Cultural Pathfinders
Bring Your Baby
Final Evaluation Report
East Renfrewshire Council, Inverclyde Council & Renfrewshire Council
Reporting Officer: Claire O'Hara
Outreach and Events Officer
Renfrewshire Arts and Museums claire.o'hara@renfrewshire.gov.uk
Contents page
Final Evaluation report 3-10
Appendix 1 - Inverclyde evaluation 11-15
Appendix 2 - East Renfrewshire evaluation 16-19
Appendix 3 - Lead artist evaluation 20-26
Appendix 4 - Participants figures 27-32
Appendix 5 - Cultural Away Days Information 33
BRING YOUR BABY FINAL EVALUATION
Partners
Renfrewshire Council (Arts and Museums, Libraries), East Renfrewshire Council (Arts, Libraries), Inverclyde Council (Arts, Libraries, Children's Integrated Services) |
Project Description
This project seeks to engage with pre school children and their parents/ grandparents/carers residing in areas of multiple deprivation and geographic isolation. The project intends to promote access to cultural activity with the joint objectives of using culture as a tool to achieve a range of social aims, and examining the participants of disenfranchised communities in cultural planning and entitlement seeking. During arts sessions families will be given opportunities to work and learn together, promoting family communication and confidence. Based in community libraries, the themes for the work will encourage literacy as well as promoting positive family communication through play. |
Participating Community LibrariesBarrhead Library, Ferguslie Library, Gallowhill Library, Port Glasgow Library, South West Library and Thornliebank Library * The locations for each Bring Your Baby group were chosen for easy access with wheelchairs or prams and due to lack of similar facilities in the area. |
Bring your baby seeks to use cultural participation to build capacities in families who may be experiencing challenging circumstances; and to help the participating authorities to explore the practical use of cultural entitlements. |
Overall AimSpecific Aims
- To promote learning and life skills (incl literacy & healthy lifestyles)
- To develop participants literacy and artistic skills by producing a story activity book for pre school children & their families
- To facilitate engagement between individuals and public agencies
- To promote parenting skills and family communication
- To encourages users to take a primary role in shaping project content
- To develop meaningful sustainability of the project beyond project completion
- To develop framework for delivering meaningful cultural entitlements
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- Manage workshop and event programme
- Develop participant involvement in planning of workshops
- Engage literacy worker to assist creative team
4. Creation of Legacy boxes with participants for groups and libraries to continue with arts activities beyond project end - Create a story /activity book for parents and children for use within libraries, nurseries and the home
- Produce the final evaluation report with recommendations for meaningful cultural engagement with communities and individuals
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Activity / Output- The steering group met every 4/6 weeks to share creative ideas about development; the progress of the project; any issues that had arisen from the workshops for both staff & participants; planning events and disseminate information. It was difficult at times to meet as a full group due to different schedules and priorities within each council, however all members were kept up to date with progress through emails; minutes and phone calls if they were unable to attend meetings.
- Initially encouraging participants to attend regular meetings with the steering group proved a difficult task. Barriers such as childcare issues and conflicting time schedules meant that parents and carers were reluctant to become involved in a formal capacity. It was suggested by the lead facilitator that participants should be involved in a less formal way during workshops. Parents/Carers/Grandparents were consulted on a weekly basis on the content of workshops; ideas for future workshops and the development of the book by the workshop facilitator and support staff. They were also consulted on the types of additional cultural activity they would find most interesting. All this information was reported back to the steering group by the lead facilitator
- Morag Smith Literature (Adult Literacy worker) and Audrey McAlindon (Development Officer Buddies for learning) were employed to support participants and the lead facilitator in creating the stories for the books.
- 6 x Legacy boxes were created for each participating library / group containing a variety of arts materials that staff and participants were familiar with through attending workshops. The legacy boxes also contained a variety of educational toys that reflected the 12 month programme of activities.
- "Let's Get Busy" book was created with the participants, who devised stories based around the same 2 characters on a series of adventures. The participants explored different ways of storytelling and discussed what techniques could be used from their children's favourite book. The participants decided that the best technique to use was the same characters for all stories and each story had the same beginning and ending. They also incorporated interactive elements.
