Portsmouth Film Society Honoured at National Awards
Portsmouth Film society had a very successful night at the annual British Federation of Film Societies' awards ceremony on Saturday 17 September, bringing home a haul of 5 awards, special mentions and commendations. Portsmouth FIlm Society's chairperson Aysegul Epengin and society secretary Tara Fisher attended the awards to collect commendations for the society's education programme, and in the category of best new society, as the society was founded within the last two years. In addition, Ms Epengin received a commendation for an outstanding contribution by an individual, for her work in founding and developing the film society.

In the overall category of Film Society of the Year, Portsmouth FIlm Society received a special mention from the jury. Portsmouth Film society was an overall winner in the award for community programme. Ms Epengin said "We are particularly proud to win the community award, as it is a tribute to the work the society has done in creating links local organisations such as the Workers Educational Association, Portsmouth Racial Equality Network, Portsmouth Multi-cultural Group,  Portsmouth Climate Action Network, Portsmouth Festivities, the University and Portsmouth College. We will continue to develop and organise events that are relevant to all sections of the Portsmouth community in the future, such as our upcoming event with the BBC and Wessex Film and Sound archive, presenting memories and images of Portsmouth history on film."

Portsmouth Film Society was founded as a not-for-profit society in in the winter of 2009 as a way to bring different kinds of cinema to Portsmouth, including independent films, British movies, foreign language cinema and classic revivals. The British Federation of Film Societies supports many of the 300 film societies in the country, and the annual awards celebrate the best achievements among those societies.

http://www.portsmouthfilmsociety.org.uk
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left to right, Evening Standard critic and president of BFFS Derek Malcom, Aysegul Epengin, Dylan Pank, Tara Fisher, and actor Togo Igawaat the BFFS awards

PFS receive the Community Award at the 2011 BFFS Film Society of the year award. Left to right, Actor Togo Igawa, PFS secretary Tara Fisher, PFS Char Aysegul Epengin.
Photographs © 2011 Ivan Lieman photography used with permission.

Would you be interested in the following course? History of the Labour Movement

Course InformationFrom Tolpuddle to the Miners Strike
Working People fighting for Work, Dignity and Equality
The course will look at the beginnings of the labour
movement from the Tolpuddle martyrs transported to
Australia for joining a trade union, the matchgirls and dockers
strike in the 1880’s, the founding of the Labour Party and the
1926 General Strike to the Miners strike of 1984- 1985.
Please let the reception know and we will put you on a list and when we have
enough learners, we can deliver this course.

Volunteer as a Digital Champion with us!

Do you want to help Portsmouth “Join IT up” and play your part in helping others get online?

What will you do as a Digital Champion

• use your enthusiasm and experiences to inspire people to enjoy using computers and other technologies. This project focuses on those people who have little or no experience or have been alienated by technology in the past.
  • use your experience of working with or supporting any of the following key groups:
    • Older learners
    • Carers and the cared for (including foster families, child minders, young carers, care home residents)
    • Those at risk of redundancy or long term unemployed
    • Segregated families (e.g. naval families, shared care, those with family members in prison or offenders institutes)
    • Those with learning difficulties or disabilities
    • Those seeking citizenship in the UK
    • Those at risk of or recovering from illness and injury that limits physical and social mobility.
    • Any other disadvantaged community.
  • give time, either on a regular basis or in support of specific activities or events. This time could be as:
    • an integral part of your job
    • an additional component of your job (with the approval of your employer).
    • a volunteer
• keep simple and accurate records of activities completed for the project.

We are looking for people who have:

• An enthusiasm about the huge difference the internet can make to someone's life
• An ability to get to know people and understand their interests and motivations
• Patience with people who are learning something for the first time
• An interest in working with other Digital Champions across the UK to help people to get online

It’s hard to get even five minutes of Ian’s time these days. Ian is one of Omega Centre’s
busiest staff members, dividing his time between paid work as an LSA (Learning Support
Assistant) and running voluntary ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages)
conversation groups. He also regularly mans Omega Centre stands at events around
Portsmouth, and today has organised a bring-and-share lunch for ESOL learners. He
meets me fresh from getting feedback on his teaching skills, which were observed last
week; because on top of all this, Ian has recently started teaching his own courses.

A lot can change in a year, and it certainly has for Ian. He left university in 1999 with a
degree in linguistics and English language but wasn’t sure what to do with it:

“I kind of fell into retail management through doing retail work in my university days, but
ended up staying for five years and then becoming a bank manager. I gradually realised
that it didn’t give me enough opportunity to use my language and people skills.”

In late 2009, stressed and unsatisfied at work, Ian realised he had to make a change:

“I thought, ‘I’m 30-years-of-age, I’ve got to work for another 35 years and I don’t want to do
this’.”

