March 2012

W E A L o n d o n R e g i o n

Issue 1

N e w s l e t t e r

I am delighted to welcome this first edition of WEA London Region’s Newsletter. Its aims are to keep all parts of the WEA up-to-date with developments, to showcase some of our new educational activities and to provide a forum for people to share ideas, opinions and experiences. This is the first, we hope, of many and we plan to produce one every term.

You’ll see that this issue reports on a variety of areas of work including our partnership with Museum of London, feedback from trade union learners, an ‘active citizenship’ project and examples of community outreach work. There is also information about staff changes and a tribute to the late Margaret Cottier, a highly regarded WEA drama tutor.

As Director of London Region since last year, I feel I’m beginning to get to know and appreciate the region and its work. The programmes span a wide variety of curriculum areas, there are some excellent community and trade union partnerships and we have a knowledgeable and effective new management team. I have had the opportunity too to work with the region’s voluntary officers and to meet many branch representatives at the annual meeting and Regional Committee. There is a great deal of voluntary effort and enthusiasm that contributes greatly to making the WEA a unique and valuable organisation. I’m hoping that the Newsletter will help in drawing together these different strands within the WEA and help us further improve.

Recently I’ve been working with the management team around some important developments. We have already greatly improved the functioning of our centre in Clifton Street and are now planning to

Introduction

ContentsCreative Writing 2

Filmclub 3

CWU Networking Event 3

Galleryonline 4

Growing London 5

TU Learners 6

Community Outreach 7

Regional Update 8

Tribute to Margaret Cottier 9

provide lots of new short courses there in 2012/13. The idea is to attract new people to the WEA, including many from the local community and to experiment with innovative course ideas and formats. We also recently commissioned some research to help us find additional sources of income and educational partnerships. We will use the outcomes of this research in planning for next year and hopefully taking the WEA into new communities in London.

So, there is plenty to look forward to in the near future. I hope you find the Newsletter stimulating and informative and will think about contributing to a future edition.

Pete Caldwell

Regional Director, WEA London

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WEA Tutor Elizabeth Sarkany appeared on BBC London’s Robert Elms Show to talk about her inspirational course Writing London at the Museum of London.A long running feature on BBC London 94.9fm, the Robert Elms show regularly features call-in discussions on history, architecture, and the 'language of London'.

Topics for discussion in the show included how to get started with creative writing and museum objects that have been used to inspire written works.

The unique course, 'Writing London' uses the collections and special exhibitions at the Museum of London as sources of inspiration for creative writing.

The range of objects that have been used to inspire writing is eclectic and includes such things as a medieval fish trap, a reconstruction of Newgate Prison and a Roman kitchen.

Courses at the Museum have been a real success for WEA London and three other courses are planned for the museum in April 2012:

• 'What the Dickens!' - Exploring the books of Dickens to coincide with the exhibition at the museum

• 'London and the Slave Trade’ - Also using Docklands Museum

• ‘Objective- Olympics!' - Exploring sporting and cultural history through the museum

WEA learners at the Museum

Extracts of learner’s work together with images from the museum will be collated into a booklet and made available to view on the London Region website and Galleryonline in the near future.

For more information or to book a place on these courses, contact Rowenna on: 020 7426 1977 or E-mail rmortimer@wea.org.uk

Creative Writing at the Museum of London

Writing London

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WEA Filmclub @ Clapham Picturehouse

CWU Networking & Learning Event

Dates:2nd Monday of the Month

9th April:

14th May:

12th March:

11th June:

Hosted by John Riley from Resonance FM:

Get InvolvedInterested in showing your films (10 mins max) at ‘Show Your Shorts’? Submit DVDs with contact details and 40 words about your film to: Elaine Taylor, WEA London, 96-100 Clifton Street, London EC2A 4TP.

•Watch a new feature film •‘Show Your Shorts’ featuring the best short films by London filmmakers with clips, live discussions and free WEA membership all for £10

The Film Club takes the format of the screening of a recently released feature film in the main cinema followed by discussion in the bar area. Short films are then shown with introductions by independent filmmakers. The discussion tends to be informal and informative and the atmosphere is relaxed. Clapham Picture House

76 Venn Street, London SW4 0ATNearest tube Clapham Common, Northern Line

http://tinyurl.com/weafilm

Recent films shown at the club include: The Raven with short films by Rik Kemp, Carnage with Alex Barrett’s shorts. The Artist with films from both Christina Demenshina and students from Brunel University. The Tree of Life and shorts by up-and-coming filmmakers from London and Portsmouth and Sarah’s Key with shorts by Justine Gordon-Smith.

