Into the next phase

There's been a short break since we completed the workshops at St James School in Haslingden.  We've collated the various reports on the workshops, and had a number of meetings about how to move on to the next phase of Different Moons, specifically where to go to for financial support - oh, there was also a couple of weeks break in Spain. Very nice. 

Shamshad Khan will continue to be at the heart of that part of Different Moons that is about discovering and remembering stories from within the Asian Heritage communities in Haslingden. Meanwhile Esther and I will be going back to those contacts I've made within the community to look at how they can benefit from and support the development of the project. 

One by-product of the Spanish holiday was to see how widely new technologies are used there. Even in fairly out-of-the-way towns with relatively low tourism, QR codes and Layar are used extensively in museums, tourist and cultural settings to provide information and web-links. I was even easily able to find English-language web-pages on the wildlife of Extramadura by walking down to the plaza and scanning in codes from the tourist office window. It all worked easily too - makes me convinced this is the way forward in disseminating the work we do in the project.

A lullaby

From the first of Shamshad's sessions at St James yesterday:

tari, tari, tari, tari
sucacori waari
amy wala na varki
pya chugu chugu gari

He wanted to clap, clap, clap
He wanted some old chappatis
His Mummy doesn't give it him
So then, he cries...

Mohabbat

Today was the last of the two days Shamshad Khan worked at St. James C of E Primary school in Haslingden. This is a pilot project for Different Moons, and we were excited to see what the response would be from the children after last week - when they took home their little matchboxes with questions for their parents and grand-parents. 

I walked in the room and found Mohabbat - love or affection in Urdu, and Arabic - written on the classroom floor in matchsticks, the matchsticks from the matchboxes!

The children then went round in a circle, each saying what their name was and what it meant. Then the same with an answer to the question of 'what was the first word you spoke?' 

Then an impromptu poem was written jointly by the group - their own, slightly wacky, lullaby:

The session showed a tremendous response from the children and their families to the questions we had asked in the first session. It also demonstrated that we need to think more about how to develop these quite simple ideas if we want stories and reminiscences to emerge from the families. This and more will emerge from the evaluation that we'll carry out with help from the school, the children, and Shamshad. But in its small way these two sessions have also been a great success. 

A day at school

To St. James CofE School with Shamshad Khan for the first session with a class of the older children. I collected Shamshad from Bury; drove to Haslingden and introduced her to Linda Roberts, the Headteacher. I then left Shamshad so she could prepare the room in advance of the class arriving.

I came back to the school at 2pm, and by then Shamshad was close to the end of her second session of the day, each of which was with a group of 14 children.

Here (in the photo above), some of that group welcome me. Most have matchboxes balanced on their heads. The matchboxes hold a tiny note, and next week when they return it should also hold some special pieces of information - the  meaning of their name; the first word they spoke; and a lullaby that was sung to them in their crib or bed. In doing this we hope we will begin to introduce the older members of the family to the project, and for the different generations in the household to share precious memories. 

The next thing I noticed was an old parchment-like book, singed at the edges, and dried roses spread out on the floor in front of the children, and I found Shamshad using these to prompt the shy ones in the group to talk and describe what was in front of them.

A good day, and a good start to Different Moons.

Hennimation

I met with Habiba Shenza today to discuss 'Different Moons'. Habiba had been mentioned to me by several of the people I've spoken with. I was told that she is a very creative person, and she is clearly into the arts, with a small business in henna art. You can see what she does by going to her Facebook site page - www.facebook.com/ShenzasMehndi (these  photographs are taken from that page). This is interesting as everyone struggles when I ask the question as to whether they know of any artists among the Asian heritage community in Haslingden, beyond suggesting I go see Habiba. 

In Phase Two of Different Moons, I have the idea that we will create short animated film versions of the stories that emerge, and that these will go up on a Different Moons website that can be accessed on YouTube. It could be part of this to bring together artists like Habiba with animators such as Eleanor Mulhearn, to work together on pieces derived from the stories we find. Eleanor is someone I've come across recently, a brilliant animator who among other things created the opening title sequence for 24 Hour Party People. I have the feeling that in bringing Eleanor and Habiba together the resulting 'hennimation' would work brilliantly....

Shamshad

On Wednesday I met again with Shamshad Khan who is going to run the preliminary classes at St James School in Haslingden. The first of these will be in just under three weeks time; things are moving fast. 

I'm very happy to have Shamshad taking the lead on the pilot project. She had an immediate grasp of where I was coming from, even though, especially on our first meeting, my ideas seemed to me to be still vague and approximate. But when we talked things came together fast; plus she has a visual, tactile grasp of things too - suggesting the idea of the children taking home small matchboxes stuffed with folded notes as a way of sending messages to the parents and families so that they know what we're up to, and inviting them to join in.

Shamshad gave me a copy of MEGALOMANIAC, her book of poems published by Salt Publishing. It's a book I'm dipping in and out of, a great joy; to quote Lemn Sissay 'it is vivid, vivacious and veracious'. 

A meeting

Yesterday I bumped into my neighbour Nusrat and briefly discussed the Different Moons project with her. Nusrat promised to give some thought to the questions I asked her - perhaps she might know of other groups in Haslingden who would like to be involved? Did she know of any Asian artists in the town?

I also heard back from Shamshad Khan, the poet, who I hope will run some pilot sessions for us at St. James C of E School in Haslingden. Shamshad is from Manchester but has worked in Rochdale for Cartwheel Arts, running poetry workshops in local schools. Shamshad has been unwell, but I hope she recovers soon and we're able to fix up some dates next month for a pilot project at St James. 

By the end of March, with the experience of a small-scale project behind us, we'll be able to formulate a detailed and long-term programme for 'Different Moons' - oh, and then start the process of fund-raising for it.