Ian knew he wanted to use his language skills but wasn’t sure where to start. He found
Omega Centre through the doit.org volunteering website, went for an interview and was
soon a volunteer assistant in ESOL classes. He immediately felt a sense of purpose
which had been missing in his previous jobs. This spurred him on to start a PTLLS
(Preparing to Teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector) course, which is free to volunteers.
At the same time, he enrolled on a CELTA (Certificate in English Language Teaching to
Adults) course at Chichester College and before long was leading ESOL conversation
groups at Omega, which helped him put theory into practice. His skill and enthusiasm
attracted more and more learners, and his conversation group grew from eight people to
around 15-20.

Having successfully completed his PTLLS course, Ian started paid work as a LSA
(Learning Support Assistant), giving one-to-one support to learners. He is now teaching
his first course - Money Matters - which draws on his experience of banking, offering
guidance on how to take control of your finances and know what to look out for at the
bank. Ian has also started working part-time at a private English language college in
Portsmouth, but says he will always find time for Omega Centre:

“I’m still hoping to have hours here even though I’ve got another job. It’s done a lot for me,
being here, and I’ll miss being here all the time.”

Ian hopes to start the next part of his teaching qualification in September. In his own
words, coming to Omega Centre was a key starting point in turning his life around. He
now feels optimistic about his future career:

“There is a way to go to work and go home thinking you’ve achieved something.”

The WEA is always looking for volunteers and many have gone on to find work in the adult
learning sector. To find out more about volunteering at Omega, click here
or call 023 9229 1346.

Judges have chosen 6 collections from the record 123 books submitted by publishers, which join the 4 Poetry Book Society choices to make up the 10 collections on the shortlist:

Seeing Stars Simon Armitage (Faber)
The Mirabelles Annie Freud (Picador)
You John Haynes (Seren)
Human Chain Seamus Heaney (Faber)
What the Water Gave Me Pascale Petit (Seren)
The Wrecking Light Robin Robertson (Picador)
Rough Music Fiona Sampson (Carcanet)
Phantom Noise Brian Turner (Bloodaxe)
White Egrets Derek Walcott (Faber)
New Light for the Old Dark Sam Willetts (Jonathan Cape)



The T S Eliot Prize was inaugurated in 1993 to celebrate the Poetry Book Society's 40th birthday, and to honour its founding poet. Now in its eighteenth year, the T S Eliot Prize is the 'world's top poetry award' (Louise Jury, The Irish Independent). The Prize is awarded annually to the writer of the best new poetry collection published in the UK or Ireland. It is unique as it is always judged by a panel of established poets and it has been described by Sir Andrew Motion as 'the Prize most poets want to win'.

Previous winners (in chronological order) are:

Ciaran Carson, Paul Muldoon, Mark Doty, Les Murray, Don Paterson, Ted Hughes, Hugo Williams, Michael Longley, Anne Carson, Alice Oswald, Don Paterson (for the second time), George Szirtes, Carol Ann Duffy, Seamus Heaney, Sean O'Brien, Jen Hadfield and Philip Gross.

To view John Haynes' website http://www.jhaynestab.co.uk/


For more information on the TS Eliot prize http://www.poetrybooks.co.uk/projects/4/

Through the WEA Members’ Appeal you are invited to bring the joy of learning to
people who might otherwise miss out. In this leaflet, you can read about two people
who, in very different ways, have made the most of the opportunity to learn. Colin
and Janet are representative of the thousands of people, in hundreds of locations,
who each benefit in their own way from the WEA. When you contribute to our

Members’ Appeal you will help us:
• Reach out to local communities, spreading the skills, knowledge and
community spirit that make a real difference.
• Attract people who are ‘hard to reach’, or who have physical difficulty
getting to education. A third of our learners are on some form of benefit,
many have a physical disability, others a mental health problem. But 100%
of them want the sense of achievement and opportunity that comes
with learning.
• Provide additional chances for people who don’t fit the ‘standard criteria’ of
government funded education.
• Make a difference in some of Britain’s most deprived communities, such
as areas of high unemployment, former industrial and mining communities,
rural villages and coastal towns.

We are a charity, so every penny we generate in course fees is reinvested in
new courses and programmes. Your gift will help us reach more people,
with life-changing opportunities.

Want to watch the best in world cinema, documentary, independent film, animation and classic movies?

Want to come to talks and discussions with guests such as working filmmakers, film experts and historians?

