Louisa Searle - The Wire Project Summer 2004
It was only when a tall young man told me to put my suitcase by ‘the, uh, disused toilet which is waiting for gunge!’ that I fully realised quite what I had let myself in for! For the next week or so I was subject to more gunge, more mayhem and more fun than I had ever bargained for when I learned of my work placement at The Wire Project of Wick, Littlehampton, West Sussex.
The project operates in the Wick area, previously renowned for its high levels of poverty and lack of morale. Since 1996 the Project has been making a massive difference to the community and is now, from what I gathered from conversations with some locally based people, central to the lives of many in the area.
The Festival of Wick is a week long event in the summer holidays and is just one of the schemes the Wire Project runs, and was the one which I happened to be helping at. I was one of about fifty volunteers who helped out around the various play schemes and events. What was so encouraging about the Festival was how it helped not only the children and visitors to the Festival, but also the volunteers as well. The hour long childcare training all us volunteers received counts as a qualification, therefore increasing the employment potential of the volunteers who were mostly local. What’s more every volunteer was welcomed and encouraged to be supportive and friendly to each other regardless of age or ability.
A typical day at the Festival would begin at 9am with a meeting for the volunteers which involved administrative matters and team building games. At 9.30 the children would be let into the largest of the three marquees and the Live Wires Play scheme for 5-10 year olds would begin. The next three hours would be filled with games, songs, activities and, of course, gunge! The children were continually encouraged and praised and made to feel special in a community where often there is little affection in the home. They were encouraged to eat healthily through the fruit given to them at Snack-Time and were learnt to get along with one another through the relaxed and friendly atmosphere. By the end of five days of these mornings I had made many very special young friends.
After a quick lunch I was then involved in the X-Treme play scheme which was for 11-16 year olds. This was a much smaller group (Live Wires involved about 300 children!) and was much more relaxed, with activities ranging from alternative fashion shows to human bowling. The teenagers who came to the X-Treme were a lot closer in age to me than the Live Wires children, and I found the difference in lifestyle to my own interesting and thought provoking. However, this was also a massive amount of fun.
The evening was taken up with a series of different special evenings for the whole community, such as a ladies’ pamper night, a family movie night and of course Wick Idol, where everyone from seven year olds to Mums and Dads could get up on stage and belt out a tune for the panel of judges to hear!
My time at the Wire Project was amazing. It enabled me to look beyond the private school ‘bubble’ which is so very alluring in the sense of comfortable security it provides. I learnt a lot about myself and my ability to work with children and those with learning disabilities as well as my leadership and teamwork skills. Staying with a member of the community meant that I felt very at home very quickly in Wick, and the members of Wire team are now friends that I hope I will be in contact with for a long time. I am definitely returning there for my work experience placement with The Rank Foundation, but I also plan to go down there for the smaller play schemes in October and at Easter. The pull of the Wire is irresistible, due to the need in the area and the fun that everyone has while working and/or playing there. I would recommend it to anyone who wishes to spend an incredibly happy two weeks of their summer there. I cant wait to go back.