- The original target was to retain an average of 8 participants in 6 areas (48 participants / week); the project has far exceeded this target with an average of 19 participants (8 adults, 11 children) in each area (114 people/week)
- The steering group discussed individual council strategic aims and priorities as well as the objectives of the cultural pathfinder's initiative in the planning stages of the project. They also discussed how to incorporate other initiatives such as Healthy Living and Bookstart into the final programme of workshops for the first term (Ferbrary - June 2007). This resulted in a varied programme of cultural activity been replicated in each of the 6 areas facilitated by the lead artist and appointed arts worker.
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Achievement / Output5. (cont) elements for the child to enjoy when prompted by the reader. The participants also chose an art activity to accompany each story for parents/carers to enjoy with their child. The participants also worked with a visual artist on the illustrations for the book and created storyboard for each page of the book with a sketch of what the illustration should include. |
- Facilitate a further 14 weeks of cultural activities (84 sessions)
- Retain an average of 16 participants in 6 areas (96 participants/week)
- Facilitate one summer cultural away day in East Renfrewshire
- Facilitate 2 additional cultural visits in each community
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Participant (output)Participant Output Achievement
- During Term 2 (August - December 2007), 14 weeks of cultural activities were delivered (84 sessions). In term 3 (February - May 2008) 12 additional weeks of storybook workshops were delivered to ensure that objective of working with literacy worker was met. (72 sessions)
- The average retention figures for participants from August 07 - May 08 were 17 in 6 areas (102participants/week)
- East Renfrewshire hosted a cultural away day in June 2008. (see appendix 5)
- Renfrewshire Council facilitated 2 additional cultural visits to children's theatre performances at the Paisley Arts Centre & Paisley Town Hall. East Renfrewshire facilitated 2 additional cultural visits to a children's performance at Eastwood Park Theatre and a library family event to launch a new children's library card. Inverclyde Council facilitated 3 additional cultural activities to a family cultural festival "Myths & Legends" and 2 book launches at Port Glasgow library and Greenock Town Hall.
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- Grandparents report that sessions helped them remember learn forgotten skills as well as new ways of communicating with grandchildren.
- Participants who had recently moved to Scotland report that participation in the sessions proved invaluable in assimilating into their new community through meeting with other parents and accessing local services.
- Parents /carers report that participation in sessions had helped their child in the transition from home to nursery.
- Parents / carers report improved communication between themselves and their child/children.
- Parents / carers report improved social interaction skills of child/children.
- Parents/carers report improvement in child/children's appetite for healthy snacks as a result of healthy snack provided at each session.
- Parents/carers report improvement in own confidence in interacting with child /children in cultural activity.
- Parents /carers report child/children's enthusiasm both before and during the sessions.
- Parents / carers report increased social interaction with other parent / carers within their community.
- Parents /carers report sense of isolation has abated since attending sessions, particularly parents /carers new to both the community and country.
- Parent's carers report increased use of the local community library, in some cases parents/carers have obtained library membership since participating in the sessions.
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Participant SatisfactionPartner satisfaction
· East Renfrewshire report professional contacts have been made and strengthened across the 3 participating authorities. · East Renfrewshire report that the initial planning stages of the project were unduly rushed which resulted in a poorer uptake in the early stages within East Renfrewshire. However participant figures improved over time. · East Renfrewshire report that the library frontline staff involved had a positive experience and reported on an increased confidence amongst staff of working with target group · East Renfrewshire report that friendships and support networks established amongst participants have been maintained. · East Renfrewshire report that overall the project was an extremely positive experience for all involved and that this model of practice would continued to be used in future activities. · Inverclyde report that the project has been very worthwhile and challenging, in particular working in harmony with colleagues from neighbouring councils has been a positive learning process. · Inverclyde report time constraints were an ongoing challenge throughout the process. · Inverclyde reports that the positive impact of working with literacy staff during the project has led to more involvement with adult literacy services in other on going activities. · Inverclyde reports that the project has provided a strong foundation for continuing with weekly sessions in participating libraries. · The lead facilitator reports that the addition of free time with toys at the beginning of each session had a positive effect on both adults and children allowing them to build and develop on personal relationships. · The lead facilitator reported that the cultural and ethnic range of the group provided adult participants with a deeper understanding of different cultures and global issues such as immigration and politics. · The lead facilitator reports that the biggest impact of participation was felt by grandparents and people who had recently moved to Scotland |