Based at Omega Centre since January, Portsmouth Film Society (PFS) offers a wonderfully different way to get involved in film and cinema. Apart from regular screenings and talks, we are planning a season of film screenings to coincide with Black History Month (October 2010). We celebrate world and transnational cinema and our aim is to reach new members, especially within the ethnic minorities of the local community. We are always on the lookout for new members and want to highlight important calendar events in the local community through the screening of special seasons of films, and to develop the use of cinema in relation to community-based partnerships with other local organisations. The WEA is partner of PFS, and PFS is member of BFFS (British Federation of Film Societies) and PRENO (Portsmouth Race Equality Network Organisation). PFS also preparing sunday matinees in Kings Theatre after Christmas. For more information about Portsmouth Film Society, please contact: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

A group of Adult Learners at Omega Centre in Southsea have successfully completed a stunning art collection courtesy of the Portsmouth Transformation Fund. Inspired by the sacred art history from Hindu and Buddhist religious traditions, the ‘Mandala’ collection will now be displayed for all to see at the Adult Education venue.

A Victorian Building in the heart of Portsmouth is not the first place you would expect to see people working on spiritual art from Asian religions, but adult learners at Omega Centre have been devoting their classes for the past six weeks to the art of ‘Mandala’.

A Sanskrit word meaning ‘circle’, Mandala has been a constant inspiration for professional artist Andrew McConnach, who both teaches classes and has a studio at Omega Centre.

‘Many years ago, I was living in Wales and painting trees,’ explains Andrew, who attended the Central St Martins College of Art in London.

‘When the winter months brought weather that was far too cold to sit outside and paint, I started sketching the inside of tree trunks and from those concentric circles, my love of Mandala evolved.’

Often used for meditation, protection and healing in many world cultures throughout history, Andrew has used Mandala-making as a basis for others to explore their own designs. He has worked with students from numerous schools, colleges and education centres, some of who found it helpful to support emotional and behavioural difficulties. After running a twelve week course with students at the venue, Omega Centre was given a grant by the Portsmouth Transformation Fund that was used to pay for the use of one its art classrooms for s further six weeks and canvasses on which students could work.

‘We were tasked with creating a collection that could be used in a display for the Centre and the students have worked really hard to create an eye-catching variety of pieces,’ says Andrew.

‘Even though I enjoyed art at school, I hadn’t done anything since because I was led to believe I wasn’t any good at it,’ says student Deborah Sibson, 50 from Copnor. ‘I took these art classes in order to take some time out for myself and I find them so relaxing. I have received support, encouragement and am so proud of the work I have done.’

Another student, Stephanie Heasman, 51 from Hilsea, is astounded by what she has achieved.

‘I did a CSE in art at school and always did creative things with the children I both had and fostered. Recently, my health has been a concern and I have suffered from depression. This class is not only therapeutic, but it gets me out of the house and socializing with some lovely people. I also find the Omega Centre extremely easy to access and use.’

‘We are delighted with the work that has been produced and are very grateful to the Portsmouth Transformation Fund for their support,’ says Karen Barrett, Course Manager at Omega Centre. ‘We shall be hanging the work with great pride in the venue.’

A remarkable woman from Portsmouth is experiencing the delight of being able to read and write for the very first time at 61 years old thanks to the work of the Worker’s Educational Association, or WEA, at Omega Centre in Southsea.

Janet Fowler’s memories of going to school in the 1950s are not happy ones. The combination of changing schools on a regular basis and having what would now be recognised as learning difficulties meant that she was put at the back of the classroom, neglected and never had the opportunity to learn the basic skills or reading, writing and maths.

 

‘I was so unhappy and when I looked at the other children, it made me angry I couldn’t be like them,’ recalls Janet. ‘I left school as soon as I could and at 14 years old my parents put me in a convent. I think they believed it was the best thing for me.’

For 39 years, Janet entered a daily routine that never ever changed. As well as attending mass and carrying out domestic chores, she learnt how to use a sewing machine and started work making pinafore dresses. She later worked in the kitchens cooking for all the other residents at the convent.

In her early years, Janet also remembers painful episodes of physical abuse that were used to keep her girls like her in line.

‘I was only visited by my mother and father,’

she said, but in 2001 a family friend arranged for her to be released from the convent and into the community, initially moving into Russets Hostel in Portsmouth and then to her own flat in Portman Terrace, Southsea.

This September, Janet began a literacy course at Omega Centre in Southsea and in just a couple of months has learnt how to build up letters, recognise words and read sentences.

‘I want to read and I know I can do it,’ she explains with pride. ‘I learn enough at the classes to be able to practice and my aim is to be able to read the paper. I can even do word searches now!’

Sue Weekes, Janet’s tutor at the Omega Centre, has been astounded by her progress.

‘Janet is easy to teach because she listens, is receptive to learning and has a very good memory. She is progressing at a phenomenal rate for an adult learner, completing all the early stage groundwork and establishing a firm foundation on which to build. You can tell she really wants to achieve.’

