Today marks the launch of the much-awaited New Saints Website! Ta dah:
www.newsaintslangport.co.uk
From now on, this will be the main online base of operations for the project. You'll get news about upcoming events and meetings, other community events in Langport, follow our twitter feed, view our gallery (and contribute!), meet the team, meet the project, and meet the building, find out what has inspired us to create the project and why, and (quite importantly) have the opportunity to fill in questionnaires about how you feel about the project.
The questionnaires will be used by the the New Saints to influence the next stage of the project - how we will use the building in future, so be sure to let us know!
We're very excited about the launch of our website, we've worked long and hard with Cosmic Ethical IT to get it looking and working exactly how we want, so we hope you like it!
Saturday, 20 April 2013
Thursday, 11 April 2013
Hunky Punk workshops - check out the dedicated blog!
Our SAW artists have been working hard in March and April, visiting local schools and doing Hunky Punk- making workshops. They've got a great dedicated blog to showcase their efforts:
http://hunkypunksproject.blogspot.co.uk/
All the Hunky Punk creations will be presented at our Showcase event at the church, 8th June 9am-5pm, with the final workshop from 2-4:30pm and the competition with special guest judge at 4:30!
http://hunkypunksproject.blogspot.co.uk/
All the Hunky Punk creations will be presented at our Showcase event at the church, 8th June 9am-5pm, with the final workshop from 2-4:30pm and the competition with special guest judge at 4:30!
Wednesday, 6 March 2013
JOBS! Bountiful Jobs!
Recently the New Saints Project has grown huge in terms of number of people involved, soon its going to get even bigger because I've just submitted four job adverts to heritage/arts websites for consultant/contract style jobs attached to the project.
First of all, the speedy growth of the Hunky Punk Project
Initially, we created a partnership with Somerset Art Works, who're based in Langport, which created 1 day/week of work for a SAW Development Officer.
Then, we created our partnership with the Event Management Students at Bridgwater College, providing an extra 22 young brains with approximately 3hrs/week time on the project.
Then, we used that partnership to expand our Hunky Punk Art Workshop part of the project, and advertise for a professional freelance artist to lead school/community workshops.
From that we found three artists that we wanted to work with, and two of them were 'young'! (according to HLF guidelines!) The dilemma here was that we only had the funding to pay for one artist, but SAW came to the rescue with Progression Support grants for young professional artists, which ultimately meant that the project could employ one young lead artist, and support two more artists to work on the project, hooraaaaaay!
This much increased capacity in-turn meant that we could organise more Hunky Punk workshops, and share the projects with more primary and secondary schools, which we're embarking on in March and April. The involvement of Bridgwater College has meant that we can hold two public events rather than one; one community workshop to build more and more Hunky Punks, and one Showcase Exhibition during Langport Community Festival (another valuable partnership!)
Now, onto the jobs!
Today I've spent a lot of time submitting job adverts to heritage and arts job websites. This has been a little bit scary because the contract salaries represent a sizeable chunk of the project finances, and I'm effectively spending it all in one go... eek!
As of tomorrow, our Evaluation Consultant, Interpretation Consultant, Community Archives Adviser and Community Archives Expert jobs will be live on:
- University of Leicester Museum Studies JobDesk
- Our profile on Creative Somerset
(I'm still working on a few other sites which involve calling in favours, diplomacy and membership registration... I'll keep you posted...)
Does anyone have any recommendations for other (free) heritage/arts job sites that I can use?
If you're interested, pleased get in touch and ask, I'm very happy to send out briefs, answer questions, and put people in touch with people.
First of all, the speedy growth of the Hunky Punk Project
Initially, we created a partnership with Somerset Art Works, who're based in Langport, which created 1 day/week of work for a SAW Development Officer.
Then, we created our partnership with the Event Management Students at Bridgwater College, providing an extra 22 young brains with approximately 3hrs/week time on the project.
Then, we used that partnership to expand our Hunky Punk Art Workshop part of the project, and advertise for a professional freelance artist to lead school/community workshops.
From that we found three artists that we wanted to work with, and two of them were 'young'! (according to HLF guidelines!) The dilemma here was that we only had the funding to pay for one artist, but SAW came to the rescue with Progression Support grants for young professional artists, which ultimately meant that the project could employ one young lead artist, and support two more artists to work on the project, hooraaaaaay!
This much increased capacity in-turn meant that we could organise more Hunky Punk workshops, and share the projects with more primary and secondary schools, which we're embarking on in March and April. The involvement of Bridgwater College has meant that we can hold two public events rather than one; one community workshop to build more and more Hunky Punks, and one Showcase Exhibition during Langport Community Festival (another valuable partnership!)
Now, onto the jobs!
Today I've spent a lot of time submitting job adverts to heritage and arts job websites. This has been a little bit scary because the contract salaries represent a sizeable chunk of the project finances, and I'm effectively spending it all in one go... eek!
As of tomorrow, our Evaluation Consultant, Interpretation Consultant, Community Archives Adviser and Community Archives Expert jobs will be live on:
- University of Leicester Museum Studies JobDesk
- Our profile on Creative Somerset
(I'm still working on a few other sites which involve calling in favours, diplomacy and membership registration... I'll keep you posted...)
