Southend Family Resource Centre
Weekly Diary Entries
My First Blog Post
Today was my first day practicing this module. I was only 2 days back in Ireland from my study abroad so I missed out on a lot that was happening. However, everyone was very welcoming and immediately made me feel like part of the project.
The day I joined was the day that we went to the primary school, St. John of God in the Faythe to have a meeting with two teachers there regarding our ideas. The girls told me that they were planning on making something interactive for the children to use, to teach them about the history of the Faythe. That was all the information I really had going into it. We went into the school, on a very busy ‘Grandparents day’ there, and made our way to the staff room to discuss the project.
The teachers we were with were James and Austin. We explained to them that we intended on making something interactive for the children and asked if they had any ideas for the project. They thought that an interactive scavenger hunt, or some sort of map of the Faythe where the kids could go to the most important statues or places and learn about what took place there would be great. Laura explained how she thought a ‘horrible histories’ style of book could be good as kids enjoy the guts and gore. The teachers strongly agreed and said the more bizarre, the more chance of them remembering it. We all came to a conclusion that the top stories of the Faythe such as the whale that was stranded in Wexford, the pontoon ship, the 1911 lockout could be the most interesting to them. As the teacher James said,
“If you tell them there was a stranded whale, they probably won’t care. Whereas if you told them that there was a stranded whale that everyone was out walking on, then you’ve got their attention”
We then walked down to the Southend Family Resource Centre to gather some archives that Colm had, and to discuss what our next plan of action was. He gave us lots of information on the stranded whale and we discovered that it’s skeleton is now in the National History Museum in London. We told him that we would all break down the project into the most promising stories for the kid, and each take one and work on it for the next time we see him, which would be in 2 weeks time, on February 14th, 2020.
January 31st, 2020.
Our second meeting
Due to the fact that I was away in Edinburgh on Friday 13th February, 2020, I decided to do a lot of ground work for my group as a compromise for my absence. They were all very busy with other projects going on, and I still had no work assigned since my return from Utrecht, so I did my research on the 1911 Faythe Lockout and brainstormed ideas for this execution in this module.
I discovered information on the lockout such as important historical Irish figures such as James Connolly and Jim Larkin were a part of this lockout. I didn’t realise they were a part of it and that it happened prior to any bigger events that we know in history such as the 1913 lockout in Dublin or the 1916 Easter rising. I thought that it was something to be proud of that this event took place in our county in this little town. A picture of the sculpture to remember the lockout is below.
It is situated in the same spot where they gathered together to push having their own Trade Union.
I noticed when I was doing research on the lockout that all of the history of it is available but in a boring format. It is there with pages upon pages of reading to do on it. That made me realise how crucial it would be not to do the same when creating a fun interactive experience for the kids to learn about the history too. It is hard to concentrate on it when it is a lot of text. That is what inspired me to pitch to my group to make a virtual map with the history on it.
The map would be an outline of the Faythe, right up to the coast of the county. Then a few icons will be on the map. This way, the kids can hover the mouse over the icons to see what they’re about. It would all have to be pop ups or include sounds etc. as a text describing what happened defeats the purpose of giving them a fun interactive way to learn the history. An image of the rough idea I had of the virtual map is below.
Angie made the outline of the Faythe, and I added the icons to it. This was the first brainstorm idea of what we would like to make. I proposed it to the group and they were happy with it. I printed it out for them to have in the meeting with Colm when they would propose the idea to him.
The girls told me that the meeting went well and Colm liked the idea. They said that they got a few tips and ideas towards the actual appearance of it, but the overall idea would work and we could go ahead with it!
February 13th, 2020.
Our third meeting
Today we had a meeting with Colm at the Southend Family Resource Centre. We sat down with Colm and showed him the progress we had made so far on the map. He thought that the final execution would look great and seemed very enthusiastic about it. I asked him if it was possible to get a focus group together of some kids who would be in our target group (aged 7-11), and propose some of our executions to him to see what they make of it. He said that would be no problem. He suggested that we get as much information together as possible to then have loads of images to show the kids and let them criticise us 🙂 .
I asked him about which facts from the 1911 Lockout could be appealing to kids. From my perspective, it is interesting to us as we know the old historical legends such as James Connolly or Jim Larkin who were involved in the Lockout, but that would mean nothing to the kids. Colm suggested that we then go into the room next door to ask a group of 5, quick witted, older men about the stories they heard of the lockout as kids. The idea of this was that they would remember the funny or interesting things their grandparents had told them about it and we could then see what stuck with them. If it stuck with them as kids til now in their late 80s, then it could possibly have the same effect for the kids in the Faythe school!
We sat and chatted to the men for half an hour or more and we got great stories from them about all things Wexford and their childhoods. We didn’t get too much about the lockout, they said that its something that wasn’t spoken about too much. The only main things that were spoken about were that one man who wasn’t part of the strike was brutally killed by a baton from a police man, and he was innocently standing in his doorway when it happened. Apparently that was what they knew to be the largest funeral Wexford had had. They also remember being told that all of the little local shops supported the men on strike, and if it wasn’t for them then they couldn’t of done it. The men were always hungry without their income and that would of been the one thing to make them give up hope and go back to work. That is why the little shops would give them food. The men we chatted to also mentioned that you did not by any means want to give up the strike. You would be called a scab and ignored by everyone.
Overall, they said the strike was the practice if you like, for the 1913 lockout in Dublin. They practiced what the men of Wexford did up in Dublin two years later, because they knew that it worked. It’s something that should make us proud to be from Wexford.
