News from The Dog Rose Trust

Time to say Thanks
Over the years many people have helped and supported the Dog Rose Trust in a great many different ways. We think it is high time to acknowledge this and to thank the following people:

Keith Bramich of Orion Computer Consultants who has not only created our websites and our editing suite but has sorted out many computer problems for us. The web sites have proved to be an important part of getting the word around about our work.

http://www.orion-arts.com/about.htm

Andy Holmes of Absalute Games who looks after our computers and nurses them when they are sick, as well as supplying us with spare parts and peripherals as they are called.

http://www.absalutegames.co.uk/1.html

Steve Bromley who carries out the same function for the house and garden and can be relied on to think up some ingenious solution to all our problems.

Terry Curthoys who admirably copes with our accounts every year and signs them off for the Charity Commissioners.

Adrian Williams who has composed many pieces of music for the Trust over the years, including the memorable pieces, Shropshire Hills and Clun Valleys.

http://www.adrianwilliamsmusic.com/

All at Overton Service Station, Ludlow, who keep our ancient Skoda running at prices we can afford and who will look at it at even on a Bank Holiday.
New tactile panels at Bexley
The panel, showing pictures of old boats, is on a stand with grass behind it and the masts of yachts on the river in the background.
The panel by the Erith Yacht Club
The Dog Rose Trust worked on the new tactile panels which have been installed by the London Borough of Bexley along the Thames Path. The panels were made by Photocast Products.

The first panel is located outside Crossness Nature Reserve, east of the site looking towards London and the Crossness Sludge Powered Incinerator. The second panel, which replaces a previously damaged information sign near Crayford marshes, is sited at the entrance to cycle path 1, by the Erith Yacht Club and the Saltings. Meanwhile, the third panel has been placed at the mouth of the River Darent, looking towards Dartford marshes and the QE2 Bridge.

The panels have a phone number with a pin to ring to hear an audio description of the images.

The path for the Crayford and River Darent panels is very accessible to all with a good surface for wheelchairs. The area is very rich in birdlife and plants and as the path is raised on a flood bank it gives a very good view of the dramatic Thames Landscape.

Listening to Ludlow, funded by the Shropshire Access Partnership
From left to right are Denise Collier with her Guide Dog Honey, Terry Collier, Eric Sayce with his Guide Dog Wills,<br />Bella Murdoch and Julia Ionides. They are standing in front of the Jesse Window in the Lady Chapel.
A visit to Ludlow Church by the Group in the Lady Chapel.
The Dog Rose Trust has been working on the Listening to Ludlow project since the new year, but last week was the first time that the visually impaired consultants had got together. Eric Sayce and Wills came from Coventry, Bella and her family from Brighton and Denise and Terry Collier from Leominster.

During the time they were in Ludlow we visited the Tourist Information Centre, the Castle and Church, the Museum Resource Centre and had tea at De Greys.

A report is being written about the visit and this will go towards the work that has to be done over the coming months.
Travel in the Baltic II
Another gleaming white concert hall, made of Pentelic marble and designed by the renowned Finnish Architect, Alvar Alto.
Finlandia Hall, Helsinki
We gave another talk at the Ateneum, the National Art Gallery in Helsinki, organised by our friend Sara Salovaara. We also had a meeting with the Finnish National Antiquities Board, the equivalent of English Heritage, which was very useful and stimulating. It was also a great pleasure to see Juhani Pallasmaa, who wrote the Preface to our book, Another Eyesight.

We were also interested to meet the designers from Kerho, who made the ceramic manor house at Louhisaaren and also a tactile plan for the new bus terminal designed by Juhani Pallasmaa. The only other such ceramic work we had seen was in Hungary. See the last item on this news page.

Having done our work and made contact with many people, we went on to Tallinn to the Harpsichord Festival which was a great joy and then relaxed in a beautiful wooden house by the sea in Latvia.
http://www.ateneum.fi/
Travel in the Baltic
The white cube of the new Uppsala concert hall gleams in the March sunshine with a bare tree in front of it, waiting for spring to come.
The brand new concert hall in Uppsala
We have been visiting points north, Sweden, Finland, Estonia and Latvia. Our first idea had been to go to the biannual harpsichord festival run by our friend Imbi Tarum in Tallinn. Then we thought that if we were going in that direction we could go to see Per Hedfors in Uppsala, Sweden, as Peter is working with him on a book.