Does anyone have any recommendations for other (free) heritage/arts job sites that I can use?
If you're interested, pleased get in touch and ask, I'm very happy to send out briefs, answer questions, and put people in touch with people.
Wednesday, 5 December 2012
Clearing out the Vestry
One of the small but very important parts of our project at All Saints Langport has been to clear out the Vestry at the far East end of the building. The room has been used for storage since time immemorial and is a veritable treasure trove of documents and material culture exhibiting the life of a church (that's quite a cool way to describe a store room, eh?)
The original use of the room was for the incumbent priest of the church to change into his sacred vestments (robes and scarves), hence the name 'Vestry', and do the administration work attached to running a parish church, but in a lot of churches its regularly used as a storeroom now. The Vestry is also traditionally where the married couple go straight after the ceremony to sign the marriage register, our's isn't the nicest of spaces to do that yet though!
Here are some 'before' image of the space:
... and here's how it looked 'after' we cleared out and cleaned up:
Much better!
Gems that we found included...
Whilst we were doing the clear-out our blue sky thinking included installing a phone line, letterbox and wifi (as well as a lot of heaters and insulation) to turn the Vestry into a real office for the New Saints, or space that could be rented out on a daily basis as hotdesking space... what do you think?
The original use of the room was for the incumbent priest of the church to change into his sacred vestments (robes and scarves), hence the name 'Vestry', and do the administration work attached to running a parish church, but in a lot of churches its regularly used as a storeroom now. The Vestry is also traditionally where the married couple go straight after the ceremony to sign the marriage register, our's isn't the nicest of spaces to do that yet though!
Here are some 'before' image of the space:
... and here's how it looked 'after' we cleared out and cleaned up:
Gems that we found included...
- The marble top of a tomb for James Heron, the architect who made changes to the church in the 18th century, originally located in the South Chapel, now used as a table top (complete with historic graffiti!)
- Lots and lots of very rich Bible bookmarks and altar cloths
- The very fragile Roll of Honour showing the names of soldiers from Langport who died in World War One. We'd like to put it on display eventually, once it's been conserved and looked after by the CCT
- A book recording all the weddings at the church between 1722 and 1822
Whilst we were doing the clear-out our blue sky thinking included installing a phone line, letterbox and wifi (as well as a lot of heaters and insulation) to turn the Vestry into a real office for the New Saints, or space that could be rented out on a daily basis as hotdesking space... what do you think?
Wednesday, 28 November 2012
Hunky Punk artist recruitment with SAW (with a deadline this Friday!)
Just a quick update about our art and community project about the Hunky Punks at All Saints Langport.
We're using some of our Heritage Lottery Fund grant, as well as match-funding from SAW to hire an artist to help us develop the project to run workshops in schools and the local communities. I'm bringing it up on the blog because if you're a textiles artist, and especially if you're under 25, there's an opportunity for you to work on this part of the project with us! Check out the application form on SAW's website, and get filling in, the deadline's on Friday!! (I'm on the interview panel, eek!!)
The workshops will be designed for the attendees to learn how to make as many Hunky Punk sock monsters as they like (see previous blogpost's image) to take home and keep... providing that they're brought to the Hunky Punk toy product launch event at the church.
Our aim is to have the church absolutely brimming with Hunky Punk sock monsters, all made by local people of all ages. (If you're interested in attending a workshop and creating your own Hunky Punks, keep checking back on the blog, or also follow our twitter feed to find out when and where they'll be!)
The serious bit behind this fun spectacle will be that by creating your own Hunky Punk, you'll learn a bit more about the stone Hunky Punks on the church, what they're for, why All Saints has so many, and the history of these particular Hunky Punks. What's not to enjoy?
We're using some of our Heritage Lottery Fund grant, as well as match-funding from SAW to hire an artist to help us develop the project to run workshops in schools and the local communities. I'm bringing it up on the blog because if you're a textiles artist, and especially if you're under 25, there's an opportunity for you to work on this part of the project with us! Check out the application form on SAW's website, and get filling in, the deadline's on Friday!! (I'm on the interview panel, eek!!)
The workshops will be designed for the attendees to learn how to make as many Hunky Punk sock monsters as they like (see previous blogpost's image) to take home and keep... providing that they're brought to the Hunky Punk toy product launch event at the church.
Our aim is to have the church absolutely brimming with Hunky Punk sock monsters, all made by local people of all ages. (If you're interested in attending a workshop and creating your own Hunky Punks, keep checking back on the blog, or also follow our twitter feed to find out when and where they'll be!)
The serious bit behind this fun spectacle will be that by creating your own Hunky Punk, you'll learn a bit more about the stone Hunky Punks on the church, what they're for, why All Saints has so many, and the history of these particular Hunky Punks. What's not to enjoy?
Friday, 28 September 2012
New Saints Needs You!
A couple of things to update on this time.
First of all, our recruitment drive is well and truly kicking off - we're looking for young people (aged 16-25) who live in or around Langport and the surrounding area that are interested in gaining career skills and working to improve their local community. We're looking to increase the capacity of the core group of New Saints, so you would be required to attend fortnightly meetings (in the evening so they don't clash with school or work), and be able to give about 5hrs per fortnight of work towards the project. If this is you, (or your children, grandchildren, neighbour, etc. etc.), get in touch!
