Beekeepers on the Isle of Dogs

Published in Spitalfields Life, by Delwar Hussain.

Manda Helal – Beekeeping volunteer

Excerpt:

I am a gardener and I wanted to learn more about bees. I heard there will be a problem with our food if we don’t have enough bees. I like the slowness of it all. Watching the bees, being busy, busy, busy. But the honey itself weighs a tonne – it takes strength. They all look so happy. You don’t see them as individuals, but as a collective. It’s all of them working together that makes it work. If they were to break off from the rest, it wouldn’t work. It’s fascinating.

Enjoy!

The Reuse Exchange

The facilities of the Reuse Exchange comprise a small room that used to be the boys’ toilet when the building was a school! The technical team at the CCW Progression Centre helped clear the space—and using shelving made of salvaged wood—created a storage area for found and donated materials. The Reuse Exchange idea is not a new one; our team have always had ‘offcuts’ boxes of wood , metal, and plastics, and have encouraged students who need materials to make use of these free resources.

The Reuse Exchange opened last week, and the first student who came took wood for her sculpture and promised to donate something next week. The second student turned up with a roll of chicken wire which she exchanged for a piece of mdf which she then proceeded to saw into smaller pieces to make printing blocks.

I’m excited that it seems so easy to implement reuse and sustainability to the students, and it provides great storage for materials that would otherwise have been thrown away. Check out the gallery soon to see some of the artworks created by students using the Reuse Exchange.

Profile 2. Community of practice, May 2010

As more of the academic staff also participates in the PG Cert, the opportunity for us to discuss pedagogical techniques and theory with colleagues will increase. Maybe as a team we can encourage this to happen in a more formal way or devise an informal setting.