Miner’s Court residents celebrate completion of People and Places

Tuesday 30 July saw the completion of the People & Places project at Miner’s Court with a tea party organised by Ruth Purdy of Mitber, a Smartline Knowledge Exchange partner.

Joining them were the Mayor of Redruth, Deborah Reeve, the CEO of Coastline, Allister Young and team members from Volunteer Cornwall and Smartline.

Bunting was strewn across the ceiling and there was a large cake iced with a mug of tea, a computer tablet and a book on top. The St Euny ukulele group led a place-themed sing-a-long, and people were served with non-alcoholic cocktails complete with umbrellas and fruit garnish!

Peoples’ colourful photographic collages lined the walls. The photography app used by participants meant that after having their photo taken on a green screen, they could go back to the villages of their youth, or stand on a cliff top in St Ives.

Residents also shared their life stories and talked about memorable times in their lives. Their words gave context to the photographs but also provided an opportunity for writing poetry.

To accompany the photographic exhibition, a booklet was created that contains some of the poems written at Miner’s Court. One poem combined the experience of everyone in the community – written in three parts, it explored some childhood memories, the places people are from, and the wisdom residents want to pass on.

Other poems starting with ‘I Am…’ used metaphors of favourite objects and things in nature to express the unique people at Miner’s Court. Kelly Stevens, the writer involved in the project and Graham K. Arrol, one of the residents, gave a poetry reading.

Participants had also created The Scroll of Redruth, featuring each residents’ collage and quotes about their lives. Tied with a red ribbon, the mayor untied it and launched the scroll across the floor – it was so large, it stretched from one side of the room to the other.

Kelly Stevens said: “It was a real celebration of the power of community, creativity and the merging of technology with the traditional.”

Community events and activities continue to take place with Smartline participants including a major celebration of the project in October 2019.