This is our poster for recruitment - spread, share, reblog, retweet please!
Second update: we had a great meeting earlier in the week with Somerset Art Works (SAW), who are our partner for the Hunky Punk Toy part of the project. The plan at the moment (though this is subject to change depending on the artist that we hire to lead it) is to create kits for everyone and anyone to make 'sock monster' versions of our Hunky Punks, as well as making a good few of our own. On top of this we hope to be running workshops in schools and for communities around Langport so that we can have a church full of Hunky Punk Toys for the launch event (full details of this are yet to be confirmed)
Whilst it is obvious that these sock monsters don't look too similar to our Hunky Punks (check out Walter for reference), there are (and can be) an awful lot of similarities. For example, all of our Hunky Punks are unique - we've got dragons, griffins, lions and other anonymous hellish creatures all looking different, either by design or by natural weathering, and each sock monster Hunky Punk that our project creates will be unique. When we're creating our kits for making your own toy, we can substitute ears for horns, and arms for wings, or you can make a cat-like one look even more lion-y! The possibilities are endless. Anyway, this is all at the planning stages, so I'm not allowed to get too excited as it all might change!
Third and final update: the build up for this one has been a long (long, long, long) time coming, but we finally have the first semblances of a New Saints website! At long last, that link on the right over there >>> will finally be live and send you to our brand spanking new website!
Here's a very tiny sneakpeek just for you lucky readers:
Tuesday, 14 August 2012
'Walter' the Hunky Punk, back in his rightful place
Last Friday the churchyard at All Saints Langport was echoing with applause and cheers as our brand new Hunky Punk (affectionately known whilst he was residing in the church porch as 'Walter') was cemented into place on the South wall of the building.
Walter has had a long journey from being a lump of stone with sketchmarks on in one of Corbel Conservation's stonemason workshops,
to occupying the South Porch and keeping an eye on the visitors,
We were lucky to have a front page photo on the Western Gazette last week in a build-up article for the event, and the reporters were there again on the day to write an article for the next issue!
The event was a great opportunity for the groups of people with vested interest in the building - New Saints, keyholders, the CCT, Corbel Conservation, and local Langportians to come together and celebrate the building, as well as discuss the exciting plans for the future!
For more photos of Walter's journey from sedimentary to elevated, have a look at the CCT's facebook photo album
Walter has had a long journey from being a lump of stone with sketchmarks on in one of Corbel Conservation's stonemason workshops,
to occupying the South Porch and keeping an eye on the visitors,
to finally being winched up the scaffolding and manouevered back into
place with one of the best views of the Levels you could possibly hope
for!
We were lucky to have a front page photo on the Western Gazette last week in a build-up article for the event, and the reporters were there again on the day to write an article for the next issue!
For more photos of Walter's journey from sedimentary to elevated, have a look at the CCT's facebook photo album
Friday, 3 August 2012
July Update - Website, Recruitment and Partnerships, People using the building
I think we're definitely overdue a little update on the project from July!
So, last you saw us, we had submitted our HLF application. In case you hadn't heard through twitter, or our newsletter, we were successful! We've now begun our 'Who made our church?' project with a lot of event planning, partnership brokerage, brief writing and consultant hiring!
One of the first things that we were able to do was start researching a good web design company to create our new website for us! You see that link over on the right that has said 'website: coming soon' for the whole of the project so far? Well now it really is coming soon! We're really pleased to be working with Cosmic Ethical IT to build, design, and maintain our website, one of our HLF funded events is a website launch event, so watch this space!
We realised that with such a big project on our hands we're going to need a few more members of New Saints on the committee. Our recruitment drive has been a mix of posters up around Langport, word of mouth through youth clubs and Scouts, and volunteering websites such as Do It. If you, or someone you know might want to join New Saints (and is between 16 and 25), have a look at these forms and get back to us!
I've been very busy building some good strong partnerships for the project in July - Somerset Art Works are working with us to match fund and support a young artist project leader for our Hunky Punk Toy Project (Hunky Punks are the grotesques ornamenting the outside of the church, our project will work with SAW to make toy versions for local young people to make a fun connection to the building).
We've also recently had a very positive meeting with Bridgwater College's Business Studies Dept, to organise how we're going to work with the students as if we were their clients for the event management and marketing of our HLF funded events. This will be a great opportunity for the students to work on 'live coursework', where the decisions they make have real ramifications and real rewards, rather than a hypothetical project like most students would work with. We will also be sticking true to the philosophy of the project by utilising and building the skills of young people rather than relying on +25yr olds professionals.
Finally, I wanted to share some pictures of the recent creative use of the All Saints. St Gilda's are a centre in Langport (just across the road from the church) that take young people from all across Europe and help them learn English language skills. They use the church for summer schools every year, and this year they haven't disappointed! I really like the way they have re-used the space creatively, making different zones within the one big space:
So, last you saw us, we had submitted our HLF application. In case you hadn't heard through twitter, or our newsletter, we were successful! We've now begun our 'Who made our church?' project with a lot of event planning, partnership brokerage, brief writing and consultant hiring!