Coordinating & management of project o One of the main challenges of the project was the coordinating and overall management. This was due to conflicting time schedules and workload priorities of the participating council departments within the steering group. The steering group were very committed to the delivery and coordination of the project but full attendance at every meeting was unachievable and agreement on plans was achieved through email and phone calls by the lead officer form Renfrewshire Council. In retrospect a cross authority project of this scale requires a dedicated co-ordinator to manage the project. Literacy Worker o Another challenge was finding a way of addressing literacy issues without compromising the dynamic of each group. It was agreed by the steering group that in order to ensure no participant felt isolated, all participants would work with the literacy worker to create the final book. This allowed the literacy worker to offer support when needed and address any literacy issues with participants. The literacy worker also contacted literacy workers in each council before attending the workshop to ensure that the additional support needed for individuals could be provided. The resulting book proved a great success with all involved in the project and left participants with a lasting memento of the project. Participants Involvement in steering group o Two of the main difficulties in involving parents/carers and grandparents in the steering group were time constraints and child care issues. The initial intention to have participants involved in the steering group meetings proved problematic, however through the informal consultation between participants and workshop facilitators it was felt the views and opinions of participants were reported and acted upon. It was also felt by the participants and the steering group that the informality allowed everyone to voice their opinion. Some participants felt if it had been a formal meeting they would not have participated so openly. Evaluation Methods o It proved extremely difficult to evaluate the children's experiences individually therefore we had to rely on parents/grandparents and carers' assessment of how they felt their child was responding. The participant figures remained fairly constant throughout the project, including new members coming along and some children leaving to start fulltime nursery places. It was felt the weekly informal feedback sessions was the most appropriate method for the participants. |
Challenges/Lessons LearntEast Renfrewshire Council The library service in East Renfrewshire plan to continue BYB on a fortnightly basis using library staff utilising the equipment and materials from the legacy boxes. It has been rebranded as Book Start / Rhyme time. A sustained effort to target disenfranchised groups is planned for these sessions. Inverclyde Council The library service in Inverclyde plan to continue BYB with weekly sessions, facilitated by library staff, utilising the equipment and materials from the legacy boxes. Inverclyde council have also extended the Bookstart Rhymetime sessions to 2 other libraries due to the success of the project. Renfrewshire Council The Arts & Museums service will continue working with the BYB groups on a monthly basis developing participants' creative skills further and encouraging the groups to attend workshops in Paisley Museum & Art Galleries as well as their own community. · Inverclyde and Renfrewshire Libraries have also successfully applied for joint funding from Bookstart Rhymetime to access training for staff and parents, to further develop Bookstart initiatives within each local authority. |
Future plans /SustainabilityRecommendations
Timing If a similar project was to take place all participating staff felt a period of 3months planning with all stakeholders would benefit the project by: - Allowing more time to work with external agencies / other council departments ensuring maximum uptake from target groups
- Training key library staff in facilitating workshops to ensure sustainability of project and suitability of location for workshops
- Providing more consultation time with participants to shape programme before workshops commence
- Providing more time to develop baselines and indicators for evaluation and monitoring
Lead Officer - It was felt by all participating staff that in retrospect it would have been beneficial to have employed a freelance project coordinator. The lead officer on the project from Renfrewshire Council spent more hours than anticipated in the planning and coordination of the project. A project coordinator would be able to meet with participants and individual staff on a more regular basis to monitor and coordinate the project. A project coordinator would also have had more time to explore a model for cultural entitlements and inform local cultural planning from a more strategic point (see below)
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Participant Quotes
Cultural Planning / Cultural Entitlements - This was a difficult aim to achieve due to time /staffing constraints as detailed above, however the project enabled individual departments to work with a target group of participants over a sustained period of time building meaningful relationships with the local community.
- The informality of the sessions made participants feel comfortable with voicing opinions about the project delivery as well as service delivery overall and proved a successful way of engaging with the target group. The ongoing consultation with participants in shaping the programme and the facilitators flexibility meant that the participants had a strong sense of ownership of the project and activities. The success of this is borne out by the high retention figures over a sustained period of time.
- The additional cultural visits provided staff with the opportunity to discuss with participants the type of performance / exhibition / activity that they felt most appropriate and accessible, informing the programming and planning of future events etc.