Venue:

For more information about the Film Club contact Elaine: etaylor@wea.org.uk 020 7426 1974

Organised by the London Regional Learning Committee with funding from the CWU ULF sustainability fund, the event was held at 86 St James’s St. SW1 near St. James’s Palace in November 2011.

The focus of the day was on providing learning services for union members, their families and creating links to the local community and voluntary groups to widen participation and involvement in learning.

Stallholders from a number of organisations including: the WEA, the Reading Agency, UK Online, Westminster and Islington Library Services and Unionlearn attended

the event to provide details of their courses and the range of services they are able to deliver.

The event was opened by Lee Wakeman, of CWU Education and Training, who spoke about the history of Trade Union education and was followed by a variety of speakers including: Paul Dovey, CWU, Joanna Lucyszyn, SERTUC Unionlearn, Melanie Harrison from UK Online, Colin Carter, London Regional Learning Committee and Genevieve Clarke from the Reading Agency.

WEA delegates: Rowenna, Margaret and Monica reported that the event had been an excellent

opportunity for promoting the WEA’s provision and for making links with other organisations in attendance on the day.

WEA stall at the CWU event

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Molly Morgan Memorial Lecture 2012

Submit your work

We’re always interested in new work for our gallery and would welcome submissions from tutors or anyone who works or studies with the WEA.

To enquire about getting work online, contact Andrew Perrin aperrin@wea.org.uk

Galleryonline is an online exhibition space designed to showcase the work of WEA learners, tutors and workers.

OPEN TO ALLThere is a broad range of work on display from a broad range of people including WEA learners and staff with an equally broad range of skills and interests.

The work on display from across the UK includes: drawing, painting, video, poetry, photography, pottery and animation.

We aim to update the gallery regularly and we are always open to receiving new work.

Website address:

An exhibition space for WEA courses, learners and workers

www.online.wea.org.uk/galleryonline

CURRENT EXHIBITS:

Drawing at the British Museum

Arts from Oakfield - Liverpool

Journey Exhibition Southwark Black Elders Group

WHERE AND WHEN

WEA Learning Centre, 96 - 100 Clifton Street, London, EC2A 4TP

20th April 2012 2-pm - 4pm

Fee: £7.00 or free on proof of income related benefits

Course ID: C2415817 Enroll: www.wea.org.uk or call: 0800 328 1060

Riots, Strikes, Walkouts and Ballots

Industrial protest predates Britain’s industrial revolution, which transformedBritain into the workshop of the world, and remains a feature of modern society.

In this lecture Jim Horton will argue that a continuity of aims has underpinned the changing response of the state and the courts over the last 250 years.

For more information contact:Monica Gort: 020 7426 1976 or Rowenna Mortimer 020 7426 1977

E-mail: mgort@wea.org.uk, rmortimer@wea.org.uk

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Interview with Tariq Ali

On 14th December a number of WEA learners from the Growing London project visited City Hall for the event "How London Assembly works" hosted by London Civic Forum

Learners had the opportunity to see Boris in action at his monthly question and answer session with GLA members. Learners were also given a briefing about the function of City Hall in “Londons Living Room”, a space on the very top of City Hall boasting spectacular views over the city.

Growing London is a sustainable growing project led by London Civic Forum, with WEA London and Ecolocal as partners. The project works across five London neighbourhood groups with local people coming together & learning how to make a difference in their communities by participating in container veg growing. Over the duration of the sessions people learn about creating a container garden and building skills and confidence to

make a difference in their local area. The neighbourhoods involved are Butts Farm in Hounslow, Bethnal Green in Tower Hamlets, a number of groups across Newham who are doing their practical gardening work with the Stroke Association, Mottingham in Bromley, and Frinstead in Kensington & Chelsea.

WEA London tutor Richard Pitts delivers active citizenship training as part of the course, this looks at how participants can

maintain and progress their work, use local media to publicise their projects and get others thinking and working on sustainable growing.

One of the sustainable outcomes of this course is that each group makes an action plan for finding an allotment or other growing space in order to continue growing for the future.

Contact Ann Hayes for more information about this projectahayes@wea.org.uk

Growing London

London City Hall

WEA learners pose for a picture in ‘Londons Living Room’ against a backdrop of London Bridge and the Docklands.

WEA Tutor Richard Pitts

WEA tutor Kashif Ahmed interviewed writer, filmmaker and activist Tariq AliThe purpose of the interview was to discuss Tariq’s historical novel ‘The Book of Saladin’ which was videoed to form part of Kashif’s course

entitled: ‘The Crusades in the Novels of Tariq Ali’ planned to run at Pinner Library.

