Stwdio Stori Gwalchmai Story Studio
Introduction
Working in partnership with Rural Futures
At the invitation of Rural Futures, Utopias Bach started working in Gwalchmai with children at Ysgol y Ffridd in summer 2021. We wanted to explore the possibility of a child-led community engagement process for thinking about possible futures for the community: What happens when young people are free to freely explore their ideas for a better life? Do they open up more radical possibilities than the adults might? How does this kind of activity impact the children’s health and wellbeing? How can we create a way for adults to take their suggestions seriously? How can we encourage inter-generational conversations, bringing in past, present and future?
What we did
During the summer of 2021, Lindsey Colbourne, Seran Dolma and Samina Ali worked with about 60 pupils (Blwyddyn 3 - 6), supporting them to explore and create their Utopias Bach, with a view to sharing those creations with the wider community in September 2021, as a starting point for a wider community conversation about the future of Gwalchmai.
Workshop 1: Mapping your Gwalchmai as it is now
Aim: To explore the idea of maps, creating personal maps of Gwalchmai (where you go, special places, what you like and don’t like etc) and using this to start to create a whole class map of Gwalchmai now. We used a guided visualisation of ‘hedfan dros dy fro’, flying over Gwalchmai to start the mapping process.
Workshop 2: Time machine to your ideal future
Aim: To explore imaginary ‘ideal’ futures in Gwalchmai by designing and going in their very own time machines, working individually and as a whole class to imagine a day in your life in [2050] using a guided visualisation
Workshop 3: Make a Utopia Bach for Gwalchmai in the future
Aim: To create something - on a little scale – of something you’d like in Gwalchmai in the future inspired by your time machine journey. It could be a model, a picture, a video of anything you like. It could be for humans or for another type of being e.g. magical bird, unicorn, favourite animal.
4. Community Story Studio
Aim: To use the results of work in the school to create a ‘story studio’, to which the whole community is invited, as the starting point for discussions in the community about what they’d like in the future. This was held 17-18 September 2021.
Other elements
Samina Ali has also been supporting the school with a series of movement-led health and wellbeing workshops, and Wanda Zyborska has been linking with a school in Malawi, and Ysgol y Ffridd made a stunning video to send to Malawi, one in English, un yn y Gymraeg, talking about Gwalchmai today and in the future.
Technocamps will train teachers and work with kids to use Minecraft to make Utopias Bach.
“Diolch am drefnu’r gweithdy celf am y 6 wythnos diwethaf. Mae’r plant wedi wirioneddol fwynhau ac yn gyffroes iawn yn dod i’r dosbarthiadau. Diolch i Lindsey, Seran a Samina am ei gwaith paratoi au syniadau creadigol. Roedd hyn yn rywbeth gwerth chweil i’r plant ac yn codi eu calonnau gan ein bod wedi cael ein taro yn eithaf drwg gyda’r Covid yma yng Ngwalchmai yn ddisgyblion a staff.”
