Amerjit, Mo and Nuria got up excessively early (!) to get to Manchester for a round up of all 17 NESTA projects.
We had a very useful and interesting day. It’s amazing to meet people from the other groups and hear what they are up to.
We played some “games ” in the morning to try and establish what makes people get involved in these kind of projects – the answers were fascinating and varied. They ranged from sheer bloody mindedness like “no-one believed I could do it!” to feelings of social injustice, or just wanting to make the area where one lives a better place.
I enjoyed learning from others how they are engaging with volunteers and their target groups.
Listening is an important part of the process and sharing experiences. It is hard not to feel frustrated as we are STILL waiting to finalise things with the council, and others are so far ahead of us. Everyone I talked to was extremely supportive, its jolly useful to know other people have been through it!
Nick from Holy Trinity, Vicky from Boothtown and Carla from North London Citizens were in my group and they were inspirational and good fun!
I know Amerjit and Nuria had a good day too.
Amerjit was learning about Yarn Bombing and will hopefully instigate it in E17 !!!!