One of the first things that we were able to do was start researching a good web design company to create our new website for us! You see that link over on the right that has said 'website: coming soon' for the whole of the project so far? Well now it really is coming soon! We're really pleased to be working with Cosmic Ethical IT to build, design, and maintain our website, one of our HLF funded events is a website launch event, so watch this space!
We realised that with such a big project on our hands we're going to need a few more members of New Saints on the committee. Our recruitment drive has been a mix of posters up around Langport, word of mouth through youth clubs and Scouts, and volunteering websites such as Do It. If you, or someone you know might want to join New Saints (and is between 16 and 25), have a look at these forms and get back to us!
I've been very busy building some good strong partnerships for the project in July - Somerset Art Works are working with us to match fund and support a young artist project leader for our Hunky Punk Toy Project (Hunky Punks are the grotesques ornamenting the outside of the church, our project will work with SAW to make toy versions for local young people to make a fun connection to the building).
We've also recently had a very positive meeting with Bridgwater College's Business Studies Dept, to organise how we're going to work with the students as if we were their clients for the event management and marketing of our HLF funded events. This will be a great opportunity for the students to work on 'live coursework', where the decisions they make have real ramifications and real rewards, rather than a hypothetical project like most students would work with. We will also be sticking true to the philosophy of the project by utilising and building the skills of young people rather than relying on +25yr olds professionals.
Finally, I wanted to share some pictures of the recent creative use of the All Saints. St Gilda's are a centre in Langport (just across the road from the church) that take young people from all across Europe and help them learn English language skills. They use the church for summer schools every year, and this year they haven't disappointed! I really like the way they have re-used the space creatively, making different zones within the one big space:
Monday, 7 May 2012
Training
I'm really looking forward to hearing a responce from emails sent about training oppertunities with New Saints.
Thursday, 26 April 2012
May Madness!
We've been a bit quiet on the blog front recently, but that's not for lack of activity. The New Saints have been beavering away at a Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) application; plans for events in the church to welcome in the local community; and ways to wow the Churches Conservation Trust's Trustees when they stop off at Langport on their tour of CCT churches.
...And all of this comes to a head in May!
We submitted our HLF application at the very start of April; they take 8-10 weeks to review applications, so we should be hearing their final decision at some point in May (the suspense is building already at Camp New SAints!) This will provide us with funding for a series of events over the following 12 months to give the New Saints great experience in leading events, to strengthen ties with local institutions such as Huish Episcopi Sixth Form, Somerset Art Works, and the Langport and District History Society, get lots of people of all ages and backgrounds into the church to reignite the whole community's passion for the building, and allow us to speak to those members of the community to hear what they want and need in Langport, so that we can start planning new ways of using the building in future accordingly.
Our first (non-HLF-funded) public event is going ahead on the 12th May. We're holding a cinema event in All Saints church, showing 'Toy Story 3'. We chose this film because it's enjoyable for all ages (I'm certainly looking forward to it), so that children and their parents, and grandparents can get engaged, and there's very little to find offensive about it. This is our amazing poster, designed by our very own Charlotte:
We're very grateful to SPAEDA, specifically Flora, who have worked with us to get this event off the ground and into reality. Please come along and enjoy the show!
As I mentioned above we're getting our act together ready to welcome the CCT's Trustees to All Saints Langport toward the end of May. I would like to think that the main exhibit will be ourselves - a group of young people passionate and active about seeing new uses happening in a CCT church, but we're also sorting out some displays using Prezi a really cool new display tool that will hopefully knock their socks off!
Stay tuned for a write up of the cinema night, hopefully with photos of a very full church and happy people!
...And all of this comes to a head in May!
We submitted our HLF application at the very start of April; they take 8-10 weeks to review applications, so we should be hearing their final decision at some point in May (the suspense is building already at Camp New SAints!) This will provide us with funding for a series of events over the following 12 months to give the New Saints great experience in leading events, to strengthen ties with local institutions such as Huish Episcopi Sixth Form, Somerset Art Works, and the Langport and District History Society, get lots of people of all ages and backgrounds into the church to reignite the whole community's passion for the building, and allow us to speak to those members of the community to hear what they want and need in Langport, so that we can start planning new ways of using the building in future accordingly.
Our first (non-HLF-funded) public event is going ahead on the 12th May. We're holding a cinema event in All Saints church, showing 'Toy Story 3'. We chose this film because it's enjoyable for all ages (I'm certainly looking forward to it), so that children and their parents, and grandparents can get engaged, and there's very little to find offensive about it. This is our amazing poster, designed by our very own Charlotte:
As I mentioned above we're getting our act together ready to welcome the CCT's Trustees to All Saints Langport toward the end of May. I would like to think that the main exhibit will be ourselves - a group of young people passionate and active about seeing new uses happening in a CCT church, but we're also sorting out some displays using Prezi a really cool new display tool that will hopefully knock their socks off!
Stay tuned for a write up of the cinema night, hopefully with photos of a very full church and happy people!
Friday, 9 March 2012
The Limelight!
On Sunday the New Saints were at All Saints Langport to be filmed! This was for a new promotional video, being made by the Regeneration Taskforce at the CCT.
