Nov 2009 – latest news

• 8 Nov 09: Heads Together has done a range of projects over the last couple of years in partnership with Connect Housing. Recently we have been having a great time with the COPS group (Connect Older People Strategists). After lots of thought, planning, recording and photography  and plenty of tea and cake  we are looking forward to the grand launch of the dvd: A Sheltered View: Thoughts and reflections from people have chosen to live in sheltered housing. To attend the launch on 27th November or for more information contact us on info@headstogether.org

• 18 Oct 09: Successful launch for Two Valleys Radio covering both the Marsden Jazz Festival and the Pigs Might Fly Arts and Mental Health Festival. Plenty of training in half term and then building up to the next broadcast out of Honley on 4-6th December 2009.

• 28 Sep 09: More funding success - we have secured money to be part of October's Adult Learning Festival: Learning Revolution. This means plenty more informal learning opportunities with ELFM and the Two Valleys Radio Network (which will be taking to the airwaves for the first time at the brilliant Marsden Jazz Festival).

• 10 Sep 09: More good news for East Leeds FM: With the ever expanding workload we are able to take on two new ELFM workers: Peter Spafford becomes our new "Director of Words" (hopefully doing for the spoken-word what Ed has been able to achieve with music in the past 18 months.) Peter has worked with us on a number of projects including the "Making a Brew" book published with Seacroft Surestart in 2006. And Paddy Garrigan becomes our "Editor in Chief" - working with our volunteers to get all that recorded material up on web. Paddy started with ELFM as a volunteer himself back in 2003 whilst he was a pupil at John Smeaton Community High School... He has now graduated from the Northern Film School and it's great to have him on the team.

• 20 July 09: With our East Leeds FM community radio project going from strength to strength, great to hear that we have been successful in getting LEADER rural funding for the Two Valleys Radio Network. We piloted the project running Colne Valley Radio alongside the fantastic Moonraking Festival in Slaithwaite earlier this year, and are very happy to have the chance to develop the project.

• 18 June 09: The Paul Hamlyn Trust have funded us in the past for our work with refugees and asylum seekers. It is great to be able to go back to a funder with a new idea and get continuing support. We have just had confirmation that they will be supporting our newly developing work around Mental Health for the next two years. A big thank you.

• 12 April 09: It just gets better - The ELFM 24 hour musicathon - was spectacularly wonderful, and what's more - loads of fun. This from the website: It is definitely going to be one of my fondest memories of performing ever, such a lovely team and beautiful, mysterious chapel. The acoustics were second to none and those behind the desk made it work wonderfully. There were so many good performances that I think in time this will go down in Leeds music folklore!?!?!I would dearly love to help out in the future in any way I can, and I am most definitely up for putting together a great set for next year. Please don't hesitate to contact me if you need any volunteers as i'd be more than happy to help out! Danny

• 2 Mar 09: Our pilot radio project - Colne Valley Radio - was a huge success. Now it's time to get excited about the 24-hour musicathon in East Leeds on 4-5th April.

• 1 Feb 09: We often get 'studied' and have to deal with students' questions. Leeds Met have gone one step further - postgraduate researcher, Katie Hill, was commissioned to write something about Heads Together as a case study for a Creative Enterprise MA Course. Have a look at what she came up with - Creative Enterprise Case Study

• 6 Dec 08: Please send a Christmas card But not to us, to Bubba

• 17 Oct 08: Welcome to Hillcrest Primary School Education Leeds commissioned Heads Together to work with Hillcrest on a welcome dvd aimed specifically at families arriving at the school from other countries (Hillcrest has children originating from all round the globe). We've had a great time working with pupils, parents and staff at Hillcrest and will be launching the new dvd on 22nd October. For a sneak preview a have a look at some of the clips on the ELFM website

• 12 Oct 08: Salon evenings - more thoughtful discussion and debate. First salon of the autumn season starts on the theme of risk on the 16th October "Should we be protected from ourselves". Adrian is in the chair for this latest season - download salon evenings

• 4 Oct 08: Two Villages: Always good to get feedback. A few years ago we produced a book with schools in Conisbrough and Denaby called Two Villages. We got this email the other day: I wanted to thank you so much for the 2 Villages Book ... it was read cover-to-cover by my 82 year old Mother-in-law on Saturday.  It became a talking point for the remainder of the day. She fully agreed that the viewpoints of the older residents were a true reflection of life around that time. She worked in the Powder Factory that is referred to in the book, she was in the 'Dets' section (where they inserting the detonators) so thankfully she didn't have to endure the yellow dust that affected those who filled the ammunitions casings. She knew everyone listed on the famous people section of the book. We have yet to share the book with my Father-in-law.  He's in his late eighties and sadly suffers with dementia so is cared for in a nursing home with a specialist unit for the elderly mentally infirm.  His condition has deteriorated recently and a series of mini strokes have robbed him of his speech.  I'll let you know how he reacts to the book - particularly when he sees that his Sheffield United team-mate George Nelson is listed in the famous people section, plus his younger brother Roy Shephard is also on there too! It certainly is a small world that we live in.

