Dave's Progress. Chapter 109: Photo Opportunity.
The other day me and a friend from the Pathways Group went, to use the Stoke parlance, "up 'anley, duck"; meaning, we went to Hanley, one of the six towns which make up the Potteries, now regarded as the City Centre. The reason we did this was to take some photos for the "Local People, Local Lives" project.
To bring you up to date, my piece for the project, entitled "Remembering the ABC Cinema", has now been completed and is ready to be distributed to various venues throughout the Potteries. The hope is that members of the public will relate to a story about their own locality, perhaps sparking off memories of their own. The anti-stigma message is, then, subtly conveyed, with me mentioning my diagnosis only towards the end of the piece. We found that other campaigns, which are more "in your face" about mental illness and seem laden with facts about it, are perhaps a little off putting. So, by using modern social marketing techniques, we hope to get across the simple, but important message that some one's mental ill health is not the most important thing about them and that they can have other interests, hobbies and experiences. In short, they are, like anyone, altogether human, and resolutely not like the violent, alienated "other" so often presented in the media.
Anyway, the photos we took in Hanley were for my friend's piece, which is about the local libraries of Stoke-on-Trent. As neither of us has much experience of taking photos, we had to get my Dad, who happens to own a rather expensive camera, to take the photos for us. As a first for this blog, I will attempt to show you some of the photos we took that day below.
Unfortunately, I cannot get any of the other pictures to load on to this posting, so for the time being you will have to be contented with just the one photograph of our City Centre library. Yes, I have returned to my old Luddite self again. But, this is a first for this blog. Never before have I put up photos, so perhaps I should congratulate myself on being able to put up just one. The Reginald Mitchell (inventor of the "Spitfire") memorial and the "Steel Man" statue shall have to wait. Indeed, who knows what I may put up next- more pictures of my beautiful home town, perhaps? (no irony intended!).
But if it is that you do happen to drop by old Stoke-on-Trent, please be sure to try to pick up one of our leaflets and help us all make the stigma surrounding mental illness a thing of the past.
To bring you up to date, my piece for the project, entitled "Remembering the ABC Cinema", has now been completed and is ready to be distributed to various venues throughout the Potteries. The hope is that members of the public will relate to a story about their own locality, perhaps sparking off memories of their own. The anti-stigma message is, then, subtly conveyed, with me mentioning my diagnosis only towards the end of the piece. We found that other campaigns, which are more "in your face" about mental illness and seem laden with facts about it, are perhaps a little off putting. So, by using modern social marketing techniques, we hope to get across the simple, but important message that some one's mental ill health is not the most important thing about them and that they can have other interests, hobbies and experiences. In short, they are, like anyone, altogether human, and resolutely not like the violent, alienated "other" so often presented in the media.
Anyway, the photos we took in Hanley were for my friend's piece, which is about the local libraries of Stoke-on-Trent. As neither of us has much experience of taking photos, we had to get my Dad, who happens to own a rather expensive camera, to take the photos for us. As a first for this blog, I will attempt to show you some of the photos we took that day below.
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| The City Centre Library, Hanley. |
But if it is that you do happen to drop by old Stoke-on-Trent, please be sure to try to pick up one of our leaflets and help us all make the stigma surrounding mental illness a thing of the past.
Comments
I'm very pleased that your piece of the project is now going to be distributed through various venues throughout the 'Potteries'.
The message you are trying to get in reducing the stigma and bringing further awareness to members of the public who wish to learn more, is an important message for all of us.
Anyway, thanks for submitting the photo of the City Centre library.
Hopefully, on another posting, you might be able to upload the other photos.
Thanks for this informative posting and I wish you all the very best with this worthy project.
Best wishes, Gary.
Thanks for your supportive comments.
I do hope that ouir little campaign will have at least some impact on some people. Unfortunately, we do not have the resources at MAGMH to measure the outcomes of the project, but it is, at least, doing something about an issue we both feel strongly about.
Thanks once again.
With mucho respecto,
David.
When I want to use a picture in my postings (and I have never posted without one!) I upload them to a file in Picassa and download them from there. Anyway, well done!
Bazza’s Blog ‘To Discover Ice’
A very nice post.
The photo's perspective is appealing: like a message indicating, "things are looking up."
I hope you acheive your goals.
Good luck to you and your mates.
Dixie
Yes, it does seem, with so many places closing down, that our society is in for a change. In Stoke it seems particularly bad, being, as it is, an already deprived area. The cuts being made mean that many places, such as swimming pools, and libraries in particular, are having to close. Our local library in Burslem is already earmarked for closure.
You'd think that what was in need of real reform would be the banks and the way they do business. Instead it seems that Cameron and his ilk are dismantling, as you say, the "fabric of our society".
Needless to say, I share your concerns, bazza!
Wishing you all the best,
David.
Yes, I like the photo too.
Thanks for your encouragement and support. Hopefully me and my mates will change some minds with our little project.
Very Best Wishes to you,
David.