It is a sign of very good things to come for All Saints Langport, as the film is only being made about the best, most interesting, and most promising of the Regeneration Taskforce's projects, and right from the start, the youth empowerment and regeneration project at Langport was on the cards! There were a lot of new skills to learn that day - being interviewed on camera isn't as easy as it looks!
It is a sign of very good things to come for All Saints Langport, as the film is only being made about the best, most interesting, and most promising of the Regeneration Taskforce's projects, and right from the start, the youth empowerment and regeneration project at Langport was on the cards! There were a lot of new skills to learn that day - being interviewed on camera isn't as easy as it looks!
Joe’s thoughts about the filming….
I really enjoyed my filming experience for the CCT Regeneration Taskforce DVD.. The camera crew were a great laugh and a pleasure to work with; all though having three stranger’s, a camera and lots of bright lights shining in my face was rather intimidating. I almost felt like I was being questioned by the police. I’m happy I attended though as I’ve never worked with a professional film crew before and it was very interesting.
Charlotte's thoughts about the filming….
I was super nervous when we started but the film crew we’re lovely and very good at what they did, which made the process a little easier! All in all I would never have expected to be doing this kind of thing, it was an amazing experience and a great example of the new experiences I have come in to contact with by taking part in New Saints in Langport.
Grant’s thoughts about the filming….
I really enjoyed our filming adventure. It was great experience to meet the film crew and see the work that they do. They were very friendly and dedicated to what they do. I found the interview was quite intense and interesting. This was defiantly a great life skill to build and I’m sure there will be many more opportunities in future. It allowed time to also reflect on the journey we have all taken so far but also what will be achieved in the future.
Once the videos finished I'll be able to post it on here so that you can see what we're talking about!
I'm looking forward to reflecting back on this experience in 5 years time and seeing how different the people, the building and Langport are.
Friday, 9 December 2011
Exciting updates and plans for the future!
Hello blogreaders,
Please forgive me for not updating the blog as frequently as I would like to have done recently. It's testament to the progress of the project that I literally haven't had time over the past few weeks, everything seems to be happening in a pre-holidays rush!
So, exciting updates:
Keys:
The CCT have agreed with our suggestion that making one of our New Saints members an official keyholder for All Saints church will show that the CCT believe in the whole 'youth empowerment, giving young people responsibility and trusting them'. The project has been designed from the start so that the young peoples' involvement doesn't remove anything that the church was providing already (for example, whatever combination of new uses, the building will remain consecrated and available for worship), so rather than take the keys from another local keyholder, the CCT are investing in a new set just for us!
Noticeboard:
We have been working for a while on a plan to replace the current noticeboard outside the church with a bigger, shinier, new one. This will be a good, early, physical change to the building that will show followers of the project that we mean business, that we're proud of our community's building, and that we want to make it an inviting place to be used by the community once more. These plans are going ahead with the knowledge and approval of the parish council.
Cinema Night:
...and speaking of the building being used once more. The next event that New Saints are managing is a cinema night at the church (probably at the end of January). We don't have all the details ironed out just yet, but the idea is to bring people into the building that might not have been in before, for a fun family film; but also so that the community can meet the New Saints in our official roles, put faces to names that they've seen in our newspaper articles. The public events will also be a good opportunity for New Saints to continue speaking to the local community about ideas they have for the future uses of the building.
Abseil:
New Saints had a very exciting meeting recently with the Fundraising Officer at the CCT, to look at the possibility of holding a sponsored abseil down the tower at All Saints. The professionals went up and had a look and gave us a thumbs up in their risk assessment. The CCT have held a good few sponsored abseils in the past and they've always been very popular (and raised a lot of money). This event will take a while to plan, but that also means that our intrepid abseilers will have a long time to raise money! (get in touch if you want to abseil and raise money too!)
HLF Application:
Last week was a momentus occasion in New Saints history, we sent off our Heritage Lottery Fund application to be read through by our HLF contacts. If we succeed with this funding application (and we'd like to think we will) we'll be able to hold many more events over the next two years, to celebrate the heritage of the building and it's links with Langport, open the building to visitors, tourists and the local community, build the capacity of the New Saints so that events in future run so smoothly and have much more communication with that community that will be using the building after the regeneration so we can work together on defining the new uses. Good times!
Constituting Ourselves:
As you may have seen from excited tweets on our twitter, the New Saints are making great steps forward to constitute ourselves. This means that we'll have much more power to make decisions quicker, we'll also be a more attractive offer to funders when we ask for support, and the group will have much more independency from the CCT (for example, having our own bank account). We haven't yet finalised what sort of formal group we'll be, but hopefully that's a decision for our next meeting and we can keep moving forward from there!
So, that's a lot to digest, isn't it! Keep checking back for updates :)
Please forgive me for not updating the blog as frequently as I would like to have done recently. It's testament to the progress of the project that I literally haven't had time over the past few weeks, everything seems to be happening in a pre-holidays rush!
So, exciting updates:
Keys:
The CCT have agreed with our suggestion that making one of our New Saints members an official keyholder for All Saints church will show that the CCT believe in the whole 'youth empowerment, giving young people responsibility and trusting them'. The project has been designed from the start so that the young peoples' involvement doesn't remove anything that the church was providing already (for example, whatever combination of new uses, the building will remain consecrated and available for worship), so rather than take the keys from another local keyholder, the CCT are investing in a new set just for us!