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Participant Quotes
"Adults have as much fun as the kids; it's a time to mix with other parents and share information" "It's helped my confidence as well as my daughters" "It's really helped my child to focus on an activity, setting him up for nursery" "Made a huge difference, my son is now at nursery with friends he met at the group; it's really helped him adjust to nursery" "My grandchild has come on leaps and bounds; they're mixing more with other children" "I'm new to the area and Scotland, it's really helped me make friends and find out about my new community" |
Appendix 1
Inverclyde Bring Your Baby Final Evaluation Report
September 2008
Introduction |
This report has been compiled by the Inverclyde contingent of the Bring Your Baby steering group and is intended to review the planning, execution and sustainability of the project. We consider the whole Bring your Baby programme to have been a very worthwhile and challenging project, one which gave us the opportunity to work in harmony with colleagues from neighbouring councils, and learn much in the process. Bring Your Baby has been a very successful Pathfinder venture with good long term prospects. |
Planning |
The project steering group has continued to meet on a monthly basis. As before, this has provided an invaluable platform to share ideas, raise concerns, and problem-solve as a group. We used the Interim Report as a means of efficiently adapting sessions following the halfway point. One loss to the Steering Group was Inverclyde's Integrated Children's Services Project Officer, who changed post. However, we have retained our partnership with Health through ongoing Book start Steering Groups. Time constraints were an ongoing challenge during the planning process. For example, with more time Inverclyde could have organised transport and publicised one of East Renfrewshire's Cultural Visits to Eastwood Park Theatre, which may have increased uptake. Concerns had been raised during the planning stages that, because of the break during the summer holidays, there would be a drop in attendance when sessions restarted in August 2007. The group aimed to provide some degree of continuity through provision of cultural away days during the summer. However, carers were also able to add themselves to a Bring Your Baby mailing list when signing the weekly register. Through this, libraries were easily able to contact carers to remind them of sessions restarting. A drop in attendance was expected, as some children who had attended previously were starting nursery. We continued to promote through local advertising vehicles and partnership working, so numbers attending continued to be on target (see attendance figures at end). |
Execution |
Workshops continued to run using the project's 2 arts workers (Pamela and Louise) and 1 member of library staff (Rebecca). The structure remained the same, incorporating a Book start Rhymetime, using stories, rhythm and rhyme, followed by a simple craft. As planned, a selection of toys was purchased from the project budget, to allow for greater 'free' time in workshops. This has seemed very popular with children, and allows parents to gain peer support together. In Inverclyde, we now slot this 'free' play time after the Rhymetime to allow some structure to the routine (feedback has been positive). The Project ended in December 2007; participants were extremely unhappy about this, and expressed desires for the project to continue. We were therefore very supportive when plans for a Continuation Project promoting adult literacy to start in April 2008 were introduced at Steering Groups. Since Inverclyde continued to run workshops from January onwards using 2 members of library staff, this ensured continuity to the programme. Since Literacy Workers from Renfrewshire were to be involved in the Continuation Project, communication was set up between the 2 authorities to ensure any referrals etc. were dealt with through the correct channels. Initially, concerns were raised that it would be impractical for the literacy worker to work with carers on producing the book during workshops. However, the execution of this project went smoothly, and the book launch gained positive feedback from participants in Inverclyde. No literacy issues were raised by carers or parents during these sessions, however the Continuation Project has paved the way for future involvement from Adult Literacy services in workshops in Inverclyde. |
Sustainability/Future Plans for Inverclyde |
The success of Bring Your Baby in Inverclyde has provided a strong foundation for continuing weekly sessions in Port Glasgow and South West Libraries. It has given staff the confidence and knowledge to deliver sessions, whilst also providing input of various resources, such as the Bring Your Baby Let's Get Busy Book, and craft and toy boxes. In addition, the lessons learnt during the project mean that we are better able to deliver, evaluate and adapt future workshops. Without the project's continued funding, we will lose the weekly input from the two arts workers. However, from Inverclyde's point of view, there are several ways in which the project will provide an enduring legacy in terms of partnership working: - The sustained relationship with Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire Authorities. This ongoing knowledge-sharing is a key towards attaining best practice. We have been successful in a joint bid with Renfrewshire to receive Bookstart Rhymetime Training, which will further extend our skills in workshop delivery.
- The strengthened relationship between Inverclyde Libraries and Inverclyde Arts. Although this partnership was already in place, the project has ensured that this alliance will continue, particularly when considering this target group.
- Adult Literacy. Again, although this partnership already existed, the project has lead to plans for a literacy worker to attend workshops on a regular basis so that any literacy issues might be identified.
