Celebrating & Embracing Equity

 The Last Post

International Women's Day

It's ten year this March since this blog was created to share stories for women empowerment. After ten years it is a time to reflect and even consider this post being the last post, since the posts are becoming few and far in between. The Last Post (November 2022) coincidentally mentioned The Last Post on sharing my Flying for Britain short educational film launch, where The Last Post was played as The Standard was raised. Blogging is a great way to disseminate information on stories, projects created and collaborating with, so it's not easy to quit this blog sphere when there's always something more to share. 

Remembrance Sunday - British Commonwealth Countries

 Armistice Day - Pilots of the Caribbean & Flying For Britain

When forces join together we break new ground and take-off to higher heights. Ex-military, City Government personnel, actors, historians and other special guests where amongst the audience standing on the 17th floor of City Hall Westminster watching over the magnificent views of the grounds of Buckingham Palace where the traditional celebrations of Armistice Day took place observing the two minute silence at 11am on 11/11/2022. Following the procedure witnessed from the window view The Pilots of the Caribbean event with Flying For Britain Film Premiere began. 

BLACK HISTORY IN BRITAIN - WWII

 BLACK HISTORY MONTH 2022

Black History Month 2022 was about building blocks and breaking barriers to inclusion through educational events. It's been a busy month as usual where the demand for storytelling increases for both adult and children/young people's workshops. However schools and institutions are beginning to recognise the inclusion of Black History throughout the year. The highlight of my Black History Month activities was the event at RAF Marham - Aviation Heritage Centre - on Wednesday 19th October, this day was dedicated with  a tribute to Justice Philip Ulric Cross. The day witnessed the unveiling of a plaque and a seminar celebrating his life in the conference room named after him. This event is an example of the building blocks to inclusion of people of colour, as Black, Asian and other minority groups have always been hidden in history.

Spring Blossoms

Break the bias through stories

International Women's Day 

March is the month for Ms Rose Blossom, it's the month of International Women's Day/Women's History Month and when this blog began, nine years ago. I've had remarkable opportunities to empower girls and young women ( boys also included) at primary, secondary schools and library centres as a storyteller and author, encouraging them to aspire higher and believe they can fly from World Book Day/Week to the month end. Sharing my own journey and other stories of fly girls/ pioneer women it was delightful to see how much of a positive impact a good story can make. I was also fortunate to be recruited on to the BBC 100 years of storytelling tour around the UK, with the aim to encourage the next generation into storytelling careers.

Around NW with Aviator Amy Johnson

Flying from Brent

Sadie Kempner and Amanda Epe

Fly Girls Wellness was awarded funding early this year, from the National Lottery's Heritage Wellbeing Fund and delivery partners Brent Museum and Archives,  for the Flying from Brent project. From Autumn 2021, we brought back the amazing story of aviation pioneer Amy Johnson, who was the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia in May 1930. The project delivered activities for both adults and school children.

Through a heritage and wellbeing walk for adults, in September 2021, we walked the pathways Amy would have taken in her time living locally and training at the London Aeroplane Club in Stag Lane. Fifteen history lovers and some flying enthusiasts turned up on a sunny Saturday morning, to walk and talk and connect with people after a period of isolation from the COVID-19 social restrictions. Led by actor and activist Sadie Kempner, we met at Kingsbury Station and walked from Kingsbury to Edgware for the first part of the walk. Sadie, dressed in Amy Johnson flying gear,  had a wealth of information on the life of Amy Johnson and the local De Havilland factory.

Using our route and material,  Philip Grant of Wembley History Society has worked with us to prepare an illustrated self-guided walk document. If you want to follow this walk, "In Amy Johnson's footsteps", and get more depth on the history related to her time in Kingsbury, you can read and download the document from the Brent Archives website here. 

Heritage and Wellbeing Walk 25/09/21

For part two of the wellbeing walk, we took bus 302 to venture besides the Welsh Harp Reservoir. This was where Amy Johnson met actress Anna Neagle, on the 1st of April 1931, for the launch of the speedboat racing season. Unknown to them then, it would be Anna who played Amy Johnson in a film about her life, ten years later. 