Noticeboard:
We have been working for a while on a plan to replace the current noticeboard outside the church with a bigger, shinier, new one. This will be a good, early, physical change to the building that will show followers of the project that we mean business, that we're proud of our community's building, and that we want to make it an inviting place to be used by the community once more. These plans are going ahead with the knowledge and approval of the parish council.
Cinema Night:
...and speaking of the building being used once more. The next event that New Saints are managing is a cinema night at the church (probably at the end of January). We don't have all the details ironed out just yet, but the idea is to bring people into the building that might not have been in before, for a fun family film; but also so that the community can meet the New Saints in our official roles, put faces to names that they've seen in our newspaper articles. The public events will also be a good opportunity for New Saints to continue speaking to the local community about ideas they have for the future uses of the building.
Abseil:
New Saints had a very exciting meeting recently with the Fundraising Officer at the CCT, to look at the possibility of holding a sponsored abseil down the tower at All Saints. The professionals went up and had a look and gave us a thumbs up in their risk assessment. The CCT have held a good few sponsored abseils in the past and they've always been very popular (and raised a lot of money). This event will take a while to plan, but that also means that our intrepid abseilers will have a long time to raise money! (get in touch if you want to abseil and raise money too!)
HLF Application:
Last week was a momentus occasion in New Saints history, we sent off our Heritage Lottery Fund application to be read through by our HLF contacts. If we succeed with this funding application (and we'd like to think we will) we'll be able to hold many more events over the next two years, to celebrate the heritage of the building and it's links with Langport, open the building to visitors, tourists and the local community, build the capacity of the New Saints so that events in future run so smoothly and have much more communication with that community that will be using the building after the regeneration so we can work together on defining the new uses. Good times!
Constituting Ourselves:
As you may have seen from excited tweets on our twitter, the New Saints are making great steps forward to constitute ourselves. This means that we'll have much more power to make decisions quicker, we'll also be a more attractive offer to funders when we ask for support, and the group will have much more independency from the CCT (for example, having our own bank account). We haven't yet finalised what sort of formal group we'll be, but hopefully that's a decision for our next meeting and we can keep moving forward from there!
So, that's a lot to digest, isn't it! Keep checking back for updates :)
Thursday, 13 October 2011
Take Art ... up the hill to All Saints
On Saturday we invited ourselves along to a Take Art event, part of the Made In Somerset programme which saw a whole day of performance arts workshops happening in Langport.
Originally, we'd wanted to offer our building as a venue for one of their events during the day, but we got in touch just a little bit too late...
...fortunately the organiser, Sarah, was very interested in our project and the effect it will have (and is having) in Langport, and welcomed the idea of us giving a 5-minute presentation at the end of their day.
We were able to share information about the project, talk about the building, and the ways we will be connecting with the community to learn about the options for new uses. After the presentation we invited anyone who was still interested (at the end of their long day of performing!) up the hill to have a look around the building.
The response was very positive and we made some very useful connections! As well as being able to open the building to new visitors the event also served to give some of the New Saints more experience with speaking to members of the public. We even managed to entice some of them onto our email-newsletter mailing list!
Speaking of which, newsletter number 2 is in the works, keep an eye out and get in touch if you want to join the mailing list!
Originally, we'd wanted to offer our building as a venue for one of their events during the day, but we got in touch just a little bit too late...
...fortunately the organiser, Sarah, was very interested in our project and the effect it will have (and is having) in Langport, and welcomed the idea of us giving a 5-minute presentation at the end of their day.
We were able to share information about the project, talk about the building, and the ways we will be connecting with the community to learn about the options for new uses. After the presentation we invited anyone who was still interested (at the end of their long day of performing!) up the hill to have a look around the building.
The response was very positive and we made some very useful connections! As well as being able to open the building to new visitors the event also served to give some of the New Saints more experience with speaking to members of the public. We even managed to entice some of them onto our email-newsletter mailing list!
Speaking of which, newsletter number 2 is in the works, keep an eye out and get in touch if you want to join the mailing list!
Thursday, 29 September 2011
Bad News and Good News for the project
Bad News
Yesterday I heard from my CCT colleagues that our building, All Saints Langport, had become the victim of lead theft. Lots of historic buildings, especially churches have lead roofs...
Anyone who's read a newspaper in the last 10 years will know that lead theft from church roofs is becoming an increasingly common problem in the UK due to the price of metals like lead increasing rapidly as other less stable commodities drop in the recession.
Anyone who also works for the CCT will know that some CCT churches are seen to be more at risk because they don't have regular activities in them, a sophisticated (and expensive) roof alarm, or a local community around them to put the thieves off. None of these are true of All Saints Langport, but it explains the empathetic reaction I got from other members of staff.
Whilst very upsetting and frustrating (it's proving very difficult not to take it personally, or for New Saints as a group to see it as a personal affront), this also provides an opportunity. The local community have already, since hearing, proven vocal about their passion for the building, and we can use this expression to produce something active and positive. We are planning to include a 'lead theft awareness' event as part of a larger (and much more fun) series of events in an HLF Application. This will show legacy, community activism and passion from the New Saints to the community (and the HLF), to show that we're serious about what we're doing.
