Street smart students from Blackpool and The Fylde College have developed a series of slogans, t-shirts and video resources aimed at teaching other young people about the effects of youth violence and knife crime.

The project is part of Lancashire Police’s ‘Tackling Knives Action Programme’ (TKAP), which saw them allocate funding towards student led initiatives for reducing serious youth crime in the Blackpool area.

Students from across College attended a series of workshops where they learnt about some of the shocking effects of knife crime and youth violence. The workshops, developed in partnership with the Police, taught the students what youth violence means and where the key hotspots are in Blackpool.

As part of the College’s enrichment programme, students then began designing logos for t-shirts to discourage youth violence and have also made short films to raise awareness and show the effects of knife crime.

Staff from the College selected the most effective campaigns to move forward, and thanks to the funding a number of t-shirts bearing the slogans ‘Only Fools Use Tools’ and ‘Crime Wastes Time’ have been printed, wristbands have been produced for young people to wear to show they are against youth violence and a video exploring the issue has been acted, filmed and edited by students.

Supt Richard Spedding, Lancashire Constabulary’s TKAP co-ordinator attended an event where students presented the final project outcomes, talked about what they have learned and described how local schools could also benefit from the project. He also presented each student with a certificate to celebrate their commitment and participation.

Commenting on the project, he said:

“We tasked the College with getting young people to come up with their own solutions to stop people becoming future victims of youth violence. The Police don’t always have the answer, adults don’t always have the answer, its important that people who are the victims can help us and tell us.

“I’ve been really impressed with what I’ve seen today. Two very strong brands have been created which I’m sure will get talked about a lot when our PCSOs go into schools to make sure that message gets across. I’m sure it will be really successful and if it helps young people to change their attitude and to be more careful, safe and courageous as well then that could have a positive effect.”

Catherine Hill, Vice Principal at Blackpool and The Fylde College added:

“This project has allowed our students to tackle some serious issues and they’ve not only risen to the challenge, but embraced being part of a real life campaign led by the Police. They have developed new skills, worked together to produce excellent results and their efforts have been praised by Supt Spedding. I’m extremely proud of the students and I hope their work will continue to help young people in the area realise that crime really isn’t the answer.”

A rare map originated from JRR Tolkien’s own drawings and a charming edition of Alice Through the Looking Glass headline a unique exhibition of book bindings and letter press from well loved novels at Blackpool and The Fylde College’s Gallery.

The collection is on loan from the Crafts Council Collection and is being exhibited alongside work by students at the College. Entitled ‘Limited Edition’, the exhibition highlights the importance of the physical book in an age of ‘sterile’ electronic media, demonstrating just how vibrant, tactile and contemporary the printed page can be.

It’s the first time the Gallery, which opened in September 2010 as part of the University Centre redevelopment, has held an exhibition solely based around books, but one which Elspeth Edmondson, Curriculum Manager at the School of Creative Arts, believes is hugely significant:

“This exhibition marks a revival of a long tradition of book binding and letter press at Blackpool and The Fylde College as we used to have facilities on site to produce these ourselves” she said. “In this digital age, we’re seeing a resurgence of the craft and it’s lovely to see this unique collection of books alongside our students’ work, which pushes the boundaries of book design.”

“The Gallery has been pivotal in allowing us to attract such high profile and quality exhibitions, making such art more accessible to our students and to everyone in Blackpool.”

The College’s link up with the Crafts Council follows other prestigious exhibitions from the British Council and the Association of Illustrators.

Rosy Greenlees, Executive Director of the Crafts Council adds:

“We are really pleased that Blackpool and The Fylde College has loaned some pieces from our Collection to exhibit alongside work by their own students – this is a great way to engage people with book-binding and contemporary craft in general.”

Limited Edition runs until Friday 27th January and is open to the public from 10.00am-5.00pm, Monday-Friday. For more information, contact the College on 01253 504442 or email info@blackpool.ac.uk

The Crafts Council’s goal is to make the UK the best place to make, see, collect and learn about contemporary craft.They believe that craft plays a dynamic and vigorous role in the UK’s social, economic and cultural life and everyone should have the opportunity to make, see, collect and learn about craft.

Students have been seeing some of the shocking effects caused by smoking after the Future Vision ‘Eye Pod’ made a stop at Blackpool and The Fylde College’s Bispham Campus.

The pod was brought to College by Employability Coach Eddie Gee as part of the Be Healthy group tutorial sessions, and helped educate students about some of the lesser known long term effects of smoking as well as the obvious signs.

The pod features a virtual aging booth which, after answering a few lifestyle questions, produces 'before' and 'after' photos showing the student today and at age 70. Students were able to take the images away with them together with information about the risk factors for eye disease and the importance of regular eye tests. In addition, Primary Care Trust Smoking Cessation staff were available to give advice all week.