Although the course was unable to run this term, this was an excellent initiative by the tutor and illustrates how accessible authors and celebrities can be when approached for educational purposes.Tariq Ali

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Learner Testimonials

Learners who recently studied on our TUC Stepping Up for Union Reps course share their views about their experience

I’ve done several other courses with the WEA over a number of years.

This current course has helped me with things like negotiation at work, kept me up-to-date with legislation and helped my confidence when dealing with various issues at work. I’ve also been able to give advice to others as the training provided by the course has been really thorough.

I’ve really enjoyed this course and I would definitely return for another course in the future.

I’ve been doing courses with the WEA on-and-off for the past 4 years. This course has helped to broaden my understanding as it’s more in depth than the Stage 1

The tutors here are knowledgeable and draw on their own experiences in the lessons, which is invaluable and the learning materials have been really good too.

I’ve had plenty of opportunity for putting what I’ve learnt into practice and the course has given me the confidence to influence change in a constructive way at work and I would definitely recommend WEA courses to anyone who is or about to become a TU Rep.

There’s been a good mix of people from different backgrounds and industries on this course and the learning environment has been informal and conducive to learning.

The guest speakers that have come to talk to us have been well informed and from the real world, this has been a highlight for me. The law aspect of the course has also been very interesting.

The course has helped me as a Rep to influence change at work and to engage with people in the workplace.Andre Ashman

Clive Murray

Leslie Knibbs

I’ve been a TU member since leaving school and became a TU Rep fairly recently.

What’s been really good for me about this course, is meeting up with like minded people from other industries and being able to share ideas and experiences with them.

I’ve enjoyed learning about the tribunal process as we visited an actual tribunal as part of the course. The legislation aspect of the course has also been valuable and given me more confidence with TU matters at work.

Everyone at the WEA has been really helpful and I’ve even learnt some basic IT skills while I've been here. I wish I’d done something like this ten years ago.

Michael Keown

For more information about our Trade Union courses, contact Monica Gort: 020 7426 1976 E-mail: mgort@wea.org.uk

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Community Outreach

Skype Session

Community Outreach Course at Poplar HARCA

Poplar HARCA (Housing and Regeneration Community Association) in Tower Hamlets is a registered social landlord with additional interest in regeneration and community engagement.Participants on the course are learning how local, boroughwide and national services work and how they can get more involved in working within their neighbourhoods and with engaging people who do not

currently access local facilities and services.

The group welcomed the chance to meet with Michael Keating the non party political rep from Tower Hamlets council and service head for One Tower Hamlets, when he visited as guest speaker to give a session on “How the

council works” in November. One Tower Hamlets is part of the Chief Executive's directorate, providing leadership for how the council addresses equality, cohesion, partnership and the work of the backbench councillors undertaking their overview and scrutiny role, and on this occasion one could say the learners took on something of a scrutiny role in this session!

Michael’s talk outlined the political elected structure of the council and explained how the budget is allocated, a broad overview of the processes on how things are done,

what actions can be taken at local level and what is beyond the local authority remit. Michael also spent some time discussing the implications of the Localism Act and how it will influence the way that all councils operate in future. Questions from learners ranged from geographical inconsistencies of parking allocation to difficulties with getting registered with a GP, what effect planning provisos have in the current climate of recession with potentially fewer developments going up and how school places are allocated. Mike later emailed answers to several questions which was greatly appreciate as well as his comprehensive and engaging talk to the course. The Community Outreach course continues until March 2012.

Other WEA run provision with Poplar HARCA has included a wide variety of subjects including: ICT, Literacy, Indian head massage, ESOL, Numeracy, Community Interpreting and Sewing.

For more information about our community outreach work, please contact Ann Hayes: ahayes@wea.org.uk

In December 2011 David Kay delivered a financial training session from his home in the South West, to members of staff at the London Region Training Centre, over the Internet using Skype.

Skype is a software application and when used in conjunction with webcams¹, allows people to make video calls over the Internet, making it possible to have meetings with groups of people or deliver training without the need for time consuming and expensive travel.

As this was a two-way video-link, participants were also able to ask questions to David throughout the session.

Everyone that attended the training gave positive feedback and would be prepared to attend a similar session in the future. This style of training is a first for WEA London and it is hoped that similar sessions could be run using Skype in the future.

As well as the obvious cost and travel savings, Skype also has the potential to help people get involved in education and training that may otherwise be excluded due to disability or transport related issues.

¹ Webcam - video camera that can send live video or images over the Internet.

Staff participate in a Skype based training session at London Region

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Staff meeting: Tuesday 17th April from 2.00 pm to 4.00 pm at the Regional Centre: 96-100 Clifton Street, EC2A 4TP.