• July 08: East Leeds FM - job opportunity With ELFM's summer programme in full swing, we are looking to appoint a Project Director to take ELFM into it's next phase. All the details regarding the appointment are on our website on the appointment pages and keep in touch with all ELFM news through the ELFM website.

• June 08: Wilthorpe and the World - Heads Together worked with Wilthorpe Infants School for over 5 years, thanks to the Creative Partnership programme in Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham. On 2nd July we launch the booklet that tells the story of the project in the words of those who were part of it - artists, teachers, pupils. Contact us if you would like a copy.

• May 08: Fettling - Jurgen has taken over the moderation of the fettling website which came from the Meltdown project in 2004 - Words and Images from a West Yorkshire Foundry (in fact the last aluminium foundry in the country - closed down with the loss of over 600 jobs. The project was in partnership with the Union Amicus and the transnational corporation - Hydro - who were closing it down, with funding from the Heritage Lottery Foundation. Jurgen is one of the former employees at the foundry and is moderating the afterlives section where former employees keep in touch. Great project - book, dvd, exhibition and website and great to see it still being useful - 4 years on.

• April 08: Creative Collation - working with the Fine Bunch of cultural protagonists in Kirklees, Adrian Sinclair presents on behalf of the cultural sector to the Leader and Chief Executive of Kirklees Metropolitan Council – how to create an effective strategic partnership between the sector and the local authority.

• Mar 08: Celebrating Success - dvd pack with posters, postcards and more launched in partnership with LOCA and Huddersfield Technical College: a resource created with a group of young black students at the College – aiming to encourage ambition amongst other young people from minority ethnic backgrounds.

• Feb 08: Don't get me started (again) - more salon evenings in Huddersfield. A second series of discussion evenings starts Monday 18th February "Obesity - Are we bingeing on another scare story". Adrian Sinclair, is chairing the debate - download salon evenings

• Feb 08: East Leeds FM internet broadcast - 2955 people, aged between 3 and 87, have broadcast from one of ELFM studios since we began the project in 2003. ELFM's latest internet broadcast goes live 9-15 February. You can download the broadcast details. And to listen live, comment or hear the podcasts anytime, go to the ELFM website

• Jan 08: On the move - Heads Together are moving office. From the 4th January we are at the Media Centre in Huddersfield - the unpacking is done and all forms of communication back on line - see contact page.

• Dec 07: Urban Forum National Conference - Creative Director, Adrian Sinclair, is an 'Expert Witness' at the two-day conference in Leeds - December 3/4th. At the same time, young people from ELFM are attending the conference to make the official conference podcast. For more information have a look at the event programme at the Urban Forum website

• East Leeds FM website - you can be one of the first to test out the new ELFM website, listen to and comment on the podcasts. For a sneaky look, go to ELFM test website Let us know what you think.

• Don't get me started - salon evenings in Huddersfield. After two very successful evenings in October and November, the final session of the mini-series is on Thursday 6th December with Phil Wood and Munira Mirza speaking on the theme "Is Multiculturalism Dead". Creative Director, Adrian Sinclair, is chairing the debate - download salon evenings

• A space to float - a project documenting swimming in Leeds at a time of change. The dvd pack was launched at a very successful tea party on the 40th birthday of the Leeds International Pool. Copies of the pack available from the Pool or Heads Together - cost £10.

• Following a very successful June broadcast, our remarkably successful community radio station, East Leeds FM starts a series of podcasts - see www.elfm.co.uk or download information about our ELFM autumn activities

• Creative Director, Adrian Sinclair, will be one of the keynote speakers at the Mapping Design Activism conference run by Leeds Metropolitan University on September 14th.

• Dr Kate Pahl, Senior Lecturer in Education at the University of Sheffield, has now completed her two-year study on Heads Together's work at Wilthorpe Infants School as part of Creative Partnerships in Barnsley. She concludes:

"The space between artists and teachers is a muddy one, and can be riven with disappointment. In this project the artists asked the teachers to take over the project and run it themselves and this was a risky option. Neverltheless they did end up doing it, and saw the effects. The projects were successful, and the interventions hugely exciting for the teachers to participate in."

For more information You can download a full copy of the report: Looking with a different eye

For more information on any of Heads Together's projects, have a look at our recent news pages.

• In September 2006, Heads Together took a week off to think! We invited Bert Mulder from De InformatieWerkPlaats in the Hague to stimulate our thinking juices; culminating in a public seminar on Friday 22nd September. For more information and if you want to listen yourself, go to Thinking Allowed.

Email: info@headstogether.org