Hidden Heritage Secret Streams
Don Catchment Rivers Trust is running a community project that aims to restore Chesterfield’s rivers. The project will re-wild a section of the River Rother, allowing it to behave more naturally and function better, whilst boosting the potential for returning wildlife to flourish.
With this project, DCRT aims to restore the river that was destroyed by heavy industry and help communities rediscover the charm of the Rother.
Kakou were commissioned to develop a mobile app for the project, document new nature walks including creating audio trails, and provide community workshops for the project.
The App
We designed a progressive web application which enables the app to be viewed on all platforms (web-browser, iOS and Android) without the need for separate native mobile applications.
The app can be downloaded from here – https://hiddenheritage.socialfuse.org.uk/
Walking Trails
Six new walking trails were suggested by the local community.
We had the pleasure of walking, mapping and photographing the trails.
Accompanying audio was recorded by volunteers of Don Catchment Rivers Trust.
Feeling Connected: Let’s Get Creative
Led by Derbyshire Business and Education Partnership, with funding from DVA’s Feeling Connected programme, we worked with a group of SEN/D (special educational needs/disabled) youngsters over 15 weeks to introduce them to several technical-based creative vocations to help them transition from leaving school to continuing their further education.
The students were provided with a regular opportunity to meet and work alongside their peers and develop their confidence to interact with others, develop critical skills around team working and identify the skills and qualities that they all have to offer, whilst delivering on a meaningful project.
The students developed part of the Hidden Heritage Secret Streams app, creating an audio trail, producing photography and video, and coding an arcade game called “Swim Upstream”.
Testimonials
During the pandemic, we saw a huge increase in young people with additional needs feeling isolated because they are often not catered for by mainstream provision. Most of their peer network and social interaction is at school, so when the schools closed last year it had a huge impact.
“We recognised an opportunity to provide young people with the chance to utilise, develop and showcase their skills, allowing them to progress positively and enhance their experiences – people with SEND are often an unrecognised talent pool. Thanks to the funding from the Feeling Connected project, we have been able to collaborate with Kakou, a local organisation specialising in inclusive technologies and Chesterfield College’s Digital, Media and Graphics department, to deliver ‘Let’s Get Creative’, which is achieving just that.
“It’s been such a fantastic experience for the young people involved and what is clear is that participants are getting a huge level of satisfaction from this initiative. It is enabling each of the young people to create a bigger peer network and giving them the opportunity to interact with new people in different ways, which is proving extremely beneficial.
“Without the funding this project wouldn’t have been possible, so a huge thank you to DVA for all their support, as well as all the other partner organisations we’ve worked with who have supported us in delivering it.
Being involved has revolutionised the way I look at pathways for Robert.’
We used the skills we developed and have been able to put our ideas into practice for the app
Activities
We created a series of creative arts workshops (online and in-person) for the general public to get involved in the creation of waymarkers, information panels, poetry and story-telling
https://www.socialfuse.org.uk/hidden-heritage-secret-streams/