Good News
On a much, much brighter note, I got an email this morning saying that our first attempt at a funding application has been successful!
Do you remember ages and ages and ages ago when we applied for money from Somerset Crimebeat to provide New Saints with portable office equipment including laptops, memory sticks and a digital camera? Well, we've finally got the result (a good lesson in waiting and waiting and waiting to hear from grant funders).
This will be a huge positive boost to the project as it means we can do effective training on social media (I wouldn't be surprised if this blog started getting more than one contributor), have a much more digital approach to meetings and site visits, and ensure much more regular and efficient communications within and from New Saints!
Wooooooo :D
Yesterday I heard from my CCT colleagues that our building, All Saints Langport, had become the victim of lead theft. Lots of historic buildings, especially churches have lead roofs...
Anyone who's read a newspaper in the last 10 years will know that lead theft from church roofs is becoming an increasingly common problem in the UK due to the price of metals like lead increasing rapidly as other less stable commodities drop in the recession.
Anyone who also works for the CCT will know that some CCT churches are seen to be more at risk because they don't have regular activities in them, a sophisticated (and expensive) roof alarm, or a local community around them to put the thieves off. None of these are true of All Saints Langport, but it explains the empathetic reaction I got from other members of staff.
Whilst very upsetting and frustrating (it's proving very difficult not to take it personally, or for New Saints as a group to see it as a personal affront), this also provides an opportunity. The local community have already, since hearing, proven vocal about their passion for the building, and we can use this expression to produce something active and positive. We are planning to include a 'lead theft awareness' event as part of a larger (and much more fun) series of events in an HLF Application. This will show legacy, community activism and passion from the New Saints to the community (and the HLF), to show that we're serious about what we're doing.
Good News
On a much, much brighter note, I got an email this morning saying that our first attempt at a funding application has been successful!
Do you remember ages and ages and ages ago when we applied for money from Somerset Crimebeat to provide New Saints with portable office equipment including laptops, memory sticks and a digital camera? Well, we've finally got the result (a good lesson in waiting and waiting and waiting to hear from grant funders).
This will be a huge positive boost to the project as it means we can do effective training on social media (I wouldn't be surprised if this blog started getting more than one contributor), have a much more digital approach to meetings and site visits, and ensure much more regular and efficient communications within and from New Saints!
Wooooooo :D
Thursday, 22 September 2011
Who are we?
Last night we had an amazingly productive meeting (that went on an hour longer than scheduled and meant that I got home at 11pm after starting work at 9am! *stretches and yawns*) where we defined roles and responsibilities for the members of New Saints.
We've done this now, rather than at the start because it's given the CCT a chance to get to know the New Saints members in relation to the project (see Blog Statements), and it's given our members the chance to sample elements of different roles, find out what they enjoyed and what they didn't enjoy, and make a consciously competent decision about what roles they would like to have in the project.
Having said that these roles aren't set in stone - if a member of New Saints isn't the 'Historic Investigator', they're not forbidden from digging up some juicy social history about Langport (there's a lot, we've checked!). Similarly, if the Communications Manager isn't enjoying being Comms Manager, then we can all shift and change and take different responsibilities.
So,
Events Managers - Alice and Tadgh
Buildings Manager - Tadgh
Design and Branding - Charlotte
Historic Investigations - Joe W
Techie - Joe F
Communications - Mark
Advisor/Observer/Mentor - Melita
Our other current members, Paige and Grant haven't yet been assigned specific roles, however they still play a valuable part in decision-making at meetings, and can take part in any of the roles or work out their own.
We've done this now, rather than at the start because it's given the CCT a chance to get to know the New Saints members in relation to the project (see Blog Statements), and it's given our members the chance to sample elements of different roles, find out what they enjoyed and what they didn't enjoy, and make a consciously competent decision about what roles they would like to have in the project.
Having said that these roles aren't set in stone - if a member of New Saints isn't the 'Historic Investigator', they're not forbidden from digging up some juicy social history about Langport (there's a lot, we've checked!). Similarly, if the Communications Manager isn't enjoying being Comms Manager, then we can all shift and change and take different responsibilities.
So,
Events Managers - Alice and Tadgh
Buildings Manager - Tadgh
Design and Branding - Charlotte
Historic Investigations - Joe W
Techie - Joe F
Communications - Mark
Advisor/Observer/Mentor - Melita
Our other current members, Paige and Grant haven't yet been assigned specific roles, however they still play a valuable part in decision-making at meetings, and can take part in any of the roles or work out their own.
Wednesday, 31 August 2011
Langport Funday
On Sunday we had our first public presence, as part of the Langport Funday. Even though this wasn't our own event, it was still very important for the project as it was the first time some local people had heard about the project. We all know how imporant first impressions are! It was also a nice warm-up for New Saints' Event Management skills before we embark on our very own events in Langport.
Our presence at the event included one of the stalls on the Rec - from this we were giving out leaflets (see below), signing people up to our e-newsletter, doing facepainting and selling cupcakes to the crowds. All of which went down very favourably, hooray!
We also took the opportunity to have the church itself obviously open to visitors and got a very healthy 21 people into the church. This was a real triumph as it meant we could speak to locals and tourists about our project whilst standing in the space that it involved.