We just could not miss out Helsinki, one of our favourite cities and finally we went to see another friend in Latvia as we had not really been to that country before and so one thing led to another.

We had a very interesting time there and gave a talk on Universal Design to the Landscape Architecture students at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala.
http://www.sol.slu.se:80/lar/activities.asp
Legible London
Eric Sayce with Wills is standing with is back to the camera. There is a man in a wheel chair to his left and they are talking to a man in a red cap and coat who is a West End guide; this is a newly established company to help people to find their way around the area.
Eric Sayce consulting on Legible London
Legible London is a system of maps and signs designed to make way finding around London easier. Trial stands - or monoliths and megaliths - have been placed around the Oxford Street and Bond Street areas.

The Access Company assemble a consultative group to look at these prototypes and comment on them. Among the participants was the Dog Rose Trust with Eric Sayce and of course Wills the Guide Dog.

After visiting the site the group were asked to give their comments, good and bad, on the project. They also considered the whole environment and its accessibility.
http://www.legiblelondon.info/wp01/index.php
Some of the Umcebo Crafters

Umcebo Crafters
And here is a picture of Maureen who made the wonderful bag, standing with some of her fellow craft workers at the Umcebo Workshop in Durban.
The Dog Rose Trust and Umcebo
A bright red shopping type bag is displayed on a tree. The bag has fish on it swimming around a treasure chest.
Bag made by Maureen at Umcebo in South Africa
As readers of these news items know we have links with Umcebo in Durban, South Africa. Last week a parcel of fabulous bags arrived and we thought a picture of one would brighten the website on these winter days - although lately the sun has been glorious.
www.umcebotrust.co.za
The Queen, part 2
The Queen in a white coat and hat speaks to the group from the Dog Rose Trust after she had opened the tactile interpretation panel in Parliament Square.
The Queen meets Eric Sayce, Peter Howell, Julia Ionides and Mary Connelly
This is just to prove that we did actually meet the Queen. Peter is just there in the grey waterproof and Mary Connelly almost has her back to the camera.

The photo was taken by Paul Faulkner and the copyright is the Jublilee Walkway Trust
www.jubileewalkway.org.uk
The Queen opens the new Jubilee Walkway Panel in Parliament Square
The Queen, in a white coat and hat, and Duke talked to Rebecca Elliot the designer and Isabella Murdoch, a blind consultant, to hear about the panel and its design. <br />
The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh looking at the new panel
On Monday 19th November the Queen unveiled the new panel in Parliament Square. She and the Duke of Edinburgh drove to Parliament Square from Westminster Abbey after the service of Thanksgiving for their Diamond Wedding Anniversary. By the time they arrived the rain has stopped and the sun shone

After the unveiling the Queen and Duke talked to Rebecca Elliot the designer and Isabella Murdoch, a blind consultant, to hear about the panel and its design.

The couple then met people who had been connected with the work of the Dog Rose Trust to make the panel more accessible to everyone, including Eric Sayce with his Guide Dog Wills, Mary Connelly and Terry Goodman. Wills got a special pat on the head from the Duke of Edinburgh.

This panel, is the first on the Jubilee Walkway to include some information in Braille, a clearer design for people with partial sight and a unique number that can be rung to get an audio description of the panel.

The panel was made by Photocast of Speke, Liverpool, who have worked with the Dog Rose Trust for many years.

The Dog Rose Trust is very pleased to have been involved in this work and hope that it will lead the way to more panels all over the country being more accessible.
www.jubileewalkway.org.uk/
Clun Valley Oral History
The old houses of the town of Clun go down the hill towards the bridge and the river with a dark winter sky above <br />
Clun town on a winter day
The Dog Rose Trust has been recording oral history in the Clun Valley and tracks from these recordings will be put on the Dog Rose Sound site over the next few months.

We would like to thank everyone who took part in the recording.

