So, a new year and a new start with a fresh wave of motivation.
I have been quite guilty of neglecting my blog of late so here comes a massive update on where we are and what is happening:
THE SENSORY TRAIL:
Okay, I'm going to start with my project as it is developing pretty fast and there's lots of exciting developments coming along.
So I had a review meeting with the lovely Amanda after the Clearing Day and we discussed the amazingness of our Clearing Day and then continued to make a timeline of events which need to happen in order for the grand opening on May 1st.
It has been decided that March will be digging month where we will remove all the roots at the end point ready for the planting to take place. James has agreed to organise the levelling of the area for us and this should take place end of February or early March in order for our digging to take place. This leaves late March or early April for Angela to mark out where our flower beds will go. Depending when the Easter holidays are, we shall invite Lufton College back to do some planting.
We then went on to discuss the potential audio element of the sign posts.
I did some research and contacted a company BlackBox-av and they have been rather helpful in terms of prompt replies and friendliness. They sent me this link to a project they have just finished with Llanyrafon Manor in Wales.
After discussing this further with Amanda, I have contacted them again with the hope of getting a solar powered audio equipment installed in the first post of the Trail.
Last Wednesday, I attended the Manager's Meeting with Amanda to discuss the Sensory Trail. They were very enthusiastic and this was very encouraging. This has allowed us to give the final go ahead to Angela and Adam. This means we can give definite dates for marking out the flower beds and for the wooden elements to be installed. We discussed the possibility of Adam coming into the Palace and performing some form of wooden based event as this would raise awareness of the Trail and raise some money for marketing the Trail once it is time to open.
Also from the meeting, we discussed the idea of introducing sensory trail related items to the shop such as mini chalk boards similar to those we will have on the trail. I am going to do some research into this at some point. And we threw around ideas for an alternative name as the idea of a Trail suggests a fixed, paper based route which isn't the right idea for this particular project. So we are also brainstorming that.
I think that's all up-to-date now. I am meeting Amanda on Wednesday to discuss audio feedback and the possibility of Adam coming in. Looking onwards and upwards.
VOX POP
Moving on to good old Vox Pop.
We had a general review meeting with Anneli last week to discuss progress of the last term in general. This involved a lot of feedback from Taras in regards to the interview he took part in.
From this, we have learnt we must meet with each volunteer before any filming takes place. This will allow us to discuss our aims and the questions we will be asking. We want to make everyone feel as comfortable as possible so by doing this, hopefully the volunteers will have an active input on the questions. We will also have a flipchart with us during the actual interview so the volunteers don't get lost or panicked at any point.
We are also putting in actual visual examples of the volunteers within their roles. For this, I have been in touch with the Brownie Pack I volunteer with every Thursday evening. I am hoping to arrange for the girls to come to the Palace during February half term for the Learning video with Rosie. We have arranged to have a meeting with her this coming Wednesday where I shall present this idea.
We finally managed to steal a few minutes of Sarah Moore's time to discuss the project. She was very supportive and has given us some guidance on how to go about the more generic advertising video. We are waiting on some story board plans from her to get going on this and we are hoping we can pull most of the content from our original interviews through major editing.
This week has been relatively successful in terms of Vox Pop as Imogen and I sorted the camera situation so we now have working visuals and sound in good quality. We then carried out Taras' meeting and interview which ran very smoothly. He has been so helpful and so patient with us which has made us a lot more confident.
FUNDRAISING
Fundraising seems to slowly be taking shape as well.
Before Christmas, Imogen and I carried out a series of surveys on visitors. This was a success and gave some interesting results - it is clear that an event based around art would be very popular.
After meeting with Jo, it was decided that we would no longer be putting on an actual event as this seemed really daunting for us. We are now going to essentially planning an event. This will entail doing a lot more research through surveys and questionnaires and then building on this information to make a business plan which we will present to some of the managers in February.
I think this has made us feel better as it has given us a steady ground with achievable aims. We will act on this by carrying out some more surveys this coming week. This should be interesting as it was decided to go into the market place outside the Palace as well as the Bishop's Table to get more varied results.
I think everything is running rather smoothly at the moment. Hopefully it will continue that way.
