Andrew's Poem

First Thing.

I go to bed at night thinking my condition
will go away, but when i get up its bloody
still there.

I struggle to get in the bath and eventually
get there, I pray and hope this bloody pain will just go away.

The module at present is the reason of the
day, but there is so many struggles for me to be there.

The big daunting hill to the bus stop is a big problem,
But when i get there the achivment is a big satisfaction.

The Module is good but can be more fun, would life be easier if i carried a gun.

I hope i get somewhere one day, but i know its gonna be a struggle to get to that day.

Ed and Mohamed's Poem

I get up at six and pray
I read my Quran ans sets me for the day
For Eddie, Jesus is the way.
What would you say?

I get to work and take up my pen.
Damn the computer is on again!
I check my dairy and Maggie turns away.

I look out of the window and see those green hills
Makes me wonder what Jeff sees in those dark satanic mills.
But someone has nicked the lead off the roof.

The reality is that I don't care.
But just for today.

Showell, Jordan and Chrissi's Poem

Woke up in the morning
Still yawning
Thinking, 'why's my life boring?'

Got out of bed
Still scratching my head
Wot we gonna do with my day
Is my life gonna always be this way?

So I do my hair thinking
Life is not fair
Wracking my brain,
Wondering - is he going to be there?
And what to wear.
Makeup, and hair.

Chris's Poem

BUSES

i weight and weight

Thumb the bus until it indicates

In the wind in the rain

I catch the bus from Brogden lane

Stopping and starting all the way

It seems to take all fucking day

Lots of cars going past

How long will this last

Traffic jams and traffic lights

Jealous of the slimline bikes

Then finally at the station

Get of the bus to all the commotion

Billi's poem

My Day

Morning dawns I need a fag
A breath of life can be a drag
Brother is screaming
I step on the bus
Fear was gripping me
Now I don't care
Because truth has set me free

I go to the club
Walking on air
Looking to the future
No more cares

It's fun time Friday
Everyone is here
The sun is shining
And my head is clear

But fear is gripping me, an injection is to come
The thought of a needle
The flush, the plaster
I know the fear, i will overcome
A thought can't hold me, love can

Shaun's Poem

I come to the module on the bus
Each day with no fuss.
The coffee is great - instead of milk - coffeemate.
I walk Scrappi my dog and he's relieved for the day.

After the module I go and play footy -
And that's the high-light of my day!

I go home and get a rough look off Scrappi,
Damn he needs a shower coz he looks so messy.
After a long day we chill out on the sofa.

I rest my feet and write a poem that's neat!

Billi's Poem

ME

Feeling all alone
I glance at the Callone
A thought of my Ex
Puts me in a mess
The four walls of my roomis all I can see
Maybe one day I'll find the real me

I'm going shopping with my mum
Out the four walls is more fun
But the fears still inside
But I'm not going to hide
Life goes on and wht's done is done

Today am living for today
I've got a smile on my face
My eyes are no longer in a trance
And i feel like i can dance

I hope to be happy
With not a care in the world
And that day doesn't look like its too far

Emma's Poems

Denis The Dog

My dog is pain in the bum
When I'm sitting on the couch trying to watch telly.
Emmerdale, Coronation Street and Eastenders
Holby City, Casualty
With a bowl of popcorn on my knee and a bottle of wkd on the arm of the chair.
Denis the dog jumps up
Gets carried away jumping about and chasing his tail
And the popcorn goes all over the place.

Burnley Football Club

When I get up, the place I like going
Is Burnley Football Club.
The pitch is glowing.
I see my friends and have a brew
There are so many things we get to do.
Music is my favourite thing.
I like girls aloud and I love to sing.

Workshop 2: All About Me

Hello. My name is Jenn and on the 22nd of January I went to Burnley Football ground to meet with a group of young people and hold a creative writing workshop. We started gently, with a discussion and collage session where we could get to know each other.

Each of the young people made a collage that represented some aspect of their personality - the thing about them that made them special and unique. Then we took turns talking about the collages, and uploading pictures and comments to this blog. Scroll down to see the rest of the pictures from a very productive morning!

www.jennashworth.blogspot.com

Here's Chrissi, Jordan and Billi posing with their finished collages.


Here's me and Chrissi, posing with her pink mosaic. I don't think I was supposed to be in this picture!

The Finished Product

Here are a few of the finished collages from the first Writing Workshop - we're going to use these collages and the discussion that inspired them as creative writing prompts for next week's session.

From the top, there's work by Jordan, Billi, Andrew, Emma (already hard at work and ahead of the game with writing!) Chris, and Chrissi - who's pink mosaic is a work in progress.

Hard at Work

Despite appearances to the contrary, the group were hard at work this morning making collages all about themselves!

I asked them to cut out pictures and words that described what was special and unique about their personality.

Emma did her collage about animals. She loves their soft fur and has a dog called Dennis at home so a collage about animals was an easy choice.

Billi chose lots of pictures of handbags, shoes and of course Ronaldo - not just one picture, but FOUR! You wanted to sum up your girly interests - although she doesn't watch football much she will make an exception for Ronaldo.

Sean's collage (pictured below) was all about Manchester United. Sean liked doing the collage so much (and managed to get his hands on a working pair of scissors) so finished two in the time we had available. I can't wait to see what Sean writes in the next workshop. I bet it will be about football!

Chrissi's collage was a mosaic in pink - and reflected her love of all things pink! During the session I learned her bedroom was totally decorated in pink, and she'd even brought a spare pink tee-shirt to get changed into later, after the boxing workshop she was planning to take part in that afternoon.

Jordan's workshop reflected his interest in the more beautiful things in life - he also took a leaf out of Chrissi's book and cut out some pink lettering to decorate his collage. Very artistic!

Here's a picture of Sean. Sean made two collages about his favourite hobby - football. He's especially interested in Manchester United. The collages were inspirations for pieces of writing we will be doing in future workshops about ourselves.

On Friday 15th January, I was delighted to be introduced to the group. I am Sarah Hicks by the way! I work as an artist and was invited to come and run a session with the group using graffiti art. We only had a limited time, so spray cans and paint were out of the question. Instead, we designed graffiti 'tags' to represent our identity and personality. Despite voicing doubts that they couldn't draw and were rubbish at art, every single member of the group worked really hard and was genuinely surprised with what they managed to achieve- something that they thought was impossible! Each piece was completely unique, and said something about the artist, be it through the use of colour and pattern, the choice of letter style or the images and embellishments that went with the text.
It was a joy to work with such a pleasant group of young people. I wish them all the very best for the future.
Sarah
(www.sarahhicksart.co.uk)

Showel reckons that she's part angel and part devil! I only met the angel half though!

A few images of the group hard at work. Spot the only photo of Jordan. He had to leave before the end of the session, but did a great design before he went.

Sean discovered that he is really really good at designing characters.

Emma, too, was amazed and very proud of her work. She never thought she'd be able to do anything this good!

Chrissi's colours reflect her favourite team. Oh look- there are the players in the background!

'Billi' went for the spots and stripes effect. It looks amazing and she was genuinely surprised that she had managed to do such an ace piece of art by herself.

The finished art work and beaming smiles.

All very proud of the work- and rightly so!

(Good faces, by the way, ladies!)

Welcome to Inspire Burnley!

This blog has been started to showcase the work of the attendees on the Inspire Burnley Creative Workshops series run by They Eat Culture for NHS Blackburn with Darwen / Lancashire Condition Management Programme.

Please do look at the work produced by the participants. And if you are a participant on the course, please do look and comment on the work - this is something you've all done, together!

For more on They Eat Culture, please look at www.theyeatculture.org