For the younger ones, the Flying from Brent project went into primary schools in October 2021. Starting in Oliver Goldsmith, Kingsbury, children watched a short film on the life of Amy Johnson played by Sadie Kempner, who then appeared in the classroom for an entertaining time tunnel drama. The children loved going back in time, and then were given the task to write letters, as Amy Johnson regularly did to her family. 

Sadie Kempner at Northview School

The next school we moved to was Northview Primary, in the neighbouring district of Neasden. Here Sadie delivered a whole school assembly, acting as Amy Johnson. This was followed up by her directing the pupils to get into character as Amy Johnson, easing them into the creative letter writing. 

The adult audience has found this project to be most inspiring, following comments from feedback forms and on the day of the walk. It brought people together to be active through walking and mentally stimulated, learning about history through an inspiring story. 

We have had fun, and it's been a great learning experience, on this opportunity to write and share local heritage. For the link to our legacy film production visit here: Flying from Brent.

How awards can help writers growth

Queen's Honours Awards

Reflecting on June's journey in my work of girls and women empowerment I humbly received the honour of a BEM award from the Queen's Honour birthday list, this prompted me to do a blog post to share the importance of accepting awards and why one should. Whilst working to support women and girls in the community is a vocation and not expectant of awards, there is also a joy of being celebrated and your work recognised. The Prime Minister officially acknowledges the panel's shortlisted candidates, after the government hands them over to the Queen who has the final approval. Why would one dismiss the awards under Order of the British Empire? Well, one reason Black Asian and Ethnic Minorities, BAME people do not accept these awards is because of the title being associated with empire? 

Why Race is a major component of failing school inclusion

 Women and Writers of Colour

Black Books - Non-Fiction

Last week my blog post was on inclusion failure as schools celebrated School Diversity Week, and this week gives further evidence on this matter. Not only are activists seeking to address the lack of black history in the school curriculum, but there are also findings that only 7% of women writers being studied at GCSE level English Literature, and a shocking 0.7% of writers of colour being included in the English Curriculum Key Stage 2- 4. The race equality think tank Runnymede Trust and Penguin Random House collaborated to investigate the lack of representation from ethnic minority authors and writers of colour. 

Why Inclusion is Failing?

 School Diversity Week

This week schools work on celebrating LGBT+ & Equality and Inclusion from 21st - 25th June. Last week I posted on Autism and Inclusion discussing why we need to celebrate our differences. But when the week is over, things return to normal, and only when the nation has campaigns do we remember to celebrate or create changes for excluded people. This is the same for Black History Month, a time when there is a possibility for black professionals to be invited into schools to give talks, and for our history to be shared in lessons. Things have improved recently with some schools taking time to collaborate with black-led organisations. The celebrations include the start of mandatory black history as The Black Curriculum since June 2020 campaigned for this to be actioned, and have trained over 3,300 teachers and 3,500 students reached to date. But why is inclusion failing?

Why do we need to celebrate Autistic Pride Day?

 Autism and Inclusion

This year's theme for World Autism Day is "Inclusion in the Workplace: Challenges and Opportunities in a post-pandemic world." It's such an important topic, particularly because we see autism as a challenge and they rarely highlight the advantages in various institutions. I began working in compulsory education in a secondary school at the beginning of the Millenium as a Learning Support Assistant where I worked with pupils registered with special needs. From the onset in that school and in future schools and colleges I've worked in, I remarked at the high intelligence many of the autistic pupils portrayed. However, their strengths went uncelebrated. Schools focused on ensuring that mainstream pupils' exam grades put the school in good stead. Until the world unlearns to define what "normal" is, we will be forever fighting for inclusion for all people. 

Lessons COVID taught us about technology for wellbeing

 Pros and Cons of Digital Learning during lockdown

Today tech lovers snapped the latest MacBook up for those able to purchase it and add it with their other Apple products. Reflecting on the increase of internet use over the last year I thought about the national digital divide, the have's and have nots. We assume every Western household has a PC or laptop of some sort, and some are more fortunate to have this for their personal use. Unfortunately, many children and students who schooled at home during lockdown could not access their school online lessons for either not having access to their own laptop amongst their siblings in different age/class groups and or no technology at home at all. Some of my creative writing students could not continue their sessions because of this issue. With public libraries also closed there weren't any problem-solving suggestions for young people to continue their creative writing projects.

