You've heard from me, and you've heard from Sinead, you know that Dan exists, Jane and CJ are the other two members of our crew; but what do we do?
Dan is the Project Director. He founded RTC and is in overall control of how we operate. He dreamed up the idea behind Atching Tan, he applied for funding, he wrote the first series of the radio programme, he brought together the team. It's all down to him, really.
If there's a greater woman behind every great man, then CJ is the woman behind Dan. She's our Administrator. What this lady doesn't know about a spreadsheet isn't worth knowing. She ensures that we're in the right places at the right times, and that our bills are paid. Truly, without CJ, we'd fall apart.
Jane is the Project Co-ordinator and is the vital link between us and our partner organisations. Jane's role means that she gets to meet a lot of people. She meets potential volunteers who might want to get involved with Atching Tan, and she meets other groups with whom we might be able to work. Yes, Jane's a people-person.
Once volunteers are involved in the project, Sinead keeps in touch with them and supports them through their time with us. She's our Outreach Worker. It means that she spends a great deal of time haring around East Anglia. I'm exhausted just thinking about it.
Finally, there's me. I'm the Project Manager and I, ehm, manage the project. In reality, I do a lot of different things. I handle our press, PR, and communications activity, I'm heavily involved in the education strand (in another life I was a teacher), and I try to make sure that we all know what our targets and deadlines are, and that we meet them.
That's how the Atching Tan jigsaw fits together, but of course there are many other people who lend their time and skills to it. I'm sure you'll hear more about them, or even from them, as the project progresses.
- Daniela
Thursday, 9 July 2009
Thursday, 2 July 2009
A week in the Devon countryside
In June, Sinead and seven volunteers from RTC went to Devon for a week-long writing course. Here’s what she had to say about it…
From 8 -13 June I joined seven volunteers from RTC on a writers' course run by the Arvon Foundation. The course was held at Totleigh Barton Manor, an unspoiled and ancient house set in the beautiful rolling green hills of the Devonshire countryside.
It was one of those special weeks that, without wishing to sound clichéd, felt like a life changing experience and I feel other participants would echo this. There was a wide divergence of experience within the group - from those who'd never written before but had wonderful stories to tell - to other young writers involved with the BBC writersroom. All were able to come together and under the skilful tutelage of Nell Leyshon and Indhu Rubasingham, work productively, and make great progress in their writing.
On Thursday evening we were very privileged to have a reading from Romany poet David Morley, who visited as a guest speaker, and to hear him recounting stories of his extraordinary childhood.
On Friday morning we read to David from his latest work, Circus Poems, a series of dramatic monologues, some only concluded in recent weeks. I think for both David and the group it felt like a very special occasion.
On Friday evening, at the end of the course all the participants staged a performance/ reading of selected pieces of work written during the course of the week which they performed for Indhu and Nell, Dan Allum, our two hosts at Totleigh Barton, and a
visiting funder of the Arvon Foundation. The pieces included a scene from a play and dramatic monologues and were of a high standard. One participant, a talented musician and singer, put another participant's poetry to music and sang this.
The week was also a great social occasion for everyone, an opportunity to get to know each other better and most evenings involved everyone singing or playing music together.
For anyone interested in developing her or his writing as a career or hobby, I would strongly recommend a writers' course run by the Arvon Foundation.
- Sinead
From 8 -13 June I joined seven volunteers from RTC on a writers' course run by the Arvon Foundation. The course was held at Totleigh Barton Manor, an unspoiled and ancient house set in the beautiful rolling green hills of the Devonshire countryside.
It was one of those special weeks that, without wishing to sound clichéd, felt like a life changing experience and I feel other participants would echo this. There was a wide divergence of experience within the group - from those who'd never written before but had wonderful stories to tell - to other young writers involved with the BBC writersroom. All were able to come together and under the skilful tutelage of Nell Leyshon and Indhu Rubasingham, work productively, and make great progress in their writing.
On Thursday evening we were very privileged to have a reading from Romany poet David Morley, who visited as a guest speaker, and to hear him recounting stories of his extraordinary childhood.
On Friday morning we read to David from his latest work, Circus Poems, a series of dramatic monologues, some only concluded in recent weeks. I think for both David and the group it felt like a very special occasion.
On Friday evening, at the end of the course all the participants staged a performance/ reading of selected pieces of work written during the course of the week which they performed for Indhu and Nell, Dan Allum, our two hosts at Totleigh Barton, and a
visiting funder of the Arvon Foundation. The pieces included a scene from a play and dramatic monologues and were of a high standard. One participant, a talented musician and singer, put another participant's poetry to music and sang this.
The week was also a great social occasion for everyone, an opportunity to get to know each other better and most evenings involved everyone singing or playing music together.
For anyone interested in developing her or his writing as a career or hobby, I would strongly recommend a writers' course run by the Arvon Foundation.
- Sinead
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