Young people team up with White Lantern Film to create New Forest Documentary
White Lantern Film is working with the Fortune Centre of Riding Therapy on a project supported by the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund Heritage to capture the living memories of horses and humans in the New Forest.
The young people with learning difficulties and disabilities from the Fortune Centre of Riding Therapy have teamed up with White Lantern Film to produce this unique project which will explore the history of the New Forest. “Horses and Humans” will capture the unique heritage and relationship between horses and humans in the New Forest on an educational history DVD in a unique documentary combining interviews with living memories to record a unique heritage on our lives in the region.
If you would like to share your memories and experiences, please visit the web site at www.whitelantern.co.uk/horsesandhumans. The project held a range of research events throughout the New Forest in 2009 to provide opportunities for the young people to capture living memories from the local community. Four events were planed with young people from the Fortune Centre of Riding Theory filming the local community and recording their living memories of horses and humans in the New Forest. The events were on Thursday18th June at the Fortune Centre of Riding Therapy, on Monday 22nd June in Brockenhurst, on Wednesday 24th June at Lymington Quay and on Friday 26th June in Beaulieu village centre.
The National Lottery Heritage Funded project will bring to life the wealth of memories and tell centuries of history for future generations. “We are looking for anyone who has an interesting story about the New Forest to come down and tell us” says Rob Sharp the project coordinator. The final DVD will be supported by a web site and free DVD's will be given to local schools, colleges, libraries, and arts organisations. The project is supported by the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund, the New Forest Park Authority and the Ernest Cook Trust.
The Fortune Centre of Riding Therapy works with young people whose educational needs cannot be met in General FE Sector colleges, enabling horse-motivated students with learning difficulties and disabilities to relate to others and to have more appropriate control over their own lives. This is done through their involvement with horses in a specialist residential environment which enables young people to learn and develop. For the special needs students of the centre the horse is at the heart of the exchange of teaching and learning. It is used as an alternative seat of learning and understanding. Many naturally occurring routines and activities in a horse environment act as the basis of new understanding.
All the participants from the centre have special needs (physical, mental or behavioural) including Downs Syndrome, Global Development Delay Disorder, Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, Dyspraxia and social and behavioural issues. There are 45 residential students at the centre. 'Horses and Humans' will take their nature learning environment and extend this into a creative heritage and arts project.
For more information visit www.whitelantern.co.uk/horsesandhumans
