Reaching a Personal Best at Tunbridge Wells...

To be honest I was dreading my M25 journey - not sure if I mentioned it or not??? But it was fine - I flew round and pretty much avoided all traffic jams - says something for 6:45am starts and I'm not going to mention it again!

On arriving at the Angel Centre in Tunbridge Wells an hour early, I set about finding where the course was to be held.  The lady behind the glass screen on the reception desk said, "Classroom 3, top of the stairs, turn right end of the corridor."  I followed the directions and found many rooms with names and numbers on them, but no "classroom 3". Having wandered round corridors in vain, I returned to the reception desk and found that I should actually have been looking for "Castle 3".  All became clear - I should have had that large coffee before I rushed out the door this morning!

I finally met Steve in person today and I can honestly say he's one of the nicest and most inspiring people I've ever met.  Steve's method of getting the learners motivated and enthused is fantastic and the learners really seem to enjoy the course, Steve's teaching style and each others company.

There were only 3 learners at this Personal Best course, the other 5 were off sick, but the 3 learners I met appeared keen to be a part of this photographic project.  I'll need to put together a full plan to put to Personal Best team.

It was a great day to visit the Personal Best course as they were learning about the Olympics and volunteering.  Steve enthusiastically explained the benefits of becoming an Olympics volunteer and the 3 learners on the course saw the path they'd have to take in order to achieve that goal... lots of volunteering. 

Shortly after I arrived 2 ladies from the Kent Event Team turned up to give a pitch about volunteering around Kent over the next 2 years.  It took about 1 minute for all 3 learners to sign up to volunteer - they eagerly assured me it was nothing to do with the free pen and t-shirt!

I have been invited to another Personal Best meeting in Herne Bay.  Steve has told me I'll be able to meet some more learners who may want to be part of this project.  So I've got just over a week to get some sort of proposal ready to give to the learners and try and get their permission to be photographed...

Great day - well worth the M25 trip...... 

Creative Campus / Personal Best

This project finally has movement!  Now that I've found the right people to talk to they couldn't be more helpful and appear to be as excited about my photographic project as I am...

Tomorrow I'm driving to Tunbridge Wells, I've never been there before and I have a lovely journey around a whole half of the M25 at rush hour!  BUT it'll most definitely be worth it.

I'm meeting the lovely man I spoke to today, Steve Beech, who is the Development Officer of the Shaw Trust.  Steve has invited me to a Personal Best meeting and is going to introduce me to some of the Personal Best learners.  With any luck I'll be able to chat with some of the learners to find out what they're doing with the Shaw Trust and the Personal Best project, why and how they've joined the project and what they're hoping to get out of it.  From this I hope to be able to build a solid project plan and be able to work long term with some of the Learners to photograph their journey.  I think they'll get as much out of it as I will and it feels great to finally be taking such positive steps...

HOW EXCITING - apart from the early morning M25 bit!!!

Creative Campus - UPDATE

Massive break through!!! I have phoned, emailed, text, missed calls, return called, waded my way through information and names and have finally found the contacts and direction for this project!

I don't think the good people of Britain realise how MASSIVE the Olympics programme is already and how many different people all over Britain are putting in time, energy and commitment... it's HUGE! There are so many different projects being run... One of the main reasons London won the Olympics hosting for 2012 was for it's energy and commitment to long term goals and social programmes throughout the UK - it is most certainly living up to that commitment already... if you don't believe me check out the Olympics 2012 website... http://www.london2012.com/indexb.php

Anyway, back to my photographic project...

PERSONAL BEST

I have spoken to many people throughout the UK who are working on a project called Personal Best. The aim is to offer the opportunity for people from all walks of life to learn and be trained and gain a formal qualification. This will further lead to these learners being given the opportunity to volunteer at the London 2012 Olympics.

The Personal Best scheme is launching all over England and thousands of people are being given the opportunity to train and learn new skills, some for the first time and some for the first time in a long time!

I have spoken to one member of the scheme already, the Shaw Trust based in Kent. The initial contact is going brilliantly and the project's underway through the Shaw Trust are very exciting - I'm hoping to get the opportunity to meet and follow some of these learners over the next few months, with the possibility of continuing this project after the Creative Campus end date has past - it would be great to follow these learners to the Olympics.

Having made this initial contact I'm hoping to meet some of the Personal Best learners and find out first hand what excites and encourages them about this project.

I can't wait to take some photographs and start the practical side of this photographic journey...

A homage to my Grandad -work in progress.....