So then – making a woody wild rumpus – this one is for all you nature lovers out there. Not so much yours truly then. I like the idea that nature is there – but am much less keen on engaging with it. As I often say – had I wanted to swab my decking so much (to get the bird poo of it) I’d have joined the navy. Anyway … moving on …
Wild Rumpus CIC is a social enterprise producing large scale outdoor arts events, most often in wild natural landscapes. We believe that when audiences engage together in the highest quality arts in the great outdoors, something quite amazing can happen.
… Further, we believe that arts and culture have a unique role to play in helping people to gain new perspectives on the existential threat posed to civilisation by the loss of biodiversity on a level never witnessed before.
Celebrate England’s Urban Forests With #YourForest
A new, exciting project about urban forests, woodlands and parks has just launched across England.
And Swindon is one of the areas the project is looking at. It’s brought together a network of community radio stations throughout England to broadcast a special series about urban forests and trees. All looking at how important these green areas to communities living in and around towns and cities.
You can listen to the series as it goes out, via their website – https://wildrumpus.org.uk/yourforest/. Or tune into your local radio station, Swindon 105.5, for more info.
As part of the project, Wild Rumpus are creating a unique sound map of recordings from local parks, woods or forests.
And they’re inviting YOU to get involved. They want you to go to your local area of trees, record a minute of sounds on your phone and then submit it to be part of the map.
‘Be transported into the heart of urban forests and woodlands in England through sounds recorded by the communities who live in and around them.
What does your local woodland, forest or tree-lined park sound like? What do you love about it? Go to your favourite spot – or discover a new one. And use your phone to record a minute of the sounds you hear.
Research shows that even just listening to the sounds of nature can have a positive effect on well-being and mood. Explore the sounds of nature from the comfort of home by clicking on a pin on the map.’
Data blogger makes daily sense of Covid for Swindon residents
Swindonian Clarifying Covid Data
The stream of numbers and graphs related to the Covid-19 pandemichas been confusing. But members of three Swindon Facebook groups have benefitted from Swindonian Craig’s efforts to clarify Covid data for them.
For almost 12 months, Craig Alexander’s updates have attracted an increasing following amongst those keen to make sense of the data soup and flood of commentary served up by different mass media sources.
Italian resident, but Swindon-born and raised, Craig attended Ferndale Infants and Juniors. He then went to Moredon Secondary and Hreod Burna Senior High schools. Craig is putting to excellent use his university background in economics, statistics and quantitative archaeology. With it he turns Covid infection rates into maps, tables and graphs. With those graphs he tracks the level of virus infections. And that gets a better picture of the local situation.
Craig has posted his contributions daily on the West Swindon Community Facebook page since early April 2020. And also, in more recent months, on Facebook’s Swindon Community Notice Board and the new Swindon Social Society Page.
Craig Alexander
The Italian job
Covid-19 hit Italy hard in February and March 2020. They went into lockdown weeks earlier than Britain. That meant Craig had time on his hands to apply his data and mapping skills in a new direction.
He said: ‘I’ve been living in Brescia for about a decade. During the early phases of the pandemic it was easy, through friends in Italian local government, to get access to data about new cases. I’ve been analysing and mapping data for 30 years. Pandemics are inherently spatial so it seemed sensible to map the spread of the virus”. Craig then discovered similar spatial data on the pandemic for England at coronavirus.data.gov.uk.
So he set about mapping the spread both for national and local levels.
A chance encounter
Through a chance online meeting with Roger Ogle, founder of Swindon Link magazine, Craig found an opportunity to share his pandemic analyses with other Swindonians.
He currently provides daily charts of new cases and cumulative cases for Swindon local authority. And, alongside that, more granular maps of data on moving seven-day windows of cases at the Middle Layer Super Output Area (MSOA). That’s an area of land defined for Census purposes that tends to house about 7,200 people.
Roger Ogle, who set up the West Swindon Community Facebook page more than four years ago, said: Craig’s voluntary commitment to helping people understand local levels of infection has been remarkable. During a confusing and stressful year it’s been even more so. His maps, graphs and tables, along with short analytical commentary, have enlightened group members. To do this every day since early April last year has been amazing.’
