thinkpublic south west

Following our Partner workshop, we set up a series of mini workshops to run with the front line staff working for each Partner. These are the people that work with individuals looking for work and so know the issues first hand.
This week Working Links and Volunteer Cornwall both took part. The workshop got Advisors to visually map what a day in their life looked like, where they were at certain parts of the day and what they were doing. They then added another layer to the map describing the good and bad parts of their roles.
There have been some valuable insights into opportunities to support people over 50 moving towards work and practical issues surrounding how their roles can improved.

These insights will be taken into our co-design event, now set for the 30th of March, at City Hall, Truro. Email for details

We invited Partner services along to Truro Library for a morning workshop and lunch last week. Partners were asked to create ‘personas’ for the type of people over 50 who use their services. We then got each Partner to break down and map what their service does, who for and how. We then changed gear, after a creative visualisation session run by thinkpublic director Deborah Szebeko and asked the Partners to come up with 50+ challenges, all beginning: ‘How might we…’.

Ideas included:
‘How might we share the wisdom and experience of over 50s?’
‘How might we encourage over 50s to consider enterprise as a way of working?’
‘How might we help people over 50 be more confident about the future?’

These challenges and more will be taken to an Opportunities workshop on the 17th of March to filter and edit and decide which opportunities will be taken into co-design.

This week we were out and about in St Austell, when we found a drop in centre for over 50s. An amazing facility which is privately funded and run by volunteers, it gives the people of the town a place to come and socialise when they reach a certain age.
A challenge we’re finding is that being over 50 means you are often lumped into a group of ‘elderly’ when actually, you’re nowhere near. It would be nice to see a 50+ drop in centre with Led Zepplin playing and modern furniture and facilities where people did not feel like being 50 is the same as being elderly.

I’m writing this from Gatwick airport waiting to fly back to Cornwall.
I use time in London to ‘fill myself up’ with creative ideas and inspiration (like some of the above.) In London everywhere you look seems overflowing with visual communication and thought. I wondering now, why I don’t find that in Cornwall as much. The inspiration is different, the sea, the beach, the space and the light but (honestly) not ideas that make me excited and want to produce innovative great work. For inspiration, I end up looking through websites, which is no way near the sensorial experience of (for instance) walking into the darkness of Miroslaw Balka’s structure in the Tate.

It would be interesting to ask all the other designers involved in Dott Cornwall where they find creative inspiration for their work, Cornwall, or further afield.

This week we’ve been getting under the skin of just what it feels like to be over 50 we’ve found self proclaimed ‘old rockers’ who love Led Zepplin and run marathons, to more reserved hobbies involving cross stitch and TV costume dramas.

We’re hearing that the 50+ age group are one of the first ’sandwich’ generation who are simultaneously needing to look after their parents, their children, and often their children’s children.

At an age when children are grown up and moved away, there often follows a reassessment of what life is all about. The family dynamic changes with couples downsizing their family houses to live alone together. This can cause relationships to breakdown, or become much stronger.

50+ seems to be a time when people are much happier in themselves, less neurotic and less affected by what others think. From an article on why it’s great to be 50:
“Happiness no longer seems like an unobtainable goal—it can reside in a superb cup of coffee.”

Our ‘Tree of Talent’ went up in Redruth high street on Wednesday night and we celebrated with a carol concert around the tree. We have been asking the people of Redruth to write their talents onto Christmas decorations for the last two weeks and put them all up for the town to see.
We were joined in carols by people of Redruth and some members of Redruth Community Choir, who made the singing sparkle. Thanks to all who took part.

Merry Christmas to all!

Friday was spent in a cold and windy Redruth asking people what their dream jobs would be, some interesting responses. Well done to our fantastic interns for braving the cold and cheering everyone up with their Santa hats!

From an article in the Guardian,
“One’s fifties are probably the time for regret – close enough to youthful disasters to feel them still, yet too far removed for a second chance. With most middle-class males in a Western society this might mean failed marriages, unrequited loves, lack of opportunities.”

This week we’ve been working on engagement tools to capture insights from people over 50 in Cornwall. Cornwall has a wealth of talent, but we’re hearing people say there are no jobs. We want to find out what talents people have, even if they’re not being utilised. We’re getting people to write about their talents and put them all on a Christmas tree in the centre of Redruth. We’re hoping to have Redruth Community Choir sing for us round the tree, on the night of the 22nd of December.

We’ve just found out that the planned Christmas events for Redruth have been cancelled, so hopefully our ‘Tree of Talent’ will bring some Christmas spirit to Redruth.

Had a great meeting this week with Pentreath, who support people with a background of mental health issues to maximise their potential. We spoke about the need for social contact as people can get very isolated being out of work over a long period of time. Add to this the possible stigma of having mental health issues and people can loose their connection with the rest of society.

Pentreath run one day, in house training courses to build up peoples’ confidence and self esteem, they find people really nervous at the start of the day, and buzzing and excited by the end. It shows how simple social contact and sharing problems with like minded individuals can make an immediate impact.