The  agenda  to  include:

·Exchange  of  teaching  and  organising  experience  and  ideas·Regional  up-­‐date·Outlook  for  2012/13

This  mee@ng  is  open  to  all  London  Region  monthly  staff  and  course  tutors.

Light  refreshments  will  be  provided  and  travel  expenses  reimbursed.

Staff Meeting

• Staffing: Renee Rowe has been appointed as receptionist/administrator in the regional centre following an extensive recruitment process that attracted a strong field of candidates. Eileen Moore has been appointed regional accountant on a permanent basis as part of finance re-shaping. Both Renee and Eileen know the region well and we welcome them in their new roles. Additionally Christine Foster is designate strategy and support manager (also part of finance re-shaping) on a part-time basis. She is based in our North East Region. We look forward to working with Christine.

• Safeguarding: this is an important issue for WEA staff and additional training will be provided for staff and tutors next term. Audrey Stewart is the region’s person responsible for safeguarding and any concern or issue should be reported to her promptly. There is a specific email account that can be used: safelon@wea.org.uk

• Admin hub: along with Southern Region WEA we have now established a reconstituted Hub Board that oversees the hub’s management and development. This meets every term and the London Region members are Audrey Stewart, Paul Blackwell and me. In addition we are developing the operational links and communications between the region and hub staff so that our needs as a region are effectively addressed.

• Funding for TUC courses: I’m pleased to say that public funding for TUC courses will remain on the same basis for 2012/13 so this will give us some stability on which we can plan provision.

• Diversifying our income: Elizabeth Molinari has completed her research into the scope for developing new projects and contracts. The management team have selected the main local authorities where we want to focus our efforts and Elizabeth also identified a range of funding ‘pots’ that we could approach to support some of our work, either that where existing funding has been cut or new ideas we wish to develop.

• Equality and diversity: we are now represented on the Association E&D forum and in the region the next management team meeting will be examining E&D data from our recent staff recruitment exercise and deciding ways to improve.

• Health and safety: there has been a strong focus on making the regional centre a secure and safe place for learners, staff and members. Good progress is being made and fire awareness and first aid training are planned. Paul Blackwell is the region’s health and safety co-ordinator and should be contacted with any concerns-pblackwell@wea.org.uk The importance of reporting all accidents and ‘near misses’ to him as well as the responsible person in the venue (in dispersed locations) was emphasised at our last staff meeting.

• Andy Perrin is continuing his work in developing the region’s website and I’d encourage you to have look when you have a moment: http://www.london.wea.org.uk/

I’d like to thank you for your work for the WEA this term and look forward to seeing you at the staff meeting on April 17th

Pete Caldwell

Regional Update

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The Workers’ Educational Association is a charity registered in England and Wales, number 1112775, and in Scotland, number SC039239, and a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales, number 2806910.

As many people will know, Margaret Cottier sadly passed away last year. Her association with the WEA was long-standing and she contributed hugely both as a tutor and also as a tutor representative on Regional Committee. David Lanch, the Regional Treasurer, pays a tribute to a much-missed tutor and friend.

‘Margaret was a drama tutor for over forty years, and continued teaching a class in Harrow until the end. Latterly the class has been called “Plays in Performance”: Margaret always described herself as a teacher of drama, rather than literature, to stress the fact that plays are written to be performed in a theatre, not read in an armchair. She was a gifted teacher, devoted to her subject, always able to add an illuminating comment to her students’ ideas,

and never putting down even their most outrageous contributions. “Interesting”, she would say.

For many years she taught at University of London summer schools, mainly the one at Westonbirt School, but also non-residential schools in Bloomsbury. At Westonbirt she would take her students on coach trips to Stratford-upon-Avon for RSC productions. Before the visits Margaret would give a talk on production points to look out for - she always saw the plays she taught before the class as well as accompanying her students to see them. The following day there would be a critique in which those who had been to the show discussed all aspects of the performance.

One feature of the school was the tutors’ “pantomime”, an

entertainment written by two of the tutors, in which all of them were expected to take part. The plot would be a kind of fairy tale and the style owed something to Gilbert and Sullivan; Margaret would play, for example, an innocent young girl saved at the last minute from a fate worse than death. And she did it with gusto.

Margaret was the University of London resident tutor for Harrow and neighbouring areas until those posts were abolished; in this capacity she worked closely with the WEA. She served on the London Regional Committee throughout this time. Her knowledge of the partnership with Universities while the joint programme existed and of further education generally, enabled her to make well-informed contributions to discussions.’

Tribute to Margaret Cottier

Contribute to the Newsletter

If you have any news, events or announcements that you would like to have included in the next edition of the

newsletter, please contact Andrew Perrin aperrin@wea.org.uk

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