All in all, a very good (if soggy) day for all of us.
Thursday, 25 August 2011
We have our New Saints Logo!
And this is it:
We managed to get it sorted just in time for the first event where we go public (but I think that deserves it's own blogpost later). From this whole logo, we are also going to use different elements in different parts of our branding, so for instance, this monogram:
... can be used on letterheads and business cards, whereas this derivation of the logo:
... can be used on funding applications and other formal documents.
The logo design has come a long way over the last few weeks, here are some of the previous drafts:
The logo design has come a long way over the last few weeks, here are some of the previous drafts:
It'd be great to have some feedback, what do you think?
Wednesday, 3 August 2011
Blog Statement - Mark Small
Name: Mark Small
Why do you want to be involved in the project? I have always had an interest in historic buildings – specifically churches and castles - and during university I discovered a passion for regeneration projects, so when the opportunity to be part of a regeneration project focussing on a church building came along, I jumped at the chance.
I also very firmly believe in the ability of young people to work better, if not as well, as the ‘old people’ community, and this project is an opportunity to prove young peoples’ worth and justify their voice in a community.
What kind of new opportunities are you looking forward to? The project has already brought along lots of new opportunities for me – before New Saints I’d never chaired a meeting, or arranged site visits for groups of heritage professionals, or written funding applications. One of the new opportunities that I’m looking forward to is creating a heritage project that uses social media like blogging, twitter, facebook, linkedIn and digital photos to enhance and extend the project. I think if we do this right, we could create a model of practice for future heritage and regeneration projects.
How will working with the project help your future? Being part of the New Saints group has given me a lot of confidence in my abilities, more than one person that I’ve met at distinct parts of the project has commented on how much I’ve grown through this work. Working with the project has already put me in contact with a whole range of influential people, which could potentially have a huge impact on my future. Having the project under my belt will also be great for using as examples during job interviews.
Where would you like to take lead in the project? I’m looking forward to the next few phases of the project where we’ve made a decision on what the new use will be and start comparing designs for the actual physical regeneration work. I’m also interested to see the results of our community consultation initiatives. One area that I would like to take the lead on is the social media side of the project as it is a passion of mine.
How would you like to celebrate achievements? I think the biggest celebration of our achievements, for me, will be when I see the church packed full of people – of all backgrounds, ages, and genders. Seeing the church used and valued is the ultimate endgame.
Newsletter number 1
Ladies and gentleman, I can now cut the ribbon and raise the curtain on New Saints very first and totally electronic newsletter! *Fanfare*
You can see a copy of the newsletter here
...and if you're really interested you can join our rapidly increasing mailing list to receive newsletter #2 hot off the press! Exciting stuff!
(In the interest of getting the highest exposure and not missing out anyone who might not have got to grips with emails yet, we're also working on a hard copy that we will distribute around public Langport)
You can see a copy of the newsletter here
...and if you're really interested you can join our rapidly increasing mailing list to receive newsletter #2 hot off the press! Exciting stuff!
(In the interest of getting the highest exposure and not missing out anyone who might not have got to grips with emails yet, we're also working on a hard copy that we will distribute around public Langport)
Presentation time!
Last week, myself, Alice and Tadgh gave a presentation about our project to the South West Association of Preservation Trusts at Great Bow Wharf in Langport.
This was good fun - we were given the 'graveyard slot' just after lunch, so I had made sure our powerpoint presentation was a bit off-the-wall to keep everyone's attention, it included slides like this:
and this:
... just to keep people on their toes. It seemed to work!
The purpose of the presentation was to give members of local Preservation Trusts a bit of background on the project that they might have heard about from our newspaper articles and radio appearance, but also to enlist their help (hence the 'HELP!'). These guys are the representatives for a lot of the exemplar sites that we want to make our Go&Sees, so making a good, enthusiastic impression was very important!
From the meeting, we learnt more about the Walronds project, and the Dawes Twine Works Building in West Coker, as seen on the BBC's 'Restoration Village' show in 2006 (something to aspire to, eh?)
On top of all this, it was a great opportunity for our young people to get some experience in presenting in front of people, and talking to people about the church. It was also really nice to meet a whole room full of people who were wholly behind the idea of giving a significant gr1 building to young people to create its' future! Hooray!
This was good fun - we were given the 'graveyard slot' just after lunch, so I had made sure our powerpoint presentation was a bit off-the-wall to keep everyone's attention, it included slides like this:
and this:
The purpose of the presentation was to give members of local Preservation Trusts a bit of background on the project that they might have heard about from our newspaper articles and radio appearance, but also to enlist their help (hence the 'HELP!'). These guys are the representatives for a lot of the exemplar sites that we want to make our Go&Sees, so making a good, enthusiastic impression was very important!
From the meeting, we learnt more about the Walronds project, and the Dawes Twine Works Building in West Coker, as seen on the BBC's 'Restoration Village' show in 2006 (something to aspire to, eh?)
On top of all this, it was a great opportunity for our young people to get some experience in presenting in front of people, and talking to people about the church. It was also really nice to meet a whole room full of people who were wholly behind the idea of giving a significant gr1 building to young people to create its' future! Hooray!
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