CREATE A WILDLIFE GARDEN PROJECT
The Youth Club were approached by the Town Trust about creating a wildlife garden out of a bit of land by the Doctor’s Surgery. It was decided to carry out the project within 3 months and a plan of action was drawn up in order to complete it.
In addition to team building, the young people were able to learn skills such as working to deadlines and how to prepare the ground for planting. A lot of the project was undertaken in non – youth club time and the young people showed a great deal of commitment to keep attending. They undertook tasks that they had not done before and stretched themselves physically.
Several members of the local community helped by advising about plants and the pond. The garden was open to the public at Brading Day 2005 and good feedback was received. It was suggested that the garden be put forward for several awards. The garden achieved First Prize in the category of “Best Initiative by Young People” in “Brading in Bloom 2005”. The garden was runner up in the same category in “Wightlink Wight in Bloom” and won a “Certificate of Excellence” in the “South and South East in Bloom” competition.
The garden received coverage in “The Isle of Wight County Press” on October 2005 in “The Spotlight on Youth” column. One of the young people involved in the project was asked to comment and he said how much he had got out of it and how much of a team effort the project was.
This project is still ongoing.
MEMORIES PROJECT
The Youth Club was asked to undertake a project to interview older residents of Brading with the aim of obtaining their memories for a book. All interviews were to be filmed and passed on to the Town Council for transcription.
Several local people were approached about getting involved in the project and the vast majority agreed. A date and time was arranged and the interview conducted with two of the young people and the Leader in Charge from the Youth Club. Most of the interviews lasted for an hour and sometimes more than one person was interviewed at once.
So far, 12 people have been interviewed for the project. There are quite a few other people who have said they would like to take part in the project. They will be interviewed in due course.
The young people involved in the project have said that they have found learning about Brading first hand interesting.
This project is still ongoing.
The Town Trail Project
Brading Town Council asked the Youth Club if they would become involved in researching an area of the town for an information board to form part of the trail. The club was given ‘Little Jane’s Cottage’ to research.
As much information as possible was gleamed from books on Brading and the Isle of Wight. The Internet was consulted and some facts were taken from a couple of websites. A photograph was taken of Little Jane’s grave and a copy of the inscription jotted down. The present owner of the property was also able to tell us a little about the cottage’s history. A letter was sent to the ex County Archivist who has done a great deal of research into the Oglander family who once owned the cottage Little Jane lived in.
The most fascinating part for one of the youth club members was visiting the Records Office in Newport to see what information they had on Little Jane, her family and the cottage. The young person said that they would be quite interested in researching their family tree as a result of the visit
All the information from the Records Office, Internet, Books and other sources was organised into a folder and a short piece put together detailing the findings.