The cohort of young people I work with fit under the psychographic of introverts, autistic and special needs, and some demographics show they are from economically disadvantaged communities. The benefits of working in small groups with my target audience have been to tackle social isolation and encourage community integration and build confidence with one-to-one creative writing sessions, therefore the lack of physical community workshops has been taxing on their well-being for those with no laptop at home. 

There were advantages of online lessons for those who had access to a laptop and internet service. Workshops and individual sessions were essential to increase participants' self-confidence and boost their creative writing and speaking skills, having not interacted for almost one year. Human contact and community is a fundamental psychological need according to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs theory. With the diverse learning styles of individuals, it will become normal for options to either use digital learning spaces or physical community spaces for learning.

Prior to lockdown, I have mentored young people in creative writing who are homeschooling or required additional-curricular activities. As we continue to watch the unsettling work from home and homeschool situation, the online learning uptake increases for those who want to advance themselves or belong to a digital community to improve their wellbeing through communication and self-expression. 

There are abundant lessons taken from the pandemic, and the stories shared are ongoing. Creativity has peaked, people have found more time to write creatively and make time to journal. It has been a lesson for me to adapt to working online as a creative writing teacher and upskill with online teaching training. I look forward to furthering partnerships as a mentor with inspiring future creative writers.

Mental Health For All

 Reflections on 2020

It has been an unsettling year as the world faced the pandemic of COVID-19, a disease unknown to us all. The consequences have affected health, employment, the economy, and sadly the loss of loved ones. The times of uncertainty financially and socially has increased many people's stress levels and creative arts and exercise participation has increased. Writing for the sake of self-analysis is a tested tool to help make sense of our lives and situations. This Friday World Mental Health Day 2020 under the theme of Mental Health For All, we (Jo Robinson, Anita Kelly, and myself) are hosting a writing for wellbeing workshop for a few people to come together to talk and write about the challenges faced over the last few months and how they may have surmounted the problems.

Here is the link to book yourself on to the workshop:

Eventbrite

How to improve your Creative Confidence- National Writing Day

A short story during the lockdown and some tips

On this scorching morning, a collective of emerging writers arose to the sun's rays. Their minds in sync, overcoming the fear of coming out as a writer on national writing day,  the hottest day of the year of 2020. They logged in to ZOOM one by one, the natural order of the day nowadays on lockdown. Stories shared, and the passion of creativity connected the participants. In suspense, we as a group of promising writers now wait to see the outcomes from today, as they churn away creating their works.

Lessons for the Write Mind

Mental Health Awareness Week

Writing Webinar
led by Amanda Epe, Jo Robinson, and Anita Kelly

The past week with kindness as a theme for mental health awareness week, my colleagues and I began the week with free delivery of writing for wellbeing webinar, as a therapy to cope with the lockdown.

An intimate group of 13 participants joined the webinar to reflect and write about their resilience in overcoming struggles in the past, delivered by Mental Health Trainer Anita Kelly. Writing workshop facilitator Jo Robinson talked about lockdown learning, what have people learned about themselves, looking at the positives, and how they have been kind to themselves prompting the writing task.

Pros and Cons of Writing a Memoir

Best time to write

Fly Girls Wellness - Writing Coaching

During this lockdown period, many people find they can use their time for things they've always never found the time to do, such as more reading and writing. The Mirror compiled a list of the best travel adventure memoirs to read during the quarantine period and A Fly Girl Travel Tales book was fortunate named number 6 on this list, yay!

Reading other authors' memoirs can surely inspire the writer in you to tell your story and start writing. Whether it's a travel tale or another significant area to reflect on, it's a grand time to put pen to paper. Here are 6 Pros and one Con of writing a memoir:

Run Together : COVID-19

Stay Socially Connected

Fly Girls UK - Stronger Together

On Tuesday going on information by our governing body England Athletics and Public Health England we suspended our social meetings, run activities and so forth until April because of COVID19. It was disheartening to hear that the epidemic would cancel our meetings until further notice and social distancing is the order of the day. Our members had recently returned to join the Spring Season Sunday meetings after long-term injuries and were looking forward to exciting expeditions along the canals and further afield.