The success of Bring Your Baby, has also given us the confidence to extend our delivery of Bookstart Rhymetimes to two more branches. In our Rhymetimes in the four libraries involved, we aim to continue to incorporate elements of Bring Your Baby, including specialist workers through Arts Development, health promotion, public agency representation (such as the Child Trust Fund), and Cultural Away Days (Bookstart's Pirate Day to Finlaystone in October). |
Lessons Learnt |
Evaluation of these sessions has been an ongoing challenge. While prioritised in steering groups, it proved difficult to implement evaluation techniques effectively during workshops. However, the project gave us the luxury of a high ratio of staff to participants. This allowed us to gain informal feedback on a weekly basis, and over weeks to build close relationships with participants. We also made attempts to employ Method 1 from our proposed adult verbal evaluation methods (coloured speech bubbles to record comments). For our Bookstart Rhymetimes, we have now added an anonymous comments sheet to the end of our register, however this is not an ideal evaluation technique (because of potential literacy issues, and its inability to gauge direct responses from children), so this remains a challenge. Overall, the project has made an overwhelming difference to Inverclyde. It has given staff the knowledge, confidence, and resources to sustain a programme of weekly workshops to the established - and growing - number of participants. Although the project has formally ended, we continue to learn and adapt to participants needs when delivering Bookstart Rhymetimes, and intend to make use of the invaluable partnerships we have formed during Bring Your Baby. |
Catriona Henderson, Arts Development Officer Rebecca McKellar, Readers' Services Librarian 1st September 2008 |
Appendix 2
East Renfrewshire Final Evaluation Report
September 2007
Janet Forry - Arts Officer / Visual Arts
Planning/Steering Group
This was a positive experience. Communication between group members was easy and straightforward. Professional contacts have been made and strengthened across the different authorities. The informal and relaxed attitude that emerged and was maintained was an important factor in easing the work of the group as time away from core responsibilities was always difficult to find. In retrospect an alternative model may have been to dedicate some of the budget to facilitate the post of coordinator.
Early plans to bring participants on to the steering group proved to be unworkable in practise. The participants did however have input as their wishes were fed back to the group by the lead facilitator.
Planning
Possibly due to early confusion about the guidelines of Cultural Pathfinders the planning stage was unduly rushed in an effort to meet deadlines that later emerged to be more flexible. This may have resulted in East Renfrewshire in a poorer uptake in the early stages by target groups.
Over time and due to the sustained nature of C.P.F in the two ER libraries awareness grew and participants from the target groups did emerge.
Workshops
An initially guarded attitude by library staff was quickly overcome as they realised that Bring Your Baby was well organised and came with its own support staff. Library staff did indeed join in with the activities and the supervisors in both libraries felt this to have been an entirely positive experience which has increased staff confidence in working with younger children. The only negative comments have been occasional ones from members of the public who were concerned about noise and disruption. These concerns were quickly addressed by a notice being posted in the library giving the information that BYB was an organised weekly event. Library staff have found that other library users are far more accepting of a bit of noise and disruption when they understand what is happening.
The weekly activities of arts, stories and songs were so engaging for the children that in Barrhead toys which were supplied were seldom used. These however are now a much utilised addition to the library's resources and a welcome legacy of BYB.
Over time the participating group became diverse and multi cultural. Up to 30 participants a week took part at Barrhead. BYB workers and library staff became aware of many friendships and support networks established which have been maintained.
Future Plans
The community library service plans to continue BYB on a fortnightly basis using library staff in both Barrhead and Thornliebank. It has been rebranded as Book Start Rhymetime and while all will be welcome, a sustained effort to target disenfranchised groups is planned for these sessions.
Lessons Learnt/Challenges Overcome
More planning time at the inception of the project would have enabled better communication with other agencies to ensure the maximum possible uptake from target groups from the beginning. It would also have allowed key staff in the libraries to have had a better understanding of BYB its aims and its possible impact on other library users, before it began.
From the point of view of ER clearer lines of communications with key staff would have been a priority. Lack of mobile phone communications, e mail and office phone created problems in communicating with the lead facilitator.
Capturing basic registration information was a problem and the dissemination of this information was felt by ER to be inadequate. The blame for this was felt to be shared by all parties involved in BYB and not down to any one individual. There was an obvious paradox between maintaining a relaxed, non-threatening and informal atmosphere and capturing essential information for health and safety reasons for the Cultural Events and Away Days. It was felt that this paradox will continue but has to be managed.