As well as involving her in group work, Sue provides Janet with an individually tailored programme that she can carry out on her own and with one on one help.

‘Janet is learning to read the same way that is taught in Primary Schools, but she has the enthusiasm and determination of an adult which can really accelerate achievement. The rest of the group adore and support her which shows she has always had high level of social skills and a wonderful personality. It is shameful this was not allowed to blossom in a school setting.’

Now living with a carer in Fratton and having regular contact with her sister who she never saw for 40 years, Janet can already list accomplishments such as being able to read train timetables, understand advertisements and making new friends at Omega Centre.

‘Janet is the perfect example of what we strive to achieve,’

says Amanda Burgess, Development Worker for Skills for Life at Omega Centre.

The WEA provides opportunities for those who may not have excelled in their early years, but still have a desire and ambition to learn.

One of Portsmouth’s leading Adult Education Centres is welcoming a new addition to their course programme this September so that local people will have the opportunity to learn one of the most famous ancient dances from the Middle East.

 

The Worker's Educational Association (WEA) is proud to be welcoming new tutor ‘Shunnareh’ (aka Susan Richardson) to its Omega Centre in the heart of Portsmouth to teach belly dancing classes to its learners. 

‘Belly dancing is fantastic activity for men and women,’ says Shunnareh, who lives in Waterlooville. ‘Whatever your age, shape or size, the dance can be adjusted to suit any level of agility or fitness and is excellent for flexibility, stamina and self-confidence.’

Shunnareh, who discovered belly dancing whilst studying Archaeology in Egypt, is somewhat of a local celebrity, having spent the past six years performing for parties, charity events, shows and restaurants including a two year residency at Levant Restaurant in Gunwharf Quays. This is the first time she has run a course in Portsmouth that is open to the general public.

‘I am delighted to be working at Omega Centre,’ says Shunnareh. ‘The new facilities that have been added in its refurbishment make it suitable for dancing and its location means anyone in Portsmouth can easily get there.’

A 10 week course of classes from 6.30pm to 8pm starts on Thursday 24th September at Omega Centre on Omega Street. For more information, contact Omega Centre on 023 9229 1346 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

ADULT LITERACY

If you need to read or write in English then this is the course for you. In our fun, friendly, relaxed atmosphere you'll be able to improve your reading and writing ability. We will help you work towards a nationally recognised qualification in literacy that will make a huge difference to your life and work. These are basic English courses designed to meet your individual needs such as letter writing, reading, spelling and punctuation. Courses are designed for adults who have not yet achieved grade C GCSE or above. You work towards national qualifications in literacy. The course includes initial and ongoing assessment. Learners are entered for external tests when their skills are at an appropriate level.

ADULT NUMERACY

Are you struggling to help your children with their homework, job hunting or looking for a promotion?  Our maths for adults course will help you tackle the gaps in your maths knowledge that may be holding you back. Our understanding tutors want you to get the best out of the course and will discuss with you individually how you can achieve this.  Even if you didn't get a qualification the first time around you can be confident we can help you now. These are basic maths courses designed to meet your individual needs. Courses are designed for adults who have not yet achieved grade C or above at GCSE.  You will work towards a numeracy qualification.

Although we have been running courses since the start of term in September, Omega Centre was officially opened on 14 October by The Lord Mayor of Portsmouth, Councillor Richard Jensen.

Around 70 people came to the event including WEA staff and volunteers, colleagues from Portsmouth City Council, ex-pupils and partner organisations. WEA staff and volunteers led tours of the recently revamped building.  The Omega Printmakers were on hand to demonstrate the Centre’s rare 1892 Albion Platen Press, and WEA staff showed off Omega’s technical capabilities on interactive whiteboards in the classrooms. Guests also had the opportunity to see a range of learners’ work, from digital animations to batik and glass paintings.

WEA tutor Amanda Burgess spent weeks researching Omega Centre’s history for the launch and many people took interest in the building’s journey from Victorian schoolhouse to 21st Century arts and education centre.

There were three short speeches before the unveiling of a commemorative plaque to mark the reopening of the Centre.  Lynn Smith, Deputy President of the WEA and Steve Glennon, Head of Adult Learning at Portsmouth City Council both said the Centre was a shining example of the strength of working in partnership.  The Lord Mayor said Omega was a community resource which went beyond education and praised all the partners for giving the building a new lease of life.

The plaque, which is to be mounted in Omega Centre’s reception area, is a tribute to the Jeffery-Machins whose bequest to the WEA enabled much of the building’s redevelopment. You can see an electronic version here.

So, after a lot of work by all those involved in Omega Centre, we can officially say ‘welcome’!  Remember, this is your Centre. Whether you’re thinking about trying a course, are a theatre group looking for rehearsal space or a company interested in a corporate partnership, get in touch and find out more.

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