Henry Jones, Prifathro
Here are the results of the work with Ysgol y Ffridd, and Story Studio with the wider community. In chronological order :)
1. Mapping Gwalchmai today
Blwyddyn 3&4
Blwyddyn 5&6
2. Bocses Utopias Bach boxes - creating miniatures of future visions
Mae hyn yn y coed. Gall pobl ddod o Iwerddon a Lloegr a lleoedd fel yna i ddysgu Cymraeg ac am natur a phethau (mae tân gwersyll a blodau a choed a chwt i aros ynddo), ac mae yna bobl yma yn eu croesawu - mae'r un hon o Gwalchmai a daw'r un arall o Bryngwran
This is in the woods. People can come from Ireland and England and places like that to learn welsh and about nature and things (there’s a camp fire and flowers and trees and a hut to stay in), and there are people here welcoming them – this one is from Gwalchmai and the other one is from Bryngwran
Yn y dyfodol bydd yr holl dai yn lliwgar, ni fydd unrhyw ddrysau, gallwch gerdded trwy'r waliau. Rydyn ni (tair merch) yn byw i fyny yn ein ffau ar y to ac rydyn ni'n cysgu allan o dan y sêr weithiau
In the future all the houses will be colourful, there won’t be any doors, you can just walk through the walls. We (three girls) live up in our den on the roof and we sleep out under the stars sometimes
I love home - home is love
Rwy'n byw yn y castell hwn ac mae pobl eraill fel pobl ddigartref yn byw yno hefyd, ac rwy'n helpu pobl gydag arian a phethau oherwydd yn y dyfodol byddech chi'n gofalu am bobl eraill
l will live in this castle and other people like homeless people live can there too, and I help people with money and things because in the future you would look after other people
Rhyfeloedd tanc! Byddai tanciau'n cael eu defnyddio yn y dyfodol i atal y robotiaid os ydyn nhw'n ceisio cymryd drosodd Gwalchmai
Tank wars! Tanks would be used in the future to stop the robots if they try to take over Gwalchmai
Oreo dispensing machine, with lots of new oreo flavours like melon with llus. It a zip wire and flowers inside it, and a stack of bank cards for people to pay for their Oreos. You can spend lots of time here with your friends
Mae hwn yn rhan wyllt o'r parc lle mae madarch yn cael eu tyfu, a gallwch chi hefyd eistedd yma ac mae cwt i fynd ynddo
This is a wild part of the park where mushrooms are grown, and you can also sit here and there’s a hut to go in
This is a mushroom village in Gwalchmai
Mae yna lawer o leoedd i gael partïon ynddynt There are lots of spaces to have parties in
Dyma parti efo hot tub. This is a party with a hot tub
Byddai gan Gwalchmai bwll nofio a sinema, felly gallwch chi fynd o'r naill i'r llall. Mae un pen i'r pwll nofio ar gyfer pysgod a morloi
There would be a swimming pool and a cinema, so you can go from one to the other. One end of the swimming pool is for fish and seals
Roeddwn i'n meddwl sut yn y cartref a thu allan i Gwalchmai mae yna flodau a gwyrdd a phan ewch chi i mewn i Gwalchmai does dim lliw na blodau. Felly porth yw hwn i mewn i ardd, neu ganolfan arddio, ac yma gall pobl hen ac ifanc ddysgu am sut i dyfu blodau ac llysau a sut i wneud gwalchmai yn fwy lliwgar a chael mwy o flodau a choed. Byddai'n gwneud Gwalchmai yn lle brafiach i fod
I was thinking about how at home and outside Gwalchmai there are flowers and green and when you go into Gwalchmai there’s no colour or flowers. So this is a portal into a garden, or a garden centre, and here we and older people can learn about how to grow flowers and vegetables and how to make gwalchmai more colourful and have more flowers and trees. It would make Gwalchmai a nicer place to be.
Dyma'r parc yn y dyfodol: Yn y rhan hon ohono mae siglen a phwll lle gallwch chi bysgota a sleid a lleoedd cyfforddus i eistedd. Mae llawer o bobl yn hoffi dod yma
This is the park in the future: In this part of it there's a swing and sand pit and pond where you can fish and a slide and comfy places to sit. Lots of people like coming here
Dyma'r parc gyda dwy wifren sip, y ffau, pwll siglo ac mae pobl yn cael parti yno
This is the parc with two zip wires, the den, a swinging pond and people are having a party there
Dyma ran arall o'r parc lle mae anifeiliaid yn cael eu cadw, gan gynnwys dreigiau, a gallwch chi eistedd i lawr yma
This is another part of the parc where animals are kept, including dragons, and you can sit down in here
This is the pond in the parc, and someone is fishing
Yn y dyfodol bydd pyllau a bydd fy nhad yn mynd â mi i bysgota
In the future there will be ponds and my dad will take me fishing
