Corrymeela Cross-Community Learning Summit : Northern Ireland

Corrymeela Cross-Community Learning Summit

This 3-day engagement will work with smaller community groups within marginalised communities to develop leadership and capacity to build cohesive and inclusive places through interpreting and sharing the heritage of their landscape.  There will be a focus on areas that have been proportionately

affected by conflict.

These communities will involve the Ligoniel Improvement Association, a contested space in the north of the city where there is an ‘interface’ between unionist and nationalist residents, and Ballynafeigh Community Development Association, a mixed neighbourhood where there is ongoing tension between competing public commemoration of the past, as well as increasing racism towards migrants who have moved into the area. In the border area of Northern Ireland we will engage with the Rural Community Network. These rural areas saw a disproportionate level of deaths during the conflict and have been thrust into uncertainty by the process of Brexit. They have poor access to services and would be isolated. We have recruited a group of ethnic minorities in the Ballymena area, where there has been an increase in hate crime against migrants. In the Northern Ireland LGBTQ+ community, we will therefore work with the Rainbow Project to provide opportunities for their members to engage. Overall this learning summit will directly involve 60 learners with approximately 160 wider community members engaging with the project though sharing events.

Pembroke College, Oxford

ANNIVERSARY OF THE  TYLER PRIZE AT PEMBROKE COLLEGE, OXFORD - For the past ten years, this prize funded by the David Tyler Trust has been the centerpiece of the unique access and outreach initiative that enhances key academic skills, rewards exceptional writing and builds networks among underprivileged students of a range of backgrounds.  For its ten-year anniversary, the programme is being celebrated and expanded with the inauguration of a separate Afro-Caribbean Tyler Prize. This essay competition aims to raise the aspirations and attainment of this community of students who are capable of academic excellence. 

Corrymeela Community Support "Living Well Together"

Throughout the month of November it was Corrymeela’s pleasure to welcome all classes from Year 8 at Malone Integrated College, Belfast. Each class spent undertook team building activities at Belfast Activity Centre and then spent two days at our centre in Ballycastle engaged in a programme designed to explore diversity and good relations. We looked at healthy relationships inside the classroom and out in our communities, how we communicate well with each other, promoting the benefits of learning from our diversity and having lots of fun together. 

Our programme team and volunteers enjoyed hosting the young people and teachers and look forward to continuing the work. In the new year we will produce an art piece and multimedia video to capture our learning, which we will present at a special school celebration assembly. 

Thanks to the funders of the project: Belfast City Council through their Good Relations Fund; the Enkalon Foundation, WA Cadbury Trust ; St James’ Place Charitable Foundation; Stichting Het Solidariteitsfonds and the David Tyler Trust.

Ross McKenzie
Senior Youth Worker

Grant to Springhallow School, West Ealing London

Springhallow School

Springhallow School serves the children living within Ealing that have a diagnosis of autism, a lifelong condition that affects the social and communication development of individuals and may severely impair their interactions with theworld around them.  There is no cure for autism, but education and therapy can and does make a huge difference to the lives of our young people. The school will be able to provide an even more purpose-built experience for our student population in the form of a Relaxation Sensory Trolley System , thanks to the support of the David Tyler Trust.

This trolley is designed to store and transport essential equipment, making it easy to transform a small space into a multi-sensory environment, including Fibre Optic Sensory-In-A-Box Kit and two Visual Sensory Tubs. The trolley can be wheeled into treatment rooms to provide a distraction, used in a relaxation environment for many to enjoy, or used on an individual basis.

Springhallow will use this system to support and shape the lives of young people with autism, so that they leave school ready, confident and able to lead happy and content lives, where they are as independent as they can be and where they are able to contribute to wider society in a meaningful and fulfilling way.

Richmond-upon-Thames College

A grant was awarded to the Design Department of Richmond-upon-Thames College for a Google 3D Virtual Reality headset and hand controller system, combined with the Google Tilt Brush app. This system is a cutting-edge creative tool for designers that enables them to paint in their own virtual studios and create 3D works of art within a virtual world, and even provides a mirror option for artists to replicate their strokes in multiple planes of symmetry.

The system makes use of Google Chrome’s V8 Javascript engine for high-performance processing power to render large volumes of data in real time. This could include point cloud data of the artist’s physical form, 3D geometry data of the artwork, and position data of the VR controllers.  It relies on Chrome’s support of WebM video and WebGL to produce the 360° representations of the artists and artwork, allowing the artist to draw over 200,000 points at 30 times a second. It also allows them to share their creations as room-scale VR or animated video clips.

Denmark Farm Conservation Centre Managed by Shared Earth Trust

 

The Shared Earth Trust was set up 1987 to manage the 40 acre site that is now the Denmark Farm Conservation Centre a facility devoted to reconnecting people with nature and promoting biodiversity through educational activities in the local communities around Ceredigion, Wales. Four years ago the Shared Earth Trust decided to develop some accommodation at Denmark Farm in the form of an ‘Ecolodge’ with a view to generating income towards covering the core costs associated with the Shared Earth Trust. The Ecolodge has recently received the ‘Green Key’ tourism award for being one of the country’s most environmentally sustainable destinations.

 

The project funded by the DavidTyler Trust an audio box at a strategically important interpretation point on the farm, situated on part of the boardwalk accessible to all, including wheelchair users. It is adjacent to a small pond used for pond-dipping activities with a view out over the landscape beyond. It is a key point for highlighting the existing biodiversity and the management practices at Denmark Farm that have encouraged a range of habitats in contrast to the monoculture of the surrounding farmland. The ‘U Turn Round’ audio box is powered by individuals winding a handle, no external power source is required, which is in keeping with the sustainability message at Denmark Farm. The wind-up audio box will contain eight messages (four in English and  four in Welsh) about the diversity of habitats and the wildlife that these habitats support.

 

 

 

 

 

Tiverton Market Centre - Youth Development Initiatives

 

The Tiverton Centre in Tiverton, Cornwall, is dedicated to providing advice and support in the following areas, personal identity, relationships, family support, health, legal problems, counselling, education, substance and alcohol misuse, young parents’ issues, benefits, housing and employment. They build up long term relationships with ‘hard to reach’ disengaged young people, helping them get back on track and become positive members of the community!

For many of our young people, the Tiverton Centre is the only stable influence in their chaotic lives. They use a variety of skills and services to support the young people as they are all
individuals and need a personalised approach. Their aim is to make differences that will last a lifetime for these young people, not just about keeping disaffected young people entertained and off the streets for a few hours, but to add value and encourage them to develop into adults with a much better chance of coping in the world.   

The DavidTyler Trust award provided support for the Music Group, which continues to be very rewarding for the young people that use it with many learning the drums and guitar and some young people are even having singing lessons, as a tool for increasing their self-esteem and self-confidence. The music group runs as a rolling programme so that new members can join at any stage. The computer aided musical composition that they also offer is running very effectively with some of the young people producing some wonderful dance music of their own. They plan to build up enough of their music to put on to a CD so we can play it to the other young people during our main sessions.