Photographs, taken by Peter Howell, of this beautiful part of Shropshire will also be put on the site.

www.dogrosesound.org
Totnes to Dartington Access Path

The Access Group
The audio walk on the all-access path from Totnes to Dartington and back again, has now been uploaded onto Dog Rose Sound.

The South Hams Access Group have been very busy working on this over a long period and the Dog Rose Trust is very pleased to be able to make this available to a wider audience.
www.dogrosesound.org
Model of Wymondham unveiled
The bronze tactile model is being admired and touched by the local people shortly after it was unveiled. Four children, 3 boys and a girl, stand around it and are eager to find their houses. Alongside them are 2 community police officers.
The completed and installed model
The tactile bronze model of Wymondham was unveiled on Saturday 6th October, 2007.

The combined efforts of the people of Wymondham, Omega Models and Powderhall Bronze working with the Trust have produced a model that we hope will appeal to everyone.
New interpretation panel in Parliament Square
Three women and one man are standing around a long illustrative panel discussing the new design. In the background is the Clock Tower of the Houses of Parliament, better known as Big Ben
Discussing the design for the new panel in Parliament Square
The Trust is working with the Access Company and Transport for London on the design of a new panel for Parliament Square. This is part of the series of panoramic views of central London that form the Jubilee Walkway. This was set up in 1977 to celebrate the Queen’s Silver Jubilee.

A meeting was recently held with disabled consultants to look at the existing panel and one that was produced earlier this. This produced very useful comments which will be carried forward. At the end of the production of this panel, which shows such important buildings as the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey, it is hoped that a set of guidelines for future design will be produced.

Taking part in the consultation were Rubina Hassinali, Zara Todd, Ann Bates, Isabella Murdoch and Mary Connelly.
Extramuros
A fork-lift truck is lifting the yellow sculpture ready to load it on the to lorry.
A fork-lift vehicle moving one of the sculptures at Ellesmere
The sculptures have now left Ellesmere with their next stop Andalusia in Southern Spain. They departed in pouring rain and will arrive in hot sunshine - quite a shock for them.

As it was raining so hard no photos were taken - everyone was concentrating on getting them loaded, so we are hoping to get some photos of the sculptures arriving in Ellesmere and will add them to this site.

The exhibition provoked a lot of discussion and resulted in the plans for a more permanent sculpture trail around the Mere. We will report progress on this as it happens in the future.
Ellesmere Access Guide

Access Guide to Ellesmere
Access for All in Around Ellesmere has just been produced and gives information about access to a range of places around the town and the surrounding area.

For more information contact the Meres Visitor Centre, Mereside, Ellesmere. Tel: 01691 622981. E-mail: ellesmere.tourism@shropshire-cc.gov.uk.
Down County Museum Model, Downpatrick
Four women and two men stand around the tactile bronze model of Down County Museum. The man at the right of the picture has a Guide Dog with him.
The consultation group with the tactile model
We went over to see the installed model in June and of course it rained. However, we had a very good time there and by a happy coincidence the group that we had consulted for the model were having lunch at the cafe. We were then able to ask them how they liked the model and if they had found it useful.

We will edit our recordings from there and put them on the radio station - www.dogrosesound.org.uk.

Down County Museum has done a great job to make the displays as accessible as possible to everyone and it is well worth a visit.
http://www.downcountymuseum.com
Coalport China
Two years ago we recorded the song 'Coalport China' composed and sung by John Kirkpatrick.

We are delighted to hear that this is now being included on a new CD released by John. For more information see http://www.johnkirkpatrick.co.uk/merchandising.htm

Summer Update
A group is standing around a large white marble block with a steel bar through the middle of it. Trees and the main road at Ellesmere can be seen in the background.
A group admiring the scultpture called Gaia
Well it is almost summer although sometimes we wonder as we get drowned.

Each New Year I make a resolution to update the news more regularly and then suddenly find it is June and I have not done so. This year the excuse is that Peter had an operation on his hand for Dupeytrons Contracture (showing off now!) and that has slowed us both up as he needed to go the surgery for dressings and physio for exercises and the pain has made sleep difficult. However it is getting on well now and we are getting back to normal.