Overall the BYB project was felt to be an extremely positive thing for everyone involved and a model well worth continuing with. Much has been learned, Library staff have been left feeling more confident about working with very young children and more confident about keeping other library users 'on board' while attempting an innovative activity in the libraries. Participants reported increased confidence in the children, and improved social networking for themselves. Various evaluation methods were used. The age group of the children made this a particular challenge.
It was felt that a baseline was needed to measure progress against. The speed of start of BYB allowed this opportunity to pass. It is however a consideration for the future.
Appendix 3
Lead Artist Evaluation
Pamela Givan - Outreach Worker / Visual Arts
Lead Artist Evaluation -Pamela Givan - Outreach Worker/ Visual Arts
The Bring Your Baby project restarted after the summer holidays in late August. I was a bit concerned that the numbers attending the groups would drop quite a bit as some of our regular participating children were starting nursery. This was the case for, on average, the first two restart weeks. Luckily enough numbers increased with the arrival of new participants and some of the now 'nursery children' returned if they had an afternoon placement at nursery school. The activities and song time were simplified to suit the new arrivals.
All lot of the adults stated that the child in their care, now in nursery, found the settling in period easier as a result of friendships made and experiences gained at Bring Your Baby. We found that, at the Barrhead sessions in particular, the children moved on to the same nursery school. A lot of the subjects that we touched upon during the sessions are in the nursery schools curriculum so our regular participants would have a head start plus their carers would have more of an understanding of the cultural events that the children would learn about.
I found that children who had attended in the first half of the year had incredible increases in confidence, almost to the stage that we could have named the sessions 'BYB's Got Talent'. During song time some of the children would choose to stand in front of the group and do a solo performance of their favourite song.
The groups continued to be a warm and welcoming environment for new members especially those new to the area or even the country. Language and cultural barriers are easily broken when there are stories of feeding habits, nappy changing and behavioural issues to be discussed and compared. Most participants who had not originally come from the local area found the groups as an open door to new friendships and other community events and groups in their new home towns.
It became clear that a lot of adults in the groups were grandparents who found themselves in full time jobs looking after their grandchildren. The groups provided the chance for them to meet other adults in the same position and to find their feet again when being in charge of a young child.
Positive verbal feedback was always offered at the sessions but when it came to recording evaluation, this proved to be more difficult. Cardboard disks with facial expressions were tried out on the children but with a big percentage of the children being babies this proved to be ineffective. No matter how much you are enjoying a song time session, it's hard to be happy if you are teething, hungry or have a wet nappy. Blank speech bubbles were given to the adults to write their comments on but again this was difficult as most had a child on their lap or were attending to a toddler. The best response came during story time whilst using a book called 'How are you peeling'. The book is a picture book featuring photographs of different fruit with facial expressions cut into them and an explanation of the emotion behind the expression. The children enjoyed pointing to the face which most represented how they were feeling at that time. The most effective evaluation, however, was that the same participants returned weekly and numbers were consistent.
In the original project proposal, one of the aims was to work with literacy worker to help with adults who felt that their reading skills could be improved. Adult literacy leaflets were displayed in the area that the groups meet in case anyone was interested. It came to light that none of the participating adults were requiring such support so it was suggested that the proposed literacy worker come on board to help the participants compile a book designed for people with poor reading skills, or who had English as a second language, to improve their skills along with the child in their care. There were discussions at each group and everyone was very enthusiastic about the project. We talked about what we liked about children's books and what kept the children's attention. Adults brought in their child's favourite books from home and the stories were read together and everyone compared opinions. By the time the literacy worker was in place, original stories and started to take form and everyone was sure what child engaging elements they wanted their story to contain. The participants also came up with ideas for the illustrations that were fully realised by the lead facilitator who is also an illustrator. The end result was a huge and delightful success with each group feeling that they had achieved something which would benefit other parent/carers and would also serve as a lasting memento of a significant part of their child's early years.
The format for the sessions continued as they were except for a 15 minute free play time, in all locations, with the toys which were bought for the project. This gave the children and adults time to meet and greet each other before the more structured activities began. Each location was provided with a selection of figures and vehicles mostly representing well known people in our communities, playmats that could be zipped up to become storage boxes, a soft but stimulating rest for babies and a selection of simple inset puzzles. These toy boxes were left in the children's area of each library so that the participants could use them when visiting the library at other times.
