Didn't realise it had been so long since my last post. Portland Rocks CIC has been very busy with various projects so the fact that the young people running our tuck shop are managing it so well is great. It is quite entertaining every week watching them try and balance the weekly account making sure the opening balance plus what they sell on the night adds up to the money they have in their pot. Strange thing is they nearly always seem to end up with more money than they should. The weekly tally sheet is usually covered with their calculations in a variety of colours! The tuck shop is entirely self funding a testament to the efforts of the group that run it. They need to decide what to do with the small surplus they have made.
Over the summer I would like them to work on other aspects of the course so need to prepare suitable resources to give them. I have tackled SEQ in a different way with this group in that we set up the enterprise first and will then move on to other parts of the course. With this group I think this has been the right approach, all keen musicians, most are 15-16 but the financial manager is 13.Plan is to have their work moderated in the autumn.
Wednesday, 2 July 2014
Monday, 19 May 2014
The Portland Rocks tuck shop is now well and truly established and making a tidy little profit for the young people involved. They believe most people and staff who attend each week buy something and it helps to create a more sociable atmosphere at our workshops. Tonight we spent some time sorting out the weekly finances so they can track their profit and loss each week. They also need to consider what they want to do with the profit.
Saw some good ideas from the social enterprise art strand tonight. Some really simple broaches made from recycled materials that could be made simply by the young people and sold.
Saw some good ideas from the social enterprise art strand tonight. Some really simple broaches made from recycled materials that could be made simply by the young people and sold.
Thursday, 8 May 2014
Update. 8th May 2014
For a whole host of reasons things have gone quiet recently, mainly to do with the machinations of Mr Gove and his view of arts subjects in the curriculum but we are still battling away. The young people are now firmly in charge of the tuck shop and it is a weekly feature of our workshops. Our volunteer book keeper and myself have been trying to get the financial processes in place using Google docs as all our young people have chrome books given to them by IPACA the local academy they attend and where I teach.
We have helped them set up an on-line spreadsheet where they can monitor their expenditure and profit, and profit though small there certainly is. They were given a £20 float to start and gave it back to us a long time ago.
They are very keen but essentially come to Portland Rocks to make music and socialise so pinning them down on financial management has been a challenge but we are getting there. The group of five who started this enterprise is now basically down to three although others do help with serving.
We have helped them set up an on-line spreadsheet where they can monitor their expenditure and profit, and profit though small there certainly is. They were given a £20 float to start and gave it back to us a long time ago.
They are very keen but essentially come to Portland Rocks to make music and socialise so pinning them down on financial management has been a challenge but we are getting there. The group of five who started this enterprise is now basically down to three although others do help with serving.
Monday, 24 February 2014
Social Enterprise driven by young people.
Thought I had to post tonight as I've just come from a really productive Portland Rocks Session. We are launching our social enterprise art strand at the moment and James Kimber ( art leader), Laura (trainee) and myself sat around with young people discussing their ideas:
Tonight they were trying out ideas in tapestry using off cuts of material and we discussed our first event. They will be producing pieces of art work out of recycled items and putting on a sale combined with live music and refreshments provided by the tuck shops crew who are also artistic and musical
I went through all the paper work for their tuck shop and how to evidence it for gold SEQ. They have really taken ownership, are starting to understand what sells, how to manage stock and beginning to get a grip on the ethical consideration as of what they are doing. They have made a small profit already. We discussed the SWOT analysis and they discussed the limited audience to whom they sell, just people attending the weekly workshops though some did help with refreshments at our concert with the mini Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra on Saturday.
We have set a provisional date of mid July for a combined art and music event where we will also provide refreshments. This gives us us time to generate art to sell, decide on which refreshments to provide , decide the venue, rehearse the live music. We will also be offering any local artists the chance to take tables for a small fee at our event to promote their work and raise money to support our CIC.
We currently have artist Podi Lawrence coming to our workshops to sketch the musicians as they work a great experience for our young people.
Tonight they were trying out ideas in tapestry using off cuts of material and we discussed our first event. They will be producing pieces of art work out of recycled items and putting on a sale combined with live music and refreshments provided by the tuck shops crew who are also artistic and musical
I went through all the paper work for their tuck shop and how to evidence it for gold SEQ. They have really taken ownership, are starting to understand what sells, how to manage stock and beginning to get a grip on the ethical consideration as of what they are doing. They have made a small profit already. We discussed the SWOT analysis and they discussed the limited audience to whom they sell, just people attending the weekly workshops though some did help with refreshments at our concert with the mini Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra on Saturday.
We have set a provisional date of mid July for a combined art and music event where we will also provide refreshments. This gives us us time to generate art to sell, decide on which refreshments to provide , decide the venue, rehearse the live music. We will also be offering any local artists the chance to take tables for a small fee at our event to promote their work and raise money to support our CIC.