The Awards for All oral history is finished and everyone has given permission for use on the internet so we will be adding tracks to Dog Rose Sound. The interviews cover a wide range of subjects and so there is something for everyone there.

We also recorded a guided walk around the 12 transnational sculptures in the Extramuros exhibition at Ellesmere and edited this to put on Dog Rose Sound. The sculptures are only there temporarily before moving on to Spain and Portugal where some of them come from. For more information, go to www.dogrosesound.org to hear about all 12 of the sculptures.

We have also updated some of the sound boxes at Stiperstones for Natural England. There are now bird sounds in 3 of them, illustrating the birds that can be heard in the area.

We are just off to Belfast to go and see the model at Downpatrick which was launched last year and we have not been able to get over to see yet.

P.S. The African CD is currently being duplicated and will be available soon. We will put news of it on all the websites as we hope to raise money for the work of Intact. Communication between Ludlow and Limpopo is slow so the finished result has taken longer than we expected.

Wymondham Model Progress and other news
An elderly blind man in a fawn jacket and dark glasses is feeling the buildings on the model with his right hand. To his left is a younger man in a black t-shirt running his hand over the Braille which has been created temporarily with swell-paper.
Fred and Matt test out the wooden model of Wymondham.
The wooden model for Wymondham was completed in April and it was brought down to Wymondham for testing with blind colleagues. Adjustments were made to the labels and text around the model and one or two buildings had to be removed.

It is now with Powderhall bronze and being prepared for casting. As usual, the efficient Pauline Hills of Photocast Products did a rapid turnaround of the labels so that the model is now back on track after delays caused by cancelled meetings.

General work for the Trust will be a little curtailed this summer as Peter Howell is having an operation on his left hand. He had the right hand done three years and this was very successful and now it is the turn for the other one to be done.
Downpatrick and other Models
A bronze three dimensional model of the old Gaol at Downpatrick, complete with Braille, stands in the courtyard of the museum.
The completed model
The model has been delivered and was installed in October. Unfortunately we could not go to the launch as we are giving a presentation to the Heritage Lottery Fund in Birmingham. Photographs of it will be put on the website as soon as we receive them.

However, we will go over in the new year and meet the group of visually impaired people we met before and get their comments. On the same visit, we may give a talk to the architecture students at Queen's University in Belfast.

We have also been asked to draw up a design with costs for a bronze model in Wymondham, Norfolk. This will go forward for funding and we hope that this can be achieved. Wymondham is a most attractive market town with many medieval buildings, friendly people and a great market. There are also the splendid remains of the abbey, which is also still a working church.
South Africa
A group of black dancers are performing energetically in front of brightly coloured painted murals. On the right, a black man, wearing an elaborate beaded collar, is accompanying them on a drum.
The Intact group performing for a photocall outside Artz One
Peter and I have just been to South Africa. The main purpose was to see the family, which was wonderful, but we had also asked our friend, Robin Opperman of the Umcebo Trust, if we could record any groups he knew and make a CD that they could sell to raise funds for themselves.

The first recording we did was at the Sinethemba Centre in Durban where we recorded boys who had been on the streets and were now being educated and integrated back into their communities. They did a polished performance of seven songs for us, most of them with a message about such subjects as aids, being on the streets, crime and other issues which are crucial to South Africa at this time.

The other group were in Limpopo, which used to be called Northern Province and the organisation was done by the Limpopo Arts and Cultural Association, led by Arlette Franks. The group of nine from Intact, all from the BaPedi tribe and speaking Sotho (and English), came up to Polokhane, the provincial capital, to perform for us over three days and we have an exciting recording of them which is currently being edited and made ready for sale.

We are very pleased that the Trust was able to put its expertise and experience into working with people who have little or no money and no chance of a job. After the recording we had a long discussion with the group about their way of life and ours and they were particularly fascinated by the work of the Guide Dogs.

Robin at Umcebo does amazing work with his people in traditional Zulu beading but with a modern designer twist. Everyone who comes to Umcebo has a special need in some way but that does not prevent them from being very creative. Want a chandelier or beaded aloe? No problem!