Some groups were treated to a special session by Vanessa Rigg who is a music and drama specialist working for Renfrewshire Council. Vanessa devised, directed and performed in the very successful Starcatchers project which ran toured Scotland for pre nursery age children. Vanessa's workshop was very much enjoyed by the children and adults especially when she played her violin to the children who danced along to the music. The adults really appreciated this as it was a common thought that most young children are unaware of the original source of music and for it to be performed in front of them was a new experience to some. The Renfrewshire groups were also lucky enough to be invited along to the Singing Kettle show and the Wee Stories Theatre Company performance both held in Paisley Town Hall. At the end of the year all groups were treated to a party with lots of tasty goodies. All participants had done well with the continuation of the awareness of healthy eating that a few treats were thought to be well deserved.
After a break for the New Year the groups restarted at the beginning of February. It was a relief to all participants that the groups were continuing as most parents/carers were being bombarded with demands of 'when are we going to the library'. Through this period the groups worked on their stories for the book whilst the children provided some illustrations to fit the story themes.
The final event for Bring Your Baby was hosted by East Renfrewshire Council in Eastwood House. The main part of the day was the launch of the completed book. The participants were delighted with the end product and felt proud to be a part of such an accomplishment. There were three main activities for the groups to take part in on the day. Gerry Durkin a professional storyteller provided a story and song time, Vanessa Rigg provided a music and drama session which was a real treat for the groups who were not lucky enough to see her at the earlier session. Visual art was in the form of a huge frieze featuring self portraits of all participants in a Bring Your Baby setting. Lunch was provided by East Renfrewshire Council. The day was a magnificent success and provided much enjoyment which was only dampened by the fact that this was the last time we would all meet under the name of Bring Your Baby.
FERGUSLIE PARK BRING YOUR BABY
The sessions at Ferguslie Park continued to do well. One of the mothers, who was originally from Zimbabwe, found great comfort from the library staff and other parents when she discovered that her daughter who still lived in Zimbabwe was seriously ill. There was much support for her from the other participants and it ensured that they were more touched by the unfortunate current situation in Zimbabwe than they would have been had they not known someone who still had family there. Everyone was delighted to meet the young girl from Africa when she was allowed into this country for treatment of her illness. Her first day out in Scotland was at the final event and book launch and even though her English was poor she still managed to make friends and have a good laugh with the daughters of a Gallowhill participant.
The numbers at Ferguslie Park decreased lowered when one of the most regular participants took ill and could no longer attend with her grandchildren. This participant was very active in her community and had done a good job of encouraging younger mothers to come along to the library and take part.
GALLOWHILL BRING YOUR BABY
This group was developed from an existing mother and toddler group ran by community members. As a result of Bring Your Baby taking over one of their morning sessions the group has increased in numbers. A lot of the participants chose to put their nursery aged children in nursery school for afternoon sessions so that they could still attend BYB in the mornings.
This group thoroughly enjoyed putting together stories for the book and came up with some great ideas. The group still continues to meet and some of the parents and carers have taken on the role of providing storytime and art and craft sessions.
THORNLIEBANK BRING YOUR BABY
The numbers at Thornliebank increased by a huge amount in the second half of 2007. It was to remain as the most multicultural group with participants originally from Russia, Japan and Pakistan. This group survived well after a change of location when building work was being done in the library. This was despite the fact that the hall we used was up stairs with no lift. Children who came along to this group from when it first started were then joined by baby brothers or sisters. There was a good few babies at this group which I suspect is the reason for the numbers dropping when work on the book started. One participant stated that she found it too difficult to come up with ideas while looking after a baby and a toddler.
BARRHEAD BRING YOUR BABY
The second half of 2007 saw a big increase in the amount of grandparents using the group. One lady who came along with her daughter and granddaughter has ended up being 'Granny' to a good few other children at the sessions and now even child minds for a family originally from New Zealand whom she met at a Bring Your Baby session. The presence of a sofa and a huge colourful rug make this group very inviting. Everyone sits on the floor whilst the older members take their position on the sofa usually with someone else's baby in their arms. The Barrhead group are a good natured but quite noisy bunch with the children being better behaved than the adults. This group loved coming up with stories for the book and everyone had their role to play in it.
