- The Planning
A core group of volunteers from Dallam Boarders set about developing an Intergenerational Arts Project. The young people wanted to create something positive for their community. The group developed the aims and parameters of the project and set about fundraising for their idea. The Core Group’s key aim was:
“Bringing together the different communities and generations in the Milnthorpe and Heversham area through the medium of art”.
The young people’s hopes for the project were:
- To build the community feel in the area bringing all ages of the community together
- Creating a lasting good ‘relationship’ between every age group in Milnthorpe and surrounding areas
- To create an art piece that will be displayed in M:HUB, making a lasting symbol of our project and our community work together
Within fundraising for the project, the Core Group delivered bake sales, wrote funding bids, took the project to their local high school and were delighted that the project was chosen by the School as one of its quarterly charities. Due to this the core group delivered assemblies to ask for the young people’s support and raise awareness. The group, with KEY’s support, successfully raised £2,347.
We would like to take the opportunity to once again thank our funders; Heversham Quarry fund, St Peter’s Church, Dallam School students (mufti day fundraising) and UK Youth Change Squad.
Once funding was secured the group set about, planning sessions, working with a local artist on their vision, promotion, and delivery of the workshops.
In the group evaluation the young people;
- Recognised their own learning regarding planning such an event; team work, resilience, communication sources and fundraising.
- Recognised that their plan was a very ambitious one for the first community project
- Would love to see more projects like this in the future
The Project
The Core Group delivered 5 workshops for specific groups within the community; families, young people and community members. The last two were open to everyone. During these sessions, the Core Group and staff began to see the true effects of bringing the community together.
Through the project they witnessed young people and the community locked in discussions and all contributing to the final art piece. It was evident that they all felt comfortable and happy in the environment learning from and engaging with each other.
The Celebration
The ceilidh saw roughly 50 people attend the event, including community members, young people and their families, local young people alongside young people from the boarding house. This was a great event and there was a lovely atmosphere of people enjoying themselves and celebrating their achievements.