Over the years members have made friends and bonded and also made Fly Girls Wellness Sunday morning activities their routine. In the same vein, emerging writers and others who attend the writing workshops for wellbeing enjoyed the benefits of meeting each other and new people to share writing and discuss topics they write about in a trusting space. So the news of postponed activities hit everyone hard.

How we celebrate IWD 2020

Each for Equal with Fly Girls

We are in our favourite period celebrating International Women's Day, Week, Month and looking forward to the year 2020 for the Fly Girls Wellness project.

On Sunday 8th, International Women's Day Fly Girls be active walk & run group met for Sunday celebrations after our regular run, to share stories and have a healthy drink, it was cheering to all who took part in the Vitality Big Half Marathon, and a special cheers to three of our first time half marathoners.

Our first-timers are still smiling since the 1st March, they say running uplifts you and we know that buzz you get afterward. However, our team are feeling on a high for their achievements, Jackie a very easy going gentle paced runner had recently started training for the event and had a smashing time of 2hrs and 34 mins, running most of the race and walking the last 3 miles.

National Storytelling Week

Celebrating Multicultural Stories

Amanda Epe at Rich Mix

The first of February marks National Storytelling Week, a great tool for building confidence and self-esteem. We are more familiar with storytelling as a vocal art, and then as the written art. Telling is to speak to the public, the receivers of the story being listeners, similarly, readers say of tales and literature "the story is telling us..." so we can agree that storytelling is telling stories through public speaking or writing.

The mission of storytellers are to spin a sequence of events from beginning to end with an underlying message, mission, and solution. We all love to tell narratives of our own, as "everyone has a story in them," alternatively sharing other people's stories and folktales are highly popular for storytellers. We cannot define storytelling in this correct way or that way, each culture has its own version of telling. Great vocal storytelling, however, uses other art forms to make the delivery more interesting and entertaining, such as gesture and movement, and writers "show and don't tell" with their words.

National Reading Day 2020

Book Chat and Book Recommendations

Happier by Tal Ben Shahar

At the start of the new year we set goals to do a number of things to improve ourselves in personal or professional development. One of the goals I've set over the years is to read more, did I set time aside? That's another question. A smart goal is to read a book a month especially if you are in a book club that have monthly meetings. So being in our book group it is mandatory to read at least one book a month. Within the Creative Writing Workshop and Book Group at SEIDs Hub, Wembley we discuss books that we've read and enjoyed and want to share it/them with others.

The Borough of Cultures 2020

All Rise

Join us for RISE- the opening event of Brent's year as London Borough of Culture on Saturday 18 January at Wembley Park. RISE will be a spectacular family-friendly outdoor show, with a local community cast of hundreds, telling the story of Brent through dance, theatre and projections, set to an incredible soundtrack, against the backdrop of Wembley Stadium. Brent is the home of Rachel Yankey, Riz Ahmed, Zadie Smith, the Grunwick strikers, legendary family businesses, famous Irish pubs, trailblazing young poets, Metroland Brent 2020, London Borough of Culture architects, great roads and the builders of the biggest Hindu Temple in Europe. Like Brent they did, and do, things in their own way.

Come rain or shine, ALL RISE!
Saturday 18 January 2020 Performance at 7pm Olympic Way, Wembley Park www.brent2020.co.uk/programmes/rise/

Climbing from 2019 to 2020

Time to recollect and envisage our growth

Fly Girls Wellness Pride of Brent/
Fly Girls UK Sundays at Wembley Stadium

We have climbed! Be it steep hills or mountains, in taking our baby steps and keeping moving we have gone from strength to strength in the Fly Girls Community and with our collaborative partner projects in 2019. We started the year on a walking mission up and down the hills of Harrow, starting from Wembley Park and taking a detour back to Wembley Park. Led by our walk leader Priti Khatri it was a cold Sunday morning on our first-morning meeting back for the year. The objective was to get some strength training in and enjoy the local surroundings especially for the members entering the Vitality Big Half Marathon.