Category: The Prince’s Trust

This January we welcomed an amazing group of young people to Reform as part of the Prince’s Trust ‘Get Started with Radio’ course. With just one week to master the skills of researching, interviewing, editing and presenting on a live radio slot, its fair to say the whole group killed it!

We hope the participants who took part had as much as fun and joy we had. To watch them so quickly bond, create and prepare for the work that they produced has been an impressive journey.

Watch the round-up video below to see highlights of the week:

Not to mention the range and quality of content they produced, smashing it live in the Reform studios and airwaves! Don’t take our word for it, check out their work below.

Listen back to the live radio show below:

Our latest podcasting project, delivered in partnership with the Prince’s Trust and Tameside council, kickstarted in Tameside last week at the 4C Community Centre.

To start things off the young people were invited into the space for a two week podcasting bootcamp. During these two weeks, participants were introduced to scripting, editing and producing a podcast with a view to scripting their own interview based recording. This time running, they were joined by two different employers for all their interviewing desires; Visual Architects who are an events decor company and 0730 Media, a videography and photography company run by husband and wife power duo.

One half of the group went to the Visual Architects warehouse, where they work on building set designs and event decor. After a well rounded tour, the young people were asked if they wanted to turn on a pretty savvy piece of kit: a giant robot (we’re just as intrigued as you are). The other group came down to Reform to record an exclusive interview of one half of the 0730 Media team, Simon. 

After an enjoyable two weeks, close bonds and friendships were made within the group, and people went home feeling like they had made friends for life. Not only were friendships developed between the participants, but with the facilitators too. Our lovely, fully trained facilitators were noticed by young person Luke as ‘very friendly and funny’.

Another young person, Sam, speaks on their experience with Tameside Futures: “The experience has been great because I’ve overcome my anxiety and it’s built up my confidence as well, so for that I just want to say thank you because I’ve been pushed and that’s what I needed”.

Another individual, Alex, comments on his personal growth during the project: “I have learnt that I can be confident if I put my mind to it”. 

With confidence on the horizon, the group worked towards a live radio show – It’s About Drive, It’s About Podcast Ducky’s – showcasing all the exciting stuff they had been doing.

“Over the past two weeks we’ve been sharing our thoughts and feelings on the topic of Media and Technology. We developed podcasting and scripting skills and had the opportunity to visit and talk to creative companies within Tameside. This was an inspiring experience that gave us insight into how art and media companies operate”

To hear the full show that aired on Friday the 18th of March, click down below.

But, the fun doesn’t stop there. The following four weeks are dedicated to helping the individuals involved find their next employment steps, by sharing job opportunities that arise and helping them into full time employment.

Watch the video down below to see what went down.

We know you are all dying to hear how out latest podcasting course Manchester Futures went down… sit tight and let us tell you the ins and outs of podcasting town. 

Our latest workshop, delivered in partnership with The Prince’s Trust, kicked off in the end of January with a two week Podcasting Bootcamp, during which participants were immersed into the mind-blowing world of digital broadcasting.

To our utter delights, Manchester Futures was able to run in person and participants came into our space at Bonded Warehouse.

After learning the foundations of how to script, record and edit a full podcast, participants were introduced to three different employers from Manchester.

The group of young people had the pleasure of working with some pretty incredible businesses this time running, with two site visits during the first week.

One group visited Rope Ladder Fiction in Swinton, the new film set for the Waterloo Road TV series, who were thrilled by the opportunity to see the behind the scenes action of how a TV series functions. One participant of this group says ‘It really brought on how real it actually is, once you experience it, it seems so much more achievable’. Two people from each department were interviewed, such as the art, story writing, production managers and story alchemists – a great success.

Another group visited one of the Greenwich Leisure Limited (GLL) locations, the Sugden Centre which is located next to the University of Manchester. The GLL manages a huge proportion of leisure centres across the UK, amounting in a whopping 270 facilities. As a charitable social enterprise and not-for-profit business, they also fund over 3,000 athletes via a sports foundation programme and work closely with their partner Cancer Research.

For the sporty crowd amongst the group, this one was very appealing and one participant says ‘It was quite fun because they booked a hall for us, so we got to play a bit of badminton’.

After the badminton rodeo, the group interviewed the manager of the Sugden Centre and then retreated back to Reform for lunch (chocolate penguins were on the cards, you see).

The final group interviewed the founder of Mozzington, a non-profit design agency – ‘all about creating opportunities for people of all backgrounds to thrive and contribute to society’ (we couldn’t have put it better ourselves).

Upon speaking to the Manchester Futures cohort, it became apparent that there was a common denominator encapsulating the room. As a group, most of the individuals involved were hoping to gain more experience and reward themselves with another gold star to pop on their CV (tick).

Let’s be honest, the past two years have been challenging and getting your foot in the door as a young creative has never felt more tough. So, to see a great turnout for Manchester Futures just proves the need for such projects.

One participant says that the workshop has shifted their path and perspective, as they have ‘always been creative’ but ‘always had a 9-5’ in order to support their creative venture, in this case – acting. But, in light of these comments, the participant adds that the workshop has given them the confidence to ‘shift into a new direction and work in a place where I can grow’. This is the energy we love to see in 2022!

Similarly, another young person on the course, who has career aspirations of being a film director, explains how the past few weeks have helped them. ‘As one of the youngest here, I am quite fresh and new to all of this. I felt that I didn’t have the creative knowledge to go into the creative field, because people want degrees and I didn’t have that’.

The pressure of going to University is monumental, overwhelming and more importantly, not for everyone. Degrees are not the be all and end all, there are plenty of other ways to kickstart your career. During the following four weeks of Manchester Futures, 1-1 support such as wellbeing, CV writing, applications, interview prep and work placements are offered to help and support our participants in their journeys.

As an ongoing six-week project, participants had all set themselves personal goals for the experience. One comments, that they hope by the end of this to start a path onto their ‘dream career’ and begin doing what they have wanted to do their ‘entire life’ (make money AND enjoy it… yes, please).

After conducting the interviews, the participants worked in groups to edit them together to be aired on a live show that took place on Friday the 11th on February at 1PM.

Naming themselves ‘Expression Collective‘, the group describes their podcasting bootcamp:

‘Over the space of two weeks we have learnt how to make podcasts and had the opportunity to talk to employers in a variety of fields and gain an in depth understanding about their field of work. As well as this, we really wanted to gauge how us and those around us express themselves.’

Listen back to the show down below to hear what they put together over the duration of the podcasting bootcamp.

If you would like to gain more experience, meet industry professionals and push yourself out of your comfort zone then listen out for our next project and don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions or queries via projects@reformradio.co.uk