It was all very inspiring and we are delighted to have forged this international link with such splendid people.
Visit to Budapest, Hungary
The picture shows the ceramic tactile plan of the entire site, situated at the entrance to the museum. The 3-D buildings stand up from the plan which is appropriately coloured. The plan is contained in a wooden frame and stand to fit in with its wooded surroundings.
Ceramic Tactile plan of the whole site at Skanzen, Hungary
The Dog Rose Trust took part in the conference, on Accessibility of Historical and Heritage Buildings in Budapest at the end of June. The Trust gave a paper on multi-sensory interpretation of historic cities and buildings.

The conference, organised by the Hungarian Buildings Accessible Services, was attended by delegates from all over Europe and the Far East.

During our stay in Budapest we visited museums and were impressed by some of the provision for people with visual impairments, but as everywhere this was patchy. The National Museum had an excellent range of items to touch with Braille panels by them. We visited the exhibition of Musical Instruments and the Archaeology Section and thought this displays, for everyone, were very good.

In contrast, the Ethnographic Museum, which had an excellent collection, had no tactile items. However, at the outdoor museum, Skanzen, at Szentendre, there was plenty to see, hear and touch as well as tactile plans of each area made in ceramic. We thought these were very good as the 3-D buildings on each one gave an idea of the character of the region.
http://www.skanzen.hu/
Further information from Budapest
A boy with dark hair is looking at the model and touching one of the spires of the church. Other people are standing around looking at the model and in the background are groups of tourists.
The bronze model of St Matthias Church
We also visited Buda and the castle district. There we saw a bronze model of St Matthias Church which was being used by the guides to tell their group about the building before going into it.

There are copper panels with Braille on them, which were perhap added afterwards.
Essay in Blindness and the Multi Sensorial City
Julia Ionides and Peter Howell have contributed an essay to an important new publication, Blindness and the Multi-Sensorial City, edited by Patrick Devlieger, Frank Renders, Hubert Froyen and Kristel Wildiers, published Antwerp, 2006.

This essay, together with many others, resulted from the international symposium, Visually Impaired People in Historic European Cities, held in Leuven, Belgium in 2003.

ISBN 90-441-1739-4

http://www.leuven.be/showpage.asp?iPageID=5031
Podcasting museum tours
At the Dog Rose Trust we like to think we are at the forefront of new ideas. Our radio station, dogrosesound.org, was set up last year and since then we have been adding items such as our guides to Cathedrals and Museums. All of these are for listening to on line and others for downloading on to MP3.

So we were interested - and amused - to come across an item on the New York Times website about an irreverent tour of MoMA - New York's Modern Art Museum.

This has been made by students at the Marymount Manhattan College and gives an alternative view of the works of art on show at the Museum. This alternative audio guide can be downloaded to i-Pods or MP3 players.

So it's good to think that the Trust is keeping up with the latest trends.
http://www.dogrosesound.org/
Amendments, corrections and additions to Another Eyesight
Many many apologies to Hannah Goodwin at Boston for putting her down as Hannah Gordon, both in the contents list and also at the head of her chapter. We did at least get it right at the end of her contribution. Our carelessness in no way detracts from the excellent work that she is doing at Boston and will continue to do.
Update on Another Eyesight
The book has been well received we are pleased with the way it has turned out. We have sent copies to America, Canada and Europe as well as various places in the UK. Owing to its large size, posting the books becomes quite a heavy job so it all takes a bit of planning. We are pleased to see that Paypal seems to be working well on our website, so that solves the credit card problem for the moment.

On the strength of the book we have been invited to Phoenix, Arizona in September for a conference organised by the JFK Centre for performing arts in Washington. They decided that it would be good to go regional and we are delighted as it gives us a chance to see this very interesting part of the US.

Right now we are winding up current projects. The Innovative Actions is completed. There was an 'end of term' dinner in Coventry in mid-May and we were pleased to see that our project was included in their booklet as a case study. We are particularly pleased with the tactile fish and have carried out an evaluation with Eric Sayce and hope to do more of this.

The Ludlow panels for the town centre won a commended award at the Signawards UK which was good. Hereford Museums were runners-up for an Award for Excellence for low-budget schemes with the audio that they had created with help from the Trust.