Manjit Rooprah works for the Royal National Institute for the Blind and tours the pod around the country. He said:

“We want to raise awareness of the link between smoking and sight loss as smoking doubles the chance of eye diseases. Also, all full time students under 19 years old are entitled to free eye tests but they don’t always know about this, so we’re encouraging young people to get their eyes tested regularly.”

The RNIB has also found through research with teenagers that using the message 'smoking causes blindness' increases desire in this age group to quit smoking, while the dramatic impact of the photo encourages people to take action and stop smoking.

Almost 500 students from the College visited the pod over 3 days. Charlotte Cowell-Walker, 19, is studying a BTEC in Sport. She said:

“I’m doing a fitness course so I wanted to go into the pod to see what I would look like. I used to smoke but I’ve given up now. I’m surprised by the photo- I look hideous! I’ve got more wrinkles than I imagined. I’m going to go and get an eye test now as I didn’t know they were free, and I’m going to keep not smoking.”

Matthew Bunnage, 16, studying Level 1 Catering, added:

“I’m a regular smoker but I’m still pretty shocked by the photo – there are a lot of wrinkles. I want to stop smoking when I’m 18.”

Dragon’s Den star Theo Paphitis was the latest celebrity to enjoy a performance from Blackpool and The Fylde College’s choir.

The choir, who last year impressed Arlene Phillips when they performed at VQ Day, had another taste of national success when they were asked to sing for 500 guests at the National Training Awards 2011, held at Excel.

The group sang an arrangement of ‘Let the Sunshine In’ from the musical Hair, featuring solo performances from Perry Hanson, Ollie Yank, Craig Colley, Fran Meaby and Shauna Waugh.

A selection of 48 first and second year BA (Hons)Musical Theatre students made the trip to London, where they also performed a 30 minute set on the performance showcase stage at WorldSKills London 2011, the largest ever international skills Competition and careers event.

Musical Director David Scott-Thomas said:

“The students did a brilliant job. They were great ambassadors for the College. This is only the fourth year we’ve been running the BA (Hons) in Musical Theatre and already we’ve sung all over the country in front of some high profile people. It’s great for building the reputation of our degree and the College.”

Third year student Adam Lofthouse, 21, from Thornton received personal thanks from Theo after tweeting him on the night. Adam said:

“I sent Theo a tweet saying ‘just sang our socks off with you glaring at us in the front :) Thankyou’ and he replied saying well done to us all and that he really enjoyed our performance.

“It’s great to get recognition for our performance, and I had a great time in London.”

Blackpool and The Fylde College will showcase their skills expertise to a global audience this week, when the UK plays host to the world’s greatest skills competition, WorldSkills London 2011.

From electronics to plumbing, creative arts and fashion to cabinet making, the UK’s most talented trainees will be in action over four exciting days of competition. 150,000 visitors are expected to attend and will see 1,000 competitors from 50 countries competing in 45 skill areas.

The contest is an opportunity to raise aspirations for students and to inspire future generations of skilled, high-quality professionals. Amongst them will be Blackpool and The Fylde College student, Rachael Carr, currently on the HND Electrical and Electronic Engineering programme and working at BAE Systems. Rachael will take on the world’s most highly skilled students, apprentices and employees when she represents Team UK in the Manufacturing Team Challenge.

Chosen from hundreds of applications, students from the College will also be demonstrating their talents at the international Showcase at the event. Showcase colleges and training providers will help to inspire the audience and help them to look at the endless possibilities for their future jobs and careers. Students and staff have been busy devising highly visual, entertainment displays which will allow the College to shine in front of a huge national and international audience. Blackpool and The Fylde College will present not one, but three showcases:

• Media Make Up students will be recreating several of Lady Gaga’s flamboyant looks
• The College’s acclaimed choir will be performing a fifteen minute set of songs
• Art, Design and Media students will record, photograph and capture the event for a video highlights package

Pauline Waterhouse OBE, Principal of Blackpool and The Fylde College sees this as a chance for young people from Blackpool to have a place in history:

“The last time a WorldSkills competition was held in the UK was over two decades ago – this really is a once in a generation opportunity for our students and we’re delighted that the excellent standards they achieve will be recognised to such a prestigious national and international audience. To be part of an event which recognises skills at the very highest level is truly aspirational and I have every faith that our students will rise to the occasion and help to put on a truly spectacular show.”

Jack Wealthall, a BA (Hons) Musical Theatre student said,

“We're really excited to have been chosen to showcase our choir’s talent at WorldSkills London 2011. It's great to be part of something this big and gain recognition for all the hard work we've put in. Our performance is going to wow the audience and I can’t wait for October!”

John Hayes, Minister of State for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning, explains:

“As host nation, we have a vital opportunity to demonstrate how skills shape the lives of individuals and national life. We are delighted by the number of organisations who applied to showcase and feel that by demonstrating skills from hairdressing to aircraft engineering, we can show the rest of the world just how crucial skills are for fuelling growth and feeding prosperity.”