Tees Valley Community Media

Author Archive

Ten UK online centres with expertise in community media have been chosen to become ‘beacons’ for the rest of the network.
Community websites

Community websites have helped people to interact, given them access to communication technologies, and replaced facilities that were unavailable to them.

For example, one ‘digital village’ website in Teesside provided links to recruitment websites, Royal Mail and travel information, for people living in an area that had no JobCentre, post office or train station.

They’ll share their tips and experiences with other centres and help develop a national strategy for community and social media.

Ofcom is supporting the scheme and the ten centres were officially awarded Community Media Beacon status at a ceremony at the Ofcom London offices on Thursday, 29 January.
New media

Ofcom’s Head of Media Literacy, Robin Blake, said: ‘New technologies are empowering all of us to produce our own information, talk about the issues that matter to us, gather support and make real changes not just to our own lives but to the lives of those around us.

‘Making sure everybody, everywhere can get expert support in understanding and using those technologies is vital, and UK online centres can play a major role in opening up new media options for more people in more communities.

‘It’s vital we capture and share best practice, and I’m looking forward to seeing the Community Media Beacons light the way for other communities.’

The ten UK online centre Community Media Beacons are Leeds Central Library, Destinations@Saltburn and Hendon 2000 in the North East, Knowle West Media Centre in Bristol, The Engine Room in Somerset, Dingle Online and Kensington Community Media Centre in the North West, Living Archive in Milton Keynes, BCB in Bradford and Foresight in Grimsby.

Pictured below are Steve Thompson of the Institute of Digital Innovation, University of Teesside & Paul Davies of Destinations @ Saltburn receiving the award from Ofcom’s Head of Media Literacy, Robin Blake.

A Merry Christmas from Tees Valley Community Media, the Destinations@Saltburn Social Inclusion Demonstrators Project, The Institute of Digital Innovation, Digital City and The University of Teesside.

A Story of Christmas Past In a digital archiving session at Marske Library, 94 year old former School Teacher told students from Bydales School about the diphtheria epidemic at Markse infants school: Christmas 1934. Click here to hear Vera’s story and to view pictures from the archiving session.
Going To The Movies Christmas time is traditionally the time families go to the movies. Click here to view our latest movie and the story behind its making. We’re going big with this concept in the New Year so you can expect to see more movies produced by a whole host of community groups.
A Christmas Gift Margrove Park could not have wished for a better Christmas gift. They have just been awarded a Tees Valley delegated grant and funding from ERDF with thanks to Tees Valley Joint Strategy Unit. The funding will help to develop their digital village and to involve the whole community. Click here to read more about their exciting plans for the future. Pictured left to right, Steve Thompson, Community Media Coordinator(Santa), Margaret – Marian – Jean, Margrove Park Village Hall Asociation, Paul Davies of Destinations @ Saltburn (Social Inclusion Demonstrators project manager)
Santa Goes to Saltburn Santa and his helpers visited Destinations @ Saltburn once again for fun, mince pies and enrollment into the UCPD courses. This year the highlight was the screening of the Straad Players movie (above) and a visit to the second life backlot. Ho Ho Ho. Visit the Destinations website.
Unsilent Night For a fourth year New York composer, Phil Kline brought his “Unsilent Night” to Middlesbrough. Scores of people marched through the streets playing Phils music on massed ghetto blasters bring Christmas cheer to the streets of the town. Click here to see pictures and video.
Happy New Year It’s customary at this time of year whilst looking forward to the new year to reflect on the year gone by. Lets look at some of the highlights for TVCM in the past year. Again three major webcast events were mounted The Middlesbrough Mela, Stockton Riverside Festival and Saltburn Folk Festival. Some great animations were produced like these two from Redcar & Cleveland Mind and The Princes Trust not to mention all of these from Bedale Primary. And we have lots to look forward to for 2008. Apart from developing some of the things mentioned above we have the development of the Digital Skills Network and a major community digital arts event for March 2008 Happy New Year from everyone associated with Tees Valley Community Media.

These young people came to Destinations this week to begin work on their web presence and to begin to tell their story. We’re expecting more people when they return last week when we hope to find a “groovier” name for their blog and a suitable domain name.

Click here to see the work so far.

These guys are part of the Young Carers Project at Eastern Ravens Trust (Stockton), which offers respite and support to Young Carers. Young carers are children and young people who look after another family member due to ill health and/or disabilities. The Young Carers Project at Eastern Ravens Trust enables Young Carers aged 8-17 to take a break from their caring roles and responsibilities, and provides opportunities to meet and make friends with other Young Carers experiencing similar situations; the project also provides activities which Young Carers may not get the opportunity to take part in because of their caring roles.