Our first ‘Student Blogger’ is Jessica Barrett from Hillcrest School, who visited Ingestre Hall in April 2012:

Ingestre Hall has been one of my best experiences.

I have learnt how to sculpt with wire and sew fabric to wire, to collage and to be independent with my work.

On Monday they showed us round all the rooms and told us the rules of the place.  On Tuesday we got started on our workshops and our theme, which was ‘Dreams’.  I was in Art so we would all do the same theme, but use different dreams.  In our first workshop we did a postcard which we wrote our names on and then collaged it with things that expressed our interests.  Also our tutor Ruth, who is lovely and very helpful, told us what to do which was to make a box and put our ‘dream’ in it by using collage and wire work and other things that we wanted to use. On Wednesday we carried on with our work and during free time (evening) we watched a film in our PJs. On Thursday we finished our work in Music, Drama, Art and Dance. The Music group did a live performance and in our free time we had karaoke.  On Friday we packed up and sadly went home.

This trip has been one of the best experiences of my life so far. You make friends that are older and younger than you and you learn new techniques and most of all you have so much fun.

The things that I have learnt about myself are that I can express myself easily and I can be different and independent.

The groups final performances were amazing and different, exciting and dedicated!

I feel more confident with the choices I will be picking for my GCSEs.

Ingestre is very detailed – there are so many interesting things to know and find out here, it has been an amazing experience! Xox

The gallery below shows the Art work from Hillcrest School’s visit. Jessica’s own work is the piece featuring the bird at the top.

Congratulations to all of the Hillcrest students who produced such excellent work across all the groups and brought a real creative atmosphere to Ingestre Hall this week!

The project, masterminded by Matthew Jones Music, brought together a talented choir and live musicians who underwent intensive rehearsals in order to record Matthew’s arrangements of some well known 1960s songs for a CD, featuring Boy George as soloist, all in aid of Marie Curie Cancer Care.

Matthew Jones has said

As lead singer of Culture Club, Boy George became a global superstar in the early 80’s with the classics ‘Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?’ and ‘Karma Chameleon’. Having achieved solo success with such singles as ‘Everything I Own’ and ‘The Crying Game’, he launched an illustrious career as an international DJ and later penned and starred in the West End and Broadway musical ‘Taboo’. 30 years on from his ‘poster boy’ days of the New Romantic era, the icon’s androgynous looks and personal life continue to fascinate the world’s media.

The new release will celebrate the great Italian ballads of the 60’s – in particular, those that became English-version hits including ‘Io Che Non Vivo (Senza Te)’ (Dusty Springfield’s ‘You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me’), ‘Il Mio Mondo’ (Cilla Black’s ‘You’re My World’) and ‘La Vita’ (Shirley Bassey’s ‘This Is My Life’)”

It was exciting to be part of such a high profile project and everyone on the staff at Ingestre Hall was impressed by the extremely high standard of musicianship demonstrated by the choir and orchestra; and of course the highlight was being able to see and hear Boy George’s unique vocal talent on display, right here in the Great Hall. Of course there were also the challenges of accommodating and feeding over 80 adults, maintaining adequate security and keeping everyone happy – all tasks that the Ingestre Hall staff set about with both typical good humour and professionalism.

The recording was undertaken by our partner organisation, Studio 2 Recordings, with John Percival coordinating and John Sambrook engineering. This was no mean feat, and turned out to be the most complicated recording project that has been undertaken at Ingestre Hall. One of the main technical difficulties to overcome was the requirement from Matthew to produce a ‘live’ sound by recording the choir and orchestra together in the Great Hall. This was achieved using multiple microphone positions, 24 simultaneous tracks and of course by Matthew ensuring that mistakes were eradicated through intensive rehearsal of each of the songs.  Even one small mistake, a cough, or a musician unhappy with their performance could result in an entire take being stopped and everyone having to ‘go again’.  (No wonder the choir all cheered so loudly each time they were informed that there was a successful take ‘in the can’!)

Although this approach might have seemed laborious at times, I don’t think that we’re giving anything away by saying that, having listened to some of the recordings, the results are truly spectacular and well worth the effort!

Amongst all of this busyness we were also able to chat with Boy George on numerous occasions over the weekend, between rehearsals and takes, and he very kindly agreed to pose for a few photo with members of the Ingestre Arts and Studio 2 Recordings team before he had to depart on the Sunday evening.

Following the success of this weekend, we are excited to be partnering with Studio 2 Recordings to host more recording projects in the coming months at Ingestre Hall, the next project being with the National Police Symphony Orchestra, so we’ll be sure to be on our best behaviour for that!

If you have an ensemble group who you would like to be recorded in the Great Hall or if you wish to hire the recording studio for a smaller project, contact John Percival at Studio 2 Recordings or contact Ingestre Arts to check on availablity for residential weekends.

John Thomson, Head of Centre

Ingestre Arts was then successful in applying for and being awarded funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund to develop the ‘Ingestre Arts Heritage Trail’. This trail, around the hall and grounds, introduces children to the 400 year history and heritage of Ingestre Hall, including the centre’s more recent heritage as a residential art centre.

The trail was designed in conjunction with key stage 2 children from Moat Farm Junior School in Sandwell and launched last year. Each point on the trail explores a different aspect of the Hall’s heritage and links with the key stage 2 school curriculum in arts, science, history, literacy and geography, as well as promoting teamwork and social skills. Each child is given a heritage trail quiz book to complete which documents the various activities found around the hall and grounds.

The trail has enabled Ingestre Arts to offer purposeful day visits to key stage 2 schools, based on the heritage trail, as a cross-curricular alternative to a residential visit. These heritage days can be more easily staffed than mixed-arts day visits, which were proving difficult to offer due to our tutors being committed to teaching residential groups throughout the school year.

The Ingestre Arts Heritage Trail has also become a core component of all key stage 2 residential courses at the centre and has been used by some key stage 3 groups as a valuable and purposeful recreational activity that relates directly to their stay in our historic mansion. The attractive trail stages have become unique points of interest for all groups visiting Ingestre Hall, including the families of members of the public when the hall has been open to visitors.

All courses at Ingestre Hall promote creativity, independent learning and social skills within a unique residential and historic environment and schools are now regarding us as a viable place to visit for a day, not just for a residential stay as before.

The consultation with children from Moat Farm Junior School has enabled the trail to be developed in a child-friendly way and incorporating their ideas and designs has produced information for children that is both educational and engaging. Teachers and children using the trail have been extremely positive, with 100% feedback from teachers as ‘very good’.

For more information, see the Heritage Days section on our website, and call us if you want to come and see the trail for yourself.

John Thomson

Head of Centre, Ingestre Arts