PORT GLASGOW BRING YOUR BABY
This group suffered the biggest impact of children going off to nursery after the summer holidays. All was not lost though as we soon had a new batch of participants which made this quite a young group. It was at this group that I witnessed the biggest increase in confidence in both children and adults. The participants seem very at ease in the library and you can tell the children think of it as their place. With this being a large group, the toys went down really well as the free play time gave the adults a chance to say their hellos and get the children settled. It also gave me and the other workers a chance to chat to the participants and get feedback with what their views were on the book or the sessions in general.
SOUTH WEST LIBRARY, GRRENOCK BRING YOUR BABY
For the period between August and December 2007, this group was thriving and saw an increase in numbers. From February 2008 it was a different matter. Numbers dropped due to the January intake at the nurseries. We did not get the new members we were hoping for despite the sessions being well publicised. The creating of the book also put people off as it was felt that in the smaller groups people were more put on the spot to come up with suggestions rather than it being a team effort. The library staff provided story telling sessions after Bring Your Baby was finished and this proved a great success with the majority of participants staying on for these.
Overall the Bring Your Baby project continued to be a huge success and will be much missed by the participants. It particularly made a big impact on grandparents starting again with childcare routines and people who had made Scotland their new home.
Legacy boxes were created for each library so that they have materials in place to carry on arts activities. I am sure that a lot of the adults would be experienced and confident enough to run these groups by themselves on a voluntary basis.
Appendix 4
Participants Figures from August 07 - May 08
Ferguslie Park library
25/08/07
2 adults /carers
3 children
03/09/07
2 adults /carers
3 children
10/09/07
4 adults
5 children
17/09/07
3 adults
4 children
01/10/07
4 adults
5 children
Numbers remained constant until one of the participants became ill, her family stopped attending.
10/03/08
2 adults
4 children
Number remained constant
Average weekly attendance
2 adults 4 children
Gallowhill library
28/08/07
10 adults
11 children
04/09/07
12 adults
16 children
18/09/07
12 adults
16 children
25/09/07
12 adults
16 children
02/10/07
13 adults
18 children
Numbers remained constant
Average weekly attendance
13 adults
18 children
Thornliebank Library
29/08/07
4 adults
5 children
05/09/07
6 adults
7 children
12/09/07
7 adults
10 children
19/09/07
7 adults
10 children
26/09/07
4 adults
4 children
Numbers remained constant until
31/10/07
7 adults
10 children
Remained contact until
21/11/07
5 adults
6 children
Average weekly attendance
5 adults
6 children
Barrhead Library
30/08/07
6 adults
7children
Numbers remained constant until
29/11/07
7 adults
8 children
Numbers remained constant until
27/03/08
8 adults
11 children
03/04/08
10 adults
13 children
Numbers remain constant until
08/05/08
11 adults
14 children
Average weekly participants
8 adults
11 children
Port Glasgow Library
07/09/07
5 adults
6 children
14/09/07
6 adults
10 children
21/09/07
7 adults
8 children
28/09/07
4 adults
7 children
05/10/07
6 adults
8 children
Numbers remained constant until
23/11/07
8 adults
13 children
Remains constant
Average weekly participants
8 adults 13 children
South West Library (Greenock)
07/09/07
8 adults
10 children
14/09/07
6 adults
7 children
21/09/07
5 adults
6 children
28/09/07
4 adults
6 children
12/10/07
7 adults
7 children
Numbers remained constant until
04/04/08
4 adults
5 children
Average weekly attendance
6 adults
8 children
Appendix 5
East Renfrewshire Cultural Away Day - Wednesday 25th June 2008
East Renfrewshire organised and hosted our final cultural away day on Wednesday 25th June at Eastwood House in East Renfrewshire. This cultural event incorporated the launch of the Bring your Baby book "Let's get Busy" The participants took part in the book launch then attended a number of interactive workshops throughout the day. The activities included storytelling with professional storyteller, Gerry Durkin; an arts activity workshop facilitated by Pamela Givan, lead facilitator on Bring your baby and a drama and music session with pre school specialist Vanessa Rigg. The participants also had lunch and transport provided by East Renfrewshire Council as well as free playtime using the equipment purchased for the legacy boxes. The attendance was as follows:
East Renfrewshire Council: 34 participants
Inverclyde Council: 28 participants
Renfrewshire Council: 32 participants.
Also in attendance were representatives from the Scottish Government Cultural Pathfinders project, East Renfrewshire Council, Inverclyde Council, and Renfrewshire Council. The event received publicity in the local press.