News

The Cedar Foundation Goes Down In History Books

Date Posted: Friday 11 February 2005

The Cedar Foundation took its place in the history books recently, as a collection of poetry written by young disabled adults was placed on permanent record in the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum. Tony Buckley, Head of Anthropology at The Museum, came along to The Foundation’s Training and Resource Centre in Balmoral to see the young people’s work and to receive the book of poetry.

The idea of writing poetry came about from what was originally an IT class on a Friday afternoon for the group, Volunteer Mike Filmer, who takes the class, explains more:
“The group came together to learn IT skills through using the Internet and playing games, however they quickly got bored and weren’t learning anything. One Friday I decided to ask them to write a 4 verse poem, I would judge the best ones and it turned out to be a great success. They all really enjoyed it and asked to continue to write poetry every week.

On a personal note Mike adds:

“One week I asked the group to write about me and I was really quite emotional with the response. In fact, I couldn’t even pick the best one because they were all so brilliant. The class is very popular and the group enjoy it very much. Most importantly they are learning IT skills as well as having fun”.

The Cedar Foundation is delighted that the work will be archived in the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum as it reflects well on the group’s abilities and achievements. In 200 years time people will be able to read the work and say, look disabled people have talent.

Tony Buckley, Ulster Folk & Transport Museum, commented:

“There is a rich, popular tradition of writing poetry in Northern Ireland so it is not surprising that disabled people to have taken to writing poems. It will be great for the Museum to have a lasting record of their poems in our archive for future generations to see”.

The group have improved there IT skills as they have been having fun writing the poetry. If fact, without realising they were doing it at the time, a couple of the pieces of work they have written have been submitted as course work for their exams. The subjects covered have ranged from Taxi Drivers, to Poems about Mike, to Valentines.

The effects of the class can be seen in those who attend. Tim Leathem, one of the young adults in the group has speech difficulties. Because of the easy-going atmosphere that Mike creates in the class, in fact it is now affectionately known as “Mad Mike’s Barmy Army”, Tim can now communicate better. He is also so enthusiastic that one week when he couldn’t make it to the class to wanted to know what the subject was so that he could write a poem at home.

Lynda Patterson, Head of Training at Balmoral concludes:

“I am very impressed with the time and effort that Mike has put in to make the classes interesting. Friday afternoon is the graveyard shift in terms of training sessions and it’s difficult to keep a group concentrating. But Mike has got them thinking and expressing themselves. It’s a good use of the IT facility and it’s part of building Mike’s own skills with all aspects of ICT. We are delighted that the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum has recognised the work of the students and that The Cedar Foundation is going down in the history books.

The Cedar Foundation works in partnership with disabled people in Northern Ireland, delivering a range of services which empower and support people with disabilities to be fully included in their communities.

If you would like to find out more about the work of The Cedar Foundation please log on to www.cedar-foundation.org, e-mail info@cedar-foundation.org or tel: 028 9061 2424. To find out more about The Ulster Folk and Transport Museum log on to www.magni.org.uk or tel: 02890 428428.

Please click here to download a sample of the poetry

Click [here] to download assigned publication

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