To interview Craig Alexander for press, radio, TV and online, contact him at: ArchaeoDataCam@gmail.com
Latest news from the Save the Oasis Campaign Council Meeting Accepts Labour Group’s Oasis Motion
26th March 2021
Council Meeting Accepts Oasis Motion At last night’s Full Council meeting, Labour put forward a motion. The motion requested that the Council leader, Cllr David Renard, work with the iconic leisure centre’s current owners to produce a report detailing a full building and works survey. The report would include costs for work needed. The Conservative administration accepted the motion and voted for it with one small amendment. The Council leader now has three months to produce said report. Failure so to do means he has to return to Full Council to explain why.
Needless to say, the Save the Oasis campaign is full of delight at the passing of this motion. It’s clear to us that this should have happened months ago but we’re overjoyed that it’s going to happen at last. It’s our sincere our hope that a full report into the state of the Oasis will allow all parties to work out the merits, or otherwise, of the various options.
As a campaign group, we couldn’t be more pleased with the positivity that emerged in the Full Council meeting. In particular when this has not always been the case.
We received much praise for our campaign and the steps we’ve taken to speak to engineers about how to save the original dome. While not wanting to get too excited, it feels like a clear and positive shift in direction for the town’s administration. They appear to now be receptive to the idea of retaining the landmark dome.
The campaign doesn’t view the dome andthe Oasisthrough sentimentality and rose-tinted glasses alone. We’re all-too aware of the potential difficulties but also feel that sustainable solutions aren’t impossible. We ask only that the council exhaust all such possibilities before taking any drastic decisions.
Last night’s unanimous acceptance, by the current administration, of the Labour group’s motion is, we feel, a big step in the right direction.
SWINDON ENTREPRENEUR AND CHARITY FOUNDER JOINS SOCIAL ENTERPRISE SUPPORTING YOUNG PEOPLE
Fiona Simpson Joins Platform Project Charity founder, Fiona Simpson, couldn’t be more thrilled to have joined the Swindon-based social enterprise The Platform Project. She’ll be support young people aged 13-21 to find work or take their next steps in life.
Fiona joined The Platform Project recently as a youth development manager on a part-time basis thanks to several new funding grants. Fiona has worked with young people in various roles, including co-founding a charitable foundation in 2016.
She explained: ‘I’m so fortunate to get the offer of a role working with Sadie at The Platform Project. It allows me the opportunity to share my passion for making a difference to the lives of young people. I’m so inspired by what The Platform Project has achieved so far.’
About Fiona’s new role
Fiona’s new role will help with the overall development of the internship programme. That’s where young people aged 16-21 attend the projects “training workplace” to do developmental work-experience.
The interns rotate around different roles and projects. They include a youth magazine, a digital media marketing agency, and even a self-employment project. They develop skills including:
Using Microsoft Teams
Pitching and presenting
Social media management
Website design
Videography
Client liaison
Time and project management all whilst working alongside industry professionals from partner organisations.
The practical, hands-on experiences help build CVs and employability skills. It also offers the opportunity for the interns to try out different career roles before they’re paired up with a mentor to help broker their next steps on the career ladder. This could include moving into work or even setting up their own business.
Fiona said: ‘Almost 90% of the students on the internship programme go straight into employment or further education. That happens because the range of experiences on offer focuses on getting them work ready.
‘But, if they don’t get employment at once, they ‘ll get further mentoring support. That support will guide them into an employment placement. And they all have the ability to earn their own self-employed income as well. Our programme aims to produce professionals who are as pandemic-proof as possible!’
Sadie Sharp and the Platform Project
Sadie Sharp, founder and managing director of The Platform Project said:
‘We’ve grown so fast since we launched. We’ve only been able to achieve that growth because we’ve had the right people working with us. The scale of the issues for young people around employability and creating opportunities has never been greater after Covid19. And we are keen, with Fiona’s appointment, to take our youth enterprise projects to more schools to help tackle the challenges presented by the pandemic.’