To read my in depth report of our meeting with Colm or every story that was told by the elderly gentlemen that day, click on the following link: https://instituteoftechnol663-my.sharepoint.com/:b:/g/personal/c00211530_itcarlow_ie/EeJF3CkrS_tLg9dd766G57sBdk0OXsOw0wvgFVpmzaQBFQ?e=bkSjgh
March 6th, 2020.
EMERGENCY UPDATE:
that all schools, colleges and childcare facilities would close til 29th March 2020, to prevent COVID-19 spreading any further.
We had scheduled in our meeting on the 6th March 2020 that we would meet again on 27th March 2020 to conduct the focus group with the kids on our project. We would also have a meeting again with Colm after that to conclude on the focus group.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar however, announced that all schools would close from 12th March 2020 to 29th March 2020. This meant that we could not conduct our focus group with the children from the school. Southend Family Resource Centre then closed it’s doors 13th March 2020 until further notice. This meant that we could no longer have out meeting with Colm either. All of this was due to the Corona Virus and the country was taking preventative measures in spreading it even further. This impacted me and my group hugely in this Community Based Learning module, as we could no longer connect with the community as we planned to.
We could not organise a FaceTime call of sorts either, as we were and currently are still doing in all other modules in Visual Communications and Design. It is a huge shame that we didn’t get to finish this module. I, as well as my group, took a great interest in the people we were working with. The elderly gentlemen that we met were hilarious, kind and helpful people who looked forward to meeting with us again soon for a chat. They were very easy to sit and talk to and we found time racing by when we did chat. They showed me parts of Wexford through storytelling that I never knew before. They taught me to be proud of the county.
The self-isolation has taught me not to take their social interactions for granted ever again. I hope to sit with the men again in the cosy sitting room in the Southend Family Resource Centre, and catch up with them from the last day. It is something I now look forward to more than ever considering that I am now stuck indoors until the end of April, at least.
March 24th, 2020.
Answering some questions on this project
- What have been the challenges to your project development to date?
Our first challenge was been trying to decide on the best way to convey the information to the target group (Kids aged 7-11). We needed to think of something that was informative but also fun for them to play with. It needed to have that happy medium between interactive but also history lessons. Once we decided on the virtual map then things became easier.
Another challenge was organisation. We had to set deadlines for ourselves and that was hard to gauge. For instance, setting the focus group date was difficult as Colm thought we would need more time, but we wanted to get it done sooner rather than later so we could begin the creation of the map. So again, it was all about finding the happy medium between allowing enough time for ourselves and actually getting stuff done with enough time left over!
The biggest challenge we have had during the whole process is of course COVID-19. It has really put a spanner in the works with regard to everything we had in motion. We were coming to the peak stage of our project and then everything came to a halt! We previously discussed how we felt protective over our work and didn’t want another year to take it over, so we would try to finish it before they could. So the fact that we couldn’t finish it has really upset us! We’ve become attached to the project and all the groups in the community that we work with and I envy the group that will take over where we have left.
- What have the best achievements of your community project been to date?
A great achievement of ours was successfully choosing a way to convey the information to the children in the best way possible. We will never know how successful it is as we cannot have a focus group with the children, however from feedback from Colm and others outside of college that we mentioned it too, it seemed to work well.
Another great achievement was how well we worked together as a group. We all pulled our weight and there was nobody being carried through the project. Everyone was active in the Facebook group, and we all allowed time every week to revise everything that we had done so far and where we were going to take it. I think the way our group worked together is something to be proud of and a great achievement.
I think that the best achievement is the time we all put into engaging with the community. We all made our best attempts at going to the meeting whether it was with Colm or the school. We all fully engaged with the meetings and allowed as much time as necessary to do them. An example of this is when we got chatting to the elderly gentlemen in our last meeting on March 6th 2020, we sat there and took it all in fully. We didn’t rush anything and they had to go before us. We really wanted to stay there as long as we could. Considering this module is about engaging with the community, I would say that that was our best achievement.
- What do you need (resources / support etc) to complete your projects?
To complete this project, we would need the pandemic to be over to complete the meetings. These meetings were 1. The focus group with the children on their feedback of the virtual map to date and the facts that come with it. 2. A conclusion meeting with Colm to see his opinion on everything and take on any feedback he has from the focus group. 3. Another meeting with the elderly gentlemen as promised, just to catch up!
We would then finally need to get together as a group and take all of the feedback and apply it to the virtual map. We could then transform it into a fully functioning website for the children to use aged 7-11 and preferably going to school in the Faythe. It would have 5 interesting facts per topic and the kids could learn all of this without realising.
- What have you learned about community work? Is it something you would like to do more of in the future as a career or not?
I learned a lot about community work during my time working with Southend Family Resource Centre. I learned that it isn’t as boring as it is made out to be on tv. Its a positive and rewarding experience where you better yourself as a person. Kindness is something that really doesn’t go unnoticed. Colm is a great man who does so much for that centre. He collects some of the men from Kerlogue nursing home to come down for their breakfast and a catch up. He then drops then back up when they’re ready. I couldn’t believe the kindness of that as it does so much good for the men. That was only the tip of the iceberg with regard to some of the work we got to see him do there. It is a lovely and safe place for people of all ages to go and I wish I had a local one near me.
I would like to think that I would do this as a future career in my spare time. However, the harsh reality is that I am saying that sitting at home in self isolation, desperate to leave the house. Its all fine and well to say I could see it as my future career, but when things go back to normal and I am working or in college full time then I possibly won’t think of going out and helping the community. I hope that when I get free time in the future, I will remember the good karma you get from volunteering in a local community centre. It was a lovely short lived time working there, I loved every minute and I’m very grateful for it all.
March 25th, 2020.
Community Based Learning 