Reflections on completing the course

Chris, at All Saints DLR station, going through his notes after interviewing We Walk The Line

By Christopher Ubsdell

There is always a feeling of loss that enters into the mind when one completes something. I had such a feeling recently when I completed my journalism course with Poached Creative and The Big Issue online journalists.

The course begun six weeks ago and for twice a week I have been going to my old stomping ground in Deptford, to meet my course tutors and fellow students. On leaving the course though, I have had time to reflect on the people I met and the things I learned.

We were given an insight into the world of Journalism and the media. We learned how to write news stories and take photographs to match our words. Features, and case studies were created and we were guided through the course and nurtured to produce work which I thought was of a high standard.

Cockpit Arts, enabling craft-makers to flourish

Pic: Rebwar. Vanessa Swann, the director of Cockpit Arts and jewellery maker Sarah Marafie

By Christopher Ubsdell

Cockpit Arts is an incubator for talented craftspeople and supports makers in the growth of their craft businesses, by giving them space and entrepreneurial advice.

Founded in 1986, the social enterprise helps people of all ages pursue a career in the creative industries, by offering a space to work and business advice enabling them promote and maintain their own companies.

Vanessa Swann, the director of Cockpit Arts, said: “The purpose of Cockpit Arts is to support individuals who want to start up and develop a craft career.”

She added: “It’s difficult enough setting up a small business, but when you want to set up a creative business the tendency is for the person to have a leaning toward the creative side, as opposed to the business side. So we want to ensure that as many people who have that craft and creative skill, develop the business acumen to be able to exploit their creativity and become successful.”

We Walk the Line, changing peoples lives through coffee

By Christopher Ubsdell

A faint aroma of coffee strangely drifts through the entrance of a charity shop in East London. Inside a man is producing fine cups of artisan coffee, on a gleaming red tricycle and coffee cart.

Kieron Tilley, the co-founder of We Walk the Line explained the idea behind locating a coffee making tricycle in a charity shop and the system that brewed the result.

We Walk the Line is a not for profit social enterprise that helps young and disadvantaged people become their own boss, by teaching people the skills and attributes they need to run their own business.

Tilley believes there are not enough opportunities for marginalised people to set themselves up in business. He said: “It seemed to us that there weren’t many mechanisms out there to support those young and disadvantaged people into self employment status. So we came up with this idea, to offer an apprenticeship in business and barista skills, with the end goal of using these skills to set up on your own, running a micro coffee business.”

Lewisham Homeless Demonstration

Pic: Christopher Ubsdell. Lewisham Council housing estate.

By Christopher Ubsdell and William Chick.

Lewisham Homeless Peoples Union is holding a demonstration outside the Town Hall to call on the Council to do more about the borough’s housing shortage. They also want more action to tackle increasing homelessness.

LHPU are calling on Lewisham Council to provide a homeless shelter over Christmas, to get people off the streets during the coldest period of the year. The protest is to take place on Thursday, 4 December.

Jamie of LHPU who is organising the protest said: “We want the Council to house or at least shelter people that are sleeping outside over Christmas. Lewisham Housing Action Group have offered to get a place up and running but the Council have to provide a space.

“A polish gentlemen that I met at a stall said he got turned away from the 999 club in Deptford recently because he had used it last year, so he wasn’t allowed to use it this year.”

Week 1: Introduction to online journalism

Pic: Gordon Chaston. Chris outside Deptford Lounge.

By Christopher Ubsdell

Our journalism course started on November 6th and already I’ve learned much from the tutors. Once we had made tea and settled down, we begun by conducting interviews among each other to get to know each other a little better. This wasn’t as terrifying as it sounds as we were provided with questions to prompt us. Fortunately everyone on the course seems really nice. Then we continued by learning about the basics of communication, and the mediums by which it is delivered. We were taken over the four methods: Written, Imagery, Verbal, and Performance. Following this were some examples of mediums, such as the Internet, television or radio. We moved on to a discussion on the idea of a target audience and who they might be. With the example of the Big Issue, we talked about how three important target groups might be Third Sector staff, service users and those with a social conscience. I have my own blog but I had never thought about any of this before and it got me thinking about how I could use this in my own work.

Chile wins Homeless World Cup

The 12^th Homeless World Cup ended with Chile emerging victorious over Bosnia and Herzegovina, 5-2. The final took place on October 27^th in Santiago and came at the end of 350 matches involving 54 teams. The Chilean women’s team beat Mexico 4-3 in their final on October 26^th. The Homeless World Cup was established in 2003 and uses football to bring attention to homelessness in a global context.