Chris' Furniture

Chris' plan for the next 3 months and beyond is dedicated to his furniture restoration and upcycling project 

The photos displayed below of his work show his beautiful hand-made and fairly traded nearly-new Indian and far Eastern furniture that is going on sale with 10% of the profit going to Edventure in support of its work.

Oli's Goals After The Social Entrepreneurship Course.

it's difficult to really be certain of the success of something that could eventually spark the global interest of people who want to emulate programs in places that introduce a whole new perspective for young people such as myself. My continual involvement in the visibility of the blog is to try and constantly maintain a constant flow of content to improve the SEO of every post and page, thus the traction for a blog or website is, in many cases, more widely known. I want to create because the feeling of having a role to deliver in advocating the concept of Edventure since it's exclusivity in other parts of the world

'The edblog'

Personally, the tool of the web is something I like to take advantage more by making my presence known on the web and begin with working in design and website management and eventually move to working for myself in utilising various different forms of media to somewhat create a brand that fits the character that best defines me. 

• The beginning stages of my brand has commenced with a long-awaited dream to have a podcast show with friends with similar topics of interest has going ahead, which already plans to go far if we ourselves, as consumers, are genuinely interested in listening to our own product and all of us collectively are dedicated to upload regularly.

- Oliver Child

Response from the 'Project: Roundhouse' Photo Album

On behalf of the Roundhouse group, Josh decided it would be worth sharing photos of his that depicted the process of the eventual finished structure with the planning & process to begin with and the various stages of construction. The photos was then uploaded as a album that the public could view imgur.com, originally intended to have an interactive gallery of these photos on this blog, I never knew the immense support from the imgur communtiy would show immense appreciation back on the website as the view count kept growing exponentially overnight. In just one day, the photo album on imgur accumulated an incredible 1800 views and is still growing from the continual support and interest of how a model with a reciprocal roof became a super-sized reality. This interest was shown evidently from the views but also went a step further to curiousity territory, as people shared their thoughts and questions, which overall drew a positive, as a well as a humourous response from both imgur and reddit (as seen below).

I believed that if the album was garnering attention that it would also fair better elsewhere on much more popular, user-based websites. The album was then posted on Reddit, and has immediately caught the interest of some fellow redditors hours after posting.

Mark's Plans

Plans?
My plan for the next six months is to make money and plough it back into my being a self-employed carpenter. This means more tools and potentially a vehicle.

So far...
I've got myself some steady work that pays enough to support my living and then some, while gaining the experience I need.

The Next Stage.
To reach this next stage of the plan I need to carry on working.

Alex's Films

I have just recently finished my second film with support from Edventure. The first was a short advert for the Start-up: inspire course. 

What is the Start-Up: Inspire Course?

The course offers an opportunity for jobseekers to develop confidence and raise their self-esteem through practical team projects. It gives young adults an opportunity to explore their personal interests, highlighting the skills and capacities that can put them on a path to employability or developing personal projects.

“I would definitely recommend it to my friends because it's beneficial to people with low confidence and need it building up and also for people who have low skills in certain areas”. - Sean

“The other courses I've done is always usually paperwork and things like that. This course is different because it's more practical and just more fun”. - Stephen

The second was a film of the Frome tattoo convention which happened at the beginning of February.

          

Last Friday, me and Alexis and a couple of other new people who were new to edventure had a meeting at the Cheese and Grain with the events manager. At the meeting we watched and talked about the finished film, as well as discussing future events such as the steampunk and vintage fairs.

The Roundhouse - From Beginning to End

The Roundhouse team got around to finishing their project early this year.

Richard's Plans

Plans?

Eventually, I'm going to start-up my business centred around transforming reclaimed products to make decent, quality furniture. I'm also going to create a website to put on view my products, it's only just a matter of perfecting these products to truly show off the kind of expertise that would take the interest of potential customers. Currently, I've kept myself occupied with another business to do with property maintenance which is in full swing with many jobs filling up my schedule and managing to maintain being occupied. 

So far..

I started with registering myself as officially self-employed and I've begun my property maintenance business which is, so far, going well as I'm currently keeping myself busy and earning from a lot of people needing my services. 

This opportunity from Edventure has made it possible by giving me the confidence and the push to go ahead with my ideas; specifically, Johannes, Neil, Meki, Andy Britnell and the rest of the edventure team who have provided this. Since then, I can honestly say right now that I'm having the best time that I've had in a long time. 

Oli's Schedule

Three weeks in and so far, I've felt my projects have been placed on the backburner upon introducing myself to structure, in regards to always reminded and provided with a structure rather than establishing the structure on my own terms. It's something new that needs that I need to teach myself before understanding how I can go on with the next 6 months. 

After discussing with my coach and mentor, I have thought heavily on how I can create my own opportunties and sway away from the 'schoolboy' attidude of having the structure of a syllabus laid out in front of me like I've had for the past 15 years. It's now only been a year since I've left school feeling at the time like I could do everything since the world hosts a whole world in it's self of opportunity, and yet, the word everything feels so daunting to me that I eventually do nothing. 

The ideas were already set for me long before this update, it was just a matter of using the time effectively into a permanent schedule that was written down for a purpose to stay permanent and become regular for me. Currently, written below has been of use especially considering I can include projects into this schedule by simply editing this post every once in a while.

Distribution of flyers/posters: Going around town handing out flyers and placing in in public spaces, shops etc. Collectively, they promote the work space at the Welshmill Hub, 'The Cave' venue and the Edventure course for the next group of apprentices.

Blog: Emailing participants to send their updates in, updating myself, placing articles I've written in posts as way of sharing work, work with Alexis and Andy.

Press release: Talking to Neil who's also responsible for press release, working at the Hub on writing drafts for Neil; checking in with edits with him.

* = searching for jobs/ Finding out oddjobs through talking to people.

Introduction

Noticed the roundhouse currently being constructed by the river near Welshmill Park? Well, that would be one of the many accomplishments the apprentices at Edventure: Frome have designed, planned and delivered themselves as part of Edventure's 9-month course in social entrepreneurship. The 12 apprentices have so far completed the first term of this programme, during which they took part in various different 'challenges': social projects intended to create a positive impact on the community as well as collaborating with external groups/businesses such as Fair Frome, Westway Cinema and Mindset Training. Through working on the various challenges, the apprentices gain skills in real-world situations assisted by the experienced core team behind the course, as well as, utilising them to finish these projects and make use of them in the future. One project that is apparent to the public eye is the aforementioned Roundhouse and Garden which hopes to bring together different generations to use as a meeting space or a educational opportunity for schools to learn about wildlife.

The apprentices are now into the next 6 months of their course, where they aim to establish projects of their own that could develop into a business or livelihood. With the support and inspiration carried on from the previous 3 months, the apprentices are open to opportunities that could lead them to business ventures in and around Frome due to Edventure's wide range of networks. They will have the freedom to explore what they're passionate about learn how they can earn a living from it and independently set themselves up to be self-employed. To do this, they are developing plans in order to acheive these goals and establish their first steps through the Edventure programme itself allowing their apprentices to take part in monthly workshops to build their portfolio along with regular coaching and mentoring sesssions to check in on their progress. 

For more information on how you can join the upcoming Edventure apprenticeship starting on March 2nd, visit edventurefrome.org. The Edventure Apprenticeship is an independent 9-month training in social entrepreneurship with the aim to support young adults in building in viable, sustainable future for themselves and the community. The last chance to apply is February 11th, and we'll let applicants know whether we can offer a place by February 13th at the latest.

One of the many projects this year's apprentices have already completed in those first 3 months.