THE MEMORIES & HOPES OF YORK’S CLIFTON WARD
VALE OF YORK ACADEMY - MARJORIE WAITE COURT - CLIFTON
GREEN PRIMARY - 1ST CLIFTON YORK SEA SCOUTS
Intro
All about Clifton, its past, its future
City of York Council’s Clifton Ward provided funding for award winning charity New Visuality to run a series of intergenerational creative sessions with residents of Marjorie Waite Court.
With visits to Vale of York Academy, 1st Clifton (York) Sea Scouts getting the project off to an energetic start, we managed to intersect the art of the young people with the memories of older residents. We continued to visit Marjorie Waite Court, Choose2cafe, and Clifton Library, and the team came back and fed back memories, ideas, hopes for the future to our sessions.
Thanks must go to Mr Rob Orr and Mr Matt Wilson from Vale of York Academy for galvanising enthusiastic repsonses from Year 9 and Year 10 classes, as well as Clifton Green Primary for sending out young artists Ava, Alice, Jessica and Harleigh to our sessions.
The Team independently designed this very magazine you are reading, based on their experiences at Marjorie Waite Court. We like to think New Visuality has chronicled the thoughts of this areas’ elderly residents using the creativity of the young people with as much spark as possible.
Lastly, thanks must go to City of YorkCouncil’s Clifton Ward for the funds to get this project up and running.
Greg McGee Director,NewVisuality
Greg McGee at Vale of York Academy
VISUALISING THE VALE OF YORK ACADEMY
We simply couldn't have got the project off the ground without the energy and rigour of Vale of York Academy’s Rob Orr and Head of Art Matt Wilson It was with their help that we could find access to the young people from the area and, using Manga and Anime cartoons as a portal into discussion, share and mould ideas on what it is to hold hope for an area
SCHOOLS AND COMMUNITIES
Less traffic
More street parties
Is it OK to gather, please?!
More respect
Socialising with generations
HOPE PLANS
Moderate use of digital device
More exercise
Spend more time with elderly people
Be more polite
Work hard at school
VISITING CLIFTON’S HQ FOR ALL THINGS HEALTHY AND HOPEFUL
Vale of York Academy helped us gather together a group of young people who became advocates for the creative direction of the project. It was their vision which helped us move away from more traditional art forms and base our creativity on the values of 1st Clifton Sea Scouts - the tenacity, the respect for others, the sense of derring do.
We felt that this would be a good intersection into planning our intergenerational conversations to be held at Marjorie Waite Court.Some of the artists from Vale of York really pushed the envelope with their Digital Art skills. One of them even brought a drone in, which was a gamechanger!
ISLA
“I promise to always do my best, to be kind, and to love God.” I loved doing this, it really made me think how hard the cubs and scouts work. We need more people like this.”
Chiaki Sato
“I enjoyed coming to this venue, it’s really big and very safe. I had never been here before.”
Young Artists
“We had a great time, we started a design that we are going to give to the pupils of Vale of York to finish.”
Thank you, 1st Clifton Sea Scouts, for the warm welcome
“We’d love to come back. We found that a lot of young people are genuinely curious and impressed with the attitude of the scout group based here.”
VISITING MARJORIE WAITE COURT
MEETING WITH RESIDENTS AT THE LIBRARY, MARJORIE WAITE COURT, AND VALE OF YORK ACADEMY SUMMER DAY
What are some of your happy memories of York?
"York was different then, there used to be a swimming pool in Rowntrees Park. There Was the 'Big Freeze' in 1963, which was unforgettable. Trips to the seaside were a big thing back then too. TVs only had 3 channels, so if here wasn't much on, we'd be outside.
I’d would most definitely go back if I
could, but I don't miss anything specific. There’s too much TV nowadays, it’s good to get outside"
"I'm 83. I had already lived through the Second WorldWar. I lived near the train tracks which would get bombed. We went out the next day to see the damage."
“I didn’t drink much at all, but I did enjoy visiting the Races when it was on, that was always spectacular.”
USING BRIGHT ART TO ENCOURAGE EASY CHATS
MEMORIES AND ART
How is life here at Marjorie Waite?
“It’s nice, you never get a bad word from anyone. The food is always tasty and sometimes we get young visitors like this (laughs) so that’s always nice ”
What was childhood like in York?
“Well, what do you think? It was marvellous! We’d stay out, from morning till night, and it was great fun The summers lasted forever and there was no Stranger Danger ”
What music do you listen to?
“Foster & Allen. When my husband was alive we’d visit ireland to see my grandson who still lives there Well, we wore that cassette out! I still play the songs on Alexa ”
What was entertainment like in those days?
“James Bond were a little too daft for me I preferred Cary Grant or James Stewart Real gentlemen, and very elegant ”
CLIFTON WARD
YOUNG PEOPLE SPEAK UP
Water Lane, “Me and my friends always say it’s a nice place to live, there’s this huge walk we can get to Poppleton from using the back lanes, and it’s always safe and clean ”
“The traffic is a bit of a negative, both generations agree on that, but there’s nothing we can do about it! It's a small city, York, and so many people like to visit or even some families who live here have more than one car! It would be better if there were less cars ”
Hopes for Clifton:
“It’s really clean, and we all feel safe, but like a lot of the old people have said, sometime you don’t know the name of the person who lives next door to you, which is a shame More street parties and communal parties would be good ”
Says Charity Director Greg McGee, “The memories rotate around a time with friendship and more time spent outside They chime quite easily with the virtues Of Clifton Green Primary, so that helps Also, we ’ re working with pupils from Vale of York Academy, all of whom have postcodes in the Clifton area Mr Orr and Head of Art Mr Wilson have been hugely helpful on that front ”
Greg is happy .“We're looking forward to making more trips to Choose2Cafe. Being sociable and creativity are very powerful ways to keep the flag for local areas flying high ”
THANK YOU, CLIFTON WARD
This was an ambitious project We couldn’t have done it without the funding from Clifton Ward We have forged links with schools and community spaces, we have shone a creative spotlight on the memories of elderly residents, and celebrated the hopes of our younger neighbours. Says Rob Orr, "After building strong links with Greg McGee over the past few years, we at Vale of York Academy cannot wait to invite Greg back in to continue his excellent work supporting our creative young people, especially when he brings the memories the elderly residents of the area"
I N T E R G E N E R A T I O N A L