To find out more about The Platform Project internships, or to become an employer partners, visit: www.PlatformProject.co.uk
Possible solution found to preserve the famous iconic dome
Save Oasis Campaign Seeks Sustainable Solutions Not letting themselves become clouded by sentimentality, the Save the Oasis campaign group have set themselves the task of seeking sustainable solutions. Of course they want the dome preserving. But they have full understanding that to keep it, it must function better than it ever has.
And, to that end, with great excitement, they have a possible breakthrough to announce.
The dome under threat – Save Oasis Campaign Seeks Sustainable Solutions
The dome – which forms an integral part of the famous Swindon Oasis Leisure Centre – came under threat recently. The threat occurred when Seven Capital and Swindon Borough Council released a computer-generated image, of what appeared to be new building.
The Save Oasis Swindon campaign questioned why the dome was missing from the plans. In particular when the Council administration had promised a refurbishment of the dome not a demolition.
A spokesman for Save Oasis Swindon said: ‘The council administration told us that the building is not energy efficient, as the pool costs £1,500 a day to heat. We were also told by the head of Swindon Borough Council, Councillor David Renard, that the dome has reached the end of its life.
‘We don’t think that Seven Capital have exhausted every option to preserve the iconic dome. The panels on the dome were only replaced in 2015, some six years ago. The previous panels before that were in place for almost four decades. Swindonians should ask questions about why, in 2015, the heat inefficient dome panels installed . Fast forward six years, and now the developer is saying the building isn’t viable. We can’t sit back and accept that situation.
‘The information we got stated that the current dome panels consist of single-ply polycarbonate sheets, installed on the lightweight aluminium space frame. Further, Seven Capital stated that they have a very low U value. This means that he pool has poor insulation and heat retaining properties.
Set about seeking advice
Undeterred, the campaign group set about getting external, expert advice.
Said campaigner leader Neil, ‘We contacted an historical architecture group who pointed us to engineers that specialise in pool restorations. We explained the current problem with the Oasis dome. To our amazement, they came back with a solution that would enable the iconic dome structure to remain.
Iceni Futures suggested using ‘EFTE pillows’. In essence the bubble type panels the Eden Project uses. The company said they would improve energy efficiency. Further they’re lightweight, so the existing structure could support them. These pillows are a tried and tested solution and would work well at the Oasis.
They even said that the pillows would replicate the appearance of the existing ‘bubble’ type panels present at the Oasis before 2015. They confirmed that the EFTE pillows would be more energy efficient than the current flat polycarbonate sheets. It’s also possible to embed solar cells within them.
It seems that the EFTE solution would have been available in 2015. So they imagine that the flat sheets got chosen due to cost. But at £1,500 a day to heat, it’s definitely a false economy.
‘Iceni Futures promised to work with a structural engineer and the EFTE manufacturer to devise a custom solution for the Oasis. They would calculate the energy improvements and the potential daily heating costs.
Next steps
The Save Oasis Swindon campaign have sent their findings to Swindon Borough Council and Councillor David Renard for consideration. Also to Seven Capital.
Said the campaign: ‘The administration must do more to investigate ways to make the existing dome and building viable. Many people love the Oasis for what it already offers.
“We hope that Seven Capital take this exciting opportunity to work with Iceni Futures and see what it’s possible to achieve at the Oasis. This will enable preservation of the iconic dome structure, regardless of the Historic England listing outcome.’
The spokesman concluded: ‘Labour Councillor Jim Grant has been in fulll support of our plan to save the famous dome. He said this could be the answer we are all looking for. He told us the Labour group are one hundred percent behind it. Our campaign hopes that all the council political parties can sign up to our plan to save the dome. Jim also thanked our campaign and said the people of Swindon should be ever grateful.’
The Save Oasis Swindon campaign, which has almost 2,000 followers on Facebook – and backed by many celebrities. If you want to follow them you’ll find them here: https://www.facebook.com/saveoasis
The recent regeneration received heavy criticism. The Oasis is a symbol of Swindon and is a well-known, treasured landmark. It’s well loved by Swindon residents, and those further afield who travel to Swindon to enjoy the Oasis. You can read more of that here:
