wednesday 13th October

6-9pm, Burslem School of Art

The Travelling Pantry is a free workshop that will take place in Burslem next week with the aim of bringing people together to stimulate new projects and community activities. It has been organised by the RSA and the Local Forum, a community group supported by the city council and RENEW that meets monthly to look at local issues around regeneration.

We will meet in the Burslem School of Art at 6pm and all are welcome. This is billed as a workshop for “people who want to get things done” so if y

ou know anybody else who fits into that category, please invite them along as well!

The Travelling Pantry is one of a series taking place around the country and will be run by Tessy Britton, a RSA Fellow who has been researching citizen-led projects from around the world. Other members of the RSA have included Josiah Wedgwood, one of our most inspirational local figures, so it is exciting that the Local Forum and more widely, the Mother Town, has an opportunity to be a part of this project.

To help plan refreshments, it would be helpful if you could email karen.dulson @ stoke.gov.uk if you think you can come. If you would like a poster to print out, please leave a comment here with your email address (will not be published).

Have you got ideas for empty buildings?

Image by Ingy The Wingy via Flickr

A FUTURE FOR OUR HERITAGE CONFERENCE
Friday 12 November 2010
Wedgwood Institute, Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent

Plans are well advanced to hold a conference on how some of North Staffordshire’s redundant heritage assets can be brought back into sustainable use for the benefit of the local community.

Urban Vision North Staffordshire, the architecture and urban design centre, has secured a strong line up of expert speakers to talk about how communities can organise to re-use our heritage to satisfy local
needs and aspirations.

Tristram Hunt, MP for Stoke-on-Trent Central and well known television historian, will open the event with a keynote speech. Other speakers, including national experts in community-led regeneration, will
talk about successful examples from around the country, how communities can make things happen, and how redundant public assets can be transferred and run by community groups.

In the afternoon local community members will present their proposals for projects to re-use heritage buildings or sites, and afterwards conference delegates will vote to nominate the ideas that they think
should be given priority support.

Projects which have come forward so far include the re-use of the former Methodist Chapel in Etruria as a community enterprise centre, a climbing centre for a chapel in Burslem, the re-use of a former Co-op
building in Leek as an arts centre, and the rebuilding of the old Burslem Branch Canal.

Mick Downs, Executive Director of Urban Vision, said: “We have had a great response from people who want to make better use of our vacant historic buildings, and we would love to have more suggestions.
Anyone who has a project idea for an unused old building, which they would like to promote, should get in touch by emailing mickdowns@uvns.org or ringing us on 01782 575321.“

The conference aims to identify potential heritage regeneration projects which Urban Vision might help local community groups develop and take forward to meet their recognised needs and aspirations.

The conference, A Future For Our Heritage, will take place on Friday 12 November 2010 at the Wedgwood Institute in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent.

North Staffs Shotokan Association wants money from Staffordshire Community Foundation

North Staffs Shotokan Association wants money from Staffordshire Community Foundation.

Echoes Of Pain – Paperback and E-Book

Image via Wikipedia

A collection of short stories from a childhood of heart break and domestic violence.The setting is Burslem in Stoke on Trent in the seventies and eighties, and is the very real biography of the author.

It is written from the perspective of a child and the memories of the nightmare he was living at the time. The tales can be extremely brutal on occasions, but can just as quickly shift to a full on ‘belly laugh’ with a very strange a but true life view of the situation that the children often found themselves plunged into.

This is the real story of Burslem and the six towns that Arnold Bennett had written about in 1902, but with the added realism of children living their everyday life in Thatcher’s Britain in the eighties

The book has lots of fantastic references to the history of the area. This includes the pot banks and the people who worked in them and lots of references to the history of the area. Burslem baths, Staffordshire tableware, Burslem School Of Art and Royal Doulton.

Purchase ONLINE here: http://stokewriters.webs.com

Ideas from elsewhere: 826 Valencia: About 826 Valencia

Founded in 2002 by author Dave Eggers and educator N�nive Calegari, 826 Valencia is dedicated to supporting students ages 6 to 18 with their writing skills, and to helping teachers get their students excited about the writing. Our work is based on the understanding that strong writing skills are fundamental to future success and that great leaps in learning can be made when skilled tutors work one-on-one with students.

via 826 Valencia: About 826 Valencia.

Ideas flowing in the Old Post Office

With a new exhibition being put up around us, around 15 people gathered for this first experimental meeting. 10 ideas were presented with discussion inbetween. While some were ideas that fit the category of “would be great if enough people got behind it”, many more were already active pieces of work that can inspire other people.

All the ideas will be developed into individual posts and in the meantime here’s a brief summary of the discussion. We think we’ll get together again in a month to continue the discussions.

Many thanks to Rob and the Old Post Office for hosting. This space will be open all weekend for a sales exhibition of pottery and also hosts a Social Media Surgery on September 1st – this is a chance for anybody in the community to come and get free advice about helpful ways you can use the internet. More information here.