We currently have artist Podi Lawrence coming to our workshops to sketch the musicians as they work a great experience for our young people.
Thursday, 20 February 2014
Week beginning 17th February
Just realised there has been a massive gap in my postings. We've been very busy over the last few weeks delivering a project with the mini BSO (Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra) and Dorset Music Services. On Monday 10th February the mini BSO performed in three different schools on Portland and each session was followed by a 'have a go' session on woodwind instruments led by music service tutors. Over 600 students saw the performance and around 90 students had the chance to try playing an instrument.
On Saturday 22nd February the mini BSO are giving a another concert for the community in a local community centre, a late morning event. Although not SEQ focussed our young people have helped with promoting the event via social media, re tweeting, distributing posters etc. They will be helping with refreshments and running a raffle.
This is the third fund raiser since November so now we will discuss with the young people what they would like to spend some of the money on, we always try and reward their efforts by purchasing some much needed equipment. Much of what we have is begged, borrowed or donated.
The tuck shop is now a permanent fixture at our weekly workshops and we officially launch our social enterprise art strand on 24th February.
On Saturday 22nd February the mini BSO are giving a another concert for the community in a local community centre, a late morning event. Although not SEQ focussed our young people have helped with promoting the event via social media, re tweeting, distributing posters etc. They will be helping with refreshments and running a raffle.
This is the third fund raiser since November so now we will discuss with the young people what they would like to spend some of the money on, we always try and reward their efforts by purchasing some much needed equipment. Much of what we have is begged, borrowed or donated.
The tuck shop is now a permanent fixture at our weekly workshops and we officially launch our social enterprise art strand on 24th February.
Wednesday, 29 January 2014
Week beginning 27th January
Not too much paper work type stuff going on this week as we have a fund raiser on Saturday so our young people are busy rehearsing. We take over a fantastic pub called 'The George' one of the oldest buildings on Portland for a Saturday afternoon, an annual event and one that usually packs out the pub (It's not that big) and is a really nice afternoon raising a few hundred much needed pounds to sustain our work.
We have agreed to meet on February 10th to discuss writing up paper work relating to the tuck shop as many of the details are currently on scraps of paper work.
Social enterprise art project starts next week, with official launch on Monday 24th February. First project is to make mobile phone 'socks' using recycled material. I've no doubt our art leader and trainee have come up with a great idea and perhaps I can post some photos soon.
We have agreed to meet on February 10th to discuss writing up paper work relating to the tuck shop as many of the details are currently on scraps of paper work.
Social enterprise art project starts next week, with official launch on Monday 24th February. First project is to make mobile phone 'socks' using recycled material. I've no doubt our art leader and trainee have come up with a great idea and perhaps I can post some photos soon.
Wednesday, 22 January 2014
Book Keeping!
The enthusiasm of our young people is amazing and they are very protective of their tuck shop. The Portland Rocks steering group that runs the CIC took the decision to give them a budget of £20 to buy their first batch of stock and they are now brilliant at coming into the venue and getting set up. If you watched the video in the previous post you will see how quickly one of them moved when she thought someone might be helping themselves even if it was only a joke!
They do keep written notes of what they sell but it is a bit chaotic at the moment so we are now working to rationalise it all. The young people are all students at the Aldridge Academy on Portland and so have a chrome book which they can take home as well. Therefore we helped them set up a cash book in Google docs.which can be shared with myself and our volunteer book keeper so everything can be monitored. If you've never tried Google docs I do recommend it. Like most people I used Microsoft Office for most things but the Docs feature is a very powerful tool for collaborative working and quite intuitive.
We have recruited a parent volunteer who has offered to buy stock for the young people so long as they give him a list of what they need and the money to buy it from a local wholesaler. However, on Monday they told me they still have some stock to sell so looks like they will be arm twisting our attendees to buy things whether they want them or not!
Social enterprise art strand starts on 3rd February with official launch after the February half term so we have started publicising via Twitter and social media.
They do keep written notes of what they sell but it is a bit chaotic at the moment so we are now working to rationalise it all. The young people are all students at the Aldridge Academy on Portland and so have a chrome book which they can take home as well. Therefore we helped them set up a cash book in Google docs.which can be shared with myself and our volunteer book keeper so everything can be monitored. If you've never tried Google docs I do recommend it. Like most people I used Microsoft Office for most things but the Docs feature is a very powerful tool for collaborative working and quite intuitive.
We have recruited a parent volunteer who has offered to buy stock for the young people so long as they give him a list of what they need and the money to buy it from a local wholesaler. However, on Monday they told me they still have some stock to sell so looks like they will be arm twisting our attendees to buy things whether they want them or not!
Social enterprise art strand starts on 3rd February with official launch after the February half term so we have started publicising via Twitter and social media.
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